Cameron sighed and tugged her back a foot or so. “Try to remember your lessons. Too much power will hurt you if you can’t control it. You can’t just step onto a ley line if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
She frowned and stretched her arm back toward the line, feeling a tingle in her fingertips. Warmth flowed up her arm, and she giggled, suddenly feeling like she’d had too much summer wine. “I can do it.” She didn’t know how she knew, but she was certain it was true. Stepping onto the line wouldn’t hurt her.
“Goddess save me from young witches,” Cameron muttered. He grabbed her hand and pulled her even farther away from the line, not stopping until they were nearly back to the hut. She pulled against him, but it was like trying to pull against one of the giant oaks in the castle grounds.
“Stay here,” he said when he stopped.
She tugged her hand free with a scowl. “I just want to have a closer look.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. We should get on our way again. Get to the portal. If we get to Alec’s and it’s good news, you could be home today. Still have a prior oversee the first time you use your power, as it should be.”
No. She wanted to know it now. Wanted to feel that warmth around her. She stepped a little farther away from the door and then darted toward the ley line.
Behind her, Cam shouted, and then she heard the sound of him running, but it was too late. She reached the line and stepped onto it.
Heat and light exploded through her. She’d never felt anything like it before. Never imagined anything could feel like this. It was like standing in the center of something immense and unknown, feeling it spin around her, wanting to show her its secrets.
She stretched out her arms, tried to pull it closer. The sensations grew stronger. Hotter. Brighter. She felt herself begin to tremble, felt the power bear down on her, the weight of it burning.
And then Cameron’s hand closed around hers, and he yanked her off the line. The sensation stopped so fast, it was almost like being blinded. She stumbled as her knees buckled.
“Goddess, what the hell did you think you were doing?” Cameron snarled in her ear. He sank to the ground, bringing her with him. His hand, still closed over hers, forced her palm flat against the damp earth. “Ground it, Sophie. Now.”
“What—”
“Do what they taught you. Ground it.”
She tried to remember. Something about opening. Visualizing the ley line power sinking into the earth. The world still spun around her, and she closed her eyes.
“Ground it,” Cameron snarled. “Now.”
She pictured the light, the color sparking behind her eyes. Then tried to grab that image and force it down into the earth. Something shivered through her and then pushed outward with the speed of a snake striking. She heard Cameron cry out, and then things went dark.
When she came back to herself, she was lying on the grass with Cameron leaning over her, looking frantic. Her head ached fiercely, and she shut her eyes again.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” he said. “You stay awake.” He took her hand, tugged her upright so she was sitting, half propped, against him. “Do you hear me?”
Sophie shivered as his fingers closed around hers. It felt good. Tempting. Not like the ley line. Different. Something deep and powerful coiled within him, and she wanted to know more. She stared up at him. At eyes that were suddenly a fascinating shade of blue. She felt the pulse of power in him again and felt an answering curl, hot and hungry somehow, low in her belly.
She tightened her hand around his, the movement feeling as natural as though she had touched him a thousand times before, and she thought she saw a glimmer of light pass through him, like he’d swallowed the ley line. His eyes turned a darker shade of blue, and then his mouth came down on hers, kissing her. Light exploded through her again. Burning and searing.
It washed over and through her, and she felt a click like coming home and sliding the key into the lock to open the front door. Meant to be. Natural.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down, falling back, feeling the weight of him land on top of her with a surge of relief and desire that made her head spin. His mouth on hers was hot, and he tasted like heat and power, the combination addictive, so that she wanted to drink all of him. One of her legs curled itself up around his hip, and Cameron groaned against her mouth. His hand pushed her dress farther up, sliding up her bare leg and higher, her skin burning and aching with pleasure as though she’d stepped into the ley line again in the wake of his touch.
Everywhere his skin touched hers, the spark and heat and burn seemed to intensify. More than just the humming weight of the magic, this was darker and deeper. Sensation spiking and bursting and leaving trails of pleasure in its wake that made her feel half drugged.
Cameron made a harsh noise in his throat and pulled her closer as his fingers slipped between her legs.
Her knees fell apart without her thinking as he pressed against something that felt so good, she thought she might faint. But fainting would mean all this would stop. She didn’t want it to stop.
She jerked her mouth free of his with a gasp and tugged at the neck of his shirt, wanting to touch him like he touched her.
His fingers stroked, pressed, then slid down and inside her, and she buried her face in the curve of his neck, mouth and teeth pressing against the strong line of muscle to stop from screaming. The taste of his skin, hot and male and salt sweat, different from anything she’d ever tasted before, was addictive, and she pressed her teeth harder.
Cameron swore and pulled her head back, mouth coming down on hers, demanding and drugging. Pulling her deeper and deeper into the spinning rush of sensation, further and further from any rational thought.