Intoxicating Magic (30 page)

“I figured.” She sent me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure they’re fine.”

“They are, but I need to see for myself.”

“Of course.”

Tal slipped his hand into mine and I instantly felt calmer. “Let’s do this.”

“This way.” I took a deep breath and led him into the stark white hall that had become my personal hell.

By the time we got to a decently stocked lab, I was panting from the panic trying to claim me. Tal had sent ripples of his healing energy into me, but it was about as good as an aspirin for a migraine.

The fluorescent lighting didn’t help, either. My vision had white spots of panic blinding me.

“You need a Calming cookie.” Tal pulled me closer and tucked my body against his.

“You can say that again.” I breathed into him, instantly feeling better.

Link prowled around the lab three times, his nose to the ground, before he stopped at my feet. He clamped his muzzle shut, showing the most awesome underbite ever, and then growled.

“What is it?” I asked him. But he only got up and sniffed at my leg. My bad one. “I know, little buddy. Tal’s going to fix it.”

Link sat and stared up at Tal, his tongue hanging out in undisguised adoration.
Get in line, dude.

“Hey,” Tal said, looking up from the file the director had given him.

“Yeah?”

“You doing okay now?”

“As good as I can be, I guess.” There was an ache radiating from my ankle that I’d been trying to ignore for the past hour.

He pulled out a stool for me. “Take a seat while I work.”

I did as he said and watched as his brow furrowed in concentration. He made a bunch of notes, scratched some out, and made a few more. Then he sat back and rubbed at his jawline.

“What is it?” Absently I massaged my calf, wincing when the pain intensified.

Tal jumped up from his place at the table and crouched down in front of me. His gentle fingers stroked the red area around my wound. “It hurts again?”

I gritted my teeth and nodded.

He cupped his hands over the swollen area. The soothing tingle started at once, but then intense fire erupted, burning me from the inside out.

“Ouch!” I cried and yanked my leg back, tears stinging my eyes. The force of my withdrawal knocked me sideways, and I slipped right off the stool, landing with a thud on the concrete floor. “Ow!”

“Wil!” Talisen dropped to his knees and scooped me into his arms. “I’m so sorry.”

“What happened?” I all but whimpered, still shaken from falling so spectacularly.

“The wound is too advanced for me to even numb it. We need the antidote
now
.” He gazed down at me, lost in thought. “If you’re up to it, I think your magic might help.”

“How?” I inspected my leg, noting the heat radiating from it. It reminded me of a giant spider bite—red, swollen, and hot to the touch. Thank goodness it didn’t itch.

“I…” He touched his chest just above his heart. “When our magic mingles, it’s soothing. There’s a peace that fills me up that isn’t present when I work my magic on my own.” Moving his hand to rest over my heart, his lips turned up in a wry smile. “And I think that might be true for you as well.”

My mind immediately recalled the scene of Tal and me together and the feelings of complete joy. I could feel the emotion bursting to spring forth. I nodded, afraid to speak.

His fingers were a whisper of a touch as he stroked them along my collarbone. I closed my eyes and took in the sensation, never wanting it to end.

All too soon he whispered into my ear, “Give me a few minutes.”

I pulled my good leg up and wrapped my arms around my knee while Tal stood at the lab table, measuring and mixing unfamiliar ingredients. Finally he glanced down at me and wiped his brow. “It’s done.”

I stood and hobbled the few steps to his side. The liquid was putrid green and slightly chunky. “Oh yuck… you’ve got to be kidding!” I stepped back, covering my mouth.

“Sorry, Wil.” He gave me an apologetic look. “You don’t want to know what I had to use to counteract the poison.”

“Battery acid?”

“That might have been preferable.”

“Ugh.” I stared at it and almost hurled. “You want me to drink this?”

He hesitated and then nodded.

“Can I dress it up? Add something to make it less… awful?” I was grasping at straws and we both knew it.

