Chapter 8 || Burnout

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Right as I raised my hands, someone burst into the room, grabbed me under the arms, and hauled me out of the way.

Paxton moved in front of me. I barely had a moment to process what happened when he spun and launched a kick at the massive tiger, sending Kai crashing into the shelves.

Herbs and vials fell to the floor. Paxton turned to me, his hard, unyielding gaze rooting me to the spot. A muscle twitched along his jaw. His eyes were molten gold.

He was furious.

Behind him, Kai had scrambled back up. He shook his head, sending bits of broken glass and herbs across the room. Teeth flashing, he crouched low and lunged again.

Paxton swiftly side-stepped, using Kai's momentum to catapult him snout-first into the ground right next to me. An animalistic cry of pain echoed through the room.

I scrambled out of the way. Pieces of broken roots bit into my skin but the pain helped me focus.

The tiger rose from the floor again.

Paxton stepped forward, eyes fixed on Kai as if daring him to make another move.

My chest vibrated at the low growl rumbling through the room. It was different from the noises Kai had made, etched with a kind of deep-rooted authority that you couldn't fake.

Kai shrank away, cowering against the broken pieces of furniture. The small whimper of pain broke the rest of my stupor.

Right. There was only one thing I could do.

Ignoring the state of my magic, I waved a trembling hand. Roots burst free from the ground, smaller and feebler than the ones I had conjured before, and wrapped themselves around Kai.

My limbs seemed to be weighed down by bricks as I stumbled over to the pair. "H-help me keep him down," I muttered, keeping my gaze fixed forward.

I knelt to place my hand on his forehead. His fur felt unnaturally hot, feverish. Another tremor ran down his body but Paxton growled again and the tiger stilled.

I swallowed the primal fear that welled up again, not of the massive beast in front of me, but the one behind my back. I'd heard of it but never experienced how the pure will of someone else could feel like a heavy blanket immobilizing and astute.

I tapped into my magic and pushed. The fear moved into the back of my head. Slowly, the twisted energy of Kai's wild magic began to unravel. The tremors in his limbs died down.

The fur beneath my palm vanished and then Kai lay naked in front of me, a damp sheen glistering along his skin. His eyes were closed, but his chest was rising and falling peacefully.

It was done.

I fell backward, collapsing against something solid. It was all I could do not to lie down on the hard stone floor full of broken glass and spilled potion to take a nap myself. But it wasn't over not yet.

The hard something I was leaning on turned out to be Paxton's legs as he reached under my arms and lifted me off the ground, back on my feet.

Steadying myself on the wall, I finally faced the witch hunter, who happened to be watching me with an unreadable look. And then it hit me again.

I was screwed. I could have run. Run like I always did.

My pulse sped up as the old fear returned full force. He was like my own personal nightmare come alive.

He opened his mouth to speak, but the words were drowned beneath the whistling in my ears that seemed to grow louder with every second I was standing there.

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