Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 185(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 123(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 185(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 123(@300wpm)
“What are you doing?” Killian said. “She is my mate.”
Lucinda stepped forward and held out a single vial. “If you take this, your ability to cease as mates will take place.”
“You could have given me this?”
“Take it. Leah will be protected, Killian. Of that, you have no doubt.”
They took Leah, leaving him alone in the bright forest surrounded by earth, and Killian couldn’t have felt more lost.
Chapter Ten
Leah knew she didn’t look her best. Nearly dying at the hands of one of the evilest witches alive would have that affect on you.
She had survived, with the help of the coven. And now, she was alone. Tears filled her eyes as she rubbed at her chest.
Lucinda had made the arrangements for her to see Killian one final time. She wasn’t sure if he had taken the potion that had been made for him. Lucinda had found the dark spell that would create the potion to separate them as mates. Leah had the same vial. All she had to do was take it and she would no longer feel this pain. She wiped at the tears.
The gardens around her flourished. The flowers that had once filled her with happiness now only caused her pain. For a short time, she had thought Killian would accept her, that he could love her, or learn to love her, if he didn’t already. That was a lie.
He mated her to create a giant sacrifice. Rose could have done what Killian wanted. She could have removed their mating bond. Lucinda had hoped Killian would come to his senses and realize being mated to her would be terrible. When Lucinda realized Killian wasn’t going to turn back, she had no choice but to turn to the dark magic to create the potion. If they took it, Lucinda was one step closer to succumbing to dark magic. She would have to be monitored and her high position within the coven would be revoked. Leah couldn’t do that to her friend.
Rose always planned to remove the mating bond, but she had hoped to take Leah, to turn her dark, and then kill her, extracting her powers and making her unstoppable. Once again, Leah had found a way. Not once had she been tempted to turn to dark magic.
All she had tried to do was bring life back to the dead earth. It had vaped her energy, which is why Rose had been able to use those vines against her. She would never look at roses the same way again.
The coven hadn’t used dark magic against Rose. They had stripped Rose of the souls she had claimed over the years, freeing them, and then because of the toll Rose had placed on the earth, as her old coven, they had simply replaced what she had taken by giving her back. It was a shame Rose hadn’t died in pain.
She swiped at the tears, hating that she cried.
“Don’t cry,” Killian said, coming toward her. He sank to his knees before her, putting his hand on hers. “I’m so pleased you’re okay.”
She pulled her hands away and pushed him off her knees.
“Leah, please.”
She shook her head. “I’m not interested in hearing anything you have to say. Did you take the potion?” She hated that she still cried.
“Please, listen to me.”
“No. I don’t have to listen to you. I told you in detail what prophecies could do. The witch that would cause your pack’s greatest undoing, had nothing to do with me. That super-secret mission, trying to remove me as your mate, would be your greatest undoing.” She got to her feet. “I know you don’t want to be mated to me, and that’s fine. I’m going to ask you not to take that potion and to give me time to find the right way for us to sever all ties that bind us together.”
“Leah, please listen to me.”
“If you take that potion, Lucinda pays the price and she doesn’t deserve that. You want to be free, well, consider yourself free. I will not darken your doorstep. I will try and find a way for you to find a different mate. One that doesn’t have these horrible witchy powers.”
“I thought I was doing what needed to be done for my pack!”
“You didn’t listen.” Leah shoved her hands into his chest. Her strength was no match for Killian’s. He didn’t move. Not a single inch. “Do you even know what you could have done? What she could have done to your pack?”
Killian cupped her face, but Leah didn’t want his touch. She stepped away from him.
“Leah, I know right now you’re angry with me, and I know I fucked up.”
“Oh, you only know that you’ve done that.” She was still crying. She didn’t want to cry, but the tears kept falling.
“I love you,” Killian said.
Leah shot a bolt of magic out of her hands and Killian fell back several feet away from her. This was the first time she had ever used her magic in anger. She hated how it made her feel.