Provoked (Space Mage Book 1)

by Izzy Shows

  She was so powerful, so intelligent, so beautiful.

  The urge to claim her, to make her mine, was fierce and surprising.

  I pressed it down as quickly as I could, cursing under my breath and grateful that the thunder covered the sound. I didn't need Walter asking what had me upset, didn't need him to know how the woman affected me.

  No one can know. Especially not her.

  A foolish thought. There was little doubt in my mind that she knew how she affected me. It was the reason she'd withdrawn from me after the temple—she'd felt my body against hers when I caught her, when she'd almost fallen, and it had frightened her. I'd done everything I could since then to make her feel at ease around me. I’d kept my distance. I was careful never to touch her, no matter what. And it had worked, for the most part.

  But that didn't mean my body didn't react to hers with every little smile, every throaty laugh, and especially now, when she might as well have been a Greek goddess come to life.

  She tilted her head back, her arms spread wide, and as if she'd read my mind, let out that same dangerous laugh.

  Absolutely fucking intoxicating.

  It was all I could do to just stare at her, to worship from a distance and yearn to be close to her.

  Your thoughts are bordering on dangerous. Get control of yourself while you still can. She's just a woman. No different from any other woman.

  Bull. Shit.

  But I knew that the voice inside my head was spot-on. I needed to be careful, needed to make sure I didn't edge into dangerous territory that I might not be able to come back from.

  Time seemed to pass in a way I couldn't track as Xiva transitioned from one spell to another, playing god with the universe. She called the wind and rain at her command, sent it away when she was done with it, moved the sand as if it were nothing more than a plaything, and rocked my concept of power.

  I had never seen anyone, anything, more powerful than she was in that moment.

  To say it was humbling would be an understatement in the extreme.

  Her hands dropped to her sides for the umpteenth time, and I waited for the next spell to start, but she stood there for a while, taking in deep breath after deep breath. She tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and let her shoulders sag.

  She was finished, then.

  Slowly, afraid I might break the moment like a knife spearing a bubble, I climbed to my feet and approached her. One of her ears—which were longer and a little more pointed than the average human’s—twitched in my direction, and she opened her eyes. She didn't turn her head, just looked at me out of the corner of her eye, and a slow grin curved her lips.

  "Fantastic," I said, aware of the awe in my voice.

  "There are no words to describe," she said. "No words that can hold the meaning of such joy."

  Euphoria.

  It was all the confirmation I needed that she had felt it at the temple, too, just as I had. She had felt the way the power rushed through her, leaving her charged and ready and needing to do something.

  Why did she pull away from me, then?

  It was ridiculous to wonder about that now; it had been a month, and I should have long ago put the thought to bed. But, still, it irked me.

  "I'm glad you had fun," I said. "Are you finished?"

  Her smile turned mischievous, and she turned to face me. She shook her head slowly.

  "No."

  I frowned. "What more could you have to do?"

  "Fight me."

  I gawked at her, certain I had heard her wrong. "Excuse me?"

  "I do not understand, but it is clear you are refusing. Fight me, Kaidan," she said, and that mischievous grin didn't so much as falter. She knew I wouldn't be comfortable with the idea of fighting her, and here she was, laughing at me for it.

  "That's not going to happen," I said.

  Xiva was a terrifying woman, but I didn't like fighting women unless it was absolutely necessary. It left a bad taste in my mouth. And, yeah, I'd just seen her command the heavens—but you don't just get over three decades of thinking one way overnight.

  "Are you afraid?" she asked, smirking.

  Denial jumped to my lips, but I bit it back before it could get out.

  Yes. Yes, I am afraid of you.

  I could be honest in my own mind, at least. I would be a fool if I had witnessed that display of power and somehow not been afraid to fight her. I had some cool mutations of my own, but I couldn't command lightning whenever I wanted to.

  "Or perhaps you think you are too noble to fight a woman, yes?" She stalked towards me, and I backed away before I could think about the message that sent. "You think I cannot handle it?"

  "N-no. That's not what I said at all," I said, holding up my hands in a defensive fashion. "Calm down."

  "You will fight me, Kaidan," she said. "I will accept no less."

  "Sorry, honey, but that's just not happening. I won't do it."

  She punched me.

  And it wasn't your average, run of the mill punch, either. It was a blow to the gut, with all the power she commanded, and I flew into the air and landed hard on my ass several feet away from her, the sand all around me going up in a cloud when I hit the ground.

  I may not be a smart man most of the time, but I know when to stay down. I stayed down then, lying flat on my back and staring up at the now sunny sky.

  She's fucking terrifying.

  "Fight me, Kaidan," she called, her voice dancing across the air. "I need to train. You will fight me."

  Fine. If she can throw a punch like that, maybe I will fight her.

  With a grunt, I jumped to my feet and stalked toward her. She was ready for me the moment my feet hit the ground; she hadn’t wasted a second in getting into a fighting position.

  Her knees were bent, her hands out to either side, and the wicked grin on her face was enough to drive my blood wild.

  She was looking forward to the fight. Here was a woman who understood the joy of battle.

