Fugitive by Magic: a Baine Chronicles novel (The Baine Chronicles: Fenris's Story Book 1)

by Jasmine Walt

  But I didn’t just want her body. I wanted all of her—body, mind, and soul. And I knew in the back of my mind, even while hiding behind my own denial, that she had not been ready either.

  “Good morning,” I said as I opened the door, giving her a lazy smile. Her eyes went wide at the sight of me, that kissable mouth falling open, just the way I’d hoped. My smile widened, and I leaned against the doorjamb, crossing my arms over my chest. “Couldn’t stay away, could you?”

  Mina snorted a laugh, her eyes sparkling. “Your performance of the seductive rogue is not half-bad,” she said teasingly, running her finger along my bare bicep. The sensation of her skin against mine ignited the hunger that had been simmering low in my chest, and a growl slipped from my throat. “But beneath all these muscles, you are the same gentleman who gave me a chaste kiss and tucked me in rather than taking advantage of my invitation to ravish me.”

  “A mistake I shall not repeat,” I said, grabbing her by the wrist and yanking her inside. The door had barely slammed shut before I pulled her into my arms and kissed her, greedily drinking in the scent of her, the feel of her tempting curves pressed up against my half-naked body. She was wearing a simple white dress, and the fabric was quite thin—a joke of a barrier between our heated flesh.

  “Oh good,” she breathed against my mouth. “I was wondering when you were finally going to get serious.”

  Laughing, I tangled my fingers in her silken hair, then slid my tongue between her lips to taste her fully. The moan she made reverberated through my entire body, and it responded, growing harder than I ever had in my life. It had been so long since I’d last had a woman, so long since I’d experienced the pleasures that could be had tumbling between the sheets…

  But I would not take things too fast. Not when it had been even longer for Mina…and not when, as I suspected, she had little experience to begin with.

  “I’m going to make you make that sound again…” I kissed her chin. “And again…” I licked a path along the edge of her jawline. “And again…” I bit down lightly on her earlobe, and she moaned again. “Until you’ve forgotten how to speak anything but my name on your lips.”

  Her knees gave out from beneath her, and I swept her up into my arms and carried her to the bedroom.

  21

  Mina

  My heart pounded hard in my chest as Fenris laid me gently down atop his cloud-soft bedspread. His mouth was still fused to mine as he crawled atop the mattress with me, his beard scraping my cheeks in a way that sent tingles down my spine and into…other places. I was alive, burning with need, my core molten and throbbing.

  And when his hands slid beneath my dress, pushing the fabric up, I was filled with breathless anticipation.

  “No underwear?” he asked, and I might have blushed if his tone hadn’t been of surprised pleasure.

  “I’ve fallen behind on my laundry,” I gasped as he glided his hands up my bare skin, bare skin that he revealed inch by excruciating inch. His broad palms and calloused fingers left trails of fire in their wake, and the insides of my thighs grew even damper, if that was possible.

  Fenris only chuckled as he lifted the dress higher, pulling it over my head and tossing it to the side. He sucked in a sharp breath as he took in my fully naked body, and I held perfectly still as his yellow gaze, bright with lust, roamed over my bare skin. His hands skimmed down my ribs, then came up to cup my breasts. Pleasure shot through me as he gently scraped his rough thumbs over my nipples, and I arched my back.

  “More,” I gasped.

  Happy to oblige, he ducked his head and took one of my nipples into his mouth. I moaned as pleasure filled me, threading my hands in his thick, dark hair. One of his arms slid around my lower back, dragging me closer until I was sitting in his lap. I hooked my legs around him and clung tightly as he feasted on me, my mind spinning. I didn’t remember things feeling this good with my last lover—my skin tingled, and my core was pulsing, aching for more.

  “You are the most gorgeous creature I’ve ever seen,” he said, lifting his head to look at me. And his yellow eyes blazed with such sincerity that my own began to burn with tears.

