Page 60 of Nicolette

Circus just stared at me for a moment, then released his grip. “If this goes wrong, I will kill him. Consequences be damned. He won’t live after taking the most important thing I’ve ever been given away from me.”

“I understand and respect that, but nothing is going to happen,” I promised, letting my hand fall from his face.

Rambler was watching the whole exchange with an equally concerned face but didn’t try to stop me. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Polo holding Marco back as he fought against his brother’s hold to get to me. I knew fuck all about enchantresses, but there was a vague understanding they were like a combination of a witch, siren, and succubus. They had magic but used sexual attraction to fuel their magic and lure their prey. I felt like it was odd for female-based magic to be gifted to Nine, but what the hell did I know about the supernatural world? The more I lived in it, the faster I was figuring out we humans were damn lucky to be alive.

Placing my hand flat on Nine’s back between his shoulder blades, I gasped as I felt the magic coursing through me. It was wild, like a caged animal that had gone completely feral now set loose. Feeling its depth, I realized that what all of us had been experiencing was only the tip of the iceberg he had at his disposal. Under my touch, I could feel Nine relaxing slightly as I took the edge off the magic so he could work. Closing my eyes, I gritted my teeth while the magic rioted inside me, demanding to be let loose into the world. Since the magic wasn’t mine, I couldn’t do much but hold on and lock down my mental barriers so it couldn’t escape through me.

My lioness gave a roar so commanding I felt the need to submit to her. Then my shifter magic swirled into the mix, creating a buffer between me and Nine’s magic. It was far easier to control then, and I didn’t feel like I was going to be overwhelmed by its power. As if the introduction of my magic was what whatever spell Nine was working on needed, I was abruptly yanked into the situation. I could see what he was constructing, and holy fuck was this about to be brutal for Amaretto. The final words were spoken, and symbols formed within the spell before it was hurled at the woman. In my mind’s eye, I could see the magic hit her right in the chest, splatter like paint over her body, then sink into her skin.

“As your alpha, I can call forth your feline form, forcing a shift. Many use it as a form of punishment because of how painful and degrading it is to have it done. With the combination of my magic with this skill, not only will I pull your feline form forward, I will remove it from you entirely,” Nine explained. “I won’t kill you. That would be the easy way out for both of us. Instead, you will live the rest of your natural life as a human witnessing what you’ve done.”

When it connected, I could feel the anguish this was causing him, but it was the right call. There was a time and a place for leniency, now was not that time. After what she’d done and might do in the future, there was no option but to make a clear statement—actions such as this would not be tolerated.

Amaretto’s screams would live in my nightmares for weeks as her cheetah was stripped away from her. Everything that made her supernatural was being removed bit by bit until there was nothing left but her humanity. What I didn’t account for was the fact that what was stripped from her had to go somewhere.

While Amaretto wasn’t strong in magic or dominance compared to myself, when it flooded into me, I would have believed differently. It was almost like she could have been so much more than what she was, but her cheetah refused to support her. Housing a cheetah and lioness within myself was not at all enjoyable, but thankfully it seemed this wasn’t permanent. The two females greeted each other, then the strangest fucking thing happened. My lioness absorbed Amaretto’s feline, adding her magic and power to ours, making us stronger. It was like I’d been injected with adrenaline as the new energy dispersed within me. With a roar, I watched as the ghost of the cheetah ran off into the sunlight, disappearing, returning to the source of shifter magic to find a new home in someone more worthy.

“No, Nicolette,” someone shouted as the world around me started to go dark.

“Come on, Nic. I know you’re still in there. Open your eyes for me, please,” Polo pleaded, followed by the feeling of someone stroking my head. “It’s been two days, and the guys are not taking it well. I don’t know how they’ve kept Circus from killing Nine, but there have been a few close calls. Dice hasn’t left your side once, no matter what threats or magic has been used. Hell, Nine can’t even order him to move, but the problem is, he won’t let a doctor look you over. The only people he lets near you are us, but maybe that’s because he knows we’re mates. Anyway, Rambler is trying to deal with damage control since Nine can’t seem to get his temper under control. Fuck, our whole world is out of whack without you in it.”

