by Nikki Dean
“Not much in specific. I left it as vague as possible, but said that your magic is an empath or sensory type of magic, and you’d fit in well in an intelligence setting. I know how much you hate the idea of combat, so I advised against it.”
She stopped in surprise. “Even though you know I’d be amazing in the field, if I can sense everything coming at me? And move packages via my magic network, like you said earlier?”
“Yeah.” He nodded as he sat down on his gray couch. “I’d advise not showing off like that again, since MacKenna and Pohler will be watching you after this. Tank the next simulation if you want, and make this one look like a fluke. I’m not really sure if you can convince them, though.”
She sat down, too. “I’ve overheard you guys say that Fitzam has plans for me, and the amaroq. What do you mean?”
Matt’s hands clenched, and anxiety spiked in his mind. Mal didn’t even have to activate her web to sense it, he was so close.
“I don’t know.” He raised one hand, palm upwards in a ‘hold on’ gesture when her eyes narrowed and she pressed her lips together. “I just know what Fitzam has had it out for the demon for a long time. He wants to study it, see if there’s any way of using it. It’s become his Moby Dick, for lack of a better term. Pohler is almost as bad.”
“Didn’t Moby Dick kill that captain at the end of the book? And everyone else on the ship?” she asked, thinking back to the classic story. Captain Ahab had been determined to kill the white whale, Moby Dick, despite all advice to leave it alone. The vendetta had eventually been his undoing, and his ship sank while on the hunt. Moby Dick and the narrator had been the sole survivors of the encounter, and even he had ridden away on a coffin for a boat.
“Yeah.” Matt’s somber tone indicated that he, too, remembered the story.
“And of course, Fitzam thinks that because I can influence animals, I might be able to help with the amaroq. But you guys already said it’s not an animal, which means this shit will never work.”
“I don’t know. You seemed to have an effect in the gym in other night.”
“Yeah, enraging it. Damon’s right, and I never should have messed with it. I was just worried about you guys. Back to the point at hand, what does this guy Pohler have on you?”
Matt got up and walked around the couch into an open door that Mallory could only assume was his bedroom. “What do you mean?” he asked as he came back in a second later with a picture frame in his hands.
“Pohler likes power. It was obvious the first time he spoke. You said that he likes to stick his nose into other people’s lives, or missions, because he has to know everything first, even when he’s not supposed to. Knowledge is power, and he has some over you, so what does he know?”
“You think he’s blackmailing me?” Matt asked in surprise. He handed her the picture, but she didn’t look down at it.
“Absolutely. But I don’t know why, or how, or if Nico and the guys know. What kind of dirt does he have one you?”
“Why do you think that?”
Mallory sat back on the couch and crossed her arms with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t try to bullshit me. I might not know you well, but I think I’ve got an idea of your character. You tend to do what you think is right, regardless of the protocols. You lied for me in my files the first time we met, told me to play up the ditzy blonde routine for Fitzam, and now you’ve been withholding information about me and my magic if you haven’t been sending in reports like you’re supposed to. You just told me that you didn’t tell them about my web, or my tracking capabilities, even though you know that’s exactly what they want to hear. The only question is, why? And who else have you done this for that Pohler found out about, and is now giving you hell about it?”
“Wow. I don’t really know what to say.”
“Then tell me the truth and then take me home. I’m tired and want to see Nico, too.”
“I can’t. It’s not my secret to tell, and as much as I want to, I won’t break Ev’s trust.”
“You lied about Everett in a report? And Pohler found out and is using it against you, which is why you’re cooperating with him. Does Everett know you’re protecting him?”
“Not the details, but there’s no reason to tell him. I’ve got his back, just like he has mine. Look at the picture I gave you.”
Mallory glanced at the frame that she’d set down on the couch beside her. It was an older photograph, back when Matt had hair, and Nico and Alec didn’t.
What is this?” she asked curiously. “You knew them before you enlisted?”
“Of course,” Matt replied. “They were my TAs, too, back when I was at the Academy. This picture is only a few years old, right before they started allowing the teaching staff to look more like civilians than boot camp officers. That’s not the point though.”
He came to sit beside her and pointed at the far edge of the picture. Everett was there, his arms crossed in front of him as he studiously avoided touching anyone, and Pohler was photo-bombing from the corner. He had barely managed to get his face into the frame before the picture was snapped, but it was there.
“I thought you and Nico were the same age. Is he really that much older than you? And why’s Pohler in it?” Mal asked.
“Nico is only a few years older. I graduated early. Pohler is shoving his ridiculous ass into the picture, literally, because he’s always wanted what we have, and could never understand why Everett got it, but he didn’t. He could never understand anything about Everett, and it drove him insane.”
“You mean having friends?” she asked doubtfully. “Is he really that petty that he wanted to claim Everett’s group of friends, instead of making his own?”
