Chapter 19 #2
The central door opening and closing again filled our thoughtful moment. Joe and Silas returned with a third set of footsteps. Rowan’s solid frame, dressed in simple trousers and a gray zip sweatshirt, came around the heat cone.
I bolted up, chair clattering, and threw myself into his arms. He didn’t sweep me up, just folded me into his chest and hugged me like it had been years, not a day. He brushed the collar, and my magic burst to life. The slightest bit of my focus split to heat myself.
I pulled back from Rowan, looking for the rest of my guys.
“It’s just me, Q-tip.” Rowan ruffled my hair. “One’s never going to be enough for you, is it?”
I zeroed in on his expression, terrified to see hurt in his eyes, only to find his broad face filled with joy. I grinned. “Nope. But you might’ve earned some one-on-one time.” I bit my lower lip. “As long as that’s what you want.”
Rowan lit up.
“It’s all you're gonna get if the others can’t pull their heads out their asses,” Silas mumbled. “Selfish fuckers, all three of them.”
I raised an eyebrow, but Ravana swatted her partner, and he didn’t explain further.
The five of us settled around the table, still glowing with stacks of Intentions. Rowan pursed his lips before taking a scrawl of his white magic out of his void and pushing it between two others.
“Do you want to help me go through these?” I asked.
“No!” At least three people said at the same time.
Ravana and Brit scowled at me while Rowan rumpled my hair again.
“It’s not right for me to see what the others are offering you.” He grimaced. “Mine’s probably the worst on that table. I don’t need the reminder.”
“It’s not about the offer, Rowan,” I said softly.
“I know.” Rowan pulled me forward and kissed me softly. “But I still want to give you the world.”
“Dump the other three.” Silas fished Rowan’s buried Intention out of the pile and put it on top.
I bit my lips together. “And how do you know the other three? I didn’t see you at the big family meeting.”
Silas stood and pulled Ravana with him. “Let’s give these kids some privacy.” He glanced toward the far side of the room, where the sounds of food prep and mumbling still carried. “As much as one can get here.”
Joe stood as well. It took a bit of convincing, but Brit joined him, and the two took off to wander the bowels of The Pit, leaving us with a semblance of privacy on the far side of the heat cone
Watching her go, it made sense. She’d grown up learning from the fighters while Ravana and Lacy kept watch, Silas a rough father figure. No wonder she was fierce. And now that she could, she wanted to pass all of that on to her child.
“What’s on your mind?” Rowan asked.
I looked away from my friend's retreating form. A child giggled on the far side of the room, while the smell of stew wafted. A wave of unexplainable homesickness washed over me. Brit’s revelation weighed heavily on my shoulders.
“Brit thinks I’m the reason she can get pregnant.” I stood and moved us to a more secluded couch, hiding between a leather tent and a domed green polyester one from my time. “Now that she can get pregnant, she’s desperate for a baby.”
“And that’s making you want a baby?” Rowan asked.
I shook my head. “Not even close, but it’s making me wonder if I really did help her…” My heart fluttered. Maybe I didn’t just destroy. “Should I do it again?”
Rowan put out his arm, and I snuggled into his side.
“What do you think?” I asked.
“I believe if you can help someone, you should.” He squeezed me. “But not everything’s black and white.”
We sat in silence as our thoughts churned.
“Do you know what you did to Brit?” Rowan asked.
My Majekah forced me to go to Professor Holiday, just like it moved my hand from Brit’s chest to her abdomen when I used it on her. Until this moment, I hadn’t connected the two sensations. One was a little tug, while the other was a monster truck dragging me forward. But both pulled.
I nodded slowly. “I think so.” For the first time since it happened, I was able to separate the horror of what I’d been through from the facts.
“When Horax had us, Brit wouldn’t wake up, and I got desperate, so I touched her with my Majekah.
It’s the only thing I’ve done to Brit, so that has to be it. ”
“Do you want to touch someone else?” Rowan asked, completely serious.
I raised an eyebrow, but not a hint of humor filled his face at his wording. “A bit forward, but yes.” I put a finger up in the air and bopped Rowan’s nose, keeping the conversation light.
Rowan laughed, grabbing my hand and kissing my palm.
I took a deep breath. Brit’s excited face filled my memory and warmed my heart. “Jokes aside. Yeah, I think I do.”
“I miss being able to feel your emotions,” Rowan said softly. “You’re strong, Q-tip. Whatever spiral of thoughts and feelings you're going through, I’ll be here for you. All of us will. Even if the others are struggling to pass Silas’s little test.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re not the only one who came to see me?”
