I slid a hand in between my legs and the added sensation of having my clit stimulated caused my body to go over the edge and explode. Cody grunted as I contracted around him and caused him to climax.
He collapsed beside me on the bed and we both stared up at the ceiling, panting, before he turned to drop a kiss on my shoulder.
“Anna, that was…” He seemed at a loss for words.
“Beyond amazing?” I added for him. I turned to look at him and we shared a smile. There weren’t really any words to describe what had just happened and I was okay with that. I was floating in a glorious afterglow, and was happy to doze off in Cody’s arms.
I don’t know what woke me a little while later, but I slipped out of the bed and grabbed a dress before padding to the bathroom. I had wanted to get an early start on the day, before Cody and I had taken a delightful detour. I smiled at his sleeping form before closing the bathroom door.
Now that Cody was trapped here with me, I had even more motivation to get out. Cody was here because of me, it was my responsibility to get him home safe. I needed a game plan and I needed to get a hold on my magic.
As I got ready for the day, I realized that I needed to confront the prince. He had been giving me lessons on how to use my magic, but I needed to know exactly what was required from me. Both the prince and my father had been incredibly vague on my purpose here. I wasn’t going to accept their brush-offs any longer.
I exited the bathroom just as Caylee was knocking on the door. She entered the room with an older woman following behind her who was carrying some clothing. Cody sat up in the bed and rubbed a hand through his hair.
“Good morning, sunshine,” I greeted him. “We have some clothing for you!”
The older woman left the pile of clothing on our table with a sniff before heading out the door without a word to any of us. Caylee made up for the woman’s silence with happy chatter, and Cody sniffed as the scent of food drifted over in his direction. He wound a sheet around his waist and made his way over to the table to see what Caylee had brought for breakfast.
“The whole castle is talking about you!” Caylee told us with a grin. “Everyone says that your love story is so romantic.”
Cody stopped chewing and looked at me. I just shrugged. “What love story?”
“You know,” Caylee said. “How you were taken from your love and he risked everything to come here after you, just so you could be together.” Caylee sighed happily.
“Um, that’s not exactly what happened,” I told her, pushing my breakfast around on the plate.
Her smile faded a little. “But it’s not too far off,” Cody said with a grin and a wink before going back to his food.
“What does the prince think about that?” I asked cautiously. The prince had been hard to read so far, he had been swinging back and forth between trying to seduce me and being frustrated with my inability to use my magic the way he wanted me to.
Caylee just shrugged. “I don’t think the prince really cares about what we commoners have to say.”
I just sighed. “But he’s going to be here today? For my lesson?”
Caylee nodded. “The kitchen is in a tizzy about finding some herbs for his lunch today. If you want to finish your breakfast, I can help you look presentable for him.”
Cody gave me a strange look and I shrugged in embarrassment. “That’s alright, Caylee. I think I’ll just go with the natural look today.”
Caylee made a face at me, taking in my messy bun. “Maybe I could help you brush out your hair at least?”
Cody smirked at me from across the table, but I ignored him. When I first got here, I was too depressed and exhausted to do much but sit at the vanity and let Caylee primp me to her heart’s content. But now that I was free of Morpheus’s nightly torments and I had Cody here to keep me company, I had no desire to sit there for an hour or more while Caylee played with my hair. I was ready for some action.
“Maybe just a quick braid?” Caylee coaxed me. “I can do it while you finish your breakfast.”
I sighed, unwilling to hurt her feelings. “That would be great, Caylee. Thank you.”
Caylee jumped up with a huge smile and kept chattering as she did my hair. I blushed when Cody watched the process curiously. Cody and I were finished breakfast by the time that she had patted the last hair into place. Caylee’s ‘quick braid’ was more of a thirty-minute masterpiece that resulted in an intricate braid that resembled a crown placed on top of my head.
Caylee left us alone in the room, promising to come back when the prince requested my presence. Cody looked at me for a minute. “You look beautiful, but I have to admit that it’s a little intimidating, the way that people treat you here.”
I frowned at him. “The whole ‘my lady’ thing?”
He nodded. “Yeah, you have servants, a castle, and spend your afternoons with a prince. I feel like you’ve been slumming it with us in the pack.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t have any of those things, my father does. Plus, I hate spending time with the prince, I just want to go home.” I walked over to his side of the table and cupped his face in my hands. “I don’t want servants, or castle, or a prince. I want you.” I gave him a small kiss. “I want our pack.” I gave him another kiss. “And I want to go to Greenies for a burger and a beer.”
Cody grinned up at me. “I can make that happen if you can get us out of here.”
“Deal.” I gave him another kiss and he pulled me into his lap.
I wiggled around to get comfortable and he groaned. “I’m not going to be able to behave myself if you keep doing that.”
I nipped at his luscious lower lip. “Who says we need to behave?”
Cody chuckled. “Unfortunately, I do.”
I pouted but he gave me a serious look. “You’re here to learn magic, right?”
I nodded, curious to see where he was going with this.
