Magni

by Janice M. Whiteaker

  Christine looked back down at the headless chicken. She stood quietly for a minute before looking back up at him. “Can you take me there?”

  There was no hesitation in her voice. The shock was gone from her eyes replaced by a strength he wasn’t surprised to see. She’d connected the dots, even without all the information. “Tomorrow.”

  Christine shook her head and narrowed her eyes. “Don’t put me off thinking I’ll forget.”

  “I’m not.” He wanted to touch her. Soothe the anger rolling off her. An anger he understood completely. “We are going tomorrow morning. Hagen is bringing Rhea.”

  Christine’s shoulders softened. “That’s a good idea.” She turned to look down the row of crosses again. “Why did you wait until there were so many?”

  “Those are all the animal’s I’ve found over the past twenty-five years.” He gave in, pulling her into his side. “We’ve only found two at the tree.”

  Christine looked up at him. “Including the one the bear was protecting the night Rhea was attacked?”

  Magni looked down at the woman tucked under his arm. A punch of pride hit him in the chest. Christine was so much more than most people realized. Smart. Sassy. Strong in a quiet self-assured way. Like she could carry the weight of the world on her shoulders and no one would be the wiser.

  The punch of pride was undercut by a stab of guilt.

  He was part of the reason she had to learn to be strong. He cut her down. Pushed away the help she tried to offer him and said things no woman deserved to hear, let alone a girl.

  It was well-past time to repair the damage he caused.

  He just had to figure out how.

  ****

  Christine peeked over the table where her glass cutting tools were set up to watch Magni as he carefully assembled one of the fixtures they made for the diner. His large hands moved with a surprising amount of grace as he spread a thin layer of glue along the edge of one panel and fixed it into a jig he built specifically for the lights.

  Last night after refusing to take her to bed Magni insisted Christine let him take all her glass working tools to his shop so she could have extra space to work. At first she wasn’t too keen on the idea since it meant she couldn’t simply work on the panels when she had time.

  But the view from her new office was enough to make it worth the inconvenience.

  Magni turned to face her, wiping his hands on a shop towel. “How’s it going?”

  Christine looked down at the green panel of glass she’d been holding in her hand for way too long while she watched the man who was turning out to be not at all what she expected.

  That wasn’t entirely true. Magni was every bit what she expected. But there was a whole different side of him she was only just beginning to understand.

  And maybe even appreciate.

  At first she thought Magni treated her the way he did because deep down he still thought of her as young. Not in a creepy way, just that he hadn’t moved past what she was all those years ago and was treating her accordingly.

  Now she wasn’t so sure that was why he acted the way he did.

  Christine smiled. “Good.”

  Magni rounded her work table. He stopped at her left side and gently touched the different colored pieces of glass she’d managed to snip into shape before getting distracted by him and his many facets. “I didn’t realize how much work this was for you.” The lines between his eyebrows pushed in as he looked down at the table, frowning.

  It really wasn’t that much work and left on her own it wasn’t a stretch to be able to finish a panel in a half-hour. They were small with simple cuts and once she got in a groove the solder went on smooth and easy.

  But this morning it wasn’t going so well.

  She started snipping at the emerald green glass, working it into the shape of the footprint that made up the main portion of each panel. “It usually doesn’t take me this long. I think I’m just a little off this morning.”

  The lines between his brows deepened. “You don’t have to go out tomorrow.”

  Christine kept working her way along the edge of the glass, snipping away bit by bit, trying to ignore the weight of his gaze. “I know.” She chanced a glance up at him. The concern in his eyes was evident. As was the anger bubbling just beneath the surface. It was carefully controlled. Held in close because he didn’t want her to see how much he was affected by what she saw this morning.

  “I’ll tell Hagen to forget it.” Magni pulled his phone from his pocket.

  Christine set her cutting pliers on the worktable and grabbed his arm. “It’s not that.” She gently brushed her fingers up his the skin of his forearm. “I want to go. I want to help.”

  He didn’t put his phone away but at least he wasn’t dialing. “Then what’s wrong?”

  Her fingers brushed over his elbow and up the back of his arm, once she started to touch him it was turning out to be difficult to stop. “It’s just been a crazy week.” Her hand slipped under the hem of his t-shirt sleeve, sliding over a ridge of muscle as she continued up.

  Magni stood motionless, his eyes on her hand as it circled his bicep before running back down his arm. She could feel how strong he was. His was a body capable of extreme amounts of force. Designed for protection. Preservation. It was dangerous. Savage.

  Lethal.

  In all the years she’d known the Wolffsen men Christine never saw what they became. It was a part of their lives the men protected fiercely. For good reason.

  “Do you change often?” It was a question she shouldn’t ask about a part of him she shouldn’t expect him to share with her.

  “Yes.” The answer came quickly. Fast enough she dared to ask another.

  “Do you like what you are?”

  “Yes.” His gaze moved from her hand where it rested on his arm to her face. “And now no.”

  “Why no?”

  “It brought pain to someone.” His eyes dropped.

  Guilt twisted an ache in her heart. “You mean Joel?”

