Going Under (14 page)

And when she came it was worse. Once he tasted her skin, once he knew what it was
to watch a flush pinken her belly and breasts, once her magick washed over him he
knew without a doubt he couldn’t quit her. Not for a good long while.

He managed to get back in bed with her. She slowly came back to herself and he found
himself mesmerized by the way her lips quirked up into a smile.

“Secret smile.” He kissed her.

“Secret smile?”

“This smile, it’s like you’ve got a secret.” He traced over her bottom lip and she
surprised him, taking a nip of his fingertip. But then she sucked his finger in between
her lips and he forgot what he was saying for a bit.

“I suppose I do have a secret.” She sat up and moved, straddling his waist. “He’s
a very gorgeous blond. A witch who wears weapons and frowns a lot.”

He laughed.

“Please tell me you have condoms.”

Panic crossed his features. “Um.”

She squirmed, brushing herself over his cock, impatient now that the opportunity had
presented itself.

Then she giggled and embarrassed herself.

“You’re going to kill me.” He rolled her off. “I’m going to check my bag. And if there
is no condom in it I will run downstairs to buy some. Do. Not. Move.” He got to his
feet and then bent to kiss her again.

She levered up onto her elbows to watch him leave the room. “Man, oh man, you’re no
chore to look at naked.”

“Thank you!” he called out and she fell back to the mattress, blushing and grinning
like a moron.

“He’s got superhero hearing apparently.”

He sure as hell had a superhero mouth. This thought made her laugh again and she realized
it had been a really long time since she’d laughed that way after . . . during . . .
whatever while sexing.

“You only drank half a beer. You a lightweight?” He strolled back in holding a foil
packet victoriously.

“Ha! I’m just drunk on sex chemicals. So get on over here before it wears off and
I fall asleep.” She grabbed the condom, setting it on the pillow before she turned
back to him.

“Not much use over there.”

“I have plans first. Patience.”

She grabbed him, fisting his cock a few times to underline her point. His gaze blurred
and he cursed. He arched into her grasp as she kissed her way across his chest, tasting
his skin.

He was spicy, electric as he filled her, driving her crazy. She licked over his left
nipple, loving the way the bar felt, loving it even more when he moaned.

“That’s enough. I want to be in you.”

She kissed down the flat belly, down the pale gold line of hair that led just exactly
where she wanted to be.

He watched down the line of his body, a light in his eyes that she felt to her toes.
She licked over him and he made a sound laced with so much need things tightened low
in her belly.

He was quite honestly the hottest thing she’d ever been up close and personal with.
Like unbelievably hot.

He reached back to the pillow and grabbed the condom, tearing it open and moving her
aside. “I want to be in you right now. If you keep that up, I’m going to come and
while that’ll be just fine the next round, I want to be in you, with you all around
me when it happens this time.”

She frowned but let him get suited up.

“You look like a toddler who just had candy taken from her. I kinda like that.”

“Hm.”

He flipped her over and he was above her, blocking out the light so that all she saw
and felt was him. She breathed in deep and his scent tickled her nose and woke up
her senses.

“Ah, look at you. Goddamn, how lucky am I?”

He teased her a few moments before she had to get proactive, wrap her legs around
his waist and pull him closer.

“You just got luckier.”

His laugh faded into a groan as he got settled.

Of course, as she’d suspected he was just as good at this as he was everything else.
He set a pace that was just shy of relentless, rendering her to a panting, nearly
begging mass of woman.

And that was before he shifted her thigh to get his fingers close enough to brush
over her clit, lighting her body up as she arched into his touch.

His lips wore a smug smile and she couldn’t blame him. He had every reason to be smug
as he drove her toward climax. Thrusting in time with his fingers on the heart of
her. His muscles bunched and rippled against his skin, his sweat seemed to make him
gleam and when she did come, it was hard and fast as she saw stars against her eyelids.

He snarled and pressed so deep it was as if he tried to climb inside. He jerked inside
as he climaxed, collapsing on her, but not entirely so as not to crush her. But her
heart seemed to pound against his skin as his answered with its own frantic beat as
they caught their breath.

