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“It’s true,” he says. “But I work to keep myself busy, not for the money.” He shrugs. “I have enough staff working for me that I’m set in that department.”
Is he trying to tell me his job won’t be a barrier? I shove down the thought before he can sense it. Why am I even thinking about a future with this guy I just met? I need to reel things in big time. I have a supernatural criminal organization to take down before I can think about anything else.
“And what about your job?” Erik asks, interrupting my thoughts. “Writing history texts and lore? I imagine you can do that remotely from anywhere?”
I nod. “Yes, I’m lucky in that regard.” I take a couple more bites of my pizza and then say, “I suppose it would be cheating if I interviewed you on some of the old Viking tales. Got the perspective on all the old battles. I can’t imagine all the things you’ve seen.”
Erik shrugs as he sips his beer. “I was born at the tail end of the Viking era. I missed a lot of it. But yeah, I have seen a lot over the centuries. I wouldn’t mind sharing. Off the record, as they say.” He grins.
We eat in silence for a few moments. My thoughts drift back to a less pleasant subject. I take a sip of my own beer. “I still just don’t understand what the Night Guild would want with me. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of it,” Erik says, reaching out and squeezing my knee. “I promise you. Tomorrow we’ll find the dagger and you’ll perform the spell to rebalance Light and Dark. That should throw the Guild into enough chaos that they’re off your tail. We can join Lilli at my house and see what shakes out. Decide what the Raven Society’s next steps are.”
I nod. “I guess I’ll go set up some boundary spells as a precaution in case they figure out where we are.” I turn and look out the window at the black night. “Not that it will stop those goblins for long, as we saw at my house, but at least that way we’ll have a heads up.”
“Good idea.”
We finish our pizza and head back outside. I circle the house, setting several layers of spells out in the yard. Another blizzard is sweeping through, piling even more snow up outside. When we get back in the house, I’m freezing and covered in snowflakes. I beeline for the fire again, stripping off my outer layer of jackets and hanging them up nearby to dry.
Erik steps up behind me and puts his arms around me, rubbing me to warm me up. His dragon energy surges into me, and any remaining hint of cold vanishes. He kisses the side of my neck, and the hard length of his cock presses up against my ass.
“You said something earlier about testing our limits?” He says, his voice thick and deep as the night outside. “Did you have anything particular in mind?”
I turn around in the circle of his arms. “I do, in fact.”
I take Erik’s hand and lead him down the hallway, then turn into the nearest room and flip on the light switch. As suspected, it looks like one of the bedrooms.
“Oh, so you do want me to have to tell Josh I burnt down his house,” Erik says with a chuckle. “Don’t tempt me, Astrid…”
“No, I just want somewhere comfortable,” I say. “You sit down over there.” I point to an overstuffed chair in the corner and I climb up on the bed and face him, sitting cross-legged.
Erik sits down, a dubious look on his face. “And now what?”
“Now we see how well we can pass magic back and forth.” I make a gesture, pointing at myself and then at Erik. “That way we don’t burn Josh’s house down tonight. We can’t do that if we’re not even touching, right?”
“Respectable plan,” Erik says, though his tone tells me he’s seriously considering damage to the house.
He was right earlier—this is going to be an impossible night otherwise. Both of us are just a spark waiting to ignite. Literally. But maybe, just maybe, if we keep ourselves busy enough, we won’t cause another fire.
“I’ll go first since it was my idea,” I say. “I’m going to send you my witch magic. See if you can control it.”
Erik’s lips quirk. “You do remember our first duel, don’t you?”
I smile. “Don’t worry, dragon—I know now that you’re quite adept with magic.”
We’re both so competitive that I can already feel a tension building between us. This is good. It’ll keep things non-sexual. We can do this—we can make it one night.
Can’t we?
