Page 2 of Mistake of Magic
I watch him walk away. “The lake is freezing,” I call, but he only lifts a dismissive hand in response. His black pants cling to his hips, which flare into a broad back, crisscrossed with latent muscle and jagged scars. That mysterious tattoo twists down his spine, practically begging my fingers to explore it.
Shaking my head, I start through the dense autumn wood toward the scent of frying meat. After a week of trekking through the neutral lands—skirting along the base of the mountain range that dominated our horizon in Slait Court, and then rising into it, through whispering green foothills and forests ringing with birdsong—the fae and I are now only four hours from the Citadel. Perched atop the summit of a forested mountain, the Citadel is a court unto itself, complete with a strategic view of its territory.
Four hours and then we’ll be there. Asking the Elders Council to accept our oath as a quint. My chest tightens, nausea shifting my stomach. If the rest of the Elders Council is anything like Klarissa—the gorgeous, manipulative viper who tried to have me killed—then the five of us are walking into a predator’s open maw. Not that the males have been anything but cavalier about it, their quiet discussion focused primarily on how to continue killing dark things coming out of Mors without those dark things killing me in the process.
As for Klarissa, River said he’ll handle her. Has done so for centuries. There was little point in noting that despite being “handled,” Klarissa still nearly succeeded in killing us. The mistake of magic that bonded me, a mortal female, to four immortal fae warriors still feels like a bard’s tale to me—and even those don’t always end well.
The mouthwatering smell of sizzling rabbit carries on the wind, guiding me to the morning meal. Our never-ending supply of game is a side benefit of traveling with four predators, one of whom prowls the night as a wolf. And not just the night.
I curse as I trip over a large, furry body lying across my path. “Is it really necessary to nap in the middle of a trail when there are acres of land around?” I ask Shade. If Coal won’t tolerate touch outside training, threatens to crack my ribs, and generally makes himself scarce, Shade is his polar opposite: ever-present, cuddly, and as overprotective as a mother bear. Or mother wolf.
Shade yawns, opening his black muzzle wide to show an impressive set of teeth, and rises lazily to his feet. Pressing his front paws into the ground, he stretches his back. One way. Then the other way. Tail up, nose up. Then he shakes. With his sleek gray fur, powerful build, and sharp golden eyes, Shade’s wolf is a sight to behold—and the furry bastard knows it.
“Oh, for stars’ sake.” I go to walk around the wolf, only to see a flash of light and find the male, now in fae form, silently falling in behind me.
“How was training?” Shade’s arms capture my waist, forcing me to a halt against his smoothly muscled chest. His voice is a low caress across the top of my head that sends a delicious shiver through me, his body heat a blanket. “Are you hurt?”
“Only my pride.”
“Mmm,” Shade makes a noncommittal sound, his hands already moving over my skin, my arms, my shoulders, pressing gently against my ribs.
I twist around to face him. This version of Shade is even more distracting, with strong cheekbones and full lips, black hair swinging around his shoulders, and haunting eyes that seem to grow more intent on me with each passing day. “Nice as this is, you and I both know you are fussing. Blocking my path on happenstance is about as subtle as asking me questions to which you’ve no intention of believing the answers.”
Shade blinks in offended innocence. “I’m not fussing. I’m simply aware of how rough Coal is with training.”
I raise a brow, even as I savor the warmth spreading through me. No one has cared enough about me before to bother questioning my claims of wellbeing. After spending years as Zake’s convenient mix of indentured servant and punching dummy, the quint’s concern still sets me ablaze.“So you do this with everyone after they train with Coal?”
Shade’s innocence surrenders to a chuckle. “Only if I want my ass kicked. But I think you need a little more training before you pose a true danger to me, so I can indulge.” Shade’s hands slide to my face, the yellow eyes drinking in my gaze no longer a healer’s, but a male’s. He lets out a long, shuddering breath. “Does it bother you very much, cub?”
Leaning forward, I kiss Shade’s cheek, his golden skin slightly prickly with stubble beneath my lips. “It’s sweet. Just unnecessary.”
Shade’s jaw tightens, his throat bobbing as he swallows. “It is neither of those things,” he says softly. “My wolf... My instinct to protect you grows by the day. It isn’t easy to curb. Impossible altogether at times. Iamsorry.”
I bite my lip, my skin tingling as if a thousand little pricks of fire play along its surface. Despite the chill, Shade’s cream shirt collar is open, revealing the hard swell of his pectoral muscles, the dip of his sternum. The leather laces whip like little flags in the wind. “I’m the only human in Lunos,” I whisper. “A little protectiveness now and then is rather welcome.”
“I’ll remind you that you said that.” Shade’s calloused thumb traces my cheekbone. “You can still say no, cub,” he whispers. “We are stepping into the Citadel today, but we aren’t there yet. Now that you’ve had a chance to think... We’ll understand if quint life isn’t what you want. A mortal shouldn’t be charged with defending Lunos and fae from Mors.”
“I’m staying,” I say firmly, my stomach clenching as Shade lets out a deep sigh of relief. “Of course I’m staying.”
Shade’s brow tightens. “There is a ‘but’ in there. I can smell it.”
Damn fae and their bloody noses. Fine. “I don’t want to be useless.”
“You couldn’t be useless if you tried, cub,” Shade says with no trace of humor. “Your very presence gives us life. Stars. I wish I knew how to make you believe it.”
I press my cheek into Shade’s palm and he pulls me against him, his silky hair brushing his shoulder as he bows his head over mine. The smell of damp earth and rain fills my lungs, and my heart quickens in spite of itself, my hands rising to rest on Shade’s taut hips. The yellow of his eyes shines in the sunlight, the bit of black in the center swallowing both the light and my thoughts. I wonder what those eyes see when they look at me from a wolf’s body.
Shade’s face dips down, his full lips parting in a way that turns the tingling along my skin into something feral. My body shivers, awakening with a steadily heating need that defies my command to stay put.
“Cub.” Shade’s voice rumbles from his chest, so soft that I feel rather than hear the sound.
My breath stills, my lungs no longer interested in air. Not when my mouth already tingles in anticipation—
“Breakfast?” Tye’s voice wriggles between Shade and me.
We step apart, my face blazing. Shade gives the redheaded male a vulgar gesture.
Tye wraps his arm shamelessly around my shoulder and looks down at me, his green eyes glinting in mischief, his sharp features spread into a grin. Up close, he’s too handsome for his own good, and I scowl at him for it. “You must be starving, lass. Come eat while there is still meat left. We’ve Klarissa’s mood to ruin today, and a millennium of Citadel tradition to turn upside down. Such endeavors are always better on a full stomach.”
