Braving the Elements (5 page)

“
That isn’t my problem,” James retorted, unconcerned. “I can’t have you killing a student because you can’t listen. Out you get.”

“James, really
look
at her for a second,” Charles murmured. “Take a big whiff.”

Before I could ask what that was about, James
indignantly surveyed me. He leaned forward and inhaled. “What…” His eyebrows rumbled, prompting closer examination. “Why does it smell faintly of…”

Suddenly his face drained of color and he took a step back. “
Mmm, yes, higher-level, I see.” He turned to Charles and offered a light bow. “She should probably stay. It isn’t distinctly clear that this is his property, hence my not noticing it at first, but…yes. I apologize—I was not aware the Boss took a pet.”

Ice
turned slowly into fire. I needed instruction, yes, but I had my pride. Which this man, and Stefan, were stepping on.

I’d had enough.
Of all of this. My whole life I’d tried to keep half of myself from people. Tried to hide and save face. Feared to completely be myself.

Well, screw that. I was sick of it. I didn’t lose my old life to end up in the same rut!

Fire surged, feeding off the last week of fear and uncertainty.

One big tear wobbled down my face. The redheaded girl laughed and said, “
Uh oh, poor baby’s going to run to her
master.”

Yes, I sure was. I was going to pull this weed out by the root.
Then I might come back and punch her squarely in the jaw.

I
pushed the pain of defeat down; let it harden my resolve.
Let’s dance, Stefan!

“Where are you going?” Charles asked as the knuckles around my dagger turned white.

“To light some fireworks.”

If I didn’t stand up for myself, then what did I have left?
Nothing. I’d be useless
and
broken.

My sword flashed a b
right gold, my wobbly emotions not applying the brakes to the flow of magic.

“Sasha,” Charles said, warning in his voice. “Crying is probably better.”

My dagger
started to smoke. Charles worried that too much magic was trying to force its way in. It wasn’t. For some reason I couldn’t explain, I had complete control. But then, I was heading into danger. That had always been the recipe, had it not? I rose to the occasion when there was surviving to do.

Didn’t matter why, though
; I had an agenda.

Passed
reason, I turned to Charles, my blade deepening in color. I opened myself up a crack more. Smoke billowed now, the blade grinning madly as its color pushed into a deep gold.

“If I were you, I would get lost.
This is probably one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done.”

“
Then why are you grinning? You know I can’t, Sasha. Don’t do this,” Charles pleaded.

Before I exited the large classroom, I
leveled with him. “Do you think I’m his pet, Charles? Do you think I’m here because he has a sexual interest in me?”

The large man hesitated, glancing back at the spectators.

“All
rightie, then. Good chat.” I about-faced.

My blade turned a
molten, burnished gold. The color of Stefan’s power. Let everyone see we were equal.

In power level, anyway.

Consulting my inner guide,
also known as that nagging part of me that always strived to reach Stefan and was always aware of his presence, I turned my body toward the center of the house. The sun peeked out from behind the horizon, splattering my face and lifting my spirits. I loved the darkness, but I also craved the light. The night called to my magic, the day to my spirit.

Focusing on that part deep inside me that connected
with Stefan, I brought it out and held it up, analyzing it. Analyzing him.

He worried. Something troubled him. Fear ate at the corners of his brain, distracting him.

I opened a large white door, the wood swinging on silent hinges. He had just stood up from his seat around a large table, eyes expectant, knowing I’d be walking in. Everyone else at the table followed his gaze. He held his sword in his left hand.

“Sasha, you need to calm down. Whatever’s the matter, we can discuss it.” He sounded so calm. A human lunatic with a knife wanted to poke holes in his stupid body, and he addressed me as if I asked about a petition.

“Is her dagger white?” s
omeone whispered. Another gasped.

“Is she Trek’s cre
ation? Is he controlling her?” a lady trilled.

He had been
in the middle of a meeting. I didn’t care.

I had the knife, the power, the anger, the angst…I just needed a way to begin the
duel. Somehow
olé
didn’t seem appropriate. Maybe I should slap him with a white glove…

“Can we speak of this in private?”
Stefan tried again.

“Why, so you can pat me on the head, put me in chains, and tell everyone what a great pet I am?”

“They’ve been calling her pet all
week, Boss,” Charles mumbled from the door. “Should I remove her?”

“Try it, Charles. Try to remove his majesty’s pet. See what happens.” Pain
threatened to consume me, wobbling my lower lip. A single tear worked out of my eye.
Not the time for vulnerability!

“This clan knows I do not take pets. I do not adhere to that practice.”
Stefan stood tall, that danged connection calling me. Begging me to step forward and merge my body with his. To find the peace I sought within his arms.

I took a step
back, my heart dropping an inch. My chest filled with lead, covering over that connection. Hiding it.

Stefan
took a step, a strange apprehension peeking through his controlled mask. “What did you just do?”

“I’ve thought about your earlier offer for room and board. Thank you, but I decline. I
think I’ll take my chances on my own.”

The door slammed behind m
e. Charles stood in front of it with a grim face and sorrowful eyes. He shook his head. “I can’t let you run away, Sasha. You remember what happened the last time.”

