Chapter 32
Chapter
Thirty-Two
H urstgrove rakes a hand through his expensively coiffed hair and curses something ugly as he glances at Caden, who’s feverishly sliding his hands all over me and burning me up with his touch.
“This is off the record. If one word of this appears in your tabloid, I will use all my wealth and connections to shut it down and unemploy you permanently,” Hurstgrove warns me. “Do you understand?”
His intimidation tactics annoy me. If he wasn’t Caden’s friend and I hadn’t witnessed his concern in action, I would toss him out on his overprivileged ear. Yes, he’s wealthy and powerful, but if I stumble upon a hidden truth, I want to tell the world.
But I have no doubt Hurstgrove can—and will—make good on his threats. “I don’t like being bullied.”
“You’re dealing with something very dangerous you can’t possibly understand.”
My heart stops. “You said Caden’s condition isn’t fatal?”
He hesitates. “Everything you’ve been printing in that rag of yours is.”
Caden warned me of that repeatedly and even seemed gravely concerned about my safety. “In what way? What does the magical war have to do with him?”
As if he’s tired of our talking, Caden plants his mouth on my neck, his hand under the jumper, and nips at my sensitive skin. I tremble, my mind whirling and my body aching. But I need the answer to my question before I lose myself in Caden.
“It’s too bloody late. All I can say now is that Caden has been affected by magic, and he’s chosen you—and you alone—to provide healing care. He’ll reject all others.”
The fact he’s chosen me is both thrilling and surprising, but… “Affected by magic? Are you saying he’s cursed?”
“I’m certain that’s how he sees it. By joining with you, he can convert the energy you generate together into something that heals him.”
“How do you know?” I manage to gasp out as Caden grips my hips and presses into me, clearly ready for a night of sin.
“I’ve been through this. He needs you now. Please,” Duke cajoles. “He’s going to require everything you’re willing to give. Just don’t kiss him. It would be catastrophic.”
“To his health?”
Caden’s hands maneuver up my belly and begin lifting the jumper. I try to wriggle away, but his grip is like iron.
Duke nods. “And perhaps yours.”
“Does this have anything to do with the book?” I hate to think I’ve done this to him. He’d be furious and hate me—and rightfully so.
Clearly tired of talking, Caden tears Duke’s cable knit from my body and urges me down the hall. When I resist, he scoops me up and carries me.
“What the—Caden!”
With a grunt, he keeps going.
“Give him what he needs for as long as you can,” Duke calls out. “And shut the door behind you.”
Since I can’t outpower or outmaneuver Caden, I agree. But how long will he need me? And do I have everything necessary to heal him?
Duke
“So what happens now?”
I whirl to face Olivia. I’m so flustered, I didn’t hear her come through the door. “That was locked.”
She shrugs. “I’ve been working on my simple magic. Locks are a breeze for me now.”
Despite the rather dire situation, I smile. “Marrok always says you’re mischievous. I see why. Is Sabelle coming for you?”
A thud reverberates through the room, like something—or someone—hit the wall. Moments later, a murmur, a rip, then a sigh. Clearly, Caden and Sydney aren’t wasting any time. I wince.
“Soon,” Olivia answers, flushing a pretty shade of pink. “She’s helping Bram elsewhere now. Marrok asked me to wait with you for a bit.”
With a nod, I sit on the sofa. Olivia follows suit.
On the other side of the wall, sighs turn to moans.
“Well, this isn’t awkward at all.” She rolls her eyes.
It bloody well is.
I wince. “I don’t suppose you’ll settle for the short version of upcoming events.”
Olivia snorts. “You know better.”
I settle my elbows on my knees and peer over at the violet-eyed beauty. She’s striking, and she’ll become an immensely powerful witch…once she goes through Caden’s current plight.
“He’s transitioning. I suspect he’s been fighting the urge for some weeks, so he’ll need a tremendous amount of energy. The process will be long and difficult. And dangerous. It’s made worse because he’s fighting the urge to Call to her.”
“A human reporter? Has he lost his ever-loving mind?”
Her American expressions often amuse me, but now isn’t the time. “I warned him. I also placed a secret repelling spell over her mouth. It’s not foolproof and won’t hold for more than a few days, but it’s all I can do now. My biggest concern is whether she’ll be strong enough to pull him through this transition.”
