Hectic (Arcane Mage Series Book 2)

by T. S. Snow

  I wasn't even taking into account the very glaring fact that he was a Futhark, the Futhark heir. I should've been running away from him, not making friends and fantasizing about squeezing his butt. Sleeping with him had been a wonderful mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. However, ignoring who he was, who he had always been, and trying to kid myself that a relationship with an heir would ever end in anything but more heartbreak was too much.

  I might be crazy but I wasn't stupid.

  "Blaze..." I trailed off, not really sure what to say. Should I be blunt? Should I just, like, straight-up tell him everything? Should I play coy? Come up with a better excuse?

  Where. Was. That. Fucking. Manual?

  Something flashed in his eyes and it was like he knew where I was going before I even got a chance to say anything.

  "Just, don't rule us out just yet, okay? I'm not making some big declaration, Little Spitfire. All I'm saying is that I'd like a chance to see where this goes. And I'd definitely like a repeat of what happened in your apartment. Hopefully without your parents barging in next time around." He gave me this little half-smirk that had my heart beating faster in my chest. I was flushed all over as if I'd just run a marathon or something.

  But there was a big silly smile on my face that I'd had no control over and I couldn't hide.

  Against all sense of self-preservation, his proposal made me... happy.

  Blaze smiled at me like he’d just found out there was an ice cream truck standing in front of us with free ice cream to anyone who approached.

  He reached out to softly caress my cheek and I couldn’t help leaning into his touch.

  I was so in over my head with this.

  So. So. Way over my head.

  "Say yes," he pleaded.

  And before I could think better of it, I nodded.

  I was doing this.

  I was sorta kinda dating Blaze fucking Futhark.

  14

  Charisma

  If I’d thought the outside of the safe house was bad, the inside was much, much worse.

  The walls were painted a soft yellow color that was almost white, the furniture seemed nice enough, even if uncomfortable, and there was no TV.

  There. Was. No. TV.

  The black leather couch faced two big chairs. And no freaking TV! Anywhere!

  Dismayed, I rushed inside, opening the first door I saw, which led to a bedroom with a queen-sized bed, a dresser, and a nightstand.

  No.

  No. No. No. I needed something to help pass the time, dammit. And since I wasn't allowed to go into my office in the rubble of my apartment and get my stuff... I needed my online time. My video games. I needed to shoot the shit out of monsters or even some noob players.

  It would help me pass the time.

  Like what did people even do with their time without a TV or a computer?

  I started to twitch.

  "Charisma? Are you okay?" I whipped my head up when I heard Blaze's question, staring at him with pure dismay. I wasn't gonna be able to do this. I couldn't pull off this being fake-dead thing. I couldn't stay here. Being away from technology might literally kill me.

  I started to shake my head vehemently. I did it so fast, I could feel my hair attacking my face like a series of tiny, annoying whips.

  Blaze stepped closer to me and tilted my head up, frowning down at me when my lower lip started to tremble. "Hey, what's wrong, Little Spitfire? It's going to be okay, we'll catch who did this, and then we'll find you a new place to live. I know this safe house isn't much, but it's just a temporary thing."

  "There's no TV," I mumbled the words, trying to fight the need to cry.

  It may seem stupid to some, but tech was literally my thing. It wasn't just that I was good with it, but that in a time when I'd had no one, technology had always been there for me. I'd had my games when I was a kid and I wasn't allowed outside because my parents didn't want people to know about my weak magic. I'd had my online gaming buddies when I'd been a teenager and most other people in Arcane would either try to hang out with me because of who my parents were, or bullied me because I didn't have enough magic to fight back. My work developing gadgets and my online gaming had been my solace when Theo, one of the only true friends I'd ever had, broke things off with me without so much as a word, crushing my heart and making me question my own worth.

  Video games were my friends, and the thought of having to go without them however long... it was like telling a mage that they could no longer do magic.

