Chapter 46 – Wave
It was late in the evening and Wave was sitting on her bed, mulling over the day’s events.
First, there was the look on Marc’s face when he watched her.
She had come so hard, knowing he was looking at them.
In fact, she could probably bring herself to a quick orgasm just by replaying the moment over and over.
Not that she would. But she could. In theory. Fuck. She needed to focus on something else, and quickly. The course catalogue would probably be dry and boring enough to quell her instincts. She idly started flipping through it.
She had promised to think about moving into the Powerhouse’s mansion, but could she really do that?
She didn’t want to endanger her friends, but she wasn’t ready to move in with all the Powerhouses.
Her mate and Claimed, maybe, but all of them…
no. She would have to talk it over with her roommates, but how could she expect them to make the right decisions when she couldn’t give them all the facts?
Wave groaned as a slight headache started building behind her eyes.
She rubbed her temples, cursing softly. All of this was a giant shit show.
Fucking Elena. It wasn’t enough that she hated her guts, she had to somehow be entangled in Hell politics, too?
Why the hell had Lucifer bailed her out?
That was what Marc had said. Lucifer was behind that and it undoubtedly had something to do with politics.
Wave hated politics.
She decided to push that and other worries aside and focused back on her course catalogue.
She would have to contact Mrs. Smith soon and sort her class orientation out, and she would have to find something else to cover her fire lessons, too.
There was an email from the administration waiting in her inbox.
Suddenly, Wave stopped and read the line in the catalogue again. It didn’t change.
Afterlife massage.
What the fuck was that? A typo? She scanned the rest of the row and it started to make some twisted kind of sense.
Afterlife massage. School of necromancy. Focus: body manipulation and preservation. Class requirement: advantaged.
Well, that was one class she wasn’t going to take for sure. Cold shivers ran down her spine and Wave shuddered. Apparently, Tracthesian Academy believed in well-rounded education even more than she had previously thought.
Her phone rang, and Marc’s name popped up on the screen. Wave almost dropped her phone. Hesitantly, she answered, “Yes?”
“Wayla?”
“Yes,” she said, clearing her throat. Why was he calling her now?
“Are you… Could we meet up somewhere?” He sounded quiet and reserved. Wave frowned.
“Um, sure, maybe. I’m in my room,” Wave replied, while biting her lip. “What is this about, Marc?” She had to add. They had spent the afternoon rehashing everything Elena and Dr. Kelsey had said to her and came up none the wiser. And Marc had watched her come.
No biggie.
There was a moment of silence on the line before he answered. “You need to ask?”
“I just meant… Never mind, where do you want to meet?”
“Would you be all right coming here? I can send Sinister over to pick you up.”
“I’m not sure—”
“Wayla, please. I really think we should talk… you know, when you don’t have Irishen’s fingers buried in your pussy.”
“You liked that,” Wave immediately shot back.
“Hmm. I did.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “Like I liked seeing Hellion’s fingers in your pussy, too. Neither situation was really a place for discussion, though, was it, sparkle?”
“I… what did you want to talk about?”
“After all the information today, I think we should pick up your shielding lessons.”
“What? Why? I won’t do any better in them now than before,” Wave argued. She wanted to learn the way Marc shielded, but if it required her to drop her inner shields… she just couldn’t. It was too much of a risk.
“Wayla.” He sounded exasperated and Wave’s hackles rose.
“Forget it,” she snapped. “This is a bad idea.”
“No! Please don’t hang up,” Marc hurried to say and then groaned. “I’m fucking this up again.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Okay, listen. Forget about the shielding. I’d like to see you, talk things out.”
“Why can’t you talk them out now?” Wayla narrowed her eyes, not ready to let go of her irritation. The line was silent for a moment and Marc sighed.
“Yeah, I deserved that. Okay. Just promise me you won’t hang up, okay?”
“I’ll make no such promises.”
“I’ll give you a free punch for every time you want to hang up on me and resist the urge?” There was a hint of a cheeky smile in his tone again. Wave knew she was walking into a trap but couldn’t resist.
“Okay.”
“Great, I’ll see you in training tomorrow morning.”
“That’s one,” she replied, and March chuckled.
“I figured I need to give you some incentives.”
“Hmph. Now spill.”
“I’m sorry I was such an asshole about Irishen,” he said, sounding sincere.
Wave’s throat threatened to close over. “You weren’t that bad—”
“For the love of god, please let me apologize!”
“That’s not—fine,” she huffed.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was your mate—”
“And that would have made a difference?”
Marc sighed. “Yeah.”
She mulled it over but couldn’t decide how she felt about that. Besides, Marc had fixated on Salis more than Irishen. “Your issue wasn’t really with Risha, though, was it? It was Salis.”
“And I know there’s nothing going on with you,” Marc hurried to say. “Why didn’t you tell us about Kel—”
“You know that after you talked with him. Him, not me. His word was enough, not mine.”
“Wayla, I’m sorry, okay?”
She heard him, but she wasn’t ready to let this one go. “So you keep saying. Say that I believe you. What’s the point of all this?”
