I ruthlessly ripped centuries of knowledge from his mind, and then switched his mind off like a light switch… and I grew with the knowledge I’d taken. My air sphere reached out to two hundred feet, and my fire sphere to fifty. I’d only gained a small amount in fire, because there was a difference between knowledge and experience, power came with wisdom and understanding, raw knowledge was only the beginning of that. Yet, at least I could grow further without experimentation, just needed a lot of raw practice, and I had a much better comprehension of fire now, or at least, I would when I integrated and organized all of it.
I wanted to study the knowledge I’d gained, or rather stolen, but now wasn’t the time. I had four people glaring at me from below, no doubt because I moved them out of the fight. I lowered from the roof and as soon as my feet hit the ground Sierra was in my arms, and she kissed me hard, she was fierce and passionate. I was a little dazed and breathless when she broke it, and barely noticed the glare she sent Tara’s way, who blushed.
It was nice to know she cared, and I was smart enough not to comment on what just happened. Not that I thought I was getting away with anything, just that it was dumb to consider doing so before the others.
Tara said softly, “Thanks for coming for me, and healing me.”
I smiled, “You’re more than welcome, I think you more than made up for it with that wicked water ward. We’d all have been killed otherwise.”
Carrie asked, “What now? Not that there haven’t been enough fights to the death today, but we can’t let this go either. They’ll just be back the next time they’re ready, and they’ll have planned for a sorcerer and werewolves being involved.”
I snorted, “Yeah, I’ve been in… three of those so far today? No, four of them if this counted as two battles.”
Tara said, “I know it’s just after lunch, but why don’t we call it a day. I need to rebuild my magic arsenal, and I know Carrie and Gerald haven’t slept yet, and Ben must be exhausted. We can regroup in a day or two and see if we can track them down somehow. Carrie is right, but none of us are in great shape right now for another fight.”
I wasn’t actually, exhausted that is, with the power boost I felt better than I did two days ago, fully rested, but I wasn’t going to actually say that out loud. With my new air power boost, I tried to pull all the usual suspects. I couldn’t find the dark coven, the info about Aitheria, or anything about my family’s enemies. So one step closer, but still too weak to pierce the protections over that knowledge. Still, with another fifty feet, I’d slightly more than doubled the power I had been at.
That reminded me, I pulled out my phone and texted Diana that Jaben was dead, and then cut off the connection between us, it wasn’t needed anymore. She didn’t bother texting me back.
“Alright, so you’re going back to your store? Everyone else back to the pack house?”
Todd shook his head, “Can I stay in the city? I have a date with Aiya tonight.”
I nodded slowly, Carrie and Gerald indicated they wanted to go to the pack house, so I sent them, and then brought the rest of us back to Tara’s store. Todd left right away, he’d been up late too, so I guess he’d sleep a few hours before his date tonight.
Tara smiled, “Thanks again, I’ll see you tomorrow? You’ve already done more than I’d have expected…”
Sierra shrugged that off, “They are our enemies now too, and we work well together… mostly.”
Tara blushed, “I’m sorry about that I…”
Sierra cut her off with a raised hand, “It’s fine, I was under his influence as well, and would have torn your head off if Ben hadn’t blocked him out for us, I understand. I’m not exactly happy about it, but I get it.”
Tara nodded. There was an awkward moment.
I turned to Sierra and cleared my throat, “Lunch dear?”
She snorted, rolled her eyes, and took my hand rather possessively. I let her drag me toward the door, and we left a bemused Tara behind staring after us…
Chapter 11
Friday, June 3rd, 2016, 1:15 PM
Lunch was a little strained. We were sitting in a booth in a soup and salad type shop. She was upset about the kiss, obviously so, and although it wasn’t my fault, I completely understood it. After all, if she kissed someone else I’d probably lose it. Of course, I felt guilty despite it not being in my control, because I had enjoyed it a lot. If it wasn’t for the fear, and my instinct to live rising up when I felt Jaben, I wasn’t all that sure I’d have fought off the magic in time… before Sierra ripped us apart I mean.
I said tentatively, “I’m sorry, I feel guilty even though…”
She raised her hand and said in a brittle voice, “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
I nodded, not really wanting to talk about it either, and took another bite of my reuben sandwich. Of course, that not wanting to talk about it only lasted around five seconds for Sierra.
She frowned, “So what did you mean… when you said to Jaben. Lie, with a small grain of truth.”
I sighed, “I don’t lust after Tara, I have a tentative friendship with her. I’m completely and totally yours.”
It was true, somehow Sierra had become the center of my world.
She waved her fork and stabbed at her ridiculously large cobb salad as if it had offended her.
“I see, so what was the small grain of truth then?”
Hmm, this couldn’t go well. Of course, brutal honesty was my only choice, I felt lies, but I was sure she would scent one from a mile away.
“Well, I’m a young healthy normal male, and she was completely naked. While I was healing her, there was a very small part of me that was aware of that. It wasn’t so much Tara specifically, as a naked pair of…” I trailed off, wondering if I was digging myself deeper. Okay, that wasn’t completely true, I was wondering how much deeper I was digging myself.
