Magical Attraction:
Page 3
Dr. Leshni spoke up. “As a human, we can only heal you in bursts or your body will break down from the excess magic we force into you. We can’t heal you in one go.”
“This will help you heal faster,” Dr. Porter said. “Without putting your body at risk.”
Carsyn considered his options before nodding. He stretched out in the bed and began pulling up his shirt to bare his stomach
Dr. Porter grinned. “Great, now, like I said, it’s going to be hot, but it shouldn’t burn you.”
“Shouldn’t?” Carsyn paused pulling up his shirt. “So it can though?”
“If you’re allergic to magic, that’s when it’s most likely to burn,” Dr. Porter said, giving him a reassuring smile. “Are you allergic to magic?”
“He’s fine,” Dr. Leshni said. “We stopped the internal bleeding with magic.”
“Then there’s nothing to worry about.” Dr. Porter shrugged.
I smirked as she took control, removing the bandages around his stomach and then wrapping the cloth around his abdomen instead. She was gentle with her touch, aware of the pain the man before her was in. Once she finished, she stepped back to look at her handywork.
“How does it feel?”
Carsyn grinned. “Warm.”
She grinned back, and I nearly lost my breath. Her whole face transformed, and for once, she looked her age. She was beautiful. “Good. It’s working. Keep this on overnight and then Dr. Leshni will reassess your wounds in the morning. If all goes well, you’ll be discharged.”
I stepped away from the door and the room, leaving them to talk.
While checking on the other two patients, I mulled over what she’d done. She was here for two days and already she was improving the quality of health for my men. Especially the humans.
Yes, she was going to fit in perfectly.
After I checked on Ren, I went up to the conference room where I was going to meet the team Rhett had put together to play babysitter. It was a good idea to keep an eye on her while she adjusted to working here. She was so young, and her potential was going to attract the other lab technicians, and not necessarily for the best. We were highly competitive and the fact that she was joining us and already taking up one of the top three labs was going to rub some people the wrong way.
I’d already had the conversation with their supervisors to make sure no one thought it was okay to act out. I was all about competition, but I was not going to tolerate the ugliness that tended to come with.
Voices hushed as I approached the conference room and when I entered, I couldn’t even hear the group breathe as they waited for me to start the meeting. I sat down, settled back, and looked at everyone.
Rhett had outdone himself. This was a good bunch of people. Despite chaotic schedules, this arrangement would ensure someone was always around.
Davies and Venni were at the end. I wanted to grin. They were just starting to work well together. Half the time, Venni was grumbling about something stupid Davies had done. When Davies first joined us and I’d partnered him with Venni, the wolf shifter made it a habit to visit my office at least twice a day in an attempt to remove the human as his partner. He tossed research at me, throwing out statistics I already knew all about.
I ignored it and now those two were becoming a powerhouse in BMS.
Alijah was there, and I was surprised about that pick. He was a good one, but as a tiger shifter, he spent more time by himself than with people and that made him awkward. He was protective though, and Dr. Porter was definitely going to bring out those instincts.
Ami was there which was good. She’d need a female friend and Ami was a witch. She’d understand magic better than the rest of us and that would be the connection she’d use to build a relationship with Dr. Porter.
Elliot was a pure human, unlike Davies who had some shifter blood in him. One thing I knew about our lab technicians was that they were manic. They’d get so deep into their work that they’d end up on our medical floor for exhaustion and burnouts. Elliot was good at being a voice of reason. He had viewpoints that a lot of supernaturals didn’t.
With this crew, Dr. Porter was not going to be allowed to just hide away in her new lab.
“I’m sure you’ve heard about our new employee, Dr. Laila Porter,” I said.
“We have our own superstar resident,” Davies cheered and Venni scowled at him.
“Yes, we do,” I said and Davies stuck his tongue out at Venni. “And she’s only nineteen.” I handed out a copy of her portfolio for everyone to look over.
“Holy shit.” Ami leaned forward in her seat. “She’ll get eaten alive here.”
“Maybe, but that’s why Rhett has chosen you all. When you aren’t off on assignment, we ask that you keep an eye on her.”
“Babysit her?” Elliot asked.
“What she’s capable of doing will turn heads,” Rhett spoke up. “We need to make sure that when the wrong heads turn, she doesn’t get hurt.”
The team shared glances.
Ami was the first to react, shrugging and saying, “Doesn’t matter to me. I was going to talk to her anyway. I heard she likes to test her prototypes on living beings.”
“For real?” Davies asked, sounding too excited about that and reminding me that he was an adrenaline junkie. His hazel eyes were lit with excitement. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was down in her lab right after this meeting. “I might have to hit her up then.”
“You are not sleeping with her,” Venni said.
“Why do you always assume that’s my only intention? I’m beginning to feel offended. You treat me like I’m a gigolo or something.”
“Because you are. You try to sleep with any female willing to spread their legs.”
Davies’s expression darkened. “And now I take offense. I do not. Yes, I’ve had some fun nights, but you act like I’m out on the prowl every weekend.”
