Assassin's Kiss (25 page)

By sheer determination, Tessa made it through the lesson with the girls. She usually welcomed the chance to teach, observe, and help them hone their skill. But today’s lesson would be among the last she would give here, and dark thoughts weighed on her. Would one of these young witches excel, coming close to Tessa’s level? And then would their guards—Bronwy and Vespera—be involved in a conflict, using against each other weapons Tessa and one of her former students had created?

Gods, this sucked.

Then there was the surprising distraction of Scorpio, throwing her completely off kilter. He and the guards were patrolling, inspecting, and just
around
all morning. Every time she caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye, her throat went dry. If he smiled at her, her mind went blank. She coughed and cleared her throat so many times Zeebi started giving her the evil eye.

“You better tell me what the hell is going on with you,” she hissed.

“It’s nothing,” Tessa rasped. “Just, you know, getting choked up about leaving soon.” It was partly true.

Zeebi shook her head like she didn’t believe it for a second.

Finally, the aroma of lunch cooking in the large communal area grew too tempting, and the girls were clearly ready for a break. Tessa dismissed them, and she was left with an assortment of small twisted metal objects, her favorite knife, and Zeebi’s suspicious gaze.

“Your mind is somewhere else today. Spill it, girl.”

“Nothing to say.” Tessa shrugged. “I mean, wouldn’t you agree that a ton of crap has gone down that would make anyone distracted?”

“Yes, but you have one very large, very muscular distraction that doesn’t apply to anyone else.”

Tessa sighed. “What is there to say? I’m going to marry Damien in a couple weeks. Whatever anyone thinks about who belongs with who doesn’t matter.”

Zeebi scooped up three gnarled spoons, a dark scowl on her face, and her voice dropped to harsh sarcasm. “I guess you’re right. People are going to end up with whoever, and that’s the way life goes. It doesn’t actually matter who marries who, or who mates who.” She flipped a lock of hair over her shoulder.

“What?” Tessa paused, hand halfway to her own elven forged blade. She stared at Zeebi, confusion swirling through her. “What are you talking about? Is something wrong?”

“No.” Zeebi smiled, but somehow it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Never mind. It’s all good.” She brushed imaginary dirt off her arm. “You know, I need to check some of the guards’ blades. Go over the spells I put on them, to make them strike more accurately. I’ll see you later.” She scooped up her bag and beelined for the other side of the large square.

What just happened?
Tessa stared after her, perplexed. Zeebi’s tone had been pissed off and wounded at the same time, and Tessa had no idea why. After all, Zeebi had been pushing her for details of Scorpio—

“Everything okay?” His deep rumble erased all other thoughts in two-point-five seconds.

“Yeah.” Tessa dragged her eyes away from her upset friend. “We just finished.” She studied the delicious way his forearms bulged as he folded his arms across his massive chest, but a question nagged at her. “Um, did you hear any of that?”

He looked sexily sheepish. “I didn’t mean to, but yeah. I heard Damien’s name and then I couldn’t
not
listen.”

“That’s okay. I just don’t know why she seems to be ticked off.” Tessa rubbed her forehead, and peeked up at Scorpio from beneath her hand. “She saw my thong on the floor when she came over this morning,” she whispered. “Both halves.”

“Yeah?” He tucked his chin to avoid a huge grin he didn’t have prayer of hiding. “Whoops.”

“Exactly.
Whoops.
I practically had to pinky swear that I wasn’t sleeping with anyone,” she muttered.

“Sorry about that.”

“No you’re not. And honestly, neither am I.” She pressed her lips into a line to hold in her own smile. Gods, the male made her giddy. And giddy was not something she felt, ever.

Golden eyes seared her with awareness. “You’re right. I’m sure as hell not.”

Callia shuffled up to them, humming, long silver-white hair lifting gently in the breeze. “Your lesson went a little too well, dear. The girls are reshaping all the cutlery.”

“Um, oh darn. Sorry, I’ll make them change it all back.”

“I know you will. But it’s nice to see them so, ahem, creative. You may want to take a look first.” She winked at Scorpio and kept walking. “You should get some lunch before its gone, warrior. You still need to eat now and then.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He watched Callia totter toward the main eating area, then turned back to Tessa. “You should show me how well you throw that.” He nodded at the knife she still held.

