Covetous: An Urban Fantasy Romance (The Marked Mage Chronicles, Book 2)

by Victoria Evers

“Seriously, what the hell’s the matter with you? I told you how much I hated you, nearly killed you, and then ran away as far as I could get! Yet, you didn’t take any of that as a hint?” I further prodded. “Why did you hunt me down? What do you want?”

  “You.” The room suddenly felt too small. The walls had to be moving in on me, because my back was against my closet door, and he was only getting closer. “I want you to live up to your potential. I want you to fight back, to takedown the people who’ve hurt you. I want you by my side when I make every last one of them pay for what they’ve done.”

  “You want me to help you kill people?”

  “Some, yes. Others…” He seemed to consider this. “Death may be too good for them.”

  My stomach was no longer in my body. It had to have been replaced by a volcano, because the bile rising in my throat was searing my insides. “I’m not going to be your monster!” I only pressed myself deeper against the closet door as he approached. “And I’m not afraid of you!”

  “I don’t want you to be, either of those things.” His hands pressed against the door on either side of my hips as he lowered himself to meet my eyes.

  “Then what do you want from me?”

  “Everything.” Mind, body, and soul, whispered his voice inside my head.

  “You mean, half a mind,” I sneered in return.

  His eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I’m not an idiot—”

  “I never said you were.” His voice was low and easy as his arms closed in around my waist, pinning me in his embrace. “In time you’ll find I make a far better ally than an enemy.”

  “I think your enemies would disagree,” I sneered.

  “You could always ask them, but it may take awhile to find one that can still talk.” The lazy amusement laced in his tone sent chills up my spine.

  “Kat?” My aunt’s voice made us both whip around. “Kat, is that you?”

  I wanted to DIE as she nudged the door open.

  Jenna froze, taking in the sight of Blaine, not to mention me blocked in between his arms. “Oh, sorry… You said you were at Hannah’s, but I heard your voice…”

  She kept looking between us, drawing the obvious conclusion.

  “It’s not what it looks like,” I growled, shoving past the bleached-blonde jackass still blocking my way.

  “Sadly, I can attest,” Blaine drawled. That charismatic mask of his slid right back into place the moment he turned to face Jenna.

  My aunt, clearly not convinced, still stepped out of the doorway as I snatched up my bag and headed out. “Forgetting something?” she whispered under her breath.

  My baffled look spoke for itself, forcing her to tug at the hem of her shirt.

  “What?”

  She rolled her eyes, nodding down at my outfit.

  Crap. I was still wearing Blaine’s shirt.

  I whirled back around, prepared to grab the first available top I could find. The only thing I wanted was to get out of this room, to get away from him. The instant I turned around though, I was met with immediate resistance, colliding into a solid wall of defined muscles.

  Blaine.

  With that punch-inducing smirk pulling at his lips, he dangled a black shirt between his fingers. A silent peace offering. Ignoring the victorious glint in his eyes, I snatched it from him and stormed out the door.

  The moment I hit the bottom of the landing, I ducked inside the coat closet and swapped shirts at Superman speed. It was a strange sort of talent, really. After going to gym class all these years, this skill became a necessity, if you wished to escape the perfume overload brought on by the girls’ locker room. Within seconds, I reemerged from the closet and threw the shirt at Blaine’s face as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

  “So it’s safe to say you’re not a morning person?” He chuckled, pulling the fabric off his head. It only further added to the tousled, bed-head look he was sporting, and good God, it was nauseating how gorgeous he was. Why did assholes like him always have to be so handsome? It felt like some unspoken law of the land. If your insides were truly ugly, then your outsides had to make up for it. How else were you going to lure in your victims?

  Thank the Lord, Hannah’s Prius was still in the driveway when I bolted outside.

  “Could I have a lift?” I asked, finding her in the garage swiping a stash of energy drinks from the backup refrigerator. I had my own car, but with Blaine still talking to my aunt on the front porch, I wasn’t about to take the chance of him asking for a ride.

  “Sure.” She stole a look over her shoulder, catching the spectacle on display across the street. “But wouldn’t you rather ask Romeo?”

