Page 32 of Unmarked Magic

Fuck, I could hear my name on her lips a thousand times and still want to hear it again.

“I’m going to…” When she climaxed, she held onto me tightly as thunder rumbled above us, lightning suddenly lighting up the sky in streaks of silver.

The fuck? Her magic. Again.

Then I felt it. My vision turned red.

Gods, not now.

I’d avoided balancing nature for too long. It wanted me to correct it. Right the fuck now. Because, if I saved a life, I had to take one. And I’d saved two lives. Skye. Wes.

Pulling away from her, my blood turned a bone chilling cold.

Not a second later, I ran.

Scarlet

Storming back inside the bar, I scanned the area in the space of five seconds. He wasn’t here.

The fucking nerve of him. Seriously, who did that?

I’d followed Reid when he’d bolted from Jinxed after the most unbelievable performance I’d ever seen in my life. He could play the drums. And not just the way anyone played the drums. Like he owned the entire set. As if the music responded to him. The band had lifted the roof, the energy tumbling through the bar like nothing I could explain. It had felt electrifying, its pulse bruising everything I thought I’d known about music. Like it had grown a heartbeat, thumping into our chests with every second that passed.

But then he ran, so suddenly I didn’t know what was wrong. I’d almost lost him after following him to make sure he was okay, because, turns out Reid could run fast. Thankfully, he had left a trail of footsteps in the snow, which led me to the graveyard.

So much for checking on a friend.

What I thought to be a good deed had quickly turned into something so unexpected that I struggled to believe it had happened. He kissed me. After he’d made it clear that he didn’t kiss anyone. Then, as if to upend my world completely, he’d made me come. Something no man had ever come close to achieving. Admittedly, I was still in shock. Because, before I could even recover from the eye-rolling pleasure, he’d run. Again. No sweet goodbye. No reassurance.

And I was fucking livid.

Colt’s solid frame walking toward me drew my attention back to the matter at hand. A line etched between his brows, concern spilling into his blue eyes. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine,” I ground out, folding my arms across my chest. I veered my gaze to the bar as if he would suddenly appear. “Did he come back here?”

“No.” Colt watched me closely, following my train of sight before he focused on me again. “Did something happen?”

I sighed, the heaviness in my shoulders feeling like a lead weight. “We…” I shook my head, running a hand through my hair in frustration. “I just need to find him.”

Concern creased his brow deeper, and he adjusted the neck of his hoodie. “Can I help at all? Do you need a lift?” Like the good guy he was, Colt always put other people first.

I didn’t know what I needed right now. I wasn’t sure I could face him if he was back at the house, but I had little choice. I just needed to know if he was okay and why he left the way he did. “If that’s not too much trouble?” I replied hopefully.

Colt nodded. “Not at all. Just let me tell the others.” He left for the other side of the room, and the group gave me a wave before he returned. Pulling his keys from his pocket, he motioned to the exit, leading us outside.

It had been dusk when I’d followed Reid earlier, but Cutters Cove now hovered amidst the shadows of late evening, causing a shiver to move through me at the sudden drop in temperature. Somewhere nearby, an owl hooted, echoing through the empty parking lot. My Doc Martens trudged through the remains of last night’s snowfall. Winter. Ugh. At least the roads were clear so we could make it home.

Inside Colt’s pickup, I rested my elbow in the crook of the window.

The deep timbre of his voice broke my thoughts. “You know, I’m not a bad listener.” Colt always knew when something wasn’t right.

Leaning back against the headrest, I stared ahead, contemplating if I should tell him what happened. I knew whatever I said would go no further. Colt was trustworthy like that. “He kissed me,” I finally admitted, and it hung in the air between us. “Then ran,” I added.

Colt didn’t speak at first, only stared at me as if trying to read my thoughts. “Ran?”

“Yeah, as fast as he could. Didn’t look back.” The sting as I spoke the words sent my emotions spiraling, from hurt to anger and back again like whiplash.

Colt shifted in his seat, his grip tightening on the wheel. He seemed to contemplate his next words carefully. “If he kissed you, you mean something to him.”