Blessed (16 page)

Turning her again, he brought her over to the threshold of the two rooms. On the floor, inlaid into the wood, were symbols and runes in white marble chased in gold. “That's not even getting into the protection spells on this place. It would take an army of Destros years to break in here.”

“This brings us back to you, my Student.” He still held his arm around her waist. It would be so easy to pull her close and lose himself in her lush curves, and by the desire streaking through her aura he was more than aware that she wanted him. His dick hardened and he swallowed hard, fighting with all of his might to not sweep her up in his arms and take her upstairs with him. He couldn’t make love to her, couldn’t take her virginity. If she became Rejected because he failed to control his arousal he’d never forgive himself. “I'll give you the grand tour later. For now we need to do something about your shielding.”

With regret, he released his hold on her and led them through a series of elegantly furnished rooms and into a large, mostly empty room. The floor of this room was a pale blond wood, and along the right wall, mirrors were spaced between racks of training weapons. Warm summer sun poured in through the windows, giving the space a golden glow.

“This is my training room,”

Sauntering over to the dull-edged practice swords, she hefted one and did a couple clumsy chops through the air. “Please tell me we're not going to beat on each other with these things.”

“No. Today we're working on what's up here,” he said and pointed to his forehead.

She placed the sword back into its sheath, and strode back to him. He removed two big pillows from a cupboard in the wall and set them across from each other on the floor. Sitting on one of the pillows, he pointed to the other. “Please, have a seat.”

She slipped off her shoes and socks and placed them beside the wall. He found her peach-painted toenails incredibly cute. Folding her legs beneath her, she adjusted herself on the pillow. “So, are we going to practice Jedi mind tricks?”

He shook his head with a smile. “Close, but not quite. We're going to work on you keeping your energy to yourself.”

She laughed and said in a mock-offended voice, “Well, excuse me, I didn't realize my energy was oozing all over the place. How rude of me.”

He couldn’t help but grin. Damn she was fun. And smart. And beautiful. He was so screwed. “Enough sass out of you, young lady. I need you to close your eyes and concentrate on my voice.”

“You're getting sleepy.”

“Focus, Eliana. Feel your breath going in and out of your body. Feel the sunlight on your skin, the pillow beneath your body. Feel the currents in the air and the beat of your heart.”

He watched her as she relaxed. This was the first time he had been near her long enough to study her without distraction. With her eyes closed, he could look his fill, and he traced the contours of her body with his eyes. Relaxed, her full lips were even more sensual, soft and inviting to kiss. Her face was heart shaped, and a small curl had escaped from her braid and lay against her smooth cheek.

“Now,” he said in a soft voice, “I want you to hold out both of your palms in front of you. Feel the difference in the air here, how the blood flows through your body differently. Picture a light blue mist surrounding your body, flowing from your center and coating your skin. This is your aura, but for the sake of this exercise, we will call it your energy.”

“I feel stupid. What if I can't find my energy? What if I can’t see it, ever? What if—”

It surprised him how much her lack of confidence in herself upset him. Didn’t she know how amazing she was? “What if you give yourself a chance? What if you didn’t instantly doubt yourself? What if you believed you are the amazing woman I know you are? Have faith in yourself.”

Eliana's lips pressed into a thin line. He gently sent his energy around her. “You can smell my psychic scent, right? Well, if you can smell that, and it's a real and tangible thing, then you can do other aura-related magic as well. If you're shielded well enough, you won't be as vulnerable to demons, like the Barghest in the forest.”

Slowly, her breath returned to a calm state. He admired her aura while she relaxed. Soft blue, it was the color of a sky on a perfect autumn afternoon. His forest green aura followed his attention and reached out toward hers. He had to jerk it back into place and get himself under control.

“Now, imagine a soft sky-blue energy rolling down your skin, covering your body. It's a part of you, an extension of your body, as natural as breathing.”

Watching her carefully, he drew in a deep breath of her psychic scent. It was becoming more concentrated. It filled his lungs and seemed to settle in his cock, making him hard and needy. Well, needier. Having an erection seemed to be a permanent state for him around her. He waited a few more minutes, letting her feel the flow moving through her.

