Spring Rain (10 page)

“Don’t you see, Beck? I’m dangerous to
you.”

“You aren’t. The soul stone is,” he
replied.

“And I’m charged with protecting it.” She
had inherited the duty of protecting the small piece of Dark
capable of destroying the Light source and its master on her
seventeenth birthday from her mother.

“I doubt you were meant to do it completely
alone.”

The response crippled her defenses for a
moment, and she recalled how many times she had thought the exact
same thing. Protecting a piece of solid Darkness from the Dark
should not have been a mission for one lowly fire witchling who had
never really done anything worthwhile in her life.

“We’re meant to be together, Morgan. I’ve
always known this and I’m pretty sure you have, too.”

She said nothing. The words felt true and
painful as well. It was just her luck that she’d meet the man who
could accept her despite her flaws and calm her fire magick – and
not be able to be with him because she was bad.

“Come home with me,” he said again, holding
her gaze. “I’m much stronger than I was. I’ve learned a lot about
the Light and how to expand and heal it. I touched you when you
were unconscious and didn’t get knocked out again this time. I can
handle an accidental brush with the stone.”

Her thoughts went to the boarding school
where she’d never felt welcome by anyone but him, Summer and Biji,
along with a couple others. She was expelled after being accused of
setting a fire to burn down the community Christmas tree. She
didn’t dare set foot on campus again, now that she knew the impact
the soul stone had on the Light. If she dragged Dawn and her lot to
the school … it’d cripple Beck even more.

“I don’t belong at the school, Beck, and I
couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you,” she said, resolve
solidifying. “I’m sorry.”

“Not to the school. I want you to stay with
me,” he replied.

Morgan couldn’t look away from his teal
gaze. Her memories were of the incredible night they’d spent
dancing in bonfires where the separation between her magick and
their passion melted away.

The terror she often experienced at the
thought of letting someone in, of trusting someone, piqued despite
the steps she had once taken towards Beck. This time, it wasn’t her
fear of being hurt that stopped her but the knowledge she was bad
for him.

“I can’t,” she said again.
“You don’t understand. The soul stone destroys Light, Beck.
You
are
Light.”

“My world ended when I thought you were
dead,” he whispered. “I don’t want a world without you.”

“Don’t do this to me.”
Morgan’s eyes blurred. She rested her cheek against his chest once
more, listening to his heartbeat. His beautiful words were all she
had ever wanted to hear from anyone and yet, they stung as well
knowing she could never coexist with him. She swallowed hard, aware
of what she needed to do, however hard it was going to be. “Why …
why don’t we do this?” she started in what she hoped was a somewhat
cheerful response. “You go home and find a way to make this happen.
To make
us
happen
without me hurting you. I’ll stay in hiding to keep Dawn off
balance. When you’ve figured it out, I’ll come home.”

She sneaked a peek at him to see if he
bought it. The light of hope flickered in his eyes, and she saw how
poorly she had hidden her real intention of getting him to leave so
she could disappear again. Beck not only read between the lines, he
read her with uncanny ability.

“You don’t think it’s possible,” he
stated.

She said nothing.

“You won’t come back.”

Morgan shook her head.

“Even for me?” he half-joked, his hurt
clear.

Her breath caught at the
idea of causing him more pain. “It’s because of you I won’t come
back,” she said before she could stop herself. “You are everything
to me. You and Connor. I won’t ever
,
ever
do anything to bring harm to those I
love.”

Beck’s expression warmed.

Hearing her words, she pressed her face to
his chest so she didn’t have to look at him. “So. Go home. Figure
this stuff out,” she told him, regaining her composure as much as
possible after openly admitting how she felt about him. She
breathed him in again, not wanting to let go.

“If I push you, you’ll run anyway, won’t
you?”

“Right now, yes. I’ll do whatever I must to
protect you.”