Matt nodded. “You have to understand that there weren’t as many people in each graduating class even five years ago, because there just weren’t that many witches around. No one knows why magic is becoming more and more common every year, but when I was in school, we were still just considered a bunch of grunts. I know you hate the idea of going into the military, but it’s expanding a lot to accommodate everyone, including their personal preferences on combat.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re starting to sound like an infomercial,” Mallory muttered with a wave of her hand. “I get it. You drank the Kool-Aid. Fine. That doesn’t mean I have to, and I’m not getting the point here with this picture.”
Matt sighed and took it back from her. “I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to show you that the guys and I have been together for a long time now, and regardless of what you think of me right now, I’d never do anything to hurt our group. Pohler has been trying to force his way into it for over five years now, so don’t believe everything he tells you, okay?”
“Do you really think I’m that stupid? The man is working for the captain, who is actively scheming to throw me to the wolves. Or to the amaroq, at least. I don’t trust anyone involved in that.”
His mind flinched on her web, even if he didn’t show it in person. “What about me?”
“I don’t know about you anymore, Matt. I thought I could trust you, but you hid a lot from me, and now I’m wondering again. I need a few days to think it over.”
He nodded. A tendril of darkness reached out from his shadow beside her and brushed down her arm. She froze.
I haven’t seen one of those in almost a week, since that first night that Nico and I slept together. I thought it was Nico’s magic, but Matt’s doing it too? Why? She leaned forward and poked him, then pointed to the picture. “Think about that image,” she ordered.
“Why?” Matt asked, but he did it. Mallory pictured the photograph as well and slid neatly into his bright spot on his web, determined to get some answers, one way or another.
What is this weird darkness that Nico used on me, and now Matt? Is it some kind of training they both have, or some aspect of their magic?
She concentrated on his consciousness, avoiding looking too closely at his emotions and instead focusing on his magic. Watching Janae du
ring the battle simulation had given her a pretty good idea of where in the mind magic originated from, or at least what to look for, but it was useless.
He wasn’t using his at all. At least, not on purpose.
She pulled back out and a huff of annoyance. The tendril had coiled its way around her arm to tickle the inside of her elbow and she shook it off, then stood.
“What’s wrong?” Matt asked as he stood up too.
“The shadows are back,” Mallory said. “Touching me. But Nico’s not even here, so how is this happening?”
“I thought we agreed that those are part of your powers, not Nico’s,” Matt said with a lift of one eyebrow. “Some kind of manifestation of your web in real time, instead of just being in your head.”
“This is not my magic,” she insisted. “I don’t know why everyone keeps insisting that it is.”
“Maybe because you’re the only one that can see it?” Matt guessed. “Kind of like whoever smelt it, dealt it?”
Mallory wrinkled her nose at him. “Did you seriously just make a fart joke about this? You really are fourteen. Just a little bitty adolescent trapped in a grown man’s body.”
“Which you think is gorgeous, remember?” he teased. “Or at least, that’s what you said when we all got off the elevator the other night.”
“Remember how I said if you pull your dick out, I’m going to stab you?” Mallory asked as she stood up. He nodded. “Well, that counts for your ego, too. Just take me home, please. I didn’t even plan to go out tonight until that dumb meeting anyway.”
He grabbed his keys and hit the lights, then locked up as they left. “So, have you really dated one of those girls?” Matt finally asked on his way out to the car.
“Why? Would you care?”
“I mean, it’s pretty hot to think about.”
She backhanded his bicep, earning a jump and a scowl. “You really are a teenage boy.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew what goes on in my head,” he muttered.
Mallory rolled her eyes. “Pervert.”
They rode the rest of the way back to Kinsolving in silence, each wrapped up in their own head. Mallory gave him some privacy and didn’t try to peek, not sure she wanted to know what he was envisioning.
Finally, he pulled into a faculty parking lot and parked. “How do I make this up to you?” he asked quietly. Sincerely. “There has to be something.”
“I don’t really know, Matt. I thought I could trust you, and it turned out that you were talking about me behind my back to your boss. The man responsible for my entire life, right now. What would make you feel better about it if the situation were reversed?”
“I’ve never been in that situation, so I can’t honestly say. I didn’t tell him much, and you can read the report whenever you want.”
She shook her head. “Are you going to keep sending them in?”
Matt looked away, out the windshield and swallowed. That one movement told her all she needed to know, so she was unsurprised when he nodded. “I have to.”
“Why haven’t you mentioned that?”
“Just didn’t yet, I guess.”
“I hate having to ask a hundred questions to pry something out of someone. I’ve asked you at least a dozen times to fill me in on this, and yet that’s the first time you’ve said that there will be more reports, so what am I supposed to think? That I’ll find out something new every time I ask a hard question, since you’re not volunteering anything? I don’t want to have to deal with that, Matt. It’s exhausting.”
“I know. It’s not fair, either way. I’m supposed to be emailing in weekly reports on how you’re doing, and your progress in your classes. Your professors are emailing me every week to keep me updated, and I’m supposed to pass the information along.”
“What the fuck, Matt, you have people spying on me? You’re talking to my professors behind my back?” she fumed. “And you didn’t think to mention this already?”
“Look, I’m telling you now. I haven’t sent anything until today, which is why Fitzam was pissed and told Pohler to come. I’m not betraying you, Mallory.”
