Tethered 02 - Conjure (24 page)

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“Once you become initiated with those friends of yours, you’re bound to do magick only with them. If you leave, they lose the ability to use their magick until you return and so do you. You will have no freedom, just like Kyra doesn’t.”

I swallowed hard. My stomach churned as I thought of this. It was similar to the conversation I’d had with Callie earlier. I wanted to have my freedom, but couldn’t if I stayed and became initiated with the rest of them.

“How is she lacking her freedom?” I wondered.

“Her parents sell her mixed-breed power,” Theo said through clenched teeth.

The disgust, revulsion, and burning loathing flooded me all at once from him. It was so thick that it coated the inside of my mouth and turned my stomach even more. I nearly gagged when I finally comprehended what sickened him so much about Kyra’s situation.

“She’s basically pimped out for her magick?” I whispered. The words stuck as they came out and made my voice sound strangled.

“Exactly,” Theo muttered before he began walking down the stairs to the first floor.

I followed after him. “And her situation reminds you of mine?”

“Somewhat,” Theo said, pausing on the stairs and meeting my eyes.

For a fraction of a second, I felt his nostalgia and a tiny sense of affection for me seep in through my pores. It was gone, and then so was he, before I had time to question it.

Monday came before I wanted it to. I woke with a lump permanently wedged in my throat. It matched the knots that my stomach had tied itself into perfectly. Today would be my first day back at Spellbinding Reads since the creepy Boo Hag had attacked me. It would also be my first day working there while knowing Admer was my biological father.

Music from downstairs floated to my ears and I wondered what Callie was doing. I slid out of bed and found my green and blue polka dot slippers in the corner. After slipping them on, I grabbed my bathrobe off the floor and headed downstairs. The scent of pancakes and syrup met my nose after a few steps and my mouth began to water. Was Callie cooking for me?

“You didn’t have to cook breakfast,” I said as soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs and started for the kitchen. “I didn’t even know I had the stuff for pancakes.”

“You didn’t.” Kace’s voice surprised me. He stood in front of the stove, looking way too damn good than should be allowed at this hour of the morning, in a low-hung pair of shorts and a faded green T-shirt. “I brought it with me.”

I leaned against the entrance to the kitchen and stared at him with my head cocked to the side. “What are you doing here so early in the morning?”

A large smile, which brought out the dimple in his right cheek that I adored so much, broke out on his face. “I wanted to see my girl this morning before she went off to work. Is that a bad thing?”

“I don’t know…” I folded my arms over my chest and tried to keep a serious expression, but he was so gorgeous it was making it hard.

“But I made pancakes, the breakfast food of peace and love.” Kace’s grin grew and he walked to me slowly, spatula still in hand. “That’s got to give me bonus points somehow, right?”

He gripped my hip with his free hand and I pretended to be diligently thinking his bonus system over. Squeezing my hip and burying his face in my neck, he chuckled as his lips kissed at the sensitive skin there. I laughed and attempted to push him away.

“All right, all right, bonus points galore!” I shouted through my laughter.

“Good,” Kace said, loosening his grip and stepping backward to flip the pancakes he’d been cooking. “Now, what do you like on your pancakes?”

I walked over to where he stood to check them out. They were magazine perfect—golden brown and flawlessly round.

“Umm…butter and syrup,” I said. “What else is there?”

He paused in his flipping motion and turned to look at me directly. The icy color of his eyes darkened slightly as his face grew somber. “What else is there? Are you kidding me?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “No.”

“There’s blueberries, strawberries, whipped cream, peaches, peanut butter…you name it.”

“Peanut butter? Gross.”

Kace waved his spatula at me. “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”

I crinkled up my nose. “I don’t know about that one.”

“Sit,” he ordered, pointing to the little table in the corner with the edge of his spatula. “You don’t have to be to work for a few more hours, right?”

I walked over to the table and pulled out a chair. I turned it to face him, and sat. “Yeah, not until ten.”

“All right then, I’m going to make one of each kind and we’re going to have a pancake buffet before you leave.”

“A pancake buffet sounds good.”

“Oh, it will be.”

“And is Callie still here to join us?” I asked, glancing into the living room to see if she was still asleep on the couch.

“Nope, she left when I got here,” Kace said, adding another steaming pancake to his towering stack.

