Arcane Kiss (Talents Book 1) Read online

  “We spent almost two hours looking for those bastards,” Kurt told them. “We followed them a couple of miles while that damned bear ducked between buildings and backtracked and generally did everything he could to muddy his trail. Luckily, hot pavement takes scent pretty well, and I could feel the bastard’s magic on top of that.” His fists clenched. “But then the trail just vanished.”

  Jake frowned. “They got in a car.”

  Kurt nodded. “Looks like. Finally Sawyer told me to break it off and head home. I think I was making him nervous.”

  “I can’t imagine why,” Jake said dryly. “You do realize you flashed your manifestation twice in the past five minutes?”

  Kurt stared at him. “What?”

  “You didn’t know? That’s not like you.”

  “I’m just tired. How’re you feeling?”

  Jake gave him a crooked grin. “I would definitely not pass the department drug test.”

  “Given that you just had surgery to keep you from bleeding to death, I don’t think anybody’s going to have a problem with a little Demerol.” One corner of Gen’s lush mouth kicked up in a half smile.

  Something in that smile made Stoli grumble. What had they been doing while Kurt was out chasing killers?

  Don’t be an idiot. The man was in surgery, and Genevieve isn’t the type to cheat. Though they barely knew each other. How did Kurt know what type she was? After all, she’d fallen into his arms quickly enough.

  And she’s a witch. Like Mom.

  Gen pulled out a pencil and started sketching, in preparation for the healing spell she was planning to cast.

  “Is that a good idea?” Jake asked, concerned. “You just broke the terrorists’ spell and kept me from bleeding to death. You sure you have enough juice left?”

  She shrugged. “While you were in surgery, I did some meditating to recharge. Besides, you aren’t dying, at least not now. You’ve got some broken bones and muscle damage. All I’m going to be doing is accelerating the natural healing process.”

  “I appreciate anything you can do,” Jake said with a sigh. “Otherwise the doctor says it’s going to take me at least six weeks to heal all this. I’d go stir crazy long before then.”

  Kurt grinned. “You are one ADD pussy.”

  “Bite my furry balls.”

  “Ewww. No.”

  Jake laughed. They all fell silent, letting Genevieve get to work.

  Kurt watched her, the clean, lovely profile, the full lips set in concentration as she worked. Jake began to snore softly, and the sound made Genevieve smile. “Those must be good drugs.”

  He smiled back despite his bad mood. There was something about the sweet curve of her mouth that he simply could not resist.

  So he sat there, watching her, admiring the fine, clean gestures of her slim hands as she drew, the way she stared at Jake so intently every time she looked up. Magic rose around her, making his skin tingle.

  It wasn’t the aggressive, ugly magic of the bear and the Arcanist assassin. Gen’s was far sweeter, and yet somehow it still made every hair on his body stand up. When he closed his eyes, he could see her glowing against the darkness of his lids as she stared at the sleeping lion that was Jake’s magic.

  She shouldn’t be staring at him. She should be staring at me.

  It was an irrational, unworthy thought. He needed to get Stoli to calm down -- assuming it had been Stoli. Kurt wasn’t entirely sure. The sullen jealousy curling through him could have come from either of them.

  I need to get this under control. He squeezed his eyes closed and turned his face to start combat breathing.

  Still, images kept appearing behind his closed lids: Genevieve in the shower last night, lather rolling along her curves. The full curve of her breast, the flushed peak of a sweet nipple.

  The feel of her sex as he slid into her, so wet and hot and tight.

  Kurt’s hunger rose even as he fought the memories that threatened to tease his arousal into a roar.

  His cock felt as hard as a gun butt behind his zipper.

  Arousal might be safer than rage, but not by much. Especially when Genevieve was trying to heal his best friend’s injuries. Injuries Jake had suffered trying to save Kurt’s life.

  And Kurt hadn’t even thanked him.

  This is unacceptable. A Feral who can’t control himself is nothing but a menace.

  He forced himself to concentrate on his breathing. In through his mouth, forcing his rib cage to expand to a five count, then breathing out through his nose in a long, slow stream.

