Magic Blaze: an Urban Fantasy Novel (Shifting Magic Book 3)

by Catherine Vale

  Luckily for me, my bestie had my back. Catriona hurried forward, linked her arm with mine, and all but dragged me away, insisting I’d be back in a few minutes once the shock of the ceremony wore off.

  But I wasn’t coming back in a few minutes. I couldn’t return to the stares, to the whispers, to the expectations.

  Not yet. I needed time to think—alone—and I couldn’t decide whether that made me selfish or practical. All I knew was that this was the first time in months that I felt like I could come up for air, to stop and consider the cluster-fuck of everything that had happened since I stumbled upon Darius in that cave on our fae sister retreat.

  And I was going to take the time I needed, damn it. I owed myself that much.

  Thunder rumbled overhead, the heat of a sweltering mid-summer’s day carrying on into the late evening. The clouds rolled in shortly after the alpha ceremony, and I watched them steadily darken for hours. From my spot overlooking the valley below, I experienced the air thicken, and with the telltale sound of thunder in the distance, I knew the humidity had finally broken. Seconds later, a trio of lightning bolts cracked across the sky, illuminating the nearly black storm clouds drifting my way with the evening wind.

  I should’ve gone back. Only an idiot sat outside during a thunderstorm, but I hadn’t been able to think yet. Earlier, I couldn’t justify not returning for the festivities after the ceremony. Once I calmed down, I was back by Darius’s side, smiling and laughing and taking in the open love and affection the clan had to offer. I should have felt good after, but with Cynthia dropping more little hints for hours, I left the alpha’s hall as things were dying down more frazzled than ever.

  I loved Darius—that much was clear. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine spending a day apart, and it wasn’t because we were in the honeymoon phase of an early relationship. This was real. It was earnest and true, and I wanted to give in wholeheartedly.

  But did I want to be an alpha’s mate? Not only did I have no idea what that entailed beyond popping out kids to further the bloodline, I wasn’t sure I wanted to get married—period. I’d never been the girl who fawned over wedding gowns or planned the perfect ceremony. It just wasn’t me. Things were fine the way they were now. Great, even. Why complicate it?

  My ears twitched at the sound of footsteps approaching, and I didn’t need to look back to figure out who it was.

  “I was wondering where you’d wandered off to,” Darius said as he perched next to me on the rock ledge overlooking the valley. “Storm’s coming.”

  I nodded. “I’ve already seen the lightning.”

  Darius studied the clouds for a moment, then stood and took my hand. “Come on. I think we need to have a talk.”

  “Normally that phrase is the kiss of death for relationships,” I told him as he helped me up. “You planning on dumping me?”

  He smirked. “No. Are you?”

  “Of course not.” I didn’t have to think twice about it. Just because I was scared of the future and all that it might entail, certainly didn’t mean I wanted to run.

  “Did my mom freak you out with all that mate talk earlier?”

  I shrugged as I followed him along the uneven path I’d taken to get way out here, far from the clan’s celebrations. “A bit.”

  “I figured,” he said with a sigh. “So, I think we should talk about it.”

  I bit the insides of my cheeks to keep from smiling. If a guy actually wanted to talk about uncomfortable problems in the relationship, he was definitely a keeper.

  “I could get on board with that.”

  “Good.” He turned back, his head cocked to one side and a sumptuous grin on his lips—the kind I wanted to kiss. However, as he drew a breath, perhaps to tease more, the clouds finally opened. We both stopped as frigid rain hammered down from the sky, soaking us by the bucketful. There was no gentle warning mist, no hesitant sprinkling—the storm began with a wholehearted downpour. I couldn’t wipe the surprise from my features as freezing water ate through my clothes and coated my skin. Within seconds, I was wet down to the bone.

  Much to my delight, Darius wore an equally flabbergasted look, and the thin fabric of his plain white tee stuck to all the dips and rises of his muscular torso. My eyes wandered across his body, blinking hard to keep the rain at bay, and when I licked my lips, he snorted.

  “Down girl,” he teased, running a hand through his hair and pushing the wild mass of brown-blond locks back. My eyes jumped back to his, to those storm-cloud grays that always seemed to darken when we were truly alone, and I shook my head.

