Caged Magic

by Jennifer Lyon

  He doesn’t belong to you. Not really.

  The truth of that shafted straight into her heart and made her hate her father more than ever. He’d manipulated her from the day of her birth, engineering ways to force her to feel every possible emotion.

  All because daddy dearest, one of the most ancient and powerful angels in the universe, had gone cold. Time had drained the angel to a frigid beauty, and without the ability to feel, he could no longer empathize with his mortal charges. But the angel had a plan…Ginny. He’d sired her with a human woman, creating a halfling. And once she’d experienced every possible human emotion he required—right up to falling in love with Ram—her father would rip her out of her life and steal her emotions. Then Vigilance would possess all the feelings he needed to care for his charges. But Ginny would be an empty shell, as cold as her father was now.

  That was one family reunion Ginny had so far refused to attend.

  Turned out, Dad didn’t take refusal well. She now had a cranky angel sire riding her ass and threatening her loved ones. That she could deal with as long as she had Ram. Ram’s touch anchored her to this world.

  Too bad her touch also set off electrical energy in the thunderbird that could and would eventually kill him.

  Ram stopped, and only her halfling sharp reaction time kept her from crashing into his back. Jeez, she needed to get her head out of self-pity land and pay attention. Ram led her into a room and flipped on the lights.

  “A classroom.” Ginny eyed the rows of desks facing a bigger teacher’s desk, and behind that, a whiteboard.

  Ram shut the door. “We won’t be disturbed, and the other hunters shouldn’t be able to overhear us, since they’re in another building.”

  She strolled around the desks, going back to her own days in classrooms. She’d wanted friends so badly. Her father, however, wanted to play with her emotions. Oh sure, she would have a best friend for a while. He wanted that emotion—the love of a friend, the way a child depends on that friend.

  Then he’d find a way to rip it away, leaving Ginny heartbroken and bereft. Feeling lost. He wanted those feelings too.

  “Angel, your aura’s out.”

  Ram’s low, gruff voice tugged at her insides. He stood with his back to the door, pinning her with his penetrating gaze. His eyes, normally ice blue, flared with a touch of sunset. He was the only one who’d ever looked at her like that, and it instantly warmed her.

  The air between them crackled with sexual tension and sheer desperation.

  Struggling to get control, she tried to concentrate and pull in her aura.

  “Don’t.” Ram shoved off the door and came toward her. “When we’re alone, you don’t hide from me.”

  She flushed in pleasure, the realization that she could be herself with him. The real Ginny, part human, part angel, and all woman. Sensual shivers fluttered deep in her belly.

  Reaching her, he added softly, “We don’t hide from each other.”

  Emotion boiled up and choked her. Never had anyone made Ginny feel as safe and cared for, as real and important, as Ram. The second he got close enough to touch her aura, hot tingles rippled through her.

  “I felt that. Your aura latched on to me.” Stepping back, Ram looked down his front. His shirt and skin had tiny bits of her brilliant light clinging to him. As they watched, the lights dimmed and winked out.

  He sucked in a breath and turned, moving so fast she could barely track him. One second, he was in front of her, the next, he stood with his back to her at the whiteboard, his shoulders bunched into granite bulges, and his breathing grew ragged.

  “Ram?” She heard a sizzle and rushed over.

  He had both his hands cupped around, but not touching, the metal tray that ran beneath the whiteboard. Sparks flew from his fingers, and the silver tray began to glow blue, the color racing down the strip of metal.

  “Get back. Now, Ginny,” he ordered.

  She took one step back but kept staring in horror. The skin along the back of his palms turned red, then black. Blisters sprang up.

  “Oh God.” Her stomach lurched. She had done this to him. Again.

  The sizzling slowed, then stopped.

  Ram stepped back and shook out his hands.

  “That was from my aura touching you?” Immediately, the warm light that had been flowing around her, the part of her that was as normal as breathing, retracted sharply, vanishing. Leaving her feeling more useless than ever.

  He whipped around, his gaze slamming into her. “I told you to get back.”