  In. Out. In…

  But even as he worked, he was all too conscious of Genevieve’s magic swirling over him like a caress. Like the sensation of her hands on his skin…

  He wanted to snatch that drawing pad out of her hands and drag her into his arms. I can’t interrupt the spell, he reminded his rebellious cat. She’d have to start over. We need Jake’s help to protect her.

  He’s a handsome bastard, another voice hissed in the depths of his brain. I don’t want him anywhere around her. I can protect her.

  The way you protected her today? If it hadn’t been for Jake, the bear would’ve had us. Dave couldn’t have helped. He was too busy trying to keep her from getting shot.

  All of that was perfectly true -- and made not one damn bit of difference to his steaming jealousy. He sucked in another deep breath and made himself think nothing. Forced himself to concentrate, to envision a Caribbean beach with turquoise shallows and a salty breeze carrying the screech of seagulls.

  Concentrating on the imagined scene, he visualized every detail until he could see himself sitting cross-legged on the beach. The sand felt warm against his skin as the sun beat down on his bare shoulders…

  And then Genevieve was there, standing right in front of him on the sand, gloriously naked, her nipples hard and pink, the neat red triangle of her bush bright in the sunlight. The wind whipped her long curls into a swirl around her shoulders. Her blue eyes were more vivid than the sea behind her, lit by sparks of magic. He grew even harder.

  Well, that’s not going to work.

  Gritting his teeth, Kurt took a deep breath and imagined the mountains in winter, snow drifting silently around him as he stood staring up at the gray sky…

  * * *

  Genevieve added the final stroke to the sketch and studied it with satisfaction. She’d always been good at capturing a likeness. That was one reason her magic was so effective; the concentration it took helped her focus her talent.

  Her gaze flicked from the page to Jake’s face. He lay with his handsome head turned toward her on the pillow.

  She frowned, eying the image. It had come out a little more suggestive than she’d intended. The way his head lay on that pillow was a little suggestive, as if he were gazing at a lover in bed. It wasn’t an effect she’d ever had to worry about before, since the people she drew in hospital settings were generally children rather than handsome men.

  Still, it was a good likeness…

  Magic crackled against her senses, hot and more than a little aggressive. Startled, Gen turned. Kurt stared at the drawing, naked fury on his face. His hard, golden gaze flicked up to meet hers. “You did a good job of capturing him.” There was nothing whatsoever complimentary about his tone, especially given the gravely, growling note to his voice.

  An image flashed through her mind. Kurt, his tiger fully manifested, landing on that bear, sinking claws and fangs into the Feral’s glowing body in an explosion of rage and animal aggression.

  Gen was an Arcane Corps brat; she’d seen Ferals train. Yet a training session was entirely different from all out combat. If she’d learned anything from the past couple of days, one thing was painfully clear: Kurt could rip me apart without breaking a sweat.

  Ice slid through her veins as she met those blazing gold eyes. His magic stung her senses with an alien crackle.

  Gen was on her feet before she even thought about standing, her gaze flicking to Jake’s unconscious
face. Unfortunately, he was nowhere near healed enough to help her. In fact, if he tried, it would probably send Kurt completely over the edge.

  “Don’t look at him when I’m talking to you,” Kurt growled, his voice deep and grating.

  Genevieve took a step back as he rose from his chair, his gold eyes glowing hot in his set face.

  Never show fear to Ferals, her mother had told her when she was only a child. Don’t meet their eyes dead on, but don’t cringe either.

  So when Kurt started toward her, Gen forced herself to hold fast despite the pulse pounding in her ears. She had to help him reestablish control, or they were all screwed. “Kurt, you need to take a deep breath and get a handle on Stoli,” she said in a cool, careful voice. “You’re losing it.”

  He bared his teeth and stepped right up to her, invading her personal space until it was all she could do not to jump back. “Stoli’s not the problem,” he gritted. “You are the problem. Have you got some kind of thing for Ferals? Some kind of kink?”

  Gen stared, so startled that for a moment she forgot to be afraid. That doesn’t sound like him at all. She’d seen Kurt get possessive before. Hell, in the arena, she’d been afraid he was going to jump Sawyer.