  “No.” I hurried forward, fisting my hands in the soaked material of his shirt and dragging him down for a kiss. He fell into me all too willingly, an arm locked around my waist as he hoisted me up. Heat pounded through me, growing fierier with every beat of my heart until it spread through my entire system. Our lips met and parted in an instant, his tongue sweeping into my mouth and stroking mine, coaxing it out to play as I moaned. Darius responded with a growl, marching me backward until I stumbled into a rocky alcove, its barely-there overhang offering a brief reprieve from the rain. My hands cupped his strong jaw, and my tentative whispers of arousal morphed into full-blown gales when he snatched my wrists and pinned them back against the rock.

  In that moment, I wanted him to devour me—mind, body, and soul. All the issues I’d been mulling over as I watched the storm roll in, they didn’t matter. Right then and there, it was just Darius and I, together, with the storm at our backs and the future ahead. I arched against him, moaning softly when he nibbled at my lower lip, then dragged his parted lips along my jaw and down to my neck. The flash of teeth across my skin—oh it made my toes curl and my body throb with need.

  My little mewl of protest when he withdrew, however, brought a rush of heat to my cheeks, diverting it away from the other more exciting bits as I flushed.

  “You’re shivering,” Darius said, his voice thick and raspy. He dropped my wrists and ran his hands over me as his mouth twisted in a seductive grin. “Is it me or the cold?”

  I rolled my eyes, only then noticing the way my teeth chattered. “Full of yourself much?”

  “Just as I suspected.” He shook his head. “I’ve been known to have that effect on—”

  A swift smack to his chest forced a laugh out of him rather than the clichéd line I knew was coming. We both smirked at one another, and while I would have preferred to stay out here forever, the moment, our moment, was being carried away on the howling winds. The temperatures had dropped so suddenly, the high humidity of the night finally disappearing and ushering in the gale.

  “Come on,” he muttered, threading his fingers around mine. “Let’s get you inside before you freeze to death.”

  “Someone’s a little melodramatic,” I said with a snort. After one last shared look, we dashed out into the rain. Fat, heavy droplets pummeled me as we ran, and while I could have used a spell to keep us dry, I didn’t want to. There was something terribly romantic about making a mad dash through a storm with the rain unrelenting and the lightning flashing. Every so often, Darius turned back and swept me into his arms, and our mouths met with all the fury of the crashing booms of thunder overhead. Then we’d pull apart, smiling or laughing or teasing one another, and start the run again. In the end, it took us twice as long to get back to his room as it should have.

  Darius had yet to move into the alpha’s hall, and we instead locked ourselves inside his old bedroom—nothing more than a single wood and stone hall with sleeping quarters and a bathroom. He got a fire going in the old hearth while I changed out of my wet clothes. Then we both crawled into his king-sized bed, tucking one another under the covers, our bodies entwined, as the storm howled outside, its wrath slamming against the windows.

  “Kaye,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to my temple, “about today…”

  I swallowed hard, knowing exactly where this conversation was leading. “Yeah?”

  “You know what it means,” he said, “now that I
’m alpha, don’t you?”

  “In theory,” I told him honestly.

  “It means no one will settle until I find a mate. My mother wasn’t just teasing today. It’s quite serious.”

  I closed my eyes at his words, listening to the gentle crackling of the fire on the other side of the room. Darius’s fingers grazed up and down my back lazily, and while he might seem relaxed to an outsider, I could tell the conversation weighed just as heavily on him. “Oh,” was the best I could do.

  “If I had my way, I know exactly who I would choose,” he insisted, pulling me closer against his naked torso as my heart skipped a beat. He didn’t need to say it outright. Of course, I knew he meant me.

  “When I think of a shifter’s mate, I’m sorry, but I think of someone who is just there to pump out a bunch of kids and keep the family name going,” I admitted, my tone soft. I didn’t want to offend him, but I couldn’t help the way I imagined it. “You know I’d never agree to that… You know I’d want to work with you. Fight with you.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he assured me, and I let out a little sigh of relief. At least I hadn’t upset him, and he wasn’t gearing up to ask me to be his broodmare. It was a good start. “Besides, that’s a bit of an antiquated idea about the role of a shifter’s wife, especially an alpha’s wife.”

