I should be thankful at least one of us had the ability to still think with a brain unclouded by the thought of sex. Not surprised that it wasn’t me this time. I sighed, mentally hauling my thoughts back to a level above the waist and locking them tightly away.
It was for the best, after all.
* * *
Nick
What the fuck am I doing?
That one thought played on a loop in my head as I led Dathal up the path to my front door. Willingly inviting a fuckingfaeinto my house. Was I insane?
He’d already felt the magic surrounding the area. Magic I sometimes didn’t notice with my own being suppressed so heavily I spent my days trying to forget I even had it. My fingers found the cuff at my wrist, worrying the edges as I reached my front door.
How long would it be before he noticed I had as much access to my magic as Zane did his? And the reason for it wasn’t all that different, only my punishment was enforced by the witches’ council rather than the paranormal police.
I could turn around now and take him back to Midnight, to Axel, and write this night off as an error in judgement, a mistake that neither of us needed to make if I was reading him right.
He’d avoided me in my club, I was certain of it. Just like I was certain he’d been about to make a move the moment I’d laid eyes on him in that fucking see-through shirt. Kevin dropping that pint had given him a chance to escape, and he’d taken it.
But he’s here now.
Because Axel pushed him into it.
But neither of you took all that much persuading.
I leant my head on the door. Having a conversation with myself was exhausting and unsurprisingly took me round in circles. I’d like to say I forgot Dathal was even there, but his presence behind me was impossible to ignore. I might not feel my own magic, not like I used to, but this close I could feel his, I realised, unconsciously leaning into it before I registered what I was doing.
“Are you all right?” Dathal stepped up behind me, close enough I’d touch him if I leant back a little. He set a hand at the base of my spine, fingers slipping under my shirt to find bare skin. My sharp inhale had his hand stilling, but I barely registered it, too focused on why the fuck the mark hiding under my leather cuff had suddenly prickled with warmth.
It had never done that before.
Ever.
“Nick?” Dathal’s hot breath hit the back of my neck, drawing my attention away from my wrist as a shiver skipped down my spine.
“Yeah,” I managed, ignoring the rapid beat my heart had been startled into. I shook my head. “Sorry. I don’t mean to keep you waiting on my doorstep.” Hurriedly opening the door, I let us both inside.
Clicking on the hall light, I’d only managed to take two steps before warm fingers grasped my hand and tugged me backwards. Dathal pushed the door shut behind us and caged me up against the wall. I wasn’t small by any means—I had at least two inches on him, broad where he was slender—yet he oozed strength in a way that made me feel powerless to stop him from doing whatever he wanted.
Without my magic to call on, maybe that was truer than I wanted it to be. My knowledge of the fae as a whole didn’t go beyond knowing all I’d met were hot. And that they could be tricky to deal with. I’d never seen Axel actively use magic like witches did, but I knew he had it. I could sense it, the way I could sense Dathal’s lurking under the surface. Waiting to be called upon. That part of me hadn’t been locked away.
What I couldn’t do was tap into the magic surrounding my home and that of my fellow coven members, nor could I feel the sheer power of it enveloping our homes, yet I knew it was there. Tantalisingly out of reach for me.
I swallowed back a bitter laugh.
Such thoughts slipped from my mind as Dathal stepped into my space. He placed one hand on the wall by my head, the other reached down and encircled my wrist, thumb stroking over the leather there.
I froze.
Thank fuck I had breath in my lungs, because with Dathal so close to my darkest secret, I’d lost the ability to draw in air.
His eyes were focused there too, and the time it took him to drag his gaze up to reach mine lasted a lifetime. Every second punctuated with the thud of my heartbeat. “Talk,” I muttered, voice hoarse. I lost myself in his violet depths, so similar to Axel’s, and yet his never had this effect on me. “We need to talk.”
He said nothing. Whatever was going through his head apparently more than enough to render him mute.
A pitiful meow, anger and disappointment all rolled up together, cut through the silence. Dathal’s face was such a picture of shock and confusion that an unexpected laugh escaped me, and the moment between us evaporated.
As disappointed as I was about that, at least I could breathe again. And Dathal’s focus was no longer on my wrist.
