Chapter 11 #2
“It wasn’t really like… painful. Just a bit overwhelming.”
Levi snorted. “Basically, the way I feel right now. I’m a mage.
Are you sure? Is there a way for you to…
prove it to me? Not that I think you’re lying.
I don’t think that at all. But I’m also having a hard time believing that I basically didn’t know who or what I am for all my life.
How am I gonna tell Rhett? He’s on his way up, by the way, because I’m freaking the fuck out internally and he’s worried. ”
I thought about it for a moment.
I’d never had to teach someone about being a mage.
Hell, I’d had to learn most things for myself because there hadn’t been anyone around to show me.
When I was eleven, my dad had thrown a couple of old books at me, and that was it, but…
Levi’s magic longed for connection. Levi was longing for a connection, and if I gave him that…
“I think there’s something we can try,” I said slowly, coming up with a plan in my mind. “But before we start, I need you to know that I’m fine. You don’t have to heal me, okay?”
Levi let out a little laugh. “You mean I don’t need to force-feed you magic?”
“Exactly.”
I nodded and took a deep breath.
Here went nothing.
I lowered the shield I always kept up and let my magic rise to my skin. Then I held my hand out and gave Levi an encouraging nod. He could take my hand. Once we had skin contact, our magic would touch and…
“Whoa,” he said as a bright light flared between us, his and my energy mingling in a swirl of white and purple.
Yeah, okay, I might’ve been the one adding the colours, but I was helping him visualize.
“… going on here?”
I shuddered as Levi’s mate stepped through my sound-shield.
His eyes darted from me to his mate and back. I wanted to pull back, end my little trick, but Levi’s fingers curled around mine, keeping up the contact. There was no fear in him at all, even after I told him what happened to people like us.
“Look,” Levi said, voice filled with wonder and excitement. “Nix says I have magic.”
Nix also said that shifters are the enemy, but that part was clearly lost on him.
“That’s…” his mate began, eyes darting between me and his mate. “Uhm… that’s… good?” He sounded as if he wasn’t sure, voice all gruff and raspy. “I think?”
I didn’t take my eyes off him, waiting for a sign that he’d turn around and run, searching for a collar. Waiting for a sign that I needed to take Levi and run. I wouldn’t let anything happen to him. If necessary, I’d find a way for him to survive separation from his mate.
“It’s so cool,” Levi said, then let go of my hand. “Now, can you please tell Nix that you’re not, like… gonna turn me into a slave because apparently I’m a mage? He’s all suspicious and nervous again.”
I gave him a dirty look out of the corner of my eye, but kept my eyes trained on Rhett, on the way his breathing hitched. The way his eyes flashed, anger rising in him, his aura pulsing.
“We’re not… what the fuck are you talking about?”
“The same thing that made me so angry I had to go on a run,” another voice said, and a shiver ran down my spine.
My magic reached out, a purple flash going straight for the huge man stepping up next to Rhett, his aura a turmoil of anger and rage, his wolf thrashing in his chest. I tried to stop my magic, but I was too slow.
Little thrills of purple wrapped around Gray’s hand, caressing the warm skin, trying to soothe his anger.
I drew it back in and locked it in my body within the blink of an eye, but the Alpha, Gray, my mate, whatever I wanted to call him, was staring at his hand as if… I couldn’t decipher his expression.
It wasn’t the anger I’d expected. He hadn’t even flinched when my magic had been about to touch him. I could’ve been attacking him, but he hadn’t reacted at all.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, keeping my lips pressed into a thin line.
“Don’t worry about it,” Gray said gruffly, crossing his arms in front of his chest, his muscles straining the black fabric.
Fuck.
Was he trying to intimidate me?
Because it sure as shit was working.
“Can we talk?” He cast a pointed look at Levi and Rhett. “Alone. Just the two of us.”
My stomach dropped, nerves flaring.
A small voice in my head told me to trust Levi. He wasn’t afraid in the slightest. Even after I’d told him that our kind was held as slaves by shifters, he hadn’t doubted his mate for a single second.
And the way he was looking at him, all smiles and excitement… I wanted to believe that it really wasn’t a big deal. That this pack was different.
But if I was wrong…
“Look,” my mate said, raising his hands as if surrendering to me.
“I have nothing in my hands. If you want to, I can empty my pockets. I just want to talk. The pups you helped save last night… they told me some concerning things I need to verify.” His voice was strained, bleeding anger and emotion.
Not directed at me, though. The emotions making his aura all swirly were not because of me. Something else had made him upset.
I eyed the mug of coffee on the desk next to me, and I grabbed it, needing something to hold on to if I was really doing this.
And I was, wasn’t I?
I couldn’t keep hiding behind Levi, no matter how much I wanted to.
And I wasn’t helpless.
I’d escaped a whole pack of wolves and my former coven. I could do it again if I needed to.
“Okay,” I said, but my voice went up at the end, making it sound more like a question than an answer. I nodded to make sure he knew I was agreeing to talk to him.
“You can do it,” Levi said as he got up. “Trust me, it’s gonna be fine.”
I wanted to. I really did. So I took a deep breath to centre myself while Rhett and Levi left.
The door falling closed was like a gunshot, echoing off the walls as the tension ramped up.
Gray was standing on the other side of the room with his massive arms crossed in front of his chest, just watching me, his brow furrowed, aura swirling, wolf howling.
I lifted the cup of coffee to my lips and took a sip, but it was too cold now. I pulled a face and sent out a thrill of magic, heating up the liquid until steam started rising, and the aroma of burnt coffee and sweet vanilla permeated the air.
The Alpha barked out a laugh. “That’s a neat trick. I’d say you have to show me because my coffee gets cold all the time, but that’s probably not how it works.”
I was about to laugh, my lips twitching, but then remembered the way I’d seen a mage chained to the Alpha’s desk. Forced to sit next to him, be at his beck and call at all times, and the laughter died on my tongue.
The Alpha seemed to realize something had shifted in me, maybe because of my scent? Ahh fuck. I hadn’t been hiding it, had I?
I chastised myself, but forced myself not to draw another shield. That was a trick they didn’t need to know about. If I needed to flee, it’d be better if they didn’t know I could hide my scent.