  Wordlessly, I reached out to splay my palms against his chest. Crisp, dark hairs teased my hands as I explored the firm muscles, and when my fingers brushed over his nipples, he hissed. Emboldened, I let my hands trail lower, across the ridges of his muscled stomach, toward the hem of his pajamas, where I could see the evidence of his arousal straining.

  He caught my wrist just before I could slip my hand beneath and shook his head. “Not yet,” he said, leaning in to kiss me again. “Right now, this is all about you.”

  Those tears burned at my eyes again, and this time, one escaped. Fenris noticed, but he said nothing, just tenderly licked it away. The touch made me completely forget about everything else in the world, especially when he began to kiss a path down the center of my body. I squirmed when he dipped a tongue into my navel, swirling it around, then arched my hips when he slid his hands beneath them, using his shoulders to nudge my legs apart.

  “Absolutely beautiful,” he breathed as he lowered his head between my legs, staring at me with those molten eyes.

  He licked my center, and my hips came straight off the bed. His answering chuckle vibrated through me, and I fisted my hands on the sheets as he teased me with that clever mouth of his. My core pulsed with each stroke of his tongue, spearing me with pleasure, until I was a writhing, panting mass of need.

  “Please,” I begged.

  “Please what?” He licked me again, hitting my sweet spot, and I groaned.

  “Yes, like that!” I fisted my hands in his hair, holding him fast, and he laughed again and did as I asked. And just like that, I came, a blinding wave of pleasure overtaking me as I cried his name.

  For the next few hours, Fenris refused to let me out of bed. He pleasured me over and over again, bringing me to climax more times than I could count. I tried reaching for him more than once, but every time I did, he would only push me back and lower his head between my legs until I’d forgotten everything but the feel of his mouth and hands on my skin, and the blissful sensations he created.

  He made love to me until I was limp with exhaustion, then coaxed me into a state of such relaxation that I fell asleep, curling into his strong arms as he spooned me from behind.

  I fell into such a deep sleep that by the time I woke, shades of orange and vermillion were spilling in through the slats of the blinds. Sunset. Blinking, I pushed myself upright as alarm spiked through me. By the Lady, had I slept the day away? I racked my brain, frantic that I might have missed out on some patients…but no. I’d had no appointments scheduled for today.

  As soon as I relaxed, I noticed Fenris was no longer curled up in the bed with me. Frowning, I wrapped the bedsheet around me and quietly crept to the door. A moment of listening assured me that no guests were outside, or, if they were, they weren’t speaking, so I ventured into the rest of the house.

  I found Fenris sitting at the kitchen table, his thick, dark brown hair delightfully mussed from the hours I’d spent with my fingers in it. He still only wore his pajama pants, and I grinned a little at the sight of the score marks on his broad shoulders from my nails. But my smile faded as I saw his expression—his brows were drawn into a pensive frown, and in his hand…

  “That’s an awfully official-looking letter,” I said quietly, coming up beside the table. The paper was thick, expensive-looking stock, and the stationary bore a complicated engraved design that looked faintly familiar.

  “It’s the reply from your family lawyer, regarding my interest in buying your grandmother’s house.” Fenris set the letter down on the table and looked up at me. “Would you like to read it?”

  My chest began to tighten as anxiety banded around me, as it always did when I had to think back to my old life in Haralis. But I forced myself to take in a deep breath, to remind myself I wasn’t alone anymore—Fenris was here with me now.

 
Even if the news was bad, I could get through this with him.

  “Yes, I would.” I took the chair across from him and picked up the letter.

  In neat, flowing script, the lawyer informed Fenris’s fictional buyer that the childhood home I’d grown up in, part of my inheritance, might be on the market within a matter of weeks. Horror filled me as he explained that the heiress it belonged to would shortly be declared legally dead. As soon as these proceedings were completed, he would consult the new owners about whether they would entertain offers. He would write again once he’d had a chance to talk to them.

