by May Dawson
He kissed the spot he’d just marked, his lips tender on the new bruise. “I suppose I am.”
As he raised his face from mine, I found the tender spot on my neck with my fingertips. I didn’t mind the thought of wearing his bruise. “How are you going to make it up to me?”
Nix had nothing to make up to me. He was here, in the cold woods instead of home at the academy. But the banter between us felt like foreplay.
I was afraid of the magic I’d just raised—it seemed like a strange, powerful thing to warm the ground and bloom flowers without even knowing what I was doing—but when Nix’s hands were on my body, nothing seemed too big or scary for me.
Instead of answering, Nix caught my chin with two fingers and tilted my face up to his. He studied me with rare warmth in those vivid eyes, then leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine.
Oh. That was the answer.
His lips seared to mine. Our bodies swayed together, and even through our coats, I could feel the heat of his body against mine. He kissed me deeply, his lips caressing mine until they parted. The heat of his mouth mixed with mine. The heat between my thighs blazed hotter.
When his hand rose to cup my cheek possessively, his thumb stroked over the curve of my cheekbone.
As the two of us kissed, the air seemed to heat between us until it was hard to believe it was still winter. He must feel it too because he unzipped his coat suddenly, letting it slip back off his shoulders.
The ground was soft underfoot now, wet like spring, and the scent of fresh flowers hung in the cold air. The flowers were a circle around us now, lush and vibrant and otherworldly.
“I don’t understand,” I said softly. “I thought my magic was just…dangerous.”
“Dangerous sometimes, beautiful always.” Amusement sparked in his eyes again before he said, “Just like you.”
He said it so lightly, as if he were teasing, but I had the funny feeling he meant it.
“How far do you think we could go?” I asked. “In the name of… science?”
“I don’t want you to do anything for your magic that you aren’t ready to do anyway, Deidra,” he said softly. “It isn’t worth it.”
“You don’t have to protect me,” I said. “I know what I want. I don’t want to push you.”
His eyebrows arched. “Oh, you know what you want? And what is that, Deidra Ainsley?”
“I want you,” I said.
I had my doubts—I didn’t want Nix to make yet another sacrifice for me—but the most delighted smile rippled across his face. There was no questioning what he wanted when he looked at me like that.
He caught me around the waist and kissed me again.
And even if the world hadn’t bloomed around the two of us whenever my lips met his, that kiss still would have been magic.
Chapter Twelve
Nix caught me up in strong, powerful arms, scooping me against his chest. He lay me down on his coat. I gazed up at his beautiful face as the two of us traded kisses again.
The cold seemed to fade away. The wind still rustled harshly through the trees around us, and snowflakes still fell in big, soft flakes. They stuck in Nix’s hair, white dots peppering his thick, dark hair.
He looked up suddenly, as if he noticed. His long pink tongue darted out and caught a snowflake on its tip. He grinned down at me, as if this moment was magic to him too.
“You’re like no one else I ever met, Deidra,” he said.
When he kissed me again, his lips were cold, but they heated quickly against mine as we traded fevered kisses.
I sat up on my elbows to unzip my jacket. The heat between his body and mine was enough. His attention felt like sunshine on my skin, no matter how cold the day.
He helped me slip the coat off my shoulders, then leaned forward. His lips found my cheek, my throat, kissing me tenderly. I caught his face in my hands, pressing my lips to his.
No matter that we were outside on a cold winter day, the air between us felt charged with heat. I pulled away long enough to pull my sweater over my head. Nix gazed down at me, his lips parting faintly at the sight of my pale skin and my breasts cupped by a lacy black bra.
Nix was always so cool, and there was delight and power in seeing his gaze smolder as everything between us shifted.
I caught his hand in mine and brought it to my breast, remembering that—even though he’d shied away from admitting it before—this would be his first time. He’d never been able to be with anyone before.
Civilians were too breakable.
Hunters were too cold and proud to be with a witch.
I was neither Hunter nor civilian.
But if I’d expected Nix’s usual cool competence might be lost, I was mistaken. As his lips met mine again, his hand cupped my breast, slipping inside my bra. He caressed my breast and then, when my breath hitched as his thumb ran across my nipple, he adjusted his grip, holding me confidently, toying with my nipple in a way that made my aching core throb.
I raced my hand above the waistband of his jeans, feeling the hard ridge of each ab, the way his muscles were taut with desire.
“You’re overdressed for this occasion,” I whispered.
“So are you,” he said, reaching back to unclasp my bra. When it slipped loose, I thought icy air would brush over my nipples, but it felt like summer hung in the air just around us, even though snowflakes fell steadily among the trees.
Nix drew his t-shirt over his head. I could finally study the tattoos that ran across his shoulders and chest. Protection runes in dark ink were marked across his chest, protecting him from demon possession and from other spells, but a profusion of colorful animals, swords and symbols had been tattooed across his chest to hide the runes from any unpracticed eye.
I ran my fingertips slowly over the family of tigers across his chest. Three golden tigers, and one snow tiger with brilliant blue eyes. He saw himself as different, all the time. Something about that made me ache. Did he see himself as alone?
