“See you in a bit,” Trouble said.
Sebastian walked with her down a long hall to a small store near the dining hall, where she picked out a change of clothes since hers were cold and damp against her skin.Then they went to his apartment so she could clean up.
They’d both been silent most of the time they’d been together, but once she’d had a hot shower and changed into dry clothes, she found Sebastian in his living room holding two mugs of hot cocoa, and she took it gratefully and sat on the couch.
“Thank you for finding me out in the cold,” she said.She took a tentative sip of the hot brew and sighed.
She settled deeper into the comfortable couch and stared at him, aware she was full on gawking but unable to stop herself.Everything had happened so fast that she hadn’t even really gotten to look at him.
So she was dang well looking her fill.
Holy crap.
He was sexy as hell, and she was admittedly ashamed to be thinking sexy thoughts about a guy she had just met, even if they were truemates, when her sister was unconscious in the infirmary without her magic.
What the hell did that even mean for Talia?
One thing at a damn time.
“Tell me how you and Talia ended up near Frost’s lair.”
She nodded, sipping at the hot cocoa.She started into her story about waiting far too long to replenish her magic and taking responsibility for the whole damn thing.
“If I’d just told Mother Nature we were too weak after healing that waterfall to open a portal properly, Talia wouldn’t be human right now.”
He hummed.“You feel responsible for your sister.”
“Yeah, it’s just the two of us.She has—or had—water magic.Really different from my dual magic of fire and healing.We made a good team.Gosh, what’s going to happen to her?”
“I don’t know, but if she’s anything like you, she’ll figure out a way to be okay.You’re clearly strong and a survivor.If you hadn’t been calling for help or flared your magic to ward off the evil followers, I might never have seen you.My wolf was driving me nuts about something beyond the perimeter, but I couldn’t see anything.”
“You’re a wolf shifter.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ve never met a wolf shifter before.How long have you been a Guardian?”
“Six years, since I turned eighteen.My cousins Gabriel and Declan are also Guardians.Declan met his truemate last year and she moved to Northernmost to stay with him until they have kids and want to be around the pack more.”
“She must be magical or a shifter if she’s allowed to stay here.”
“She’s a non-shifting arctic fox.”
“Sounds like a witch without access to magic.”
“For sure.”
She finished her cocoa and asked to go back to the infirmary.As they walked back toward her sister, she said, “I want to bind Frost.”
“What does that mean?”
“Binding is something a witch or warlock can do, and it stops the bound person from doing harm to others or themselves.”
“Frost is really powerful.He’s the second most powerful warlock in the world, right behind Santa.And he’s dangerously unhinged to boot.”
“I know that, but I’m dual natured with my magic, and that makes me uniquely powerful.I just need to catch him off guard.Bind him, make him pay for what he did to my sister.And make sure he can’t take magic from anyone else ever again.”
They stopped outside of the infirmary and Sebastian gave her a long, quiet look.