  His anger didn’t intimidate her. Not even a little bit, and besides, she’d brewed up a whole lotta pissed-off disgust at herself. “This isn’t working. It’s getting worse. I’m destroying you.”

  Ram took another step toward her.

  She backed up. Even with her aura stuffed inside her—something that was getting harder and harder for her to do—she feared hurting him again. “I should have let my father force me to ascend.”

  Ram kept coming, his movements sliding from ticked-off male to silent predator. His eyes darkened, and even his breathing became measured. Controlled.

  She moved back another step, determined to protect him and fighting to keep her aura beneath her skin, until she hit the teacher’s desk.

  Before she could turn, escape in one direction or another, Ram loomed in front of her, slapping his hands on the desk and caging her between his arms. He shoved his face into hers. “Your father tried to compel you to ascend again? Why didn’t you tell me when we talked this morning?”

  It was pointless to tell him to step back when he’d gone into hunter mode, completely focused on his goal. “Yes. I fell asleep after we talked. He forced me to dream…showed me how you’ll die. I woke up terrified that you were dead.” She closed her eyes, the utter despair washing over her again. “You were electrocuted from the bird, cooked from the inside out.”

  Grief and guilt tangled in her guts. For a long time, she and Ram had been friends, just hanging out in the evenings at the club where she worked. He’d stay late while she closed up, and made sure she got home safe.

  Both ignored the sexual attraction between them. Until Ginny had asked him for a kiss.

  One kiss. A perfect kiss, even though they both knew it couldn’t go further. Ginny had to stay a virgin since her father had demanded she have sex and fall in love before he took her from the Earth realm. Ram had his own reasons.

  Until a bit over two months ago when her father blackmailed her into seducing Ram by threatening her brother. Ginny had hated that—Ram meant too much to her to be a pawn in her father’s game. She’d been half in love with him already. Her desire for him had been very real, but they’d chosen to ignore the sexual tension between them and remain friends. But then she had no choice but to seduce Ram. When they gave into their desire, all thoughts of her father vanished. All that mattered had been the two of them. The moment he’d pressed deep into her body, their friendship began expanding into a fiery, soul-searing love.

  And as she’d known he would, her father had tried to rip her out of her world and into his.

  But Ram refused to let her go. When her father’s powerful aura had appeared, blazing with angel-fire light and called her to him, Ram leapt across the room, grabbed Ginny and begged her to stay, telling her he loved her.

  It worked. Vigilance hadn’t been able to force her from the Earth realm to his.

  “What happened after the dream? Tell me. Did your father appear?”

  Ram’s sharp questions brought her back to the present. “Yes. He told me it would be my fault if you died like that. If I just went with him, you’d turn to Shayla and be saved. Then he held out his hand.” She couldn’t stop tears from welling in her eyes. “I can’t let you die like that. I don’t want to hurt you.” She wanted to love him.

  His jaw clenched, and a vein in his forehead throbbed. “What do you think your leaving would do to me? I know what will happen—he’ll strip out all your emotions, leaving y
ou barren. I’d rather die in any torturous way than think of you like that.”

  A single tear rolled down her face. “It’s my destiny. I either destroy you or make this sacrifice to save you.” After seeing what he’d gone through just now, she hated herself more.

  “Fuck destiny, Ginny. We’re going to find a way to break your father’s hold on you, get rid of this thunderbird and be together.”

  Why should he want her now? “You don’t understand. In my dream, I saw what you’ll suffer. Loving you means I should be willing to sacrifice for you. But I panicked at the last second and pulled my hand back.”

  Fury iced his gaze and made his jaw tick. “Then what happened?”

  “He tried to force me, his aura wrapped around me, but I remembered you telling me to fight. I focused on your love for me and fought to stay with you. It was a battle, but in the end I was able to resist and push his aura out of mine.”

  “How, Ginny? We need to know so we can keep him from compelling you to ascend into his realm.”

