Wild Magic

by Sadie Jacks

  “Fuck.”

  “Shit.”

  “Hell.”

  “What’s the problem again, gov?” Lukas asked.

  We pushed past him, moving towards the elevator. I stabbed the button for Saint’s fifth floor level.

  The silence and tension were making the skin on my neck raise and tremble.

  She’s got to be okay. As much as it would hurt to lose the guys, she has to live. I couldn’t live without her.

  The slowest two floor elevator ride of my life finally came to an end. We pushed through the freight doors and slammed our way into Saint’s home.

  The three of them were entwined on the bed. Naked legs, arms, torsos, boobs, and dicks were on display.

  Atlas moved forward.

  “Careful, now,” Taryk called.

  Atlas didn’t stop moving for even a second. He rested his knee on the bed, leaned forward. Felt for Kiema’s pulse on her wrist. I held my breath. He kept count on his watch. His brow furrowed.

  “What? What’s wrong with her?” I pushed through the wall of Taryk and Asher.

  “Easy, Xan. Easy,” Taryk cautioned.

  I pushed by him. I had to get to her.

  “She’s fine, Xander. Her heart rate is extremely slow though. Come get her. We’re going to need fluids and blankets until I can figure out what’s going on with them.”

  I was to them before he finished speaking. He was unearthing her as I stood there like an idiot with a thumb up his ass.

  Atlas finally got Kiema free. I knelt on the bed, got a good grip on her and pulled her up into my arms. Lukas came over, a big blanket in his hands. He wrapped it around her as best as he could.

  Her bare skin against my bare chest was fine. In fact, it settled the uneasy magic inside me.

  I took her to the couch. With a careful bend, I angled myself into the corner of the sofa. She had two sets of bite marks on her neck.

  “If they fucking hurt her…” I left the threat unfinished.

  “We didn’t hurt her,” Saint said, his voice a little groggy. The padding of bare feet sounded from across the room. I could feel him coming for us.

  Coming to take her from me.

  My vision went white as I felt my magic build and then leap between my body and Saint’s. I was still seated on the couch with Kiema, but I was also standing between the couch and Saint.

  “What the fuck?” Lukas called.

  With my new set of eyes, I could see all of them looking at me.

  Kiema shuddered, burrowed deeper into my chest.

  The part of me that was standing between Saint and the sofa, crouched low. A rumbling snarl lifted from my—its—chest.

  “Xander, you still there, bro?” Asher called out loud.

  “Of course, I’m still here. Where the fuck else would I be?”

  “Um, you’re also some kind of white spirit tiger about to pounce on Saint. Your tiger looks a little hungry, too.”

  I turned my physical head. “That’s new.”

  They were right. There was a specter of a white tiger standing guard between Kiema and me and the couch. His stripes were a shifting iridescent blue and purple. His long tail flicked back and forth, as if egging Saint to come try him.

  “I would come closer, if you would allow it, Xander,” Ten said through Saint’s mouth.

  I curled Kiema in closer to my heart. “Sure. As long as you don’t try to take her from me.”

  He chuckled, low and friendly. “Believe me, I would never try to take your Sacred from you. It seems you carry an even more ancient magic than my own.” He walked by the tiger, running his fingers through the puff of smoke.

  I felt his stroke over my head.

  I shook away the sensation.

  “What the fuck is going on, Ten?” I asked.

  Ten/Saint walked over to the couch. He stopped in front of me. Lifted his hand. “May I?”

  My tiger behind me snarled, I felt my own mouth curl in warning. “Carefully.” I watched him with a wary eye.

  He lifted the blanket from Kiema’s shoulders. Looked at her right arm. With a puzzled expression, he lay the blanket back down.

  “I need to check her abdomen. Is this agreeable to you?”

  “Are you going to touch her?” I asked, my throat tight. I was barely keeping myself from ripping into him.

  “No. I just need to see if her rune has appeared.”

  With my tiger’s eyes, I saw all of the other men move towards us on the couch. My tiger roared, snapped his teeth at each one.

  “Gentlemen, this is not the time to lose our composure. If Kiema has ascended…” he trailed off.

  “If Kiema has ascended, what?” I asked around clenched teeth.

