by Nicole Hall
In truth, the magic didn’t scare her. The future she’d carefully planned was already compromised. It just hadn’t hit her until faced with the reality that she wouldn’t be going back to the life she knew before.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to. Keely’s racing heart began to calm, and the truth settled inside her like it had always been there. Her old life hadn’t been enough even before she’d met Seth.
She raised her head and met his eyes again. “Why can’t anyone else tell? Even you didn’t know for sure.”
“It’s possible that the bond we made is teasing it out of you.”
Keely’s eyebrows rose to her hair. “You mean I might get more powerful as time passes?”
“It’s likely, but I’d rather not spread that around unless we have to. My clan will blame the mate bond for your burgeoning power, and it could prove to be a useful secret.”
“Great. Another secret. Well, at least if I have power, I can help you snoop around tonight.”
His jaw tightened. “No. It’s too risky. I need you to stay in our room at Keris’ house. I promise I’ll be there next to you when you wake up.”
The magic from his promise mixed with the shimmering pink motes and raised goosebumps across her skin. Trepidation threatened to ruin the moment, but she didn’t want to cast doubt in him when he’d finally started to build his confidence in this place.
12
KEELY
The nightmare had returned. True to his word, Seth lay beside her when Keely sat up with a gasp the next morning. The bed jostled with her quick movement, so he grumbled and pulled her down against him where she’d been before. His arm wrapped around her waist and kept her sprawled on top of him. Keely happily snuggled back into her spot on his chest, but didn’t close her eyes.
Bright sunlight filled the room, and Keely tried to relax into Seth’s slow breathing under her cheek. Still half-asleep, her mind forcibly rejected the dream she’d been having in favor of anything else. A simple gold medallion on a chain around Seth’s neck caught her attention. She hadn’t noticed him wearing any jewelry before.
Keely picked up the necklace and brought it closer to her face. The gold felt heavy and made her fingers tingle. A magical item then. She squinted and could just make out a Celtic knot design etched lightly into the metal.
She let it fall back to his skin and tucked her fingers under her chin. Aecanthan society confused her. Did they have craftsmen come and build things for them or was magic too ingrained in the clans?
If she could use magic, she’d one hundred percent make things she didn’t want to do easier. Paint her nails? A wiggle of the fingers and they’re a different color. Scrub the toilet? Good-bye mysterious stains. Broken stiletto? Fixed. Now that she thought about it, there wasn’t much she wouldn’t do with magic if given the choice.
Seth’s fingers brushed her hip, and she tilted her head to see his face. Still asleep, and still stupidly beautiful. Like everything here, even the water. Yesterday’s surreal conversation at the falls hadn’t really sunk in yet. According to Seth, she did have magic. The idea inspired both fear and awe, but when Keely prodded herself, all she felt was the bond with Seth.
Keely sighed and turned her face into Seth’s shoulder. She trusted him to know about this stuff, but having magic didn’t seem all that helpful if she couldn’t use it in some way. Like to, say, get rid of a nasty dream that wouldn’t leave her alone.
If having Seth naked underneath her couldn’t distract her, her potential magical heritage didn’t stand a chance. The dream had started during her junior year in college, and it didn’t take a degree in psychology to figure out the cause. That year marked the first—and only—time she’d fallen in love, as well as her first heartbreak.
She’d been living in the dorms, taking an excess number of classes, overachieving as usual, and she’d met Michael in one of her English classes. He shouldn’t have even been in an advanced class, but he’d schmoozed his way past the rules, the way he’d done for everything else in his life.
He’d flattered her, wooed her, convinced her to help him, then nearly got her kicked out of school. At the first chance, Keely had moved into his apartment off campus. She’d spent all her time with him, letting her studies slide in favor of spending time with her boyfriend.
Boyfriend? Ha. Little did she know he had a habit of keeping ladies on the hook to help him with his classes. Bonus for him if they were stupid enough to sleep with him. She’d failed hard on that stupidity test.
Worst of all, he wasn’t even good in bed. He’d hooked her with the thrill of the adventure. Skip a class here. Drinking at a dive bar there. Getting a tattoo that her mom would kill her if she ever found out about. Keely smiled. It hadn’t been all bad. She didn’t regret the actions, only the consequences.
And the consequences were harsh. Turned out Michael had been selling her papers across their campus and two others. He’d made a nice little profit off her trust, and when he got caught, he claimed that she’d been running the business. The administration had a zero-tolerance policy on plagiarism, especially for literature students.
Where had her magic been then? She would’ve turned him into a toad in a second. And he’d need a hell of a lot more than a stolen kiss to de-frog himself.
Seth shifted and made an appreciative noise as he slid his hand down over her ass. Another glance at his face assured her he groped her in his sleep. Not that she minded. Keely liked that he didn’t pretend with her. He said what he meant, and he talked to her as an equal.
The dream put her back in the cold administrator’s office when she’d been pleading for her future to a committee of stone-faced men. Dream Keely stood in front of them with clenched fists as helpless rage and terror slowly suffocated her. They refused to listen to her logic and focused instead on the effect the scandal had on Michael. He might lose his scholarship? How would it affect his future job prospects? She always wanted to scream at that part. What about her job prospects? What about her fractured trust?
