by Ivy Asher
“Oh, you don’t have to do that. I’m fine.”
I sidestep him and head toward the door. I grab my phone on the way out, squeezing past the others still grouped at the entrance of the gym. My arm just lightly grazes Valen, and it sends chills through my whole body.
I’m beyond grateful and a little surprised that I make it through the door without suddenly stopping and trying to lick one of these guys. I make it as far as the stairs on the second floor before they all catch up with me. Well…fuck!
“Why won’t you let him heal you?” Bastien--I think--asks me. He keeps pace with me as I increase my speed. Damn shorter legs.
“Because I’m not really hurt.”
“But you have scratches and bruises.”
“Yeah, just scratches and bruises, no big deal. They’ll be gone in a week.”
I step through my bedroom door and turn to close it, thinking they’ve stopped on the other side, but they brush past me and pile into my room.
“Well, why don’t you come on in fellas, don’t mind me.”
“Don’t mind if we do," a twin--I have no idea which one-- smiles at me. Throwing in a wink for good measure, he shuts the door behind him.
Fuck. Shower, I need a cold shower ASAP.
“Will you guys leave I... uh...need to clean up.”
“Let me heal you, and we’ll leave," Ryker counters.
“Why is this such a big deal?”
“You’re a caster. It’s what we do. We use magic to make our lives better.”
“I’ll remember that for next time," I say, opening the door and motioning for them to leave. I look up, and they’re all just staring at me.
Ryker steps toward me and the earnestness in his eyes makes me pause. I’m not even sure why I am fighting this so hard, other than it’s something they want me to do and I’m being stubborn.
“Tell me how it works?” I ask hesitantly.
Ryker steps closer and a flutter sweeps through my body.
“It may not even work,” I tell him nervously. “When I was fighting with the paladin, Lachlan tried to throw a couple of shiny orb thingies at me. They didn’t work the way he wanted them to. Which was good for me in the end, but…my point is…don’t get too excited about your magic working," I proceed to ramble like an idiot.
“There are so many things about that statement I want to know about. Starting with why you were fighting your uncle’s coven?” Knox asks me.
“That’s a super long story.”
“I’ve got time," Knox smiles.
My brain stutters and then freezes, as I stare at that smile. Luckily Ryker rescues me.
“Let’s focus on the healing first and then we can move on to the interrogation.”
I move past Ryker and the twins, but now I don’t know where to go. I spin around, stuck in between the side of my bed and the sitting area. I swallow as Ryker closes the distance between us, an excited light in his eyes.
“All I have to do is touch the areas that are injured and then use my magic to heal them,” he tells me casually, making it sound perfectly normal.
“Can I see your side?” he asks, gesturing to my ribs.
I nod, not trusting my voice with his close proximity. Ryker takes the bottom of my tank top and raises it up over my head. I wasn’t expecting him to take it all the way off, but he does, and the intimacy of it makes my breath hitch. I’m trying to ignore my body’s reaction to him, and I have to consciously slow my lungs as he leans in and looks closer at my side. He turns me just a fraction and looks at my back.
“Where did these come from? They look older.”
“Which ones?” I twist around to see where he’s pointing. I turn around, my back now facing the other boys and more than one of them hisses.
“Holy shit. What happened to you?”
I twirl back around and take in the shocked and angry looks.
I point to my side and then the scratches on my face. “This is from whichever one of you is Bastien," I point at the twins. “This is from some lamia," I point at the gouges on upper part my back. “And this...” I gesture to the rest of the bruises on my back and neck. “Is from Lachlan. The asshole blindsided me when he realized we were related.”
“He attacked you? Why?” Ryker asks quietly.
I look up into his bright blue eyes. “Your guess is as good as mine. He clearly has problems," I reply just as quietly, and I have to look away from the intensity in Ryker’s gaze.
