The Beast And The Blessed

Eight: Joselin

Joselin's P.O.V.

The darkness had never looked more appealing than it did at that moment. Either that or I opened the door before me and faced the man I knew was standing on the other side. I didn’t need to hear him or see him to know that he was there.

I could sense his beast, his aura.

He was lying in wait patiently, like he was waiting for the perfect moment for him to pounce on his unsuspecting prey. Only I knew Tobias was on the other side of the door.

My heart was beating rapidly, giving me away as well. He knew I was here, and I knew he was listening to the erratic thumping in my chest. He had been for the past five minutes that I stood there, staring at the doorknob.

Was he the lesser of two evils?

Knowing he was willing to wait for me to leave my tower instead of walking right in to confront me made me even more anxious.

The darkness I would need to teleport through gave me enough pause, but being unable to walk freely down the hallways made me angry. This was my home. I didn't even know where Tobias slept, but it wasn't in the castle.

Yet, he was preventing me from doing my job by cornering me.

After a long internal debate during my shower, I finally decided to talk to Killian about my suspicions. But to do that, I would need to get through the wall of muscle that had gone from ignoring me the past few months to avoiding me the past two weeks to torturing me.

On the other hand, I hadn't traveled through the empty realm on my own since my near-death experience. Every time I considered it, a shiver would run down my spine, and I felt the nails clawing at my skin again.

They had wanted me to stay last time. A knife was sticking out from between my shoulder blades from Talia. She had helped raise me, but as soon as she had the chance, she had thrown that dagger with deadly precision and lodged it into me. It wasn't surprising. She had always held grudges and was vindictive, but she was also one hell of a teacher.

What had caught me off guard were the sudden presences in the darkness. Before, it was always quiet and empty. I could travel through to anywhere I desired in the blink of an eye. But at that time, there were others.

skin, trying to drag me away from Aurora and Agatha as I fought to get them to safety. I had done my best to get them

shoulder only a second before their rough tongue slid across my skin, tasting the blood that

I was ready to leave and take my people to safety, but as my blood coated their tongue, the low growl of satisfaction made me freeze with terror. Every hair rose as I felt my mouth

to

was stronger, it seemed easier for me to zip through that world to get

and calming

wouldn't kill me, I needed a break from

my feet carry me to Killian's office. Tobias was leaning against the wall across from my tower entrance, his

go, flickering into the darkness that filled my soul with unease. I watched through the first two flashes as Tobias lunged forward, grabbing my hand

had come with me, even if I wasn't ready to speak to him. It took everything in me not to stop and glance around in the vast emptiness as I felt eyes on me. I knew

travel there

Killian. Get to Killian.

we had entered, we were free, standing in front of Killian's open office door. The king raised an eyebrow at

didn't have much time. As soon as I closed the door, leaving the two of

to wait for his permission before slumping into one of his visitor's seats like I used to when

she? I haven't ever seen that kind of power before, let alone that kind of unpracticed control." He picked up the paper he had before him

waited for him to look up at me again before speaking. "Someone survived. At least one witch, and by the feel of it,

I was discussing a threat to his mate and possibly to myself. Perhaps, I wasn't so far off on my theory of not

And there it is.

she was trained and felt confident in her abilities, she could handle the threats herself, and there would be no

or didn't care about what I had to say. At least he couldn't say I didn't warn him. Still, it didn't make missing my best friend any less. "Ian, what do you say tonight

one of my favorite past times with him. Until this most recent year, after a hard day, we used to sneak into the kitchen and steal a few bites of whatever dessert the cooks had made that day. We would

about it. Even when they didn't bake anything that day, we always found peanut butter and jelly on the counter or a pudding bowl in

with her, I had given him space. Now, I could barely work in the same room as him without something or someone causing us to go our separate