A Final Touch: The Complete Series, page 32
He strode toward me. Nodding at the guard, he muttered, “I’ve got this.”
Yes. He had it. When I didn’t turn, he encouraged me with a soft motion of his hand.
I met his eyes. “Look, you only did this four days ago. I’m pretty sure the seals are fine.”
“Your sister’s seals might have lasted a month. But in that time, you barely ran into anyone. And you certainly never fought. You’ve had four days of non-stop action. I have to check them and redo them.”
He didn’t say it was non-negotiable, but the threat was there.
It took gargantuan effort to turn. My body wanted to melt into the ground. That pretty purple tree wasn’t beautiful anymore. It felt like a wall. The whole garden did, the compound too. Worst of all were Velos’s wings. They still spread out around his back, angling slightly toward me like a noose about to drop down from above.
I couldn’t clench my teeth any harder. He settled his hand on my back, and a shiver bolted through me.
“You’re upset,” he said. You didn’t need to be a perceptive genius to note that.
“It’s the pain—” I lied.
“Then luckily for you I’ve found a way to soothe it.”
Without another warning, he placed his hand flat on my back. But he brought his other up then gently touched the left side of my cheek. It was the exact side the wolf had smelled in my dream this morning. This was an entirely different experience. The second Velos touched my skin, everything felt numb. It was like a giant wall dropped down between me and my feelings. I knew I was standing. There was enough tactile feedback to balance. But that was it.
Magic visibly rose up over my shoulders, making my hair glow. It lasted a minute. Then Velos stepped back. It took a few more seconds for him to remove his hand from my face. It soon swung beside him as he walked in front of me. “It’s done.”
I felt a little foggy. Rubbing my eyes, I nodded. Was I this sleepy before he touched me?
“You might feel slightly out of it. It was essentially anesthesia.”
“OK. No. Not OK. What if I have to get into another fight?”
He smiled. “Then the seals will do exactly what they’ve already done. They will keep you safe from casual tactile contact but protect you during battles.”
… Protect me? From the smile and the way he said it, he was acting like they were a shield. But they were the exact opposite. They’d lock up my powers, essentially stopping me from learning how to use them.
If I ever could. Had I let Kelsey get into my head?
Velos stood exactly where he was, watching me. “You seem suspicious.”
The Engelos wasn’t one to hold back. I started off letting out a harsh breath. Then my shoulders sank. “I want to learn to use my powers on my own, that’s all. I’ve hated seals my entire life. It’s not you,” I said, forcing myself to believe that. Velos had saved me and protected me so many times. I might not have daily contact with him, but I knew he was the only other person I could confidently call on.
“I don’t know who suggested you can control your powers, but you’ll never be able to. They don’t work like that.”
My cheeks prickled. “How do you know?”
“Because I have thought about them deeply since we first met.”
How deeply? From the pitch of his voice, it was as if he hadn’t thought of anything else.
The wind whipped past me, making a mess of my hair. I didn’t even try to tuck it behind my ears, though if Jace were here, I would’ve kept trying anyway.
“I believe you are a kind of natural throttle on magic,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
“Magic is a unique and powerful skill, true. But it was never intended to be as widespread as it is now.”
There was something about the way he spoke that echoed Charles. “Everybody has the right to practice, though,” I said.
“Many powers aren’t helpful. I’m sure you have encountered multiple creatures throughout your last four days that would have… how do I put it? It would’ve been better if they were not that strong.”
He was pussyfooting around, but what he essentially wanted to say was it would be better for everyone if they didn’t exist.
My hackles almost rose. Then I stopped myself. Every true old magical race thought they were better than everyone else. Even the shifters did it to some extent. But the Engelos were the only real ancients. Of course they’d want to restrict power. Once upon a time, it would’ve just been them.
Velos stared into my eyes deeply and soon shook his head. “I’ve been ineloquent. Sorry. I also fundamentally believe that magic ought to be a right. But I do not think some extreme powers are worth the danger they pose.”
I blinked. “Doesn’t that mean me?” Lifting my hands, I gestured with them.
The expression that came over Velos’s face was one of pure acceptance. It was as if he carved a line through the world, separating me from everyone else. The wheat from the chaff. The strong from the weak. The valuable – i.e., me – from every other thing.
Pushing forward lightly, he paused, then touched my shoulders, staring deeply into my eyes. “No. That doesn’t mean you. You,” his voice deepened, “will always belong.”
I thought the conversation would continue. Apparently, Velos was busy. Who knew the Engelos had a phone? It rang in his pocket, and plunging his hand into it, he pulled it out. With one glance at the screen, he nodded at me. “I must fly. May those seals protect you for another day.” Without waiting for a goodbye, he flew up into the air, all feathers and force. The downward pressure flattened my hair over my face, but his words rang in my ears.
“For a day? Surely these seals will last longer than that?”
He was already well and truly out of sight.
Sucking my bottom lip in, I chewed it, then reached a hand up to touch my seals. Fortunately, Velos didn’t need to actually make physical contact with my skin. I wanted to, needed to, run my nails down those deep, irritating tingles, maybe even dig them out.
It wouldn’t work.
