“You can go.” My heart was already racing. I approached him, completely ignoring my sister. Classy. “What’s up?”
My heart was lodged in my chest. Could this be the last time I saw him?
“How do you feel?” he asked. Concern glinted in his eyes.
I shrugged with my good shoulder, regretting the move when it pulled on my injured arm. “Fine. It’ll heal. You?”
“Much better.”
A large crowd of laughing Protectorate members entered the hall, so we stepped into an alcove behind us. The crowd turned right, directly toward us. They piled into the hallway, forcing us deeper into the alcove, where the shadows lingered.
It pushed us closer together, and I couldn’t help the shiver that raced through me. I searched Lachlan’s gaze, hoping to see the same heat.
Maybe I did, or maybe it was wishful thinking. The flames were banked within his dark eyes.
“I wanted to thank you for your help,” he said.
“Thanks for the opportunity. It was fun. And profitable.” Oh fates. Was that weird? Should I have said that?
I gave a mental shrug. Not much I could do about it now! If I was going to feel weird about something, it should probably be the fact that I’d been sucking on his face a couple days ago. And the fact that he’d had to break the kiss and remind me that we were working together.
I blushed.
His gaze traced over my cheeks, which just made me realize that he noticed me blushing.
Perfect.
I was a badass who’d started driving across Death Valley when I was sixteen, and here I was, blushing.
“I wanted to make you an offer,” he said.
“An offer?”
“I don’t know what you are—you’ve been too cagey to share—but you have powerful magic. It was you that made the difference between failure and success on this mission. I want to find the cloaked figure, and I want you to help.”
“Me?” Okay, idiot. He already made that clear.
“Aye, you.” His lips curved up at the corners. “It will take time to find him—we have almost no clues. Just the scrap of fabric that my claw pulled off his cloak. Thank you for spotting that, by the way. We may be able to use it to track him. Eventually, we’ll get a lead. When we do, I want your help.”
“And I’d be working with you on this.”
“Aye. We’ll hunt him together. In return, I’ll help you with your magic.”
“How can you help me?”
“I wasn’t born with twelve fully developed powers. They were seeds of different gifts, only partially there. But with practice, they grew.”
“I’ve never heard of that.” Normally, you had what you had. It took some practice, sure, but no one ever described their magic as partially there. Also, no one had ever had twelve powers before.
“It’s rare. But I can help you. And you can help me.”
“Um.” My mind raced. But what was I going to say? No? Heck no. “Yeah, I’ll do it. I want to get that bastard. And the help sounds good.” Fates knew I was a mess.
“And if we catch him, it will help you at the Academy. I can talk to Jude about it.”
“That’s just what I need.” Outside jobs were easier for me than the academy for some reason, and I wanted to pass. This could help me do that. More than that, I wanted to spend time with Lachlan.
“But there’s one thing.” He looked vaguely uncomfortable.
“What is it?”
“The kiss.”
My cheeks blazed, and I wanted to dunk my head in a bucket of freezing water. “What about it?”
“It shouldn’t happen again. Not as long as we’re working together on this.”
“Uh.” I swallowed hard. That wasn’t really an official Protectorate rule. Some people liked to try to abide by it, but they didn’t have to.
But Lachlan wanted to.
Which meant he didn’t want to kiss me again.
And now I couldn’t exactly say, “I’ve changed my mind. I won’t help you hunt the bad guy because you won’t kiss me.”
Yeah, that wasn’t an option.
Cheeks burning, I nodded. “Yeah, of course. Good idea. Fabulous.”
Go on. Keep babbling. I forced myself to hold his gaze, unable to read what was in his eyes. Heat? Regret?
Maybe.
I wanted there to be.
But they were just professional. I remembered how intense the kiss was, but it seemed he might not.
Just my luck.
“Thank you, Ana.” He squeezed my shoulder. It was clearly supposed to be a friendly gesture, but heat zinged down my arm.
From the way his eyes widened slightly and how he jerked his hand back, he felt the same.
There was an undeniable connection between us. A heat I’d never felt before.
And he was determined to ignore it.
“I’ll see you soon,” he said.
I nodded. “Yep. Later.”
His gaze held mine for just a second more, then he turned and left. I watched him walk away, turning to peer around the corner of the alcove as he strode through the hall and out into the cold night.
Oh man, what had I gotten myself into?
THANK YOU FOR READING!
I hope you enjoyed Ana’s first book as much as I enjoyed writing it. Reviews are so helpful to authors. If you want to leave one, you can do so on Amazon and I’d appreciate it so much.
Ana’s next book will be coming in early June 2018.
Join my mailing list to stay updated. You’ll also get a free copy of Hidden Magic, the story of the FireSouls’ early adventures. Turn the page for an excerpt of Hidden Magic. The story stars Cass, the girl that Bree and Cade visited in Magic’s Bend.
Excerpt Of Hidden Magic
Jungle, Southeast Asia
Five years before the events in Ancient Magic
“How much are we being paid for this job again?” I glanced at the dudes filling the bar. It was a motley crowd of supernaturals, many of whom looked shifty as hell.
“Not nearly enough for one as dangerous as this.” Del frowned at the man across the bar, who was giving her his best sexy face. There was a lot of eyebrow movement happening. “Is he having a seizure?”
“Looks like it.” Nix grinned. “Though I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting this. We’re basically in a tree, for magic’s sake. In the middle of the jungle! Where are all these dudes coming from?”
“According to my info, there’s a mining operation near here. Though I’d say we’re more under a tree than in a tree.”
“I’m with Cass,” Del said. “Under, not in.”
“Fair enough,” Nix said.
We were deep in Southeast Asia, in a bar that had long ago been reclaimed by the jungle. A massive fig tree had grown over and around the ancient building, its huge roots strangling the stone walls. It was straight out of a fairy tale.
Monks had once lived here, but a few supernaturals of indeterminate species had gotten ahold of it and turned it into a watering hole for the local supernaturals. We were meeting our contact here, but he was late.
“Hey, pretty lady.” A smarmy voice sounded from my left. “What are you?”
I turned to face the guy who was giving me the up and down, his gaze roving from my tank top to my shorts. He wasn’t Clarence, our local contact. And if he meant “what kind of supernatural are you?” I sure as hell wouldn’t be answering. That could get me killed.
“Not interested is what I am,” I said.
“Aww, that’s no way to treat a guy.” He grabbed my hip, rubbed his thumb up and down.
I smacked his hand away, tempted to throat-punch him. It was my favorite move, but I didn’t want to start a fight before Clarence got here. Didn’t want to piss off our boss.
The man raised his hands. “Hey, hey. No need to get feisty. You three sisters?”
I glanced at Nix and Del, at their dark hair that was so different from my red. We were all about twenty, but we looked nothing alike. And while we might call ourselves sisters—deirfiúr in our native Irish—this idiot didn’t know that.
“Go away.” I had no patience for dirt bags who touched me without asking. “Run along and flirt with your hand, because that’s all the action you’ll be getting tonight.”
His face turned a mottled red, and he raised a fist. His magic welled, the scent of rotten fruit overwhelming.
He thought he was going to smack me? Or use his magic against me?
Ha.