"Heightened sensitivity. Increased awareness of your body, your needs, your responses to magical stimulation." His voice drops to that honey-warm tone that makes me want to lean closer. "Physical changes that prepare you for deeper magical integration."
Physical changes. My scientific mind immediately starts cataloguing possibilities—enhanced strength, improved healing, increased fertility like he mentioned yesterday. But there's something in the way he's looking at me that suggests the changes will be more personal than purely academic.
"Will it hurt?"
"Some discomfort is inevitable when your body adapts to new forms of energy." Thorian moves closer, close enough that I have to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact. "But I'll be monitoring you carefully, Maya. Guiding you through every stage. Making sure you're safe."
The way he says my name makes something clench deep inside me. This morning, standing in his incredible laboratorywith magical energy still humming through my veins, I can't remember why I ever thought I belonged anywhere else.
"When do we start the real development work?"
"Tomorrow. Today we establish baselines, let your body adjust to the initial magical exposure." His hand reaches out, fingertips barely brushing my wrist, but the contact sends sparks racing up my arm. "How are you feeling? Any unusual sensations?"
Unusual sensations. I want to laugh at how completely inadequate that phrase is for what's happening to me. Every nerve ending feels like it's been awakened for the first time. My skin tingles everywhere his gaze touches. There's an ache building between my legs that I don't understand but desperately want him to fix.
For a panicked moment, I wonder if this could be omega biology manifesting—but that's impossible. I was tested in school like everyone else, and I've never shown any of the classic signs. Besides, omegas go into heat, and this feels nothing like the medical descriptions I've read. This is just magical sensitivity combined with normal attraction. Nothing more.
"I feel... different," I admit.
"Different how?"
"More aware of everything. The magical energy in the air, the way plants respond to our presence, the way—" I cut myself off before I can say "the way you affect me," but from the slight smile that curves his lips, I think he understands anyway.
"That's exactly what we want to see. Your sensitivity developing naturally." His thumb strokes across my wrist, such a small touch but it makes my breath catch. "By the end of the week, that awareness will have expanded exponentially."
"What about my regular research? My work on stress adaptation mechanisms?"
Something flickers across his expression—so quick I almost miss it. "Your true research is happening here, Maya. Everything you've done before was just preparation for this opportunity."
The words echo what he said last night, but hearing them again makes me realize how completely my life has changed. I'm not a visiting researcher anymore. I'm not going back to my cramped laboratory and broken equipment. This is my life now, for better or worse.
"I should probably contact my advisor, let him know I'll be extending my fellowship?—"
"Already handled," Thorian says smoothly. "The university has been informed of your extended collaboration with our research program. They're very excited about the prestige of having a student working directly with Fae fertility magic experts."
Extended collaboration. The phrase has a finality that makes my stomach flutter with something that might be excitement or fear.
"How long is extended?"
"As long as the development work takes." His hand slides up my arm, thumb tracing patterns that make me shiver. "Could be months, Maya. Are you prepared for that level of commitment?"
Months. Months of living in luxury, working with equipment beyond my wildest dreams, having daily access to Thorian's knowledge and attention. Months of whatever this magical development involves, of being valued and treasured instead of overlooked and dismissed.
"Yes," I say, surprising myself with how certain I sound. "I want to see this through."
"Good." His smile is warm and possessive in equal measure. "Then let's continue."
The rest of the morning passes in a haze of incredible science and slowly building awareness. Thorian shows me magicalspecimens that defy everything I thought I knew about biology—plants that reproduce through pure energy, flowers that bloom in response to human emotion, vines that actually seem to communicate with each other through chemical signals I can somehow sense now.
But underneath the academic fascination, something else builds between us. Casual touches that linger longer than necessary. Moments when his explanations trail off because he's staring at my mouth. Times when I catch myself studying the way his muscles move under his clothes and have to force my attention back to the research.
The intensity of my reactions to him keeps nagging at me. Back in graduate school, we studied omega biology extensively—the way omegas respond to alpha pheromones, their heightened sensitivity to dominance. But I'm definitely not an omega. The school testing was thorough, and besides, if I were omega, Sarah would have known. She's done enough research on omega biology to spot the signs from miles away.
"I think that's enough for today," he says finally, though the sun is still high outside the laboratory windows. "You should rest, let your body process the initial magical exposure."
I want to protest, to ask for more time in his presence, but exhaustion hits me suddenly. The magical work was more draining than I realized.
"Will we do this every day?" I ask as he walks me back toward the Scholar's Wing.
