Winter Fire (Witchling Series) (14 page)

She tapped out. Beck almost wished she hadn’t. He liked the feeling of her body beneath his, the sound of her ragged breathing and her womanly scent. Her hair tickled his nose.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I hurt your feelings,” he said and then pushed himself up.

“How’s it feel to beat up a little girl?” Isaac teased.

Awful
. He held out his hand to her. She ignored him and climbed to her feet, face red and eyes angry.

God, she looked so beautiful. His ear still rang and his cheek stung, but it was worth the pain to put his hands on her.

Catching himself staring, Beck shook his head and faced Connor, who was frowning.

“You got a minute, Beck?” the protective brother asked.

“Sure.”

“I’m going to change,” Morgan said and breezed by them. The guys parted for her, almost every one of them turning to watch her walk towards the door.

Connor appeared too worried to notice. He was walking away from the mat. Beck followed, unable to tell what troubled the witchling.

“So,” Connor said and turned. “You’re not going to let Amber call our parents about this, are you?”

“About …”

“Her picking a fight.”

“Do you know what happened?” Beck asked.

“Not really. I guess she … I don’t know what she was doing,” Connor sighed. “She wasn’t fighting in dance class. She was wandering around the forest after breakfast or something and got into a fight there.”

“With who?” The only person in the forest that Beck knew of was Sam, the yeti. He doubted Sam would fight with anyone, especially a feisty little fire witchling.

“She won’t say. She was late for dance class, and Amber asked me where she was. I kinda, um, lied and said she was here with the guys sparring,” Connor continued. “Then I went to her room and found her washing blood off her hands and trying to scrub it out of her coat.”

“At least she won,” Beck murmured. “But why …” didn’t I feel it? He trailed off. If a Light witchling was in danger, he should be alerted by his magick. His brother, Decker, got call-outs when a Light witchling went Dark or a Dark one broke the Dark Laws. Beck received the same sort of alerts whenever something threatened a Light witchling.

Connor shook his head in disapproval – and concern. Beck’s attention returned to him, and suddenly, he knew why he didn’t sense Morgan in danger.

It was the same reason he wouldn’t sense Connor in danger and hadn’t been able to know when Summer was in danger, when she was stuck between Light and Dark. They weren’t Light witchlings. They didn’t have the same protection as those who had chosen or were born into Light.

“It’s a lot to ask,” Connor said with a deep breath. “But can you keep it between us? I’m afraid of Amber calling home.”

“So is Morgan,” Beck replied. “At this point, I need to know why home is a worse solution than here for her.” He was tired of the strange secrecy around the brother and sister. He was also disturbed by the idea that he had not only placed Morgan in possible danger last night after the Dawn incident, but wouldn’t be able to help, if Dawn did something stupid.

Morgan couldn’t be another Tanya.

Connor ground his teeth loud enough to hear.

“That’s the deal,” Beck said, unwilling to back down. “You both are stuck between Light and Dark. If she’s in trouble here and won’t try to fit in, then I can’t help. Removing her from the school seems like a good option.”

“No.” Though firm, Connor was also torn.

“Beck, you want to wrestle?” Isaac called over to them. A glance revealed the boys were waiting.

“No, go ahead,” he said, waving.

“Can we talk somewhere else?” Connor asked.

“Sure,” Beck answered.

Connor led him out of the gym and around to the back of the dorms, stopping in the gravel driveway, kept clear of snow by a layer of salt. He stopped, paced and stopped again, green eyes on the pine trees of the forest.

Beck waited. He folded his arms across his chest, the earth’s warmth keeping him warm as it flowed up his legs and into his body. A water element, Connor was drawing snow from the sides of the road. Beck watched the emotions play across the teen’s face.

“She would kill me if I told anyone,” Conor said. “It took me a year to get her here, after all the messes we went through. My mom always wanted to send us when we turned thirteen, but our father wouldn’t let us. They got divorced when we were fourteen. Mom’s goal was to pack us up and send us here, but the court prevented it, and then granted Dad custody of Morgan with some sort of lame-ass excuse about how it was fair to both parents, if each got custody of one of us. I mean, seriously? It wasn’t fair to us!”

Beck listened.

