Chapter 16: +Chapter 16+

Her frantic running caught the attention of another driver who drove close to the edge and slowed down, the window lowering to reveal an older lady dressed in a business suit.

“Hey, is something wrong?” She leaned closer to ask, concern on her pretty face.

Mari’s hands were trembling from terror, she didn’t expect a King to find her so fast. She had been expecting to have the entire night to herself before it was figured out that she was gone.

“There’s a strange man after me,” She relayed, her descriptions vague but her voice filled with enough terror for the business lady to take pity on her.

Kade wasn’t as upset as he should have been when the witch hopped into the stranger’s car and they sped off, as he tailed them, another car sped by. He glanced at the driver briefly but it was enough to catch a blur of white-blond hair.

The psychopath swerved through cars to go ahead of the car that Marion had gotten in so he could block them off in front. It was stupid and dangerous but Kade had to admit that it was very effective.

The lady behind the wheel screamed when a car came out of nowhere and cut them off, she stepped on the brakes, her plans to berate whoever had driven so badly crumbling when she saw who was behind the wheel.

She glanced at the strange lady she had picked up, to find her half out of the car already, King’s Lucien’s razor gaze fixed on her.

She watched in disbelief as the strange lady straight up dived into the bushes by the side of the highway, King Lucien parking properly enough to chase after her. *Just who exactly was that lady?*

She didn’t stay long though, not wanting to be collateral damage. She revved her car and quickly drove off, having a rather interesting story to tell her husband and cats. She had come to the capital for a business trip and she did that at least four to six times every year but this was the first time something like this had happened to her.

Kade disappeared into the bushes after Lucien, he had found himself enjoying the chase after the witch until he showed up and crashed everything. Which was a first because kinky shit was Lucien’s territory. It couldn’t be helped though, the witch thought fast on her feet and was very slippery to catch.

However, running into the bushes was the worst move she could have made because it would just be a repeat of the first time they met.

He quickly caught up to Lucien who was already backing the witch against a hedge of shrubbery, and he was glad that they were a little distance away from the highway because the witch’s hands burst into flames high enough to obscure her features.

Mari was overwhelmed, it was dark and her heels made it difficult to run fast enough. She had no idea where she was going and she was about to be caught to be killed. In the midst of all these roaring emotions and thoughts, her clenched fists caught on fire as she backed away from a prowling King Lucien.

Mari stared down at her hands with a lost expression, unable to process the blazing red flames that sprouted from the perfect skin of her palm. She looked up at King Lucien who had slowed to a stop, King Kade catching up to him.

She took a step back then another, her knees buckling. *This wasn’t right! None of this was right! She couldn’t… she couldn’t be a witch… this was…*

A lone tear slipped down an eye, her expression rife with confused pain. The tear tracks on her face caught on fire, making Lucien frown, concern blooming in his ice-blue eyes.

Mari was slowly breaking, she couldn’t accept that she was a witch but it was impossible for her not to be one and for the fire not to hurt her as well… So there was only one solution.

Lucien’s eyes widened in consternation when a scream fell past the witch’s lips, it was bloodcurdling. This only caused her conjured fires to rise higher and potentially become dangerous enough to light the bushes around on fire.

“Mari! Mari!” Lucien tried calling out to her, unable to get close but she seemed unable to hear him.

“What’s going on?” He found himself asking Kade when Mari clutched her hands and pressed her hands up against her face like she was getting burned.

Kade’s depthless black eyes reflected the red flames, the witch’s screams of pain resounding, loud enough to startle bats out of trees. He quickly deduced the situation - they had pushed her enough to make her snap.

He sighed; it might not physically hurt the witch but she truly believed that the flames burnt her and was in excrutiating pain. This was definitely a dumb idea but someone had to do it.

Marion had already crumbled to her knees, the fire climbing even higher. The fire was restricted to her hands and tears so there might be a way to accomplish his plans without getting third-degree burns.

Kade didn’t even look like he had heard Lucien’s question, one moment he was right beside the other King and the next he was crossing the space to tackle the witch.

“Kade! What the ever loving fuck!” Lucien cursed loudly as the North King took down the witch, holding her hands out to the side.

The smack knocked Mari out of her spiral into madness, her hazel eyes blazing with flames of theirs. She slowly blinked, the fire in her tears dissipated at the same time as the ones on her hands, her glassy eyes staring up at the North King.

“Fucking idiot,” Lucien could be heard muttering a short distance behind them.

That could have gone very badly, Kade would admit but it didn’t so that was the end of the matter. He wasn’t hurt save for the flaming teardrop that had burned a hole through his muscle shirt to scorch his skin, but that little sting compared to the worst-case scenario was nothing.