last button came undone and I tore it from his body, working on the next set of buttons beneath.
Our fevered breath mingled, and between kisses he met my stare, and I saw in him all the emotions that roiled within me. My magic, tamed and kept at bay, reached out to him, and somehow, I knew within him his magic was doing the same. Trying to find its counterpart within me.
When our lips met for the second time, his strong hands fell back to my hips, pressing me into him. I moved, trying to feel all of him. Wanting him to feel all of me. The press of his hardened length made me wet like I’d never been before. It burned, but in the most incredible way.
Fuck, I’d missed this. His mouth moved to my neck, and I whimpered at the sensation the touch of his breath brought to my core. Making it tremble.
There hadn’t been all that much time for this since what happened at the warehouse.
There were too many Arcane Authorities milling around the academy. And I was being watched too closely. It was too dangerous.
The reminder of what was at risk for him by being with me hit me like a slap to the face. Nothing like an icy pinch to wake me from this beautiful dream.
Sensing my tension, Elias stopped in his slow trail of kisses. Stopped unbuttoning my blouse.
I bit the inside of my cheek.
“Hey,” he said, pulling my face in so I would look at him. “We can wait.”
We. Oh, how I loved it when he said that simple two-letter word. But right now, the sound of it repelled me. Made me afraid. Anyone could come here right now. They could see us like this. And then it would be over. His career ruined. His reputation destroyed.
It didn’t matter if he was willing to risk it—was I?
I moved to stand, finding my footing, my head still woozy.
A lifting sensation, like a huge bowling ball being lifted from my chest, alerted me to the fact that they were getting closer. Cal and Adrian were on their way back.
“They’re coming back,” I said in a rush. “What do I do?”
Relief flitted across his features for a second at my words before he went back to being all business. “Come on, let’s try one more time. If it doesn’t work, if you can’t open the connection to communicate with them, we’ll try to head them off in the woods before they get here.”
I nodded. “Okay, let’s do it.”
He stood and took both my hands in his. I ignored the way his slacks still tented a bit at the front. “Focus. Close your eyes.”
I did as he said. But it seemed our little tryst hadn’t cleared my mind at all. It’d only made it even more difficult to sift through the thoughts rioting inside. Damn.
“Find the connection.”
This part was easy. The connection was where I imagined my heart to be. Square in the middle of my chest. It strengthened the closer they came.
“Got it.”
His hands squeezed mine, lending me strength. “Now draw on your power.”
Unlike other witches, I never really had to draw my power into me. I merely had to lower the dam I usually kept in place to staunch its flow.
I was careful, lowering the dam in small increments so I didn’t flood myself. I shivered at the rush of natural energy as it coursed through me, ready and eager to do my bidding.
“Feel your magic bind with that connection. Let it open the bond. Picture it however you want the connection to work. For me, I visualize it like a telephone. I call, and Fallon picks up on the other end.”
That seemed to make it easier. Though witches had little use for cellphones, I knew how they worked, and Leo and Lara each had one. I debated getting one myself so I could keep in touch without going out into the woods past the wards. There was no way I was using the booths where anyone could overhear that I’d been lying to the school about my guardians.
I fused my magic with the heart of the familiar bond. Poured it in gradually, in small drips. I pictured Cal and Adrian’s faces as pictures for their contact profiles in a cellphone that looked like Lara’s silver iPhone.
I imagined pressing the button that would call them and let the dam keeping my magic at bay fall away. I needed this to work, and if it took all