His Miracle Mate: Rise of the Moon Children

Chapter 42

The air in the room crackled, charged with energy. The smell of earth right after a rainy storm suddenly suffused the air.

I could almost see the flow of magic from Aria to me, a pulsing thread sucking all magic out of her. It tasted wild and raw, as a werewolf would. My own magic was drunk off of it, of the sheer power behind it. Aria dropped to the ground, writhing with pain, her pained screams faint beyond the ringing in my ears.

It was as though I watched everything from behind a veil, distorting reality until I was no longer involved. All I could feel and taste and smell was the magic.

My magic swelled, fed by Aria's, and it was exhilarating. I lost myself to it. There was nothing but the taste of power on my tongue and its addictive warmth rushing through my veins. I wanted more of it. To hog it all like a dragon. To glut myself on the heady taste of it.

Everything disappeared. My vision turned dark. And I was drowning in a deep well of power.

Then a sharp tug through the bond dragged me out of it.

My vision cleared up with a whoosh in my ears. Orton and Ezra were there next to me. Wren and Luna Blackrock crouched next to Aria, who'd sat up, her freckles standing out in her now ashy skin.

I realized I was still taking in her magic. I could sense the flow of it from her to me, but now I was back to myself and aware that I had to stop.

"Focus, Orla," Ezra said, framing my face. His skin was cool against mine, which rang an alarm bell in my head. Ezra was always warmer, unless something was wrong with me.

Ezra's blazing eyes held mine, a steady anchor in the sweeping current of power.

I wrestled with my magic, trying to make it the current stop. It was overwhelming, like trying to gather water in my arms.

"One thing at a time," Ezra said. "Just one thread at a time."

One thread at a time. I could do that. I shut my eyes tightly. The surge of magic appeared in my mind's eye, a pulsing flow between Aria and me.

Oh my God. I was still pulling in her magic. Her energy in my mind was fading the more I took, and if I kept going, soon she would fade altogether. She would die.

I didn't like the girl, but I didn't want her to die.

The severity of the situation grounded me, made me wrench control of my magic, jerking its leash. After several moments, the flow of energy slowed, and another minute later, it stopped all together.

Now I just had to give it back. Purging the magic back into her was harder than I expected. So much power. I'd taken so much power, and it was so alluring to just keep it. It wouldn't be so bad if I did, right? It felt so good to be this powerful.

"Give it back, baby." Ezra's soft voice rang in my head, his fear and concern for me trumping the seductive call of all that power. Orton's hand squeezed mine, his familiar magic a comforting reminder of who I was.

I let go, expelling magic back to its proper owner. Ezra and Orton stayed with me every step of the way, until every last drop of her werewolf magic was out of my system.

Aria's gasping breath had me opening my eyes, squinting in the sudden darkness. The windows showed a somber weather. Angry wind whipped the trees, and heavy clouds moiled in the somber sky, bleeding shadows into the room.

"Are you okay?" Wren asked Aria. The young werewolf looked at me through wide, glowing eyes, her breathing heavy.

"You're a monster," she whispered.