Flicker and Flame: Magic Bound Book One

by Willow Hayes

  “They aren’t ready for me in the ring, Reg,” I say with a cocky swagger I don’t feel. The truth is I’m not ready for the ring. My footwork and swings still need refining. I just don’t know enough to fight others that have been in the ring and won.

  “You are one of my best fighters. You joke and throw your cocky shit around, but one of these days you’ll realize that you are the only thing holding you back.” He walks away, not giving me a chance to respond.

  “Kenna, he is so fine.” Rya’s chocolate brown eyes are full of stars as she moons over the tall, dark, and handsome actor on the screen. She’s lounging on the other end of the couch in sleep shorts and an oversized t-shirt that has fallen off one shoulder. Her tawny skin and chocolate brown markings warm in the dim light from the lamps. Her kelley green willow branch hair is thrown up in a messy bun. Even in her pajamas she is stunningly elegant. She makes me feel as though I blunder around when compared to her easy grace.

  I roll my eyes at Rya’s guilty pleasure of reality tv and sappy romances that I love to give her shit about. “I bet his cock is super tiny,” I deadpan, managing to keep a straight face. A mint green pillow sails at my face, and I catch it laughing.

  “Don’t you rain on my parade, Sparkles!” She grabs another handful of popcorn and sends a piece flying at Akito. He snags it easily, crunching happily.

  I send the pillow flying back. “How many times do I have to tell you not to feed Akito popcorn? No matter how much he gives you his sad eyes!” A rhetorical question because I have told her as many times as she’s done it, and I am certain she does so just to get my reaction. She smirks, shrugs a shoulder, and goes back to watching.

  I lean down and nuzzle Akito’s rust colored fur and kiss the top of his head. His three tails start to sway with affection, and the runes running the length of each tail begin to ripple as though fire lives within. My sweet kitsune has been with me since he found me one particularly dark day at my last foster home. He kept coming back until he was mine, and I was his. Since then, he’s stuck by my side. He alone knows all my terrible secrets and loves me anyway.

  I turn my attention back to the movie and snort at the scene I find. “You can’t honestly think love is like this, Rya.” I gesture to the television with incredulity. The male lead has swept his lady love off to a private island where he uses Fire magic to write his proposal in the sand after knowing her for all of two months.

  “You are always such a critic, Kenna. Just you wait till love knocks down those walls you’ve built so high, and then we’ll see who’s shit talking then.” Her finger pointing in emphasis.

  “All I have ever seen is the aftermath love leaves behind. Maybe they do fall in love in two months, but they fall out of love just as quickly.” I ignore her comment about my walls. There are two people that I’ve let in, three if I count Akito. Rya and Reg both decided they were here to stay, and I better suck it up and let it happen. It took a long time for me to trust that their intentions were good and that they weren’t going to leave or throw me aside like all the others. I have tried to have a few relationships here and there, but nothing ever stuck, so I decided that I all I need is casual sex, though I blatantly ignore the tiny voice inside that argues with my assessment.

  Rya looks over at me with such sadness I have to look away. She has never once looked at me with pity, but I know she worries over everything I’ve been through. I can’t afford sadness, so I ignore it like I do everything else about my past. “Kenna,” she starts but doesn’t get to finish.

  Forcing a smile to my lips I interrupt, “Ignore my ramblings, Sunshine, and enjoy your movie.” She looks as though she wants to protest but gives me a sad smile and turns back to the fairy tale version of love.

  Two

  Kenna

  As a rule, I am not a morning person. My only exception is when the itch to catch the sunrise from the mountainside grows too strong to ignore. Looking at the weather forecast for today I knew the sunrise would be spectacular, so I set my alarm for way too early and dragged my ass out of bed at an ungodly hour. I park my car at the entrance of the trail and grab my camera bag from the trunk. I checked it last night, but I check it again, almost compulsively.

