by Nicole Hall
“Take off your shirt.” Her voice was muffled by the fabric, but he heard her clearly that time.
He looked down. Her eyes were closed, and long, dark lashes rested against her pale cheeks. She’d lost some color since she’d tossed him the granola bar earlier. The wound should have self-cauterized, but he could feel wetness along his side where she continued to bleed. He knew how to remove the poison and close the wound, but Maddie needed to be breathing in order for the process to work. His steps quickened, and he prodded the Wood to make this trip a short one.
To Aiden’s surprise, it worked. Or the trip was already destined to be short. Either way, he was grateful to reach the end of the trod. Sprites floated past him out of the trees, but they did as they pleased.
He lived in a one-bedroom cabin that had been a vacation rental at one point. For a moment, the setting sun reflecting off the large windows in the front blinded him. No matter. He knew his way. The rustic architecture included an A-frame roof and wood siding that made little sense in Texas’ temperate climate. He released the wards surrounding it enough to get them both through, then raised them again. Nothing could find him if he had the wards up, so he never bothered locking his door.
Aiden left it open while he laid Maddie on the couch. After fighting the poison on the walk, her current silence worried him more with each passing second. He hurried to the locked cabinet in his bedroom and pulled out two vials labeled in neat handwriting. The first would rid her body of the poison, but he had to get her to drink it. The second would speed the healing of the wound, but it wouldn’t do any good if she never woke up.
A breeze wafted in from the open window as he left the bedroom. He flicked his hand at the front door, and it closed with a push of his magic. Bugs flew rampant in Texas, even in January.
Maddie hadn’t moved from where he’d put her. He knelt next to the couch and lifted her head and shoulders so she sat mostly upright. The next part was tricky. He woke his magic and let it sink into her until he hit her shields. The depth would have to be enough because her shields were extremely strong. He checked the label of the vial to be sure, then popped off the top. An ounce of dark green liquid sloshed inside, and he needed her to swallow all of it.
He opened her mouth and upended the vial in one quick motion, then used his magic to convince her the potion was something delicious. Apple juice flashed across his mind, and he filed that information away for later use. Maddie swallowed, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
She twitched and buried her nose against him again.
“Mmm… smell good,” she slurred.
The potion need time to take full effect. He set her down gently and pulled her shirt off her shoulder to expose the punctures. Blood sluggishly dripped from one of the holes. Both had angry red streaks radiating from them.
He opened the other vial and turned his face away from the strong antiseptic smell. Sludgy brown fluid oozed out when he dumped it over her shoulder. The second potion didn’t go far beyond the wound, and a sizzling noise accompanied Maddie crying out in pain. Aiden winced, but smoothed stray tendrils of hair away from her sweaty forehead. Her body tensed for a second, then relaxed.
When he took another look at the punctures, they were already closing. Her restless movements slowed to a stop, and she settled into sleep. Aiden shook his head at the mess, both on his couch and in the last hour. He cleaned up the best he could and scooted a dining chair next to the couch to keep an eye on her.
What had she been thinking, jumping in front of him?
Salamanders could be deadly, and she’d had a strange reaction to the poison. Her sword, though, that had been new. As a wolf, many of his memories blurred together, but he’d thought she was powerless on her own. Torix had given her some of himself to allow her the use of his magic, and slowly, it had taken over.
As far as he knew, she shouldn’t have retained any of it. He certainly hadn’t, but then he’d never accepted Torix’s magic inside of himself. Clearly, she had magic of some sort, but he’d never seen anyone wield it in quite that way. Where had she learned?
She sighed and shifted onto her uninjured side. Her shirt rode up, revealing a stretch of skin at her stomach. He almost reached out to see if it was as soft as the rest of her. The errant thought had him leaning back in the chair. Touching her had been necessary to administer the medicine, but she’d passed into a healing sleep. Any connection now would be motivated purely by desire. His attraction to her was inconvenient, but he’d deal with it. He had no intention of getting involved with someone he planned to use as bait.
