Everlasting

Chapter 23

Griffin

"Did you know your spell was going to kill us?"

Wulfric stopped moving at Roderick's words, and I couldn't rip my eyes away from him. He looked bewildered, and his eyes darted from Roderick to his father to me. When he saw me, I sagged into Pop's arms. I didn't like what it said about me, that I doubted my mate's good intentions even for a few seconds, but that doubt evaporated as soon as our eyes met. If the spell the witches agreed to help us perform was lethal to them, Wulfric hadn't gone in knowing that. His bafflement was too genuine, and I could see how worried he was about my reaction.

I released a shaky breath and nodded slowly at him. I believe you, I thought at him, but of course our mind link wasn't active yet so he didn't hear it. I thought Wulfric understood, anyway, judging from the way he relaxed.

We were too focused on each other. I didn't realize Roderick was moving to lay crystals in a circle at Wulfric's feet until the last one was placed and a cage of red light appeared around him. I fought against my father's hold on me, and caught him by such surprise that I made it two steps away from him before he yanked me back again, so hard that it ached where my arm joined the shoulder.

"Stay back!" Dad yelled, throwing himself in front of me while Pop pulled me back. He looked over his shoulder at Wulfric and added, "I don't know if those crystals are spelled with enough power to kill you, but they'd certainly do some serious damage and they'd kill the rest of us. Keep away from the edges while we get this resolved."

Trust Dad to keep his head during a time like this. Me, I was about to lose my mind knowing my mate was trapped behind such a dangerous barrier. Maybe logically, I could have understood. Maybe. But logic really didn't matter here when I was terrified and just wanted to be with Wulfric.

"Let me in with him," I pleaded with Roderick.

"What? No!" Wulfric snapped at the same time as my dad said, "Griffin!"

"No way," Roderick said. "That barrier doesn't come down until we get to the bottom of this."

I looked frantically around the room for help, but no one stepped forward to argue with him. Glenna had her hands over her face now while she cried, and Safiya hugged her tight while glaring at Wulfric. Meanwhile, Wulfric's father was watching with a disconcertingly neutral expression. Arlo and Edmund were trapped, too, but at least they looked worried about Wulfric. And my dads were obviously too preoccupied with keeping me from touching the glowing red barrier to offer up any solutions.

If they were going to help at all, I needed to calm the fuck down. I took a few deep breaths, then looked back to Pop. "It's okay," I assured him. "I won't touch it."

Pop and Dad exchanged looks, then I was released and led further from Wulfric. We didn't go to the couches, which was probably for the best. I didn't know how any of them felt about me right now, after almost being tricked into dying for me. Better to stay away from Glenna and Safiya for now, or Roderick might restrain me, too.

"What now?" Dad asked.

Roderick looked at his captives and shook his head. "Now we get to the bottom of this."

"What exactly happened?" I asked. Roderick looked my way and I shrank under his hard-eyed gaze. I never thought of him as scary before, but I knew from my parents that Roderick was a lot more powerful than Glenna and Safiya were. He had gone to some fancy magic school, while the sisters had figured out a lot of witchcraft on their own. That made him the biggest threat.

Roderick held up a notebook. It was small and looked like it was made from really old leather, all cracked and faded. "This contains the immortality spell."