  I get out, Akito eagerly jumping out after me. I swing my camera bag onto my back, lock my car, and we make our way up the trail. The first streaks of blue have begun to lighten the black sky, and the stars have begun to dim. I hurry my stride, taking care of where I place my feet, and make my way to my favorite spot.

  By the time I arrive I am slightly out of breath from my dash to make it before I miss too much. I sit on my usual rock and adjust the settings on my camera until I have found the perfect balance. I relax with Akito as we watch in awe as the moon reluctantly gives way to the coming dawn. A light breeze blows a strand of my curls across my face, and I impatiently tuck it behind my ear before raising my camera. I take a series of pictures of the rolling hills beneath the mountain peak which are draped with the mists of early morning, muting their shades of blue.

  As the sun crests between the hills the sky is brushed with the stunning colors of gold, purple, red, and pink. My heart lightens at the beauty. I lean down to kiss Akito’s head. “Isn’t it beautiful, Akito?” He’s sat and watched the sunrise with me almost as often as I’ve gone. He bumps his head against mine, making me laugh.

  I sit calmly, enjoying the peace and beauty until the sky reaches the light blue of early morning. Some people do Yoga, I do sunrises. Surrounded by the beauty of nature while the sun greets the day is the only place the never ending energy in my body finally seems to still.

  With the growing light I scroll through the pictures I’ve taken and see a few that will likely join the collection on the wall of my bedroom. “Looks like we got some good ones, Akito.” I scratch his head before standing to begin our way back down the trail. The camera hangs around my neck to lift when I see anything that stands out. I have far too many pictures of Akito walking down trails like these, but I can’t help it, he is too adorable. “Alright buddy, we gotta get home, so I can get ready for work. He gives me a forlorn look, and I laugh. “Don’t give me that look. Your sad eyes don’t work on me anymore.” I laugh at his antics, and we make our way back to reality.

  Walking out of the in-home visit for Katherine I feel joy that she has found a home here settling in my heart. The Klein family have raised their kids and decided to contribute by fostering. I have been able to place a few kids with them over the years, and I am so grateful. I sit in my car and finish up my paperwork, making note to bring some resources to the next visit that can help Katherine prepare for the workplace environment.

  I look at the next home on my list, and my mood dips a slightly. This little girl was taken from her mom when she was lost to the madness plaguing the shifters. We found a great shifter family who will also take shifter kids, which is incredibly hard to find, but she is still struggling to adapt. She is a badger while they are a family of bears. She was timid when I left her with the Browns, and it has been hard to get her to open up due to the complicated dynamic between the two types of shifters along with the trauma of being taken from her mom. I start the car to head towards the house. This is my third visit, and I’m hopeful she will start to adjust better.

  I knock on the door of the modest home in a decent neighborhood and listen to the footsteps draw near. “Kenna, it’s good to see you,” welcomes Sasha, a beautiful blonde woman with kind chocolate brown eyes, is the mom of the family. She draws the door open, gesturing me inside. I head to the living room where I hear a children’s program on the television.

  Helka’s eyes light up when she sees me, and she darts over to throw her little arms around my legs. Helka hasn’t spoken much since I brought her here, but I keep hoping to see progress. I kneel down, so I am level with her large hazel eyes. Her blonde hair and look of raptured innocence reminds me so strongly of a little hazel eyed blonde in my past that I almost asked to have her moved to another social worker’
s caseload. I’m glad I didn’t as I see her bright smile. “How’s it going Helka?” my voice quiet but upbeat.

  “Good, Miss Kenna.” I think she is going to stop there, and generally she does. “Ms. Sasha was teaching me how to read the letters.” Her eyes burn bright with curiosity, and a wide smile graces her adorable face.

  Fighting back tears my big smile mirrors her own. “Is that so? Want to show me what you’ve been learning?” She pulls me over to the wooden letter blocks on the ground and picks up the ones she has mastered so far. “My Helka, you have been learning so much. Ms. Sasha must really care for you to teach you all these wonderful things.” Her head bobs up and down. Her eyes glance to Sasha, whose face is full of warmth and tenderness. Later Sasha tells me that they have been working on the letters much of the week, and she’s seen Helka blossom under her tutelage. Sasha and I talk through a few more business items, and I arrange my next visit.

