Page 42

I hesitate, then sit anyway, leaving a careful stretch of space between us. “What do you want?”

“You are very interesting,” he starts. His voice seems smoother, slower than usual. “You’re stubborn. Childish. Damn near insufferable when you don’t get your way.”

My brows pull together and I push to stand. “I didn’t come out here to be insulted.”

“Let me finish.”

The words aren’t loud, but they land like a command. His hand closes around my wrist again—rougher this time—and pulls me back down. A quiet pulse of heat moves through me; it feels wrong.

“You are stunning,” he continues, his voice dropping lower. “That much is obvious. So fragile. So honest.” His eyes drag over my face slowly. “You are unlike any human I’ve met.”

Human? The word sits strangely in the air, because that’s something I’ve only heard Kai say.

“You are something to be protected.”

Protected? The way Jack says it feels like a vow. I feel like I should be offended.

He leans closer, his hand sliding from my wrist to my forearm, guiding me toward him until our noses nearly brush. My mind tells me to pull away, but my body doesn’t move. I can feel his breath against my lips.

“You have no idea how much power you have.”

My heart begins to pound in warning.

“Jack… you’re scaring me.” My voice is softer now. Unsteady. I try to pull away, but his grip tightens.

“Jack…” I repeat.

His eyes darken with irritation. It’s as if he’s angry at me for saying his name, as if I’ve said it wrong. With every nerve lighting up at once, my body goes still in that quiet, instinctual way prey does when it realizes it’s being watched.

His jaw flexes as his fingers press harder into my skin. For a second, I don’t think he’s going to let me go. Then, his expression shifts. The tension vanishes. His familiar smile returns and he releases my wrist slowly.

“You need to be careful, Cal,” he says lightly. “Be careful who you let close.”

He says it like a warning, or maybe a promise. I rub my wrist where his fingers were, trying to shake the buzzing feeling still humming beneath my skin. The air feels heavier than it did a moment ago and I stand slowly, backing away from him. My pulse throbs in my center, even as the unease creeps beneath my skin. I turn and head back inside without looking at him again.

That didn’t feel like Jack. And I don’t know which part unsettles me more… the way he touched me, or the way my body reacted before my mind could catch up to it. I press my fingers lightly against my wrist, as if I might find the imprint of his grip still there. My skin feels warm. I don’t know if that’s from him… or from me.

I try to shake the moment from my mind. Cade and Kai would both kill Jack if they knew. I can already imagine the look on Cade’s face—quiet fury simmering beneath the surface. Kai’s would be worse. Cold. Surgical. It’s best I keep my mouth shut for now—I can’t stand the idea of trying to explain that nothing technically happened… and yet something absolutely did. The heat that moved through me. The way my body didn’t recoil fast enough. The warmth still lingers low in my stomach and that alone makes me feel guilty.

I swallow hard. I don’t want to examine that too closely.

I open the door to the library and exhale a sigh of relief at being alone and surrounded by the smell of old wood and faint candle wax. Familiar. Predictable. The kind of quiet that doesn’t ask anything of me. I let the door close softly behind me and allow my shoulders to drop just a little.

I make my way toward the desk, the stack of books still sitting where I left them a few weeks ago. I pull Jonathan’s journal closer and open it, letting the past swallow me whole.

February 12, 1855

The bleeding has gotten worse. Every time I attempt to use this power, the bleeding persists. I’ve searched through the grimoire for information or knowledge pertaining to this ungodly affliction. As my power grows, my body becomes weaker. I fear that I will leave my family far sooner than my age would suggest. I will keep seeking information within the grimoire. Since my father’s passing I have taken it and kept it safe away from my wife and daughter. They need not know of this part of me, for I fear it is too much for Bethany to handle and my darling daughter, Catherine, I want nowhere near this. I understand the fear my father possessed all those years ago when I was but a child. The difference is that I do not shy from this sacred text. I shall continue to embrace it and pray for its favor.

–J.H.

So that’s how it works. I trace the edge of the page with my fingertip, rereading the lines about blood and weakness. About power in one hand while the body withers in the other.

I don’t feel like I’m about to fall apart. I look down at my hand and remember all the times my magic went too far. Studying how I felt in the moment. It was as if I could fade away, but the power coursing through me was too strong to stop.

There’s always a cost. There has always been a cost.

I lean back in the chair, staring at the ceiling as the pieces begin to shift in my mind. His power grew, but he got weaker. If the power expands and the body fails… then something has to balance it. Something has to absorb the excess. Nothing in this family has ever been accidental.