Hectic (Arcane Mage Series Book 2)

by T. S. Snow

  If her clinging to me for dear life hadn’t been enough of an indication, that was.

  I held her against me with one arm, while I closed the door behind us. I wanted to make sure we had complete privacy. Besides, I hadn't forgotten she was still in danger.

  Which actually reminded me...

  “Uh... do I want to know how you know where I live?” I asked, more amused than anything. I had a pretty good guess how she knew. Probably the same way I’d known where she lived.

  Charisma raised her head from my shirt, and I could see the tears falling from her face. I froze solid, every muscle in my body tensing.

  “Who hurt you? Are you okay? What’s going on?” I rapidly fired the questions at her. My magic rose like a snake coiled for attack, prepared to defend our girl.

  I tried to rein it in as I held her at arm’s length so I could check her for wounds.

  “It’s okay, I’m not hurt. I just... I needed you,” her voice broke “I needed my best friend.”

  The reminder that I was nothing more than her friend was a deep seated, festering wound, but I’d never let that stop me from caring for her. From putting her first.

  If it was a best friend she needed, then that was what she would get from me.

  For now. Until she was ready for more.

  “Shh, it’s okay. C’mon, I’ll make you some hot chocolate, and you can tell me what’s going on,” I suggested.

  Charisma shook her head. “Not ready to talk yet. Hacked into your phone and got your address ages ago. Had nowhere else to go.”

  “Hey, hey.” I cupped her face to make her look into my eyes. I wanted to be absolutely sure she was paying attention to what I had to say. “You don’t need to explain. I was mostly kidding. You’ll always have a place here with me, okay? You can stay as long as you want.”

  Charisma nodded. I lowered my head to kiss her forehead, but she tipped her head up, and our lips touched.

  Holy shit. This is happening. It’s really happening.

  Our kiss was everything I’d ever dreamed of, and yet, it was so much more. It was winning an almost impossible game, or that first touch of snow when winter came.

  But as she sighed into the kiss and tried to deepen it, I stepped back.

  As much as I wanted to keep going, to keep kissing her for the rest of my life, I could taste the salt of her tears. This wasn’t how it should be.

  I had to wait, for both our sakes. Our first kiss together should be right, it should come at the right moment, not when she was upset and in danger.

  Charisma needed better than that, we both did. And I was determined to make sure she got it.

  Besides, she’d asked for her best friend, so that was what she’d get.

  I gave her one last, chaste kiss so she‘d know I wasn’t refusing her forever, that I’d gladly give her more, one day. Then I tucked her head back in the crook of my neck and hugged her, tight.

  “Char, come to the kitchen with me, we’ll grab some snacks then we can power up the Playstation and you can kick my ass in every game imaginable. Let me take care of you, beautiful. And when you’re ready, you can tell me what happened.“

  Charisma nodded and followed to the kitchen.

  And in that moment, I forgave her for having ghosted me, for not telling me if she was okay or even alive. I forgave her for vanishing.

  She was with me now, and I vowed to never lose her again.

  Epilogue

  Logan

  I looked around the Soulbinder‘s office, taking in the faces of the other heirs before me. Futhark seemed to be two seconds away from jumping out of his chair and storming out of here. That, or he‘d end up doing us all a favor and punching Theodore Soulbinder for the inconvenience of this meeting. Illudere was lounging on the small sofa, occupying the two-seater as if he owned the place, rather than being just a guest, like the rest of us. And the Soulbinder sat behind his desk, arms crossed in front of him, as if he ruled over us all.

  He had some fucking nerve.

  “Why are we here?” Futhark asked, crossing his arms like Soulbinder had, as if trying to one up him.

  I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at his juvenile attempt at establishing himself as alpha.

  But at least he’d asked the question we were all asking ourselves.

  “It’s because of Charisma, isn’t it?” Illudere guessed, which got him a reluctant nod from the Soulbinder.

  Charisma? My interest peaked, and I sat forward on my chair.

  The last I’d heard of Charisma was when I’d been informed she’d saved Danica Manteis’ life.

  I hadn’t spoken to her or even seen her since before her apartment exploded and she had been presumed dead.

  I could guess why Soulbinder and even Futhark were in the room, since last I’d known Charisma had been… involved with Futhark, and the Soulbinder had an unhealthy obsession with the girl that bordered on something requiring a restraining order.

