I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, forcing my power through my body. I was a healer, and I would stop this paralyzing pain. I wouldn’t let Chilli’s words cause me to doubt my strength.
Slowly the sharp pain began to subside into a dull pain. That was enough, for now, to do what I had to do. Chilli didn’t fall the first time because she probably had her ward up. For her to hurt me this way, it had to be down. I would try again and again and again.
She was at the doorway, most likely believing that I was too far gone to be a threat anymore. Her overconfidence in the power she had over me would be her downfall. I pushed my power out. She stumbled to the side, grabbing her head. I didn’t bother sitting upright, I needed all my power on her. She spun around, eyes ablaze with anger. I didn’t wait for her to try another attack, I kept with my magic, flinching only slightly when I felt the sharp sting of a slash across my cheeks and forehead. She was magically cutting me, but I would not give up.
Tears flooded my eyes from all the pain, yet still, I moved my magic. I repeated my magic kill word as if it were a prayer. A mantra that would get me through this hell.
Blood vessels burst in her white eyes, and she dropped to her knees as more blood poured from her mouth. Whatever I was doing, it was slow moving, but it was working. She hunched forward, slapping the ground with her hands as she vomited up more blood. She lifted her head, her coloring growing pale, skin leathery. She moved a hand in my direction as if to surrender.
However, it wasn’t to surrender. I felt my legs break for real this time. Both shins shattered. My vision blurred behind the tears of pain. I momentarily lost control of my magic. But only for a moment. I cried as I kept repeating the power word, agony the only emotion filling me. I wanted death. To not feel any longer. But I had to focus on the magic. I screamed, yelled, growled. The magic fueling me to stay focused. I could do this, and then I would pass out.
Chilli fully collapsed on the ground, her head twisted to the side as blood continued to leak out of her body until she was no longer moving. She was finally dead.
I sighed, closing my eyes. I tried to move my healing magic through me, but nothing happened. It seemed I had used up all my reserves, and now I was left there in suffering. I had won, but I could only hope I would survive.
I prayed that sleep would come soon.
CHAPTER25
BILLIE
Sleep did not come. But someone else did.
Anil.
Screw my life.
He looked down at Chilli’s dead body, stuffing his hands in his pockets and raising his brows. He sure didn’t look too broken up about it.
He wordlessly walked over to me, saw my broken-up body and crouched down. Shaking his head, he slowly waved a hand over my body from my feet to my head. Healing magic began to put me back together again. And it hurt. Broken bones merging back together was something I had not gone through before, and I was inclined to never go through it again.
He assessed me once more. “She really did a number on you.”
“It’s no big deal,” I winched out. It was a huge deal, but I didn’t want to get into it with him. I had questions. Like, why was he there? But first, I needed to recover.
He pushed a thumb back toward her dead body. “You made her bleed out. It’s a very big deal.”
I struggled to sit up, adjusting myself so that my back was against the side of the bed. “Why aren’t you upset?”
He gave a dry laugh. “You think I liked her? We all hated her. This pack she created was all Chilli. We didn’t even know each other. They’re cool, don’t get me wrong. But she pushed us together with her magic.”
“What are you talking about?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking over to Chilli’s dead body again with a disdainful expression. “She magically controlled us. Honestly, if you joined our pack, she’d be running it. We were all under some spell she put on us. But now, with her dead, we’re free. So, I should thank you.”
I shrugged. This made even more sense why she was so invested. She was such a liar. She didn’t care about protecting witch-kind from dark mages. She only wanted the power we had. “Well, it’s all over now. You can disband from your forced pack, and I can go home. Thanks for healing me.”
He scrunched his face, seemingly displeased with my suggestion. “Yeah, about that. I still think having you as our omega is a great idea. Even if you’re already claimed. I can smell Ty all over you, so I’m assuming it was him? That might work in our favor. We can get him to join us with you. It’ll be like old times.”
He rolled his shoulders back, lids lowering halfway and his sickening sweet scent filled my nostrils, making me gag. “So, you aren’t going anywhere. Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.”
Yeah, like I said, screw me.
* * *
TY
Kai was driving like a mad man, but he handled the black SUV expertly. I was just thankful we weren’t getting pulled over for speeding. I wanted to drive since I had the connection to her, but no one trusted me behind the wheel. They were probably right to not trust me. I was practically jumping out of my seat.