She’d already been a distraction once. He should have sensed the salamander skulking around, but he’d let his attention linger on her too long. The salamander likely wouldn’t have hurt him, but she hadn’t known that. Her first reaction had been to protect him, despite the clear danger. And he shouldn’t be moved by that.
Aiden scrubbed his face and stretched his legs out in front of him. What were the chances the creature had happened upon them by accident? Unlikely. In the nexus, surrounded by protective sprites? Slim. With Torix on the loose and pursuing Maddie? Zero. Salamanders were rare in this area, and that one had been hunting them in particular.
Maddie shifted again, trying to curl her leg out to the side, but the couch didn’t provide enough room. Aiden hesitated, then picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. She’d gotten injured because of him; she deserved a comfortable place to rest while she finished healing.
He’d splurged on the bed while outfitting the cabin. The pillow-top mattress and soft flannel sheets made up for the years he’d spent sleeping with nothing but his fur for comfort. His feet had hung off the end of the one that came with the sale, so he’d upgraded it to the largest size he could find. Aiden loved that his whole body fit on the bed while he slept, despite his height. Maddie looked tiny tucked into it, but she immediately burrowed into the pillow and curled up.
The sun had set while he’d been dealing with her injuries, leaving the room dark. He pulled the curtain closed over the lone window anyway. If she slept through until morning, he didn’t want the sun to wake her up early. Aiden reached into the bathroom on his way out and flipped on the light so Maddie wouldn’t be totally disoriented when she woke up.
He closed the door most of the way behind him and shook his head at the couch. Maddie had fit on it fine, but he was in for a cramped night. The open concept main room contained a small kitchen against one wall and a fireplace against the other. The bedroom sat between the two. He’d inherited a simple table with four chairs and the couch from the previous owners. The cabin had electricity and hot water, so other than the bed, he hadn’t cared about the sparse furniture. It made a difference now though.
Aiden lit the fire and ate a sandwich for dinner, then checked on Maddie every half hour or so. She’d most likely sleep well into the next day, but seeing evidence of the potions working relieved his mind. With Maddie there, he wasn’t comfortable leaving to search for more information, so he settled in with a book he’d also inherited from the previous owner. The stories humans told about magic amused him.
The couch was as uncomfortable as he’d expected. After a restless hour, he tossed a blanket and a pillow onto the rug in front of the fire. At least he could stretch out. He’d slept in worse places.
Maddie was silent in the bedroom, and he considered joining her. There was plenty of space on the bed. The memory of her lips against his skin made him decide against it. He wanted more, and there could be no good outcome of being within arm’s reach of her. She was a unique temptation that he wanted to steel himself against.
Something in her called to him. It was how he’d found her in the first place. Thus far, he hadn’t tried to resist. He’d followed her scent in Wales, and again in the Wood, but the draw told him where to start. The magic she kept shielded explained part of the mystery. Their experiences with Torix connected them, but he hadn’t figured that out until she’d revealed her power. She didn’t know about the link,
of that much he was certain. Maddie’s shields alone told him how much she wanted to push the world away. Aiden also suspected that he wasn’t the only one who felt her unintentional pull. Torix had found her too.
MADDIE
Maddie woke up in a warm cocoon. It smelled familiar, like leather and cotton and something else she couldn’t pinpoint but that made her feel safe. She opened her eyes to a giant bed in a small room. Sunlight peeked around a dark curtain, so she could only make out shadows at first. Her eyes felt gritty and dry. Other than the window, there were two doors, and a tall wooden armoire padlocked shut. She was alone in the room, but quiet singing came from somewhere.
She stretched and winced at the pull in her shoulder. The fight in the nexus came back to her in a rush. She’d been bitten by the lizard thing. Aiden had picked her up, and she’d passed out. He’d said something to her, but Maddie didn’t remember the words, only the rumble in his chest against her cheek.