  “You saw my aura tonight, the way it latched on to you? I think…” She trailed off, trying to find the words. “Last time we made love, I think we bonded tighter than my father expected. And since he doesn’t feel anything, hasn’t felt in centuries, he doesn’t remember how powerful that is.”

  Ram’s eyes lit up. “Sex and blood, it’s how our souls bond with our mates.”

  “But I’m not a witch or your mate. I don’t have the other half of your soul.” Like Shayla, she thought, bitterness coating her throat.

  “True, but it’s you I love. That night in your bed, you demanded I concede my control to you, remember?”

  She did. He hadn’t been able to touch her, just like now. But she could touch him, and she had. Then she’d ordered him on the bed and straddled him.

  “When we orgasmed, your aura came out, spilling over me, I remember feeling it, Ginny. That’s part of why I didn’t notice my hands burning and fusing to the iron headboard. Sex—it bonds us and keeps you here with me.” He leaned down, kissing her softly. “Where you belong.”

  God she wanted that, wanted to belong to his man, and he to her. But while sex helped her, it increased the electrical energy growing in him. She pulled her mouth from his. “We can’t. Both times we had sex, you developed another lightning streak on your tattoo and your hands got worse.”

  “I don’t care.” His eyes glittered with fierce love. “All that matters to me is you.”

  Her father was right—she really was destroying him.

  * * *

  Linc climbed the stairs to the guest suite. He’d check on Risa to see if she felt better or needed Carla.

  Then he’d leave her alone. Not touch her. Don’t push her. Give her time. He repeated the refrain over and over. He could hold on for a while longer, let Risa get used to him.

  But damn, her spicy, cinnamon-hot magic clung to his skin. While he’d been in that magical shield with her, he’d been desperate to mate her. But once he’d stopped touching her, the curse screamed for her blood, to cut her, bleed her power, make it his.

  Christ, he was so fucking close to losing it.

  At the top of the stairs, he paused before the door to the first suite. Just check on her and leave. Give her space to rest and recover from using so much magic. Determined, he went inside to the spacious living room with the couch and two chairs facing a big TV. Hallways opened on either side, leading to bedrooms with en suite bathrooms. Ahead was a small dining area and kitchen that opened to a balcony.

  The sour scent of sweat and sickness jerked him around, and he jogged into the right bedroom. Barely scanning the untouched bed, he honed in on the closed door to the bathroom. Was she ill? She’d used a lot of magic, been so drained she’d scarcely been able to stand.

  “Risa?” He knocked on the door.

  Nothing. No response. No water running, no splashing. Only the faint sounds of ragged breathing. Biting worry coiled his muscles. Linc tried the door handle. “Risa!”

  Locked. No answer. Not even a moan.

  Sudden, razor-sharp pain scratched his back. The falcon rippled and clawed, its panic fueling his. He punched a hole through the wood, reached inside and released the lock. Carefully easing open the door, he spotted Risa crumpled on the floor, the toilet at her head, back to the shower, feet to the wall.

  He rushed in and crouched at her side. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her face tracked with dried tears, her bottom lip cracked and bleeding.

  Don’t touch the blood. “Risa, where are you hurt?” She must have been injured and hadn’t said anything. Damn it. It was his job to protect her. “Tell me,” he snapped, when she didn’t respond fast enough.

  She parted her lips, but nothing came out.

  Frustrated, scared and pissed that Risa was suffering, he yanked out his phone and sent a quick text to Sutton that Risa was hurt and he needed Carla up here stat. The other witch could help her.

  While waiting, he touched her side, trying to look for an injury.

  She flinched, curling in tighter, and moaned.

  Linc dropped his hand in helpless anger. What the hell had happened? She’d said she was okay when Hilary asked her. The sound of hurried footsteps made him turn.

  Carla raced in first, dropping to her knees next to Linc. “Where is she hurt?”

  “I don’t know. She can’t, or won’t, tell me.” It twisted inside him. He barely knew her, but one thing he was certain of—she was his soul mirror. She would free him from the curse, and in return, he was supposed to protect her. Yet she had been the one who protected them earlier in the day. Maybe been hurt in the process, and he’d been too fucking preoccupied to notice.

