In the Midst of the Light~ The Guild Leader Chronicles Book Four (COMPLETE)

Chapter Nineteen

In the Midst of the Light

Nineteen

Valerio

I bring my fist forwards again, hitting the punching bag with everything inside of me. All the shame, guilt, self-hatred, and denial I'm feeling is being channeled into one emotion. Rage. White, hot, unadulterated rage. Zombie killing Aunt Nikiya has sparked something deep inside of me, and now I'm out for blood.

The gym on the far west side of the house is getting more use than ever before. Lexie and I would come in here from time to time before we mated, but neither of us have came in here since returning from the island. Almost everyone in the family is in here now though. I'm working the punching bag, Lexie, Mom, Brianna and Logan are on the treadmills, Keegan is on the row machine, Aemilia is on the elliptical, and Dad and Uncle Septimus are lifting weights. R.C. was in here for a little while, but he's not big on working out, so he went to help the others. Sophie, Gavin, Uncle Luke, Miles, Eric, Abby, and Aunt Aquila are all preparing Aunt Nikiya's body to transfer her magic into Sophie.

After Pascale was able to calm Sophie down yesterday, she agreed to take her mother's powers. It shocked me that she is willing to, since she's never shown an interest in magic before now. Apparently, Pascale had been the one to convince her to take them. I don't understand their mating, but whatever arrangement they already have set up seems to be working well for them. They've been mated for seven months already. I guess when Aunt Nikiya and Sophie joined Alpha Dubois' wife for some shopping, Pascale showed up to help his Mom with something. Aunt Nikiya knew about her daughter's mating, and promised to keep it a secret for them. I'm sure Aunt Nikiya keeping that a secret is something Sophie will cherish for the rest of her life.

I work my neck, stretching it as I take the boxing gloves off. As soon as one of my hands is free, I instantly feel my pocket of my workout shorts. I sigh in relief when my fingers find the hard diamond. Lexie was dead set against me handling it, but when I picked it up off the floor, I didn't feel the black magic take root. Aemilia searched countless futures, and in none of them do I start using black magic. She said I'm somehow immune to the powers inside of it. Since I'm sure The Warlock knows we have it, I don't want anyone getting hurt when he comes to collect it. If he truly wants this diamond, he'll have to kill me in order to get it.

Everyone is keeping a close eye on Eric, but so far he doesn't seem to be effected by handling the diamond. I'm not taking any chances though, so Uncle Miles is watching him.

We're ready, Aunt Aquila informs me.

I take a deep breath as I look around the gym. Everyone has the same look on their face, a look that I'm sure is on my face. It's a mixture of pain, anger, and determination. I know preforming the spell to give Sophie magic won't bring anyone peace over Aunt Nikiya's death, but it might help some of them.