“So you were lusting after her then.”
I sighed, “Lusting after is a little strong. I’d say attracted. The same way you’re a little jealous, I suppose you could say.”
She frowned, “What do you mean?”
“A fire sorcerer can’t make up things from nothing. We have to gather the heat around us to form fire, once we have fire we can increase or decrease the fire, and the heat with magic. We can do the same with strong emotions, but only if they’re already present. If you had no jealous feelings toward her at all, he wouldn’t have been able to put you in a murderous jealous rage like that.”
I knew I should shut up, but I kept talking, “For a male to be attracted to the women around him is normal, but it’s a background thing we mostly ignore. There is only one woman I lust for specifically, and love, that’s you, the rest is… just background noise.”
She asked slyly, “You do?”
I shook my head at her fishing, “Of course, you scented it on me the first time I laid eyes on you, and I’m sure it’s a familiar fragrance to you by now.”
She nodded slowly, “I’ll get over it, I know you’re mine, but my wolf is still furious.”
It was really odd, seeing her insecure like this. Of course, I remembered it had happened once before, that disastrous day after our first night together, when she didn’t know where she stood. I wasn’t anxious for a repeat of that, and wasn’t dumb enough to try and let her work it out on her own again. Werewolves just didn’t do that. The only way to assure her was to make it clear that she was mine.
I slipped a soft rope of air around one of her ankles, and grinned when I saw her eyes widen a bit, then I lifted her leg up and across and between my knees, and started to rub her ankle and calf with my left hand as I took another bite of my reuben.
It was amazing how much she relaxed at my simple touch. Of course, the touch was only effective because of the attitude and feelings behind it. For werewolves it was a sign of affection and they were extremely tactile, but they could also scent sincerity.
She said softly in a teasing threat, “You should be carefu
l where you put my foot, I might still be annoyed with you.”
Yeah, it wouldn’t take much more than a twitch of her leg muscles for her to ruin my day, considering how close her foot was to my man parts… but she’d been smiling when she said it, and it reached her eyes as well. I was pretty sure I was safe… mostly.
“You’re worth the risk,” I grinned.
It was good to get something right…
It was close to two when we walked back to my apartment with her hand on my arm. We planned to just relax the rest of the day, it really was a hellish morning. Unfortunately, my power completely betrayed me, and when we reached my block a young attractive blonde woman with a willowy body, and dressed professionally, stepped in front of us.
“Ben, so nice to see you again, do you have time for a few questions?”
It was Kira Downs of course, and this couldn’t be good. Still, I had no doubt my power would have warned me if avoiding the woman was the better option. At least I hoped so, it was the only thing I had.
I sighed, “Kira, I suppose one or two, what’s this about, I thought my fifteen minutes were up?”
She looked around, “Maybe somewhere more private?”
I considered that for a moment.
“I suppose we can do that yes, if you promise not to give me a hard time when I ask you to leave.”
She looked hurt for a moment, but I could tell it was fake. I was sure she was used to much worse treatment by the people she ambushed.
She eventually said, “Fine.”
We led Kira and her cameraman upstairs, and Sierra went into the back immediately, I knew she had no interest in making the news.
Kira asked curiously, “So is that your girlfriend?”
I shook my head as I sat on the couch and waved next to me to offer her a seat, “She is not news.”
Kira tilted her head, I noticed she did that a lot, “The people would be interested, it puts a personal face on the mysterious psychic.”
I sighed and brought out the guns, “How’s your producer Martin? I hear he has a lovely wife Candace and two beautiful children, all doing well.”
She blushed and got angry for a moment, but controlled herself. I hoped that wasn’t too rash, she could make me look bad after all, if I made her an enemy. But then, I doubted Candace would appreciate learning that Kira was often in her husband’s office, and not in any official capacity, or clothes for that matter. Blackmail was an ugly thing, but at times, so was the press.
I shrugged, “She’s off limits, but you are here, invited into my home, so ask your other questions.”
I gave her a moment to regain her self-control, and she finally did.
“So tell me Ben, what do you know of the takedown at the gentlemen’s club last night?”
I pulled the information quickly. Aiya hadn’t told anyone who gave her the tip, but apparently all the other cops aren’t idiots, which was no surprise, and they knew she worked with me a lot. Unfortunately, one of those cops had leaked that speculation, but there was no proof. But then, what reporter needed the actual truth to report a story? Ironically in this case it was even true.
I shrugged, “Just what I saw on the news. Human trafficking is a horrible thing.”
Her smile was so fake, “One of my sources told me you gave them a tip?”
“Sort of, but not directly related. My tip was on how to find the missing local girl, and I believe the rest was merely kismet.”
Kira tilted her head… again, and asked, “So you’re saying you didn’t know anything about the trafficking?”
I didn’t like that question, so I dodged by answering another one.
“I believe we covered this previously, I only see things if I have something personal of the person, so of course I didn’t see anything about those young Russian ladies or who they were except as it related to where the girl was.”
Kira asked, “You seem even more reticent today than usual, why is that?”
“Turn off the camera, and I’ll answer that question off the record, if not I think we’re done here.”
