“Kyan?” I ask, and he looks over at me, his eyes darkening to that of Kaif’s before he nods, walking over to me. Shocking me when he wraps his arm across my shoulders and pulling me to him. We walk out of the ruins, and a shiver runs up my spine at the sensation of passing through it; it is like passing through a portal.
Kyan leans into me, tucking me closer. “Promise me something?” Kyan whispers, before looking back at the ruins.
“What?” I ask and he stops.
His hand cups my face and his eyes flicker. “If Kaif loses control,” he pauses. My brows furrow in confusion. “If Kaif loses control, Ella. Get to the ruins, and wait for Jonah,” he murmurs before looking over my shoulder at Jonah, and I peek back at him, and Jonah nods to him.
“Kaif can’t enter his form; he will be forced to hand back control,” Kyan says.
“You say that like you expect me to be sticking around,” I tell him, and his lips tug up.
“Maybe,” he chuckles, shaking his head. “Do you promise?” He asks, and I nod my head. Kyan leans closer, wrapping his arms across my shoulders and pressing his lips to my temple.
Kora purrs in my head but I remind her not to get her hopes up, Kyan has a bad habit of crushing any hope, or igniting it, half the time I don’t know if our bond will go up in flames, freeze over or obliterate completely.
“Come on, we should head back,” Kyan says, turning toward the path. “Keep up,” he says, glancing at Jonah.
“If you can,” Jonah says before he suddenly shifts, shredding his clothes at the exact same time Kyan does. I shriek when Kaif grabs me. His deep chesty laugh rumbles against my chest. I grip his hairy shoulders, tucking my face into his neck. My legs lock around his waist tightly as he moves. The air whips past my ears and sounds like a tornado rushing around us. Kaif moves that quickly. The air stings my skin, and it doesn’t take him long before he passes Jax, who surprisingly keeps up as he runs across the fields back toward the manor.
Marabella
Getting back to the manor, we are soaking wet. I am completely drenched and Jax shakes out his fur as Kaif places me back on my feet, wetting me even more. Looking up at Kaif, he is huge yet also drenched and he ducks down through the doorway going inside. I follow.
“You can use my shower. Jonah and I will use the communal ones,” Kaif says.
“You have a communal shower?” I arch an eyebrow.
“Yes, the floor above, Kyan’s grandmother started her own coven, witches prefer covens and for a time they lived in a way they still do,” Kaif states walking up the steps just as Lucas comes out with a huge grin plastered on his face.
However, his smile drops, and his eyes go wide when he spots Kaif beside me. “Cookie?” Lucas says, but I am now wary of Lucas’s baked goods.
“No, thank you,” I tell him, looking down at my drenched clothes. The tray he is holding trembles when Kaif speaks.
“Have any more scones?” Kaif asks, and Lucas shakes his head.
“I’ll make some,” Lucas stutters before rushing off back toward the kitchen. He rushes through the door and then returns, sticking his head out. “Ah Marabella, dear, your parents called, by the way. They have been trying to reach you all day,” Lucas informs me while keeping his eyes only on me.
“Thank you, Lucas,” I tell him and his eyes dart nervously back to Kaif and he disappears quickly back into the kitchen. I notice Jonah watching us at the top of the stairs. He now has on a pair of shorts.
He offers a set to Kaif, who shakes his head. “Kaif?” Jonah asks, looking wary of him.
“Kyan is still here. I won’t hurt her,” Kaif answers, trudging up the steps to him. I have to run to keep up. Kaif easily takes three stairs at a time and gracefully, it doesn’t even look out of place because of how big he is. When we reach Jonah, Jonah wraps his arms around my waist, steering me toward Kyan’s room while Kaif continues up the next set of steps and I stop.
“What’s that room up there?” I ask Kaif, and he stops. He glances at the door, the one I always get a strange feeling about.
“It’s where the coven did their magic.” Kaif answers, and his eyes flicker for a second as he pauses for a second. “Kyan said I show you.” Kaif says, and I look up at Jonah, who kisses my cheek below my eye.
“You don’t need my permission,” Jonah says.
“She wants you to come, idiot,” Kaif says, and I look over at him. His eyes are on Jonah’s arms wrapped around my waist.
“You know you can be rude, right?” Jonah says to him, steering me toward the stairs.
“And you, oblivious,” Kaif says, turning back to the stairs. Jonah follows as Kaif and I climb the next set of stairs. Kaif waits out the front of the door, the energy coming off it, makes an icy chill run up my spine.
Kaif’s entire body visibly shivers and the same inky, ghostly sphere that Kyan showed me earlier appears. The same as the ones I thought were tattoos lacing Kyan’s skin. They appear in Kaif’s hand. After he murmurs something in a foreign tongue, he chucks the sphere at the door. The ghostly black stuff spreads across the door, covering it and bleeding into the wood. Then I hear a lock click. Kaif grips the door handle and pushes it open.
“Magic opens it?”
“Only dark magic,” Kaif answers. I notice Kaif has trouble with words, like pronouncing them, yet his voice is clearer than the last time I spoke to him. Yet, when he speaks in that foreign tongue, he is clear as a bell. I think it’s odd. Kaif walks in and I follow after him. The room is dark, so dark I can’t see anything, and it is freezing inside. Smoke clouds appear in the air from my breath.