  But he’d never turned that anger on her. She hadn’t even thought he was capable of it.

  A chilling, alien magic rose, swirling around him, feeling… wrong. Greasy, like something half-rotten…

  Heart leaping into her throat, Gen closed her eyes. And saw, revolving through his aura, a set of glowing sigils. “Kurt, you’re under a spell!”

  His lips pulled back from straight white teeth. “Yeah, yours. I’m not going to let you make me dance like a puppet.” Big hands snapped out and closed around her shoulders. Rage made his eyes blaze. “You think you can get away with that after what my mother did to me?”

  Genevieve forced herself to meet his savage gaze. Gathering her courage, she planted her hands on his chest, rose on her toes and kissed him. He froze, startled.

  And she sank her aura into his, wrapped her power around the alien sigils, and clamped down hard. The first of the sigils winked out.

  Eyes widening, Kurt stiffened and tried to pull away.

  Gen held on, grabbing the alien sigils to drown them in power one by one.

  She’d thought when she’d kissed him the first time there had been something strange about the feel of his magic, but she hadn’t realized just how wrong it was. If she’d closed her eyes during that hello kiss, she probably would have spotted it, but she’d intended nothing more than a peck. She’d thought the feeling was just the residue of the fight, but it had been a hell of a lot more than that.

  Setting her teeth, she ground down hard on the spell’s final sigil. It exploded in a rain of red sparks.

  Kurt staggered back and would’ve fallen, but she grabbed his arms, managed to steady him. “Shit!” he muttered, looking whiter than Jake even after all his blood loss. “They tried to make me kill you.”

  “Yeah, they did.”

  He gave her a look of raw anguish. “God, Gen, I’m so sorry! I would never…”

  She blew out a relieved breath and gave him a smile. “I know that, Kurt. That’s how I knew you were under a spell -- what you were saying was so completely out of character.”

  He dropped into a chair, looking as shaken as a man who’d almost walked into a buzz saw. “But I thought you broke the spell! How could it still be active?”

  “Maybe they laid more than one.”

  Leaning forward, he braced his elbows on his knees and scrubbed his hands over his face. “I remember feeling some kind of nasty magic hit me. I thought the bear had just rolled me into that circle of theirs, but what if that wasn’t it?” He looked up at her, frowning. “Where was the Faraday Square spell?”

  “About three feet inside the grass circle where they put up the skating rink at Christmas.”

  “Then that wasn’t what I felt. I was well outside that circle.” He leaned back in his seat and stared up at her, shaken. “Why cast a spell to make me kill you if they intended to sacrifice me before I ever got the chance?”

  “Maybe it was a contingency plan. If I succeeded in breaking the spell before the bear killed you, they were done. The FBI would eventually break the other spells, given enough time.” Gen nibbled gently on her lower lip and dropped into the recliner. “The Arc did tell me I was going to pay for getting involved.”

  “So it was a twofer,” Kurt said. “Revenge on you, and revenge on me for surviving their spell.” He stood up in a rush and began to pace, his big hands curling into fists. “I want to tell you to get out of here, to get as far away from me as you possibly can. What if they try this again? What if it works next time because I’m a fuckin’ idiot and don’t realize what’s going on?”

  “I didn’t spot it either at first. It was a subtle piece of work, designed to build and build gradually until you snapped. If it had been strong enough to make you jump me when I walked in the door, there was too great a chance I’d break the spell before you managed to kill me. If you got angry naturally and the spell just amplified what you were feeling, they figured I’d be a lot less likely to realize what was happening and break it. Or you might have caught on and regained control.”

  “I should have sent you home after Dad died. Told you to leave town.”

  “If I’d been at home alone when they came after me, they’d have penetrated my wards and killed me. It took Dave and me working together to drive them off.”

  Gen stood up and stepped into his path, blocking his restless pacing. She rested a hand on his cheek to bring his golden gaze to hers. “We need each other, Kurt. It’s the only way any of us are going to get through this. Two civilians and a cop are dead, five more civilians and another pair of cops injured. We have to work together or the death toll is going to go even higher.”

