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“I've made a list of tasks for you to perform,” I began, and Julie slid off the table, picked up her lab coat, and put it back on. “The goal is to find out how exhaustible this form of energy inside you is.”

I picked up the clipboard and waited for her to get over to me, even though I desperately wished there was a whole laboratory between us.

Concentrate, Quentin.

“After all, the energy and matter seem to be developing inside you, which is usually only the case with Fire Quatura.”

I hoped that my hypothesis was correct. Anything else would make little sense.

“I have no control over this magic,” Julie began, and once again fidgeted with her sleeve.

How much I hated that word. Magic was not an appropriate technical term for what dwelled within her, any more than it could describe Umbra, elemental abilities or the energy that allowed all other paranormal systems to function. One day, when I became completely fed up with that word, I would invent a new term and introduce it into scientific discourse.

My gaze lingered on her restless fingers, and I felt the urge to grab her hand, to hold it still, because it only made me more nervous, but I quickly dismissed the idea, although my erection seemed to enjoy the thought of touching her again, feeling her skin under my fingers, grasping something of her.

I suppressed a curse by biting my tongue hard.

“We'll start easy,” I tried to calm her with my words instead, wondering what was wrong with me that I first took her blood and shortly after let her use her powers.

Where was my mind today?

“But...” she began, but I was already pointing to the pneumatic trough.

“The water there. I want you to freeze it very carefully.”

Julie looked at the glass trough as if it were her mortal enemy.

“That's too much water...”

“You've done it before,” I sighed, annoyed that this stupid erection wouldn't go away. “Many times, I assume.”

“Unintentionally,” Julie said, her voice frail, and I thought I saw her eyes glaze over.

My gaze slid to her hands, where ice crystals were forming.

Fascinated, I stared at the fine crystals.

This ability… Where did it originate?

Julie noticed my gaze and quickly dropped her hands into the pockets of her lab coat.

“Don't hide your hands,” the words passed my lips much too gently. “I already know about your powers.”

Julie looked up at me, indecisive. And suddenly I wondered if she was struggling just as much to trust me, as I struggled to trust her, or if it was all part of her plan. The plan in which she was using J against me.

My anger toward her returned and my erection gradually subsided.

“You don't really know about it,” Julie said quietly. “You don't know what it's capable of. What I'm capable of.”

I remembered how she had touched me and how her ice had traveled up my clothes. It was as if I was remembering the feeling, as if I was reliving it, and the tingling in my cock intensified so much that the arousal returned.

Quentin. Pull. Yourself. Together. Dammit! Think of J. She deserves someone better than you.

“I never said you weren't dangerous,” I tried to say calmly. “Now focus on the water.”

Heroes Are Immortal

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