He was quiet for an agonizing moment before
he finally spoke with reluctance. “One condition from the Master of
Light and two conditions from me,” he replied, his grip around her
tightening. “The Master says, you won’t do this alone. You’re
right. The stone weakens me. But I can choose someone to accompany
you. You won’t be alone protecting the Light. I’m not, and it’s not
right you are.”

She rolled her eyes.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out
his phone. “As for my conditions,” he continued. “One, you check
in. Daily. I’ll text you my new number in a few hours.”

She waited, relieved he was agreeing. She
was on the verge of yielding to his pleas and returning home with
him, even knowing the danger she posed.

“Two, did you just tell me you love me?”

Fire engulfed them and filled the air around
them. Earth magick quieted it quickly, and Beck laughed.
Embarrassed by her magick’s response to the question she didn’t
want to answer, Morgan pulled away and snatched the phone out of
his hands.

“That’s a yes,” he said, eyebrows shooting
up in surprise.

“Get out, Beck!” she snapped.

A slow smile spread across his face. “You
are so beautiful, Morgan. I missed you.”

“And you are about to help me set this
hospital on fire!” Any hope she had of him not taking her outburst
the way she didn’t want him to vanished.

Beck touched her lightly. His earth magick
swept through her once more, calming her. “Daily,” he repeated.

She sighed. “Fine. Tell your ass of a
brother I need a new credit card.”

She waited for him to leave. She was ready
to explode into flames as it was. If he lingered, she’d melt the
both of them and everything in the vicinity.

“I will figure this out. I swear it,” he
said quietly.

Come home with me.
They were the most astonishing, humbling words
she had ever heard. Her instincts had screamed for her to agree.
Her magick had always whispered what was between them – a primal
promise of belonging – that she tried hard to ignore. There was no
denying it anymore. She’d put time and distance between them, and
the instinct only became stronger. Her fire wept with the need to
feel his gentle magick, and she had never wanted to curl up in
someone’s arms and simply … stay. Let him protect her from her
world, from herself.

Beck walked towards the door. The sound of
it opening sent her magick into a second panic, convinced their
potential final meeting shouldn’t end the way their first parting
did

“Beck,” she said quickly. Her mouth went
dry, and she licked her lips nervously. With a deep breath, she
forced out the words. “I want you to find a way. I want to come
home with you.” It sounded lame aloud, not quite the romantic
sentiment she meant to tell him, but the words, the ones she’d
never spoken to anyone, wouldn’t come.

“I know.” He winked. “And I will.” Opening
the door, he and his Light swept out of the room.

Morgan sagged. Her energy was almost spent,
her hands trembling and head pounding with the effort it took to
confront him without letting her fear drive her off or her heart
make her melt to his wishes.

Beck closed the door. Of all the emotions he
expected to feel, joy was not one of them, yet was foremost. Not
anger or despair or disbelief. It was happiness – pure,
Light-fueled happiness. Touching Morgan was always a bit of a
shock; her charged fire magick was strong, and it leapt into him
when he was close enough to touch her and began poking at the
calmer earth magick.

The result was an escalation of emotion,
particularly of desire, that took some effort to suppress.

But at least he knew now he wasn’t the only
one who felt what was between them. Morgan had all but acknowledged
it. It rubbed him the wrong way to leave her and return home, but
the Master side of him knew he couldn’t put the lives of thousands
of Light witchlings ahead of his emotions.

He’d do as he swore. He’d find a way,
because he couldn’t live a life without her, either.

“What is wrong with you?” Decker asked
warily from the bench seat where he sat next to Summer. She was
staring at him in bewilderment, too.

Morgan’s fire magick clung to him, and tiny
flames were visible in the air around him.

Beck wiped the sloppy smile off his face but
wasn’t able to suppress the jubilant emotion resulting from Morgan
not only being alive but admitting to loving him. “We came to an
arrangement,” he said. “She’s going to stay away from northern
Idaho for now, until I find a solution that lets her return without
hurting the Light. But I’m assigning someone to go with her.”

“You’re letting her go?” Decker asked.

“It’s her choice,” Summer said.