  “Goodbye, Miss Kenna. I’ll miss you!” Her cheery voice echoes in my ear as I get in my car and drive away.

  Three

  Kenna

  “By the gods woman! What are you doing in there?” I shout in exasperation after Rya has hogged the bathroom for the past hour.

  “Patience is a virtue. One you clearly lack! I am almost done, so don't you worry,” she quips through the door.

  “Yeah, yeah. Take much longer, and I just might change my mind about going at all,” I taunt, knowing I’ll get a reaction.

  She throws open the bathroom door and gives me her stern look which only serves to make me grin. She throws her long slender hands on her towel-clad hips and says, “Don’t you dare, Sparkles!” Using the nickname she decided was mine the first day we’d met. “I did not spend the last hour making myself look as sexy as Aphrodite to just sit on the couch! Now get your ass into the shower stat!” she playfully huffs out as she points one tawny finger.

  “It got you out of the bathroom though, so I’ll call that a win.” I laugh and dart behind her to slam the door. I smile to myself about how Rya has always been able to push me out of my comfortable little bubble from the moment we met in university. In our first class together she decided that we would be friends, despite the big fuck you stamped on my forehead. ‘Sparkles’ stuck after Rya told me I had a sparkling personality. She hasn’t changed much since university, given that she spent the day obnoxiously texting me about a new club so persistently that I agreed just to shut her up. Which really describes our friendship on the whole.

  I run extra gel through my hair and diffuse the normally unruly locks. My wild copper curls fall to the middle of my back and are surprisingly well behaved today. I don’t wear much makeup, so I only throw on some mascara and eyeliner which makes my sapphire blue eyes pop in my heart shaped face. I finish off the look with some tinted lip gloss on my full lips.

  In my room I find a black dress lying on my bed. “I took the liberty of choosing a dress for you tonight because your typical jeans and t-shirt simply won’t cut it,” Rya’s sing-song voice coming from the living room.

  Shaking my head with a smile I throw on a black lace thong and after looking closer at the dress I forgo a bra and slip the dress on. The tight material lands mid-thigh and clings to all my curves. The top is tied at the neck, and the back plunges to just shy of my ass, showing off a wide swath of my pale skin. I throw on my black stilettos that sparkle in the light, which Rya made me buy for a party a few years ago. I slide a few bangle bracelets on and turn to Akito, who has been watching me from his comfy spot on the bed, “What do you think?” He jumps off the bed making his three tails bounce as he comes over and rubs up against my leg. I lean down to scratch his head. “I’ll take that as an approval.”

  I hear Rya call to me from the living room as I’m kissing Akito’s head, “Hey Sparkles, there is a tv special on about the princess.” I roll my eyes and make my way out to the living room. As I walk in I am reminded of how beautiful my dryad best friend really is. Her petite slim frame and tawny skin are complimented nicely in a short orange, skin tight dress, made to appear shorter by the stilettos she sports. Her jade green willow branch hair is flowing down, framing her feminine face. When she spots me she is instantly on her feet and twirling her finger around indicating she wants me to spin. I oblige, and she happily claps her hands giving her stamp of approval.

  She turns back to the show with a dreamy expression and explains that, despite queen bitch denying the rumors, some believe the princess is alive because her body was never found after Queen Rayna and her Chosen were murdered, and despite this year marking twenty years since the tragic event. She turns to me with wide eyes full of mischief and sparkle. “Sparkles, you could be the lost princess!”

  I roll my eyes. “Yeah, no fucking way am I a princess.”

  She is undaunted by my response as she continues to spin her tale, “No listen, you could be! You are missing memories for anything before six years old. So who knows?” I shake my head at her antics. “Hush and let me have my dream!” she admonishes with a finger pointed in my face.