Hearing what he was saying, I tried to wake up, to open my eyes, anything to show him I was here. When I reached out to my lioness, I discovered that I was in the back seat. At some point, I must have shifted, and she took over. Yet it didn’t feel right. It was almost as if she was in a type of hibernation or coma. There must have been a good reason to take control and lock me in here.

“Stop telling her all the depressing things. If she hears everything is a fucking mess, she’s not going to want to wake up,” Marco snapped. “God, why do you always choose to see the world half empty?”

“It’s called being a realist,” Polo shot back. “If you don’t like what I have to say, then just go away. I’m sure there’s plenty of work to do since no one is doing a goddamn thing.”

There was a muttering of words as Marco stomped off.

“I’m sorry about that,” Polo said with a sigh, brushing his hand along my neck. “I wasn’t kidding about us not doing well. Circus won’t let Nine step foot in here to see you. I think that’s the biggest issue right now. He’s out of his mind with worry and can’t even be near you.”

The sound of splintering wood and cursing could be heard from another part of the room. “You fucking get in my way, and I will end you,” Nine threatened, then the thud of his footsteps as he came closer told me, whoever it was, knew better than to ignore the warning.

I knew the second he entered the room as magic began to spark between us, it would appear that I was still holding his magic. Could this be the reason I was frozen in this state? Had I become a vessel to hold his magic? Circus warned me that things could go wrong if I touched him, but I believed I’d be safe. Was I wrong about that?

“Motherfucker, I knew it,” Nine swore. “If he’d just let me see you right away, I could have fixed this. I’m so sorry, Kitten. You shouldn’t have had to be like this for so long. You two need to leave, and I’m not saying that to get rid of you. When this magic is released, neither of you will want to be next to her, trust me.”

Something that had been nestled up under my chin moved, making me realize it was Dice. He’d been sleeping curled up in the crook of my neck this whole time. The added shuffle of feet clued me into Polo leaving the room, giving Nine the room he needed to work. He placed a hand on my head and side, then started to mutter to himself. The way my skin tingled under his touch, I knew it was a spell. The magic started to churn like the waves on the ocean in a storm, but I kept up my walls containing the magic.

“Nicolette, it’s okay to let go of the magic. You don’t need to hold it for me anymore. I’m calling it back, but you need to let me in so I can draw it out of you,” Nine coaxed.

For the first time, I felt a reaction from my lioness as she growled, not trusting he could handle it if she gave it to him. We would be fine to stay like this indefinitely, letting the magic sustain us until he was ready to take it back.

“Kitten, I can feel you’re resisting me,” he scolded. “I appreciate you stepping in when I was getting overwhelmed, but that was only because I hadn’t used my magic in years. The spell I did on Amaretto burned off a lot of the excess build-up, so I’m more than capable of handling what you’re holding on to.”

That gave my lioness pause, and she begrudgingly unfolded a small opening to test if he was being honest.

“That’s it, my good little Kitten. I can take more. You don’t need to worry about how fast you’re releasing it,” Nine assured me.

That’s what she said. God, I was such a child sometimes, but he opened the door. Someone had to walk through it.

To my surprise, Nine chuckled. “Fuck it’s good to know you’re still in there, Nicolette. You had me really worried.”

Did he hear me? How the fuck did that happen?

That thought left my head as my lioness nudged, and I realized that she’d let go of her hold on the magic completely—but I hadn’t. The new magic I’d gotten from absorbing Amaretto’s cheetah seemed to be tied to me rather than my shifting ability that my lioness controlled. Unsure of what to do, I imagined pulling a cord and the curtain falling to the ground, revealing what was behind it, which turned out to be Nine’s magic that now burst out of me like a tidal wave crashing onto the shore.

“Holy shit,” Nine said through gritted teeth. “How the hell have you been able to hold onto this much magic that isn’t yours? No wonder why I feel like I used up more than I should have on that spell. You were holding it hostage.”