“I miss you,”I told Nalari in my mind, knowing she’d never hear the words.“I hope you come back one day, not as my Guardian but as my friend.”I paused, breathing Teddy in to drown out the sorrow of losing Nalari, of losing my father and uncle.“Don’t stay away too much longer. You know how prone I am to foolish decisions without you.”
Teddy turned to hug my waist. She kissed my chest before tucking her head against me. I held her tighter, resting my chin on the top of her head.
“She’ll come back,” she said, her voice certain.
“You heard me?”
“I didn’t mean to,” she answered. “Since you came back this morning, it’s been hard to block you out.”
“It’s not just mind-speak, then?” I cradled the back of her head when she tipped her face up.
Where the telepathic connection I’d once shared with Nalari allowed me to feel her emotions, it was different from Teddy’s mind-speak magic, where only directed thoughts were heard without any sense of emotion. Speaking to Nalari in my mind had been easy, but Teddy had to maintain an open connection for me to reach her with my mind. It was something she was still learning, and it tired her quickly.
“No,” she whispered. “Sometimes when you’re thinking really loud, I hear you. I don’t try to. It just happens.”
She peered up at me with worry in her eyes. She was still learning the magic she’d been gifted in the astral realm, and soon, she’d ask Alastor to teach her the mage magic that lived beneath her skin.
It was an exciting time for her, and I wanted her to savor each encounter as her magic grew to depths she hadn’t imagined. I loved it for her, remembering the excitement I’d felt as I discovered each layer of my own magic.
“I’m not upset,” I said, kissing her nose. “You already live in my heart and soul. What would it matter if you took up residence in my mind too? Besides,I like that you can hear my thoughts. Now I can send you . . .”
I thought hard about her beautiful naked body, about burrowing my face between her thighs. I thought of my tongue slipping inside her, of her taste that somehow still lingered on my tongue.
On a laugh, she smacked my chest. “Elias!”
I didn’t need to look at her to know she was blushing. I laughed too.
When she nestled back beside me, I inched down to trail my nose over her throat. While the smell of her lavender soap was most prevalent, I still scented us on her skin, that even our rushed shower hadn’t been able to erase.
With my lips a breath away from her ear, I whispered, “The things I want to do to you, Teddy.”
She gripped my arm, and I’d just begun to kiss down her neck when loud footsteps sounded behind us.
I growled.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Brenton said.
“No, you’re not,” Teddy replied flatly.
“True.” He held his hands up as he stepped in front of us. “I’m going with you.”
“I already said—” I started, voice low and dangerous.
“Give me whatever orders you want. Lock me in the dungeons when we get back, but I’m going, Elias.” He crossed his arms over his wide chest, his hazel eyes blazing. His gray smoke magic trailed from his fingertips, ghosting toward me until he fisted his hands, and his magic snapped back to its master. “You’re afraid of Finley. I’m not, and I won’t let you make her feel like some monster simply because you don’t understand her magic. You have use of her, so you’ll use her, all while making her feel like shit.”
“I have no intention of making her feel like—” I hesitated. “Like that.”
More and more, my friends and I picked up strange human terms butthatstill felt awkward to use out of context.
His nostrils flared. “That’s exactly what you did back there.” He pointed toward the castle, casting a thin trail of smoke that quickly evaporated. “All of you did. Only Teddy and Alastor had enough sense to know she wasn’t going to harm anyone.”
“Her magic is unpredictable.”
“Her magic is unique, unlike any we’ve seen, but it’s not unpredictable.” His canines lengthened, and a low snarl rumbled from his chest.
With her brows furrowed, Teddy looked between us. “Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing for Brenton to go with you.”
“I already said no.” The words came out sharper than I meant, my fury pulsing beneath my skin. The raw, innate power, the kind meant to command armies and force others into submission, coiled around my limbs. I wouldn’t use it.Couldn’t use it on her.