  She wasn't wasting time, and neither was I. I lunged for her and locked an arm around her neck, but she slammed an elbow into my gut again and swept her foot behind me so that as her blow sent me backward, she tripped me and I landed on my ass again.

  I knew how to take a beating, and it was clear that that was what this was going to be.

  I got the fuck back up.

  It was a goddamn brutal fight, and about a quarter of the way into it, I realized she wasn't holding back, and there was no reason for me to do so, either. I allowed the scales to spring out of my skin, let my nails elongate into claws, and tore into her.

  We fought for what felt likes ages, locked in a battle that was both beautiful and painful. How could it be anything less with her? That’s what she was; that's what it was like to look at her.

  Painfully beautiful.

  I pulled out all the stops and landed a few blows that I would classify as lucky. I followed up a hard jab to the gut with a sharp upward snap of the arm so my fist connected with her nose and my claws sliced along her cheek—that was about the extent of the damage I caused her.

  If it hadn’t been for the scales and the tech suit, I was sure she would have done a helluva lot worse than she did. The blows she landed to my gut, my shoulders, and the backs of my legs were all so powerful that it was a wonder I didn't break in two.

  At long last, I flew across the sand and slammed to the ground for the last time. I slammed my fist against the sand twice—crying uncle, giving up, conceding defeat.

  From beneath my eyelashes, I could see her walking toward me, her gait unhurried as she swayed across the sand.

  She's a specter of death, but, goddamn, what a way to go out.

  She stopped beside me, looking down at me with a warm smile as she extended her hand. I took it without hesitation and allowed her to pull me to my feet.

  "I think you broke a few of my ribs," I groused, rubbing a hand along my ribcage.

  "You fought well, Kaidan."

  I snor
ted. "You kicked my ass."

  Her skin flared, and she looked away from me, and only then did I notice the way her skin was subtly pulsing and the way her chest rose and fell rapidly as she drew in air.

  Fighting the adrenaline, eh?

  But I didn't say anything about that. I knew she wasn't fond of the way her blood affected her; it was evident in the way she had pulled away from me when the spell we'd done together had affected her. She didn't like to be out of control, and that was exactly what battle did to you.

  "I don't see why that was necessary," I said. "I don't think I helped you at all."

  She glanced up at me from beneath heavy lashes, her pink/purple eyes sparkling with a fire I hadn't expected. "My advantage is unfair. I was Chosen by Vivoth, and his power runs through me. You would be my match, otherwise."

  "Vivoth?" I asked.

  It wasn't the first time she'd said the name, but there'd never been a good opportunity to ask about it before.

  "One of my gods," she said.

  Ah, of course. She was very religious; otherwise, she wouldn't have been so familiar with the temple she had taken us to. I’d almost forgotten about that, what with the way things had been going of late.

  "And he chose you? What does that mean?"

  She opened her mouth to respond, but she didn't get the opportunity.

  A deafening explosion went off instead.

  Kaidan

  At once, we took off for the base, Walter floundering behind us to keep up. But there wasn't time to wait for him. There wasn't time for anything.

  If the explosion happened inside the base, everyone in there could be dead.

  But when we reached the base, it was evident that the explosion hadn’t occurred inside. One of the digging machines that had been brought back from the dig site for repairs had exploded.

  Had been exploded.

  Because that thing definitely hadn’t blown up for no reason. It was clear as day that someone was sabotaging the mission, but who?

  People were running out of the base en masse to view the destruction, and as soon as we reached them, it became clear who they wanted to pin it on.

  Xiva.

  "You!" a woman snarled, pointing sharply at Xiva. "You did this!"

  Xiva faltered mid-run and backpedaled a few steps, clearly confused by the sudden confrontation.

  "I did not!" she said, but the sudden rise of emotion in her voice made it hard to understand her.

  I cringed. That was only going to make it worse. It highlighted the fact that she was an alien, an outsider, for anyone who might have been capable of forgetting that for a second, considering how alien she looked. Her blue skin, odd eyes, elfin ears, and white hair were doing her no favors.

  "You've been trying to sabotage our mission from the moment you showed up," a man said, coming forward to stand beside the woman. I didn't recognize any of them—it was a big project, with a lot of people, and I didn't know all of them by sight. But it didn't matter, because a crowd was quickly forming, all of them screaming at Xiva.

  Her face had gone pale, and she was looking at me with confusion and despair in her eyes as her skin pulsed irregularly.

  Definitely not a regular thing, then.

  It was odd that that thought would come to me now, but I chalked it up to being in a state of shock. I couldn't believe they were all turning on her like this, and I feared the crowd would turn violent.

  As if my fears had summoned him, Anders appeared at the head of the crowd, silent and grim. I could see on his face what he was going to do, and I felt the rage building inside me.

  "Xiva, will you please come with me?" he asked, polite as ever.

  Without thinking about it, I stepped in front of her. "What are you doing, Anders?"

  He jerked back a bit, clearly surprised. "Stand aside, Norton. This matter doesn't concern you."

  Orders are orders.

  The familiar mantra came to me, and my instinct was to do as my commander said. But I couldn't. I wasn't willing to.

  Xiva laid a hand on my shoulder, and I turned to her to find sad resignation on her face.

