Page 30 of An Oath at Midnight

The need to be close to Magnolia pumped hotly through my veins.

After last night, finding out all she’d been through—Margot’s death, the shit at the clubhouse, seeing the bruises that fucking prick Adler had given her, the way she blew up at me—I needed to smooth things over with her, and that wasn’t going to happen if I was never here. I needed to be here for her more. I just didn’t know how I was going to make it all work.

All I knew was I couldn’t lose her.

I knew loss.

And Magnolia was a loss that would fucking end me.

Darkness swirled around me, through me. There wasn’t one thing I wouldn’t do to make sure that never happened. To make sure I never lost her. I’d tear it all down before I let that happen. I’d snatch her from her world, and I’d make a new one, just her and me.

I’d fly away with her and never come back.

She wasn’t expecting me home so soon, and my need to see her was a deep, relentless ache inside me now. I quickly headed across the yard toward the house.

The sound of a car pulling up out front reached me. Magnolia’s car. I detoured and jogged around the side of the house.

The driver’s door was open. Mags was struggling to get out—and she was covered in blood.

I sprinted to her, scooped her into my arms, and frantically searched her, trying to find where the blood was coming from. “Where’re you hurt? Where’s the blood coming from?”

That’s when I smelled it, not just Magnolia’s blood—demon as well.

“Take me…t-to the tree house. I don’t want anyone else to s-see me like this,” she said.

My wings exploded from my back, tearing my shirt to ribbons. Clutching her to me, I flew over the house and landed on the deck of the tree house. Shoving the door open, I strode to the bathroom.

“Where’re you hurt?” I asked again as I lowered her to her feet and, still supporting her, helped her out of her boots.

“I’m not s-sure,” she said and swayed to the side, her eyes rolling into the back of her head, almost blacking out.

Fuck. I pulled her against me and carefully pulled up my hoodie that she was wearing. She was completely fucking naked underneath, her small curvy frame covered in dried blood and mud. I needed to wash all this off to see the damage. I turned on the shower and carefully lifted the hoodie over her head, tossing it aside.

“I’m n-naked,” she slurred.

“I don’t give a fuck. I need to see what we’re dealing with.”

I kicked off my boots and scooped her up, stepping into the shower still in my jeans, and held her under the water. I let it wash away the worst of it, not wanting to rub at her skin in case I made something worse.

“What happened? Why are you naked? Did someone force you…did they…”

She groggily shook her head. “N-no one…t-touched me.” She went limp then, blacking out for a moment before jolting back to consciousness.

I grabbed a washcloth and carefully cleaned the rest of the mud and blood away. The more of her skin I revealed, the more relieved I became. There were some superficial scrapes and grazes, her hands were all cut up, but nothing life threatening.

What the fuck was going on? “Why are you having trouble talking? Who did this? Did you run into Adler–”

“I was…at Oldwood,” she rasped.

“What? Why?” I swiped the washcloth over her stomach, taking away the last of the dried blood.

And froze.

Fuck.

Markings, ones that I’d seen before, on each of her sisters. My gaze shot to hers. “No,” the word burst from me.

Her lids were heavy as she struggled to stay conscious. “Y-yes. After you left. I called you, but…” Then her eyes drifted shut, and she went limp in my arms again.