Taken by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #8)(40)

Our feet slammed into the ground, and I stumbled into Iannis. He caught me before I fell, and I sucked in a deep breath of the hot air in our bubble. My heart sank—we were in the middle of a prairie. But not just any prairie. The tall grass, which nearly came up to my knees, was a deep indigo color, and the sky above us was bright orange. Off in the distance a herd of what looked like bison was grazing, but they seemed to be a dark green, the color of evergreen trees, and something was off about their shape.

“I’m afraid this isn’t Recca,” Iannis said, voicing the obvious. “But at least there is life in this world. Better than what we had before.”

“There is that,” I said, letting out a gusty sigh. “Let me test the air, see if it’s breathable.”

Iannis protested, but I had already taken a few steps forward, leaving the bubble. Cool air wafted against my skin, and I took in a deep breath, then let it out in a sigh of relief when nothing bad happened. The air seemed to be just fine here, and with a tang of grass and moisture, it was ten times better than that hot desert air we’d been breathing before.

I signaled to Iannis to drop the air bubble, then raked a hand through my hair, trying to ground myself. I felt woozy from using all that magic, and I pulled another piece of beef jerky from my sleeve and munched on it as I looked around.

“I guess we can hunt those things, whatever they are,” I said, pointing at the herd off in the distance.

“I’d rather find something smaller,” Iannis said as he came to stand by my side. “There are probably rabbits and deer, or something like them anyway.”

I bit my lip, fighting back the surge of disappointment that threatened to overwhelm me. “I guess we need to replenish our energy before we try the spell again,” I said forlornly.

Iannis put an arm around my shoulder and kissed the top of my head. “Don’t despair,” he murmured against my scalp. “We’ll figure this out. And just look how far you’ve come as a mage. Did you ever think you would end up traveling to different worlds?”

“No,” I admitted, leaning into his embrace. “If we ever get out of this, we’ll have some great stories to tell our children.”

Iannis hugged me a little tighter at that. “Yes, we will. And our grandchildren too, though I doubt they’ll believe us when they get older. Now let’s find something to eat, and some shelter.”

I shifted quickly into panther form, then took off through the grass at a trot, intent on exploring while Iannis set off to find a place to camp. At this level, it was easy to pick up the various scent trails, and in no time, I caught a scent very similar to rabbit, though there was an appetizing clover-like odor mixed in it. My mood picked up as I followed it for a good half mile, then soured as I found its burrow. I didn’t need to dig into it to scent the litter huddled beneath it, or the tiny animals’ fear. No matter how hungry I was, I wasn’t going to kill a mother and leave her babies to starve.

The next scent trail I picked up was more promising—a small group of deer, just two miles south of the weird bison herd I’d seen earlier. The bison themselves were tempting, but I didn’t think I could take them down without the help of magic, and the deer were much easier. I killed a young, yellow-furred male with very little effort, then used a levitation spell to bring it back to Iannis.

Thankfully, our serapha charms were working once again, and I was able to find Iannis quickly. He’d made camp at the top of a hill, not too far from the forest, and already had a good fire going.

“That was fast,” Iannis said as I changed back into human form. “You were gone for little over an hour.”

“I was motivated,” I said with a smile as I set to helping him skin and gut the animal for dinner. “After being separated against our will, I have no intention of letting you out of my sight any longer than necessary.”

“The feeling is entirely mutual,” he said with a tender smile that made my stomach flip-flop.

We roasted the deer over the fire, then used the pile of large branches and leaves Iannis had gathered to build a shelter for the evening. The meat was juicier than I expected—the deer in this world were fattier than the ones on Recca. Soon enough, we were lying back on our sleeping bags in the tent, listening to the fire crackle as we snuggled.

“If we try not to think about it too much, we can almost pretend that we’re on our honeymoon,” Iannis said, and I laughed.

“I’d envisioned white beaches rather than camping in the woods, but this will do in a pinch,” I said, skimming my hand through his long hair. It felt so good to have him back, and as he stroked a hand gently down my side, my skin began to heat. “I don’t see any reason why we can’t celebrate,” I purred, moving closer.

Iannis slipped his arm around me, and our mouths met in a deep, passionate kiss. We took it slow, with soft, loving kisses, and I let myself melt into him, forgetting about the worries of the world. His strong muscles flexed beneath my hands as I rubbed slow circles around his back, and then he rolled me over, trailing more kisses along the edge of my jaw, then down my neck.

“It feels like an age since I’ve last made love to you,” he murmured against my collarbone. I felt a tingle of magic, and then suddenly our clothes were gone and we were skin to skin. I arched my hips into his hard length, and he pressed me back down with a growl, biting down. I moaned as his hand slid between my legs, where I was already wet and aching, and I opened readily for him.