Rowan wrinkled his nose. “Truth be told, I was the last. I got our training program back on track before I came down.”
A grin stretched my face, and my voice came out more excited than I wanted to admit. “Everyone’s tried to see me?”
“Yes,” Rowan growled. “Cayden tried yesterday afternoon and this morning.”
I wiggled. They liked me.
“What’s Silas’s test?” I asked.
Rowan shook his head. “I don’t know. He asked me why I wanted to see you, and apparently, I gave the right answer.”
“What was your answer?” I asked.
Rowan cupped my cheek and met my gaze. “Because I’m in love, Q-tip.”
Love. The word sank into me as his white eyes held mine, raw and unflinching. With the collar on, he wasn’t feeling his tether. He wasn’t getting emotions from me. Everything he felt came from his heart. I pushed up at the same time as he brought his lips to mine.
Fire, lust, and pure joy shot through me. He slipped a hand under my shirt and pressed his fingers into my waist to guide me onto my back. My skin literally rippled at his touch. His growing erection pressed into my thigh. He hovered over me, memorizing my every feature while I did the same to him.
He was stunning, muscles straining under his shirt, rugged face melting my brain… and my panties.
This was real.
A tear slid down my cheek. “I love you too, Rowan.”
Rowan lowered himself down, his biceps flexing, and kissed my tears away before capturing my lips once more.
Our tongues danced, and the world became only us.
His large hand, not supporting his weight, traveled up my side to caress the edges of my breasts, and I slid my hand down his back, finally squeezing the round curves of his bubble butt.
Rowan pulled back. “You like my ass, Q-tip?”
I grinned and squeezed it again.
“Your hands are so small, so perfect,” Rowan purred.
My face heated, and Rowan sat up enough to peel off his shirt. I wasn’t perfect, but who was I to argue with a now shirtless man who only had eyes for me?
He trapped my fingers against his stomach and guided them down his thick abs until I brushed the hard bulge straining against his pants.
“I’m so fucking hard. All for you.” His voice rumbled through me.
My heart pounded as he captured my hands above my head and buried his scruffy face against my neck. His soft lips were like the eye of a storm as he kissed and sucked.
I gasped, and Rowan doubled his efforts, making tingles run up and down my body.
We were wearing too much, at least I was.
He released my hands and kissed down my clothed front until he could pull my sweater up enough to lightly nip my stomach.
He sucked my belly ring, tugging the sensitive skin.
A shudder rippled across my body. He hummed appreciatively and continued his journey down, undoing the button on my jeans to kiss the little ‘V’ it exposed.
My breath hitched. I bucked into him. I wanted this so badly.
A boom rattled the room, and Rowan shielded me. The universe had other plans.
The aftershock of the distant blast rained bits of debris down. A woman screamed in the distance, followed by two men shouting. Rowan rose high enough for me to peek over the couch. I couldn’t see anyone, but a pot dropped, and curses cut through the unnerving quiet. The kid started crying.
Rowan looked down, torn. Helping was in his nature.
I gave him a reassuring smile. “Let’s go. If we can help, we should, right?”
He yanked me to my feet. Stones rattled loose, but Ravana’s home held. After pulling on his shirt, we sprinted past stunned faces into the hall’s heart, where a bleeding man staggered out of a set of double doors and collapsed.
We darted into the room he had exited. Magic and dust hung heavily in the air. A few mage lights hovered, but the cauldrons were inactive. With a thought, I directed my magic into them. Two were completely dead, but two fizzled to life, causing the room to sparkle with my rainbows.
“The room’s still sound,” Rowan said, crouched down with his hand on the stone. “Ancient humans knew how to build, but the plaster is shredded. Q-tip, we need to get people out.”
I nodded and followed Rowan. I wasn’t a medic, but I did what I could. I helped the people Rowan unburied into a corner as more Westwaters poured into the room to help.
A young woman, sixteen at most, clung to me with blood running down her dragging leg. She was tall, curvy, and far too heavy for me to support alone.
“I’ve got this,” a painfully familiar voice said.
I looked over just as Cayden pushed under the girl's other arm. Together, we got her to the side of the room with the other injured and laid her next to a moaning man.
“Cayden,” I breathed. The chaos swallowed the sound, but he rushed me and pulled me into his chest as if I’d screamed it.
“What happened?” Cayden demanded.
I looked up at him. “There was a boom, and we ran here.”
Cayden hooked a finger under my chin. “You’re not hurt?”