  But what did Illudere or I have to do with any of this?

  And most importantly: why was I wasting my time here?

  I‘d presumed the reason for this meeting was to discuss the Manteis situation and the best way to get rid of the rot growing in our society. Take out the trash, so to speak. We would be in charge one day, and while for now our parents still made the decisions, we sometimes had to step up and take action when we knew our families wouldn’t.

  It was the duty of an heir.

  Always be ready, always be prepared, and always be in charge.

  But if this was about Charisma… well. As much as I was glad she was alive, especially because it aligned greatly with my plans, I very much doubted I‘d want to be here for anything they had to say.

  Unless…

  Was she working for all of them?

  That wasn’t good.

  Not good at all.

  “Will you just cut to the chase already? Tell me why I’m here, I have better shit to do,” I barked, and the other heirs sat straighter at my rudeness. Illudere even jumped from his chair and sat up like an actual human being. Soulbinder reached for his MET, and I narrowed my eyes at him, daring him to try me.

  If a fight broke out inside Soulbinder’s office between all of us, shit would get messy, and the consequences would reverberate through most of our society.

  All heirs knew better than to bring that kind of attention to the rivalry between our families.

  Fuck it; I wasn’t here to make friends. I just wanted to find out why in Arcane the Soulbinder shit had demanded a meeting with all four of us.

  As if he could sense my impatience, Soulbinder spoke.

  “Charisma is mine. She has always been mine. I’d appreciate the courtesy if all three of you could back the fuck off. Stop playing with her, stop leading her on and seducing her. She’s mine. Will always be mine. Don’t try to get involved, it won’t end well.” I raised an eyebrow at Soulbinder’s words. He was like a man possessed, but even more interesting was the fact that he felt threatened enough to approach us all in the first place.

  He was weak.

  Oh, his magic may be strong, but he needed to grow the fuck up.

  “Don’t you think she should be the one to make this decision?” Futhark was the one to voice my thoughts. And, honestly, you knew the situation was pitiful when Fucktard and I agreed on it.

  Theo at least had the grace to look flustered for all of two seconds before his resolve hardened; he curled up his fists and snarled.

  “No. It doesn’t matter. She’s mine. Back. Off.”

  “I fail to see what that has to do with me,” I pointed out, stating what I thought was obvious.

  Granted, I’d had more than one fantasy with Charisma Carter as the leading star, and we’d had the briefest of kisses to shut her up. But I doubted any of them knew about that.

  “Oh, please. You think I haven’t seen you sniffing around her? Pretending you were going to hire her for a job, but all your aura ever showed me when you were around her wa
s how deeply aroused she made you. Please. It was actually kind of ridiculous.” Soulbinder’s words shocked me, but I wasn’t sure if it was because he’d just revealed he could fucking see auras, or because he’d showed how much of a stalker he truly was.

  Just how much did he know?

  “Seems to me like someone is feeling threatened,” Illudere remarked, breaking the growing tension between Soulbinder and I.

  “Threatened? By you? You’re the biggest manwhore in all of New York. Nightshade is the biggest asshole in the city, and Futhark fucked Cara Silverstorm.”

  At Soulbinder’s mention of his name, and reminder of his dirty little past which he probably thought was a secret, Futhark jumped from his chair, fists clenched. Theodore Soulbinder was just begging to be punched today, it seemed.

  “Shut your fucking mouth, asshole. You seem to forget, you are the one who dumped her like a malfunctioning MET. She’s with me now,” he gritted out.

  “That’s not what it looked like at the hospital. You two are done. And Char and I are far from it. This is my last warning, for all of you. Back. The. Fuck. Off.”

  “Why? Afraid of a little competition?” Illudere had a smirk on his face that had Soulbinder fighting not to lose control of his magic.

  “Don’t be ridiculous, you‘re not even a blip on her radar. Char would never fall for your easy lies.” Theo sent Illudere a glare that didn’t agree with his words.

  “So, if we were all to, I don’t know, compete for her affections, that wouldn’t bother you, would it? After all, you say she’s yours. So a little competition shouldn’t faze you, right?”

  Theo narrowed his eyes at Andres and I smiled for the first time since I’d arrived.

