He scoffs. “I already do that.”
Caving, I grin while hopping up to sit on the counter, swinging my legs. “Alright, what do you hate doing?”
His brow furrows before he admits, “Honestly? I’m pretty content these days.”
I snort. “We’ve got to be the worst gamblers around here. Okay, anything in particular that you want?”
He pauses and I realize my mistake a second too late. “One question. No lies and no deflecting, but winner gets one question.”
Swallowing, I slowly nod once in agreement, praying that I’m not about to regret it.
Nine
Esmerelda
“Is this some sort of winter sport out here?” As much as I’m amused, a bit of doubt about my situation is clawing to the surface.
Ian isn’t anything like the other mages I’ve been around, but I’ve only known him for a short time. People don’t always show their true colors right away, and with as desperate as I was, maybe I overlooked some warning signs in favor of what Iwantedto see.
We’re out in the far reaches of Rin and her mate’s massive property, much more space between houses than in the heart of Shady Grove. As I glance in front of us, nature just seems to go on forever. There are a few properties on either side of us, though they’re about a mile away, but back here? There’s nothing but snow coated woods and fields that go on undisturbed as far as I can see.
There really is an end of the world, and humans have driven shifters to the brink of it.
“You learn to make your own entertainment when there isn’t much to do,” Ian answers easily. “Hell, the nearest movie theater is at least an hour away. And I don’t know about you, but I could really use an excuse to take the edge off with as…neurotic as my magic’s been lately.”
We’re standing on a small, frozen over pond, and I’m still half convinced I’m going to crash through into the frigid water at any second. On the other side of the pond nestled in the snow, there’s a line of bottles spaced out in a row, colored over with black marker so that I can’t see what’s inside them.
Not an excuse to try and show me up, or show off. He just needs to burn off some energy. Must be nice to have so much energy you’re bursting at the seams with it.
We still haven’t brought ourselves to talk about that incident at the bakery, where he was impervious to my shockwave. That should have been impossible, unless…
He’s my mate.
I might be able to delude myself otherwise with the way my magic’s been going haywire, if it weren’t for the simple fact that it’s only happening around him. I’m not sure if he’s starting to realize it too or not, but by the shift in his demeanor over the past week, it’d be a safe bet that he at least suspects.
And I have no fucking clue what to do about it.
As dumb as it sounds, it doesn’t even have anything to do with the fact that I barely know this man. I can usually get a fairly good read on people after being around them for a bit; a side effect of trudging through the dregs of faded humanity most of my life.
The fates know better than any of us, are well aware of who we’d mesh perfectly with long before we can get out of our own way to see it ourselves. It’s just a sad truth; people tend to be too stubborn or caught up in their heads to see what’s in front of their faces, to see that what theywantisn’t necessarily what theyneed.
My issue is that…it’s not just one person that wants to kill me, and that puts him at risk. It’s one thing to have nothing, but I can’t have found my mate just to lose him; not many people can survive that type of loss with their sanity, becoming a shell of a person. I could leave at the drop of the hat if I had to, but he has an actual life here, one that he loves. What kind of person would I be to show up, tie myself to him, and then force him to abandon everything to live a pathetic, depressing life on the run, without any real future?
Witnessing Sadie’s death puts a target on me, sure, but I have a feeling these people have enough money for good lawyers that can discredit a hobo mage before brunch. They’ll have disposed of her body and all of the evidence, and I don’t have a speck of proof beyond my word, which is worthless in this scenario. Murder is low on the totem pole compared to what I saw on my way out of that building. Andthatwould be a lot harder to cover up if I made a scene and got enough eyes on the company. Because no matter how inconsequential I am, humans, shifters, and even other mages all have one thing in common.
They hate when anyone amasses too much power when the hierarchy is already balanced so precariously.
Clearing my throat, I try to refocus on here and now instead of getting lost in my head. “So, how do we play?”
He gives me a shy smile. “Each of those bottles is filled with water, but one of three of them are colored with food dye. First person to nail two of them wins, but you can only hit one bottle at a time.”
I glance at the expanse of ice beneath our feet, cringing as I admit, “We might want to stand on the bank instead. In case I miss.”
A devilish smirk lights up his face, and I wonder if there’s more to this man than I’ve given him credit for. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“Fates, man, if you have a death wish, you can stay on the ice while I go stand on precious, solid ground alone. I have no interest in plunging into icy water.”
He catches my wrist as I turn, shots of electricity caressing my arm that make me pause. In the beginning it was a static shock, like our magic was lashing out at each other. But over the last week it’s become almost seductive in nature, like a siren drawing me into the depths of the ocean. It wants to consume me, to flood my body so completely that there’s no longerhismagic andmine, but to merge into a collective force, branding me inside and out as his.
