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Chapter One
Rachel
Goddessonfire,everythinghurts.Using a little too much magic doesn’t usually make me feel like death warmed over, but there’s a first time for everything, I guess. I feel shaky and sick as I stand in the hallway of the house I call home.
Probably should have teleported to the dorm at Gemini Academy, where I could have recuperated without my guys knowing. If I’d had any idea how the teleport home would make me feel, I would have done that.
It’s too late now. My senses tell me Adrian’s upstairs and judging by how quickly the floorboards start to creak up there, he knows I’m home.
Damn it.I don’t have any energy left in me to hide how drained I am.
He’s going to know, and it’s going to make him mad.
Considering he didn’t want me to leave Wolf Creek at all, this will only make him more insistent on stopping me the next time I want to go help a friend.
I put a smile on my face when he darts down the stairs, fully dressed despite the late hour, and wearing a worried expression. I push back the shakes, determined to hide any evidence of exhaustion from my overbearing Alpha mate.
Adrian’s dark blond hair is messed up and crushed flat at one side, and his clothes are crumpled enough to show he was laying on the bed while he was waiting for me to get back. He still looks incredible, though, as he always does. He has the body of a movie star in training for the kind of role that’ll propel him directly into the A-list, and he does virtually none of the hard work to maintain it.
Shifters are seriously hot, and I had no idea until I met my mates six months ago.
“What happened? You said you’d call when you were done. You didn’t …” He trails off when he reaches the bottom of the stairs, his gaze starting to glow with the influence of his wolf, hiding his vibrant green eyes and, worse, letting me know his wolf is freaking out as much as he is.
Oh, great. He’s going to see how worn out I am that way. Why am I even bothering to attempt to hide it?
“Well, I’m home now,” I tell him, clearing my throat when my voice sounds slightly wispy and strained. “So, you can stop worrying.”
“I’ll never stop worrying when it comes to you,” he tells me, stepping closer. “You look pale, and you sound tired. What happened?”
“We won the big fight, and I came home as soon as it was over.”
It’s the short and sweet version, because the one that contains a creepy security guard and one too many complicated spells in a row will only piss him off. That’s not the smartest move, especially while I’m too wiped out to do something salacious to flip his anger into something more constructive.
Maybe I’ll tell him more later, when I’m in a mood to take full advantage of his growly demands.
“How much magic did you use, exactly?” he asks, the glow going out of his eyes.
He doesn’t look too satisfied, so I guess he didn’t find what he was looking for.
My wolf isn’t the exhausted one so he can’t sense anything from her, thank Freya.
I shrug, and then I wince when the sudden movement makes me stumble. A shiver wracks my body before Adrian catches me in his strong arms.
“You’re shaking.”
Oh, Goddess. He sounds mad.
I try to still my body, to make the shakes leave, but they’ve settled in now. They won’t stop until I’ve rested. Even in Adrian’s warm embrace I’m still shivering like crazy, despite my best efforts to stop.
“I am not,” I murmur, refusing to admit I’m anything less than fine, even if it’s practically impossible to stop my teeth from chattering as I speak. “You’re imagining it.”
He snorts softly, and I let myself relax a little. He’s not really angry right now, he’s just concerned about me. He knows what it looks like when I use too much magic. I’ve never felt this awful before, so I guess I really overdid it this time. The shaking doesn’t stop, and my stomach lurches slightly when he lifts me up into his arms.
I let out a low groan and my teeth chatter when I close my mouth.
“Imagining it?” he asks. “You’re cold and shaky and you think you’re smiling when you’re actually wincing. I hate to break it to you, Rachel, but you’re not going to be winning an Oscar anytime soon.”
“What about an Emmy?” I murmur, my eyelids drifting shut as he carries me up the stairs at a measured pace that helps to settle my stomach.