  “Dead?” I sputtered, utterly taken aback. My hands were shaking so hard I was forced to set the letter down before I accidentally tore it. “Why are they going to declare me dead? Why now? And it doesn’t say if my cousin Vanley is still alive, or if I killed him!” My voice rose at the memory of that awful night when I’d fled that awful house. Perhaps I deserved to be declared dead for killing him… But no. It had been self-defense, and whatever had happened, it was time I found out the truth.

  Fenris met my gaze, his own as rock-steady as I’d ever seen it. “There is usually a waiting period of some years before a missing person is declared dead, and no proof is necessary. The heirs can then take over the estate. Waiting for so long will already have irked them a great deal.”

  “I can only imagine,” I said bitterly, my voice rife with sarcasm.

  “What would you like to do?” he asked quietly. There was not a hint of judgment in his voice, nothing to indicate whether any choice I made was right or wrong.

  I looked down at the paper again. “I’m not sure,” I murmured, staring at the flowing script, though I wasn’t really seeing it. “If I go back, I’ll have to explain my actions on that last night, and perhaps be punished. And I risk being forced to live with my aunt and uncle again.”

  “You may not have to,” Fenris said. “If we present a convincing enough case, we might be able to get the Chief Mage of your home state to assign you a different guardian for the remaining period. With luck, given your age, it will be a mere formality.”

  “We?” I lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t see how you can help me without…blowing your cover,” I said, though I wasn’t certain if that was an accurate term for his situation. We had grown so close now, yet there was still so much I did not know about him…

  Fenris gave me a crooked smile. “Don’t worry about me, Mina. I have my ways, and after everything we’ve been through, I’m developing a taste for adventure. I wouldn’t let you face this on your own.”

  Sheer gratitude swept through me, and I blinked as my eyes burned once more. “Thank you,” I said hoarsely, then looked down at the letter once more. The lawyer’s words on the cream paper taunted me—how could he speak so casually of selling off my childhood home, my family heirlooms? Of allowing my abusers to profit off my inheritance? Mr. Ransome had been a regular guest at my grandmother’s dinner table, had known me since I was a child. Did he not care at all?

  “I cannot stand by and allow them to do this,” I finally said, folding up the letter. “It isn’t so much the wealth—it’s the principle of the thing. My parents, my grandmother, would expect me to stand up for my rights and own up to my actions. Whatever the risk, whatever I might have to face…I have to stop them.”

  Pride gleamed in Fenris’s eyes, warming me from the inside out. But his expression remained grave. “It will not be easy, this undertaking,” he warned, even as he reached across the table to lace his fingers with mine. “We will have to prove your identity beyond reasonable doubt, and with a fortune at stake, you might find yourself in danger.”

  I stiffened at the underlying meaning of his words—that my relatives might very well try to kill me. “I don’t think they are quite that callous, except perhaps my cousin Vanley, if he is still around. Regardless of the danger, I must try,” I said firmly. “I have run from my past long enough.”

  And as Fenris and I sat talking long into the night, planning our strategy, the shaky, scared part of me that had fled from home all those years ago began to harden into firm resolve. No longer would I be a cowering victim, skulking around in poverty because nobody believed me when I needed help. I would make them believe, and to hell with anyone who dared stand in my way.

  To be continued…

  Fenris and Mia will return in CLAIMED BY MAGIC, Book 2 in The Baine Chronicles: Fenris’s story. If you’d like to be notified when the next book comes out, make sure you’re subscribed to Jasmine’s newsletter!

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  Glossary

  Abbsville: a small town in the state of Watawis, population ca. 800 including the surrounding farms.

  Apprenticeship: all mages are expected to complete an apprenticeship with some master mage, that usually lasts from age fifteen to about twenty-five. Only after the final exam may they use colorful robes, and are considered legally of age. Otherwise they only attain their majority at age thirty.

  ar’: suffix in mages’ family names, that denotes they are of noble birth, and can trace their descent to one of Resinah’s twelve disciples.