He leaned into me, kissing me again. At least for the moment, I could show him that he wasn’t alone. My fingers raced down his body, before teasing open his belt. He smiled against my lips as I drew him out. He was thick and long, solid in my hand, and from the faint smile that crossed his lips, he knew how impressive he was.
I flicked my thumb across the head of his cock, teasing him, and the self-satisfied expression fled, replaced by desire.
Together, the two of us finished undressing each other. We fell onto his coat as he caressed between my thighs, his touch sending tingles across my skin. I played with him, watching his face, enjoying the power I had as I worked my hand over his cock over and over again.
Then he leaned over me, kissing me, and I drew him against me. His breath hitched as his tip brushed against my slick heat. I hadn’t even realized how wet I was until his cock brushed over my aching, wet core.
His arms tented my head on either side, but his intent gaze met mine as he held himself away.
I had to smile. He was so careful, giving me every chance to change my mind, as if my body—and my heart—weren’t on fire for him.
“Come here,” I said, my voice coming out husky.
I wrapped my thighs around him, and he plunged inside me. He gasped at the feel of me around him, and I wrapped my arm around his shoulders so I could hide my smile against his neck. I never knew it would be so hot to be with a guy who was a virgin.
But then he rocked against me, pulling out and then pushing in over and over again, and my grin dropped away as I was overcome by the heat and desire I felt for him.
The two of us moved together. He kissed me again, and his lips seared to mine as much as his body did.
Pleasure swept over me, warm and tingling, and my thighs tightened around his lean hips. Something made me open my eyes, and I looked above us to the gray clouds above, limned by golden sunlight. Heavy flakes of snow fell from the clouds steadily, but the snow didn’t touch us.
Then the golden and the
gray all blurred together, and I murmured, “Nix.” My hand tightened on his shoulder, my fingernails digging into his shoulder.
My toes curled in the grass and flowers that had bloomed at our feet. My muscles tightened, tightened until I almost couldn’t bear it anymore. A wild tingling ran through my body, a sensation I’d never felt before. My hips rocked up against his, the two of us still moving in time.
The sky above us seemed to brighten, some of the clouds shifting to reveal a clear vivid blue, the same color as Nix’s eyes, as my orgasm crested. I bit my lip as languid warmth bloomed across my body.
My muscles relaxed, and I fell back into the soft pillow of Nix’s coat. Around us, the flowers waved; a garden had grown up around us.
I reached out and plucked one absently, twining the stem around my fingertips. I brought the bloom to my nose. It smelled sweet and fresh and real.
Nix plucked a flower too. He examined it for a second, and I thought he would have something to say about the magic, but instead, he brushed it over my décolletage, down the curve of my breast and my flat stomach. The soft petals tickled, but in a pleasant way.
I smiled up at him. “You seem to be taking my magic in stride.”
“It would only scare someone who didn’t know you, D,” he said. “I want you to be powerful.”
Because he knew me. Because he believed I would do good with my power.
His lips followed the path of the flower, kissing me, tasting me, and I let my eyes drift shut, lost in the magic of his affection.
Chapter Thirteen
Nix and I were hiking back through the woods as dusk fell above the pines, when he abruptly stopped.
I took a step past him, then turned back.
He rubbed his hand across his chest absently, as if something invisible hurt him.
“Someone just crossed our lines,” he said. He drew his sword from the sheath. Together, the two of us made our way across the woods.
Night was coming on fast, and I shivered, cold once again.
“Hopefully it’s Cade and Tris,” he said. “If it’s not, you get on the bike and you get out of here. I’ve seen you drive, I know you can get past the Hunters.”
“Don’t do that,” I warned him.
“What?”
“Act like my life is more important than yours. I’m not going to leave you.”
“You suck at following orders, you know that, Ainsley?” But there was no heat in his words.
“I don’t need you to be gallant.”
“Maybe your life is more important to me,” he said the words so quietly that I almost didn’t hear them.
But they still stabbed into my chest.
“If it is Cade and Tris…” he trailed off.
“What?” I demanded.
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Remember, if you can’t be grown up enough to talk about your feelings…”
He groaned. “Going to hold that against me?”
“Oh, yes.”
But his obvious worry about how what we’ve done will change things for all of us makes me anxious too.
“It’s not your fault,” he said suddenly. “It’s mine. Cade will be pissed at me, not you. If he has any sense, at least.”
“If he has any sense, he won’t be pissed,” I shot back, although I could already feel how unlikely that response was from Cade. “And I don’t think there’s any fault. We’re both consenting adults, and it was to figure out my magic—”
“It was not for your magic.” He wheels on me suddenly, exasperation written across his face. The moonlight glints on his drawn sword. “Let’s get that straight. I wanted you. I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you walk barefoot out of Cade’s room.”