  Which had already happened to me. It was like cutting someone’s limbs or cutting off one of their senses. It was pure torture. Agony.

  I started to hyperventilate.

  No TV. No MET. No video games. No Tech. No home. No magic.

  "What?" Blaze asked, looking confused.

  "There's no TV! I'm supposed to be here for however long, stuck, I'm not allowed out even to buy my own fucking underwear, and there's no TV! How will I sweet talk you into getting me a console if there's no TV? What the hell am I even supposed to do with myself the whole time I'm here if I don't have anything to do?"

  "Will a portable video game make you happy? A Game Boy?"

  Awww, he cared. He really truly did care.

  Maybe this whole sort of dating Blaze wasn’t so bad after all.

  I worried my bottom lip. "A Switch," I said, nodding.

  Blaze nodded to himself as if he’d just come to an agreement with his other personalities—you know, because that was normal. And then he gently caressed my face before turning to leave. "Okay. Lock the door behind me and do NOT open it for anything or anyone until I get back, okay?"

  "Where are you going?"

  "I'm getting you a damn video game. And a laptop. I can't do much about the TV, but I can fix the rest," he said.

  Be still, my highly caffeinated heart.

  I threw myself at Blaze before he could escape and kissed the daylights out of him.

  "Thank you! Thank you! I'm totally paying you for the stuff, I promise. Thank you!"

  And then Blaze kissed me. It took me a few seconds to understand what was going on and to react, but when I did, I grabbed a fistful of his shirt and kissed him right back, putting all my gratitude into the kiss.

  Eventually, he stepped back from me as if it physically pained him to do so.

  I kind of liked that I had this effect on him.

  "You didn't deserve what happened. It's bad enough you lost all your stuff and almost died, I don't want you to have to be bored the entire time just because that will keep you safe. Just, give me a list with games you want or something, and I'll get them for you."

  Yup, he’d gone and done it. I was officially majorly crushing on Blaze Futhark. And as I looked up at him with hearts in my eyes like a cartoon character, I didn’t care about his title, family, or the fucked up expectations of Arcane.

  All I cared about was Blaze.

  Soft, butterfly kisses on my back had me stirring from a deep sleep. After Blaze had left, I’d taken the fastest shower in the history of showers due to the ice-cold water in the pipes—an evil punishment if I ever saw one. I mean, c’mon, this was supposed to be a safe house, not a freaking torture chamber. It almost made me want to reconsider and take my chances against the rebellion. Finally exhausted, I’d collapsed headfirst into the bed, not bothering to find clothes.

  Now, hands roamed my sides, trailing the edge of my breasts and moving lower, passing over my hips, before they oh-so-slowly made their way back up. My eyes fluttered open when I felt a kiss at the base of my spine, and I turned my head to see a very naked Blaze in bed with me.

  "Hmmm," I murmured sleepily, and Blaze stopped kissing me to smile up at me.

  "Good, you're awake," he said before his kisses started to trail higher. His hands slipped between me and the bed and he cupped my breasts just as his teeth nipped at my neck. I could feel the entire weight of his naked body on top of mine, and it sent delicious tingles through me. I moaned and arched a little off
the bed when Blaze pinched one of my nipples, unconsciously opening my legs so he could better settle against them. "You looked so fucking hot here on this bed, naked, just begging to be fucked."

  Blaze's hand nudged my pussy and I started to move. I needed friction, I needed... something. I needed—

  I gasped when the palm of Blaze's hand rubbed against my clit.

  Yesss.

  I moved against him, and every time I thrust my hips so I could grind myself against his palm, I opened my legs just a little more.

  "If you don't stop moving like that I'm not going to be able to hold back much longer," Blaze threatened against my earlobe.

  "Please," I begged. I needed more.

  Blaze inserted a finger where I was aching for him and we both moaned at the same time.

  "Fuck, you're so wet for me, so ready."

  "Please, Blaze. I need you." I didn't even recognize my own voice.