  “I’d rather you hit me with your car.”

  ***

  This day couldn’t end fast enough. John Addams High’s curriculum rotated every other day, and I came to the horrifying realization that Blaine shared every single class with me on this rotation. I didn’t so much as look in his direction, but that inescapable heat in my chest refused to dissipate, leaving me flushed and flustered.

  With an AP Psychology paper due immediately following Winter Break, I used it as an excuse to escape from Study Hall. All I wanted was to disappear, so I went to the one place where that was possible: the library. Perusing the shelves, I grabbed as many of the recommended reads Mr. Dennings had suggested. God knows I needed the help. I still had no idea what my topic was even going to be. With the threat of the apocalypse, thinking about Freud’s psychoanalytic theories hadn’t seemed like a priority.

  Grabbing the final book I needed, I started making my way toward the counter when that familiar heat spread across my chest. For the love of God, could I catch a break? A pair of hands snatched hold of my waist from behind, yanking me back into the aisle. I choked on a stifled scream just as it reached the top of my throat.

  “Surprise,” he whispered into my ear.

  I immediately froze. “Are you stalking me?”

  A soft chuckle warmed my ear. “I wouldn’t be the first guy.”

  “That’s not a consolation. Two wrongs don’t make a right,” I said, turning on my heels to face him. That brilliant dimpled smile of his beamed from ear to ear, only inciting an even bigger smile from me.

  “Hey, Princess.”

  Mindlessly lobbing my collection of books on the nearest shelf, I practically tackled Reese, wrapping my arms around his neck. He welcomed the embrace with a laugh, managing to steady his balance before I toppled him into the bookcase. Returning the gesture, his hands cradled the small of my back.

  “What are you doing here?” I whispered, still unable to wipe the massive smile from my face. “If Blaine sees you—”

  He dipped down, capturing my lips. “Then I suppose we should go somewhere a bit more private then.”

  I opened my mouth in protest, but he laid his finger against my lips and took possession of my hand. Guiding me through the library aisles all the way to the abandoned back corner of the German Philosophy section, he wasted no time. I squealed as he spun me around, pinning me against the bookshelf beside us. His mouth teased in front of me, our faces so close that our noses brushed together. I leaned in, but he recoiled, taunting me in the cruelest fashion.

  “Tell me you’re happy to see me,” he chuckled, biting his bottom lip.

  God, I wanted that lip, and everything else attached to it. That layered chestnut hair, those soulful amber eyes, those adorable dimples. All of it. “I am happy.”

  Those three little words barely escaped my lips before he reclaimed them, kissing me so heatedly I couldn’t even breathe. Tiny shivers danced up my spine as a low moan resonated deep in his throat. The fervent quality to it had me pushing off the bookshelf, erasing what little space was left between our bodies.

  Whispers sounded towards the front of the aisle, and before I could push him away, Reese picked me right up off my feet and carried me to the other end, effectively hiding us from anymore prying eyes.

 
; “Reese,” I hushed. “Mr. Stover and Mrs. Artfield are right in the office over there. What if someone catches us?”

  “I can always make myself invisible. They can’t accuse you of making out with yourself,” he laughed. “Can they?”

  “No, I’ll just look totally certifiable,” I chuckled, giving him a playful shove. It wasn’t enough to deter him though as his lips pressed a soft kiss to my chin.

  “Then we’d be perfect for each other,” he whispered, breathless.

  “And why’s that?”

  Reese caught hold of my waist, reeling me into him until our hips met. “Because you drive me crazy.”

  Heat and ice simultaneously shot through me as his mouth trailed down the left side of my neck. I learned quite quickly that the scars on the other side left by Blaine’s bite didn’t seem to like anyone touching the skin. An unspeakable revulsion would roar through me, leaving me shaken and unnerved. But Reese knew better than to go there, and it was a relief that I didn’t have to explain it. He knew me, better than anyone else.