“But a huge part of who you are is a wolf. I think that maybe the reason you are struggling is because you are still not comfortable with that part of yourself. You still think of yourself as a human and a wolf separate from one another.”
I cocked my head at him thoughtfully. “You’re right. I do still have that divide, but I’ve been working on it. I even used my magic last night when I was in my wolf form. I wasn’t sure I would be able to do it.”
Cody grinned at me. “Yeah, that was amazing. But you have the fae teaching you how to use your magic. Let me teach you how to be a wolf.”
I realized that Cody needed to feel like he was doing something useful here, just like I did, so I agreed. “Okay, Cody. Put some pants on, and let’s see what you got,” I teased him.
He laughed, but nudged me off his lap so he could go through the pile of clothing that Caylee and her companion had brought by. Some of the pieces of clothing looked like something that ‘peasant number one’ would be wearing if we were filming a medieval times movie. Luckily, there was a pair of jeans and a shirt down near the bottom of the pile that must have come from the human world and looked vaguely Cody’s size.
He took his clothing into the bathroom to get ready for the day while I sat at the table to think. I had been doing better with my wolf side, but if I was honest with myself, I still wasn’t completely whole. Cody was right, I still had more work to do.
Chapter 17
Anna
I smiled at Cody as we sat opposite each other on the floor. He gave me a chastising look. “Don’t try to distract me, concentrate.”
I closed my eyes again and reached out for Cody with my magic. He was trying to show me the different kinds of things that an alpha wolf could do with their power. The twins had tried to teach me ‘wolf stuff’ before, but they hadn’t mentioned anything about what Cody was doing now. I hadn’t realized that there was more to being an alpha wolf than just holding a position of authority.
Cody had explained that the twins were still young and hadn’t developed a lot of their power yet. They had the cap
ability to be alpha wolves here in the pack, but were still transitioning from pup to wolf. Apparently, it took a lot longer for a wolf to reach maturity than it did for humans.
Cody pulsed his power and I felt it like a weight against me. “I’m going to reach out to you,” Cody told me. “As an alpha, I can reach for the magic that makes you change. I’m not going to actually trigger your change, but you will feel me touch you.”
I tried not to tense up as I felt tendrils of Cody’s power reach for me and gently caress the well of magic that I would use to trigger my change. “If I wanted to make you change, I would tug on that well of power.” Cody explained.
I exhaled as I felt him withdraw. “Now, try to do the same to me,” he instructed. “Reach out and find the magic inside me.”
I reached for him and clumsily fumbled with my magic. I could feel the warmth radiating from him, telling me that he had power, but I wasn’t sure how to go about this. “You want to find the core,” Cody coaxed me. I delved deeper into Cody and looked for his center, where his warmth was radiating from. It took me a few minutes, but my eyes snapped open when I found it.
“Good job,” Cody praised me. “If we had a pack bond, this would be much easier. But you are doing really well.”
I grinned at him. “How would a pack bond make it different?”
“The pack is all connected,” he explained. “You can sense your pack-mates around you. The stronger you are as a wolf, the farther the distance you can sense them. You can also communicate with them by locating them and pushing your thoughts in their direction.”
Cody leaned forward. “If you’re a strong alpha, like Austin, you can do a lot more. He can influence the emotions of the pack, or call pack-mates to him.”
I frowned. “Against their will?”
Cody shook his head. “Yes, but not like you’re thinking. For example, if you have two pack mates get in a fight, Austin can pull them apart and soothe their angry emotions without ever touching them.”
“Austin wouldn’t use those powers to harm anyone,” I said slowly. “But other pack masters?”
Cody grimaced. “I hate to say it, but you’re right. There are pack-masters out there that abuse their powers. There are pack masters who use their powers to manipulate females, to subjugate males, and to rule their pack with an iron fist.”
“Humans do the same thing,” I said softly. “But instead of magic, they use money and power to manipulate the people around them.”
Cody nodded. “There are good and bad people in any race or species that you look at. You can’t let power corrupt you, you have to always focus on how you can use your power for good.”
I nodded. “I want to learn to use my power to be a healer.”
Cody smiled at me. “I can see you being very good at that. You already have a lot of medical knowledge. Once you get a handle on your magic, you’ll be unstoppable.”
I smiled at him. “I was thinking though…” I paused nervously, not sure if I was ready to confess my thoughts. “I went to school to be a pharmacist for a lot of different reasons, but my first choice was to be a doctor.”
Cody looked at me in surprise. “What changed your mind?”
I grimaced. “I’m embarrassed to admit this – money.”
Cody looked flabbergasted. “Money?”
I gave an embarrassed nod. “I had scholarships for my undergrad years, but there aren’t really scholarships for medical school. I would have needed fifty to sixty thousand dollars a year for four years to make it through, then be able to afford working as an intern/resident for a couple more years.” I shook my head. “I couldn’t get approved for enough student loans to make it through all four years, and even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to make the minimum payments once I got out. You don’t start collecting the doctor paychecks until a few years after you graduate and finish your residency.”
Cody looked at me thoughtfully. “But you could get the loans for pharmacy school?”
