"Hey, now."

I jumped at Ben's quiet words.

He sat beside me on the bench and pulled me to his side, his cheek on the top of my head.

He didn't say anything, just held me.

It was so familiar, so normal.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered.

"What for?"

"I shouldn't have told you. You're going to go back to work and you're going to be breaking so many rules..."

"It's okay."

I shook my head.

"That's what you're most upset about?"

I shrugged.

The worry rolling off of him made me wrap my arms around him.

"Babe, talk to me."

"It's just a lot. Everything that just happened."

He chuckled. "Yeah."

"I'm pissed you lied to me. I'm pissed at Carey for blaming you for what happened. I'm scared of these powers I'm supposed to have. I'm confused because I love both of you and I don't know how that works. And I'm sad because everything I thought I knew isn't real and I don't know what to focus on to stay grounded. I keep going from pissed, to scared, to confused, to sad..."

"What are you right this second?"

I took a second to think about it. "Safe." It seemed it didn't matter what life altering event I found myself in, I'd always feel safe in Ben's arms.

"If you need to feel grounded, you think of that. You think of me. I'm real. How I feel about you? That's real. What we have is real. Carey? He's real too. He might be acting like a dick right now, but that man adores you. That's real."

I glanced up at him and he tucked the hair behind my ears.

"We will figure out something to help you with your magic. We will find the bastard who killed Trini. Babe, it will be okay."

"How do you know?" I whispered.

"Because the instant I saw Carey in that house, I was positive I was losing you forever, but I didn't. You're still here," he whispered. "You're still here and you're still mine and I'll be damned if I'm going to let anything mess that up."

Being a vigilante when your boyfriend is a cop? Never a good idea. Finding out magic exists and I'm half fire faerie? That's a twist I didn't see coming. Reading a letter I wrote to myself telling me my long lost best friend is actually my mate? Yep, that happened. Oh, but here's the best part: having zero control over my powers? Well, that's just icing on the cake.

Now, if someone could explain to me how I'm supposed to navigate aforementioned revelations while catching the hunter killing off the people I love, that would be great, because the war isn't coming.

It's already here...

* This story was published briefly in the Born of Shadows and Magic boxset as A Fire Awakens under the author Mireille Chester