  Blaze relaxed back against his chair, an air of superiority about him as if he thought he’d already won.

  Oh, he was in for a rude awakening.

  Still, this whole debacle was kind of entertaining, even if I had no business being amused by these men. They belonged to the other families. For all intents and purposes, they were competition.

  And if Illudere got his way, it looked like they’d be competing for Charisma.

  Good. I loved to win, and there was nothing I’d like more than one upping the other heirs. And if that got me the girl… well.

  It was a win-win situation.

  Not to mention, this worked quite well with my revenge plans.

  Three birds, one stone.

  Or should I say: one Magical Engineer?

  “That’s not what this is. Don’t be ridiculous. I told you, she’s mine. So, back off.” Soulbinder demanded, standing up from his chair to assert his dominance.

  Pathetic.

  “But what if I don’t want to back off? What are you going to do? Try to take all three of us?” Illudere taunted.

  “I’d like to see him try,” challenged Futhark.

  I, too, wanted to see just how far the dipshit was willing to go.

  “Fine. Whatever. I’ll prove to all of you once and for all that she’s mine. And then it’ll be all the sweeter because I’ll get to know I won over all of you.”

  “Wanna bet?” Illudere quipped.

  “We are not teenagers, we are not betting on who will win Charisma over. She deserves better than that.” Futhark said, and Illudere seemed to think over his words for a second.

  “Fine. No bets. We all agree, we will all pursue her and date her and Charisma decides who she wants to be with in the end.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Agreed.” The three of them looked at me, as if waiting to see what I’d do.

  I couldn’t say no to a good dose of competition.

  “Agreed,” I said, at last.

  “May the best man win,” Illudere remarked.

  Oh, I will.

  Also by T.S. Snow

  The Arcane Mage Series

  Chaotic

  Hectic

  Erratic

  Shared World Standalone

  Stolen Hearts, Book 9 of the Mischief Matchmakers Series

  Author’s Note

  See? I can totally be a nice author. I bet you’re still cursing me in your head, though. And that’s okay. Get it off your system. There’s more to come, and it’ll be so good, you’ll see.

  If you want, you can join my reader’s group on Facebook and yell at me some more. I promise, you’ll be very welcome. We get up to all sorts of shenanigans, too.

  Ready?

  Now it’s time for the part I always love to read in every book, and I’ll start my acknowledgements by thanking you, dear reader. You guys have blown my mind with the response to this series, with your love for Charisma and her guys, and I couldn’t be more grateful for every single one of you who have read my book, reviewed it, and recommended it. You guys are the reason I’ll keep doing this.

  Secondly, I want to thank a few other people;

  Candice and Aspen, you guys have supported me on this crazy journey from the get go and I’d not have been able to do it without you.

  My bingo dick chicks (you know who you are), thank you for the crazy shenanigans, the encouragement and the demands for more dicking. If it was up to you guys, this book would be basically just four hundred pages of dicking, and I respect that.

  Ann, you’re the best author mom a baby author could ask for. And the best at throwing markers at me and making me do better, be better as an author. Thank you.

  Lysanne, you’re such a great PA and friend and I’m lucky to have you in my life.

  To my betas, Desiree, and Janet, you girls are amazing. Thank you for all the help and all the yelling.

  Colette, thank you for sprinting with me almost every single day to make sure this book actually got written on time even though we wanted nothing more than to tap out. You’re awesome.

  AC, thank you for formatting this book, but also for supporting me on this crazy author journey.

  Lorie, thanks for catching all my typos and being patient with me even when I got behind schedule.

  And to my amazing cover designer, CJ, thank you for giving life to Charisma and making her look exactly how I saw her.

  Dear reader, thank you for taking the time to read this book, if you liked it, please consider leaving a review.

  About the Author

  A scientist at heart, T.S. Snow lives in a land far far away, secluded from most authors and readers (rumor has it that if you open your wardrobe you can find her hiding in there trying to take a nap). T.S. has a thirst for learning new languages, even if she is mostly worried about finding out new curse words in them. She has an amazing support system that include a loving boyfriend, her family, friends and her loyal–if completely lazy–dog. When she’s not writing, T.S. can often be found causing complete chaos with her friends on social media, inhaling unhealthy amounts of coffee, or napping. Mostly napping.

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