Chapter 32
Myles
“So everything’s working without a hitch?”
Seraphina’s mate Leo grunts in agreement on the other side of the phone.
“Looks like whatever you did to the barrier did the trick. We haven’t had any more incidents, but we’re flying regular patrols for any signs of anyone lurking around as a precaution.
Not the first time we’ve had someone testing the wards, they always move on to easier prey eventually. ”
I blow out a relieved breath. “Good. Let me know if anything changes.”
“Will do.” He hangs up without any fanfare, and I tuck my phone away, striding back in the house only to nearly wipe out on a hunk of plastic.
The living room looks like a bomb’s gone off in a hardware store; wires, screws, and plastic controller shells strewn across the floor.
And in the middle of the chaos sits a stressed out Ever, tossing something aside with a frustrated huff before grabbing a new shell and installing the hardware.
“Hey, Ev?” Carefully, I navigate a path through the mess. “I think maaaaaaybe it’s time to take a break. Let’s get you a snack and you can stretch your legs, you can’t be comfortable after sitting like that for hours.”
“I can’t stop now! They could call any day with a buyer for the project, and-”
Crouched in front of her, I press my finger to her lips.
“I’m not saying quit for the day. I’m saying breathe.
What you’re currently doing isn’t working, right?
So it’s time to brainstorm. Look at things from a different angle.
” I remove my finger and offer her my hand. “Talk me through the problem.”
She takes my offered hand to pull her to her feet and sucks in a deep breath, exhaling slowly, and I lead her to the kitchen while she repeats what she told me the first day we met, about how she can’t decide between a universal controller or sticking to the originals per system, but that’d mean people would need to buy several different controllers which defies the point of the universal system she was going for.
“So your problem is that anything you do will work, but some people will complain? I hate to tell you this, but you’re going to get that no matter what you do in life. You can’t please everybody and trying will only make you miserable.”
Ever tosses her head back dramatically and groans, “I knooooooooow, but I want the majority to be in my favor at least. It’s already going to be hard enough making a name for myself in the industry because I’m a woman, I don’t want to sabotage myself right out of the gate.”
I pull a container out of the fridge, making a mental note to thank Ledger. Now that we have a mate that’s as terrible about feeding herself while in work mode as I am, he’s started prepping easy grab and go containers we can pick at between being distracted. It’s been a game changer.
Ever snacks while I mull it over aloud. “So the key concept is user preference.” I nod slowly, working through the potential pitfalls and slowly suggest, “You have a tech mage at your disposal. I could infuse your intent in the universal controller you created. Then it could morph to each individual person’s preference per game. ”
Violet eyes blink owlishly up at me. But to her credit, Ever doesn’t immediately laugh my idea off, seriously considering it. “Doesn’t that kind of expose magic to humans, though?”
“Not if we say it’s nanotech and keep the schematics classified.
It’d take some negotiating on your lawyer’s part to get the company to agree not to have that part of the design, but if they mass produce the base controller, you could have it shipped to a warehouse right outside of town so the barrier isn’t an issue with delivery drivers.
Then claim your in-house specialist prefers to remain anonymous for obvious reasons and will put the finishing touches on it and ship them to the distribution center.
It’d be easy to sell that because if word got out, every tech company and the government would be banging down their door, and they aren’t interested.
Might even help sell it because they’d have exclusive access to nano tech that other companies would kill for.
” Worried I’ve vastly overstepped, I take my glasses off, cleaning the lenses with my shirt as we return to the living room.
“Sure, shipping costs will be argued, but your agent could balance that with the cost of the ‘nanotech’ in the fine print.”
I barely get my glasses back on my face before she throws her arms around my neck in a fierce hug. “Myles, you’re a genius. Can you show me? I’d really like to do this myself if you don’t mind teaching me and loaning me your abilities to pull it off?”
My Adam's apple bobs as I clutch her a little closer. “Yeah, of course. Anything for you.”
Heart in my throat, I commit to risking everything and go for it.
