“Where are you from? I probably won’t know it. Before my father dropped me off at the Ivy Institute, I’d never been out of Rale, but is it far from here?”
He wiggles his fingers, and I release the death grip I have on him, feeling embarrassed. He slides his hands up my arms and cups my shoulders. It takes the sting out of the rejection. “My territory encompasses the Sine Forest. It’s about a three-day ride from Rale. It’s nothing like this place. You’ll love it, and if youdon’t, we’ll settle somewhere else. Tell me how you ended up here. Tell me everything.”
“That would bore you to death and take a really long time.”
“If it means I get to listen to you” —his eyes lower to my mouth— “be with you, then yes.” He nods as if that’s exactly what he wants. His words should come as a comfort, but they frighten me instead. He’s going to make me fall for him and crave him just like I do the others, and then he’ll disappear too.
His grip on my shoulders softens, and he lets his fingers travel a little higher until he’s encircling my neck with his warm hands. It isn’t a place where I would usually let a stranger touch me, but he’s not really a stranger, not when my soul knows his. I also want him to touch me, even when I know it could be stupid to let my guard down, since he could kill me as easily as breathing, especially with his fingers around my throat.
It’s so destructive to admit, but I’d probably let him do it, even if I thought I could stop him. At least that would be quick. I don’t understand how I can struggle to survive so hard yet want to die at the same time.
“Briar,” he says softly, a hint of suspicion coloring his tone as if he knows how dark my thoughts have gotten.
“I don’t really have an ability,” I blurt, trying to distract him.
“What?” His face scrunches up in confusion. “I saw you today, on the practice field.”
“The only thing you saw was their magic not working on me, nothing else.” I’ve already convinced myself what happened with David was a fluke. There is no way I could have siphoned his powers. I was just angry, filled with too much emotion, and I felt something that wasn’t there.
His fingers tighten, and Sunny runs his thumbs up the column of my throat. It makes me want to swallow, but I resist the urge. “I’m not a truth detector, princess, but I know when my mate is lying.” His face is closer to mine.
I tip my head back to breathe him in a little more. Gods, he smells good. I can’t put my thoughts into words or describe his scent—it’s more about the feelings it evokes in me. It’s like walking into a ray of sunshine after being alone in the darkness for too long, feeling the heat slide over your skin and warm you from the outside in.
“Maybe I’m not what you think then, because I’m not lying.”
He leans in closer, causing his nose to brush against mine in a show of tender affection then accuses, “Lie.” His low voice is filled with indignation, which is so at odds with his touch.
My heart bangs against my chest like a captured bird trying to escape its cage, but it isn’t fear rattling me. I lick my lips, preparing to speak, but the action causes Sunny to inhale sharply. With our gazes still locked, I glimpse the moment his beast peeks out at me through his citrine eyes. The change is subtle, but the wildness in him is unmistakable.
“Syrinx called me a void,” I confess. If he knows what that means, it doesn’t register on his face at all, so I continue. “Magic doesn’t affect me.”
“I wouldn’t say that’s true. You certainly respond to me and my wolf.”
I flush instantly from the innuendo in his tone. “That isn’t magic,” I retort, causing him to grin right before I get hit with a blast of heat that has me reaching for his forearm to steady myself. His eyelids close, and he lets out a hum as he inhales. His scent is even stronger, making me want to rip his clothes off so I can feel him skin to skin.
When his eyes finally open again, they are darker and more intense. I couldn’t look away from him if I wanted to. “If you try to tell me your body would respond to someone else the way it does to mine, then I think you’ll hurt my feelings, princess, even when we both know it isn’t true.” His words are whispered against my skin, leaving an indelible mark on my soul.
“It doesn’t… I don’t…” I stammer, not finding the right words to say. “That’s not the kind of magic I mean.” I have to shake my head to form a clear thought. The entire room smells like hot sweaty sex, and I’m having a very hard time concentrating. “Can you…” I let the question hang, because I don’t know how to ask him to turn down his appeal or if it’s even fair to. Instead, I squeeze my thighs together to ease the ache between my legs to no avail.
He drops his forehead to my cheek, cutting off my view of him and allowing me to close my eyes. It does nothing to ease the tension in the room. The press of his lips against the corner of my mouth is the last thing I feel before he releases my neck and takes two very large steps away from me. The urge to go to him, to close the distance he put between us, has me sliding my boot across the stone floor. He lifts a hand and shakes his head to ward me off. “Sorry, I wasn’t really thinking that through.”
“It’s okay,” I murmur, pretending I wasn’t just prepared to jump him. To fill the awkward silence, I try to get back on track. “Magical abilities don’t really affect me. What you saw in the arena today was their magic bouncing off me. I can’t control it or direct it. It’s like I have a shield around me most of the time.”
His eyes squint, as if he’s thinking back and evaluating what he saw with the added perspective. “Why call you a void then and not a shield?”
His question catches me off guard. I wasn’t planning on leading with that crazy banshee’s theory, but I can’t lie to him. “Because that is what Syrinx wanted me to be. A real void has more than the ability to block magic, she can also take it. The headmistress probably sent me here when she realized I wasn’t ever going to live up to her expectations.”
He’s quiet for too long, giving me too much time to think and go over the words I used. Should I explain myself better? Can I?
“Take magic?” he questions, and I realize that’s what he’s been dwelling on this entire time. I’m not surprised, I wouldn’t want to be powerless either if I had a choice. Learning someone could steal part of you, especially the part of you that makes it easier for you to survive, is frightening.
“I’m not going to snatch your wolf, Sunny—I wouldn’t even if I could—but just so we’re clear, I can’t,” I reiterate, hoping I haven’t alienated him.
“She thought you could?”
“She wanted me to be able to,” I amend. “Not every person who has mental magic does it the same. Just because magic is useless against me like it was Elora, that doesn’t mean I can suck someone dry by stealing their magic and using it myself.”
“That’s what she could do? Suck them dry?” At least I know now I’m not the only one who had no idea something like that was possible.
