Chapter 15
OLIVIA
Something soft shifted beneath my fingertips, the surface warm and yielding in a way that didn’t quite make sense. My cheek was pressed into it, and the scent was faintly human, something warmth, something alive. For a second, my mind tried to make sense of it, grasping at something dreamlike.
Clouds. That had to be it. Except… Clouds didn’t smell like this.
My brows pulled together as I forced my eyes open. The world snapped into focus too quickly.
I shot upright, my body moving before my thoughts caught up, breath dragged out of me as I looked around. The room blurred for a split-second, unfamiliar and familiar all at once, like I should know it but couldn’t quite place it.
My hands dragged down my body, catching on an oversized shirt and sweats, none of it mine.
Darting my gaze around, I searched for something solid, something that would anchor me, and that was when my eyes landed on a bookshelf, right where a matte black humvee sat perched between the rows.
Everything hit at once.
Calix. His room. Asking about the car, explaining what I would do to improve.
My breathing stuttered before slowly evening out, the frantic edge fading just enough for me to think. I knew where I was.
But something still felt… wrong. Too sharp.
My eyes adjusted again, and I realized it wasn’t the room that had changed, it was how I was seeing it. Every edge was clearer, every detail sharper, like the world had been dialed into focus.
A faint scent drifted through the air, leather and old books, something warm and clean. It hit me all at once, stronger than anything I’d ever experienced. It filled my lungs and wrapped around my senses, overwhelming me.
I turned toward it instinctively, needing to find the source, then froze.
Rack.
He was right there beside me, shirtless, close enough that I could see the rise and fall of his chest.
A startled sound tore out of me before I could stop it, and I scrambled backward, my body reacting faster than I could think. I twisted as I fell, catching myself at the last second instead of slamming into the ground, my hands bracing easily against the floor.
Rack jerked upright, his own movements sharp and eyes wide. He immediately held out his hands, palms out.
“Olivia. Wait.” The words came out quickly, carrying an urgency with them. “No one’s going to hurt you. I swear. You’re safe.”
His hand dragged over the back of his neck, gaze flicking away for a second before coming back to me, something tight and uncertain lingering there.
“More than safe,” he added, quieter this time. “Depending on how you look at it.”
That didn’t help. Not even a little.
I glanced down at my hands, slowly turning them over. All the callouses I’d built over years were gone. Replaced with smooth, silky skin that didn’t belong to me.
My fingers traced along my arms, my sides, my stomach. Everything felt… fine. Better than fine, actually. A knot twisted in my chest.
“Do you remember how you got here?”
Rack’s voice pulled my attention back to him, and I frowned, trying to follow the thread of his question.
Think. I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing myself to go back.
A crack. Loud. Violent.
My body jerked, a sharp tremor running through me as I clutched at my stomach instinctively. Expecting to feel blood, my hands pressed down.
My eyes flew open, frantically looking down to see nothing. Clean. Not a single drop.
“I got shot,” I whispered, the words coming out hollow. A sharp ache pulsed through my head. Something was missing, something important, but the more I tried to grab it, the further it slipped.
“Yes.” Rack’s voice was softer now. “Lark and Nathan brought you here.”
“Right…” I sank down slowly, trying to piece it together, but everything after that point was blank. Just… gone.
Rack shifted closer, and I reacted instantly.
Back on my feet, I put some space between us.
His hands came up again, slower this time, but his expression changed. Something tightened in his features, like the distance had landed harder than I intended.
“I need to explain some things,” he said carefully. “Things that are… different now.” He gestured toward the bed. “Can you sit?”
I didn’t move.
Instead, my eyes darted to the chair in the corner. I crossed the room and grabbed it without thinking, only to pause when it effortlessly lifted in my hands.
Too easily. It should’ve been heavier than this, but it wasn’t.
I brought it over anyway, setting it down in front of him. I sat down and motioned for him to talk. It took everything inside me to force my body to keep still.
“Start explaining.”
Rack took a breath, his hands clasping together loosely in front of him before he spoke.
“Lark and Nathan brought you here in bad shape,” he said steadily. “You were about thirty minutes from—”
His voice broke for a second before he continued.
“—from dying.”
I stared at him, trying to process that.
“Okay,” I said slowly, pushing to my feet again. “So you saved me. Magic. That’s why I’m fine now.”