They began bickering, and I let it run for a minute to prevent it from exploding later on. “Cut it out,” I said once I’d heard enough, and they went quiet. “For now, keep your distance. No sleeping with her.” I shot Davies a warning looking. “Let her get used to the environment before you start bombarding her. This will only be for a few months while she adjusts to working here and until we can be sure that no one is going to move against her.”
“You think someone will try to hurt her?” Venni asked.
“Yes.” I had no doubt someone would.
“I know her.” Alijah closed the folder and glared at it as he spoke up for the first time.
“Explain?” I asked.
“A couple months ago when we were hunting down that lizard creature in the park, she was the one who assisted.” Alijah quickly filled us in on the story, about how Dr. Porter stepped in to protect a kitsune family and his brief conversation with her.
“Holy shit,” Davies said. “Who would have thought you were capable of recruiting. Good job, man.”
“I’m sure she has reasons other than that incident to decide to come here,” Venni said.
“That doesn’t matter. She’s here and that incident is the perfect example of why we’ll need to watch her,” I said, giving Alijah a slight nod in thanks for bringing that to our attention. “She’s powerful, and she’s intelligent. She’s also strong willed. She’s going to anger people and they’ll try to retaliate. We need to stop that. The other employees here know what they’re getting into, what to expect, and how to protect themselves. Dr. Porter does not have that training.”
“Will we train her in self-defense?” Alijah asked. “From what I saw, she has the raw talent to fight back.”
“In the future, that’s a good idea,” I said and glanced at Rhett. He nodded, and I knew he was making a mental note to set something up for her once she settled in. “That’s all,” I said and stood up. “Dr. Porter is ours. I’m not letting her go.”
With those words, I left and smiled when I heard Davies say, “This is going to be fun.”
Only he would think like that.<
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But he was right. This was going to be fun. I’d only met her briefly and already my inner beast was howling to be closer to her. I’d never felt like that with a female before.
Dr. Laila Porter was going to be a force to play with.
That had me smiling all the way back to my office.
Chapter Four
~Rhett Gayle Part I~
Lombardi left the room and no one moved. My thoughts went back to the lab technician.
Nineteen.
Too young.
And yet she was good, so damn good that we hired her before she was even out of the building after her interview. My nose flared as I thought about her scent. Cinnamon was the first scent I noticed, but when I went deeper, there was more. She smelled soft and warm, like comfort. She made me think of a late evening in the fall, sipping on something warm while around a fireplace. It wasn’t much of a description to explain her scent, but that was what I came up with. And it made me feel hungry.
That scared me the most. Dr. Porter was making me feel alive again, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. I was a vampire. Control was everything, and somehow just the thought of her was stripping that away from me.
“What are your thoughts?” Elliot asked, dragging me out of my head.
I met his eyes and then that of each of my teammates. I’d done missions with all of them, knew how they’d work. Dr. Porter didn’t understand yet, but she needed people here to watch over her. I contemplated telling her, but from what I knew of our brief meeting, she’d fight back. She’d find offense to having a babysitter. And ultimately, that was what they were going to be—babysitters. Even if I were to dress up the name to something like bodyguards or guardians or protectors, a babysitter was a babysitter. There was no way Dr. Porter wouldn’t call me out on that. It was better if she didn’t know and this team was good enough to keep her from finding out.
“A1 magic users are powerful, some of the top in the world. I’ve met a few of them,” I replied, carefully picking my words. “If she were trained, she’d be able to defeat them all. Her raw talent is beyond anything I’d ever seen.”
There was a beat of silence as they wrapped their minds around what I’d just said. Coming from me, that proclamation was not made lightly, not with my experience and history.
“Are you sure?” Ami broke the silence. On the magic scale, Ami was on the lower end, level E, with just the basics. Didn’t mean she knew nothing about magic. She made it a hobby to read every book on the topic that she could and the little bit of magic she did have she was exceptional at using.
I nodded. “They don’t compare to her level. I don’t think even she realizes how strong she really is. It feels like she hasn’t tapped into it all yet.”
Ami frowned as her eyes grew distant for a moment. “Could be that she has to transition or something. I know some beings need to reach a certain age or go through a ceremony to reach their full potential.”
“That’s what I was thinking. She doesn’t know what she is, her magic manipulation is flawless.”
Ami snorted and a couple of the guys chuckled. My lip twitched.
“Flawless as it can be,” I corrected. “People are going to want her. She’s already making waves in the scientific community. Every top research lab and university wants her on their team. We only got her because she wants to work here more than anywhere else.”
“And now she’s going to make waves in the security world,” Alijah said, connecting the dots. He frowned as he stared at the table, his eyes growing distant as he got lost in his thoughts.
I nodded. “She will most definitely make a name for herself. It’s going to attract a lot of people to her, not all good.”
“Then we kick their asses,” Davies said.
“We will keep her safe.” Elliot nodded.
Ami grinned big, her eyes lighting up with excitement. “We’ll make sure we’re in a position to see them coming.”