“Good, it should feel like a soft tingle over your skin. Now imagine the energy, those tingles, gathering in your hands. All of that energy is flowing to your palms, gathering and circling there. I want you to push the energy out and tell me when you feel me touching your hands.”

He held out his own palms and extended his energy. This was the most basic building block of shielding, the awareness of personal energy and how to manipulate it. It was an unusual sensation at first, but with practice, it became second nature for the Chosen. Once a person became aware of the energy, they could even see auras with practice.

With a gentle push, he brushed against her aura, a soft stroke that made her gasp. He bit back his own groan. His energy was an extension of his body, and he felt what it felt. And right now it felt all of her delicious softness. It took all of his willpower not to reach out and grip her full hips and pull her into a deep kiss. Those lips of hers would probably feel like heaven wrapped around his cock.

“I feel you,” she said, her eyes still tightly closed.

Gritting his teeth, he struggled against his desire, his need for her. “Good, now I want you to try to draw the energy into yourself. Pull it back and imagine it becoming a hard, tight shield around your hands. It's sinking into your skin and becoming solid, impenetrable. Nothing can crack it.” He held his hands up again and extended his energy. This time he made it to her hands before he ran into her shield.

Her breathing slowed and became more even.

“Are you back with your energy, Eliana?” She nodded, and he continued, “Good, now we're going to do a power play. I'm going to push my hands against yours, and I want you to push me back. Ready?”

She nodded, and he gathered his energy, beginning to push against her shield. It felt oddly like cool glass, and his power slid around her like a rock in a stream. With a careful flexing of his energy, he pushed against her again. Nothing, he couldn't budge her. He tried a third time, with more power, but he slid around her aura. Not wanting to hurt her, he decided to stop trying for now and move onto other things, but he was surprised at how easily she repelled him. It had taken Aiden months of training to achieve the strength that seemed to come so naturally to her.

“I want you to try to extend your power out and make my hands move.”

He waited, and nothing happened. Eliana had her eyes squinted shut hard, and she bit her lower lip. Minutes ticked by, and he ran trace energy over her shield. Solid and slippery as ever.

“Picture your energy pushing out of you like a big balloon that's being blown up fast.” Nothing. Her shield was still a foot out from her and not budging.

An hour later, they were both frustrated and tired. She was panting and had a thin sheen of sweat on her face.

“Why can't I do this? Move you stupid shield, move!”

He shook his head then stood, cracking his neck and stretching out his back. “This isn't working. Maybe we should take a break and try something else.”

She squeezed her eyes tighter as she clenched her fists. “Dang it.”

Helping her stand, he patted her back. “Don't let it get to you. You're doing great. Everyone's energy is as different as they are. We have to find the right way to approach yours.” He paused and smiled brightly, stepping closer to her. “Do you notice anything different?”

She shook her head and blotted her face with the edge of her T-shirt, exposing more of her tanned stomach. That glimpse of flesh made his mouth dry with desire.

“Can you smell me anymore?”

She frowned and leaned closer to him, smelling his shirt. The frown faded to a curious quirk of her eyebrows, and she leaned up on her toes to smell the edge of his neck where it met his shirt. She lingered there, her warm breath washing over his skin. His voice came out rough as desire moved through his body. “Stay there a moment. I'm going to drop my shields so you can see the difference.”

He stood stock-still as she placed her hands on his chest and balanced herself as she breathed on his neck. He was sure she could feel how hard his heart was beating and how badly he wanted to pull her tight against him and jerk her hips against his cock.
Idiot! What are you doing!
his mind shouted at him. His body told it to shut up.

“Now lower your shield.”

Closing her eyes, she lowered her shields and gave off a soft gasp. This close, their energies rolled across each other like two cats rubbing cheeks. His muscles tensed while her aura touched him, caressed him, teased him. She moaned softly and brushed her lips against the banging pulse in his neck, then gave him a gentle lick that almost broke him.