  “Okay.” I sat up, my hand resting on his chest, and met his eyes. “So, tell me straight up, what this would entail. If you want me to make an informed decision—”

  “I do.”

  “Then I need to know all the facts.” Thunder rattled the windows, followed swiftly by a bolt of lightning so bright that it illuminated the small hall like it was daylight. I gave the storm my attention for a few moments, then sighed. Darius’s gaze had never left my face.

  “Shifters mate for life. They’re bound to one another,” he told me quietly, taking my hand in his. “It’s a very serious commitment that no one takes lightly.”

  “Good. Because neither do I.” I had no interest in devoting myself to a man, to falling in love and making a vow, if it was a meaningless, casual affair.

  Darius smiled, clearly pleased with my response. “The wives of alphas are not just there to produce the next alpha. You would be responsible for the clan in equal measures like I am. When I’m away, they’re all yours. You are their queen, their mother, and their keeper.” I gulped, the gravity of the situation making my stomach turn. “To be an alpha wife is to be a leader. Agreeing to be my mate… It isn’t just a matter of getting married and living happily ever after. It’s a commitment. It’s a promise to give yourself wholeheartedly to the clan in the same way you give yourself to your mate. It’s a job and title that’s just as important as mine.”

  He brushed my wet hair from my face, sweeping it back behind my ears. The caress of his skin against mine sent a shiver racing through my body, and in an instant, it quieted my racing mind.

  “I love you, Kaye, my fae,” he told me, and my whole body prickled with emotion. I love you. We’d never said it to each other. Before I could stop them, tears pooled and threatened to fall, but I blinked them back as Darius added, “But I would never force this life on you. I want you to know how much work and responsibility the position requires, because I want you to be happy. I would understand if you… said no.”

  I looked back out the window. The storm had quieted somewhat, perhaps having blown over the mountains, but rain continued to drizzle down the glass panes. Being an alpha’s mate, fated or not, carried a huge responsibility with it. Was that why my mom left James? Could she not handle the responsibilities? If her love for him was even a fraction of what I felt for Darius, it must have broken her heart to walk away from him. How it must have broken his too. Now that I knew all that was required of an alpha’s wife, I had a lot to consider—and it wasn’t an answer I could give tonight.

  So, I responded to what I knew with certainty.

  “I love you too, Darius Thomas,” I said, my lips mirroring the enormous smile that spread across his face. “I’ll have to think about this. If it was as simple as saying yes to a normal proposal, I’m pretty sure I know the answer already.”

  “Well,” his fingers walked up my arm and clutched at my chin, drawing me toward him, “that says something.”

  “But I need to think,” I repeated, happily nuzzling against his chest, my arms snaking around his neck. “I’m not sure I’m ready for the life you just described, as much as I love you.”

  “Mmm keep saying it,” he purred, tipping my head back and stealing a quick kiss. I all but melted into him, my eyes fluttering closed until he pulled back slightly. “I hope you remember that I’m not someone who takes no for an answer very well. I’ll pursue you. I’ve done it before. I have no problems doing it again.”

  “I welcome the chase.” And I meant it. I needed to know that this was what he wanted too, after all.

  “You’ll get it in spades.”

  I grinned and kissed his stubbly cheek, then settled down against him. As his hand slowly worked into my hair, massaging my scalp in slow, even strokes, I watched the fire flicker in the hearth. Hypnotic, comforting, the dance of the flames and the rhythmic fall of the rain lulled me to sleep. My thoughts, my fears, my concerns—I tucked them away. For now, I basked in the warmth of Darius’s love, the gentle glow of the fire, and the knowledge that for the first time in a long time, both of us were safe in each other’s arms.

  When I fell asleep in the arms of the man I loved, I couldn’t have known we weren’t out of danger just yet.