He continues to look me over, running the back of his hand over the slight bruise on my knuckles. I look around, and everyone is watching Ryker examine me with ferocious intensity. Knox keeps leaning in closer, and the twins are absently running their thumbs over their bottom lips. The synchronicity of it is mesmerizing. One of them busts me staring and smiles.
“Why didn’t Evrin heal you?” Ryker asks me, his eyes growing stormy as he looks over the marks on my neck.
I shrug my shoulders, not sure of an answer. Why didn’t Evrin heal me? They told me he had Healing magic. I didn’t give much thought to what that meant, and he never offered. Ryker bends over and strokes the runes on my side, causing me to shiver. I look down at him as he looks up at me, neither of us saying anything. Slowly, he does it again and breaks eye contact to watch goosebumps trail his touch.
“What are these?” he asks, his breath caressing my skin.
“I guess they’re runes, at least that’s what the paladin said.”
The other guys get closer, running their eyes over my visible runes.
“They’re hot,” Knox declares, and I can’t help but laugh.
“Thanks.”
“Ready?” Ryker asks me.
I nod anxiously and wonder if this will actually work. Ryker places a large hand on my left side and another on my right hip. The air in the room charges and his palm heats up against my skin. After a couple of minutes, it cools down, and Ryker pulls his hand from my side. I look down, and the skin is unblemished, no bruises or scrapes in sight.
I look up into his eyes in awe. “Holy shit, that’s incredible," I stammer.
He rewards me with a gorgeous smile. “Next time you won’t fight me so hard," he teases.
Ryker takes his time and thoroughly heals all the marks and bruises on my neck and back. When he places his hand between my underwear and the sensitive skin of my hip and lower abdomen to heal a bruise, I almost lose all my self-control and start rubbing all over him like a needy cat.
The atmosphere in the room is intense. No one speaks or moves as we all watch Ryker put his hands all over me.
“Now your face,” he directs, tilting my chin back with one hand and putting the other on the scrapes on my cheek.
His touch on my face feels intimate and sensual. The way he positions his hands makes me feel like he’s going to kiss me. I stare unabashedly into his blue eyes, and I feel his hand on my scrapes heat up.
In less time than my side and back required, his hands cool. He grips my chin and his gaze morphs from something clinical to something curious and sultry. He lightly runs his thumb vertically down my lower lip. The pressure pulls my lips apart and opens them for the briefest of seconds before he steps back and away from me.
There is a sudden void where the heat and mass of his body once was, and my instincts urge me to pull him back into me. I look over to find the eyes of one of the twins, and heat banks in his gaze. I close my eyes to try to calm the overwhelming arousal and need that is inexplicably crashing through me, but I can feel the echo of Ryker’s hands on me, and the tiniest whimper escapes my lips. What the hell is going on right now?
“Did you do something else to me?” I accuse, my eyes landing back on Ryker who’s now sitting in a chair.
He looks at me unsettled. “What do you mean?”
I study his face, my eyes flicking back and forth between his ocean dipped irises, taking in the genuine confusion I see there.
“Nothing I just feel… weird. My body is reacting weirdly," I finish vague
ly.
Ryker moves to get up, I’m assuming to come to see what in the hell I’m rambling about, and I panic. If he comes near me again right now, I’m done for. I will climb him like a tree, with no hesitation or apology.
“Never mind.”
I dash into the bathroom and close the frosted doors behind me. I start the shower and hear someone shout to come downstairs when I’m done. I look myself over in the mirror, marveling at my now injury-free body.
Holy shit what just happened? I strip down and step into the warm stream of water. How am I going to be around these guys when that’s how my mind and body reacts?
I scrub my hands over my face and notice that Ryker forgot to heal my knuckles, but there is no way in hell I am going to call him back and ask him. I consider that this could have something to do with magic, but I don’t know enough about any of it to tell one way or another.
I’m certainly not going to ask them why I’m suddenly so hot and bothered. I turn the water cold, hoping the icy bite will cure me of the heat I feel coursing through every inch of me. After fifteen teeth chattering minutes under the spray, I give up and get out.