“She’s a private person,” I pointed out. “It isn’t going to be easy. I’m not even sure she knows how to have friends. The background information I gathered is spotty. I did get some reports from the enforcers, but even that information was next to none.”
“Trust me, we’re going to get to know her,” Ami said with more confidence than I felt.
Davies chuckled. “If there’s anything we’re good at,” he pointed to Ami and himself, “it’s forcing ourselves into people’s lives.”
I smiled. They were chosen for a reason.
“Just don’t be upfront about it. Approach her slowly if you need to, but keep some distance. I’d rather not learn how she reacts if she is furious and this seems like something to piss her off.”
“How is this going to work?” Alijah asked.
“Keep doing your job, and when you’re free, just keep an eye on her. You don’t need to approach her if you don’t want to,” I said. “I selected enough of you so someone should be able to keep an eye on her. When she’s here, it isn’t as big of a concern as when she leaves. You can coordinate how to do this. Watch the people around her. I want weekly reports, even if it’s as simple as nothing happened. If someone approaches her, tag them. We’ll look into their background. She does jobs on the side that has nothing to do with the company. She has that right, but that means she’ll be easy to approach.”
“They just need to pretend to want her expertise,” Elliot said.
“And it’ll be easy,” I said. “They’ll be able to go directly to her for whatever project they have cooking up. They’ll be able to test her abilities under the disguise of doing a project.” The idea of Dr. Porter being used like that didn’t sit well with me.
Living for over six hundred years had taught me to spot bad intentions before they even walked into the room. Dr. Porter didn’t have that experience and that worried me, especially since she was in a vulnerable position. I didn’t want her to be used. Those were lessons people didn’t need to learn, and she was such a prideful person. No doubt, if someone came to her with a challenge, she’d take it on just to prove that she could do it. That would be her downfall if we weren’t careful.
“What kind of dangerous people do you suspect will approach her?” Alijah asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted and hating that I had to. “I really don’t. That isn’t something we can know until they do. Who knows what they’re planning out there. I image it’ll be a little of everyone, and I hope none of them are on any Enforcers Most Wanted lists.”
“We’ll have to do what we can to prepare,” Venni spoke up. “Make sure we’re ready if anyone extremely dangerous approaches her.”
The others agreed with him, and we slipped into conversation about contingency plans if anyone were to decide to make Dr. Porter into a target.
Shortly after, the meeting wrapped up and the team trickled out of the room. I held back a smile as Ami gave Davies trouble, teasing him about something. When I went to stand, my eyes met dark ones, knowingly watching me.
I paused for a moment, waiting him out. When he still didn’t say anything, I straightened up, gathering my things. Venni didn’t speak often. He was thoughtful, carefully going over what he wanted to say before he spoke. I just needed to be patient.
“You’re already attaching yourself,” he finally said, still sitting at the table.
Eyes widening, I replied, “Excuse me?”
“We don’t do this, not for our employees. We don’t go all out to ensure they stay safe. Yet, both you and Lombardi are adamant about doing it this time. What’s going on?” he asked.
“It’s exactly what I said.” I ran my hand down my dark blue t-shirt, smoothing it out before shoving my phone into my jean pocket. “She’s going to need it. She isn’t used to this world and the dangers that come with it, and she’s strong.”
“Normally, if someone strong joins, you sit them down and talk to them about the risks. Did you do that with her?”
“Early on in the review process.”
For a moment, I was beginning to think Venni didn’t like her, but the moment he said that, I understood. He was being considerate of Dr. Porter. “Venni, she’s nineteen. Our current youngest person is twenty-three and they only started working here a couple of months ago. Davies didn’t even join until his early twenties too.”
“You know age doesn’t mean anything in our world.”
“It does in this case. She hasn’t seen much of the world. From what I could find, she has never even left the city.”
Venni mulled over my words and tapped at the table, only stopping when he spoke again. “She’s going to surprise you. I haven’t met her yet, but she will surprise you. She’s only nineteen, and yet look at where she is in her life. She’s more aware than you think. I get it. I do. The idea of someone so young working here has my wolf pacing. He doesn’t like the idea. He wants to hunt her down, sit outside her door, and growl at anyone who approaches.” He shook his head. “But she’s also going to be a lab technician. She isn’t going to be out in the field, dealing with the ugly in the world. She’s going to be locking herself up in her lab like all the other technicians do.”
I’d never heard Venni talk so much before. He only got like this when he felt strongly about something. Not able to stop myself, I smirked. His eyes narrowed on me.
“What?”
“You haven’t even met her yet and she’s already under your skin.”
“She isn’t.”
I shook my head. “She is. She already got to you without even having to meet you.” Lombardi was right. She was going to make waves in our company.
Venni didn’t say anything for a long time, and he remained silent as he jumped to his feet and stormed out of the room.
The door slammed shut behind him, and I stared at it for a few minutes, my brain trying to dissect what the heck was going on. Strong emotions were already being pulled out of us and we hadn’t even had a chance to say two words to the girl.