Page 36 of Tricky Magic
He only put his hands up.
Yeah, no help. Typical.
Garm, you have three seconds to get out of my sight, or I’m going to rip off your favorite part.Billy snarled and moved closer to him, circling and moving him away from Ros.Never mind, I am going to do it anyway.She pounced, just missing him as she snapped at the air where his tail had been.
The wolf, Garm, booked it toward the treeline, Billy on his heels. Within a minute, trees started snapping. The snarling was deafening. Birds flew and more trees snapped, and Ellea just stood there, not knowing what to do.
“They’ll be fine,” a deep voice came from right behind her. She turned and stepped back, not trusting herself with Ros this close to her—especially this close, shirtless, and still wet.
“What is he?” Ellea asked quietly, unsure of what else to say. They hadn’t seen each other since she’d left him in the woods with bruised balls.
“A hound who can take care of himself. I doubt he would hurt her.” He searched her face and smirked. “If she is anything like you, I worry for him more than her.”
Ellea only rolled her eyes at his remark. He was probably right, but she couldn’t help but look back at the woods and worry. Billy had only acted like this a few times.
Ellea turned back to Ros.
“And what are you?” she asked with her chin raised.
“We all have our own secrets,” he said with a sinister smile and walked away from her.
She grabbed him by the arm to stop him. There was a giant gash at the top of his back, as if something had gone for his neck and missed.
“What happened? That wasn’t from me, was it?” Ellea asked, attempting to hide her emotion. She didn’t even know what she was feeling right now.
Ros looked down to where her hand gripped him.
“No, princess, you didn’t do that.” He winked at her. “You aren’t the only one I like to play with.”
She shouldn’t care. They only shared a lake and a few mean words, so there was zero reason for this heavy feeling in her stomach. He was basically a stranger, but she felt…something at seeing him wounded. Even if she’d caused him pain the other night, this felt different. She would have to learn to get her powers and lady parts under control. He was also keeping secrets about his magic. She hadn’t met any other witches with power like his, or one his size. Clearly, she had to get out more.
Gods, he was frustrating.
Why did she even care where and how he’d gotten hurt? Why did she have the sudden urge to find out more?
“You should let me know who did that. I can pay them a visit and make sure they don’t miss next time,” Ellea shouted at him as he continued to walk away. Her legs followed after him, and she didn’t know why they felt they needed to do that.
“I’m sure you really mean that,” he retorted, not bothering to stop.
“No, but I’m curious,” she said, forcing her feet to stop moving.
“Are you worried about me?” He turned and placed his hand on his chest. A stupid smile spread across his lips. “Oh, you are.”
“I wouldn’t call it worried, more concerned. With that pitiful performance the other night, you may want to sharpen up your skills.” Ellea avoided the urge to look below his chin.
“Pitiful?” A low growl emanated from him, and it had her knees wobbling.
“Yes, I kicked your ass!” she snapped, recovering and hiding that the few words exchanged were making her crumble.
“You kicked my ass? Princess, that was foreplay. Next time, stick around and see how fun it can get.”
She stood there, speechless. Ros took a few strides with those powerful legs, and she remembered how they’d looked striding down the dock earlier, how he was naked and knew she was watching him.
He was in front of her in an instant and leaned down to her, his breath tickling her ear. “I let you kick my ass. I would have done anything just to have your hands on me, hurting me, caressing me. You could have done whatever you wanted, and I would have thanked you for it.”
* * *
The roaringin her ears was unbearable as her power raged and her face blazed with fire. His words rang in her head with every desperate step to her cabin. Only a few more minutes and she would be inside and she could figure out how to get control of her magic.