  “Then we all will be soon experiencing a rise in magic ability.”

  “What am I?”

  He smiled at me as he lifted the blanket over Kiema’s abdomen. With a quick peek, he smiled and settled the blanket back around her. “Her rune has appeared.”

  I made a low noise in my throat.

  “You are a spirit shifter. Your guide is the elemental white tiger. I have not seen one of your kind since I was a youngling.” He bowed his head low to me.

  I mirrored the motion.

  When he rose to his feet, he lifted his hands in the air and took several steps back.

  “What is a spirit shifter? And if we’re twins, why isn’t he a bear, like me?” Asher asked. I would bet I was the only one who could tell he was scared right now. The faintest tremor in his voice could easily be mistaken for tone fluctuation.

  “Spirit shifters were very rare, even on Earth, where magic is much more prevalent. Like I told Xander, I only met one in person when I was just a young dragon. Probably seven thousand, five hundred Earth years ago.” He tipped his head to either side. “Thereabouts, anyway.”

  “How is all of this Earth magic getting to Azica? Our history books have told us that they are technologically behind our progress. That they are still relatively young in their civilizations and society,” Dr. Atlas asked. With my tiger’s eyes, I saw him pat at his pockets.

  Probably wishing he had his tablet with him.

  When Atlas’ face fell, I smiled to myself.

  “Earth, at least my Earth, was overflowing with magic. It was considered abnormal not to have magic. Which seems to be the reverse on Azica.” Ten/Saint cleared his throat. “To answer your question more fully, Asher, it would seem your twin is a bit of an anomaly.”

  Everyone laughed softly. I was definitely an anomaly, especially in this group.

  “Does your family have a history of magic? Maternal or paternal side?” Ten/Saint asked.

  Only if you considered the fact that my father killed my mother during a drunken jealous rage magical.

  “No. No known magic on either side of the family,” Asher answered.

  Ten/Saint looked at me for a moment. The green gold of Ten’s eyes faded to the dark brown of Saint’s irises. “He didn’t know, Xander.”

  I nodded. It shouldn’t still hurt like this. The deep heartache and stabbing pain of being unable to save my mother. Of knowing something was wrong that day but still being told to leave the house and doing what she said. I’d left her there.

  I’d known; I’d seen it in his eyes. This time, nothing was going to stop him. To ‘protect’ her from him trying to keep her for eternity.

  He’d been ranting and raving for days, saying that was the last time he allowed her to leave the house. To leave him. Nobody was good enough for her, not even him. But he’d be damned before he let anyone else have her.

  She’d called her parents, told them to come pick us up. That she and daddy needed some time alone. She’d packed for us, stuffed almost everything in suitcases, even though she’d said it would only be for a couple of days. She hugged us, kissed our head, and shoved us out the door to her parents.

  “I love you, Xan baby. Never forget that.” The last words she’d ever said to me.

  Kiema stirred against
me, wrapping her arms around my chest. She kissed my right pec. A single flame flared to life inside me.

  Saint’s eyes filtered back to Ten’s. Their eyes widened. With a finger to their lips, they stepped back, motioning for the others to do the same.

  Kiema’s kiss held a hint of teeth. The slide of pain with the pleasure had my back arching.

  “Mine,” she said. Then she fit her mouth to the angle of my neck and bit down hard.

  Two sharp needles pierced into my skin where she fit her teeth to me.

  Pleasure unlike anything I’d ever experienced slid through my body. Unprepared for the onslaught of such bliss, my body bucked and heaved against hers. I caught her to me, pushing her mouth deeper against my skin.

  My dick, which had been soft, sprang to demanding attention. I rubbed myself against her ass in my lap. I groaned low in my throat.

  “Umm, br—” Asher’s words were cut off.

  My tiger retreated into my body and came out in a blur over Kiema. She lifted her mouth from my body, blood dripping from her newly found fangs. My tiger licked at her lips.

  With a hiss, a spectral shape flew from Kiema’s crumpling body. My tiger tangled with it, pouncing and rolling around on the floor with hers. Hers pushed and my tiger flew across the room, slamming into the wall.