I nodded toward him, speaking aloud my thoughts as I tried to make sense of this.
“Thank you for saving me. A life debt is not something I’ll take for granted. Please let me know how I can make it up to you.”
His gaze dropped, then shifted away completely. When he looked back, something had changed. Something heavier sat behind his eyes.
“It wasn’t me,” he said.
I blinked.
“What?”
“I couldn’t,” he added, quieter now.
Confusion pulled at my thoughts, and something half-remembered brushed the edges of my mind. Something about magic, about limits, but it wouldn’t fully surface.
“Then what?” I pressed. “Did you bring in someone else? Another mage?”
He shook his head. Slow. Final. His attention dropped to his hands again like he was bracing himself. Something about him felt… off. different, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
The Rack I had met didn’t hesitate like this. Didn’t stumble.
My thoughts brought back the memory of him in front of the garage, his dry comments, those sharp eyes, and—
Calix.
The memory hit hard. The warning. The look on his face. My pulse spiked, my heart slamming against my ribs as everything shifted all over again.
“Then why bring me here?” The question tumbled out of me as my hands flew up, my feet pacing before I could stop it.
“Did he find out about Manshu? About the car?” I let out a sharp, breathless laugh, dragging my hands through my hair.
“Of course he did. That’s betrayal, right?
A betrayal to the Syndicate and that can’t be tolerated. ”
My legs gave out before I could finish, dropping me hard to my knees at the edge of the bed.
“I didn’t want to work for him!” The words rushed out, cracking as they spilled.
My hands pressed into the mattress like I needed something to hold me together.
“He threatened me—everyone I care about. Said he’d kill them in front of me.
” My head shook, fast, frantic. “I had to. I didn’t have a choice. I’m sorry. I’m so—”
The floor disappeared beneath me.
Rack moved fast, arms wrapping around me before I could even register it, lifting me like I weighed nothing. His grip tightened, one hand braced against my back, the other cradling me against him, holding me close enough that I could feel the steady rhythm of his breathing.
“I’m messing this up,” he muttered, his voice low, steadying, as it brushed over me. “Trying to figure out what you remember… and what you don’t.” His hold adjusted slightly, more careful, more deliberate. “The change scrambles things at first. It’ll come back.”
Change?
He eased me back onto the bed, hands lingering just a second before he dropped to his knees in front of me. The shift in position threw me off—him looking up, me sitting higher, and something in my chest loosened just enough for my pulse to slow.
“I’m just going to say it,” he warned, drawing in a breath like he was bracing for impact. “So don’t panic.”
My spine went rigid anyway, every muscle tightening as I waited.
“When you got here… and I couldn’t heal you…” His jaw flexed, eyes flicking over my face before locking back in. “That was when I realized you’re my Flame.”
I blinked.
“…Your what?”
“My Flame,” he repeated, nodding once, like grounding himself. “Other supes have mates. Mages…” His voice softened, something almost reverent threading through it. “We have Flames, the one person our magic can’t touch.”
My gaze dropped to where he’d taken my hands again, his thumb slowly moving across my palm like he was trying to soothe something that hadn’t even settled yet.
His Flame? What’s that? And he thinks I’m it? How could that be? Humans don’t have magic.
“Uh, Rack. I'm a human.” I looked at him like he’d lost his marbles. “I can't be a supe’s mate.”
His shoulders pulled in slightly, a rough breath dragging out of him before he nodded.
“You’re right. Humans can’t be mates for supes.
That kind of bond is magic calling to magic.
” His fingers tightened slightly before relaxing again.
“But mages… We’re different. We draw our connection from the earth, not from magic in our DNA.
And being a Flame… It’s not about magic recognizing its own.
It’s about finding someone our magic won’t destroy if we lose control.
Someone who steadies us. Completes us. More like anti-magic.
It could be anyone, but we can only have one. ”
While everything he said made sense, doubt still lingered. How could someone like me be meant for someone like Rack? I’d never been drawn to the cold, stoic type.
But looking at him now, I had to admit there was nothing cold or distant about him. It was as if something in him had shifted completely.
His gaze stayed fixed on me, yet he flushed, glancing away like he’d been caught. I thought back to how worried he’d been earlier and how patient he was now, trying to help me through this. Was this how mages treated their Flames? I kinda liked it. Being able to make a man like him blush.