Kira sighed and signaled the cameraman to turn it off. I checked, and she didn’t have any other recording devices going, a small part of me was disappointed by that, I thought she was sneakier.
“The answer to that should be obvious, do you really want me to answer it?”
Kira nodded.
“Well, if you were a mob boss, and a psychic just took down part of your business, what would you do? I was rather hoping this was one story that wouldn’t come out.”
Kira frowned, “Actually, the story I’m going to run might help. If you think the mob gets their information from the evening news you’d be wrong. They probably know already as well, as long as we’re talking off the record. The story would… perhaps give them pause, because of the follow up I would undoubtable run, and it would be high profile.”
That was an interesting point of view, but I wasn’t sure it mattered either way. The idea she’d write a follow up story about me getting dead by the mob also wasn’t very comforting. I also wasn’t too worried about it, if they got too insistent a little mesmerizing would take care of the problem. I had just wanted to avoid it altogether if I could.
She smiled at me and asked curiously, “As long as we’re talking off the record, is that your girlfriend?”
I just shook my head, “You know she is, I never denied it, just said she isn’t news.”
She got up and left then, leaving me feeling a little uneasy, and I headed to the back. Sierra was lying sideways on the bed, reading a book. I crawled in and cuddled up behind her, spooning her with an arm wrapped around her. A part of me wondered how wise it would be to move in Sierra’s house. Between reporters, Kira specifically, and other complications it might put a spotlight on the pack.
I wouldn’t insult them by questioning it though, they were werewolves, and I was a pack ally and mated to the third strongest wolf in the pack. I had no issues sharing their problems, I supposed I needed to get used to sharing mine as well. No matter how dangerous it might get.
I kissed the back of her head, her scent filled my nostrils, and she felt really good against me. A part of me wanted to initiate lovemaking with her, but we spent the afternoon talking instead, while I held, caressed, and stole a few random kisses. I supposed it was good that I was the kind of male that liked cuddling, or else this never would have worked, werewolves loved to cuddle, at least, mine did.
There was more to building our relationship than supernatural fights and sex, and spending the day like this was one of them. Besides, there would be plenty of time for more intimacy tonight, and I knew that waiting would make it even better…
Sierra and I started to cook dinner around seven since we’d had such a late lunch.
Todd had woken up and was already gone to pick up Aiya for their date. I still felt a little conflicted, even though I knew I had no right to, but most of me was hoping it would go well.
It’d been a couple of nights since I’d heard from Mike and Jenna as well, and I still hoped that would turn out okay. I had no doubt it would change things between us, but I was hoping to keep our friendship.
Sierra said reluctantly, “I need to work a couple of hours’ tomorrow morning, just to make sure everything was done right in my absence.”
“Sure, I have a couple of things to do as well, then maybe we can spend some time at the pack house? You can give me the nickel tour of the house, and our room?”
She grinned and pushed me up against the counter, then leaned forward and stole a kiss, “That sounds like a great idea. What will you be up to?”
I needed a few hours alone to go through the knowledge I’d acquired from Jaben’s mind. I didn’t think for a moment he knew it all, there would always be more to learn, but I wanted to integrate what he did know about fire, and then practice those things. Well, some of them, I don’t think I’d be comfortable manipulating the emotions of the people around me, but I still needed to unde
rstand it.
“Fire magic, and I need to talk to Tara, make sure we both know where we stand and that I’m yours.”
Sierra raised an eyebrow.
I shrugged, “She could be a good friend, and ally.”
With any other woman I was sure I’d be in deep crap suggesting I go talk to her alone, especially after that kiss this morning, but Sierra could scent I meant what I said, and had no secondary motives. Things like that cut through a lot of the garbage human relationships had to go through. Sure, dating a werewolf was exciting, and added new challenges, but some of the human challenges were taken away as well. I supposed it was a wash, all relationships are complicated, she was just a different kind of complicated.
She asked, “Ally?”
“Sure, she’s done a lot of favors for me the last nine months, I thought I might just make it official. Although I don’t know if the witches have a ceremony like the pack does, it may just be our word? I also don’t know if that would make her a default ally of the pack or not, or if I would be… a buffer rather than a tie?”
Sierra frowned, “That would depend on you. She’d have the right to call on you, and you could in turn call on us, or not. I for one would rather be there helping to watch your back, but that’s because I’m your mate, not because of the other.”
I nodded slowly, “Well I wouldn’t abuse that avenue, and it would work the other way as well.”
“Do you trust her that much?”
I frowned, “I trust that she’s a light witch, and would die before casting a dark spell. I also know she helped me when she didn’t have to. I do have some concerns on the personal side however, and that’s why I’m going to talk to her first.”
“Because she wants you?” she asked in a surprisingly calm neutral voice.
I nodded, “That muddies the waters, that’s why I need to talk to her about it. If she reacts badly, then it’s all moot.”
We spent the night enjoying the quiet, and each other. After dinner I got around to that intimacy I had been putting off earlier in the day. All in all, it was a good day despite the crazy morning…
Sorcerer: Witch's Woes: Power of Air (Book 3) Page 8