Chapter 43
After putting Flame in her stall for the night, calming us both with a grooming session, I went back to my rooms.
Blake was leaning against my door, waiting.
My heart skittered at the sight of him and my step faltered. The whirl of emotions and sensations and magic between us earlier had been so overpowering, I wasn’t ready to face him.
“We need to push it further,” he said, his voice low and steady, though there was an edge to it.
I swallowed hard, avoiding his eyes. “Push what?”
“The bond,” Blake replied, stepping closer to me, pulling my eyes to his with the force of his will. “The Pairing. We’re supposed to be stronger together, but we need to understand how it works. Let me in, Rubi. Let me protect you. Please.”
I breathed out. He was right, I knew he was, but the fear of losing control was so strong, as strong as my fear of failing—of reaching for magic and finding nothing. He was asking me to trust him completely.
But he wasn’t just anyone. He was the Ambush Master and the Ravager in one. He was the man who’d held me as I broke down.
I opened the door and let him in.
Once inside, Blake raised his hand, the air around him crackling with magnetic energy.
His control over metal was flawless, and as his fingers twitched, all the metal in my room rose, twisted, and swirled in the air.
But this time, he wasn’t just using his own magic. I could feel him reaching for me.
I felt a tug deep in my chest, the thread between us pulling taut, and a strange sensation began to spread through my body, like something was searching me. Blake was trying to draw magic from me, to amplify his own, but there was nothing.
No fire, no spark.
Blake frowned, his jaw tightening. “There should be power here. I can feel the connection, but…” His eyes locked on mine, frustration flashing behind them. “There’s nothing to draw from.”
My stomach sank.
I could feel it. The pull, the tension. But there was no magic flowing between us, no power for him to take. Just…emptiness. It was easy then for the doubt to creep in, a sinking feeling in my gut.
“I don’t have much magic,” I said, my voice barely a whisper but with a bitter edge to it. Defensive. “You knew that before you Paired with me. Don’t—”
“Rubi,” Blake cut me off. “Stop.”
I crossed my arms.
His eyes darkened, but he didn’t pull away from me. “There’s something here. I felt it. Last night. When you—”
I held up my hand. “I’m aware. But…that was your power, not mine.”
He shook his head. “No. It wasn’t.”
He reached out, his hand hovering just above my arm, not quite touching but close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his skin. “I felt it then, and I can feel it now. But it’s buried.”
The air between us thickened, charged with something unseen, and suddenly, the invisible thread that bound us seemed to tighten.
“There are different ways of awakening the energy in a Pair,” he murmured, his eyes intent on mine. “Spiritual, emotional…carnal.”
The air pulsed with energy, a charge so powerful it made my skin prickle, each beat syncing to the rhythm of Blake’s presence. “It worked before,” he said, gaze smoldering, eyes gleaming with a hunger that stole my breath. “It would be a more…pleasant way to test our bond.”
Magic flared between us. His metal magic hummed like a storm on the horizon. I could taste it, feel it, the way his magic pressed against somewhere deep within me, and how something in me stirred in answer.
Blake moved toward me, deliberate and slow, a predator closing in on his prey. I raised my chin, defiant. He leaned in, close enough that I caught his faint scent of cedar and woodsmoke.
His hand closed around my wrist, sending a jolt through my body, before he slid up to press our Marked palms together. The burst of magic where there had been nothing moments earlier felt different, like that touch was enough to ignite it all over again.
Blake’s other hand lifted, brushing the hair from my face with a gentleness that made my breath hitch. Then he bent his head. His lips hovered a whisper above mine, so close that the slightest movement would have sealed us together.
My whole world narrowed to that single point between us.
I tilted my chin up without meaning to, desperate, aching for him to close the distance.
Blake’s mouth brushed mine, a featherlight almost-kiss that made my chest seize. His breath was hot when he whispered, low and savage, against my lips, “Do you want to try it this way, songbird?”
His words were like a tyger’s purr, and I shivered.
His foot dashed around my ankle, his body pushing mine so I toppled backward. We tumbled to the floor, his hand catching my fall, his body awakening mine. He nipped along my jaw, hands grasping mine and holding our intertwined hands over my head, stretching my body out beneath him.
I grew hotter then, so hot my skin felt like it was burning, before a flare of magic pulsed between us, Blake’s eyes grew molten as he flung himself back, his hands out to stop the sudden shattering of metal all around us, to stop it from hitting me.
His eyes met mine. I kept the tether between us tight.
I could feel it as he pulled on my power again, his magic pulsing brighter as he made every piece falling from the shattered sculptures above shudder.
I gasped as all of the parts reformed into one great, sharp sword, which floated down in front of him.
His magic—our magic—still blazed with power.
He smirked and said, “Now I know exactly how to get that magic from you.” He stood, plucking the blade from the air and holding it by the hilt, testing it. “But you’re going to need to get a better handle on it. I can’t fuck you in the middle of a battle, songbird.”
I rolled my eyes at his playful joke but couldn’t deny the underlying truth. I needed to figure out where my magic was kept within me and how to pull from it safely. And fast.