I tried to square that revelation with the way he’d looked at me that day, his eyes so icy even though his voice had been warm before I walked out of the room. I’d had a crush on him before I ever saw him, based on that rough, honey voice. “You did? You just seemed grouchy…”
“I’m always grouchy,” he reminded me. “Doesn’t mean anything.”
He was often grouchy. But not always. When he kissed me, there was none of his usual cold, stoic sternness.
“It’s just a bonus that your magic seems to flare when you’re near me or Tris or…” he tilted his head to one side. “Cade?”
There was a question in his voice.
I raised my eyebrows. “Don’t the two of you talk?”
“I almost hope it is Hunters,” he muttered, moving ahead of me, his boots silent as he crossed the frozen ground. “I hate when Cade nags me.”
“Well, just tell him not to,” I said. “I can take care of myself. I don’t care about that cadre/cadet nonsense.”
He snorted.
His broad shoulders filled my vision as he walked ahead of me. I couldn’t tell if he was protecting me or putting distance between us, or both
If it were Hunters who broke our lines, I knew he’d die to protect me.
But if it was Cade and Tristan?
I didn’t know what will happen to the new sprouts of affection between Nix and me, which were a lot more fragile than the flowers we’d left behind, wilting now without our heat.
Chapter Fourteen
Cade
I whipped a u-turn in the driveway, pointing the car back down the driveway for a quick escape if we had to get out of here.
Tristan rubbed his hand over his face as he startled awake, then looked blearily out the window. My brother could fall asleep anywhere.
Most notably, he fell asleep in any class that didn’t keep his attention. He was lucky he didn’t have to take math at the academy. Fractions and equations had put him into a near-coma during high school.
“Wake up.” I slugged him in the shoulder, even though he was already awake. I was irritated that Malcolm had told me to bring him along.
The safest place for both Deidra and Tris should be the academy. The pressure of taking care of my little brother was so intense that I struggled not to take my anger out on him.
He was all the family I had left. I couldn’t lose him.
He shot me a dirty look as he rubbed his shoulder. “You think they’re here?”
“Yeah, they’re here. You slept through it, but I felt Nix’s magic when we crossed his wards.”
Tristan hid a smile as he turned toward the door, and I hit him in the shoulder again.
“What?” I demanded. Tristan loved to accuse Nix and me of having the ultimate bromance. He’d asked already once if I could even date Deidra, or if Nix had already claimed me. My little brother was a jackass.
“You hit me one more time, we’re going to have a come-to-Jesus meeting and you aren’t going to like it,” Tristan warned me. “I’m not your damn cadet here.”
“You’re my brother,” I said, which was worse, “and I’d like to see you try. Except we’ve got more important shit to deal with.”
“Then stop being an asshole,” he said. He was already out of the car, but he leaned back in to say, “Especially around Deidra. She’s not going to like it.”
Before I could answer, he slammed the door.
I got out and shot him a look over the top of the car. “I don’t give a damn what she likes.”
“Right.” Tristan’s face was so deadpan that he obviously didn’t believe me. “Sorry. Forgot.”
Nix emerged from the woods, his sword held low in his hand. When he saw us, his watchful expression didn’t change like it normally would have, but he slid his sword over his shoulder into his harness.
“The Council doesn’t know where we are,” I told him. His posture carried a wary toughness. Did he really think we’d lead the Council right to them?
“Good.” Nix’s voice was grim, though. “Tell me you brought food.”
Deidra stepped out of the woods behind him. She wore a thick pink coat—well, Nix had clearly picked that out for her—and her dark hair had been dyed blond. She looked so different that I barely r
ecognized her for a second, and then I saw her familiar green eyes, her stubborn jaw, the sweet pronounced shape of her lips, and my heart stuttered.
“Yeah,” I said, remembering to answer him.
I’d been so worried about her. Seeing her again brought a spike of relief to my chest.
She came closer, raising her hood to cover her hair.
“Tris.” She had a big, genuine smile for him, and he wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off her feet in a hug.
“I’m so glad to see you again,” he told her frankly. “I was so worried about you.”
“About me?” she asked lightly. “I don’t know why. I was more worried about you, stuck at the academy eating that shitty food and suffering academy life without me.”
“You do make it all a lot more bearable,” he told her. The look that passed between them was affectionate and mischievous. Jealousy tightened my chest.
“I do have news from the Council,” I said shortly. “Can we get inside and do some planning?”
Instead of just standing out here in the falling snow, watching Tristan flirt with Deidra?
“Hello to you too,” Deidra said lightly to me.
Before I could roll my eyes, she bobbed up onto her toes to wrap her arms around my shoulders. I hesitated before wrapping my arms around her waist. She was already pulling away before I hugged her back, and she slipped through my arms.
“I knew you’d come,” she said, but her cheeks flushed like she was embarrassed at having hugged me when I did such a dismal job hugging her back.
I wasn’t a hugger. But I wanted to hug Deidra.
“Always. You need me, I’m here.” Jesus, I couldn’t believe I’d just said something so cheesy. This conversation made me feel rattled. “Unfortunately, it’s not great news.”
“This is my surprised face.” Nix looked even more grouchy than usual.