  Baine, Sunaya: a half-panther shifter, half-mage who used to hate mages and has a passion for justice. Because magic is forbidden to all but the mage families, Sunaya was forced to keep her abilities a secret until she accidentally used them to defend herself in front of witnesses. Rather than condemn her to death, the Chief Mage, Iannis ar’Sannin, chose to take her on as his apprentice, and eventually his fiancée. She struggles to balance her shifter and mage heritage.

  Baine, Rylan: Sunaya Baine’s cousin, and like her, a panther shifter. An active member of the Resistance, with the rank of Captain, he was captured and imprisoned during the uprising in Solantha, but ultimately pardoned.

  Benefactor: the anonymous, principal source of financial support to the Resistance, who was eventually unmasked as the socialite Thorgana Mills (now deceased).

  Canalo: one of the fifty states making up the Northia Federation, located on the West Coast of the Northia Continent.

  Central Continent: the largest of the continents on Recca, spanning from Garai in the east to Castalis in the west.

  Creator, the: the ultimate deity, worshipped by all three races under different names.

  Haralis: a port city on the east coast and capital of Innarta, one of the most prosperous states in the Northia Federation.

  Iannis ar’Sannin: Chief Mage of Canalo. He resides in the capital city of Solantha, from which he runs Canalo as well as the Mages Guild with the help of his deputy and Secretaries. Originally a native of Manuc, a country located across the Eastern Sea.

  Innarta: one of the fifty states of the Northia Federation, where Mina’s family hails from.

  Lady, the: mages refer to the First Mage, Resinah, as the Lady, most often in the phrase “by the Lady!”

  Loranian: the difficult, secret language of magic that all mages are required to master.

  Mages Guild: the governmental organization that rules the mages in each state, and supervises the other races. The headquarters are usually in the same building as the Palace of the local Chief Mage, to whom the Guild is subordinate.

  Magorah: the god of the shifters, associated with the moon.

  Mills, Thorgana: socialite and former owner of a news media conglomerate as well as numerous other companies. After being exposed as the Benefactor she was imprisoned. She managed to escape, but died around the time of the Solantha earthquake.

  Nebara:, one of the fifty states making up the Northia Federation, located north of Canalo, and Fenris’s home state.

  Northia Federation: a federation consisting of fifty states that cover almost the entire northern half and middle of the Western Continent.

  Northian: the main language spoken in the Northia Federation.

  Osero: one of the fifty states of the Northia Federation, located north of Canalo on the continent’s west coast.

  Pandanum: a base metal used, inter alia, for less va
luable coins.

  Polar ar’Tollis: former Chief Mage of Nebara, who vanished after being condemned to death by the Convention.

  Recca: the world of humans, mages and shifters.

  Resinah: the first mage, whose teachings are of paramount spiritual importance for the mages. Her statue can be found in the mage temples, which are off-limits to non-mages and magically hidden from outsiders.

  Resistance: a movement of revolutionaries planning to overthrow the mages and take control of the Northia Federation, financially backed by the Benefactor. Over time they became bolder and more aggressive, using terrorist attacks with civilian casualties, as well as assassination. The discovery that the Benefactor and the human leaders of the Resistance were planning to turn on the shifters once the mages were defeated dealt a blow to the unity of the movement, but its human component is far from completely defeated.

  Rylan: see under Baine, Rylan.

  Shifter: a human who can change into animal form and back by magic; they originally resulted from illegal experiments by mages on ordinary humans.

  Silver: the metal is toxic to shifters, and burns their skin when they touch it. It is nevertheless used for coins in the Federation.

  Solantha: the capital of Canalo State, a port city on the west coast of the Northia continent. Seat of Chief Mage Iannis ar’Sannin and the Canalo Mages Guild, and home of Sunaya Baine.

  Testing: human and shifter schoolchildren in the Northia Federation are tested for magic at least twice during their schoolyears, and a positive result will normally lead to the magic wipe (often with permanent mental damage.)

  Thorgana: see under Mills, Thorgana

  Toring, Garrett: mage, Federal Director of Security, former Federal Secretary of Justice; an ambitious high official in the Federal government.