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“Yes, wizard,” she purred, deliberately using the name that indicated they were drawing lines of power.
His magic tightened on her in response, a silver web that he’d laid into her with deft and devastating thoroughness as he sensually tormented her.It was as if all his cool water and shimmering moon magic had become part of her body, underlying her skin with an intimacy unprecedented in her life.She didn’t know how it felt to other wizard–familiar pairs, but this went far deeper than the bonding, as if Gabriel had wrapped his mental fingers around her very soul instead of simply taking her by the hand.
She shivered at this final loss of autonomy.Not that she’d go back and change anything.Gabriel had already muddied the waters with the Convocation by insisting on a reciprocal wizard–familiar bonding that had confused the proctor’s oracle head.Demonstrating that Gabriel could push her into alternate form would be the incontrovertible proof they needed.Despite her brave words, Nic had no desire to be returned to Convocation Center for punishment and retraining.
“Something wrong?”Gabriel asked with a frown of concern.
“No.It’s just… a disconcerting feeling.I’ll become accustomed to it with practice.”She hoped.And if she didn’t, she certainly wasn’t going to tell Gabriel.The last thing he needed was something else in their wizard–familiar relationship to obsessively fret over.“Do it,” she told him.
The silver net flexed, strumming her nerves with a sensation very like orgasmic agony.The first time he’d shifted her into alternate form, she’d been out of her mind with frustrated desire, so she’d attributed the sensation—what little of it she’d been cognizant enough to track—to their erotic play.This… this was something else entirely.Sensual in nature, but with visceral intensity.Her body convulsed with it, then dissolved.
Once again, she was in her alternate form.A creature Gabriel had described as a silver phoenix, which wasn’t something she’d ever heard of.She’d really like to get a look at herself in a mirror and compare the image to the book he’d mentioned seeing it in.Convocation knew the House Phel library had all sorts of oddities secreted away, as did the house itself, along with its lone wizard.
But that would have to wait.All she knew was her vision was very different—more acute and also disconcertingly… globular.Sounds came through vividly and smells did not.She shifted, feeling the thousands of pinpricks where her feathers protruded from her skin, each exquisitely sensitive.That would take getting used to.
Gabriel, sharply delineated in grayscale with a magical aura that radiated well beyond the confines of the arcanium, gazed on her with a smile so satisfied she’d call it smug on anyone else.For him, however, she knew the bland expression covered a wealth of relief.She’d love to find a way to prevent him from worrying about her so much.It simply wasn’t natural for a wizard.The typical Convocation wizard took their familiar for granted for a good reason: so they could focus on more pressing concerns.If Gabriel faltered in the defense of House Phel because he was distracted thinking about her safety… well, it didn’t bear considering because she’d make sure that didn’t happen.
Somehow.
Gabriel laid a hand on her feathered breast, the silver net of magic tightened on her again, inexorable and impossible to resist.The contraction of pleasure-pain wrenched through her, and she returned to human form.Naked.
Planting her hands on her hips, she glared at Gabriel.“Forget something?”
He gaped at her in dismay—and the beginnings of debilitating guilt.“What happened?”
Though he wasn’t asking her, she answered before he could go into a spiral of doubt and defeatism.Wizards shaped magic with their minds, so belief in themselves was critical to successful incantations.There was a reason the most arrogant wizards were the most powerful.“If you want to get me naked, all you have to do is ask, wizard,” she murmured, deliberately striking a seductive pose.
His jaw firmed, wizard-black eyes sparking with indignation.A much better emotion for him to work with.“I wasn’t trying to—”
“Whatwereyou trying to do?”she interrupted.“What did you picture when you summoned me back to human form?”
Puzzled, he knitted his brows.Then his face cleared.“I was thinking of how it worked before.”
“All right, then.So, put me back in alternate form, and this time when you summon me, be careful with the details.”
“Wait a moment.”He held up a hand, his frown deepening.“If I have this much control over how you return to your natural form, then I must have similar influence over sending you into your alternate form.What if I do something wrong and harm you?”
She tried to swallow her heavy sigh, she really did.But it escaped anyway.“Do we need to have another conversation about you having confidence in what you’re doing?Because, as you’ve repeatedly pointed out, people are waiting on us.They could be in trouble even now while you dither.”
A low growl escaped him.“Being concerned about not killing my wife is hardlydithering, Nic.”
“Itisdithering,” she snapped.“You did this before.I was fine.You can do it again.Nothing has changed except a few pieces of fabric.”
“That’s a vast oversimplification.”
“To counter your vast overcomplication of what is instinctive for you!”She stomped her foot, considerably less effective barefooted, her naked breasts jiggling enough to draw his lustful eye, despite his resolve.His magic flared with his arousal, which was at least something.“Do it.Now.While you’re not overthinking it.”
He looked like he might balk still, so she skimmed her hands over her breasts and down her hips, shimmying a little.“Saving my life, remember?”she purred.
That did it.He grabbed her hand.Though the fist of silver magic netted her with considerably less finesse this time, the contraction dissolving and explosion downright painful.She barely had a moment to register her transition to alternate form before his argent grip yanked her back, turning her skin inside out as she returned to human form.Her body throbbed in every pore, her heart pounding and breathing ragged.But she was clothed.Still barefoot, as he’d forgotten about her boots, but she could hide her bare feet under the long skirt and call it a victory.
Except her head swam with dizziness, and she had to bend over, bracing her hands on her knees.
“Nic!”Gabriel swept her up into his arms.“Asa.We need Asa.”
“I’m all right,” she protested, wriggling.She would have the Refoel wizard healer take a look at her—later, and without Gabriel there to panic.“Just dizzy.That might’ve been a lot of back and forth in a short time.”
“Is there precedent for that?”