“I want you to talk to me—”
“I didn’t know if Di wanted anyone to know about her and Salis. I wasn’t going to blab and really, me saying I wasn’t interested in him like that—”
“It should have been enough. I should have trusted you. I know, sparkle. I know. That’s what I’ve been trying to say, however poorly. I know I fucked up. I’m sorry. And I’m even more sorry that you felt like you couldn’t come to me about Kelsey.”
“It wasn’t a big deal—”
The snarl that came out of Marc shut Wave up. “Not a big deal?”
“Well, yeah,” she said carefully. “They were just minor burns—”
“Fucking hell!”
She determinedly kept going, ignoring his outburst. “I was worried someone would notice how fast they healed.” Marc was silent for a while, but Wave could hear his fast breathing and some soft thumbing in the background. “Marc?”
“That’s why you didn’t tell us?” He finally asked, voice strained.
“Stormbringers heal a whole lot faster than storm spirits,” Wave tried to explain. Really, it should have been clear, but maybe she needed to spell it out for him. “I was trying to blend in. I could deal with Elena’s little petty games in class.”
“You could—until you couldn’t.” Marc’s voice cracked. “I was there when you fell. If Irishen—” He cursed softly again. “If your fucking mate hadn’t been there to help, I don’t know if you’d have survived.”
Wave wanted to snort. Hang up. Do anything but hear the worry and pain in Marc’s voice. She sighed. “I’ve been—” Her throat closed up. She couldn’t say it. “I’m sorry I worried you,” she said instead.
“Sparkle…”
“Let’s leave it at that, okay? I accept your apology if you accept mine.”
“That’s not playing fair,” he muttered
“Well, that’s my offer. Take it or leave it.”
Marc groaned and Wave could easily imagine him rubbing his eyes. “Fine. But you are coming back to shielding practice.”
“Fine.”
“Don’t sound so sour.” Marc chuckled.
“I’m not,” Wave protested.
“Right.” He cleared his throat, hesitated, then spoke again. “Tanner’s birthday is coming up in two weeks.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. There’s going to be a big party.”
“Oh, nice. I’ll have to get a present for him. What would he like?”
“You.”
“Huh?”
Marc chuckled. “That came out wrong. He would like you to attend. He knows about our… estranged situation and the trial, and I told him it’s not likely, but he didn’t let up. Would you come to his eighteenth birthday party? It’s kind of a big deal among mages.”
“With you?”
“Um, yeah.”
“As your fake girlfriend?”
Marc muttered something Wave couldn’t make out before clearing his throat. “As anything you want, Wayla. But I have to warn you, they know you are the stormbringer heir now.”
“Ah… so the act is out,” Wave mused, trying to cover that her pulse was speeding up and heart squeezing.
He was saying all the right words but how could she trust them after the last time?
She didn’t want to get her hopes up, only for them to be smashed to pieces again.
She had her mate and Claimed. She didn’t want or need him. Did she?
“Wayla, are you coming?” Marc asked, sounding exasperated.
Wave pulled herself together and replied, “What? Yes, of course, I like Tanner.” She wasn’t lying. The youngest Ulriche was delightful company. And if his birthday gave her an excuse to spend time with Marc—well, no one needed to know.
“Lucky bastard,” Marc murmured. “Okay, thank you. If you are sure, I’ll let him know that you’ll be there. You’ll make his day.”
“Okay.” She yawned, suddenly tired.
March chuckled. “You need to sleep.”
“Mmh,” Wave mumbled. Another yawn hit her.
“Go to sleep, sparkle. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Night,” Wave replied before hanging up. She fell asleep with a small smile on her lips.
Glass shattered and Wave lurched up. She rolled down from her bed by pure instinct and looked for a way out. She needed to—fuck, she couldn’t run and leave her friends behind.
“Ginny, lock things down,” she screamed. That was their best resort. Wave didn’t wait for a reply as she crept over to the window, a wall of water swirling in front of her. When she looked, there was nothing.
Slowly, she scanned the dark street and then looked at her room, now filled with broken glass. She was about to walk over to the door and answer Chrissy’s and Ginny’s frantic demands on what was going on when she spotted the brick.
A simple brick should not have been able to break the window, and this one was still glowing faintly. A spell. Someone had chucked a fucking spelled brick through her window. Great. Wave frowned and took a step back.
A hand clasped over her mouth and another wrapped around her waist, yanking her back. The smell of sulfur and rot invaded her senses. The fucker had steeped his glove in some foul liquid. If she wasn’t shielded at all times, she would be unconscious by now. Wave was sure about that.
She fought and thrashed, looking for a way out, while holding her breath. Think quickly!
The panic that clawed at her insides tried to overpower everything and paralyze her.
Think! Think! Think!
She did the only thing her mind came up with and conjured a storm. Water and wind howled and electricity ran over her body, shooting out indiscriminately. The being behind her jerked, then jerked again, his hold on her face loosening.
Wave choked in a breath and screamed. “Let go of me!”
The room was a mess when her storm gained strength.
The arms holding her fell away and Wave stumbled forward.
She fell to her knees and coughed, trying to rid herself of the foul smell that still clung to her skin.
Her vision wavered, and she fought to focus.
She had to get back up. Dizzily, Wave spun around.
The room was empty.
She blinked. Blinked. Her eyes refused to open anymore.