Page 55 of Warrior Witch
I flexed my hands, willing my power to stay hidden.
“This is a long way to come for the sake of your fragile ego. Are you compensating for something over there, Kevy-bear?” I crooked my pinkie finger at him, pouting in mock sympathy.
“Fuck you, bi—”
A weaselly guy caught his arm, shaking his head emphatically as the MC president lunged for me.
“Easy, big guy.” I laughed, holding up both hands. Should I have been antagonizing the boss of all these surly looking bikers? No. But damn if it wasn’t fun.
As we bantered—hey, death threats could be banter; it just wasn’t as sexy as when Bruin did it—I was aware of his companions dismounting and slowly circling me until any escape route was cut off. I wasn’t worried, knowing I could make my own path. Bruin hadn’t expected my powers the first time we’d fought, so unless he’d fed them intel in the last couple of weeks, they shouldn’t know how powerful I really am.
“Game on, bitches. Who wants to go first?” I cocked my fists, prepared to keep up the pretense for as long as I could.
The way my skin buzzed told me it wouldn’t be long, but hopefully, I could have some fun first. The thump of boots on the road’s hard surface signaled the start of the brawl as a tall biker tried to attack me from behind. I stepped aside as he approached, aiming a kick at his crotch before I bounced out of the way of his friend coming in from the other side. Landing a heavy hit to a third guy’s cheek, I chanced a glance around to look for a gap in the attacks to slip through and caught a knee to the ribs.
When the heroes in movies were attacked by droves of villains, the bad guys each waited their turn for an ass kicking, hovering in a circle and closing in in groups of two or three so the hero could dispatch them appropriately. This… was bedlam. Limbs flew everywhere, some making contact with me, others nowhere near, which made me wonder if they were passing time fighting each other if they couldn’t reach me. I didn’t have time to find out one way or the other as my power built inside me, ready to defend against the waves of attack.
With a war cry, I let loose a shock wave of energy and took my first deep breath since the brawl began, but the men kept coming, and the next wave pounded into them without my conscious say-so.
That’s concerning.
The road beneath our feet rumbled, and clods of dirt rose into the air. Breaking free of the guy swinging a crowbar at my knees, I looked around and cursed.
The weasel guy was an earth witch.
With a flick of his wrist, the chunks of earth became missiles locked on target. I dropped to my belly and sent a jagged bolt of electricity toward all those lovely, conductible metal vehicles. Kevy-Bear yelped, knocking into weasel boy, and—thankfully—destroying his concentration.
I need more energy.
The lightning came faster this time. The volume, like nothing I’d experienced before, poured out until it swirled around me in a vortex of electrical energy. My hair stood on end, the energy zapping off goosebumps that ran up and down my arms.
A vague warning echoed in the back of my mind. A feeling that the power was too much. Too unstable. My heart pounded as the energy creeped through my feet and coated the road before me.
What had felt freeing a moment before took a painful turn as my muscles cramped under the strain.
Too much. Too much. Too much.
It became a fearful chant as bikers ran before the bolts of lightning that licked out of my body without my intention. Bodies littered the road around me in a circle, the smell of scorched flesh and leather heavy in the air.
With a lurch, my heart seized, and I screamed in agony as my power exploded out of me in a wave of devastation. Choking on a sob, I tried again to pull the energy back into me, like I had with Ranto and Kylen’s help. I prayed for the peace that usually came with discharging my power, but it only pulled harder at my core, tearing me apart from the inside.
This was what Levina had experienced in that death loop.
This is how my mother had died the night of the riot.
It was how I would die, too.
A single tear tracked down my burning face as I accepted the reality of my fate.
The curse had claimed another witch.
Kylen
“Is Addie in here with you?” Lindsay’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts as I sat in front of the plant I’d been searching for my entire life while thinking about the life of a certain lightning witch that was under threat.
We shouldn’t have let her go off alone. My gut churned at the idea of her taking on an entire MC by herself, even with her powers. I was a lover, not a fighter, so I’d have been no help, but maybe Bruin could, if he didn’t turn around and follow through with his threats to kill her.
I sighed, dropping my head in my hands as Ranto said goodbye to his friend.