“Morgan went to live with him and I went with Mom. I couldn’t come here without her. Mom never stopped trying to get Morgan back, but it’s not easy to fight a custody battle when you’re on minimum wage. I used to work as a busboy then as a waiter to help her raise the money. Anyway, Morgan went to Dad’s. It took almost three years for Mom to get an injunction, but then we couldn’t prove anything, and Morgan wouldn’t testify. The judge –“

“Wait. Go back,” Beck said, frowning. “Couldn’t prove what?”

“Dad has a temper. He used to hit our mom, and when I was fourteen, I mouthed off, and he decked me good. It’s why Mom got a divorce finally – to protect us. But then the judge gave Morgan to Dad, and he took it out on her. She showed up with bruises on Mom’s weekends,” Connor said in a hushed tone. “I knew what was going on, but she kept saying it wasn’t him.”

Someone Dark hurt her. Decker had said.

Beck’s anger unfurled within him. He didn’t want to imagine Morgan at the hands of someone abusive. Her behavior made sense in that light: What she said to Dawn, how she knew Beck’s pain. Why neither sibling wanted anyone to call home.

“Anyway, Mom petitioned to let us go to boarding school here. We got a sympathetic judge, and he sided with Mom. For once,” Connor sighed. “It took four lawyers and almost four years to get her out of there, and a year of that was in court.”

“I’ll protect her,” Beck said. “We won’t call your parents. I promise.”

“I know how difficult she is,” Connor added. “I am so sorry. I’ve done everything I can think of to get through to her how important it is that she just tries.”

“So, did the custody battle go sour at Christmas?” Beck asked. “It’s why she hates the holidays?”

Like a light switch, Connor’s cooperativeness switched off. His features grew shuttered.

“No,” he replied. “I can’t talk about that.”

“God. There’s more?” Beck asked, astonished. Morgan already had every excuse in the world to run away. The idea that something else – something worse, by Connor’s reticence – happened to her made Beck almost sick.

Connor said nothing, the gleam in his eyes telling Beck he wouldn’t.

“She’s such a sweet girl,” Beck said. “I can’t believe she’s been through hell.”

“Sweet,” Connor cocked his head to the side. “Something happened. Either you asked her out or she set your dog on fire or something.”

Beck allowed a smile to escape. “Do you really want to know?”

Connor studied him. He was troubled yet hesitant.

“No,” he said finally. “I think if anyone can help her, you can. But, Beck, I swear to everything holy, if you hurt her, I will drag you into the Dark with me.”

Beck’s heartbeat quickened. Connor had just given him permission to see his sister, after entrusting him with her secret.

“My intent is never to hurt her,” Beck replied. “I’m afraid she and I aren’t really able to go out.”

“Why?” the protective brother demanded, his guard back up. “She’s poor? Not blonde?”

“No,” Beck said, chuckling. Morgan’s defiance was on Connor’s face. “I’m dealing with some issues of my own that I want to protect her from. It might require me to wait before I consider asking her out.”

“Your court stuff?”

“Yeah, and a psycho, Dark ex-girlfriend who happens to be behind the kidnapping of my last girlfriend,” Beck said.

Connor frowned.

“I like Morgan. A lot,” Beck said then added to himself, too much.

“So be her friend,” Connor suggested. “That way, I don’t have to kill you, and you can still hang around her. I’d really prefer that, anyway. Don’t get involved.”

“That might work.” Beck smiled. No way in hell. What other option did he have? He wanted to be around her. He had to protect her. He thought quickly about what might’ve happened in the forest earlier that made her get into a fight. He could think of nothing that made sense; the earth, however, might tell him. “Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s great,” Connor said, face softening. “Still the best person I know. She deserves someone who can appreciate that.”

Beck heard the unspoken message. If he wasn’t serious about her, he needed to walk away. He was afraid to venture down that path.

“Okay. I’m going to find out about the forest incident,” he said. “If there’s anything else, you know where to find me.”

Connor grunted in response. Beck trotted away into the forest. He paused when he was far enough away from the sounds of the boarding school to meditate. The earth cleared a spot for him, and he knelt with a deep breath.

“Tell me what happened with Morgan,” he instructed the earth.

