Page 90 of Enchanting Her Monsters
Rob squirms and flails.
“I wouldn’t recommend insulting our mate,” Flint growls, and the ground shakes with his anger.
I remember to focus on my task, coaxing and drawing out Osen’s shadow magic.
It slinks across the ground and winds up my legs, finally sliding down my throat.
I panic as I sense the shadows taking over.
I can’t move.
My mind goes blank, and I sink into darkness.
30
UNGHOSTED
ARRAN
The moment Jade inhales the shadows, she drops like a lead weight.
I snatch her up into my arms to keep her from hitting the ground.
When her eyes open, it’s all Osen. No trace of Jade’s glowing green eyes.
“Where is she?” I demand.
“Still here. Just overwhelmed by my magic because it’s united with me again,” Osen answers, finding their feet and standing.
I don’t let go. It doesn’t feel like Osen is unaffected, either.
“We should go, get my body,” Osen says. “See if this works.”
I snarl, hating that I can’t see my mate when I look at her face. “Always thinking about yourself, huh?”
“No!” he snaps. “I’m worried that Jade won’t be able to handle my energy for much longer!”
“Enough!” Maxum shouts over us, drawing our attention. He looks over at Rob, clearly debating if we kill him quickly now or slowly later. “Let’s go. We can bring this piece of garbage along for the ride. We’ll take care of Jade and Osen, then we’ll claim our pound of flesh.”
We tie up Rob’s hands and gag him as a precaution.
Maxum has us jump through a few portals before we end up in the partially collapsed tunnel under the lake house. We stand outside the bunker door as the final portal closes behind us. Maxum presses his palm to the door and unlocks the safe room. When the door swings open, all our eyes fall upon Osen’s body inside the glass coffin set in the center of the room.
“You preserved his body?” Rob mumbles behind his gag in disbelief.
Calder shoves him forward and ties him to a cot frame.
No one bothers to answer Rob’s question, but it wasn’t us that did the preserving. Something about Osen’s unnatural death froze his body in time.
Now we’ll just have to see if he can be brought back to us in his full glory.
Jade needs to expel Osen’s magic, whether it’s to resurrect or to just release it into the cosmos. Rob shouldn’t have it. Not that it would have been a problem for long, because that asswipe is going to experience a slow and painful death if we can control ourselves enough to make it slow.
I’ve been helping Jade and Osen make it through our journey here. Her body is rejecting the magic as if she’s ill.
“Jade?” I call to her, holding her close, searching her face for a sign she’ll be okay.
A faint pulse of green shines through from behind the shadowy gray of Osen’s magic.
