by Nicole Hall
He had to be in his office a certain number of hours of the day since he wasn’t teaching a full load of classes, but his office was computer lab filled with desperate students. If he never had to recover another accidentally deleted file, he’d be happy. The constant stress made his day long enough that by the time he got home, all he had the energy for was food, mindless TV, and sleep.
After talking to Jake on Monday night, he’d decided to see what would happen if he stopped fighting the bond. It relieved a great deal of the pressure from always trying to protect himself, but the continual access to Zee added a new kind of pressure. The fun kind that came with imagining her naked almost constantly. Unfortunately, there had been no naked time.
Zee was always there when he got home, and she’d tried her hand at cooking the last two days. They’d ordered pizza the first night after she’d burned the frozen waffles, but the rest of it had been edible. It meant a lot to him that she’d work on learning a new skill to help make his life a little easier.
The highlight of his day was coming home to find Zee in the kitchen muttering at one of the appliances. He loved being able to walk over and drop a kiss on her without being handed his balls. After dinner, they’d talk about anything new she’d found during her searching and try to come up with a game plan. She was still advocating for the ‘kidnap Will and make him talk’ plan, especially since his raid group hadn’t heard from Chad since Halloween. He was personally behind that plan, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. The bond probably clued her in that he wasn’t totally against it, but she didn’t push too hard.
As much as he wanted to chug an energy drink in the evenings and follow through on their promises, he limited himself to enjoying her snuggled against him on the couch. Any time things started to progress, she stiffened up a little. He wasn’t even sure she was aware of it, but he wasn’t going to make moves when she wasn’t ready. Each night, he’d gone to bed hard and aching, but she was getting more comfortable in his world. And he wanted her there, wanted her to stay.
He wasn’t ready to share that particular fantasy with her yet.
On Thursday, though, a virus got loose on the school network, and he spent all day chasing it down. When he finally got the infected computers separated, one of the aides from the main office told him they needed him to stay late for an extracurricular. The normal teacher had gone home sick. He’d gotten so fed up, his magic had escaped and fried the computer closest to him, startling them both when it sparked and began smoking. The aide had left in a hurry, and Ryan had considered chucking the damn thing out the second story window.
By the time he got home that evening, he was in a foul mood. He’d spent the rest of the afternoon keeping a tight leash on his power and found that it was easier if he closed his shields completely. As a result, he managed to surprise Zee when he inadvertently slammed the door open in his frustration with the day. She jumped and squeaked, which would’ve been funny if she hadn’t been holding a pot of boiling water.
A splash hit her bare wrist, and she sucked in air through her teeth. Ryan dropped his stuff on the floor and rushed over to grab the pot out of her hands. He set the spaghetti back on the stove and gently rotated her arm so he could look at it.
There was an angry red splotch on the inside of her forearm, but it didn’t look like it was blistering. She hissed when he got too close and tried to pull away.
“We need to put this under cold water.”
She nodded, and he cranked the faucet. He’d been pissed and half-angry before, but now he was filled with guilt. All his worries about hurting people with magic, and he’d managed it with hot water alone. She was clearly capable of holding her own arm under the flow, but he didn’t move away.
Zee clenched her jaw as the water hit her, but her shoulders relaxed a bit when his arms came around her. He held her injured arm immobile and wished he could take some of the pain away.
“I made pasta.” She sounded both annoyed and proud.
“I see that. We’ll keep the burn here for a couple more minutes then I think I have some aloe in the bathroom. I’m sorry.”
“You’re forgiven. Besides, this is kind of nice.” She leaned back into him, and he kissed the top of her shoulder.
“There are easier ways to get me to hold you than first-degree burns.”
She snorted. “Are you sure? We seem to do everything in the hardest way possible.”
They stood in comfortable silence for a few minutes, and the stress of his day faded. Zee smelled like coconut. He didn’t remember buying any coconut scented products, but Sera was always bringing girly stuff over to his place. The more he breathed her in, the more he relaxed his shields. After having been open to her the last few days, he didn’t like feeling the barrier between them.
The red on her arm was slowly turning pink, but he could tell she was still in a lot of pain. He rubbed his thumb over the soft skin of her wrist and willed the burn to fade. As he watched, a dark red wave of magic washed over her arm and sank into her skin. Zee immediately sighed in relief. He wasn’t sure what he’d just done, but he was happy that he’d helped.
The magic didn’t freak him out for once, and the red mark disappeared. She beamed at him over her shoulder. Completely worth it.
“You healed it.”
He shut off the water and backed away to reach for a hand towel. “I did something.”
She dried off her arm and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. “Healing is one of the tougher skills to learn. It seems you have a natural affinity for it.”
Ryan didn’t want to talk about magic. He wanted to pull her back against him, without injuries this time, and see if any parts of her tasted as good as she smelled. Instead, he shrugged and backed out of the kitchen. She met his eyes as he sat at the breakfast bar, and he saw the same need reflected there. Apparently, they were both going to ignore it for the time being.
