Chapter 5 #2
“Thank you, Deidre. I truly appreciate your willingness to help. Goddess willing, we won’t have to call on you, but it’s good to know you’re nearby should the need arise.”
“No problem, Claudia. That’s what family is for, and just between you and me, my mate and his pod are a bit bored with no wars to fight.
They were all soldiers for far too long to just quit cold turkey as they’ve been forced to do.
Be sure to call once you’re on this side of the Atlantic to touch base, okay? ”
“Will do. And thanks again.”
After the call ended, Claudia packed up her things and headed down to the parking garage. The late afternoon sun was slanting through the concrete pillars, painting everything in shades of gold. She made it to her car without seeing Sam, which should have been a relief.
Instead, she felt oddly disappointed.
The drive back to Sam’s property took twenty minutes in rush hour traffic.
The guest house was exactly as she’d left it that morning, neat and quiet and entirely too large for one person.
She dropped her bag on the kitchen counter and headed straight for the extra bedroom that she’d set up as her workroom.
The pieces she’d made were laid out on her worktable, gleaming under the focused light of her crafting lamp.
A man’s tie tack with a single sparkling golden topaz at its heart.
Gold cufflinks with a subtle geometric pattern.
A money clip that looked handcrafted with Celtic knotwork designs chased in the metal.
Each piece was already functional, and already imbued with the basic protections she put into all her pieces.
Now she needed to make them even more powerful.
Claudia settled onto her stool and let her magic rise to the surface.
It came easier here, in the space she’d sanctified for her magical work, without the distraction of Sam’s presence or the weight of other people’s expectations.
The gold warmed under her hands as she began to chant the old words, weaving protection and detection into the molecular structure of the metal.
This was what she was good at. It was her own unique gift.
Working with metal always calmed her and brought out the creative side of her powers.
This was where she felt competent and in control.
Not standing on platforms in designer gowns, not navigating the complicated feelings that Sam Kinkaid stirred up in her chest. Just her, her magic, and the steady, certain work of creation.
The money clip was first. She held it in one hand, feeling for the natural resonance of the metal, then carefully layered in the detection spell.
The clip would vibrate ever so slightly near active magic.
Simple. Effective. She tested it with a small working of her own, felt the clip move just enough to make her notice. Perfect.
The cufflinks came next. These would be primarily protective, deflecting casual magical assault.
Nothing would stop a determined attack from a powerful mage, but these would buy Sam time.
Time to run, time to call for help, time for her to reach him.
She wove the protections tight and small, invisible to anyone who wasn’t actively looking for them.
The tie tack was the most complex. She wanted to layer in not just protection and detection, but also a subtle misdirection.
Something that would make it harder for tracking spells to lock onto Sam’s location.
It required delicate work, threading two different types of magic through the same piece without having them interfere with each other.
That’s where the faceted topaz at the center of the tie tack came in handy.
The metal held the protection, the stone held the misdirection, which was close to its nature as a stone with many facets that reflected light in all directions.
She took advantage of those sparkling facets to make it bounce magic in many directions as well.
She was pleased with the way that worked and the symmetry of it made her happy.
Hours passed. The sun set outside her window, replaced by the softer glow of landscape lighting in Sam’s backyard. Her back ached from hunching over the worktable, and her magic felt pleasantly tired, like muscles after a good workout.
But the pieces were done. Really done. She could feel the power humming in them, subtle and strong.
Tomorrow night, she would give them to Sam. She would explain how they worked, what to watch for, how to use them. And she would do it professionally and calmly, without letting on that every time he was near her, she forgot how to breathe properly.
Claudia cleaned up her workspace and headed to the kitchen for a late dinner. As she assembled a sandwich, she caught sight of the main house through the window. The lights were off. Sam was probably still at the office, working late like he always did.
She wondered if he thought about her the way she thought about him. If he replayed their conversations in his head, analyzing every word, every pause, every look.
Then she laughed at her own ridiculous thoughts.
He was the Alpha. He had a Clan to protect, a business empire to run, and a dangerous arms dealer to stop.
He didn’t have time for romantic complications with his magical consultant.
He was also a stunningly gorgeous man, inside and out.
He could have his pick of almost any single woman on the planet.
He would never be interested in her. She was a nobody with a quirky magical talent.
That’s all she was. All she would ever be. And she needed to remember that.
Claudia took her sandwich and a glass of water up to her bedroom. Tomorrow, she would be professional. Tomorrow, she would hand over the protective items, answer his questions, and maintain appropriate boundaries.
Tomorrow, she would definitely not notice the way his golden eyes caught the light, or how his presence made her magic sing, or the way her name sounded in his voice when he asked her to call him Sam.
Tomorrow.
Tonight, she would allow herself just this one moment of weakness. She would let herself lie in the big, comfy bed in Sam’s guest house, thinking about the Alpha who’d looked at her like she was something precious, and let herself wonder what if.