They were set. And if Velos’s quick words were anything to go by, every day from now on, he’d reseal them, closing me up like some old crypt. A true shiver ran through my shoulders as that thought – and image – settled.
Chapter 4
Striding back into the kitchen, I found Kelsey. While she’d flipped two crepes pretty well, the others were a mess.
She wouldn’t look at me as I walked in. I let out a deep chuckle. “It doesn’t matter. They’re deconstructed pancakes now. It’s on trend.”
“I don’t know what that means, but I do know there are some things I’m suited for and some things I’m not.”
Soon, I set about making the chocolate sauce as I tried not to touch my back.
Kelsey noticed. “Do they hurt or something?”
“Yep. They feel like a wall in my flesh.”
“Is it meant to keep your powers held back from us or you?”
It was a surprisingly astute question. But I shrugged without an answer.
We dropped into silence. Deciding I had to fill it somehow, I soon asked, “What do you do, anyway?”
She took it as a challenge. “Is this where you’re gonna rag on me for being a simple shifter? New-found powers going to your head?”
“Firstly,” I placed a dollop of chocolate sauce in my mouth, “they’re not newfound. Secondly, I’m literally curious. What does an ordinary day of one of Jace’s shifters look like?”
“Jace is the Alpha. That’s not the name of the pack.”
“What is it?”
“The Mythos Pack.”
“Creative.”
I needed to tread a fine line with Kelsey. It was like befriending a stray. Act too fast – and be too snarky – and she’d up and leave. At the same time, if I switched to sweetness and light, she’d suspect something was wrong.
The scrunch of her crossing her arms sounded louder behind me. “I wouldn’t be down on the pack if I were you. But if you have to, come out and do it before Virginia arrives.”
That was the second time she’d warned me in such a dangerous tone.
Finishing off the sauce, I returned. I arranged the pancakes on the plate, then started drizzling the chocolate over them. Kelsey’s eyes darted down, stomach rumbling. I finished off with some shavings of dark chocolate, some fresh berries from the fridge, and a dollop of whipped cream. Then I handed her a plate, though I expected her to pay the price with information. “Can you tell me everything about Virginia?”
“Didn’t you look her up on the Internet?”
“You’ve told me all of that is pointless. Because everything I’ve read suggests she’s an all-around incredible woman—”
“Shifter,” Kelsey corrected, ankle-shatteringly fast. “And she’s not a shifter. She’s a true she-wolf. The daughter of an Alpha, she was born with power. And with everything that comes along with it.”
“Which is?” Chocolate sauce ran off my spoon, and I licked the end, never dropping my eyes from Kelsey.
“She understands the importance of pack loyalty, of keeping groups together. And she will chase out anyone she doesn’t think fits.” It was Kelsey’s turn to gesture with her spoon. A big dollop of cream splashed off the end and fell on the glimmering stainless steel bench top. I couldn’t help but equate it with me once Virginia scraped me off the walls and threw me out like trash.
Turning dejectedly back to my pancakes, I tried not to look too sad.
Kelsey saw it. “I’d walk on eggshells around Virginia. Their relationship is already tense.”
My treacherous eyes jerked up, opening hopefully.
Kelsey snorted. “Yep, saw that. Stop that right now. Jace is taken.”
“I’m not….”
“I’m not an idiot,” she spoke right over me, her tone deadpan. “Neither is Jace. He worked his way up from the bottom, becoming one of the most powerful werewolves in the country. He did that through sheer discipline. It’s made him a serious force to be reckoned with. His senses are some of the best. You think he doesn’t know you’re attracted to him?”
A queasy shot of nausea twisted through my gut, making me drop my chocolate-laden spoon. I sucked my bottom lip in instead and tried not to think of all the times Jace had voluntarily gotten close to me.
… I couldn’t be misinterpreting those signals, right? He hadn’t needed to fold himself around me to flip that fish.
Unless he was distracted? Or he thought I’d fall over? Heck, he could’ve been playing with me.
“Get those thoughts out of your head now,” Kelsey snapped again. “And to answer your question, a day in the life of an ordinary member of the pack looks like this. I move through Mythos City, trying to act normally, going to cafes, restaurants, events, clubs. And I look for crime. It’s that simple. If I find anything too untoward, I break it up. If it’s big, I take it to the pack.”
“So you’re essentially like an undercover cop?”
She shrugged and returned to her pancakes. Not once did she say she loved them. The smacking sounds coming from her lips suggested otherwise.
When I didn’t finish off my own crepes, Kelsey nudged them over to her without an invitation. She paused before she tucked in, gesturing with her spoon. “It won’t be that bad. For now, the Alpha favors you.”
My lips refused to stay still. “For now?”
“Who knows when Virginia arrives. But I can tell you this, she’ll insist on some changes. She won’t want Jace getting so close to you.”
“Does that mean I’ll end up with Velos?” The question wound its way into my head then kind of got stuck. I could see him smiling down at me, touching my shoulder, then flying off. But this time dragging me with him, those big strong arms around my middle, determined never to let go.
The oddest sensation rushed through me. I wouldn’t call it attraction. It wasn’t cold either. It felt stunted and weak as if something had chopped it in half.