  Because, how could I? Why would I? Darius had just said the big L-word. He wanted me to be an alpha’s wife because he clearly thought I could handle the monumental responsibility. I had a thousand reservations, sure, but the Sanctius clan had welcomed me with open arms. My dragon had been crowned king. No one could touch me—theoretically. As I’d let sleep take me only hours earlier, before a crackling fire and sheltered from a furious storm, I thought, at least there, tucked against my dragon, in his bed that I was safe.

  Not so. Another fuck you from the universe—one I should have seen coming when I woke abruptly from a dead, dreamless sleep one night. The room was black. The bed was comfortable. The air was still. Yet for some reason, I was awake—and I wanted to leave.

  Sighing softly, I sat up and scanned the room. Nothing. Not a thing out of place, not even with my enhanced sight. What the hell could have woken me? As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, my gaze caught on Darius’s outline, the corded muscles across his arm, still present even at rest, and the generous dips and swells of his muscular back and shoulders. He lay on his stomach, arm over me like a snare, his face utterly at peace. His breathy snores were the only sounds punctuating the odd silence.

  Carefully, I lifted his arm off me, not wanting to wake him, and clambered out of bed. After grabbing my silky black dressing gown from my luggage near the fireplace, where the embers still flickered softly, I tiptoed back, leaned across the bed, and pressed a ghost of a kiss to his temple. He stirred but didn’t wake. The arm that was once around me, its weight like an ever-present security blanket, slid across the bed where I had been and nestled under the pillow. I bit back a giggle when he made some weird lip-smacking noise before resuming his snores.

  As much as I wanted to rush to the door, giving in to that desire to flee like a rope tugging at my gut, trying to steer me onward, I kept my feet planted, hands on my hips, and tried to think this through. It wasn’t a touch that had woken me—not a physical one, anyway. Instead, as I stood there staring around the dark room, my heart rate spiking with each worrying thought, I felt the gentle caress of magic wafting all around me.

  It wasn’t my magic that I felt.

  In fact, it wasn’t familiar in the slightest.

  Back to bed, Kaye. Back to bed. My inner voice, the compass that I was beginning to suspect might be my inner, unshifted dragon, sounded distant. Hazy. Unimportant. I blinked, curious. Normally she was so clear, hovering t
hese days at the forefront of my mind, nudging me from wrong to right. Because of that, half-asleep as I might have still been, I ignored her advice.

  No one ought to be practicing magic at this hour. Catriona would be asleep, as I knew my fae bestie required a minimum eight hours to not be a grumpy Gus the following morning. Outside of me and her, there were no other magical practitioners currently at the Sanctius clan. All those who had attended Khalon Thomas’s funeral were long gone. It was just the two of us and a bunch of amazing dragon shifters.

  I’d never felt more at home in all my life, even with my reservations about becoming Darius’s mate.

  Yet something felt… off. The longer I studied our bedroom, blanketed in darkness and calm, the straighter the hairs on the back of my neck stood. A prickling sensation skittered across my body, and I couldn’t shake the feel of ants creeping up my legs, each individual little ant foot leaving its mark. Shuddering, I crossed the space, moving from a thick, woolly rug to the hard, smooth stone beneath my bare feet, grabbed for the door knob, and all but threw myself outside.

  Instantly, the sensations vanished. In their place was a warm, calming magical energy that pooled in my core. I placed a hand on my stomach, blinking somewhat sleepily. While a few torches lit the way from Darius’s cabin to his hall, it was far brighter out here than inside; yet another element that chased the sickly creepy-crawly feelings away.

  I took a step toward the hall, the highest manmade point of the Sanctius village within the mountain landscape. With each step, however, the warmth faded. My frown deepened again, and I moved back—there was the warmth. So, this was our game. Hot and cold. I could do that if it meant answers.

  So, I went off-roading, leaving the path behind and picking my way across the slate gray terrain. Normally, I’d feel the bite of the mountain underfoot: the sharp edges, the scraggly plants, the hints of old civilizations from clans gone by. Tonight, the soft undersides of my feet were immune. At one point, I paused to consider it, lifting one foot and noting the faint streaks of blood and the bits of rubble sticking into my skin. Yet the heat, so delectably comforting and pleasant in my core, spurred me on, pulsing like the crook of a finger.