Decker glanced at her a bit uneasily while
Beck tried not to smile. Biji was right about there being something
going on between the two. “Just need to figure out who to send,” he
said.

“Connor,” Decker suggested.

“Noah,” Summer supplied.

“Noah?” Both twins said at once.

She nodded her head down the hallway. “He’s
already here. He helped Biji, Morgan and me, and I have a feeling
his black eye is from helping save Morgan last night. He wants to
undo what his sister did. Why not give him a shot?”

Beck curbed his initial response, that he
didn’t want Dawn’s brother, who also kept the secret about Morgan
being alive, anywhere near Morgan. By the look on Decker’s face, he
was dwelling on a similar line of thought.

“He’s the only person Dawn might listen to,”
Summer added. “When she had us all tied up, she wouldn’t let any of
her idiot lackeys hurt him.”

It makes sense.
Beck still hesitated to agree, leery of placing a
Dark student with Morgan and also concerned about Noah’s
loyalties.

“I’m on board,” Decker said, studying
Summer. “I can track him, too.”

“Okay,” Beck relented, aware they currently
had no way to track a witchling caught in between Light and Dark
like Morgan. “Do you think Mom or Sam knows more about the stone
than we do already?”

“I don’t think Sam knows much. I cornered
him after the mess in December. He told me what he said he told
you. He also said he didn’t think there was a way to destroy
it.”

“It’s not right that she’s stuck with it. If
not destroy, what about contain with a binding spell?”

Decker shrugged. “It takes a fire witchling.
For some reason, her family was chosen, like ours was. There’s
likely a reason for it. I don’t know if we should mess with
that.”

But we have to.
Beck rubbed the rough hair of his goatee. “And …
we
need
to find
Dawn. She’s not going to stop until she has that stone. I think we
should reconsider how we can use it to trap
Bartholomew.”

“Oh,
now
it’s a good idea?” Decker shot
back. “When I wanted to try it, you were neck-deep in self-pity.
But you’ll do it for Morgan. Interesting.”

I had that coming.
Beck rolled his eyes at his brother.

Summer smiled at him in encouragement.
Decker’s arms were around her, and she was leaning comfortably
against him. “He still loves you, Beck.”

“Thanks.” He snorted.

“She’s shielding herself and others. Maybe
Mom has a trick to find her,” Decker continued. “Or … maybe I can
still communicate with Bartholomew.”

“I feel like we’re half-assing everything,”
Beck growled.

“We’re doing what we know to do,” Decker
responded with rare calmness Beck attributed to Summer’s touch
subduing his shadows and emotions. “We don’t understand the stone
well enough to know how to contain it or why exactly Bartholomew
wants it found and in Dawn’s hands.”

“Is it something you can tolerate?” Summer
asked him. “To study if nothing else?”

“It’s strong,” Decker said, considering.
“I’d have to touch it. Between the former Masters of Dark and Mom,
I should be able to figure out something.”

“And I’ll talk to Sam and anyone else who
can help us understand,” Beck said. “This sounds more like a
plan.”

Decker leaned past Summer, sensing something
or someone Beck couldn’t. “Let me get Noah before he leaves.” He
rose and strode down the hallway, oblivious to the humans who
scampered out of his way. The Master of Fire and Night drove people
away while Beck’s gentler magick and open smile pulled people to
him.

Summer watched him. “Are you really okay
with this?” she asked Beck when Decker disappeared around the
corner.

Beck dwelt briefly on his emotions and the
enormous task before them. “I don’t know about okay,” he admitted.
“I’m not freaking out like I thought I would and I’m also not …
angry. I thought I’d be more furious. Instead, I’m relieved.”

“That’s good. You need a clear head.”

“You’re too smart.” He wrapped an arm around
her neck and gave her a gentle noogie. “I see how you boss Decker
around now.”

“It’s not bossing!” Summer laughed and
pushed him away. “And I’m not smart. I’m just not an emotional mess
like you and your brother.”

“It’s usually his state of mind not mine.
Something’s up, though, Summer. You’ve been prickly for a
while.”