Phantom Love

Chapter 43

        When I wake up my heart is pounding and I'm sweating profusely. I groan because it feels like I've been pumped full of electricity and it's slowly but surely burning away my insides. I reach inside of myself to check on my familiars but they seem to be desperately trying to control the surges of power that keep filling me up then leaving me with nothing. It feels kind of how I imagine a human fever to feel. Humans always used to describe fevers as too hot one minute then shivering the next. Whatever this is, it feels like I have a magical fever of some sort.

       I hear a voice that seems to be coming at me from the other end of a long tunnel and I crack my eyes open to see Ceto and Forrest above me. Ceto must have been the one I heard down the tunnel because her lips are moving and it takes everything in me to focus on what she's saying. 

       "Did you use your magic, Raven?" I try and nod but I'm achy everywhere and can't seem to find the energy to do it. 

       "She did." Forrest says then looks to the others, "She must have used her magic to send me that," He pauses for a second to find the right word, "visual." 

        Ceto huffs, "Babes I told you not to use your magic until fully mated." She looks to Kei, "She needs to fully mate, now." When he looks hesitant she continues, "You won't hurt her, I promise. She looks ill right now but it's because her magic is becoming more and more volatile, becoming too much for her physical body to handle."

       Kei walks over and puts his hand on my forehead and I let out a cry of pleasure as most of the pain seems to evaporate. I shoot up in bed and wrap myself around him, letting a sigh of contentment escape me. 

        "We'll be back." The words seem to rumble through him with my ear against his chest and I practically shiver at the sound of it. 

         I feel as air whips around me but I'm content where I am, with my face smushed against a bare chest. Then I realize his chest is bare and I lift my upper body off of him to get a better look. The man only has a pair of loose sweats on. I growl, actually growl, as we pass some of the palace workers and the women among them look him over appreciatively.  

         "Put your claws away kitten, they do nothing for me." He shifts me until I feel how hard he is under his sweatpants, "You do this to me, no one else." 

       I relax under his reassurance, laying my head on his chest once again, and he picks up the pace. I relax against him again and start running my fingers along the hard lines of his upper body, thankful the horrible feeling of being stretched too thin is gone for now. Am I ready to finish this mate bond though? I'm no doubt ready to be mated to Kei but the fear of my power still lingers. A voice in the back of my mind whispers that I'll never be strong enough to control that amount of power. What if I can't control it, what if I blow up and kill everyone instead? I think to myself. 

        Kei chuckles, well shit, once again my filter seems to have disappeared, "You're too strong willed for anything to ever use you so easily, Kitten."

       I huff, "You call me kitten, not very ferocious if you ask me." 

       The lighting seems to change from light to dark and I lift my head off of his chest to look around. Before I can get a good look though I'm being set down and both of Kei's hands land on either side of my face.

       "I didn't watch over you the whole time you were in the Ether and ever come to the conclusion you were weak or incapable." His thumb runs over my bottom lip and my eyes flutter close at the feel of it, "If anything you showed over and over again just how strong you were. No matter what situation you were in, or how lost you thought you were, you never gave up. If anything you somehow found a way to grab hold of fate itself and convince it to give you exactly what you wanted." He leans down and presses a kiss to my temple, "And fate would not have given you something you couldn't handle."