* * *

HOURS
later he found himself staring up at the ceiling. She lay next to him, naked, warm.
Her magick hung in the air, soothing even as it slowly stoked his want.

Gage hadn’t expected it to be so fucking glorious. They fit so well. She was fearless
in bed. She made him laugh. Took what she wanted, gave just as easily.

He hadn’t expected a lot of things, like how good it had felt to fall asleep with
her. Or how natural it was to just be there with her.

He didn’t know what the next day would bring, but for right then, he could enjoy it.
And he planned to.

Chapter 15

MOLLY
finished a call while he sat, waiting for her to finish up. He tried to pretend he
wasn’t eavesdropping but he totally was. He liked to watch her at work. So intent
and intelligent, it only made her sexier. Though he didn’t need to share that part.

They’d woken up the day after they’d had sex that first time and she’d just gone about
her day. There were no talks about relationships or emotions or any of that. Which
he’d admitted was a relief and saved the awkwardness he’d been hoping they could avoid.

But it hadn’t prevented two more scorching hot interludes in the week and a half following
that trip to California. Which was fine with him in every way.

She hung up. “Sorry, I was working out some schedule issues with Tosh. What’s up?”

“Tosh?”

She blushed, smiling. “Senator Sato. He told me to call him that. It’s a shortened
version of his first name. Anyway.”

Gage kept his frown in his head, pretending he was all right with the blush. She blushed
a lot. It could be that she felt bad for using a nickname in front of Gage when
Tosh
was a United States senator and all that.

“Do you have some time? I wanted to do a little work with you on your defensive spells.”

Her smile got bigger and he couldn’t help but respond with one of his own. “Yes! I’d
love to. I have to check in with Rita. Can you give me about twenty minutes?”

He stood. “Yep. Meet me on the roof when you free up.”

“Got it. Thanks!”

He paused at her doorway. “And have Rita coordinate with my office on coverage for
your trips. I want to rotate a little with personnel.”

Concern immediately replaced her smile. “Is Faine all right?”

Faine had been helping Lark out with improving the scheduling and training of their
Hunter Corps. He’d been a warrior for his father’s pack back home and he had a lot
of great ideas.

That and Gage liked guarding her himself. It was becoming increasingly difficult to
assign her safety to others, even when they were as good as Faine. He didn’t want
to examine that too closely.

“I like to rotate them all around, give him some time off. He’s also helping me and
Lark with our team. We lost eight members of our team when—after—the Magister so we
have to train new people.”

“Of course. I’m sorry.”

He stepped to her desk and put his hand over hers. “No need to be sorry. You’re not
at fault here. None of this would be necessary if people could control themselves
and use their fucking words instead of threatening us. I’ll trade off with him. It’s
not a big deal. I like to travel.” He lowered his voice. “And there are other benefits
to being alone with you.”

The smile she gave him was one she never used with anyone else. It made him feel special.

“All right then. I’ll see you in a few.”

He backed away but didn’t turn until he’d reached the door, liking to look at her.

* * *

HE
flustered her in ways nothing and no one else ever could.

Molly really liked Gage. He made her laugh and he was really good in bed. On the couch.
Standing up—and
that
had been a very pleasant feat of strength on his part. Sitting down. Even on the kitchen
table.

She liked the way he made her feel. But he was busy and filled with a lot of stuff
she didn’t know if she had the ability to help him through. Or even if he’d want help.
A lot of anger. Which made him very good at his job, she realized.

Truth was, she had a lot of stuff too—stuff she wasn’t ready to unpack just yet. Or
ever. So sexy fun was good. It wasn’t serious, but it was enjoyable and that was exactly
what she needed right then.

She checked in with Rita about trips and scheduling before she changed into her sneakers
and headed up to the amazing gardens on the roof where Gage would be waiting.

When she arrived she paused to take him in. He sat on one of the steps leading down
to the garden, his face tipped up to the pale sunshine filtered through a brief break
in the clouds. The muscles in his biceps bunched as he leaned back on his arms. A
golden god.

She had sex with that man.
Holy cow
. All badass and tattooed, he was delicious and she wanted to take a bite.

