Magic jumped and danced within the room, all different colors and patterns. Swirls and mini-explosions, it was beauty in movement. I felt his body against mine, the silk at my back, the heated air between us and the chill beyond. I felt connected, utterly. Balanced, completely. At one with him and my surroundings.
“Look at me, Penny,” he commanded softly.
Our eyes met, and he thrust.
41
A bang sounded at the door and Emery awoke immediately, lifting his hand to weave a spell.
“No, no, no,” Penny said sleepily, pulling down his hand and wrapping it back around her.
“What the hell?” Reagan shouted through the door. “You get a boyfriend and suddenly I can’t kick open your door without breaking shit? That ain’t right, Penny. That ain’t right. Wake up! It’s time to kick some ass.”
A glance at the clock said it was ten a.m. Light glowed around the curtains in the room.
Emery dropped his hand to Penny’s bare shoulder and turned his head so he could breathe in the fragrance of her hair. His heart swelled and he closed his eyes, soaking in the feeling of her body curled around his and her leg splayed across his thigh.
A fierce protectiveness surged through him, followed by a sense of humbled honor.
How the hell had he gotten so lucky? What trick of the universe had landed him here, with her? Lying with her like this, after the experience he’d shared with her last night…he never wanted to leave her ever again. Not for a moment. She was his, and every fiber of his being was absolutely hers.
But then, he always had been hers. He knew that now. He’d just been fighting it.
She stirred and pulled back enough to peel open a blue eye before offering him a sleepy smile and settling back onto his chest. “Morning.”
Another thud on the door. “Get up,” Reagan called. “They have to repair the front door anyway. What’s one more door? That’s a warning. Heed it.”
“She’s not kidding. She will come in here.” Penny rolled to her back, grimacing. “Ow.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Sore. It sucks that women have all this drama with losing our virginity. Kind of a dick move on the creator’s part. No pun intended.”
He turned and propped up on an elbow, watching her slowly wake up. “Regrets?”
She rubbed her eyes, blinked another few times, and met his gaze. Her eyes sparkled with emotion and a smile tugged at her lips. “Obviously no regrets, but with all the hubbub the world makes about losing your virginity, you’d think there would be balloons and dancing monkeys or something. But nope, just some pain, eventually followed by soreness.”
“So I was terrible?”
She laughed and snuggled into him. “I think you know better. Those sounds weren’t made by a bored or unhappy woman.”
He kissed her shoulder. “I’d say you could’ve been faking it, but I do know better. If you hadn’t been into it, you probably would have told me.”
“Last warning, you filthy buggers,” Reagan called through the door. “I imagine by now that the Guild has gotten a tip about what we’re doing today. I told Callie to mention it to her people in passing. Someone is bound to have leaked it. The Guild is surely readying for an attack as we speak.”
The moment faded away as reality seeped into Emery. He softly rubbed her back. “I only have a vague knowledge of what Reagan’s magic should be able to do. Very vague. This sounds like a suicide mission.”
“Yes, it does.” Penny sighed, patted his side, and rolled away. “But that’s kind of how she rolls. Besides, my mother said this was the way. We know to listen to my mother. Man, did you just hear what I said? And to think, I thought one day I wouldn’t have to. Congratulations, universe, you win.”
He laughed and pulled the sheets away, climbing from the bed. His clothes lay on the floor where he’d left them, dirty from the day before. “I don’t suppose we can go to the Bankses and get another change of clothing before we storm the castle?”
“Doubtful. Reagan’s will probably be dirty—”
“Five, four…”
“Hurry up,” Penny said, pulling on her shirt.
“Three, two…”
“Go, go, go—” Penny reached the door, threw the lock, and opened it in harried, panic-stricken movements.
Reagan paused with her foot in the air and her hands balanced to the sides, ready to kick. A smile graced her face and she lowered her foot. “Barely. Just barely.”
Penny huffed at her and turned back to finish getting dressed.
“Hurry up,” Reagan said. “I want to get the show on the road.”