  “Um, yeah no. The princess was a caster, and I’m as human as they come. Sorry to shatter your fairy tale dream, but I live down here in reality,” I say with no remorse whatsoever. “Let’s go, princess.” I smirk and take her hand, dragging her out the door.

  Four

  Kenna

  The line to get into the club isn’t terribly long and as we head to join the end of it the large goblin bouncer indicates that we can skip the line to go right in. Grinning to each other we walk towards the door. Inside the club is busy but not packed. I take in the beautiful decor in the speakeasy style of rich dark wood, velvety red seats, and low lighting. The dance floor is fairly large and the music sexy with only a few people dancing.

  We head to the bar, and I order my usual, an old fashioned, and Rya orders a mojito. We find a place to sit and get settled in. I look around studying the various people in the club trying to guess which magical or non-magical race they are, but it’s not always easy to figure out if someone is magical or not. Many casters do not have any distinguishing features to separate them from the humans, aside from the ability to cast magic of course, so they tend to dress more posh to stand out. But when you mix all the races together, like tonight at the club, you can almost pretend that you are anything you want to be. I turn back to Rya, and we start chatting. We check out the guys in the club while we gossip about our weeks. “Damn girl, check out the group of guys that just walked in!” Rya swoons, fanning herself.

  I gather my hair to one shoulder and use the move to discreetly check out the group, and I swear my heart stops. The four men are way too sexy to be allowed. They are dressed for the club and have ‘heartbreaker’ written all over them. I turn back and mouth wow to Rya and can’t help fanning myself as well. We steal peeks as they make their way to the bar and then to a booth. The gods were smiling down on us because the booth they choose is close to our table, allowing us to continue drooling. Rya and I attempt to make conversation after the sexy disruption, but apparently the presence of the guys has turned our brains into mush. Our drinks are starting to get low, so I turn to go get another round when two of the four guys approach our table with two drinks in hand.

  “We couldn’t help noticing that your drinks were nearly gone, and we couldn’t allow a travesty like that to take place, so we decided in the interest of all that we needed to step in.” The tall, delicious guy holding the drinks smirks as though he knows he’s gods’ gift to all womankind, and he wouldn’t be wrong. With olive skin, a neatly trimmed beard on his chiseled jaw, and dark hair that begs to be messed up, his face is swoon worthy. His dark jeans and white button down shirt hug his tall muscled frame. His sleeves are rolled up showing off his sexy forearms covered in tattoos. The overall picture is absolutely devastating.

  “Now that would be a travesty wouldn’t it?” I smirk back.

  “Ladies, we brought the drinks, but like a broken pencil this night is worthless without you,
” offers the one in dark framed glasses that frame gray eyes dancing with humor, chiseled features sporting a huge grin, and dark, slightly curly hair artfully mussed. He wears dark jeans that hug his lean frame and a navy blue Henley with sleeves tugged up to the elbow showing off strong forearms with muscles that my fingers itch to trace.

  I laugh out loud while Rya is busy swooning. “Does that line work for all the women, or are you just out of practice?” Rya gasps and gives me a ‘what are you doing look,’ but I ignore her and do my best to appear unimpressed.

  The guys both stutter and throw a glance at each other, clearly used to women swooning all over them. The one in the white button down shirt recovers first and snarks back, “We might be a little rusty. Care to help us practice?” His eyes seem to say challenge accepted.

  “Oh, I’m sure there are lots of things you need to practice. My friend and I might be willing to help, but what’s in it for us?” I am working hard to keep my grin from breaking free because these two are just too much fun.

  The one in the glasses grins and says, “The best damn night of your life.”

  “Cocky much?” I laugh out loud and finally concede. “This is Rya and I’m Kenna.”

  “I’m Luka and this is Teo,” the one in glasses gestures to himself then his friend. “Would you care to join us at our table?” He gestures behind him. “There is plenty of room and, after all, we did promise you a night to remember.”