In the real world, they’d allowed her to continue at the university under probation. Michael received a slap on the wrist. After all, he’d made sure her name appeared in all the appropriate places, and they were her papers. Her words.
The dream never got that far. It trapped her in an endless cycle of defending herself while they stripped her raw. She woke up panicked and violated all over again.
This time, the panic hadn’t been as strong. The violation had shifted into annoyance that those men would dare question her. She hoped one day the dream would give her a chance to square up against Michael. Questioning herself and her abilities had led her to retreat further and further into what she imagined was a risk-free persona. If she didn’t try, then she wouldn’t fail.
Seth’s sleepy voice interrupted her thoughts. “What are you thinking about so intensely this early?”
“Why not invade my mind and find out for yourself?”
“Prickly this morning.”
His other arm came around her and rolled her to the side, spoon-style. He sniffed her hair and tucked her tight against him. Keely relaxed, unaware she’d tensed up.
“Sorry. Just a bad memory from my past.”
He mumbled something about ninjas, and Keely smiled. Seth was not a morning person, but neither was she normally. A lot of things had changed recently.
Michael had only wanted her for what she could provide him. The help she could give. Come to think of it, Seth had asked for her help too, but after their initial agreement, he’d given her several chances to back out. He’d never predicated his friendship on whether or not she helped him. But—her sly inner voice whispered—would he have offered that friendship in the first place without an underlying need?
Keely wanted to shout at the voice to shut up, but she couldn’t definitively answer the question one way or another. What was it about her that she couldn’t get a guy’s attention unless she provided something for him?
A knock interru
pted her downward spiral, and Seth twitched. Keely frowned over her shoulder, but his breathing remained even. She blew out a breath, then winced. Time to find her toothbrush.
Keely eased out of Seth’s arms. He tensed for a second, then let her slide free. The person at the door could wait while she brushed her teeth and got dressed. Another knock sounded as Keely exited the bathroom in shorts and a tank top. Seth had assured her that his clan would find her clothes novel, but they wouldn’t cause any problems.
The rest of the house felt empty, as it had since they’d arrived, but a glass and a carafe of juice sat on the counter. Keris must have come and gone already. The mystery visitor knocked a third time, and Keely accepted that they weren’t going away.
She opened the door and blinked at Tamra, resplendent in a royal blue kerchief dress that tied around her neck. The woman looked like a model for the girl next door, blonde hair, blue eyes, bronze skin, topped with a wide smile.
“Finally. I tried to come in, but Keris has her door warded.” Tamra didn’t seem to see anything wrong with walking into another person’s house without permission, and Keely silently thanked Keris for her foresight.
“Can I help you with something?”
Tamra bounced on her toes. “Today is the mate ritual, so Oren promised to make pancakes.” She leaned closer to whisper. “We never get pancakes. It’s a Terran thing, but Oren figured out how to make them.”
“Some of us are still sleeping, Tamra.”
Keely turned at Seth’s voice, then nearly went straight back to bed. He leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed and a glare directed at the door. The necklace glinted in the sunlight since he’d forgone a shirt, and his unbuttoned jeans hung low on his hips. Every glorious muscle displayed to perfection, and Keely’s hand tightened on the door to keep from slamming it shut. Pancakes were no match for the promise of Seth.
When Keely turned back, Tamra had barely given Seth a glance. “And some of us have been up since dawn preparing for the ceremony. You can be lazy all you want. I’m here for Keely.”
“Say what now?” Keely would have remembered making plans with Tamra.
“I’m to be your guide today. The ceremony takes place at sundown, but there are certain ritual preparations we have to do before then. After that’s done, pancakes.”
Keely hesitated. She’d much rather stay in bed with Seth until the ceremony, but she didn’t want to offend his clan.
Seth grunted. “She stays with me.”
Warmth spread through her belly and chest at his blunt refusal, but Tamra rolled her eyes. “You came back for the ritual, so you might as well do it right. She’s not going anywhere your bond can’t find her.”
Seth frowned. “Fine.”
He pushed away from the wall and approached Keely, who hadn’t had the chance to move away from the door. His frown melted into a smile at the hungry thoughts she was probably projecting to him. When he reached her, he surprised her by pulling the necklace over his head and putting it around her instead. She caught his flinch when he removed it. What had he been up to last night?
“Something to keep me in your thoughts. I’ll see you tonight.”
The necklace will help keep you safe. Be careful, trouble-maker. He leaned down and kissed her, slow and lingering. Keely did not want to leave, especially with his mouth pressed to hers and his body a step away, but she had a role to play. Amusement filled her mind as he moved away and retreated back into the bedroom.
Tamra sighed longingly. “You’re so lucky.”
Keely tore her eyes away from Seth’s truly magnificent backside to see Tamra staring in the same direction. A surprisingly strong streak of possessiveness made her step through the door and pull it shut behind her. Seth was her fake mate.
“Okay, you have me. Now what?”
“Time to get you ready for the mate ritual. Follow me.”