“Well, it sure as fuck feels like it! What have they said about me? You know what, don’t answer. I want to read that for myself, too.”
“Fine with me, you deserve to know. I’ll pull up my email on your computer in your room, so you can check it whenever you want.”
She stopped short, a little surprised. “You’re willing to leave your email open for me to look through whenever I want?”
“Absolutely, if that helps you to trust me again. I have nothing to hide.”
She scoffed.
“Nothing else, anyway.”
“We’ll see if that’s true,” she murmured. Her web revealed a tinge of anxiety in his mind, the black smoke of another secret in the back of his head. I knew it. He’s still not being completely honest with me. What’s he hiding now?
They got out and walked to the dorm in silence, which luckily wasn’t far. Mal wasn’t sure if she could take another revelation top of everything else today, and all she wanted to do was snuggle up with Nico and hang out.
He was waiting for her by the door, his hands in his pockets, his black hair gleaming beneath the streetlights. Her heart jumped a little at the sight, bringing a smile to her lips.
It was surprising how good it felt, just to see him doing something as mundane as standing there, waiting for her. Fuck, I like him a lot more than I thought.
As far as revelations went, it wasn’t so bad.
Chapter 20
Nico’s arms wrapped around her the second she was close enough. Maybe even a few before, if she was being honest with herself, since his powers were pretty awesome like that. Matt took one look at them and turned on his heel to leave.
“You’re welcome to stay if you want,” Nico called out to his retreating back. “Either in my room or Bunny’s. You don’t need to leave.”
Mallory elbowed him.
“It’s fine. I have some shit to do at my apartment anyway. I’ll text you in a few minutes, Mal, and give you that login we talked about.”
Mallory frowned. She understood why he was leaving, of course, but the loneliness that he kept hidden ate at him even worse as he saw Nico pull her close. Regret, and not jealousy, had him fleeing back to his little home alone.
Fuck it. I know he’s sorry, even if this is pretty shitty. Like Eliza said, though, he’s my handler, so I should have expected that he would be handling something. Still, I’m pissed that he hid it from me. I shouldn’t have to micromanage how much information he gives me if he wants me to trust him. But I hate seeing him like this. “Come pull it up for me,” she ordered. “It’s after two in the morning anyway.”
“Nah, I’ll swing by tomorrow if you have any problems.” He was already halfway down the block. “I’ll call before I come over.”
“Okay,” she muttered quietly, even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. Mallory leaned her head back against Nico’s chest and he hugged her a little tighter, resting his chin on top of her head.
“It didn’t go well?”
“Not really. Did you know?” She had to ask.
“You’ll have to be more specific. I didn’t know that Pohler was coming to your meeting, or what you guys were talking about. I do know that Matt’s sorry for something, though.”
“How? How do you know he’s sorry?”
Nico shrugged. “He told me that he fucked up, and he’s not sure how to make it up to you. He wants to, though. You gonna let him?”
“I don’t know.” She let him take her hand and lead her into Kinsolving. The elevator was blessedly empty. “I don’t know if I can trust him now.”
“Ha,” Nico scoffed. “You can always trust Matt. No matter what, you can trust him. Once he’s in your corner, he’s there for life, regardless of the circumstances.”
“How are you so sure?” she murmured as she opened the door to her room. She immediately kicked off her h
eels, then started peeling off clothes as soon as it closed behind Nico. “I can’t wait to get this damn bra off. Guys are so lucky.”
He grinned and leaned against the door, his arms crossed over his chest as he propped one foot up behind him, watching. She had to shimmy a little to get her undershirt up all the way and her breasts popped free with a bounce.
She felt his answering spike of arousal, even though they were still contained in her bra. “Stop it,” she ordered.
“What?”
“Fucking me in your head. It’s after two o’clock in the morning and I’ve had a really long, weird day.”
“Oh, yeah? How was seeing your old friends?” Nico asked. He pushed himself up off the door and ran his hands over her bare belly, then sides, then breasts. “I could fuck you in your bed instead. Or just lick you until you come.”
Mallory couldn’t help but groan at the thought. His mouth had a magic all its own. “But I have so much to talk to you about. Everett showed up at the club with Amy, Eliza and me. He told me that I’m complicated and to stay away from you and your friends before I get you all killed.”
“What?!” Nico stopped in his tracks, holding her out at arm’s length as he stared down into her eyes. “Everett was there? You’re positive that it was him?”
“Yeah. Telling me to stay away from you on threat of death, or did you miss that part?”
“That asshole.”
“Right?! That’s what I’m saying. Why’s he so emotionally invested in your dick?”
He rolled his eyes at her. “Pretty sure it’s not my dick he’s worried about, but thanks for that mood kill.”
“Any time. So, why’s he so interested in your love life, then? And did you know that Matt’s been receiving reports from all of my teachers, which he was supposed to compile and send the details in his own report to Pohler and Fitzam? So he’s been essentially spying on me, and hiding it for the last two weeks.”
Nico shook his head, trying to make sense of everything that she’d said.