  “I can’t imagine what it was like for him.” Magni’s words were quiet. “I wish I could have helped him. Showed him how to control it.”

  The regret in his words pushed tears to her eyes. If only she’d told him. She could have saved him this guilt. She could have saved Joel the pain of a secret he had to protect like his life depended on it. Because it did.

  Christine sniffed, blinking back the tears making her eyes burn. “I’m so sorry Magni.”

  His big hands cupped her cheeks, tipping her face up to his. The pads of his thumbs stroked her cheeks as he looked at her, his stormy eyes soft, full of emotion. “I—”

  Magni stopped. One thumb brushed across her lower lip. He slipped the glass from her hand and set it on the table as his lips replaced the warm press of his thumb on her mouth. It was soft and sweet and for the first time it didn’t make her feel like he was handling her with kid gloves.

  He pulled back too soon. “Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Tea?”

  She pressed her lips together to smother out the smile trying to find its way onto her face at the surprise of yet another side of Magni. The gracious host. “Tea?”

  He smiled. “Tea it is.” He wrapped her hand in his and tugged her to the house. Magni set her on the small love seat set in front of the large window that looked out over the heavy woods of the mountain.

  From where she was Christine had to crane her neck to see Magni through the opening between the dining area and the small galley kitchen. He stepped out of sight and she heard a soft clicking as he lit the gas stove. She took a deep breath and sank back into the soft cushions of the couch, closing her eyes.

  It felt oddly peaceful to be here, with him. For the first time in days her body relaxed. She sighed.

  “You’re smiling.”

  Her eyes opened slowly. Magni stood in front of her, a cup in one hand. He held it out to her slowly.

  She straightened on the couch. “Don’t read too much into
it.” She took the tea, tucking one hand through the handle and the other under the base.

  Magni watched as she took the first tentative sip. “I think I will.”

  Christine looked into her cup. “Do you drink tea?” It was well made. A little touch of sweetness and a hint of cream. Not something a person who never touched the stuff could accomplish on the first try.

  “Of course.” Magni eased down on the couch beside her.

  She turned to the side, facing him. “You are full of surprises.”

  His mouth tugged into a slow smile. “You have no idea.”

  Christine nearly choked on an ill timed swallow of tea. She swallowed the mouthful painfully before looking at him.

  The bastard was teasing her, and damned if he didn’t look sexy doing it. Although she would be hard pressed to find an instance or activity she couldn’t imagine him looking sexy doing.

  Christine set her tea on the end table beside her. If he was going to be a tease then so was she.

  She smiled at him sweetly. “You’re right. I don’t have any idea.” Christine didn’t break eye contact as she pretended to adjust her shirt, tugging at the hem of the already low-cut garment, bringing it down to a scandalously low scoop that revealed a tiny bit of her bra.

  The same lace bra Magni held in his hands last night before he unceremoniously dropped her on her ass on the couch. Alone.

  But now she wasn’t alone on a couch. Now Magni was close enough to see just what he deprived himself of last night. A little peek of it anyway.

  She trailed one finger across the swell of her breast, letting it push the ribbed neckline of her shirt down just a smidge lower. “I wish I did though.”

  Christine felt the growl before she heard it, rumbling through her body, reverberating off every nerve ending.

  “I’m starting to think you like to push my buttons sweetheart.” Magni lifted one hand to her neck, skimming his fingers from under her chin, down the front of her throat and over her collarbone. He watched as his hand dipped lower, brushing over her chest, tracing the cleft between her breasts.

  Christine’s breath caught as he reached out and grabbed the wide neck of her shirt with both hands and tugged it down her shoulders, baring her lace covered breasts and pinning her elbows at her sides. He dropped to the floor, kneeling in front of her, the difference in their height making them eye to eye.

  But he wasn’t looking at her eyes.

  She took a deep breath, pushing her breasts higher in the air, willing him to touch her. His smoky eyes said he wanted to but his hands stayed planted at her sides, clenched into tight fists.

  His jaw was tight, the muscles twitching from the pressure.

  “Touch me Magni.” Christine shimmied the shirt lower, pulling her arms free of the confining fabric. She scooted to the edge of the couch, bringing their bodies so close they were almost touching. But not quite.

  He had to finish it.

  “Don’t you want to touch me?” Christine held her breath. Maybe the truth was he didn’t. Not like she wanted him to.

  “It’s all I want to do.” The roughness of his voice surprised her, but not as much as the raw emotion in his eyes as he looked up at her.

  It didn’t make sense. This was something he’d no doubt done more times than she cared to know. They were just boobs. It was just her.

  Christine reached behind her back and unhooked her bra, letting it slide down her arms. “Then touch me.”

  His eyes went directly to the two inch scar along the outside of her left breast. He used one finger to gently trace the faded pink line that to her was a sign of life. Of perseverance.

  Of strength.

  When she was diagnosed with cancer there were two options available. Be a victim or be a survivor.

  She chose to be a survivor and wore her scar as a badge of honor. It was what got her through the pain. The uncertainty. The fear.

  It might have to again.

  “I wish I knew.” Magni gently ran his finger back across the spot where doctors took out a tumor the size of a ping pong ball. “I wish I could have been there for you.”