“Have you told Darius about this?” Penny asked.
“No.” Reagan filled the doorway, wearing her standard uniform of leather pants, a tank top, and her hair in a ponytail. “Let’s see how he likes secrets. And it’s day, so when the shenanigans wake him up, he’ll be half panicked, knowing I did something stupid.”
“You two have such a strange relationship.” Penny pulled on a sweater before bending to her utility belt. She slowed, then cocked her head. A moment later, she stood up slowly, her eyes on me and her brow furrowed. “We do need to go to the Bankses’ house. There is something there we need.”
“I don’t need to—”
She held her hand up. “No, it’s…” Her eyes went distant. Then she shrugged. “Something has arrived. We need to pick it up. I feel it. It’s important, whatever it is.”
Reagan cocked her hip. “I didn’t think you had any of your mom’s talents.”
“I don’t really.” Penny bent to the collection of stones, loading some into her utility belt. “Not where it is actually useful. I only get vague inklings every now and again, and plenty of questionable intuition.”
“Well, super. In that case, sure. To the Bankses’ we will go,” Reagan said sarcastically.
Despite her tone, she hadn’t been lying. To the Bankses they did go. Penny dashed out of the vehicle (a new loaner from Darius—a Mercedes SUV), rang the bell, hugged her friend from Seattle, and brought back a plain brown package that looked awfully familiar.
“I sent that,” Emery said, something in him clicking in a hollow, strange way. Like Fate’s hand had reached through time, pushing him to take the risk to collect that stone and send it so that it would be back in time for this very fight. He knew it was a coincidence. It had to be. But…
Only dimwitted fools believe in coincidences.
Oh great, now he had Ms. Bristol’s voice in his head. That couldn’t be good.
“Here.” She handed up the package from the back seat.
“We stopped here to get a rock?” Reagan said, backing out of the driveway as Callie came to the door with a frown. They hadn’t filled Callie and Dizzy in on what we were doing, knowing they’d insist on coming.
“Yeah.” Penny didn’t elaborate.
Emery tried to hand it back. “I sent this for you. I hadn’t realized I would be coming back myself when I mailed it. Or that it would take so long to get here. The mail is really slow overseas.”
“Open it. It’ll be faster.” She waggled her finger at him.
“Right.” He shook his head as he took down the layered spell and then handed the package back.
She tore through the paper, a hungry gleam in her eyes. Clearly she liked presents. He had to remember that. After opening the package, she stared down into the box for a second, a blank look on her face. She cocked her head. Then handed the package back.
“I know it’s not the best looker of the ones I sent,” he started.
“No, it is not,” Reagan said after catching a glance.
“You must’ve known you were coming back on some level,” Penny said. “It’s not interested in me. It’s interested in you.” A line formed between her brows and she put her palm on one of the compartments on her utility belt. “And Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky wants to tango with it. Seriously, Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky is high-maintenance. Thank you for the gift, but I’m not so sure I’m liking it.”
“Holy crap are you weird,” Reagan said.
Penny’s brow furrowed as she harrumphed and looked out the window. Emery laughed at their antics while taking the rock out of the package. It felt good to have it back. He felt its pulse vibrate through his hand and then burrow deeper, into his body. It echoed outward, joining the bubble of magic within the car, and reacting to the connection he felt with Penny with a fizzing sensation. As soon as he got out of the car, he had a feeling his connection with the natural world would be enhanced too.
“I really did send this back for you,” he said in a wispy voice as they exited the highway.
“Or maybe for my safekeeping,” Penny said, unperturbed.
“Okay.” Reagan turned off the radio. “We’re getting close to the warehouse now. Here’s the situation. It’s a day like any other. As far as they know, we’re going to the warehouse to train. Of course, what we’re really going to do is load up with some spells. I have a bunch of herbs and crap out there, plus color-coded casings. I don’t care what spell goes in what color. I won’t be using them. You do what you want. Don’t use all your energy. Oh, and we should set up some wards and tripwires or something, I don’t know. We’ll play that by ear—”