There was a pause while the magick swirled through him. Then, images formed. They were out of sequence, another of the challenges with communicating with the earth. It started with fire then cleared to show Morgan. Morgan running through the forest, after the fight, then actual images of the confrontation itself.

Beck tensed, waiting to see who was in the forest with her.

Alexa.

His eyes flew open as he saw the familiar face of Dawn’s most loyal lackey. Morgan kicked Alexa’ ass – that much was clear from the earth’s memories. Beck wasn’t concerned about this confrontation.

He was beyond worried about the next. Dawn sent Alexa as a message to Morgan, and Morgan was sending one back, whether or not she knew it. Alexa returning with her tail between her legs would infuriate Dawn.

He pulled out his phone and saw a message from his father. Ignoring it, Beck sent a note to his twin.

Hey – can you track/sense Morgan and Connor and any other in-betweens?

He sent it then opened his father’s.

Forgot – your mom says to remind you about the Winter Charity Fundraiser Wednesday. Your tux is ready.

Beck perked. He loved dressing up for the annual fundraiser his father hosted at a local lodge. A lot of wealthy people came to ski this time of year, and his father knew most of them in the area. The charity dinner had been a part of Beck’s winter holiday plans since he was ten.

The introverted twin Decker hated them.

Awesome!!!!
Beck texted to his father.

Decker’s response popped up.
Nope.

Beck rolled his eyes. His brother was the king of brevity. He tucked his phone away. Any hope he had of Morgan being under Dawn’s radar was now gone. He had a choice to make: confront Dawn and tell her to back off or try to keep Morgan close to him.

Confronting Dawn sounded like a great idea, if she was capable of rational thought and not carrying his daughter. Of course, staying at Morgan’s side might prove almost as challenging.

But who else deserved the protection of the Master of Light more than a witchling caught between Light and Dark? He thought again of Summer, of how she’d gone through so much pain to free herself from the Dark. Was Morgan’s battle as difficult?

She deserved better than he’d given her thus far. She deserved a chance to succeed. He just had to figure out how to give that to her.

Beck sat, deep in thought, for a long while. At last, he returned to the school, his resolve solidifying.

He’d keep her close and pray with every ounce of Light in his body he was able to keep her safer than he had Tanya.

Chapter Ten

For the first time since she arrived, Morgan was paying attention in class. Her workout that morning left her alert and tingling from head-to-foot from the full-body contact with Beck.

“Everyone who did their homework, pass it up, before we head to the Dark Campus for the rest of the day,” Amber said from the front of the class.

Morgan dug the small glass ball out of her bag and handed it to the girl in front of her, who nearly dropped it. Morgan caught it. The flames inside the ball rendered it hot.

“Amber, I don’t think you want mine,” she said, raising her hand.

“Oh, you mean you did your homework?”

Morgan flushed. Amber’s friendly wink showed there were no hard feelings. Sonya giggled from her seat beside Morgan.

Amber walked to Morgan. In her hand was a basket in which she was collecting the assignments from others.

“It’s a little warm,” Morgan explained.

“Your interpretation of the instructions is … unique,” Amber said, studying the ball in Morgan’s hand. “The theme for this one was winter.”

“It’s a star. Kinda,” Morgan said. She looked at her project. It didn’t look much like a star, but she couldn’t yet manipulate the fire magick into shapes. It sort of did what it wanted. The star she tried to make was a funnel-shaped flame instead.

“Alright. I’ll give you credit,” Amber replied. “It’s a lovely winter fire tornado. In the basket.”

Morgan set her pitiful project in the basket with the others. She’d been put in Advanced Magick, because she had a good handle on her fire. The only thing she really lacked was the ability to control it. It responded to her emotions, which were usually all over the place, instead of her commands.

“Everyone up, grab your jackets. We’re headed to the other campus,” Amber said cheerfully.

Morgan rose with the others. She hadn’t paid attention last week, when Amber originally explained the reason for the visit. Something about touring the new campus. At least she couldn’t fail any more projects, if she was there. She went into the hallway, tugging on her coat, and joined the rest of the girls milling in the living area. A sixteen-passenger van was running in front of the schoolhouse.