I dry off, and for my own sanity, I decide to ghost their invitation to hang. I grab a book on elemental magic and choose to hide out in the safety of my room instead. I climb into the cloud that is my bed and fall asleep reading about fire incantations while trying not to recall every detail of these men and exactly what it felt like to have Ryker’s hands all over me.
17
I step off the stairs and hear male voices in the kitchen, so I tap the runes on my ear to spy. They’re talking about their classes that are going to be starting again soon, and grumbling about the end of their lazy summer. None of that has anything to do with me, so I turn the runes off and head towards the kitchen. I woke up early for breakfast and then escaped outside to walk around all morning.
I crept back into the house at lunchtime, and I’ve been in my room all afternoon reading about magic and basically hiding. Unfortunately, hunger has forced me to the kitchen where the boys are currently congregated. I guess there goes my plan to avoid them like the plague until I can convince my body parts to behave.
“There she is," Knox announces as I hesitantly round the corner and spot them all gathered around the kitchen island.
I curse my empty and demanding stomach as I cautiously approach the group. When I get closer, Knox puts an arm around my shoulder and tucks me into his side. His contact surprises me, and as usual, I tense up. He either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care because his arm stays draped around me. After a couple of seconds, I decide that it doesn’t bother me and I start to relax.
“All right, what are we ordering?”
Four sets of eyes turn to me.
“A yacht,” I randomly guess, completely clueless as to what they are asking me.
“No, pizza. What do you want on your pizza?” Knox clarifies, giving me an amused smile.
“Ahhh, you should really be more specific next time. Um, I’m good with anything as long as there’s no fish, olives, or mushrooms.”
I internally congratulate myself for formulating a coherent answer in the wake of Knox’s perfect smile.
“Sweet, let’s do two of the usual. One without mushrooms for the lady, two BBQ chicken, and a meatball and artichoke in case Sabin can make it,” one of the twins declares.
When there are no objections, he calls to place the order.
I’m a little confused as to why I’m being included in this process, but I’m starving, and pizza sounds amazing.
“Why a yacht?” the other twin asks me.
“Well, you’ve got a plane, the mega-mansion, and all the cars, I just figured it was the next logical purchase.”
He chuckles and shakes his head. “I’ll tell Silva to get on it. Until then we’ll have to slum it and ask Evrin or Aydin to use one of their boats.”
I smile at the smart ass twin and raise my hand like I’m holding a drink. “Here’s to slumming it," I toast and laugh when they all mirror me.
“To slumming it,” choruses around the kitchen.
“Okay, so remind me which one of you is Valen and which is Bastien,” I ask.
“I’m Valen.”
“And I’m Bastien.”
I glance back and forth between the two looking for markers that will help me identify them separately. They are both in t-shirts and sweats, and their hair is pulled back into knots on the back of their heads. The only difference I can physically spot is that Bastien has a touch more green around his pupil than Valen does. I cling to that difference hoping it will help me correctly identify them in the future.
“Sabin is the last member of our boy band. He’s going to try and come by later, but he’s been caught up doing some family stuff," Valen tells me, and I nod. All of their eyes are back on me, and it takes me a minute to realize what they want.
“I’m Vinna,” I tell them, realizing that I never told them my name last night.
They nod at me, and I see Bastien silently mouth my name to get a taste for it.
“So, Vinna, tell us about yourself," Ryker says.
“Yeah, we’re all dying to know,” Knox adds, his thumb rubbing absently on my shoulder.
Ryker swats his arm, but Knox just chuckles and brushes him off.
“It’s kind of a long story,” I say dismissively, slinking out from under Knox’s arm and claiming one of the seats at the island.
“Oh no you don’t, you tried that evasive maneuver last night and then left us hanging. We’ve got time," Bastien calls me out.