The bed was extremely comfortable, but also unfamiliar. She had a policy of not spending the night in unfamiliar places, so the morning wasn’t starting off great. On the plus side, she’d finally recognized the scent in the bed as the same one from Aiden’s shirt. His bed, his house, probably his locked wardrobe that she badly wanted to break into.
She sat up and looked around, but didn’t see her pack.
Her ruined shirt was stiff with blood and had holes in it. She pulled the collar down to check her shoulder. It had two shiny new scars, but it didn’t feel any worse than it normally did in the morning. The rest of her seemed to be in working order, so she shuffled out of the bed and into the bathroom. Aiden could wait a few more minutes.
She finger-combed her hair, peed, and considered chucking the shirt in the trash and having breakfast in her sports bra. As fun as it would be to see how Aiden reacted if she came out half-naked, she wasn’t prepared to deal with the potential consequences. She liked his smile, when he shared it, but his eyes captured her. Seeing the wolf in the man’s face was disconcerting, and he looked at her as if he knew all her secrets.
Maybe he did.
After waffling for several minutes, she left the bedroom in her bloody shirt to find the rest of the cabin empty. The singing drifted in through the open window from the yard. She skirted the couch and stood to one side to look out unobtrusively. Aiden sang under his breath as he worked in a neat kitchen garden. She recognized some of the plants as medicinal herbs she’d read about, but they weren’t native to east Texas. They certainly shouldn’t have been so bushy and green in January.
The sun shone on the tidy rows, and Aiden walked slowly between them crouching down to pull plants. He’d foregone the leather pants for grey sweats that rode low on his hips and a fitted long-sleeve shirt. His hair was shorter than she’d thought, not quite to his collar, but pulled back it looked longer. As if he could sense her watching him, he turned to the house and met her eyes.
Heat rushed through her for an unguarded moment, and she raised her hand in an awkward wave. He nodded and made his way around the house out of her sight. Maddie blew out a breath. She’d left her comfort zone far behind. Aiden was beautiful, and her brain couldn’t handle it. She needed to get a grip and remember why she’d returned instead of staying secluded in a tiny village in Wales where she could practice and learn without hurting anyone.
Maddie was still standing by the window when Aiden came in the front door. The breeze felt good on her heated skin, but she couldn’t figure out what to do with her hands. His eyes raked over her, lingering on her torn shirt.
“How do you feel?”
“My shoulder is fine. Is this your place?”
He nodded and went into the kitchen to pull out eggs and bread. “You need to eat. A salamander bite can take a lot out of you.”
Maddie sat down at the table and watched him work. “Is that what it was? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“They’re not particularly common. That one was smaller than usual, but I don’t think it was meant to kill us.”
Unease skittered up her spine. Smaller than usual? She raised her brows. “You think it was sent on purpose?”
He glanced at her. “Yes. Someone followed one of us, at least, to the Wood and set it on us. As I haven’t made any enemies in the last year, I assume it was Torix.”
Maddie shook her head. “He wouldn’t do the work himself. It was Will.”
“Either way. Salamander bites can be deadly, but mostly because the victim won’t wake up without intervention.”
She snorted. “Torix wants me unconscious?”
Aiden shrugged and turned the stove off. He slid a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of her, and her stomach growled.
“Thank you. For the food, and for helping me yesterday. It was yesterday, right?”
He joined her at the table. “Yes. You needed to sleep off the healing potion.”
“Hmm, you know potions. Some kind of mage?”
A fleeting smile crossed his face. “No. The salamander disappeared after it bit you, but it’s probably not gone. Certainly, Torix isn’t. You need to be careful.”
She shoveled in a mouthful of eggs and groaned. “This is good. Potions and cooking…alchemist?”
“No.”
“What makes you think I was the target? It was heading for you when it came out of the trees.”
“He has no interest in me. I’ve had no contact at all since we were released. Torix wants you.”
It was a solid point, if she believed him, and she had no reason to doubt him yet. He’d had plenty of opportunity to take advantage of her, and as far as she could tell, he hadn’t.