She tossed the towel onto the counter and picked up where she’d left off with the spaghetti. He loved spaghetti, but he wasn’t particularly hungry for food at the moment. Just to torture her a little, he imagined what her skin would feel like if he trailed his fingers down her bare arm.
Zee’s breath got ragged, but she ignored him. He could feel through the bond that she wanted to finish making dinner, but where she normally held some part of herself back, he had access to everything this time. Her reservations were still there, but she’d moved past them.
“You need another magic lesson.”
His attention snapped back to her face. “I thought you said I had an affinity for healing.”
“Yes, so you should practice with it and improve. It was part of our bargain.”
She was bustling around heating up sauce and meatballs, but her enthusiasm came through loud and clear. It was important to her. Ryan thought about the disaster at school with the now blackened computer. He’d been frustrated and angry, and not interested in keeping a handle on it. Worse, he hadn’t known how to handle it once the eruption was over. He spent all day near electronics, and his magic was too much of a risk in its untrained state.
School was out for two and a half weeks over winter break. It was time he finally did the responsible thing and learned to control it.
Zee put a plate of spaghetti and meatballs in front of him, and his stomach growled. “Okay, after dinner. Magic lesson number two.”
She smiled and came around the bar to sit next to him. “Good. Now tell me why you were fully shielded when you came home.”
Ryan ate and told her about his day. She asked questions and offered suggestions. The bond made it easier to explain because he didn’t have to try to put into words his overflow of emotion. She could feel it. He stopped short of telling her that a lot of the frustration stemmed from his desire to get home to her.
The happiness emanating from her told him she already knew. Ryan wondered if this was what it was like between Jake and Sera. It would explain a lot about the way they argued.
When they’d finished, Ryan washed the dishes and they settled onto the couch. He was eager to be close to her, but that wasn’t all of it. The idea of harnessing magic for healing hadn’t occurred to him before, and it was intriguing. This was something he wanted to learn. The ever-present fear hadn’t left him, but he’d found that lately, he was able to acknowledge it and put it aside.
“Where do we start this time?” he asked.
Zee faced him, tucking one leg under her. “I want you to relax and let go of the frustrations and guilt from today. When you direct magic, you want to give it clear intentions so that it does only what you want it to.”
“You’re not going to do anything dramatic like slice your palm and demand I heal it, are you? Because that seems like a third lesson kind of thing.”
Zee’s lips tipped up. “No. I’d prefer not to bleed during our lessons.”
“That’s a good policy.”
Amazingly, it wasn’t hard to let go of the day when he was bantering with Zee, especially when she was curled up next to him on the couch. He couldn’t see any remnant of the burn on her arm, and he didn’t have to go back to the high school until January. Yeah, the Wood was a problem, but maybe it would eat someone he didn’t like.
Zee smacked his thigh and interrupted his daydream about the vice principal disappearing into an alternate universe. “You seem fine now. We can’t really practice healing without an injury, so instead, you’re going to practice activating and deactivating your magic.”
He struggled to keep a straight face. “You want me to try turning it off and then back on again?”
She tilted her head. “I suppose you could look at it that way.”
Ryan snickered, but didn’t blame her for missing his joke. She’d have to be much more aware of the culture around IT guys, and that thought gave him an idea for something they could do after magic school was over.
She smacked his thigh again. “Pay attention. You’re easily distracted today.”
“Squirrel?”
Zee opened her mouth but no sound came out, so she closed it and tried again. “I don’t always understand you, but I can usually figure out the gist through context. Today? I’ve got nothing.”
Ryan shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m good now. I promise. No more tangents unless you start taking clothes off.”
“Strip magic lessons. The idea has merit for motivation if nothing else.”
His hand shot up. “I’m in. Can we start now?”
She finally laughed, and Ryan felt vindicated. He could bring joy too, not just pain. They smiled at each other for a moment before Zee cleared her throat. “Not today, I think. In its natural state, magic is dormant. It sleeps inside you until you call it forth. Yours overflows sometimes, and strong emotions trigger it, so that’s where we need to begin.”
“Turning it on is easy, it’s turning it off that’s a problem.”
Zee focused on his legs and reached out a hand to run a finger up his thigh, raising just her eyes to meet his from between long dark lashes. “Turn it on now.”
9
RYAN
Licks of fire followed her touch, and Ryan caught his breath. If this was her plan, he was a big fan. It was a close second to strip magic lessons. He nudged his magic into waking as her finger slid down almost to his knee and back up.
It was hard not to reach for her, but he kept his body still. His magic had other ideas. Translucent red tendrils followed in the wake of her hand. He wasn’t controlling it, but it didn’t seem to be doing anything either. It was just there.
“Put it away.”
Ryan glanced up, and she was looking at his face. Her hand kept moving, but her eyes were much more distracting. He tried to call the magic back, to convince it to go back to sleep, but it was obstinate. It wanted her.
He could relate.
“Don’t cajole, command. You’re in charge. It’ll go where you tell it to go.”