He shuddered against her and threw his shields back up swiftly. In many ways, exchanging energy was more intimate than sex, and more dangerous. If he had allowed her much deeper into his aura, she would have felt the slight edge of what he was feeling. And right now, he was feeling as though he wanted to rip her jeans off and fuck her right here, right now.

He stood and strode over to a rack of bamboo practice staffs. With his back to her, he said, “I think we're done for today. Practice your shielding and work on trying to extend it. We may have to work to find your trigger.”

She started to take a step toward him and stopped. “I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow then.”

He nodded, not turning around as he balanced a bamboo staff on his palms. “Remember to keep it casual in public. Stay in groups. Don't go anywhere you'll be alone.”

His cock was very unhappy with him at the moment, actually every part of him was unhappy about sending her away, but he had to face the simple fact that right now he wasn’t strong enough to keep his hands off of her.

“Okay, I have a ton of homework to do after class tomorrow, and I work tomorrow night. Can we meet again on Tuesday?” Her husky voice held an edge of confusion.

Feeling more in control of himself, he turned around and leaned on his staff. “Sounds good. I have some things to do in the morning but I can see you as soon as I’m done. Can you come over Tuesday afternoon without arousing any suspicions?”

“Sure, I'll tell Chrissy I'm going to the library to study.”

He accompanied her out to the foyer, his hands twitching with the need to grip her curvy ass as she walked. “You did well today, Eliana. I'm proud of you,” he said in a quiet voice as he held the door open. She stared at him, holding his eyes for a long moment, then nodded and left.

Watching her drive away, it required all of his willpower not to call her back to the house. His brush with her aura had revealed to him glimpses of an honest heart, a wish to make people happy, and a deep well of strength. Add to that her quirky sense of humor and killer body, and she was hard, no impossible, to resist.

He sighed at the injustice of it all and wondered how he was going to wait for her to be Chosen so he could claim her as his forever.

Following Rachel out of Aiden's class, Eliana gave a silent groan. She was in danger of failing because she found it next to impossible to pay attention to anything but her fucking hot professor. She spent most of the class trying not to moon over Aiden, who seemed oblivious to her presence. Whenever he spoke, she kept her eyes on her laptop and tried to take notes. When Professor Ventan was giving his portion of the lecture, she found herself daydreaming about Aiden and staring at his profile. Feeling pathetic, she waved good-bye to Rachel and made her way to her dorm room. Kyle was sitting in the foyer in the lounge area by the elevators.

“Hi, Eliana,” he said with a wide smile. Kyle placed a slip of paper in his book to keep his place and strolled over to her. “I hope you're feeling better. I tried to stop by yesterday to check up on you, but Chrissy said you weren't home.” Kyle leaned next to the wall by the elevator and looked at her with concern in his wide brown eyes.

“I'm feeling much better, thanks for asking. Sorry I flaked out on you the other night. I must have been allergic to something in the pizza,” she finished with what she hoped was a sincere smile. He seemed like a nice guy, and she didn't want to hurt his feelings. Especially after Michelle made it such a point to be mean to him. But he wasn't Aiden.

Kyle grabbed her hand in his. “I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight and maybe see a movie, grab something to eat? We'll stick to something easy on your stomach this time.”

She gently extracted her hand from his. “Thanks for the offer, but I have to work tonight. Maybe some other time?”

Kyle's face fell, and his lips curved in disappointment. “Yeah, sure, no problem. I can take a hint.”

She sighed inwardly. “I really am sorry. I'm so busy with work and school. It's hard to keep up with both and have a life.”

With a nod of understanding he said, “Okay, I was beginning to get the feeling you didn't like me. Tell you what, give me a call by Friday, and I'll know you're interested. If you don't call, I'll know that we're going to be just friends.”

She nodded, eager to get ready for work so she wouldn't be late. “I promise I'll call you, but I've got to get going if I don't want to get fired.”

Hoping to ease his hurt feelings, she gave him a hug then hopped onto the elevator.