Forbidden Magic by Jennifer Lyon Read Free Book Online Page B

anyway.” She turned back. “Except you’ll have your soul.” She hated the bitterness she saw brewing in Eli. Her brother believed that if he found his mate, the one witch who had the other half of his soul, and bonded with her, then Lance would lose his hold on him.
    But he hadn’t found the witch and time was running out.
    She told him, “I’m going to find a way to negotiate your freedom, Eli. Or I’ll use my magic to help you find your witch. Whatever it takes, you belong to Wing Slayer. Not Lance.” She turned away, refusing to let him see the hot tears filling her eyes as she added softly, “Or me.” Because in the end, what would it matter? All her emotions would be gone. Eli wouldn’t matter to her then anyway.
    Nothing would.
    Chapter Four
    Ram had run six miles, stripped off his clothes in his backyard, tossed them on the wrought-iron chair next to his towel, and dove into his ice-cold pool. The first light of dawn was just beginning to pinken the sky, but he kept swimming laps. Experience taught him that the burn in his muscles would ease the gut-cramping, vein-twisting craving for witch blood.
    As he cut through the water, setting a merciless pace, he could still smell the scent of that witch’s blood. It had sunk through his skin to sear his veins.
    Forever.
    He’d struggled for so long to keep the dark, blood-craving creature inside him locked down.
    Ruthlessly controlled.
    But sometimes he was just fucking tired.
    He thought of the other soul mirror couples; Axel and Darcy, Sutton and Carla, Phoenix and Ailish, and Key and Roxy. They all had love, a deep unending love that made life worth living.
    What did he have?
    A soul-mirror witch who didn’t want him or their bond, and who ran from him. Witches who ran from him tended to get hurt.
    As he swam deeper, the watery silence amped up the memory of the witch that had run from him when he was fifteen. He could still see her long blond hair flying behind her, smell her blood.
    Feel the small knife in his hand.
    He broke the surface of the water and shut down that train of thought. He wasn’t going back there. He’d learned. And one of the things he’d learned? Don’t chase a witch. It brought out the predator in him.
    Once more, he pushed deep under the frigid water, turned, and kicked off the side, slicing up cleanly through the water. Shayla, his soul mirror, wasn’t who dominated his thoughts. He’d crossed her path inside Roxy’s apartment without knowing it. It had set off a reaction in his tattooed bird and caused him to feel like he was forgetting something important. There was an urge to find her, but it was an abstract, undefined need. Like being hungry, but not knowing what he wanted.
    But with Ginny, yeah, that was very real, very much about her. Just her.
    She was the one who stealthily crept into his thoughts whenever he let down his guard.
    Her expression earlier tonight when he’d sent her away with her brother had made him want to grab her, pull her tight, and kiss that look—the disappointment and grief—off her face. She made him want to promise to fix her world.
    He wanted to make love to her.
    Not because her father gave her some kind of fucked up order. But because both of them craved it, both wanted it.
    He turned again, pushing himself hard through the water. Trying to cool his lust. Sex between him and Ginny wasn’t going to happen. If it came down to a choice between Ginny’s well-being or Eli’s soul? Ginny always came first.
    He increased his strokes, cutting through the water, trying to outdistance all the needs riding him. Then he heard a sound.
    Ram stopped swimming. Treading water in the deep end, he tracked a noise coming closer to his yard. Then he heard a latch click on his back gate. Instantly, he switched to full alert. It was probably Axel coming by to check up on him, but Ram didn’t take chances. He powered over to the side of the pool, and then went predator still. Watching the gate in the barely