“Ah, screw this,” I wheezed.
I slapped my hands against the pavement and used my magic to reach down into the ground. I found roots and pushed just enough into them to use them. The ground shook as the roots found their freedom in the air. They slithered over my skin, their warmth reassuring me as they wrapped around the golem and easily lifted him off me.
I took a moment to draw in much needed air, my chest hurting as I did it, but damn, it was the best air I’d ever breathed. It tasted like surviving.
“Shit, what the fuck, Laila?”
I blinked at Davies. He looked me over, his shaggy blond hair falling around his face, eyes dark as he glared down. For a moment, he looked like an avenging angel.
“Oh, pleasure seeing you here,” I said, staring up at him with a goofy smile.
Venni stood next to him, stormy black eyes accompanying his worried frown. I briefly ignored the two of them as I made sure the roots moved the golem well away from me before placing him on the ground.
“Thank you,” I whispered, patting the ground. A spark of recognition tickled my hand.
“What happened?” Venni asked.
I sat up slowly, ignoring the pain in my chest, and looked around at the other guards, a healer helping the still unconscious woman, and a group surrounding the golem. “What does it look like?”
“Like you found trouble,” Davies said.
I cocked an eyebrow. “Because that’s my goal in life, to get smushed by a golem.”
Venni held his hand out, and I grabbed it, letting him help me to my feet. I took in a sharp breath and he heard me.
“You’re hurt,” he said. “Where?”
“Did we forget about the part where I got smushed by a golem? Of course, I’m a little bruised.”
“Davies, go get one of the healers,” Venni said as he guided me over to one of the large boulders used as a parking spot placeholder. Davies nodded, his worried expression touching. He walked over to those who were working on the unconscious woman. She’d taken a very hard hit to the head by the golem and concern for her grew in my stomach. I hoped she’d wake up.
“Why did you go up against a golem?” Venni asked, voice low, eyes a swirling darkness of anger. He crowded me, his heated energy pressing against my skin. “You could have waited until we got here.”
“You know what happens when a golem is let loose on the streets,” I whispered, picking at the tiny pebbles embedded in my palms.
My brain conjured up the news reports on a golem who made his way through the city and killed eleven people, leaving a trail of bodies. Uncontrolled golems were caused when a mage died suddenly. The abrupt death would snap the connection between the mage and golem, and the golem ended up batshit crazy and on a rampage. The longer they lived, the more frazzled their existence became. I would have given this golem a day, maybe two tops, before he completely degenerated into a crazed bloodthirsty existence.
“We would have made it in time,” Venni argued.
“No, you wouldn’t have.”
“Laila...”
I shook my head. “What’s done is done. That woman has a chance to live now. The moment he got what he wanted out of the purse, he would have killed her.”
“But you’re hurt.”
I rolled my eyes and smiled at the older female healer when she came over. She smelled of orange blossoms, and her face softened when she smiled.
“Let’s see the damage,” she said in a quiet and gentle voice.
As she kneeled down, I lifted my shirt to expose my stomach, the warm late summer air tickling my skin. Cold hands touched my skin, and I jumped.
She flashed an apologetic smile.
I nodded and let her focus. I had to do my own focusing, telling my body to let her in. Healing magic was invasive, and as a strong magic user, my body did its best to reject the process. When the healer pushed her magic into me, my body wasn’t having any of it and pushed back. She stumbled backward, blinking in surprise.
“Sorry,” I said, giving her a sheepish smile.
“No, I’m sorry. I’ll take it slowly.” She wiped her white blond hair away from her face before carefully placing her hands against my skin again. Her magic trickled into me this time, searching for all my bumps and bruises, careful not to push my body to resist again. Between the two of us, we were able to get my body to accept her healing. When she came to an injury, her magic congregated there and forced the healing process to accelerate.
I closed my eyes and forced myself to stay still. Being magically healed wasn’t unpleasant, just weird. It felt like someone was tickling me from the inside. The pain slipped away every second.
“All done. You had two broken ribs and some serious bruising, but I was able to heal it all,” the woman explained, shadows forming underneath her eyes. She worked too hard to fix me. The fact that she was able to heal me at all was a miracle, another benefit to working at BMS. They only employed the best.
I smiled, making sure she knew I appreciated what she did for me. “Thank you.”
She nodded before getting back to her feet and walking over to her colleagues who were now helping the dazed woman to her feet. I grinned. She woke up.
“You’re not allowed to leave the office,” Davies said as he hovered over me.
I raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
He nodded. “Really. At least there we know you won’t get tackled by golems.”
I wanted to roll my eyes so badly but decided against it. Davies held his hand out to help me up, but so did Venni. I shot Davies an annoyed glare and grabbed Venni’s hand, letting him yank me to my feet.
He didn’t even strain a muscle, his shifter strength at work. He held on for a moment longer before giving my hand a quick squeeze then letting go.
“Thanks for the help, guys,” I said and glanced around for the small bag I had been carrying. At some point I had dropped it. The last thing I wanted to do was leave my bag behind. It held some ingredients I wanted to store in my lab, and they were hard enough to come by.