I stare at the extra green in his hazel eyes and get lost for a moment.
“I don’t really know where to start,” I admit. I think back for a second and decide to start with the magic. “I’ve had these weird abilities since I was about twelve, but I never knew why. They’d show up off and on, usually when I was in trouble or super emotional, but what would happen was always unpredictable.
“I ran into my first lamia at fourteen, and since then my abilities have become more reliable. At sixteen the runes showed up, and four days ago I learned that all of this means I’m a caster. I have no idea who my parents are, and no idea why I was given to a woman who had no business caring for another living thing. To the paladin’s dismay, I come with more questions than answers, and I guess that about sums me up.”
I shrug.
“Well, now I feel like an even bigger asshole for hurting you," Bastien laments.
“You should," I tease and offer him a warm smile, so he knows I’m not holding a grudge. “You weren’t the first and probably won’t be the last, so no worries," I offer in jest, but it seems to make everyone in the room stiffen instead of lightening the mood like I was aiming for.
Ryker takes the seat next to me and motions to the runes that flow from my shoulder down my arm. “So these…they’re not tattoos?”
“Nope, they were my magic’s sweet sixteen present."
Ryker and Knox both lean in for a closer examination, and my heart speeds up. Knox takes my hand, flipping it over and then brings it closer to his face so he can get a better look at the runes on my fingers.
“Are they just on your arms and torso?” Valen inquires.
“No, they’re all over my body.”
He runs his gaze all over me, and for some reason it makes me shiver. Knox starts tracing the runes on my hand with his finger. His feather-light touch sends a whirling sensation throughout me, and the intensity of it builds with each caress. I focus on the unusual feeling, trying to figure out what’s going on when it dawns on me that it has something to do with my magic.
I scramble away, worried my magic is going to do something spazzy. I try to cover my panicked retreat by making it seem like I was just heading to the fridge to get a drink.
“You guys want anything?” I offer, trying and failing at coming off casual.
I pass around sodas and then resettle myself between Bastien and Valen. They don’t seem t
o be as touchy as the other two. Knox starts to chuckle, and I look over to him.
“We scare you away?” he teases.
“I’m not used to people touching me. Well, in a non-threatening way, I mean. Try to punch me, and I’m in my comfort zone, but hugs and cuddles aren’t exactly in my wheelhouse," I blurt awkwardly. His joking smile disappears.
“Sorry," he offers.
“No, I like it," I rush and then realize how that sounds. “I mean, the sisters have been hugging me a lot, being affectionate to help me get used to it. So it would probably help if you touch me, too," I stop, repeating my words in my head, and I cringe.
Knox gets a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“This is not coming out right," I groan and cover my face with my hands. Man, I am so glad I’m not a blusher. Easy laughter makes its way around the group, and I find I’m laughing awkwardly with them.
“What I mean is, be who you are. If you do anything that I am uncomfortable with I’ll tell you," I finally manage to clarify.
“So, what are the runes for, do you know?” Ryker asks, thankfully bringing everyone’s attention back to the previous subject.
“They all do different things. Some create weapons or enhance skills that I have.” I let my voice trail off not sure if I should get more specific than that.
“Is that how you know how to fight?” Bastien asks.
“Yes and no. I’ve trained and worked hard, so that’s part of it. I’ve been fighting for a living for years now, so that’s another part, but I think something about my magic definitely helps me. Fighting seems to come naturally to me. If I see something, somehow I’m able to do it, and my runes all seem to exist to help protect me in some way.”
“What did Lachlan say about them? Does he recognize anything?” Valen inquires.
“He just said I shouldn’t have them. I think he still thinks they’re tattoos even though I explained they’re not. None of his coven know what to make of them, or me for that matter.” I circle a finger over my head. “Like I said, I’m a big mystery.”
The doorbell rings and Knox heads off to answer it.
“Well at least you can feel a little better about Vinna kicking your ass," Valen offers his brother.