I look up into his emerald eyes, shielded behind his glasses, and give him a nod. Felix wraps his pinky around mine and tugs me out of the kitchen. Grayson and Remy are still bickering when we leave, so I don’t even think they notice.
“This is my space.” Felix pushes open a door and reveals a large room with minimal furniture. The windows are huge, letting in bright rays of natural light from the setting sun. I glance up and notice skylights cut into the high ceiling, giving it a light and airy feel.
Felix closes the door behind us, and I’m drawn deeper into the room so I can examine it better. As much as the chaotic workbenches in his office speak of his character, this sparse space tells of his dual nature, just like his empty desk.
Felix has always been the most reserved of our group. I always teased him that his earth magic gave him an old soul. Well, what I really said was it made him as old as dirt, but the sentiment is the same. Nothing about the room feels old though, it’s fresh and ripe with limitless possibilities. His circle is near, and the energy is so strong, I can feel it humming against my protection wards. It’s so familiar, it almost feels like part of my own magic.
I’m drawn to the large living oak that seems to be growing right from the floor, reaching much higher than the ceiling. The closer I get, the stronger Felix’s magic becomes. Embedded in the wooden floor and circling the tree is a copper ring. Any charms stirred in that circle would be much more potent than a circle drawn with chalk or another tool.
There are ferns and greenery around the trunk of the tree that seem to be flourishing, even with the wooden flooring only being a few inches away. I reach for the bark of the tree, thinking my fingers will meet with some sort of invisible magical barrier, but instead, I brush the cool rough bark.
Now that I’m closer, I look up to see how far the canopy of the tree is, but I’m not able to see past the circle cut into the ceiling allowing for only the trunk to be inside the house. “How do you keep the rain out?” I look over my shoulder, and Felix is standing very close to me.
He leans forward just an inch and whispers, “It’s magic,” before sealing his lips to mine.
I knew it was coming, and I did nothing to stop it.
The moment his lips touch mine, I exhale. It’s like coming home after a long trip away, like slipping into cool sheets and snuggling under warm covers. Emotion wells in the back of my throat, but I don’t let it stop me from kissing him back.
Felix takes hold of my shoulder and turns me so we’re facing each other. The sound that leaves his throat is achy and bittersweet to my ears as our chests connect. We each move to get closer to one another. The worry of no longer knowing his lips, his kiss, is erased.
He prods at the seam of my mouth with his tongue, and I open for him as he deepens the kiss. My heart is beating so fast, I feel like he should be able to feel it, or maybe I’m feeling his thumping above mine just as quickly. My hands are on his sides, and all I can think about is touching more of him, feeling more of him.
My back hits the rough bark of the tree, and it tugs on a few strands of hair as I shift my head to keep up with Felix, but I don’t care, there’s not much that could pull me from this moment.
“Hexes, I missed tasting you,” Felix tells me between kisses. I press my lips along his jaw, then down his neck when he lifts his head to give me better access. I slide my tongue up near his ear, and he shivers. I want to grin, but he palms my tit and rubs his thumb over my nipple as if to prove he knows exactly how to drive me crazy too.
Our mouths meet again, this time more eagerly as we nip and taste each other. Felix leans his lower body against mine, and I feel the ridge of his cock through his pants. Hexes, I think I underestimated his size. He feels even thicker than I remember.
Soft as a bird’s wing, Felix reaches up and cradles my cheeks in his hands. Below the waist, I can tell how badly he wants me, but his touch exhibits a tenderness that speaks of his reverence. I push forward and meld my lips to his.
Belatedly, I become aware of a tingling feeling covering my flesh, making it feel like all the hair on my body is standing on end. My scalp even feels twitchy. When Felix adjusts his touch and brushes the tips of his fingers down my jaw and neck, I can’t fight the shudder that racks my body.
I feel as if I’m connected to a live wire. I slit my eyes open, expecting to find some sort of energy being directed at me, but whatever it is, it’s invisible. I give Felix a lingering peck after closing my eyes, and he places his forehead against mine. The staticky feeling doesn’t abate, in fact, it feels even stronger when Felix continues to trace his fingers down my throat and over my chest.
“You’ve learned some new tricks, I see.” I’m breathless, and while I’m enjoying it, the knowledge also stings a little.
Felix rocks his forehead against mine in denial. “That’s not me, it’s us.” He’s breathing just as hard as I am.
I tilt my head back and meet his eyes. “What do you mean?”
Felix licks his lips, and I’m entranced by the movement of his tongue. “That night, even though we never finished the ritual, we sowed the seeds. The bond is still waiting to be completed.”
I stumble back, even though the tree is behind me. My legs feel heavy, and so does my chest, like my lungs no longer work to pull in oxygen, or maybe it’s the fact that I’m hyperventilating. I can’t take a deep breath. The moment I step out of the circle with Felix, all the energy brushing against my skin evaporates. If I had any reservations about what he said being true, they just died.
No wonder Grayson is so pissed at me. I always imagined I was so stuck on the guys because I loved them so deeply, but what if…what if it’s only because I half bound them to me? “I never broke the circle,” I whisper, horrified. How could I have not realized I never broke the circle? There are only two ways for a spell like that to dissipate—the ritual would have to be completed, or the circle would need to be broken.
Felix approaches me slowly, as if I’m a wounded animal. “We never did either, Frankie,” he tells me.
“Yeah, but I left and didn’t give you a choice.” My view of the last two days shifts. They didn’t want me here because they missed me, and the reason they kept following me around and insisting I didn’t leave until they talked to me makes more sense now. “I’ll break the circle, I’ll break it. I’m so sorry.” I’m still backing away from him, even though it’s the last thing my body wants to do.
The jabs Grayson sent my way about taking what I want sink even deeper, because on some level, it’s true. I didn’t give them a choice.
“Wait, Frankie. That’s not—You misunderstood.”
I search the space behind me for the doorknob so I can get out of this room. “Why didn’t you just tell me? I would have come back and fixed it.”
“Because we wanted you to be ready.” Felix is matching my retreating steps, making sure there’s never more than a few feet between us.