  He dipped his head and swept his lips across the still sensitive bit of flesh, pressing one hand to her back and using the other to catch one of hers, holding it tight in his.

  Christine’s guard was down, bulldozed by the man in front of her, leaving her helpless against the barrage of information that pushed from his body into hers. She struggled to breathe as visions spun through her mind’s eye, pressing into memories as if they were her own.

  Magni called for her. He was so close but she could barely hear him over the sound of a thousand words all being spoken at once. She reached for something to stop the twirling inside her head, grabbing onto a solid weight and holding on for dear life.

  Then it all stopped.

  She blinked, opening her eyes.

  Magni held her face in his hands. His eyes were wild, filled with panic. “What just happened?” He was breathing heavy, the muscles in his neck straining with unspent adrenaline.

  Christine sat up and looked at him. Thick veins stood out on his arms, pushed up by heavy muscle. She reached up and touched the thickness of his beard. Was it that long this morning?

  “Christine what just happened?”

  She dropped her hand, blinking at the jumble of information swimming in her head. “I accidentally let my wall down.”

  He shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  Christine pressed one hand to her throbbing temple. “I have to keep a wall up to protect me from being bombarded by information.”

  “Visions.”

  She gave him a nod.

  “What did you see?” The words were cautious and slow. Hesitant even.

  “I can’t remember.” Christine rubbed her eyes, trying to push away what she saw.

  Magni carefully pulled her against his chest, holding her gently as he looped her bra back over her shoulders and clasped it at her back. He pulled a blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around her. “I’m going to call Hagen. Tell him tomorrow won’t work. Will you be okay for a second?”

  She nodded.

  He gently stroked his thumb across her cheek.” I’ll be right back.” Magni stood up and walked down the hall to his shop, closing the door softly behind him.

  Christine shook her head, blinking fast to dissipate the tears biting at her eyes. This was why she put up the wall in the first place. Because it wasn’t only other people who didn’t like what she saw.

  Most of the time she didn’t like what she saw either. This was one of those times.

  There was a woman hiding in Magni’s future. It was cloudy and dim but not so much that she couldn’t make out a very important and equally heartbreaking clue about who the woman was.

  More specifically who she wasn’t.

  The woman wasn’t Christine.

  12

  Magni shifted in his seat and looked at the door for the hundredth time in under five minutes. Maybe Joel wasn’t as interested in talking to him as Craig thought. He used his fingers to rotate the beer Kari brought over fifteen minutes ago against his palm. Between the worry about leaving Christine alone and this meeting with Joel his stomach hadn’t let him take the first sip.

  The door to the bar opened and sunlight poured through the frame, outlining a body that could belong to any one of the Wolffsen men.

  Because he was one.

  Joel blinked a few times as the door shut. He scanned the room. Twice.

  Magni watched him intently as Joel took in every inch of the space in under ten seconds time. His eyes were sharp, assessing, focused. The kid’s posture was immaculate as Joel finally walked through the bar toward the small high-top tucked into the back corner.

  Magni nodded.

  Joel nodded back as he eased into the seat across from his father. Then he sat in silence.

  Magni relaxed back in his chair, tucking his boots on the spindles connecting the metal
legs of his stool. He took the first swig of a now warm beer and waited. Figuring out what to say to a father who didn’t know you existed until a few days ago couldn’t be easy.

  Not that he imagined Joel had too many things easy in his life.

  It burned Magni in a way that was impossible to put into words. All the years he wasted searching for a woman he once loved out of guilt and a sense of responsibility. He was a man, a husband, and it was his job to take care of the woman he married. To protect her. To take care of her.

  She stole that from him. But that wasn’t all Lori robbed him of the day she decided to run away.

  “What’s wrong with me?” Joel’s voice cut through the fog of a past that was more lie than truth.

  “Nothing’s wrong with you.” Magni tapped the pads of his fingers against the table. This was a conversation he’d been working out in his mind almost every waking minute since Joel found him. Trying to figure out how to explain what he was, what they were, in the right way. “Actually it’s more that everything’s right with you.”

  Magni looked up from the table and tried to gauge his son’s reaction. Joel sat perfectly straight, expressionless. No outward sign of the intensity of the conversation they were having.

  “We were created to be stronger. Faster. Bigger. Meaner. More dangerous than other men.” Magni glanced around the bar. He knew they were alone but needed to see it again for peace of mind. If word got out...

  “How?” Joel was turning out to be a man of few words. The ones that he did say were sharp and to the point.

  “Hundreds of years of evolution.” He looked at Joel. “You heard of survival of the fittest?”

  Joel nodded as Magni took a swig of beer. He set the bottle down.

  “We’re the fittest.” Magni lifted his hand to catch Kari’s attention. “You want a beer?”

  Joel took a long second, his jaw barely shifting before he finally gave Magni a tight, single nod.

  He held up two fingers to his niece. Both men were quiet as Kari dropped off two bottles of beer, giving Joel a sympathetic smile before retreating to the bar. Joel’s eyes followed his cousin as she moved across the bar. “What about her?”