“Don’t say anything,” he whispered. “I know things are complicated. But I wanted you to know.”
All I could do was nod. My thoughts swirled, but the power in my blood was a siren song, and I sank back into the earth, unable to resist its call.
Chapter
Seven
ROWAN
Gods. I was in such deep shit. Maybe I should have stayed in the car. I was wrapped around her, breathing in the sweet scent of her skin—jasmine and honey, rose and peony, a touch of my land’s soil—ever changing but quintessentially Evie. She’d covered me in vines and blossoms, and if any of my wolves could see me now, they’d laugh themselves senseless, but how could I abandon her when she’d shared such a deep part of herself?
But the thing that both delighted and concerned me was how I could feel her power. Our magic wasn’t the same; similar, but with fundamental differences. Even so, there was never a time when I felt the same things she felt or heard the land’s call through my soul. Something was happening, something bigger than me or Evie. If I knew what was good for me, I’d unwrap myself from temptation and allow her to finish this without me.
I’d held her before, but never this intimately, and never had we melted into each other like this. I couldseeEvie, so deep inside her I felt myself falling into a massive abyss I knew I wouldn’t be able to climb out of later. She was fundamentally good, something few people could claim. Evie’s love was a never-ending well of emotion, one that if she ever gifted me with a tenth of that well, I’d never be able to walk away.
I thought I’d understood Caelan’s obsession with her before, but I hadn’t. Not until now. And I knew the sonofabitch hadn’t felt even a smidge of what I was feeling right now, or if he’d ever accompanied her during one of these jaunts.
My breathing stayed steady and even, matching Evie’s own breath patterns, even with my thoughts spiraling. To top all of this, Evie had just reacted to me. A non-shifter or a shifter without as powerful a nose as I had would never have known, but I could smell her desire when I’d held her tight and whispered against her skin. Her confusion over her feelings didn’t overpower how she reacted to me.
Maybe there really was a chance.
Evie continued spiraling her power into the ground, turning once she reached a certain depth toward Donovan’s old land. Her magic saturated everything around us, the soft susurrations of growing things, even after a snowstorm sliding over frozen ground.
Her pulse throbbed, and I resisted the urge to press a kiss to the smooth column of her neck, instead focusing on her power to ensure she didn’t go too deep. She didn’t ask me to do this for her, but I could feel how deep her magic went, even though I couldn’t explain why. If she passed her threshold, there was a chance she’d lose control. Already concerned with some of the odd aftereffects of the damaged tattoo and concerned about harming me, Evie had started off being too careful.
But now, she no longer noticed me as her body relaxed, the nervous rigidity she held when I put my arms around her, had turned into pliant softness, her back slowly curving into my chest. As we sat together, her head drifted back, resting on my chest. Evie’s hair lifted and swirled in a phantom wind asshe siphoned excess power away, a soft watermelon tourmaline-colored sparkle spiraling around us.
I felt the moment she hit the other property, the sharp tang of Donovan’s Lord power fading under the gentle onslaught of her Floromancy. Eventually, when Evie spent more time on the land, Donovan’s influence would fade completely—if she decided to keep the property. So far, she seemed like she wanted to wash her hands of the entire affair. Not to mention the other Lords still being pissed over what they considered a theft. My opinion, especially when it came to Evie, was simple.
Might makes right.
A low moan escaped from Evie’s throat, a sound that tightened everything inside me. I loosened my grip and readjusted, but she hadn’t moved. A small furrow formed between her brows, and I stilled. Closing my eyes, I concentrated, searching for any issues, when I felt it. Something on the border of my land is corrupting the ground, leaking dark magic into the ground.
The area is small, concentrated into an almost perfect square, maybe two feet by two feet. Evie moaned again, her heartbeat picking up in rhythm.
Something had gone terribly wrong.
Chapter
Eight
Rowan was in danger, but the power I could usually control had gone rogue. A darkness had leached into the border between Donovan’s old property and Rowan’s. Guilt flooded me. I’d neglected the property. If I had visited more often, I could have caught this before whatever this was spread.
The spot itself wasn’t large, only a couple of square feet, but the malevolence pulsing from it gave me pause. Rowan was with me, somehow entwined in my power, with me and not with me at the same time. Speech was useless, but I felt the sharpening of his awareness as my power probed the spot, seeking to understand first, then destroy.
I kept trying to pull back to no avail. Floromancy was meant to heal the earth and whatever this thing was seeping into the ground was anathema. Curious, my magic circled closer and closer, seeking to understand what was poisoning the land.
On the outside, Rowan’s heartbeat galloped against my back, his breath ruffling the hair against my neck.
I tried to come back to myself, but the magic had me entangled in its grip, as if saying, no, I need you for this, and you must wait. Not being the master of my own fate raked at my soul,fury spiraling through my breast. Once more, I tugged, trying to spool my magic back into my body. I hadn’t siphoned enough, but it would do, at least long enough for me to get back to Joy Springs and expel the rest on my property.
Evie.
I stilled, my magic sputtering as if it too were stunned by the voice in my head.
Rowan?
A pause.I’m not sure how I’m doing this.