  "They will lose control if you continue," she said, her voice so soft that only I could hear her.

  "You didn't do this," I said stubbornly.

  I didn't trust Xiva any more than I could throw her. We'd done a spell together, and she'd been teaching me magic, and hell, maybe she'd grown on me a bit. But there was no saying she hadn’t suckered me into doing something that would come back to bite me in the ass, and I couldn't allow myself to get sidetracked from the threat she could possibly be.

  But I knew she hadn’t done this. This destruction—it hadn't been her.

  It didn't matter that I didn't trust her, that I didn't believe her about her brother. I knew that she hadn’t done this. She'd been with me at the time of the explosion.

  Using magic.

  She'd been using magic out in the open, calling down lightning. Who's to say she didn't send it to the base?

  I hated thinking that, but I couldn't help it. I couldn't help the doubts it set up in my head, couldn't stop the way my eyes narrowed in suspicion as I looked at her.

  The sadness on her face deepened, and her skin faded to a muted blue.

  "I did not, Kaidan," she said. "But it is all right. I understand."

  She stepped around me to face Anders.

  "I will come with you," she said, her voice so calm that it didn't so much as quiver. How could she be so calm in the face of arrest?

  Anders came forward, disengaging from his belt the set of cuffs he always wore in case of a disturbance, but he'd never needed to use before. She held out her wrists, and the cuffs hissed closed on her, adjusting to her size immediately.

  "I believe you," he whispered. "But there's nothing I can do. If I don't do this, they’ll turn on you."

  She nodded, lifting her chin. "We are at the mercy of our people."

  A look passed between them that I doubted I would ever understand. The language of leaders.

  "She was with me when the explosion went off, Anders," I said, unable to stop myself from protesting even though I knew that it would do no good. Even though I harbored doubts inside my own mind.

  "He's been seduced!" a familiar voice cried from the crowd, and I watched as Mercy elbowed her way to the front of the pack. "He's been seduced by the witch. She’s taken control of his mind. That’s why he’s defending her!"

  I stared at her, shocked by the accusation, unable to say or do anything to dispute it. I had never really thought anyone would ever say something as completely idiotic as that.

  But it was the look on Xiva's face that actually hurt me, that speared my heart. It was the look of one who had been betrayed. Mercy had been kind to Xiva, though not overly friendly. She hadn't spent time with any of us since we'd gotten back from the trip to the temple, but the two of them had bonded somewhat during the trip, and I knew they still talked occasionally.

  Well, as much as Xiva could talk.

  It stunned me that Mercy would turn on her now, which was enough to jar me back into motion.

  "What the hell has gotten into you, Mercy?" I snapped. "You know Xiva. You know she wouldn't do something like this."

  The words kept spilling from my lips, even though I didn't entirely believe what I was saying. At the moment, I was willing to let my doubts wait until a more opportune time—I was more concerned about what would happen to Xiva at the hands of this crowd.

  "Yeah, I know her, and I know what she's capable of. I saw the witchcraft she used when we left the base. She doesn't have to be near things to blow them up. She can do it with her mind! And she can sneak into yours just as easily." She whirled to face Anders, turning her back on me. "He's a threat, sir. If she has control of his mind, he's a threat to all of us."

  The crowd began to murmur amongst themselves, and then they got louder and louder. They were agreeing with her, condemning me.

  The look on Anders' face was pained, bu
t resigned.

  "I'm sorry, Norton," he said softly.

  "Save it," I muttered.

  I would go easy enough.

  But Mercy was going to pay for her betrayal. I'd see to that.

  Xiva

  Idiots. Children. Ignorant little children.

  I could not stop condemning them in my mind, over and over again. I was unable to believe how foolish they had been.

  I had abandoned my scruples the moment Mersssssee revealed herself from the crowd, lashing out at Kaidan in so vicious a fashion that I could not believe it had happened. It was then that I realized something was wrong with her: either she was lying now, or she had been lying throughout our trip to the temple.

  It was imperative that I discover the truth.

  All this was to excuse me from the crime I did commit: I invaded her mind.

  It was not difficult to slip past her meager, instinctual defenses without raising any alarms, and now that I understood a great deal of her language, I understood her thoughts.

  She was behind the sabotage, and she wanted to lay the blame at my feet.

  I didn’t understand enough of her thoughts to figure out the way of it, but that was enough for me—to hear the glee in her thoughts at getting away with the crimes she'd committed, uncaring for the lives she'd endangered in the process.

  And now, I was being framed for her crimes, and these stupid skiva believed her.

  How could they be so blind?

  I will have to prove it to them. I will have to show them her deception, so they cannot ignore it. But how?

  I paced the cell I'd been locked inside, walking to one wall and back to the other over and over again, my hands clasped behind my back as I tried to think. It was a tiny cell with nothing more than a cot in it, and the walls were some sort of metal.

  I found it frustratingly small, not allowing me the movement I needed to think properly.

  I wished I could talk to Kaidan to receive assistance from him in determining how to go about convincing the others of Mersssssee's crime, but although he had been arrested as well, he had not been brought to the same section of the base I was.