  I still laughed inwardly at the idea. Reese Blackburn, the same guy who I thought just a couple months ago loathed me with every fiber of his being, was kissing me. And God help me, he felt so good. After everything that happened, he was still the one person—who knew my dark secret—that wasn’t afraid of me. Well, apart from Blaine. But the latter wasn’t saying much. That would’ve been like Hannibal Lector being put off by you becoming a cannibal, only after he forced you to eat his other dinner guests.

  I shook my head, wiping the image of both that and Blaine away. All I wanted was to live in this moment. I would have smashed every clock and hourglass and watch in the world just to hold onto it. I slid my arms up his chest, wrapping them around his neck. Reese hoisted me up by the hips, and it only made my pulse pound harder. Even the heat in my chest had grown hotter. I wanted to tear away every last layer of clothes keeping me from him.

  Just as I crushed my mouth against his, a soft, “Ahem,” rattled us both out of our frenzy.

  To my absolute horror, I looked over to the single leather chair pushed against the corner of the wall not two aisles down, seeing the all-too-familiar icy gaze focused on me. Those eyes almost looked like two slices of silver in the low lighting of the library. Every muscle in Reese’s body went taut as he glanced over at what had so adamantly stolen my attention.

  Blaine merely crooked a brow, eyeing the magician up and down in appraisal, clearly not finding anything to his liking. “Blackburn,” he droned.

  “Well, if it isn’t the Dark Prince of Peroxide,” Reese retorted with equal crass as Blaine ran a hand through his bleached hair.

  “What are you doing here?” I scoffed.

  “What am I doing here? A student? In the library? With a book?” Blaine mocked, flashing us the back cover of some leather-bound volume in his hands. “Gee, I don’t know. You might need to call Angela Lansbury in to solve this one.”

  I deflated, feeling the fleeting euphoria from just a moment before dwindle to nothing.

  Reese released his hold on me, shaking his head. “Come on.”

  He started leading me toward the aisle we’d come from when Blaine suddenly appeared at my side.

  “Do you really care that little about his wellbeing?” the prince remarked, nodding to Blackburn.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Well, I have to ask, seeing how that seems to be the only logical explanation for why you two would be flaunting your affections out in public.” The whimsy in his voice still couldn’t conceal the metallic aroma radiating off him. Yep, he was not a happy camper, and that would’ve delighted me, if not for the clear undertone Blaine had just laid.

  “Are you threatening him?” I growled.

  “Me?” He batted his lashes, the perfect façade of innocence. “Why, never. I just thought that you’d exercise a shred of common sense, being that our boss already made it clear he’d be keeping a close eye on us.”

  Raelynd’s words hit me like a ton of bricks. “I would hate to have to remove a handsome young man such as Mr. Blackburn from the equation.”

  Vibrations coursed up my arm, tickling the heated skin as my hand suddenly clasped around Blaine’s throat. In one fluid motion, I threw him into the end of the bookshelf, my fingers only squeezing harder against his airways. He grabbed hold of me, immediately cutting off the energy from my runes, but panic slammed into him when he realized I hadn’t let up.

  I didn’t need magic to give me power. My fury alone supplemented me with plenty enough. “If anything, and I mean anything, happens to him because of you or your boss, I will end you,” I seethed. “I don’t care how long it takes to break this bond. You hurt Reese, and I’ll become your worst goddamn nightmare.”

  The veins in Blaine’s face began to bulge as he rasped uselessly for air, giving me a perverted pleasure as I pressed harder. I’d expected him to fight back, but his hands grappled at a spot near the center of his chest. He tried to speak, but the pressure on his larynx only let a strangled gasp escape.

  “By the time I’m done with you,” I whispered, leaning into him, “you’ll be begging me to put you out of your misery. And I will take pleasure in giving it to you.”

  I finally released my hold, and he choked on the abundance of oxygen as he sank to the floor. His hands remained pinned to his chest, his body involuntarily shuddering. Even as he gasped at the newly reclaimed air, the panic still hadn’t left Blaine’s face, paralyzing him in place. He pinched his eyes shut, and I startled back at the blaring succession of sharp blasts that sounded inside my head.

  “Kat?”

