Braving the Elements (Darkness #2)(15)

“That was one indication, yes. Plus, I can feel you as you can feel me. I can sense you as you can sense me. Always have been able to, but now it’s clearer since you’ve taken large quantities of my blood in a short period of time.”

No problem. I imagined myself lifting a giant, rubber drain stop and smothering that blasted pit in my chest that constantly asked to be filled with him. I may learn incredibly slowly, but eventually I do learn, and since doing it in the height of my emotional crazy, I knew what to do now.

His head tilted and his eyes hardened. “That trick is not supposed to be possible. How do you do it?”

“A woman never tells.”

His eyebrows lowered a fraction, his long black lashes casting shadows over his eyes as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. I’d lost a whole day atop a pile of rocks. “I wish you would leave it open. Let the connection last.

It’s comforting.”

“So you know I’m not in enemy hands? That I’m right under your nose where you can keep tabs on me? Like a pet.”

“Yes. Be thankful it isn’t a shock collar.”

His chiseled face remained impassive, as did his eyes. I couldn’t tell if he was joking.

Lifting my chin like it didn’t matter, I climbed to my feet and dusted myself off. “Well, you’ll be happy to know I have decided to stay on for a while until I can sort myself out. I will put up with your crap—to some extent. I will take the classes, and I will even bear the a-holes who call me your pet.”

“I am delighted to hear it.”

Again with the impassive delivery. It was almost as if he mocked me somehow. Or shared a joke that I didn’t find funny. This was unfamiliar ground with him. Usually, he was stodgy and leader-like—super commanding and dominating. And while he was still dominating (that trait seemed built-in) he seemed more relaxed. Relaxed enough to joke?

Did he joke?

I surged on with my agenda. “I’ll only be around for a while, though. And when I want to leave, I’m leaving. You know I can.”

He studied me for a long moment. “I don’t usually have this much problem with minions following orders.”

His eyes twinkled, which didn’t stop my eyebrows from lowering dangerously.

A strange flash of guilt covered his face before the wisps of a smile died.

He sighed. “Look, let me be honest with you. You have an extremely rare type of magic, a powerful magic, which makes you extremely valuable. Both to my clan, and to our larger organization as a whole. You come at exactly the right time, because we badly need someone to take on Trek, the Eastern Territory’s mage. We both need you trained—you and me—because without it, you run the risk of doing too much and killing yourself. You’ve been in that situation twice.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. He didn’t need to remind me.

“There’s nothing I can do about others calling you a pet,” he went on.

“It’s a stigma with humans. We see so few of them, and those can always be so easily manipulated, they do become a pet, of sorts. They usually have low ranking power. As such, they are sniffed at. Being labeled as my pet, you have some clout. Now, with the type of magic you possess, and your value, you will have even more. But that stigma will be a slow thing to erode. I cannot counter that. Anything I do or say will be passed off as my affection for you. We all have a hard road. You are no different.”

“I’m homeless. Charles burnt all my possessions. I’m hated. I now sound like a whining jackass—a little compassion might be nice.”

The wisps of a smile were back. He apparently found my black moods humorous. “An account has been opened for you. Funds have been deposited for your employment within this clan, as a mage in training, and as recompense for Charles’ accidental…sabotage. Buy new possessions.”

“I can’t buy new memories.”

“No, but with a computer, you can re-download your photos. Or did you not back up to the cloud?”

Oh yeah. I had. I had signed up with my new computer before I even knew what I was signing up for. Then it just kept backing up there because I didn’t know how to stop it.

Fate was getting awfully nosy.

Sensing a losing battle, my eyebrows lowered again. “Okay, why are you hiding me away in a secret residence?”

“We have a leak somewhere in my clan. The enemy seems to know important information they shouldn’t. I don’t want you accessible. They know I protect you, which means they know you have value. Now that you’ve demonstrated your kind of power, they’ll pull the walls down to get you. You, me, and Charles know where you stay. For your own safety, that needs to remain between us, alone.”

“Why are you always such a dick to me in front of others?” I fired next, trying to unsettle his perfectly calm demeanor.

A large breath escaped his mouth in a whoosh. He shook his head, the first sign that he didn’t sit on top of the world like he pretended. Guilt flashed again, my curiosity starting to get out of control as to why. “I suddenly regret this honest discussion.”

He put his hands on his hips and leaned against a tree, looking out at the falling night. “You’re…different. You affect me differently than others. As I affect you…”

His eyes swung toward me, the question in that statement ringing through the night. I stepped closer before I could help myself.