Chapter Twenty-Five
Two feet. That was all that kept Katy from completing Priest’s latest challenge of piling ten moderate-sized rocks into one tidy mound. With her hands, it would have taken seconds.
Not so with magic.
For the last hour she’d painstakingly lifted, guided and carefully stacked each stone—a task she’d quickly learned was on par with lighting a candle with a blowtorch. When Priest had first given her the challenge five days ago, she’d laughed in his face. After all, she’d lasered a hole through a two-foot-thick tree trunk with barely a thought. Then she’d tried doing as he asked and realized the hardest part of being a sorcerer wasn’t calling the power, but controlling it.
A single bead of sweat trickled down her spine and sent shivers rippling along her skin.
The rock hovering midair shook as though her physical response had manifested through her magic.
“No,” she whispered, and the rock stilled.
Sprawled behind her in the Adirondack chair he’d easily levitated from the balcony to the ground in way of demonstration, Priest chuckled. “You know that was more about your mental thoughts than words actually saving your ass, right?”
Ignore him. Just focus on the freaking rock.
She slowly exhaled through her mouth and carefully guided the stone toward the others. No way was she blowing it when she was this close.
Two inches from the top of the pile, she opened her mental fingers—and the rock shot across the clearing. “Ugh!” She spun to Priest and stopped just short of stomping her foot. “You did that on purpose.”
To his credit, he at least tried to cover his grin by rubbing his fingers across his lips, but he kept his gray gaze locked to hers. “It’s my job to teach you, kitten. The real world won’t stay silent.”
“No, but you could at least let me finish once.”
He stood and stalked toward her. “You’re right.”
The admission alone was enough to leave her speechless. Paired with his bare torso on prime display and the way his pants accented the V at his hips all thoughts save getting him alone and feeling all of him next to her scattered. Which was utterly insane given how intimate they’d been since their first night together. But soft and sweet, or hard and fast, she couldn’t get enough of him. Her power and how it felt to run and experience the world in lion form was addictive. But being with Priest? It was everything. And as much as it terrified her, she’d begun to understand what her grandmother meant by a mate being an extension of oneself. Except instead of going with the need to give in, she was fighting it. As if she desperately needed to run, but refused to use her legs. Or was parched for a drink of water, but turned her mouth away from the fountain.
“I’m pushing you harder than I would anyone else, but it’s because I see the potential in you.” He pulled her to him and cupped the side of her face. “You shifted in no time. Your power is massive, and your companion is nearly as dominant as my panther. You may not be a primo, but you will lead this clan beside me.”
Her magic prickled beneath her skin. A featherlight tickle that whispered of something more left unspoken. “That’s not the only reason you’re pushing me, is it?”
For the barest moment, fear flickered in his eyes. He banked it nearly as fast, but the vulnerability rocked her. “Until you let me mark you, Draven could track you. If you won’t let me do that much, then I want you to be able to hold your own against him.”
A flutter winged beneath her sternum and goose bumps lifted across her skin despite the warm noonday sun overhead. Since the day after her soul quest he’d been after her to let him work his magic into her skin. Part of her wanted it. Badly. But that last shred of independence saw it as the final link. A final step toward accepting their bond.
She smoothed her hands up his chest. “It’s not that I don’t want to. I just—”
“I need you safe, Kateri. Of all the people my brother could use against me, you’re the ultimate weapon. You have no idea how far I’d go to keep you safe. The depths the darkness inside me would sink to. Nothing would stop me. Nothing and no one.”
Heavy footsteps on the wood balcony above broke the tense moment. “Priest.” Alek poked his head over the ledge, hands gripping the rail tight and an urgency on his face Katy hadn’t seen since the day they’d found their parents murdered. “You need to come up here.”
Despite his calm exterior, Priest’s arms tightened around her. “What’s wrong?”
“My friend from college just called.”
“David,” Katy said, prying herself from Priest’s hold. “He said he’d call when he found something.”
Inside the house, Tate and Jade were ambling down the staircase just as Priest and Katy came through the backdoor. Garrett, who’d become a nearly daily visitor since Katy’s soul quest, stood with his back against the far wall with his arms crossed. As it had been on several occasions the last few days, his position in the room was directly behind Naomi, who was seated in Priest’s oversized club chair. More than once, Katy had considered asking Priest if he’d noted how much time the two of them were spending together, but somehow sex or practicing her new gifts always ended up a conversational distraction.
“What’s up?” Jade sprawled on the couch and Tate leaned one hip on the arm beside her.
Alek waited until Katy sat at the other end of the couch and Priest mirrored Garrett’s protective stance behind her. “So, you know Katy called David and shared the lead the seers found about Butte La Rose.”
“Please say he found someone,” Katy said.