“Why help me?”
He was silent for a moment. “You tried to protect me.”
“Tried, my ass. I succeeded,” she muttered between bites.
“My hero,” he said dryly.
She looked up to see the humor in his eyes. “Did I miss anything else while I was out?”
“You tried to lick me.”
Her fork clattered to the table. “I did not.”
“You did, and you said I smelled good. You also asked me to take my shirt off.”
Maddie narrowed her eyes. He was enjoying this part. “What did you do about it?”
He leaned forward, and she found herself doing the same. “I carried you here, fixed your wounds, let you sleep in my bed, and made you lunch. With my shirt on.” He pointed to her plate. “Eat. Then you can go home.”
His easy dismissal disappointed Maddie just a smidge. She picked up her fork and finished her food. He’d been kind, and she needed to remember that, but she hadn’t forgotten his words the day before.
I’m here to kill him.
They had the same mission. She’d been studying Torix and magic for years, waiting for her chance, but it seemed like he had knowledge she couldn’t access. “We should team up.”
“Team up?”
Maddie took the plate to the sink and rinsed it off. “We’re both here to stop Torix. We’re both skilled. We both like dogs. Besides, I could use a good sidekick.” She purposely kept her eyes down, focused on washing her single dish and utensil. His chair scraped the wood floor, and Maddie waited. He’d either accept her offer or kick her out. The first choice would make her life easier, but either way, she’d already committed to her plan, sparse as it was.
Aiden came up close behind her, then reached around to turn the water off. He wasn’t touching her, but she could feel his presence like a static charge. A brief memory of her lips against his skin flooded her with heat. She was thankful he couldn’t see her face, even more so because the intensity his eyes caused all kinds of short circuits in her brain.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Despite his gruff words, he didn’t immediately move away. Maddie stared out the window at the trees and got a strangle hold on her hormones. If he wasn’t interested in sharing his information, she had no use for him.
He backed off before she could make a bad decisi
on. “Can you find your way back on your own?”
Maddie turned to face him and quickly realized her mistake. He’d only moved a step, and she’d nearly run into him. His hands came up to steady her, but she shook them off. “I assume you mean through the trods?”
“It’s the fastest way back to Mulligan.”
“Then no. I can’t call trods anymore.”
His eyes narrowed. “You were in the nexus when we met. How could you get there without calling a trod?”
She shrugged and slipped past him toward the door. “I was walking in the woods, then I was walking in the Wood.”
He picked up on her emphasis and frowned. “The Wood pulled you in?”
She found her pack sitting beside the door and dug through it looking for her clean shirt. “I don’t know what happened for sure, but that was my guess.” Her sports bra was still in one piece and mostly clean, so she stripped her shirt off and pulled the new one on. “I was trying to come up with a way to get to Torix, and I realized I don’t know enough about his resources to be able to do it safely. Hence the offer to team up.”
She shoved the ruined shirt into the pack and shouldered it. Aiden hadn’t moved. He watched her with his arms folded across his chest, but she couldn’t read his face.
“I’ll take you back through the trods.”
She wanted to tell him she could handle it herself, but she didn’t know how far he lived from Mulligan. The trods didn’t ascribe to normal geographical rules. They were really more like wormholes, folding time and space to allow for travel between magical areas. For all she knew, the cabin could be back in Wales somewhere.
Maddie’s fingernails bit into her palms. He wasn’t interested in sharing, but no matter how frustrating, her days of bending people to her will were over. Even if they deserved it. She relaxed her hands and remembered her mother’s lessons about grace in acceptance.
“Thank you.”
He gestured for her to go out the door first and closed it solidly behind them. A circle of white stones marked the edge of the property in a wide curve. Inside the circle, lush plants sprang up tall and green. The temperature hovered around perfectly comfortable, and the yard looked like it should be the middle of summer. Not a Texas summer though, those could be brutal. Summer in a place that wasn’t Texas. Aiden led her past the stones, then stopped.