Tamra led her to a large building, slightly taller than the others in the village and with no windows on the front. At first, the place looked like a courthouse or something equally important, but then a gorgeous man wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist came out the double doors.
Keely raised a brow as the man grinned and waved at Tamra, who called out a suggestive hello. If she wasn’t mistaken, Tamra had experience with what was under his towel. Dru would have done the same, but she would’ve also tried to convince him to turn around and join them.
The man spared Keely a curious glance, then sauntered away. She stared after him for a second. So far, everyone she’d met had been unreasonably attractive. Perfect in a variety of ways, with just enough differences to keep things interesting. No wonder ancient humans thought they were gods.
Keely dragged her attention away and hurried to catch up to Tamra. The inside resembled a jungle bathhouse. Teak floors surrounded an Olympic-sized hot spring bordered by large boulders. The light globes flickered softly, and specks of golden fluff floated near the ceiling. Keely squinted up and something connected in her head. Sprites. Magical detritus created when different types of power collided. Seth had mentioned them on the journey to Texas, when she’d noticed them drifting around.
“Ha, no Oren to stop me this time.” Tamra untied the knot, whipped the dress over her head, and tossed it by the edge of the pool. Was everyone in Aecantha perfect? So. Unfair. She dove in, naked, then surfaced and waved Keely over.
Keely shook her head. The medallion hung inside her shirt, alternating between sending little jolts of awareness into her chest and lying dormant. She didn’t want to draw more attention to it by getting naked. “No, thanks.”
“It’s customary to partake of the waters before the ritual.”
“Can I dip my feet in or is this a whole-body requirement?”
Tamra cocked her head and thought about it. “I think your feet should be fine. I don’t think it actually does anything magical or I probably wouldn’t be allowed to be in here with you.”
Keely took off her sandals and placed them neatly by the door before looking for a dry place to sit.
Tamra pointed to an armoire in one of the dark corners. “There are towels in there.”
“Thanks.” She grabbed one for herself and one for Tamra before choosing a rock next to the edge. Keely leaned back on her hands, enjoying the soft swish of the water and the warm air. She let her head fall back so she could watch the sprites dancing above them.
Tamra didn’t have the same appreciation for the silence. “What’s it like? Being in a mate bond?”
Keely blushed, glad she’d averted her face and Tamra couldn’t see her clearly in the dim light. “It’s overwhelming sometimes. All the parts of you and all the parts of him are mixed together in the best way, but sometimes it’s hard to figure out where you end and he begins. Then there’s the idea that your feelings for him might be magically induced. How do you know if what you feel is real when there’s so much illusion going on around you?”
She’d intended to lie, but the truth slipped out instead. They didn’t have a mate bond, but the bond they did have created intense intimacy. Or maybe that came from spending every waking minute—and some sleeping ones—with each other.
When Keely glanced at Tamra, the other woman frowned as if trying to solve a complicated puzzle. Time to change the subject.
“Do you have a job here?”
“A job?” Her brows drew together, then understanding dawned. “Oh, you mean how do I contribute to the village?”
Keely shrugged. “Sure.” Whatever kept her distracted from the fake mate bond.
“I help monitor the doorway and send messages to other clans. Do you have a job in Terra?”
Keely braced herself for the usual sense of shame and failure that showed up when she thought about her future prospects, but none came. The thought of finding another job where she acted as a glorified secretary brought her perilously close to begging Seth to let her stay here with him. At least she’d have a good reason for wasting her years of schooling.
Maybe the elders needed someone to help coordinate their new library.
Bonus: she’d be here with Seth. At some point, Keely had stopped thinking of this adventure with him as a job. Probably for the best considering she couldn’t wait to see him naked again. Tamra splashed water toward Keely, dousing her knees.
“Are you going to answer my question or stare off into space with a sappy smile?”
“I can do both.” Keely yanked her thoughts away from Seth again. “I help make books in Terra.”
Tamra’s eyes widened. “I love Terran books. The others say humans always excelled at storytelling. They’re hard to come by here, but every couple of months the elders put some new ones in the library. It’s the best part of the village.”
Keely kicked her feet, creating eddies in the water. “Does this village have a name?”
“The collection of buildings doesn’t, but the clan does. So I guess the village does too since it’s where the clan lives.”
Keely waited for a moment, but Tamra didn’t share the clan name. Maybe it was a secret? Well, she’d be clan soon enough. “What’s the clan name?”
Tamra burst out laughing, startling Keely. She wiped her eyes as she caught her breath. “You know the clan name. Aecantha.”
Ah, she’d found the embarrassment if not the shame and failure. Seth could have been a smidge more forthcoming about that, specifically to avoid these snafus. Hopefully that wasn’t something she should have known.
“Right. I hadn’t connected that. I’m sorry.”
Tamra waved the apology away. “Don’t worry. I didn’t expect Seth to explain the details of our clan system, even to his mate. Besides, some of the people who live here don’t know much about the Aecantha clan. Our elders are more secretive than most.”
The smug dismissal of the other members of her clan didn’t sit right with Keely. And why did she get the feeling that Tamra knew some of those secrets? A niggle of unease pinched between her shoulders, but this woman was a friend of Seth’s. Who was Keely to doubt her?