He opened his eyes and looked her way. “Hey you.”

“Hey yourself. Sorry to disturb you.”

He stood, brushing that stellar butt off as he did. “Nothing to disturb. Just having
a quiet moment before you arrived. You don’t want a heavier coat?” He cocked his head,
concerned, and her belly warmed.

“I’m fine.” Really, back in Chicago it was snowing. It was forty degrees in Seattle,
which was cold and wet, yes, but it wasn’t something she couldn’t bear. Plus he made
her all hot and stuff so it worked out anyway.

“All right then. It’ll warm up in a moment or so as we move into the garden anyway.
So you’ve done some of the defensive spells well enough that I think you’re good to
go on them. But I want you to focus a little on magick in general.”

He led her down into the plants that bloomed as if it were summer. She’d only been
up there at night so it was the first time she’d really gotten a good look. “This
is amazing.”

“Isn’t it? Meriel’s dad is responsible. He’s got a gift with green things. The magick
we give off feeds the plants up here, keeps all this flourishing. The only time I’ve
ever seen it look like winter was after Edwina was killed. He shut down for a while.
And there was less magick flowing into the Font too.”

“Less witches, less magick?”

“Yes. But less magick because less Others and the ones left alive were reeling. Only
recently has this garden really come back to life. And the magick going into the Font
has blossomed to far more than it was before.”

It was warm all the sudden and not only because he made her hot. She shrugged from
her coat.

“Yes, once you leave the platform and step down here it warms up.”

She breathed deep and everything smelled so good as she drew it into her body.

“That’s magick.”

She opened her eyes and looked to him. “What is?”

“The reason you lit up when you took a deep breath and drew in a big old hit of Owen
magick. It smells really good right? Even maybe tastes good?”

She thought for long moments. “Yes, it does have a taste. I never noticed that.”

He stepped to her, putting his hands on her hips. “You haven’t? When I lick your skin
I can taste you. Your magick is part of it. It rises in the air when you’re emotional,
when you work, when we’re . . . together. It’s delicious.”

She probably gulped. It couldn’t be helped.

“You taste good. I just figured it was, well, the way you tasted. I mean, you look
good so why wouldn’t you taste good too?”

He smiled and all sorts of stuff zinged around her belly. He took her hand and kissed
her upturned palm.

Molly took a shuddering breath. “You’re a menace.”

He licked then, against the sensitive skin at her wrist. “Am I?”

She nodded. “The good kind.”

“Your magick changes when you get turned on. You’re sweet and sort of lavender and
roses and then when you get hot, there’s pepper and spice there. Drives me nuts.”

She knew she blushed but it couldn’t be helped either. He simply made her feel stuff
she couldn’t get around. Her entire life was off balance. In unmapped territory and
she was so off balance the confusion and fear she’d mess up were like constant white
noise.

But
this,
this thing with her and Gage was unfamiliar in the best sort of way. It was new and
thrilling and she wasn’t afraid of it, just excited.

She took his hand, the one that had held hers and turned his palm upward to kiss him
there, breathing in deep. Then she licked at his wrist and he groaned.

“Do you see what I mean?”

“I don’t lick anyone but you, Gage, so it’s hard to tell. I’ve never been with another
witch. A lot of this is new. I’m not used to not knowing stuff.” She hadn’t meant
to say it all.

Surprise skittered over his features briefly and then he laughed. “You’ll have to
trust me. And keep licking only me.” He got serious again. “Every Other has their
own unique magick. You know we do. It comes from the earth, from all around us. Witches
have the ability to filter and gather it and transform it. Shifters’ magick exists
in their ability to change. When they take on their animal, they have their own magick
to unlock their other form and let it take over. Vampires, it’s a little more difficult
to say because they keep their business so close to the vest, but their ability to
transform the life force of others to sustain and enhance their senses—strength, speed,
lifespan—is a particular kind of magick. And each one of us has our own unique magickal
signature.”

“Really? Fascinating. I mean, I knew some of this. Rosa took me to an awesome series
of lectures at the coven about the history of witches and magick. Is it like a fingerprint?
So you can get very specific information about the Other based on that signature?”