  As if he'd been waiting for my request, Blaze's hand disappeared from inside me and his cock nudged at my entrance right before he oh-so-slowly entered me.

  I thought that would be it and he'd pick up his pace, but I was wrong. Every move Blaze made as he fucked me was so painstakingly slow that I felt every inch of him as he moved in and out of me all the way to my soul.

  Just when I was on the brink of my orgasm, Blaze suddenly slipped all the way out and the weight of his body over mine vanished.

  “Whaa—” Before I could finish my question, I’d been flipped so I was laying on my back with a full, delicious view of Blaze’s naked body in front of me. “Oh.”

  “I want to watch you when you come, Little Spitfire. Keep your eyes open and on me,” his demand was followed by him entering me right where I needed him.

  Unconsciously, I closed my eyes, but a suddenly painful pinch on my nipple had me opening them again. “Ouch, what the hell?”

  “Eyes open and on me, Little Spitfire,” he demanded, right before he picked up the pace.

  I did my best to obey, keeping my eyes locked on his beautiful green ones as I rode the wave of pleasure that was building inside of me. And I kept my eyes on his as the wave took me under and I exploded into a million tiny stars.

  On top of me, Blaze’s movements started to falter. I watched in fascination as his muscles contracted, making his tattoos seem almost alive. He dipped his head, kissing me softly, a direct contradiction to the tempo at which he fucked me. He grunted against my lips as he reached his own release, before giving me one final, bruising kiss.

  Blaze’s strength seemed to leave him as his weight on me increased, becoming almost too much, but in the best of ways.

  I raised a shaky hand and used it to curl my fingers in his hair, caressing his scalp in a scarily intimate gesture.

  But the man had just given me the best wake up I’d gotten in a long time; he’d more than earned some snuggling.

  Blaze’s heartbeat slowed, his breath evened out, and I thought he’d fallen asleep, so I let my mind wander.

  I hadn’t expected this much intimacy, this...coupley attitude from Blaze. If I were honest, I’d actually thought I was dreaming when I was awakened by his kisses. It wasn’t until I’d felt his dick inside me that I’d actually realized I’d been very much awake. Although, I couldn’t say I regretted it.

  It felt… good to have someone again. Who was I kidding? It felt pretty freaking amazing to be wanted this way again. To have someone’s weight over my body pinning me to the bed and keeping me warm. To know I’d have someone to jump whenever I felt the need to. But wanting those things, feeling those things was dangerous. It left me open, vulnerable, and I didn’t know if I could—

  “If your hands trail any lower, I’ll have to fuck you again.” I would’ve jumped off the bed if not for the fact I was very much trapped underneath Blaze. Guiltily, I looked at him and saw his eyes were very much open.

  Not asleep, then. Nuh-uh.

  His words registered and I realized that while I was distracted, my hands had roamed from his hair all the way to his butt. Or, at least, gotten really close to it.

  Huh, I wonder how that happened.

  Clearly, my hands knew me too well and appreciated the finest piece of male anatomy.

  “Oh, really?” I did my best to sound uninterested, but I doubted I’d succeeded if the heat in Blaze’s gaze was anything to go by.

  “Try me.”

  Not one to run from a sexy challenge, I met Blaze’s eyes as I groped his ass with both hands.

  Blaze smiled. “Well, Little Spitfire, I hope you caught your breath, ‘cause it’s time for round two.”

  15

  Charisma

  "So, what happens now?" I asked Blaze as I sipped my coffee and watched him parade around the tiny kitchen in nothing but his jeans. To say the view was distracting would be the understatement of the century. It didn’t matter that we’d just spent a few hours in bed, learning each other’s bodies and enjoying one another, I was still hypnotized by his tattoos and muscles.

  By the time we’d left the bedroom, we’d both been starving and I was in desperate need of coffee. The sun was starting to set, but thankfully Blaze had brought supplies when he’d gone out to get me my stuff—and yes he did bring me a brand new Nintendo Switch I was dying to test out.