Olivia eyes me like I’m mental. “It doesn’t take a lot of physical strength for a female to have sex. It’s not like Sydney has to bench-press him.”
“Quite. Perhaps stamina is a better word.”
“Oh.” Olivia frowns. “How long will they, um…?”
A loud feminine moan penetrates the walls, followed by a male voice muttering in encouraging tones.
“The average is two days.”
“But they’ll sleep, right?”
“No.”
“Are you telling me they’ll be…”
“Shagging all that time? Most of it, I’m afraid.”
Olivia winces. “I see what you mean about stamina. Can this…process last longer?”
“Indeed.” I scrub a hand over my face. Frightening the witchling who has yet to undergo her own transition is something I’d rather avoid, but being dishonest benefits no one. “My transition came two years early. In my ignorance, I fought it. My parents knew little about magic, since mine came from my grandmother, who had long since disappeared. So when I transitioned, it was harsh, as I suspect Caden’s will be.”
“And yours took longer?”
Before I can answer, a thumping against the wall echoes through Sydney’s little living room once, twice, again, then settles into a rhythmic pace.
Bloody hell.
I nod grimly. “Three days.”
It was one of the few times my body and magic completely overrode the decorum that was drummed into me my entire life. For those few days, no amount of sex was enough, no act too wicked or depraved. I rejected food, water, family—anything but pleasure.
“The poor woman must have been exhausted. No wonder you’re worried for Sydney.”
When I transitioned, my emotions weren’t engaged with any particular woman, as Caden’s are. I started with a woman I was dating casually. When she fell into an exhausted sleep, I didn’t think twice about opening my bedroom door to growl for another.
But I say nothing. No reason to alarm her.
Still, my discomfort must show on my face.
“More than one woman?” Olivia chokes.
I close my eyes and sigh. “Four.”
And the last had nearly had to be replaced.
A good thing, I think in retrospect. At the end of every transition, each witch’s or wizard’s special power, unique to them, emerges—without any warning when or what will manifest. When my special power presented itself, if the woman I was with hadn’t been mostly unconscious, she would have screamed in utter terror.
“What happens if Sydney isn’t strong enough to pull him through?”
“Let’s just hope for the best, shall we?”
Olivia peers at me, clearly upset. “Are you trying to avoid telling me that he could die?”
I pat her hand to reassure her. “You will be better prepared. Bram will tell Marrok well in advance what’s to come and how to behave. My family was not so lucky. Fear not; your transition will come off splendidly.”
“I’m not worried about me. Marrok will do everything in his power to get me through. But I’m worried about Caden. What if Sydney can’t? Who will?”
“Replacing her doesn’t seem to be an option. Caden is dangerously attached, and I can only hope we find some way to separate them before he cements the bond by issuing the Call or?—”
“Yes. Yes!” Sydney wails on the other side of the wall.
“We won’t ever pry them apart,” Olivia finishes.
“He’ll kill anyone who tries. A wizard will fight for his mate to the death.”
“But she’s a reporter who could spill every one of our secrets. Caden says she’s ambitious and determined to make a name for herself. Blowing the magickind story wide open would be a disaster for us. She already knows too much about the war and Mathias and?—”
“Could make the genocide of our kind a dreadful reality, yes. But the way he looks at her, I fear it won’t be long before he insists on making their attachment a mate bond.”
She grimaces. “There must be something productive we can do while we wait. We need the Diary. Shouldn’t we look for it while Sydney is…busy? If we find it, I’ll be able to grab it and go.”
“Excellent notion. In the past you’ve been able to feel its power. Do you sense it here?”
With a scowl, Olivia rises and wanders around the tidy little flat. “Not in this room.” She meanders into the kitchen, the foyer, into every corner of Sydney’s space until she reaches the bedroom door. “If it’s here, she’s stashing it in her bedroom. I can’t feel the power surge of the book unless it’s close and definitely not through the door.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “If you go into the bedroom to search while Caden is transitioning, he may perceive you as a threat.”
“And try to kill me. Spectacular.”
“Indeed. And if I let anything happen to you, Marrok would kill me. Why don’t we return to the sofa and wait…and hope disaster isn’t around the corner?”