“Damn, you’re smart. Yes, exactly. So when we get to the scene of a crime and there’s
magick there, it’s a very specific signature. But unlike a fingerprint, you can’t
really keep it in a database. It’s not that portable. But you can compare if you’ve
seen the signature before, or if you have the witch nearby. I’ve got a lot of signatures
stored in my head. I have notes I keep about specifics. Sometimes it’s colors or scents.”

“Wow.
I’m
smart? That’s brilliant. Can you show me? How to do the signature thing, I mean, I
don’t expect that I’ll know it like you do, but it might be helpful to understand.
I mean, I guess I can tell when I meet another witch. Is it like that?”

“How is it you know?” He took her hand and walked her through the gardens.

“I can see—maybe not see. Not with my eyesight. But I can sense? The wording is imprecise
for what it is.”

“The word you’re searching for is
othersight
. It’s viewing things through your magick instead of through your human parts and
senses.”

He stopped once they got to the middle of the garden and turned her to face him.

“Othersight is not solely our thing. It’s also been referred to as the third eye and
in that sense it’s using that extra level of perception that humans rarely do or can’t
quite unlock. Only what we have is more than that. Did you learn to see in any other
ways when Rosa was teaching you about your magick?”

“No. I don’t think so. She taught me how to tap the energy at my feet, how to pull
it up and into myself so I could use it. But nothing about seeing differently.”

“You don’t need to use othersight to work your magick. But it helps you be aware of
how your energy moves, and how it’s all around you. You don’t have to only get it
through your feet. I’m going to show you something. Do you trust me?”

“Are you going to show me something naughty?”

He grinned and then shook his head. “Maybe later if you do well with your lessons.”

“Fine. Party pooper. And yes, I trust you.”

“I want you to be aware of your magick. You already know it’s here.” He pressed a
hand over her belly. “I want you to think of it as a living thing. Close your eyes
and focus on it.”

She did and was immediately calmed as it welcomed her.

“Now, I want you to totally relax. Your magick knows what to do. It’s part of you
like your blood and your skin. Just
let
it be part of you. Feel it filling you down to your toes. Everyone’s magick is different.
Mine sort of shoots down and out, but yours, well, I bet it sort of fills slowly like
honey.” He hummed and parts of her she was supposed to relax came to life again.

“Stop that. I can’t concentrate when you flirt.”

“You’re frowning.” He kissed her quickly and her magick filled her to her toes and
then up her torso out to her fingertips. “Ah, I can see it. Hmm, it responds to my
magick.”

Her magick was as easy for him as the rest of her apparently.

“Now, let it fill you all the way to the top of your head. Once it does I want you
to use it to see. When you open your eyes, keep relaxed, let the magick do the work.”

Gage knew that with other witches who hadn’t had a few lessons, the first time using
othersight wasn’t always successful, or it only worked halfway. But the witch he faced
was the biggest control freak overachiever he’d ever met. She’d get it because she’d
never allow anything else from herself. Her magick had to be just as bossy as she
was.

He felt it, the rush of heat as her magick began to radiate outward. Her aura was
clear and blue with some green here and there. Her scent seemed to envelop him in
a wave, sucking him under as his own magick rose. She called to him in ways very few
others did.

Probably no one else.

Then she opened her eyes and her mouth, that luscious, delicious mouth of hers made
a little
O
.

“Wow,” she whispered. “It’s like a filter you use with digital pictures. The colors
are . . . different. Everything is, I don’t know, layered maybe?”

“You’re seeing magick all around you. The plants give it off. Partly because they’re
living things and are conductors for our personal magick, which is sort of a key to
our lock. But also because they’re here on Owen land and witches come up here all
the time to meditate and work. There’s a lot of recharging going on up here. Powerful
witches too. So if you look carefully you can see that, the smudge of all sorts of
magick up here. Meriel’s has its own signature just as mine does. As yours does.”

“Can I turn it on and off at will? Does it use up my energy like a lot of spellwork
does? Should I only use it in emergencies?”

She continued on with the questions. On and on as she thought and he answered as they
went along. Of course she’d want to know everything. That was who she was.

“Will people know if I’m using it?”