Autumn Storm (The Witchling #2)(45)

“Decker, I’m sorry,” she said.

“You’re sorry?” he raised his eyebrows. “For what?”

“I shouldn’t have said those things at the cliff about collateral damage and stuff. I didn’t understand why you hurt when I said them.”

“Someone told you about Summer.” His jaw clenched.

Summer. A prick of pain entered her temple. No wonder Beck and Biji had such reactions to her name.

“You still believe in second chances?” His voice took on a bitter note.

“Yes, I do.”

“I don’t.”

Autumn studied him. He was tortured by what happened. He hadn’t let his girlfriend go, and he hadn’t been able to live with what he’d done. She had the sense again that he didn’t talk this way with the other girls he seduced. He shared his pain with her, no one else.

“I’ve crossed the point of no return,” he added, pensive. “I don’t want a second chance.”

Was this meant for her? Autumn concentrated on placing her feet, face burning again.

“People who want to find their way back, will,” she said.

“You’re too sweet to know the truth,” he whispered. He shook off the melancholy. “But, if you’re right, you better be ready.”

It scared her to think he was serious. She wasn’t certain she’d be ready for him to claim her or even if that’s what he was talking about. Autumn drew a deep breath.

“Deal,” she forced herself to say. “If you make it, then okay.”

He chuckled. “You don’t have any idea what you’re agreeing to, do you?”

“Not really,” she admitted. “I don’t think you’d take me up on it anyway.”

“You like to play with fire.”

“I believe in you.”

“I have no idea why.”

She shrugged, perplexed. “I’m not sure I do either. I shouldn’t. Maybe I’m afraid if you fail, I might eventually, too? Sounds so lame, doesn’t it?”

He said nothing. She didn’t dare look at him, not with her sudden self-consciousness. She wanted to hide. She trained her eyes on the ground in front of her, needing an excuse not to talk or look at him. They walked in silence for what felt like forever. He spoke after a lengthy pause.

“You made it.”

She looked up. A smile spread across her face as she realized they’d passed the main house and were standing at the corner where the dorms started.

“I did,” she said. Turning around, Autumn took in the distance she’d walked without her cane. “Wow.” She was hurting, but she’d done it.

She felt the air shift around her. The magick turned fearful. It had last been afraid on the cliff, with the unnatural presence. Her breath caught as she turned. It was his body, but the darkness peering from his eyes wasn’t him.

“No!” she breathed. Autumn closed the distance between them and placed her hands on his face. Fire shot through her. It wasn’t his seduction fire but something else entirely, a danger that set off alarms with her magicks.

She expected whatever it was to push her away. Instead, Decker’s eyes closed. His body shuddered and his head dropped until his cheek rested against her temple. The tension melted from his frame. For the first time since they’d met, he was yielding to her instead of the other way around.

The danger was gone.





Chapter Twelve





The Darkness snatched Decker, perhaps sensing his growing distress with how much he wanted Autumn. Bartholomew had been screaming at him the entire time he’d been walking with her, telling him to leave. Lately, Decker sensed the ancient Dark Master - the last who’d surrendered to the Darkness – didn’t like Autumn at all. What was one frail girl to the Darkness, when Decker had already made his decision and started down the path to surrender?

Autumn pushed the Darkness back with her simple touch. Bartholomew’s voice was silenced by her actions, along with those of everyone else. Decker let himself dwell in the strange sense of peace. Her fingers were cold from the weather, her scent a mix of snow and woman. The warmth of her body made his too aware of how close she stood. Her breathing was uneven as first the Darkness then his own magick raced through her body. If he let himself, he’d barely have to move to bring their bodies together.

“Why did you do that?” he asked.

“I…I’m not sure.”

The mysterious, fleeting sense had been there when they met at the cliff and at the football game. It was present several times along their walk. He was able to identify it now as profound confusion. How did she seem so lost yet so aware? Despite the pain she battled, she’d seemed more in control of her world and life than anyone he’d ever met, save his father.

He was struck by the idea that her bravado and self-control stemmed as much from discipline as it did from the need to stabilize a world that wasn’t entirely hers. Not understanding the source of her confusion, he also didn’t understand how her responses to him were often instinctive.

“I think I didn’t want you to leave,” she said.

The sense of confusion faded. He’d never had a reason to pry at what was behind her tough fa?ade. Without Bartholomew and the other voices, he heard own instincts for the first time. They insisted he needed to know more. Decker expelled his magick into her to identify what was hidden in the depths of her mind. Not only was it inaccessible, it was blocked – by magick. How had she found a way to lock her mind away from a Dark Master?