Clayton was out the door without another word, but he heard Mal ask, “You can cook?” and Holly’s answer, “Obviously,” on his way out.
Clayton had a foot on the gangplank when Mal’s hand fisted in the back of his jumper.
“I don’t need an escort,” Clayton informed his new stalker breezily.
“MaybeIdo,” Mal responded easily, releasing his hold once they were both on solid land. “Having a seasoned guardian to protect me makes me feel safer than I have in ages. Why would I give that up?”
“Cheeky bastard.” Clayton gave Mal a shove and informed him, “I could be an actual guardian if I wanted to be.”
“Then why aren’t you?”
Clayton sneaked a peek at Mal’s face to see if he was teasing him, but the man’s face showed nothing but interest. Why not tell him? It wasn’t like it was a secret. “My mum doesn’t want me to take the test.”
Mal cocked his head, once more reminding Clayton of something more animal than man, and said, “You don’t strike me as the kind of person who would let that stop him.”
Clayton snorted. Mal clearly hadn’t met his mum. “She’s a powerful and influential witch, so yes, that’s more than enough to stop me. It’s almost impossible to find someone willing to give me the test, and if they did, I can’t imagine anyone who would be brave enough to pass me even if I somehow managed to do well.”
Clayton had needed to leave England to find a university that would allow him to do any training at all. American Othersociety wasn’t fighting quite as hard to be in his mum’s good graces as everyone was back home, so they’d been willing to humor him. He’d graduated with top marks (other than physical combat, but that wasn’t worth thinking about), but since no one was brave enough to sponsor him and guide him through the steps of being tested, he had yet to become a full-fledged guardian.
Even being besties with Samantha could only take him so far.
At Mal’s frown, Clayton squared his shoulders and gave a brittle smile. “No matter. Samantha was kind enough to offer me a job where I can learn and study all I want. I don’t need the title.”
He really didn’t. What Clayton wanted more than anything was to work with and learn about the different races and species of the Other. He didn’t need to be a guardian to do that. Not with the Boston chapter house’s resources at his disposal.
“You…enjoystudying?” Mal’s nose wrinkled like he smelled something bad.
“You don’t?” Clayton never understood how anyone could refrain from joyfully consuming every bit of knowledge they could get their hands on. “How did you learn how to do…” Clayton waved his hand around Mal because he couldn’t verbally admit that the man’s magical ability was in any way impressive.
Mal’s face split into a shark’s smile. “I have my own way of learning.”
His teeth were once again large and terrifying beyond all belief, but Clayton didn’t think twice; he went on his toes, stuck a finger into Mal’s mouth, and began to probe around. “How do you change your teeth like that? You can’t be a shapeshifter—you don’t have any of the tells.”
When Mal tried to pull away, Clayton cupped the back of his head to hold him in place. When Mal stilled obediently, Clayton poked around inside his mouth freely, noting that Mal’s teeth were less like shark teeth and more like a land-based predator’s. He only had one row, and his canines were more prominent than the others. Though all of them were seriously pointy.
Clayton’s fingers itched for a notebook to write his discoveries into.
“Can you make this one longer for me? I want to see how it works.” Clayton tapped one of Mal’s canines. “I want to know if the way you change it is magic or an innate ability.”
Mal made a grumbly noise that Clayton ignored. “Now, please. I want crumpets, and you’re slowing down the process.” There were more grumbly noises, but the canine in question lengthened obediently.
Clayton oooed and ahhed for a bit, but he couldn’t figure out how Mal was changing his body. There was no surge of magic in the affected area. Now that Clayton was paying attention, he noticed that Mal himself seemed to be a stable field of immense magic. There were no weak spots that most magic users naturally had in their essence field or strong spots indicating a core where his essence emanated from.
It was almost like Mal was made of pure magic.
Clayton’s hand left Mal’s mouth, and he ordered, “Do some magic for me.”
“You could just ask me what I am,” Mal said sulkily.
“Ridiculous. I should have already figured it out at this point. Now stop getting in my way and set that bin on fire.” Clayton pointed to an overflowing metal rubbish bin.
“I’m not a toy.”
“You’re whatever I say you are if you ever want to see me naked again,” Clayton announced. Was that him talking justnow? Goodness, he sounded commanding. Marshall would be proud. Clayton was certain of it.
Mal glared at the bin, and it went up in flames.
“No, wait. You did it too fast, and I couldn’t tell how you did it.”