  The bird rippled across his back in obvious agreement.

  “Please, Carla.” Linc glanced at Sutton, seeing that his wings were gone. “I know you’re probably tired from healing Sutton’s wing, but she’s suffering. She saved us today.”

  “I know she did. I felt her magic through Sutton when she cast her shield.” She shifted her stare back to Risa.

  Carla’s magic rose. Because she and Sutton were mated, it rolled over Linc like a soft breeze but didn’t incite or aggravate his curse. Her witch shimmer danced in beautiful silvery sparkles over her skin. She laid her fingers on Risa’s bare arm.

  Linc shifted foot to foot, impatient to know what had happened to Risa.

  Carla gasped and jerked her hand away.

  Despite his massive size, Sutton moved fast, reaching around Linc to touch Carla. “I feel that, like spikes being driven into your head. What’s wrong with her?”

  “What is it?” Linc demanded.

  “Hang on, I’m going to go to the astral plane.” She turned to look at Sutton. “Don’t let go of me.”

  His face tightened, but he merely said, “Never.”

  Carla unleashed more magic, filling the bathroom with her scent. The hair on Linc’s arms shivered as the atmosphere changed around them. The witch glowed with a silvery light, appearing ethereal and not quite there.

  Linc didn’t fully understand the astral plane, some kind of magical realm where Carla could see more than was readily visible on Earth. He didn’t care about the specifics. He just wanted to help Risa.

  Finally, Carla’s shimmer died off, and she opened her eyes.

  “What is it?” he demanded.

  “Soul screams. A lot of them, and they’re breaking her mind.”

  Soul what? He stared at her. “What the hell is that?”

  Carla’s face filled with sympathy. “She’s a shield witch. Before the curse, if a witch cast her shield around someone but they died anyway, the familiar would push the soul away from the witch’s magic and the soul would go on to its afterlife.”

  Linc tried to follow this. “What does that have to do with her being sick now?”

  “Risa has cast her shield and failed a lot. More than a dozen times, probably in the twenties. All those souls are trapped in her magic. When she uses her shield magic, t
he souls are disturbed, reliving their deaths over again. It’s called soul screams. It’s agonizing, and it’s breaking her mind and her magic.”

  He glanced at Risa, who lay like death, emitting an occasional twitch or moan. “So she’s hearing screams?”

  Carla touched his arm. “She’s feeling each and every death, Linc. Experiencing it as if they had happened to her, all the pain, terror and confusion. The screams are like spikes through her head.” She paused and lowered her voice. “Every time it happens, she loses more of her control, both of her magic and her mind.”

  Linc refused to feel useless pity. What they needed were answers. This witch was the key to his survival, so she simply had to live. “Won’t my falcon be her familiar? Once we bond our souls, she’ll be okay, right?”

  “I don’t know. Her mind is fraying, beginning to crumble under the weight of so many souls. It’s harder and harder for her to wrest control of her magic back from the souls.”

  Yeah, well, he’d been at the last stop on the crazy train himself when he’d been blooded. It had only been the determination of his friends and Roxy’s powerful sex magic that had saved his sorry ass. Linc didn’t fold until he was out of options.

  He wasn’t out of options yet.

  “I touched her blood. What if I give her some of my blood, will that help her now? Get her well enough to finish our bond?”

  Carla looked dubious. “Probably. But don’t you want to find out first how one witch could be connected to that many deaths? They were all violent deaths, Linc.”

  “No.” He had enough to answer for in his own past.

  Sutton pulled Carla to her feet.

  She touched Linc’s shoulder. “After you give her your blood, you have to try to help her get control of her magic in her chakras. Start with her first chakra in her pelvis and work all the way up to her throat chakra.”

  “Got it.”

  “Do you want me to stay with you?”

  Linc shook his head. “I’ll call you if I need you.” Touching Risa in a way that would draw out her magic would require some intimacy. They didn’t need an audience for that.

  She squeezed his shoulder then Carla and Sutton left.