“Is this yours?” a younger man asked, walking over with the familiar purple bag.
I nodded. “Yes, thank you.” After a quick check to make sure everything was fine, I grabbed it and threw it over my shoulder. The spiky leaves weren’t crushed, so that was a win.
“Come on,” Davies said.
“Where are you going?”
His hazel eyes narrowed. “We’re going to head back to BMS, and I’m going to make sure no asshole tries to follow you.”
“It was an uncontrolled golem, not some kind of organized crime.”
“Just humor me,” Davies snapped and then stalked off. When he realized I wasn’t following on his heels, he turned and scowled.
“Just humor him?” Venni asked, keeping his voice low. I stared at his expression, reading into what he wasn’t telling me. There was a tightness in his face as his eyes kept flickering back to Davies. Something was up.
“Davies’s sister was mugged last week. She only had minor injuries, but Davies can’t help but feel he could have prevented it, especially considering our profession. We demand control in our lives, and this incident didn’t help him.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. I understood exactly how Davies was feeling and felt like a little snot for not giving in to him sooner.
Venni didn’t bother replying but strain kept his facial muscles tight. The two of them stayed at my back for the last couple of blocks and followed me into the building. Instead of taking the elevator down to my lab, they went up. I tapped my ID against the reader to gain access to my floor and sent the guys a wave as the doors closed, disconnecting us from each other.
Chapter 5
Someone had been in my lab. The moment I opened my door, I could tell. No, I knew before I even opened the door. My alarm had been disabled. And I could smell their citrusy scent all over the place. My lip curled up in anger at this invasion of my privacy. The only people allowed in my lab were the bosses and a ha
ndful of people I deemed safe. But the excess magic in the air did not belong to any of them, and they only came in if I was inside. Unless they were Davies, he came in when he wanted to be sneaky.
I took in the room, my eyes flickering over every little piece. A flask was moved an inch to the right, a piece of paper no longer straight, a book on the shelf tilted too much. My bench chair had been moved slightly. Most wouldn’t even have noticed, but it was turned just a hair too far to the left. Whoever was in here searched carefully, but not careful enough. They made the big no-no of not hiding their signature.
My skin prickled as my anger rose. For me, this was intrusive. They weren’t invited and yet they strolled into my lab as if they owned the room.
No. The room was mine. I worked hard for this room, bled for this room, sold my soul for this room.
I didn’t move further inside. I didn’t need to. I was now a bloodhound with a scent. I’d personally visit every single employee in the building. And if none of them were the culprit, then I would branch out, starting with their families and then their friends. I would find the invader.
I stepped back slowly, taking everything in. Committing every small infraction to memory.
The two closet doors where I stored my works-in-progress were closed. I reached out with my senses and found my traps still intact. They didn’t get into my closet. A small blessing.
I stepped backward until I was outside of my lab. I glanced at the room before looking over at the security comp built into the wall next to it. A small scuff mark was at the bottom of the component, and I leaned forward, reaching out to touch it.
The mark wasn’t just a scuff mark, it was etched into the wall and had a twin mark a few inches on the other side. I traced it with my finger. Whatever was put onto the wall had stripped away the magic defenses put into place to keep my lab secure. And whatever that thing was didn’t trigger the alarm system to alert anyone of the break in. They were good.
I smirked. I was better.
The anger in me swirled with determination to find the culprit. My hands tingled, and I curled them into fists to help keep my magic contained. I refused to lose control. I could handle it.
I blew out a slow breath and gathered all my thoughts, pushing past the anger. Anger made me stupid. Anger made me lose control. I couldn’t allow my emotions to take over.
I looked around, noting all the cameras. I would visit security soon.
My lab was one of twenty. Each floor held an average of five labs, depending on the ranking of the scientist. For example, I was one of their top employees. My floor only held two other labs, not including my own. We were the top three researchers, always pushing something out useful and practical. We were also the furthest down, on Level B7 with four floors of labs above us. If anyone external were ever to break in and try to get to the really worthy technology, they would need to make their way through six other floors, including a couple floors of security and a few dozen meatheads. No way the elevator would have worked for someone who didn’t belong in the building.
My instincts told me it was another labbie. We may have kept to ourselves, hid in our labs all day, and lost ourselves in our work, but the competition was real. We always wanted to outdo each other.
I didn’t think the two on my floor would do anything like break into my lab. Not because they didn’t think I was competition. Hell, I was their biggest competitor. But because they were scared of what would happen if they tried. I may have spread some rumors here and there, plus it didn’t help that they saw people running away from me all the time.
But I needed to clear them of the crime before I could move on, so I tapped on the screen by my door, reactivated the alarms, and placed my hand against the wall. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to feel. A light humming noise filled my head, and when I felt that little spark within the walls, I shoved in some of my magic, jump starting my magical security system.
My specially made system flared back to life and did its job. I would have to add on a few more layers of protection since someone was able to strip it away the first time, but I would be fine for now.