“If we had more time, I’d be happy for you to experiment with it, but I can’t imagine anything you add to this version is going to make it taste better.”

“An injection maybe?” I was desperate now. My gag reflex was already kicking in at just the thought of choking that crap down.

He frowned. “That’s possible, but it would take a lot more precision and some careful testing to put it in the bloodstream. If we want quick, the best thing to do is swallow it.”

“Cripes.” I squeezed my eyes shut, praying for strength.

His warm hand closed over mine. “First we need to infuse it with our magic.”

My eyes popped open. “Our magic? You sure about that?”

“Positive.” He tugged me forward until we were inches apart. I leaned into him, needing to feel him against me.

Taking my hand, he pulled out his healing stone and placed it between our palms. “All I need you to do is pull a bit of my magic from the stone, let it mix with yours, and send it back in. Can you do that?”

“I’ll try. Stones aren’t my specialty. You know that.” I could take in life magic, but stones? It wasn’t like they were living, breathing things.

“Good enough. I’ll let you know when I’m ready. Just hold tight.”

I wasn’t going anywhere. Leaning against Tal was calming me in a way I couldn’t explain. It wasn’t magic. Not that I could tell, anyway. It was something else. A sense that I was where I was supposed to be. Tal was my go-to person and the reason I’d been so miserable the past few months. Not having him in my life had left a crater-sized hole in my heart. Now the hole was gone.

Under Tal’s ministration, the stone warmed and started to vibrate. His body went stiff with his effort as the power that radiated from him glowed brilliant white between our palms. The crystal heated to almost unbearable levels, and I flinched.

But Tal’s grip tightened around my hand. “Now, Wil.”

My heart raced from the residual magic in the air, and I was fully aware of every inch of Tal. Focusing was near impossible. “I don’t…” I let out a whoosh of breath and stared at our joined hands.

“You’ve got this.” Tal’s soothing voice penetrated the chaos trying to overwhelm me.

My pulse slowed to normal levels while I focused on the heat of the stone. It turned hot, singeing my skin. Under normal circumstances, I would’ve abandoned the transfer, but after watching Tal and the amount of effort he put into the spell, I couldn’t give up. I focused as much for him as I did for myself.

The magic pulsed right at my palm, resistant in a way my plants never were. It was more like when I changed a vampire into a daywalker, though a little more elusive, like the magic was slipping out of my grasp. I tightened my hand over the crystal and squeezed Tal’s fingers, trying to keep the magic from sliding away.

“Relax,” Tal said softly. “The more you try to control it, the harder it will be. Just let it flow into you as if I were directing it.”

“Oh,” I breathed and stopped trying altogether. I just focused on connecting with Tal’s magic and let it come to me. He’d healed me so many times it was second nature. His tingling magic concentrated at my fingers, and with a will of its own, it filtered into me. My world morphed. I was standing in my bedroom next to my bed, Tal staring down at me with love in his eyes, my fingers poised to undo the top button of his shirt. There was excitement sparking between us along with a heightened anticipation of something more happening. Something intense and wonderful and long overdue.

I blinked and the world shifted again. The stark walls of the lab came into view, anchoring me in reality as the stream of Tal’s power flowed into me until I was almost bursting.

I wanted to live in that moment forever, with Tal’s magic swirling inside me. It made my head swim and my heart pound. It was like being one with him in a profound way.

“Now, Willow.”

Only when I heard his voice urging me did I harness the magic and send it back.

It bent at my will, and within moments, the crystal was filled again, leaving me with an empty ache in my chest. I slumped forward, trying to catch my breath.

“Willow?” Tal placed his hand on my back.

“I’m okay,” I gasped out. “I sent a little more than I meant to, I think. I’ll be fine in a moment.”

“You sure?”

I nodded. I hadn’t expected the magic to be so easy to manipulate. When I worked with plants, it took more effort, and a whole lot more effort when changing vampires to daywalkers. What had just happened was totally unexpected.