She glanced around. “The targets are at the other end of our land.”

“Don’t need one. Use me.”

“No!” Her jaw dropped. “Never.”

“Why not? I’ll catch it.”

“It will cut you. Deeply.” She held the tip toward his face. “See?”

“I’ll heal.”

“I’m not throwing this at you.” She made a show of sheathing the blade. “Anyway, remember how the Vespera guards stopped our knives and fire in midair? Not sure I can do anything with this anyway.”

He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I don’t doubt you can do damage. But you’ll need the element of surprise. How fast can you throw?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never timed it.”

A dark look crossed his face. “I don’t know how Damien is going to treat you. I hope to all the gods that he never lays a harming hand on you, or he might not get to keep his limbs once I get near him.”

Tessa’s eyes widened as lethal intent combined with steadfast conviction rolled off his body.
I will never hurt you.
“I…”

“I want you to be able to protect yourself, if there’s ever a time I can’t get to you soon enough. And you may have to incapacitate him physically, since you say not to underestimate his magic.”

“True.” She glanced down at the leather sheath. “But if I’m just sitting here and I need to suddenly throw this, I think I’ll be pretty obvious.”

“Maybe not. Your sheath is positioned properly for your hand…try it now. Throw it into that tree.” He pointed to a thick pine standing twenty feet away. “The bark’s soft enough, the knife will stick.”

“Okay.” She felt a little silly, but appreciated his help. “Guess I’m the student now.” As quickly as she could, she withdrew her weapon. The steel warmed in her hand, responding to her touch, and she hurled it at the pine.

It sunk into the bark, hilt quivering with kinetic energy.

“Not bad. A direct hit.” Scorpio walked to the tree and retrieved the knife. “If you adjust your technique, you can release it a few seconds faster.”

She raised a skeptical eyebrow. “All right. I’m open to suggestions, because I can’t see how I can be faster.”

He stepped closer and handed her the knife. He guided her hand down near her thigh, where her sheath was. “Say your hand is here. You’re not expecting to need to defend yourself. And then…” He moved behind her, so close the heat of his skin warmed her. He rested strong fingers on her elbow. “You need to make a move. You have two seconds to think about it.”

Her breath hitched at his nearness. She ached to back up, close the half step of space between them. “Um,” she said. “Okay. What do I do?” She fought through the sensual overload with effort, aware that they were still in the public square.

“Pull your arm back like you’re going to throw, but don’t. Not yet.” His voice blazed across her skin.

She complied. The backward motion brought her arm to his hand, where he encircled her forearm with his fingers. “Position this arm higher, and keep your elbow in close. Think of it like a spring releasing a projectile.”

Higher. A spring. Gods, his raw masculinity fried her brain. She lowered her arm and began again, following his instructions, and stopped.

“Good,” he murmured. “Do it again, and this time let it fly.”

She released a breath, repositioned herself, and thought about all the shit Damien had put Bronwy through. Anger stirred as she pictured his too-perfect smile and cold eyes. In a blur of her best speed, she flung the knife.

Again it landed deep in the soft pine bark.

Scorpio gave a low whistle of approval. “How’d that feel?”

“Good. Was it really faster?”

He nodded. “Yep. Each second will buy you time. If he’s saying a spell, that’s fewer words he can complete.”

She jogged to the tree and pulled out the weapon. “I want to try that again.”

He winked and rocked back on his heels. “Go for it.”

Tessa threw three more times, each time getting faster.

“Very impressive. And you’ve drawn an audience.”

Tessa turned to see her students and several of the guards had moved closer. The girls gave Scorpio a wide berth and clustered on the other side of the work table. The guards stood, arms folded and grinning.

“Hey guys.” Her cheeks heated. She wasn’t used to doing anything other than metal work in front of the group. “Well, I’m done. “

“Looking good, Tessa,” Kharv said. “I’ll never diss you for throwing like a girl.”

“Better not.” She smirked. Sheathing her knife, she glanced between Scorpio and Kharv. “What’s on the agenda for the afternoon?”

“More perimeter patrols. Ward strengthening,” Kharv said. “You two gonna keep up the weapons training?”

