Ransom smiles and pulls me into his arms. Dipping his head, his lips meet mine in a heated kiss that makes me forget who I am.
“I love the way that your mind works,” he mutters as he ends the kiss.
I grin, “Right back at ya, gorgeous.”
The guys chuckle at my breathless reply.
“So, what do you think, Ransom, is it possible?” Griff asks curiously.
Ransom seems to think about it for a moment and then shrugs, “I’ve never done it before, but that’s because I’ve never tried to. I guess there’s one way to find out.”
“Do you want us to all touch you at the same time, like with the wards at my parents' place?” Van asks.
“Ooo, sounds dirty,” I smirk, and the guys just shake their heads and laugh.
“Nice,” River grins, giving me a high five.
Ransom answers Van’s question as he shakes his head, “No. I think since I’m trying something different, and I want these wards to be as strong as the ones at our house. I need you all to be touching me individually, and I will add your magic one by one. I don’t want to risk them not being as strong as we need them to be. It will take longer to do, but I think it’s worth it,” he replies thoughtfully.
“Absolutely,” Van replies. “Is there any particular order that you want to do this in?”
Ransom shakes his head, “Nope. But even if you don’t know what death magic you got given by the Choosing, I need you to try to focus on it when I pull the magic from you for the wards. My instincts are telling me that’s what is going to help us ward the house from everything living and dead.”
“That makes sense, actually,” Reed nods.
One by one, the guys all add their magic to Ransom’s ward, and with each one, I watch as a shimmering, glittering, black layer gets added before it disappears and becomes invisible again. I don’t think I’m supposed to be able to see it, but as I’ve said before, I could see through Navy’s ward the first night that I met her, and I know that was strong. The guys couldn’t even seethrough it. So it must be a part of my magic, the ability to see wards and see through them.
It's pretty awesome, and if I can work out how to use it properly, then it will be useful in all sorts of situations.
“Your turn,” Ransom says, bringing me out of my thoughts as he holds out his hand for me.
I smile and take his hand. We’ve done this a few times now, so it’s a familiar feeling to me. He told us to focus on our death magic. I’m pretty sure that the majority of my magic is linked to death, so I focus on all of it, as well as my intention to protect House, Ethel, and the grounds from all things living and dead that wish to cause it or us harm.
The ground shakes, and once again a huge boom of power releases, this time though it comes from both Ransom and me. The ward snaps into place with a resounding thunk.
“It worked?” Griff asks, his eyebrows high on his forehead.
Ransom nods, “Oh yeah. They’re as strong as the wards at our house. I would venture that they’re stronger thanks to the extra protections that we put in place for the dead.”
“Awesome,” Raiden grins. “Well done.”
“Let’s go inside and find out why House was being attacked in the first place,” Van suggests.
“Yeah. It’s not like Ethel lost in a poker match and they were coming to collect,” River jokes and then looks at me and asks, “right?”
I shrug, “Honestly, I have no idea. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if she played poker somehow. Especially after seeing what she just did, but this feels more vengeful than a simple poker debt.”
River frowns, “Yeah. That’s true. I wonder why they were attacking then?”
“I guess the only way that we’re going to find that out is to ask, Ethel,” Doc points out as we head back toward the house.
“Plus, it’s damn cold, and I don’t want to be outside anymore,” Coen adds, making me smile.
“House has probably got the fires on for us,” Griff smiles.
“I can’t wait to get introduced to House and Ethel properly,” Coen replies with a smile.
“Wait, the bags,” I say as I remember that we came through the portal with our stuff and then obviously dumped them when we had to defend House.