He glanced at Priest first, then met Katy’s stare. “He found a lead, yeah. A family by the last name of Ralston that ties with some of the historical information we gave him from the old primo families.”
“The old healer primo family went by Rallion,” Garrett said.
Katy felt more than saw Priest move in closer behind her. “Close to their old name, but still different enough to hide.”
“Exactly,” Alek said. “And honestly, we’re lucky, because the only offspring born to the last generation was a woman. Records show she had a kid twenty-three years ago. A daughter named Elise, but the parents don’t appear to have gotten married. Both the mother’s parents are deceased.”
Twisting to face Priest, Katy found him scowling at Alek. “So, we go talk to her. Introduce ourselves and see if she knows anything about us.”
“What else did your friend turn up?” Priest said without breaking eye contact with Alek.
One simple question. But with it the energy in the room shifted. A heightened awareness or alertness that stirred her magic.
Still standing in the center of the room, Alek held Priest’s stare, the intensity that moved between them thick with unspoken danger and dread. “David went to our house to pick up the mail today.” His gaze slid to Katy. “Our place is trashed.”
“Draven,” Jade murmured.
Naomi nodded her head. “He’s looking for something to track you with. Something personal.”
“Well, he can’t find Alek even if wanted to,” Tate said. “Not with Priest’s marks.”
“No, but he can find Kateri.” As if he needed the contact to ground him, Priest clamped a firm hand on her shoulder. “When was the last time your friend was there?”
“Sunday,” Alek said.
Ever the pragmatic one, Garrett threw the obvious right out in the open. “Four days to track her.”
The magic inside Katy prickled. Or maybe it was the bond she’d sensed building between her and Priest. Whatever it was, it strained toward Priest with a magnetic pull she couldn’t have ignored even if she’d wanted to. She stood and turned to him, smoothing her hands up along his bunched biceps and tension-riddled shoulders. “He can’t get me here. I’m safe.”
“I hate to point it out,” Jade said, “but Draven’s not the only one with tracking skills anymore. Katy can just as easily use Draven’s charm to find him as he can use something personal to track her. Let’s just see where he’s at and deal with it.”
“No.”
The resounding response came from Garrett, Naomi and Priest simultaneously, but it was Priest who followed up on it. “She’s too new. Too susceptible to his tricks.”
“Then teach me.” Katy squeezed his shoulders. “I can learn. I’ll work harder.”
A sadness that pierced her deeper than any physical wound could ever reach moved across his face. “You’re good, Kateri. My light. The Keeper knew that. It’s why she trusted you with so much magic. The last thing I want is to teach you anything remotely close to what stole my brother’s soul.”
“Sorcerers are bound to the law of ultimate good.” Garrett’s voice was low and respectful, but loaded with the wisdom of years and experience. A man who’d seen firsthand what happened to sorcerers who crossed forbidden lines. “Any act taken not in the best interest of life or the universe—with a genuine heart—draws the person closer to darkness.”
“Even if you tried,” Naomi added, “there’s a strong possibility Draven bespelled the charm. It’s why I never dared touch it. Without direct contact, you can’t track him.”
“Fine.” She focused on Priest. “Then we stick with our plan and go visit Elise. If Draven’s this determined, she’s at risk, too. She deserves to know what’s going on. Especially, if she’s like Alek and me and doesn’t know anything about our race.”
“She hasn’t had her soul quest,” Priest said. “I’d know if she had. That means Draven can’t find her as easy as he can find you. Do you actually think I’d let you leave protected ground knowing he can find you anywhere?”
And there it was again. The mark. The single act her instincts insisted would solidify their bond. That would make them one cohesive unit instead of two independently beating hearts.
And what’s wrong with that?
The thought was whisper soft, but resonated with the impact of a sledgehammer to the gut. For the last five days, she’d felt more balanced than at any other time in her life. Complete and supported in a way that surpassed anything she’d imagined possible.
The only thing missing was acceptance.
He’s part of you.
Naomi’s words. Guidance from a woman who’d experienced what it was like to have a destined mate. Who truly understood the connection. And of all the people in her life, Alek and Naomi were the two who’d always seen her. Who’d always taken time to ask her what she wanted.
I want my mate.
“Then mark me,” she blurted on a rush of adrenaline. “He can’t find me if you mark me.”
He lowered his voice. “Kateri, I’d never offer my magic as anything more than a gift. If you take my mark, I want it to be because you want it. Not because my brother forced it.”
So much pain in his voice. An uncertainty she’d never felt in him before.
She’d put that there. All because she feared what her instincts had told her from day one. He was hers. She’d felt it in one touch. Known it on the most fundamental level of her being with one look.
She smoothed her hand above his heart, her fingers tangling in the black leather that held his charms. “I’m not asking because of Draven. I’m asking because I want you.” Her magic pulsed beneath her palm. A living, breathing current searching for its other half. “I want all of you.”