Sapphire Spells

Chapter 21 - The Magician (reverse)

I call Ally back immediately. The phone is shaking in my hand as I press it to my ear.

She tells me how Preston showed up looking for me at a house she was staging. He was there for only a couple of minutes before leaving. Apparently, he told her to pass along the message that he was looking for me.

Alaric holds out his hand, a request to talk to Ally.

"Alaric wants to talk to you, just a sec." I hand it over.

"Ally, I need you to come to my place as quickly as possible. Can you do that?" He sounds so calm, clear-headed. 

As soon as I called her, his fingers were already flying over his phone, alerting his pack. He kicked into gear immediately, while I could hardly keep from having a panic attack.

"Great, we will see you soon," he says before handing the phone over to me.

"Emma, I'll see you in a few. Please be careful," Ally says to me.

"You too." We hang up, and I glance at the shifter.

His attention is on our surroundings. He is alert and focused, searching for any signs of a threat. Though he doesn't look at me, his hand easily finds the small of my back. There is a sense of safety being close to him. It is a sensation I never thought a wolf could ever bring me.

"Let's go." He tugs me towards him and begins walking towards home.

We nearly make it out of the cemetery before my phone rings once more.

CALL FROM: PRESTON

My feet stop moving. Tension wraps around me, so tight that it's difficult to draw in air. My chest hurts with a stabbing sensation.

"Should I answer?" I breathe out the question.

"You don't have to," Alaric says. His attention shifts from the vibrating phone in my hand to my face.

Thoughts run through my mind at lightning speed, trying to weigh the risks and benefits of answering or ignoring the call. Somehow, I decide before the call goes to voicemail.

I answer.

I remain silent, unable to bring myself to greet the caller. How does one greet someone whose family destroyed yours? Someone who knew the truth yet hid it. 

"Emma, I wasn't sure you would answer." His voice breaks the silence. The familiarity of the tone is strange, for suddenly he is nothing that he once was. No longer is this a friend, a lover, a trusted companion. He is worse than a stranger. He is someone who fooled me so easily into trusting him that I blinded myself to the monster that he was.

My fingers wrap so tightly around the phone that I am scared the screen may crack. "What do you want, Preston?" His name feels rough in my throat.

"I need to talk with you alone."

I glance at Alaric. "You got me on the phone, don't you?"

He chuckles. "You are not alone." 

I do not know how he knows this.

"I will never be alone with you," I say between clenched teeth.

He draws a breath and releases, it's not quite a sigh. "Do the last few years really mean nothing to you? I know you deeply. Your likes, your dislikes, your desires. I do not want to hurt you, but I can only protect you if you play ball." There is a carefree confidence in his voice that rubs me the wrong way.

"I have never been one for baseball, you know that. Feel free to keep your balls to yourself." My attention moves across the terrain, half terrified that he may step out of a shadow from somewhere.