“We can’t let the enemy get hold of you.”
Stefan’s voice grated. “They’re searching. You’ve nearly died by their hand twice. It’s me you have the problem with. Come with me now, we’ll speak about this.”

“So I’
m a prisoner, is that it?”

“This is your home, now.”

“Living with a bunch of people who think I am a possession does not make this my home. Tell me, Stefan, how would you feel if your
home
consisted of a bunch of people who thought you were no better than someone’s dog? A dangerous dog, at that. A prized trophy, guarded constantly. They probably think I’m a sex slave, too. Can’t learn magic, human, no skills—I don’t belong here. I hear it all the time. I didn’t belong in my old life, either. Not with my old family, not with my old boyfriend—what does that make me, Stefan?” Pain welled up from down deep. “Unwanted. How could this possibly be a home?”
Will I ever have one? Will I ever fit?

Stefan
stared at me grimly.

The lethal
poise of the Boss’s body shook my confidence. Flouting his dominance in front of his subjects was definitely the stupidest thing I’d ever done, and I’d done some pretty eyebrow raising stuff. He wasn’t a guy I would fight and live long enough to gossip about. I needed to go, and I did not plan to let Charles the Double Crosser bar my way. Not ever again.

“Move, Charles, or I will move you.”

Pity overcame his expression. “This is best for you, Sasha. You have to see that.”

“This is the second time I ask. There will not be a third. Please move.”

“Sasha.” Stefan took another step toward me. His face held a command, stern and disapproving.

“Just beguile her,” someone said with exasperation. “Make her listen. Your plaything is out of control, Boss, excuse me for saying. She—“

Way wrong term.

I turned with a
now-black blade, my other hand outstretched, pointing at a man with a round face and double chin. Black smoke surrounded him, binding him to his chair. Magic taxed my body, prickling my skin with heat. I was close to the cusp. I pushed my palm through the air. His chair flew backward, knocking a lamp and globe out of the way before hitting, then putting a hole through, the wall behind him.

“If you do not stop this right now, I will be forced to stop you.”
Stefan had his sword up. The tattoos on his arms glowed that burnished gold.

It
felt as if something scrabbled through my chest. He searched for the link. He could use it to smother my magic. And he would. He could control all of this. He knew how to work the elements just so, how to build—whatever Master Bert had said—and hone…that other thing. He operated with calm and level-headed knowledge.

I
operated by the seat of my pants. I’d been lucky so far. My butt tingle told me it was about to end.

A wildness
crept into me, something primal and fierce. I moved like a rabid animal from a net. Pointing my sword at the door, I blasted a hole through the handle, turning my blade back to white; I didn’t have much stamina—magic required energy to use and sustain. Like a runner, you had to work at endurance. I hadn’t been at this for long.

Charles stood his ground
with the grim faced courage he was known for throughout the clan. I darted at him, slapping my hand against his arm, and electrifying it as I did so. He flew sideways as if from an explosion.

A quick glance told
me Stefan had started running, seeing that my escape attempt would work.

“Sasha, please,
don’t
!” he shouted.

Too late.

Already weak
ening, I ran like the devil was chasing me, lighting through the hallways, rooms, and corridors, letting my inner compass guide me. It had never led me astray, even before all this magic mumbo-jumbo, and I trusted it now.

I
burst out of the doors into the bright sunlight, my vision a cloud of white while my pupils tried to contract. I stumbled, hitting a tree and falling to my knees. Up a second later, shouting sounding off behind me, I started to run, no destination in mind.

Stefan
exploded into the sunlight and immediately had to shield his eyes, the rays like daggers stabbing into the back of his skull. Someone handed him sunglasses. He straightened up slowly, still squinting, working at that damn link. She shouldn’t have been able to disguise it. That wasn’t how it worked.

“Which direction, Boss?”
Charles asked, stepping to his side. His voice held traces of worry. He’d grown attached.

Stefan
shook his head, scanning the tree line. “Woods, but I have no idea where. I can’t…” He shook his head again.

“What does a black blade mean? I haven’t heard of black. Is it between white and gold?”

“It’s a step beyond white.”

“Couldn’t be.”
Jameson stepped to Stefan’s other side. He didn’t care about the human—about Sasha—but he had figured out Stefan’s claim on her, the soft mark, and knew she was important in some way. For that alone, Jameson would rally. He was a solid choice as Second.

“That’
s a myth,” Jameson stated.

“You were in that room,”
Stefan said simply, working at that damn link. When her power faltered, he’d uncover it. He’d find her. He just hoped it wasn’t too late.

“Theatrics?”
Jameson walked forward, eyes low on a tree trunk.

“She’d just picked that blade off the wall at random,” Charles said
, shaking his head. “It wasn’t theatrics. She’s been doing weird things. Weird magic. Bert is flabbergasted. James probably is, too, though he only saw it for a second. She took that pet stuff very…badly.”

Charles
, the fucking master observer.

“I can track her
.” Jameson slowly walked to the tree line. “She didn’t take it easy. Her footprints are messy.”