Her green eyes almost glowed, and if he didn’t know better, he’d say she was using magic too. It was hard to resist falling in and letting her take over. The repetitive motion of her hand lulled him. He knew though, that they couldn’t go further until he put his magic back to sleep.
Ryan visualized the dark red magic soaking back into him. The tendrils disappeared. The power curled back up in his gut, and he blinked. Zee pulled her hand back into her own lap and smiled.
“Good work. Did you feel the difference?”
Ryan thought about it for a second. “The first time I tried to do the same thing I did to wake it up, and I wasn’t sure it would work.” Zee nodded. “The second, I had to see it doing what I wanted, and I knew it would work.”
“What was the change?”
“Motivation. I knew you wouldn’t let me do this if I was still glowing red.” Ryan leaned forward and curled a hand around the back of her neck, bringing his mouth down on hers. Kissing her was like completing a circuit. She filled the part of him that had been missing, and a current raced through him. Her hands came up to rest on his chest, gripping his shirt.
She tilted her head to give him better access, pressing closer, and he deepened the kiss. He couldn’t get enough air, and he didn’t care. Zee must have been light-headed too because she pushed him away enough to suck in several breaths.
“This is the most enjoyable magic lesson I’ve ever taught.”
Ryan grinned. “I’m certainly way more eager to participate.”
“I like your motivation techniques, but there’s more magic I wanted you to do today.”
He released her and sat back against the cushions. “Fair enough. What’s next?”
“More practice.” She shifted suddenly and straddled him on the couch. His hands rested on her hips, and he barely kept the groan inside. It was too bad her weight was on her knees instead of where he wanted it. “Wake your magic.”
It roared to life with hardly a thought. She leaned forward to put her lips against his ear and he could see his arms were glowing red from the elbows down. His hands slid around to palm her ass, leaving streaks of red along her thighs.
She shivered and her nipples hardened against his chest. “Focus on your intentions. Let the magic free, but don’t use it.”
He tried to do what she said, but the temptation to get rid of their clothes was strong. He intended to get her naked, but he wanted to do it the old-fashioned way. Her muscles were taut from holding herself up, and he ran his hand down and along her inner thigh. He let his fingers brush the edge of her panty line on the way back up. She arched her lower back, moving a tiny increment closer to his hand. Her breath was warm against his neck as she made a little noise in the back of her throat.
“Pull the magic back. Contain it.” Her hands traveled down his chest in slow motion, and it took him a second to process her words. The power was flooding his system, begging for an outlet. He brushed her center again and visualized it curled up inside him instead of coating his hands. The red glow faded immediately, and he was free to focus his intention where he wanted it. On Zee.
He never doubted that the magic would stay docile. She finally let her weight drop fully onto him. “Excellent.” Her breathy comment was probably supposed to reference his training, but it sounded like she was happy with their new position. Ryan gripped her ass again and pressed up against her. They both groaned at the long, slow pressure.
He leaned forward and mouthed words against her collarbone. “Any more lessons for today?”
Before she could answer, the door banged opened behind them, and Jake walked in without knocking. Ryan took a moment to be glad he hadn’t magicked her clothes away, before he focused on the immediate problem. His hands returned to her hips and held her in place. She was staying right there. Ryan craned his neck to address Jake, who’d stopped a couple steps inside. “Go away.”
“You look busy. Hi, Zee.”
Zee gave him a little wave with her fingers. “Ryan is getting magic lessons.”
Jake rais
ed a brow. “Please tell me this was how you taught Sera.” He held up a hand. “Actually, no. Don’t tell me. I don’t want the truth. From now on, this is how I’m going to imagine it went down.”
Ryan’s focus was a little fuzzy, but he did notice that Jake wasn’t leaving like a good best friend should. “You’re not going away, are you?”
“Nah, I have some news about Will.”
“You couldn’t call?”
“I did call. No one answered.”
“And it couldn't wait until, say...tomorrow?”
“Nope.”
Ryan glanced over at his phone on the side table. Sure enough, there was a missed call symbol. He must have left it on silent when he got back from school. He sighed, resigned, and shifted Zee off his lap. “I regret giving you a key.”
“Sorry about this.” The glee in Jake’s eyes belied the sincerity in his voice.
Zee didn’t look any happier about being interrupted, but he could sense she was making a concentrated effort to calm her racing pulse. “What’s your news?”
“Right.” Jake lost the playful attitude. “We finally pinpointed where he’s been staying, but we were a little too late. He and a couple of the developer people were trespassing earlier and ‘wandered’ into the Wood.”
Zee stood up. “What did it do?”
“That’s the thing. The Wood didn’t do anything, but Will swears he saw the trees move. Something about shadows and branches reaching for him.”
Ryan was a little disappointed. If the Wood ate Will or one of the developers, maybe they’d all leave and everything could go back to normal. The thought made him sadder than he expected. Zee drew his attention, still standing but with relief stark across her face. They’d been on the verge of something for a long time, and now that everything had changed, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back to normal. To a life with Zee in the Glade, and Ryan alone in his apartment again.