  The man really knew the best way to a girl’s heart.

  "Now you lay in wait, and we work on finding out who the mole is. The sooner we figure it out, the sooner you'll be able to go back to your life, or, at least, to rebuilding it." His tone was gruff, but his eyes were gentle.

  If nothing else, this time with Blaze had taught me just how sweet he could be under his rough bad boy exterior. It made me regret everything I'd ever thought about him during my Academy years. Clearly, I'd allowed my prejudice to speak louder, and I half wondered if things would've been different for those five years if I hadn't so callously dismissed pretty much all of Arcane just because of my own experiences with my family. Not that they’d ever gone out of the way to be friendly toward me, either, but I could’ve at least tried a little harder.

  Although, considering I had had the displeasure of being on the wrong end of Marcella Nightshade's wrath, maybe not.

  The younger Nightshade may look like a fairy-tale princess with her gorgeous skin, pretty blue eyes, and hair the color of midnight, but when it came to her personality and actions, she was very much the dreaded villain.

  I hadn’t given her the nickname Cruella Nightshade in my head for nothing. It wasn’t even just that she’d punished me—physically punished me—for not helping develop her tech for the Arcane Mage Games which the Arcane Academy held every year. Oh no, she was always acting like a spoiled brat. Once, in her first year at the Academy, she’d gotten two of the professors fired for not giving her straight A’s. She’d made so many girls cry because of bullying and mental torture, that by the time her second year at the Academy started, she’d managed to get a reputation as the meanest girl in the whole school.

  Which was saying something, considering Arcane Academy was where every single heir to any of the families had ever attended.

  Regardless, that was all in the past now. Looking back and wondering wouldn't really change anything.

  Blaze may have acted like an asshole when we'd met at AMIA, but he'd come a long way ever since, and I didn't think it was only because he'd wanted in my pants. Especially when he'd already been in my pants a couple of times yet he was still being nice.

  It made me hope for things I'd all but given up on long ago.

  My philosophical moment was cut off when an ancient doorbell rang and filled the whole house with the most obnoxious noise. My eyes widened and flew up to Blaze, like a deer in headlights, and then they widened even more when Blaze's fucking glaive materialized in his hand and he made his way to the door.

  Shit. Fuck. Shit. Crap.

  I didn't have my freaking magic! How was I going to defend myself without my stupid magic? Yes, I knew martial arts, but what good were power
ful punches and quick footwork when you were facing off against sheer magic power? Muscle memory was all well and good, and I didn't dismiss its importance, but I couldn't dodge ice bullets or even actual bullets. Even my speed was limited without my MET, especially considering one of my favorite and most used programs in my late MET had been a speed spell, which allowed me to look way more badass than I actually was. That little secret was how I'd managed to get the drop on Blaze in our first duel. Not that I'd ever tell him that, because a good mage never revealed her tricks.

  It was way more fun to let people think I was just that damn fast.

  I made a mad dash into the kitchen, barely managing to avoid a collision with the cupboard that had been left open, and grabbed a knife and a big ass skillet—not the best of weapons but I'd seen enough cartoons in my life to know skillets made for pretty badass head banging instruments—and followed after Blaze just as he reached the door.

  Before I could yell at him to not be dumb and stand so close to the freaking door just in case they were waiting to blast it, a couple activation circles materialized in front of Blaze—I hoped to fuck at least one of them was a shield—and he opened the door.

  I ran up to Blaze so I could have his back, just in case, but also so his shield would hopefully keep me safe too. You know, out of self-preservation and not out of cowardice. If I were playing coward, I would've run to my room and hidden under the bed like my brain wanted me to.

  I may be a mailbox opossum, but everybody knew opossums could be pretty vicious when defending their territory.

  I raised my knife, ready to get stabby, when I snuck a peek from behind Blaze's shoulder and frowned.