“How convenient.” I smiled.

Our buffet did not disappoint. The peanut butter pancakes were hands down my favorite out of the variety Kace made. There was something to be said about the mix of sweetness and nuttiness.

“So, how did you sleep last night?” Kace asked once he’d finished his final piece of strawberry. “Did having Callie here put your mind at ease?”

“I slept all right,” I said. I thought back to last night and Theo. Suddenly, I couldn’t look Kace in the eye anymore.

It was becoming awkward that I was keeping this tether a secret from him. If I would have known it was going to take this long to break and that I’d be sneaking around with Theo so much behind Kace’s back, then I would have told him right away.

“Good,” Kace said, taking my plate away and walking to the sink. “Callie was glad to stay the night. Adam was telling me her mom has been acting a little crazy lately. That’s why she’s been spending so much time over at our place.”

I popped another blueberry in my mouth. I knew why Susan was acting crazy. It was because she wanted me gone, but how could I say that without telling Kace how I knew?

“I didn’t know she’d been hanging out at your apartment a lot,” I said instead.

Kace rinsed his plate off and then dried his hands on the towel beside the sink. “Yeah. She normally spends at least one or two nights a week there. Mainly on the weekend, but the last two weeks she’s pretty much spent every night at our place.”

A flicker of jealousy snaked its way through me. I wasn’t normally a jealous person and I hated the fact I was even feeling the emotion right now, especially when I had no reason to. Wasn’t I the one hanging out with a Hoodoo Conjurer pretty much every night this week? Hell, I’d even taken a bath with him!

Yep, jealousy was not something I was entitled to feel at the moment.

“Oh,” I said offhandedly.

“Are you jealous?” Kace asked as he returned to his seat. “Because you shouldn’t be.”

“No, I’m not jealous.” I waved a hand at him. “Why would I be? I mean she is there for Adam after all.”

“Exactly.” Kace grinned. “I just figured maybe you would be by your tone, and also considering you haven’t even seen the inside of my apartment yet.”

I glared at him. “You’re trying to make me jealous, aren’t you?”

Kace popped a blueberry in his mouth. “Well, you know what they say…a jealous person is a person who cares.” He shrugged.

I smacked his arm. “First of all, there is something so wrong with that statement. And second, I do care, but I’m not jealous of Callie. She and Adam are practically married.”

“Doesn’t stop some people from still having sex with others.”

“Oh, stop! What are you trying to do here?”

“Nothing in particular. I just happen to like seeing you get all riled up. And I especially like talking about sex with you.” He winked.

I felt my face grow warm. “And why is that?”

“Because of that right there.” He grinned. “I love to see you blush.”

My breath left me in a rush of surprise as Kace lunged at me, erasing the space between us in the blink of an eye to press his warm, soft lips against mine. His hands came up to cup the sides of my face, and I leaned into him a little more, enjoying the feel of his touch and the taste of fresh blueberries against his tongue.

Kace’s breath eased along the sensitive skin of my throat and downward until he reached the curve where my neck and shoulder met. His tongue darted out and traveled in slow circles there, while his lips sucked and his teeth nipped my delicate skin. My breath caught in my throat and then released in the form of a soft moan. My hands found their way beneath his shirt and I traced the sculpted definitions of his lean muscles greedily.

His tongue slid along my neck and across my jawline, until he met with my lips again. This time, his kisses were harsher and I felt the warmth within me burst to life like a wildfire from his boundless touching. Kace’s hands easily maneuvered the robe I’d been wearing off and slid beneath the oversized shirt underneath. I arched my back and lifted my arms above my head in an effort to help him remove it. Once it hit the floor, I didn’t miss a beat in peeling his off as well.

“Are we going to do this right here?” Kace whispered between kisses as his hand cupped my right breast.

I tipped my head back as he worked his way down the length of my throat with nibbles and licking once again. “Why not?”

A growl of approval sounded from somewhere deep within his throat. “Fine by me.”

I weaved my fingers in his thick, dirty blond hair as he made his way to my collarbone. His hands slid down to my hips as his mouth found its way to one of my breasts. His tongue gently caressed its nipple in a circular motion, and I lost all sense of conscious thought as I gave in to everything he was making me feel.