  I sucked in a breath as I saw Kiema’s specter for the first time as she pushed herself from the floor and stood up straight. A couple inches taller than Saint/Ten’s new body, she was beautiful. Wrapped in silver rays of light, her face was a little elongated, her hair looked like a rainbow that started at her scalp and ended in the black I was familiar with. She shook back her hair, pushing it behind her shoulders.

  Folding her hands at her waist, she smiled at me. Her eyes were a dark blue with a ring of icy blue on the outer edge. She snapped her fingers and my tiger went obediently to her side. He huffed into her long dark purple skirts and she patted his head.

  I felt it when she ran her fingers through my tiger’s fur. I wanted to purr like my tiger when she did it again.

  “Yes, baby, I know. He’s looking quite befuddled. All of them do actually.” Kiema’s specter’s voice was like hot sex on a humid day. It wrapped around my cock, stroked it. I was glad physical Kiema was still on my lap. I’m not sure I would have wanted to meet some goddess with a boner. Even if she was some kind of Kiema extension.

  Saint/Ten moved up, bowed low before the beautiful creature. “Goddess Anda. I wondered if it would be you or your sister. Your magic is very similar.”

  Anda bowed in return, a dazzling smile on her somewhat transparent face. “Thank you, Tennotith. You honor me with your memory.”

  “Gentlemen, please meet Anda, Goddess of Spirit.” Saint/Ten waved all of us forward.

  I was kinda stuck with Kiema in my arms, but I did nod my head to the goddess.

  Anda walked toward me. I pulled Kiema tighter into my arms.

  “Have no fear, Guardian Xander. She is mine as you are hers. I would never harm her. For to harm her would be to harm myself.”

  My tiger brushed against Anda’s side again, purring low in his throat.

  I nodded and relaxed my arms the slightest degree.

  Anda moved the blanket from Kiema’s naked body. Before I could take a breath to rip into her, she did some witchy goddess stuff and a thin sheath of dark blue covered Kiema’s breasts while a pair of pants slithered down her legs.

  “I see only three mate lines. But there are seven guardians.” Anda turned to Ten/Saint.

  He nodded. “Yes, I discerned the same myself.” He waved his hand at the group of us simple humans.

  “Mates?” Anda called, clearly looking for something.

  Ransom and Ten/Saint stepped forward. Anda smiled and clapped her hands at Ten/Saint. “I’m so happy for you, old friend. I could not have found a better Mate for you if I had tried.”

  Ten/Saint’s brow wrinkled. “Is this not your doing?”

  Anda looked confused. “Is what my doing?”

  Ten/Saint looked at the rest of us. Swallowed. Hard. They turned back to the goddess by the TV. “Anda, we are no longer on Earth. Can you not feel the drain on your magic simply to exist?”

  Anda closed her eyes, her brow knitted in concentration. Her eyes flashed open. They were bright gold, like coins of old. “Ten, they come. We must hide.” She turned to the rest of us. “Whatever you do, do not allow them to know the extent of your magic. I do not yet know why we’ve been sent here, but something is truly wrong. They come.”

  With that, Anda slipped back inside Kiema’s body as my tiger slid back into mine.

  We all looked at Ten/Saint.

  Saint shook his head. “He’s gone. Faded so fast I couldn’t follow him.”

  “Fuck,” Ransom said.

  I fully fucking agreed.

  Chapter 26 – Taryk

  I looked down at the phone in my hand as it vibrated again. I wasn’t sure what was real anymore. Dragons, goddesses, and spirit tigers…oh my.

  CODE RED. CODE RED. CODE RED.

  “Fuck. Guys we’ve got a Code Red. Xander, give her to Lukas. We’re going to need you on electronics.”

  Lukas stepped forward.

  Xander snarled at him.

  “Now, Xan. We don’t have time for a pissing contest. He doesn’t want her body anyways,” I said as I pushed everyone else into the elevator.

  Xander let Lukas take her from his arms. Once he had her securely tucked against him, Xander pushed up from the sofa.

  “She gets hurt, you die.” Brushing by him, Xander didn’t wait to see what the other man would say.

  “Right, mate,” he called after my brother.