I went left to Dr. Anaria Belment’s office.
The long hallway stretched before me, the lights humming. My fingers twitched in agitation as I fought to keep my emotions in check. Heightened emotions meant out of control magic. I didn’t think anyone would appreciate it if I caused an earthquake.
Music reached my ears, starting as a soft whisper, but the closer I got to Anaria’s lab, the louder it became. The music itself was slow, mournful, nearly all consuming in the emotions the velvety cadence created.
Her door was propped open, and I stopped in the doorway, leaning against the frame as I stared at her back. She moved from one station to another, mixing chemicals together. Her lab was chaos, and I had to swallow the urge to walk in and organize it for her.
I cleared my throat, and she paused, turning slowly. Her honey brown eyes met my dark green ones with curiosity. It was rare that we visited each other despite being neighbors. Her oval face was framed by a blonde pixie haircut.
“Is something wrong?” she asked and then gave me a shy smile.
“Yeah,” I replied, drawing out the word to give me time to assess her. I carefully reached out to her mentally, just enough to brush against her. Her magic had a spicy flavor to it, not like the citrus of the one in my lab. Not her. “Someone broke into my lab. I just wanted to warn you to make sure you lock up tight.”
She cocked a surprised eyebrow. “They… someone was able to break into your lab?”
I nodded and agreed with her reaction. It was hard to imagine someone succeeding.
“Just be careful,” I said. “I’m just going to check on the other labs to make sure there weren’t any more incidents.”
She nodded, mumbling something underneath her breath before turning back to her workbench—essentially dismissing me.
I didn’t take it to heart, knowing exactly where her head was. I would be in the same mood if it weren’t for someone breaking into my space. Once you were onto something, there was no coming up for air until you knew for sure it was safe and your new baby was working.
I left her to it and headed in the other direction to check on Henzie Bertini. Henzie was a tech genius, his projects focused on better computer software, tracking devices, and cameras. And his computer hacking skills were by far the best. I knew for a fact he would never bother with my lab just because we worked on completely different things.
And he was an incubus. If he wanted in, he would just try to seduce me. Try being the keyword.
His door was closed, but I could feel him working behind it, the spells around his lab not able to absorb all the magic he was throwing around. I contemplated interrupting him, but if I could feel the magic through his door, then he was doing some serious heavy-duty magic and it was dangerous to interrupt. He had the light on above his door to warn us away. The rule was if the light was on, we couldn’t interrupt.
I glanced up and down the hall, taking note of all the security cameras. I guessed it was time to get a tour of their current security measures. At least it would be two-fold, giving me a good layout of the building and what they already had in place so I could build upon it, and to also work on ferreting out who thought they was good enough to break into my lab.
I hummed a happy tune as I made my way up to Level B2, where the main security office was and where I knew I could find someone to help me. If they weren’t in one of the security rooms, then they were in the gym. Hell, I’d even go into the locker room. I needed some good eye candy to brighten my mood at this point.
Security was a twenty-four-hour business. People needed protecting around the clock, so I knew others were around. They always were, either getting off an assignment or about to go on another. Their hang out spots were on the security floors as they worked on the reports or got debriefed on assignments. B2 was one of the hubs of the building.
The other spot was on t
he first floor, where there were team rooms. There were a few high-end security teams, each member with a special skill set to allow them to work together efficiently on different assignments. And being on a team built bonds. Venni and Davies were on the same team with two others and tended to do extraction missions, retrieving stolen products and even freeing hostages. They were one of the strongest teams in the company. That said a lot about the goofball, Davies.
As soon as the elevator doors opened on B2, sound filled the air. There was a constant rumble of conversation going on, phones ringing, and even the clanking of weights in the workout room. By the sound of it, someone was lifting a small car and dropping it on the ground.
I glanced at faces, looking for a familiar one, wondering who I could trap into being my chaperone. I didn’t want Davies. He was too bossy and easily distracted. Venni would be okay, but I had a feeling he was in his team room. Elliot would be hard to talk into helping me. He could be stubborn, and after yesterday, he’d be reluctant.
I spotted a familiar head of curly light brown hair and grinned. I’d recognize that head anywhere.
“Rhett! My favorite man,” I called out.
He turned his head and gave me a small smile as I walked toward him. The smile was pained and my gaze flickered to the massive touch screen in front of him, taking up nearly half the wall. The massive screen was made up of smaller squares, each one showcasing a piece of news, creating a mirage of endless action. Flashes of movement tried to draw the eye to particular cases, but there were so many calling for attention that it made it impossible to focus on just one at just a glance. Slowly, eyes would focus and different cases would stand out.
Gargoyles flying off with children.
Witches doing black magic.
A vampire going on a rampage.
They were open hunts; open cases where the enforcers were having trouble getting the bad guy. With our men out in the city constantly, having the incident board helped bridge the gap between enforcers and private security. A few extra cases had been solved because of it.
Magical Intentions Page 4