Kelsey appeared to think about the question. She soon shook her head. “Virginia is territorial, but she’s not that stupid. You’re an incredible boon. If she simply gives you away to Velos, it’s like admitting that the pack can’t handle you. But at the same time, if you push her, she’ll deal with you in her own way.”
I stared blankly ahead. “She wouldn’t… actually get rid of me, right?”
Kelsey had to laugh. Her spoon scraped the bottom of her plate, removing every last morsel of delicious sauce. Only when she was done did she continue, “She’s not going to throw you off a bridge, if that’s the question. But if you go after her man, if you break the rules of the pack, she’ll come out punching. And girl, you might be strong. But you won’t survive.”
Chapter 5
My head was all messy. Jace had given me the option to go back to my room. Weirdly, I didn’t want to be alone. So I moved between the training area and the kitchen on the premise of making biscuits. Hundreds of fricking cookies. Why? Did I need that many? No. My hands desperately needed a distraction. I also wanted to be located close to the front doors, for the moment Virginia arrived.
Was I eager to see her? It was like ripping off a Band-Aid. Get it done, hopefully in a room full of knives where I could defend myself.
Facetious thoughts aside, I liked the kitchen for another reason. It’s where I felt closest to Jace. Though he was busy, he ducked in, occasionally spooning off dough and making biscuits himself. With that big, broad palm of his, he flattened them out with a single touch. And I stared at it for way too long. Until I reminded myself with a kick that he had senses second to none. He’d smell my attraction, scent the pheromones, probably taste my heartbeat ramming around in my chest.
He walked back into the kitchen now, and I watched his nostrils expand – a micron. “You smell a little stressed.”
“It’s the seals,” I lied. Though was it that much of a fib?
They felt stronger than usual, deeper, too. As if they’d sunk into a different level of me, past the skin, maybe even past the bones. Down into something I’d never touched before.
It turned out to be a good lie, because Jace believed it hook, line, and sinker. Striding over, he paused. Then he leaned over me and smelled. I guess he was trying to check the integrity of the seals in the way the Alpha knew best. But it was the left nape of my neck, and my body stiffened. I might have confused feelings around Velos, but everything made sense with Jace. The heat, the rush, the need.
I wanted to step back, but I’d knock into the burner and disrupt all of the trays lined over it.
“Sorry,” Jace said, for the first time acknowledging he might be a little too close. But his voice got stuck, the throaty rumble deeper than usual.
Knowing it was worse not to respond, I grunted, “It’s okay.”
His eyes flicked over me.
I’d already said Velos could scoop me up with his eyes, could lock me to this spot, could break space in half until it was just us. Jace….
He was beyond words. Just full instinct. If I followed what my body wanted right now, I’d rock against him and slide my hands down his chest.
Maybe Jace could read minds. His eyes narrowed slightly. “We need to talk about—”
Crap. Yeah. Of course. “Virginia,” I squeaked.
Jace looked thrown.
Turning quickly, I busied myself with arranging the trays.
“It may be better for me to take her to the function tonight alone,” he supplied.
“Of course.” I deliberately banged the hollow aluminum trays together until the sound echoed through the room.
If I hoped it would distract the Alpha, good luck to me. He strode over another step until his pheromones were there, a wall of musk and strength.
“I’ll stay here. Maybe do some training—” I began.
“I would prefer it if you stayed in your room.”
“Huh?” I said. “Why?”
“I trust my pack,” he said in a voice that couldn’t carry, “but—”
“You don’t trust the rest of Mythos City? My room is on the second floor. Wouldn’t it be easier to,” I paused, momentarily realizing how crazy this was before I added, “wouldn’t it be easier to, I don’t know, use a magical rocket launcher on it or something?”
Yep. I just said that.
Jace didn’t laugh, suggesting it was possible. Worryingly, the werewolf looked serious as he answered, “The second floor is the most protected.”
“Wouldn’t that be the basement?”
“The previous Alpha ensured there were the strongest magical enchantments on the second level.”
It was a throwaway comment. Until I made direct eye contact with him and let my shoulders hunch. “You mean Patrick?”
His jaw hardened. Those eyes narrowed. For a brief moment, it felt like he could see right through me, like I’d told him about my dreams, about everything.
Reaching out, he placed a hand on my shoulder. It felt measurably different to Velos. There was no pause, just this direct moment of contact. Nothing between us. Almost nothing to stop us—
His phone rang.
God, it was like a chaperone.
And maybe it was close. Because drawing the offending cell from his pocket, I saw the name that flashed on screen. Virginia.
I paled three shades. It was nothing compared to Jace’s reaction. He kind of shut down. The tender werewolf who shared a moment with me disappeared. In his place stood an automaton.
He answered, walked straight from the room, had a quick conversation, and returned. “Virginia is on her way. I’ll meet her at the function.”
“So now is when you want me to retreat into my room and not come out. I’ll be lonely,” I muttered.
“Aim to spend as much time in your room as possible. But come down to the Commons when you need,” he compromised. With that, he walked out.
I wanted to hurl a thousand questions at him. None more important than the one that burned a hole in my heart. How did he really feel about Virginia?
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