Covetous (The Marked Mage Chronicles, #2)

by Victoria Evers

“You packing?” “Got a couple daggers.” “That’s it?” Reese never left the house without an array of hardware that would make a ninja blush. “Well, forgive me, love, but one doesn’t typically require longswords to grab coffee,” Blaine jabbed.

That ire in Blaine’s eyes resurfaced as he turned to face Val, but the rest of his body had gone eerily calm. His brother seemed to relax, only making the impact more satisfying. The motion was nothing but one swift blur as Blaine nailed Val square in the jaw with a devastating left hook. The impact sent the towering male falling to the floor with a sharp crack! It sounded like he’d literally broken his brother’s face.

“What is this for?” “What does it look like? It’s a safety barrier, to prevent any unnecessary physical contact.” I adjusted the remaining pillow behind my head and offered him nothing more than my hand. “Ah, yes, how truly innovative. It’s an impenetrable fortress, except… uh-oh.” Blaine stuck his entire arm out above

the pillow and waved his hand in front of my face. “Just as I feared. A security breach is possible, if not highly probable.”

I needed to convince Blaine that he could trust me. Should’ve been easy enough. A.) He fancied me. B.) He was nuttier than a bag of raccoons. All I had to do was throw in a few smiles, an occasional compliment, maybe some eyelash batting. Easy-peasy, right? Wrong. So utterly, horribly wrong.

Not only had I involuntarily Hulked out, I couldn’t even do that right, picking the least effective weapon known to mankind. In all of human history, no one’s autopsy report was ever going to read ‘death by water bottle.’ Along with the damn thing being only half-full, it didn’t even have the decency to be well-made. It was one of those stupid environmentally friendly bottles where the plastic was so thin, you could crinkle it up in your hand. I might as well have hit him with a party balloon.

“You ever play Operation as a kid?” “Yeah.” “Well, think of it just like that. But instead of a heavy-set naked guy with a red light bulb nose, it’ll be a devilishly handsome scoundrel with a six-pack.” I glared at him. “I’ll strip all the way down, too, if that’ll help.”

“I think I found your bullet…” He cocked his head up at me, following my line of vision behind him. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.” One look in the mirror, and the circular bump protruding under the skin on his upper back was unmistakable. I wasn’t sure if his accelerated healing pushed the bullet all the way through to the other side or if perhaps I had during my excavation, but I nevertheless apologized.

“All you’ve asked for—all you’ve begged for—these past two months is to be normal again, and you got your wish that night. No power, no discernible hint of our bond. But it didn’t give you freedom.” His breath stirred my hair as he drew me closer. “All you wanted in those moments was to have it back.”

CURSE OF THE CLAIMED