Ever hasn’t pushed me away yet, and if I’m going to be her mate…
that means getting more comfortable with casual physical contact.
Braced for rejection, I take a seat on the couch, pulling her onto my lap and grab a controller like it’s no big deal and I’m not freaking out.
“My abilities are all about the intent. So keep your hand on it, but infuse it with your will. Imagine what you want it to do. Adaptability. Suit its users' needs.”
With another deep breath, she centers herself, subconsciously relaxing back into me and leaving me biting back a wild grin.
Sparks light up along her fingertips, and I don’t even feel a sliver of regret as she leaves me powerless.
Because fuck, the look of pure, unadulterated joy on her face is enough to carry me for the rest of my life.
“Holy shit, I think I did it,” she breathes, turning that ethereal gaze onto me and breaking into a wide grin.
“We did it.” Before I can blink, she palms both of my cheeks and crashes her lips against mine in a fierce, enthusiastic kiss that’ll I’ll be remembering for the rest of my days.
“You’re amazing, Myles. Far too good to me, but fuck, I couldn’t do this without you.
” She grimaces. “It really doesn’t bother you if I use you like this? ”
Is she joking right now? Her using me is a recurring dream.
Heat suffuses my cheeks, but I tighten my grip on her waist. “It’s my pleasure. Seriously.”
Her gaze turns flirty as she pivots in my arms to straddle my lap, looping her arms around my neck. “Oh, is that so?”
I’m pretty sure my heart is about to beat straight out of my chest. But even though a part of me wants to run away like a nervous coward, a bigger part of me realizes exactly how lucky I am to have someone like Everest Moore looking at me like I’m the answer to all of her problems.
My breath catches as I say, “Wait. Before we go any further, I need to confess something in case it changes how you feel about me. I wouldn’t blame you, in fact-”
She pulls back, looking down at me warily now. “What are you talking about?”
It’s like gargling glass to admit the truth.
“I…” I wet my lips, bracing for her inevitable rejection and hating myself for ruining the moment.
But it’s already hard enough to live with myself.
If I cement my bond with Ever without telling her my darkest secret, I’ll never be able to look at myself in the mirror again.
“I killed my best friend.”
She jerks back, shocked. “What?”
My stomach is a pit of writhing snakes. “High school was brutal. Kids aren’t exactly nice to the nerds, and being afraid to make friends and risk exposing my abilities didn’t help.
I thought college would be better, but it turned out to be a living hell where teachers didn’t worry about watching the halls or bathrooms to cut down on bullying like they did in high school.
And since my parents had paid so much in tuition for me to attend, I couldn’t bring myself to drop out.
“I wasn’t the only myst there, but the others had fallen into a makeshift pack.
They got off on being cruel to everyone, but especially me.
” My hands tighten on her waist. “Skylar sat down next to me out of the blue one day in the cafeteria and decided we were friends. Walked with me to the classes we shared, and sat with me every day from then on. It helped get them to leave me alone… for a while. But one day the mysts cornered me after class and held me down as the fire elemental went to burn me, and Skylar walked back into the room to see what was holding me up. Saw this football player with a handful of fire and still didn’t hesitate to tackle him trying to help me.
“It was drilled into me since birth; don’t let anyone see that you aren’t human.
So I froze. My best friend was fighting to protect me and I was too afraid of revealing my secret to do anything.
” My voice is a watery croak as I rush to finish.
“Suddenly, Skylar was engulfed in flames. They were so hot that he didn’t even scream, just turned to ash right in front of me.
I lost control and the surge blew them all back, but one of them cracked their skull on the edge of the teacher’s desk.
He didn’t ever wake up, and the others all banded together and told the police that I shoved him during a fight.
And I couldn’t exactly deny it. I did kill him.
His death was my fault, just like it was my fault for not doing something sooner to save Skylar. ”
Ever palms my cheeks, a fierce glint in her violet eyes as she glares down at me. “Are you kidding me? How the hell was any of that your fault?”