  Sawyer spoke from the doorway of the hospital room. “It’s two cops dead now. Jenkins died in surgery.” He walked in looking grimmer than Genevieve had ever seen him. “The Feds think they’ve identified the terrorists -- there aren’t a hell of a lot of teams with a polar bear Feral and a female Arcanist. Indigo and Virgil Ford are a former CIA wetworks team.”

  “So not Caliphate terrorists,” Kurt said.

  “Nope. The Fords were forced into retirement a year ago. Seems they’d been saying a lot of bigoted, violent shit about Norms running the US.”

  Gen glowered. “And the CIA ignored that?”

  “Apparently they also had some friends a lot higher up the food chain who thought they were just running their mouths and wouldn’t really do the crap they were threatening.”

  “Oops,” Genevieve said.

  “Yeah. Oops.”

  “Have the Fed Arcanists at least broken any of the assassination spell?”

  Sawyer blew out a breath and shook his head. “They’ve tried, but they haven’t been able to pull it off. At least not yet.”

  Gen frowned. “Until they do, we’re in a seriously precarious situation.”

  “No shit. They’re assembling the most powerful team they can. The SAC seems pretty confident that if they all work together, they can break it. Once they figure out how to drop the first one, the others should be a little easier.”

  Kurt hooked a thumb at Genevieve. “Gen was able to do it all by herself.”

  “They think that could be because she took it apart within minutes of Fred’s death. If she hadn’t acted so fast, she wouldn’t have been able to break the damn thing.”

  Genevieve considered the question. “Makes sense. Have they figured out what the spell actually does?”

  “Based on the sigils they’ve been able to decipher, they think the spell is aimed at the individual officials themselves. They’re putting them all under the protection of at least one Arcanist who will erect wards to protect them.” Sawyer looked at her. “I think you’d be well advised to stick with Dave and Kurt.”

  Kurt just grunted.

  “Yo
u guys did a hell of a job today. You kept a really ugly situation from becoming a hell of a lot worse.”

  “Between fucking up. The bastards almost made me kill Genevieve just now.”

  “Wait, what?” Sawyer straightened in alarm. “What the hell happened?”

  Gen sighed and told the detective what had just happened. “He’s beating himself up about not fighting the spell off.”

  “He does that,” Jake said from the bed, sounding a little groggy. “His daddy raised him to be such a Boy Scout, it’s like being friends with Clark fucking Kent.”

  “Pot, kettle, Bruce Wayne,” Kurt shot back.

  Sawyer snorted. “Considering the way you saved everybody today -- including the President of the United States -- you might as well be wearing capes. I hope you three are ready to become national heroes, because that’s exactly what you’re going to be. I’d bet money there are assorted medals in your future.”

  Kurt glowered, obviously uncomfortable with the idea. “They can keep the damn medals. I just want them to approve the federal grant I submitted to expand BFS.”

  Jake looked at Sawyer. “If you squint, you can almost see the big red S on his chest. Let’s just hope that fucking Arc doesn’t have a stash of Kryptonite.”

  “Funny, funny guy,” Kurt growled.

  “If it makes you feel any better, the Feds are sending a team of Feral agents and a pair of Arcs to help with security. They’re due to fly in in a couple of hours. In the meantime, we’ve got deputies on guard at BFS.”

  “Why don’t they just put Gen in a safe house? The Feds have places with wards so strong even that Arc couldn’t get through.”

  Sawyer frowned. “That’s… a pretty good question.”

  “Maybe they’re planning to use her as bait.” The cynical twist of Jake’s mouth was definitely not a smile.

  “Fuck that.”

  “Gotta agree with you there.” Sawyer turned to Genevieve. “You need every Feral bodyguard we can find. There’s no telling how long it’s going to take them to get those spells down, or to catch those bastards. You’re going to be in danger every minute they’re still running free.”

  “So I need you.” Genevieve moved over and dropped to her knees until she could meet Kurt’s glowing gaze. “Don’t try to send me away again, because I’m not going to leave. You need me too.”