  I punched the elevator call button again to keep the doors open. Lukas stepped in, forcing the rest of us to the back of the now too full car. I hit the button for Xan’s third-floor unit. “We need to know the fives, Xan. Fast.”

  “The fives?” Lukas asked.

  “Who, what, when, where, and why,” all the men answered. I smiled. I had taught them well.

  “On it, T. You’ll know when I do.” The elevator car jerked to a stop, shook, dropped another couple inches, steadied.

  “Get me the fuck off this thing,” Atlas said from the far back corner.

  I pushed open the freight gate. We piled off and ushered into Xander’s room, aka Command Central.

  “Do we have enough juice in the genny?” Ransom asked as he moved to his position near the wall of windows. He was north lookout.

  “We’ll have enough for lock down. After that, we’ll need to get power restored to this sector.”

  “Do we know yet what knocked it out?” Atlas asked from his station in the bathroom section on the southwest wall. “And for the love of Gaia, Xan, clean your fucking toilet.” His gagging noises could be heard out in the main room.

  “I’m guessing the shagging by Ransom, Ten/Saint, and Kiema,” Lukas said as he took a spot in the middle of the room out of everyone else’s way.

  “Ten says that’s when her power fully ascended the first time. Wait. Ten, wait!” Saint sighed. “He’s gone again. I need to put some kind of spiritual bell on that little fucker.” He grabbed weapons from the vault in the far closet. Settled himself in front of the elevator doors.

  “Anyone else wondering what I’m wondering?” Asher asked from his position in the kitchen. He had another set of computers up and running.

  “No,” we all answered. It probably wasn’t going to be germane to the conversation anyway.

  “If Ki-Ki’s got three mates and seven guardians, I think we’re missing a few people in our little grouping,” he answered anyway. Just like I’d known he would. The man never hesitated to share his thoughts or opinions.

  “We don’t know fives yet, Ash. Nothing else matters. What do you have?” I barked at him.

  “It’s only our section that went out. The rest of the city is doing fine. The lab went dark too.”

  “I’ve got movement,” Ransom called.
>
  “Xan. What the fuck is taking so long?” I asked as I moved to Ransom’s position.

  “It’s coming, it’s coming. Okay, we’ve got movement up north. Distance cam says at least four dark trucks built to carry at least ten each.”

  “Any labels or emblems?”

  “Checking. Fuck! Iron Serpent.”

  “You’re going to need an escape route, you wankers. IS doesn’t play games. They’ll bomb you into the air, search for survivors. If there are any, you’re going to wish you had died the first time ‘round,” Lukas said. He hoisted Kiema higher in his arms. He pushed up from the couch. Set her down in his spot. He rushed to the kitchen area, ran a glass of water.

  “Xan. Focus,” I said as my brother watched Lukas leave our favorite lady’s side.

  “Shutter protocol?” he asked, his teeth clenched.

  “Yes. If they’re packing that kind of fire power, we need to keep them as far away as possible,” I ordered.

  Xander hit a string of commands into his computer. “Done.”

  All over the warehouse, the lab next door, and any alleys or streets that led to our buildings were being systematically shuttered by blastproof walls.

  It was one of the reasons we built our company and homes so far out of city center. We actually bought the whole ten blocks surrounding our area. Setting up the protocol had been months of bitching and moaning by the guys, but we got it set up. Finally.

  Looks like my security measures were going to pay off.

  “We’ve got a bogey in the weeds, T,” Xan called. “Southwest, nine blocks out. He hit the gas and beat the wall.”

  I stuffed the anger and frustration down. “Atlas. Roof.”

  “On it.” He leapt from the bathroom, glared at Xander, and hit the stairs that would take him to the roof line where we had a sniper’s blind set up. His gun and ammo would have been delivered as soon as Code Red had been activated.

  The crack of flesh against flesh had all of us turning to Lukas and Kiema.

  A groan soon followed. Lukas fell back on the ground. He looked like he was about to cry. “My love spuds! I swear to Gaia, if you’ve damaged me, we’re having words you barmy bint.”

  “I told you, Lukas, don’t wake me up like that. It doesn’t end well for you.” She shook her hair back. Looked around the room.