“Please, Gwen! This isn't you! You have to fight it!”I choke when the talon grows tighter around my neck, a screech ripping through the air as the shadowy figure opens its mouth wide and seems to suck my life force from my eyes.
I'm growing weaker and weaker until a faint sigh escapes my lips, my vision blurring as if I'm about to black out. First, the dark force took my body, froze it in the kitchen, and now it's about to take my life force, and there's nothing I can do to control it.
It's taken over Gwen, and now that dark curse is about to take me. There's nothing I can do to stop it, no fight left in me, and I close my eyes, surrendering to this horrible fate.
“You have to fight it! Come on, D! Fight it!”
I gasp when I hear Hunter's voice faintly waft into my ears, snapping my eyes open as I feel his presence amid the darkness threatening to take me, as if he's in the cottage in the physical realm, even if I can't see him while I'm stuck in this supernatural one.
“Delilah! Please come back to me, baby! Please come back! I need you! I love you!”
Those very words pull me out of the plane I'm stuck in, overpowering the dark force and allowing me to escape, my soul zapped back into my physical body.
My vision reawakens in my body to find Hunter staring at me.
“Hunter!” I cry out, flinging my arms around him with a sigh of relief.
“Delilah! Thank Goddess!” Just as Hunter is about to tighten his arms around me, I notice the blinding white light penetrating through a cloud of thick black smoke curling from Gwen's frozen body.
“Delilah! We need you!” I hear my mother yell, and that's when I see her and Arianna pouring white magic into the room.
Without wasting time, I wield my own magic in my palms, then turn them at Gwen, mentally praying that we can fight the curse of the black magic and pull her out of the darkness. With the combined powers of three witches, the black smoke morphs into the apparition I saw in Gwen's mind, screeching at me, a shrill cry ringing out as the darkness is overpowered by our light magic.
The dark energy disappears into thin air, a blip of white light flashing through the cottage just as my knees buckle under my weight. Using all my magic drained me, and I'm about to hit the ground when a pair of strong arms catches me.
“Delilah!”
“Hunter…” I whisper meekly, catching his scent before I take in his face with my eyes. My vision is blurry, a wave ofexhaustion keeping me weak as Hunter pulls me closer to his chest.
I reach out and gently touch his cheek, my lips lifting with a smile as I ignore the ensuing chaos around us. I hear the rush of footsteps, the panic in concerned voices, but it all fades as I focus on Hunter.
His attention is pulled away when Arthur speaks to him about Gwen, asking what to do since she hasn't woken up yet. Hunter responds, “Take her to the healer immediately.”
When Hunter turns his attention back to me, I slide my hand from his cheek to the back of his head, pulling him toward me for a kiss.
“Thank you for bringing me back,” I whisper.
“I wouldn't have survived if I lost you tonight,” Hunter says with a pained voice.
“So, you meant what you said, then? You love me?”
Hunter raises his brows. “You heard me?”
“Loud and clear,” I giggle softly. “It's what brought me back. I've been waiting so long for you to say that.”
“Well, I meant it. I love you, Delilah. I was so scared—”
“Shh…” I press my finger to his lips. “I love you, too, Hunter. That's all that matters, and I'm just glad I get to tell you that now.”
Hunter appears stunned as he blinks in disbelief, so I muster up the last bit of strength I have left to pull him in for a firmer kiss. When we pull apart, I see the sincerity in Hunter's eyes and how he was genuinely afraid of losing me.
“I'm sorry,” he says as he pulls me to his chest. “I'm sorry that I ever pushed you away. It'll never happen again. I can never lose you.”
“I'm sorry too,” I whisper as I cling to him. “Can we go home now? I'm exhausted….”
Hunter chuckles lightly as he scoops me into his capable arms and lifts me. “Of course, m'lady,” he chirps. “After what you've been through tonight, I'm gonna run you a bath and make sure you get all the rest you need.”
“Ah…that sounds like a dream,” I sigh as I lean my head on his shoulder and he carries me out of the cottage. “But there's something that'd be even better than that.”