“Do it!”

“If she has black magic, she could turn the war…” Jameson let the thought trail away.

“
She’s completely untrained.” Stefan’s eyes searched the ground behind Jameson, finding a shoe print. “She was the one who disbanded all the
Dulca
in the battle, I’m sure of it. They react to her, are drawn to her magic. They
speak
to her in a language she can understand.”

Jameson straightened and looked back at him, his face clouding with uncertainty. It was Charles
who responded to the silent accusation.

“S
he isn’t working for Trek. She’s barely working for herself, and she has a vested interest in staying alive. She learns incredibly fast with hands-on, but try to explain something to her and at the end of your sermon, she’ll still be looking at a flower instead of you, completely oblivious. She isn’t a spy. Definitely is
not
a spy.”

“How can you be sure? Spies are deceptive…”

Charles laughed. “Yeah, she’s deceptive, all right. You’ll think she’ll say or do one thing, then she does something else entirely, not even knowing why herself. No, spend any amount of time with her. That chick ain’t no spy!”

Jameson shook his head, his glance passing by
Stefan. He worried. Hell, so did Stefan in the beginning.

The blockage cleared suddenly, and just like that, he felt her again.
Her misery, her depression, her utter hopelessness. Stefan’s heart constricted. He started to run.

*****

I came awake slowly, my body sore and the grief still fresh. I’d run for a while, blasting through underbrush and dodging around trees, but my directionless plight finally sank in. Until I got on my feet, I needed Stefan’s hospitality. The only other people who could possibly take me in were my foster family, and they’d already done so much of that my whole life, I couldn’t ask for more.

Hopelessness washed over me again. I needed to get a job.
I had to quit the crappy school job I had when I took up this gig. I had renter’s insurance, so I probably had some sort of money coming my way, but I needed a steady income to live. That was probably step one. Except, there was that tiny problem of monsters tracking me down and dragging me away to a group of people even less hospitable than Stefan’s clan…

Sitting up painfully, having slept for an
indiscriminate amount of time on jagged rocks, I sensed a presence in the failing evening light. My head swung to the left as my midsection gave a lurch. I recognized the supportive, luring feeling of the link between us before my eyes hit his perfect face. Stefan stood some ten feet away, leaning against the tree, staring at me with his striking, dark eyes.

My body immediately leaned forward, wanting to go to him as I always had before. My mind, however, rebelled.

“You’re angry.” His voice was so deep and thick. It coated me in pleasure just by reaching my ears.

I mental
ly slapped myself and retorted, “Did the scowl give me away?”

“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 slow
ly, but eventually I do learn, and since doing it in the height of my emotional crazy, I knew what to do now.

His head ti
lted 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.

Eyes on my face, he continued, “But
I’m the leader of his clan; all decisions go through me. I’m responsible for every single member’s life, wellbeing, and prosperity. At first, you were nothing more than an intriguing nuisance with strange and puzzling human traits. You’ve come up against our human stigma first hand. I admit, it darkened my thoughts.”

I scrubbed my palm against my jeans
. “And now?”

His eyes bore into mine. A decision rumbled around in his head. The pause lengthened, the approaching night muffling the sounds of day, muting the light.

“I…” Something clicked into place. His face hardened. “I’m still a leader, and I have obligations. I need to take on a mate. To stabilize my role, give my clan another means to resolve problems, and continue my line through the offspring of my chosen. As I’ve said a few times, I don’t take pets, whether my own race or yours.”

“You’re a one woman kind of guy? I find that hard to believe in this place…” My eyes started to sting and I had no idea why.

“I prefer the solidarity of one mate, yes. Although that’s not the norm, no. You’re right. Not for me until lately, and I certainly can’t expect that from my future mate.” His jaw clenched.

“I don’t understand why you need someone with a mate title to have a few kids. Charles explained it like you guys were good with just creating kids randomly.”

“Charles is young. He’s flippant in his execution of our customs. My children may not carry my genetics, but through a union, they’d be born to my mantle. I’d provide for them as my own. Regardless, the clan needs a pair. A steady, stable pair. It’s how it’s always been. Similar to your kings and queens, arranged mating is not unusual. Many factors go into the choice. Reproduction is one, yes. As is ability to lead, politics, magical power, lineage as it concerns magical power…”

“Darla is your chosen.” My heart filled with lead and s
quished down into my shoes. I knew that, but I needed to hear it from his mouth, once and for all.

Stefan
stared at me, his face unreadable. “She is the most acceptable candidate.”

That was a professional answer.

“When does this happen?”

“I should’
ve made the decision before now. It needs to be formalized soon. The Regional needs to approve of my final choice. He’s scheduled to visit in a few months’ time.”

I shook my head as my eyes trained on a spot of dirt next to my shoe
. “How does that concern me? Why can’t you just be nice? Friendly?”

“You were a distraction. A pleasant one, but not one I could allow
to take my attention away from my clan. Now that you’re an asset, you are under my protection. Your prosperity and overall comfort are my responsibility. I now treat you no differently than anyone else under my care. Except for this discussion. And for my checking up on you… Sometimes.”