Tal’s warm hand moved down my spine, sending shocks of his magic into me.

I sent him a grateful smile then stepped away, frowning slightly. “Thanks, but you didn’t need to do that.”

His eyebrows arched in surprise. “Why not?”

“I would’ve been fine,” I said, struggling to not fidget. I didn’t want to seem ungrateful, but I couldn’t always rely on him to fix me. “It takes a moment for my magic to restabilize, but it does. I just don’t want you depleting yourself too much. You’re going to need your strength when you work on the guards.”

“But it’s a basic need to make sure you’re okay. I can’t really turn it off,” he said lightly.

I understood that all too well. He was only trying to protect me. That was the problem. And what David always did. Placing my hand on his arm, I said, “I know, but I have to stand on my own two feet sometimes.”

“Why? In this case I mean. Do you know how hard it is to watch you suffer, especially when I know I can do something about it?” He was dead serious now.

When he put it that way, how could I argue? “I just don’t want to deplete you. And I guess I don’t want to appear weak. I hadn’t thought about it from your point of view. I get it.”

“You’re not weak,” he said, steel in his voice. “Anything but weak, actually.” Grabbing my other hand, he turned me until we were eye to eye. “I’m not trying to dominate you. I know other people in your life do that. What I want is a partnership. I’ll do whatever I can to keep you safe and whole. And I hope you’ll do the same for me.”

I couldn’t say anything at first. He was everything I’d ever wanted.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked, his lips turned down.

I rose up onto my tiptoes and kissed him softly. “I’m just wondering what I did to deserve you.”

He chuckled. “No telling. But you’re mine now, got it?”

“Got it.” I saluted him. “Just as long as you remember who
you
belong to.”

“Are you kidding? I’ve already ordered the business cards.” He winked. “Now let’s get this leg healed.”

Chapter 29

By the time Tal was done, my leg was completely healed. If I was honest, I’d never felt better. He was right about the peace part of the magic. It had soothed every inch of me. And even though I was still dying to see for myself that my family was safe, the panic had ebbed, and I was ready to take on anything.

After checking in with the director, we stopped by the office Phoebe and I now shared to see if Hunter had shown up yet.

“No,” she said as she slid a magical ring onto her right ring finger. “But I expect him at any moment.”

Tal and I glanced at each other. David was still waiting. I cleared my throat. “We need to make a quick run before we start hunting.”

“Going to Allcot’s?” she asked.

“We kind of have to. Meet us there? Or somewhere nearby?”

She frowned. “You know he’s going to lock you in. We have a mission.”

“We won’t let him,” Tal said with conviction. The look on his face made me regret that we had to go there at all. “But Willow needs to see her family, and I’m sure they want to see her. Besides, we need to give the antidote to the guards before they get any worse.”

Phoebe pursed her lips. “Yeah, I suppose so.” She pulled a silver pen from her bag and slipped it into Tal’s pocket. “Twist it if you want me to hear whatever’s going on.”

I smiled. She was always coming up with new items to magically bug. “Thanks. I’ll call you when we’re done and then we can decide where to meet.”

“Be safe.”

“We will,” Tal said and took my hand. “It’ll be a quick trip.”

Tal and I disappeared back into the hall with Link in tow. My dog had a pep in his step that hadn’t been there this morning. It was as if he knew I was better.

We found David pacing the garage, his phone pressed to his ear. He spotted us and quickly ended the call. “Better?” he asked me.

I nodded. “Tal has the antidote.”

Talisen stopped behind me, his hand on my back. “The sooner we can administer it to the guards, the better.”

David gave Tal a sharp nod of acknowledgement and stalked to his car.

Tal leaned down and whispered, “Maybe you should ride with him. It’ll give you a chance to talk.”

I turned slowly, unable to believe he’d just suggested I ride with my ex. “Are you serious?”