Tessa raised her eyebrows.
Weapons training.
Well, that was convenient. Yeah that sounded good. “Um, we might.” She met Scorpio’s gaze. He stared at her like he was up for anything she suggested. And what she wanted most was alone time with him. The coven could get too cozy sometimes. “But I need…white sage.” Her mind raced to think of a place they could go and be alone. A place that was safe enough to only need one guardian, yet far enough that no one would happen upon them. The wide open warm terrain where the sage grew would be perfect. “From the fields in the south. And I’m bringing Scorpio as my protection.”

Kharv opened his mouth as if to say something.

“I mean, the way weird things have been happening, we can’t be too careful,” Tessa said, not giving him a chance to object. “I’d feel safer if he was with me.”

“All right. Makes sense,” Kharv said. “Got your phone?”

Tessa nodded.

“Amulets?”

“Hmm, no. I need to grab some from Callia.” She glanced at Scorpio. “It’ll just take a minute.”

“No rush. I’ll be right here.” He gave her a stare so full of meaning it stole her breath, and she hurried toward Callia’s house before anyone else noticed.

The sage could wait. But she couldn’t. She was about to sneak away with Scorpio, and she’d never felt so delirious with anticipation in her life.

C
HAPTER
23

S
CORPIO WATCHED
T
ESSA BEELINE FOR
Callia’s place. Her perfect ass walking away in those tight jeans sent blood rushing to his cock, and he willed his body to calm down. Not good getting a hard-on in front of the guards.

But gods, she’d made up that story about needing sage. She’d done it to get him alone. If she really had needed to plan a trip, she’d have mentioned it sooner. His little mate was supremely organized.

Her heart had raced when he helped her throw the knife. And he’d noticed the way she flushed when he caught her eye while she was teaching.

“You shouldn’t run into much, where you’re going,” Kharv’s voice cut into his thoughts. “It’s a desert. Lots of small critters that fight amongst themselves but should leave you alone. Then again, you never know.” He shook his head. “Wolves aren’t supposed to hunt in the day.”

“I’ll keep watch.” Scorpio mentally ran through all the desert creatures he knew. None of them stood a chance of getting near his mate.

She walked toward Scorpio and Kharv now, her cheeks a pretty pink. Her blue eyes sparkled, but she glanced away from him and toward the ground. Almost like she didn’t want to look too excited about gathering sage.

He pasted on a stoic look as she grabbed her backpack from the work table, tucked two water bottles and two sandwiches inside, and slung it on. “Ready?”

“Where exactly is this sage located?” He knew the realms well. Mostly. Just not the exact location of every herb or plant a witch might need.

“In the southwest, where the climate is dry and arid. We’re not going as far as the subtropics.” She hooked her thumbs through the pack straps.

He folded his arms. “I know the area. It’s very isolated.”

“Yup.” Mischief danced across her eyes.

Gods, she was killing him. He cleared his throat. “Have you done a lot of portal travel?”

“No. Maybe once a year.” She made a face. “Enough to remember what it feels like.”

“Best to maintain a hold on your travel partner.” He kept his tone casual because Kharv was still there, but he was counting the seconds until he could crush her body to his.

“Right, I remember. Zeebi and I always have to hold hands.” She held up an amulet and recited the words that would open a portal. A shimmering ring appeared, with a rainbow of colors sliding across its surface. It stretched to a diameter of over seven feet, large enough for Scorpio to enter without ducking his head.

He nodded at Kharv and reached for her hand. She took it, swallowing hard. Was she nervous about the portal? Or just as insanely eager as he was for some private time? He gave a quick countdown from three, and together they stepped through the wavering barrier.

Scorpio was ready for the jerk of magical force that would hurtle them to their destination. He grabbed Tessa as they broke the shiny surface, yanking her flush to his chest. “Hang on,” he murmured.

She dug her fingers into his T-shirt and pressed her face against the cotton, eyes squeezed shut. A sense of weightlessness buoyed him as they tumbled through darkness, punctuated by pops of color. It was easy to lose all sense of time in these things. You could travel twenty miles or a thousand, and the journey would seem the same.

After a minute bright sunlight met his eyes, and he assessed their distance to the ground. Fifteen feet. No problem. He twisted as gravity took over and they fell, so that he took the brunt of the impact.