  I flinched, feeling fingers grip my shoulder.

  “You okay?” Reese whispered behind me.

  Without looking back at him, I took hold of Reese’s hand and ran.

  Chapter 11

  Battlefield

  “All right, what’s going on in that beautifully chaotic mind of yours?” asked Reese, observing me out of his peripherals as he drove his truck back to my aunt’s house.

  I just shook my head, as if that passed for an answer.

  “Just forget about him. At least for the afternoon, anyway. He’s out of sight, so let him be out of mind.” Reese put the truck into park as we rolled up to the front of the house.

  “I don’t know what happened back there. I just…lost it,” I murmured, taking notice to the Nissan’s absence as I climbed out.

  “Hey, cheer up,” demanded Reese, coming up behind me and ensnaring me into a hug as we headed to the front porch. “You didn’t try strangling a puppy, okay? The guy deserved a lot worse.”

  “True.”

  “Not to mention,” he chuckled, kissing my neck as I let us inside, “it was kinda sexy seeing you kick ass like that.”

  “You don’t say?”

  “You were ravishing.”

  “More like ravenous,” I muttered.

  “Yes, you are.” He couldn’t help but grin, hauling me right back into his embrace. “So, what would you like to do with our few stolen hours? Watch a movie, play a game—”

  I pulled him back down to me, cutting off his thought as I crushed my mouth against his.

  “…Or we could just pick up where we left off,” he finished breathlessly.

  “I like the last option.”

  “Me too.” Those infectious dimples never ceased, even as Reese pulled away. “Just for the record, your aunt’s not home, right?”

  At last, I smiled. “No, her car’s gone.”

  “Okay, just making sure,” he chuckled, kissing me once again.

  “What? Are you afraid of her?” I teased.

  “Me? No.” He lowered his voice to nothing more than a whisper. “I just don’t want her to see what I’m going to do to you.”

  My heart soared at the idea, but reality sent me plummeting back to the ground just as quickly. “Reese, you know we can’t—”

  “Can’t we?” His lips teased along my jaw. “Blaine’s already here.”
<
br />   I shuddered at the thought, but quickly realized what he was really saying. The only thing stopping us from going farther than some watered-downed kissing was my fear that the rune for Lust would ignite, signaling to Blaine where I was. But he was already here. What could be the harm now?

  “Sure you can handle it?” I teased.

  “The only people who would question that are those who don’t understand just how incredibly sexy I really am.”

  “Is that so?” I laughed.

  “Yes. That’s why you should be thankful that you can see and appreciate what a catch I really am, all six feet and a hundred and sixty pounds of my glorious slightness.” He couldn’t help but snicker as I shut and locked the front door.

  “I must say, you talk an awfully big game,” I remarked grinningly, removing my jacket.

  “And I’ve got the performance to match,” he grinned back.

  “Oh, really?” I went up and unbuttoned his embroidered black tailcoat, sliding it off his shoulders.

  Reese wasted no time, picking me up and carrying me through the kitchen to the upstairs. At the end of the hall, he laid me down on my bed and removed his waistcoat, unbuttoning his dress shirt as well.

  He suddenly paused as another one of my dangling posters fell to the floor behind him. Reese turned, taking a better look around the room. “Ah…did you do a little redecorating since my last visit?”

  I sat up, seeing Reese gently brush a stray piece of notebook paper away from the bedside. My room was still a total disaster zone from my apparent nightmare-induced tornado.

  As if on cue, a lopsided frame toppled on the dresser, taking the remaining photos down like a row of dominos. Reese, with his lightning fast reflexes, managed to catch the frame at the front of the stand before it crashed to the floor. He looked at the image inside and inwardly cringed. It was a picture of my parents.

  “You hear from them at all?” he asked, nervous.

  I shook my head. “They said they were going for marriage counseling in Phoenix, but from what Blaine inferred, they’re most likely gallivanting around Europe.” I felt sick just thinking about it. And it wasn’t even because Blaine had been spying on them in his quest to hunt me down. It was the fact that he knew more about them than I did. Their own daughter.