“Yeah, it was a lot less money. Plus, you have enough free time to have a job while in pharmacy school. That’s not really an option for medical school.”
“And now?” Cody prompted.
I blushed. “Now… I think now that I have magic, I think I might be able to do more good as a doctor.” I hung my head. “But I still haven’t paid off my loans from pharmacy school.” I had been tossing this idea around in my head since Airmed had started to try to teach me how to heal. But the thought of borrowing money from the pack when I already owed so much to them made me nauseous.
Cody shrugged. “Honestly, you would have to talk to Aus about our pack finances. He would be honest with you about what we could do.”
I looked up at Cody. “I was thinking… it wouldn’t be difficult to make back his investment. What I really want to do is have a clinic, just for shifters.” I started to get more excited as I spoke. “Especially for pregnant females. I haven’t been a part of the community for that long, but everyone knows that pregnancy is dangerous for the female and the baby. What if I could figure out why? What if I could use my magic in combination with human medicine to make pregnancy safer for us?”
Cody’s eyes lit up. “If anyone could do it, Anna, it would be you. If you could save our females…” He shook his head. “Shit, Anna. There is no way to put a monetary value on that, you could save our race.”
“It would take a lot of time.” I told him quietly. “Four years of medical school and then three to seven years of a residency. Plus, however long it takes to learn how to heal with magic. And all that is if I can even get into medical school.”
Cody smiled at me. “Is medical school a necessity for someone who uses magic to heal?”
“Well…” I stared at the floor as I thought about it. It’s always been ingrained in me that in order to be something, you need to go to school for it. But did Cody have a point?
“When I was on rotation with the medical students, their focus was diagnostics.” I tapped my finger thoughtfully. “But using magic is different. I don’t need lab tests or x-rays, I could feel what was wrong with you. I was putting things back the way they were supposed to be, it was…”
“Like magic?” Cody suggested.
I grinned at him. “Like magic.”
“Maybe human medical school isn’t what you need,” Cody suggested gently. “Maybe you need more hands-on experience using your magic.”
I sighed. “Airmed isn’t going to teach me what I need to know.”
Cody snorted. “No, she isn’t. But Anna, I believe in you.” Cody reached out to take both of my hands. “You need to believe in yourself.”
I gave him a shy smile. It was a little overwhelming to know Cody had that much faith in me. What if I was too arrogant and I messed up? What if I hurt people by not knowing what I was doing? I had spent weeks with every moment of my day being spent on learning how to use my magic and I was barely proficient at basic tasks. How long would it take me to become as skilled and knowledgeable as Airmed?
I frowned at him. “I’ve been kind of afraid to ask, but what is the average life expectancy of a wolf?”
“A male? A few hundred years assuming he’s not killed in a dominance fight.” Cody answered. “But females?” He shook his head. “Once you get your clinic up and running, it will probably be the same.”
I grinned at him, happy that he could share my vision. “There are so many ifs to this plan,” I said honestly. “But I want to try.”
Cody nodded, getting a more serious look on his face. “Step one is getting our asses out of here.”
I laughed. “Step one is actually getting Airmed to teach me how to use my magic to heal. Once I can successfully heal a broken bone, I’m going to start harassing her to learn more complicated healing.”
“You’re going to be the most popular doctor in the world,” Cody told me with a grin.
“In the shifter world, maybe.” I smiled back at him.
Caylee interrupted our plans for world domina
tion with a knock at the door. My mood went from high in the sky to down in the dumps. It was time to go spend time with the prince again.
I hopped up, but Cody stumbled as he tried to stand, bracing himself with one arm on the floor. My heart sunk, that was not normal for Cody. I rushed over to him as he shook his head in confusion.
“Are you alright?” I asked as I knelt beside him.
He forced a smile and looked up. “Fine, I just need a minute.”
My gut was telling me that something was not right here. “Did we use too much magic?” I asked Cody. I always was exhausted after trying to use too much magic.
He shook his head with a grimace. “We didn’t really do anything that I don’t already do on a daily basis.”
I looked at Caylee who was hovering nearby and wringing her hands. “Does being in this world have any negative effects on non-fae when they get here?”
She shook her head with wide eyes. “No…”
I narrowed my eyes. “Caylee, do you know anything about this?”
Caylee shook her head. “Sometimes the guards are tired after being healed.” She leaned in closer to whisper. “You know, because they don’t have much magic to begin with?” She looked at Cody nervously, as if she was worried that she had just insulted him.
Cody laughed but stood. “That was weird. I just had a moment of weakness, but I feel fine now.” He swung his arms around and then jumped up and down a couple times to show he was doing okay.
I watched him carefully. “Maybe you should take it easy for a little bit?”
He shrugged. “We don’t really have anything to do here, anyway.”
Caylee looked nervous. “The prince is waiting, and you know how he can get…”
I sighed. “Cody, do you want to stay here and rest?”
He scowled. “And leave you alone with him? Absolutely not.” He stepped forward to put his arm around me and give me a kiss on the side of my head. “I’ll stay by your side no matter what.”
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