Sorcerer: Witch's Woes: Power of Air (Book 3) (7 page)

I ruthlessly ripped centuries of knowledge from his mind,
and then switched his mind off like a light switch… and I grew with the
knowledge I’d taken.  My air sphere reached out to two hundred feet, and my
fire sphere to fifty.  I’d only gained a small amount in fire, because there
was a difference between knowledge and experience, power came with wisdom and
understanding, raw knowledge was only the beginning of that.  Yet, at least I
could grow further without experimentation, just needed a lot of raw practice, and
I had a much better comprehension of fire now, or at least, I would when I
integrated and organized all of it.

I wanted to study the knowledge I’d gained, or rather stolen,
but now wasn’t the time.  I had four people glaring at me from below, no doubt
because I moved them out of the fight.  I lowered from the roof and as soon as
my feet hit the ground Sierra was in my arms, and she kissed me hard, she was
fierce and passionate.  I was a little dazed and breathless when she broke it,
and barely noticed the glare she sent Tara’s way, who blushed.

It was nice to know she cared, and I was smart enough not to
comment on what just happened.  Not that I thought I was getting away with
anything, just that it was dumb to consider doing so before the others.

Tara said softly, “Thanks for coming for me, and healing me.”

I smiled, “You’re more than welcome, I think you more than
made up for it with that wicked water ward.  We’d all have been killed
otherwise.”

Carrie asked, “What now?  Not that there haven’t been enough
fights to the death today, but we can’t let this go either.  They’ll just be
back the next time they’re ready, and they’ll have planned for a sorcerer and
werewolves being involved.”

I snorted, “Yeah, I’ve been in… three of those so far
today?  No, four of them if this counted as two battles.”

Tara said, “I know it’s just after lunch, but why don’t we
call it a day.  I need to rebuild my magic arsenal, and I know Carrie and
Gerald haven’t slept yet, and Ben must be exhausted.  We can regroup in a day
or two and see if we can track them down somehow.  Carrie is right, but none of
us are in great shape right now for another fight.”

I wasn’t actually, exhausted that is, with the power boost I
felt better than I did two days ago, fully rested, but I wasn’t going to
actually say that out loud.  With my new air power boost, I tried to pull all
the usual suspects.  I couldn’t find the dark coven, the info about Aitheria,
or anything about my family’s enemies.  So one step closer, but still too weak
to pierce the protections over that knowledge.  Still, with another fifty feet,
I’d slightly more than doubled the power I had been at.

That reminded me, I pulled out my phone and texted Diana
that Jaben was dead, and then cut off the connection between us, it wasn’t
needed anymore.  She didn’t bother texting me back.

“Alright, so you’re going back to your store?  Everyone else
back to the pack house?”

Todd shook his head, “Can I stay in the city?  I have a date
with Aiya tonight.”

I nodded slowly, Carrie and Gerald indicated they wanted to
go to the pack house, so I sent them, and then brought the rest of us back to
Tara’s store.  Todd left right away, he’d been up late too, so I guess he’d
sleep a few hours before his date tonight.

Tara smiled, “Thanks again, I’ll see you tomorrow?  You’ve
already done more than I’d have expected…”

Sierra shrugged that off, “They are our enemies now too, and
we work well together… mostly.”

Tara blushed, “I’m sorry about that I…”

Sierra cut her off with a raised hand, “It’s fine, I was
under his influence as well, and would have torn your head off if Ben hadn’t
blocked him out for us, I understand.  I’m not exactly happy about it, but I
get it.”

Tara nodded.  There was an awkward moment.

I turned to Sierra and cleared my throat, “Lunch dear?”

She snorted, rolled her eyes, and took my hand rather
possessively.  I let her drag me toward the door, and we left a bemused Tara behind
staring after us…

Friday, June 3
^rd
, 2016, 1:15 PM

Lunch was a little strained.  We were sitting in a booth in
a soup and salad type shop.  She was upset about the kiss, obviously so, and
although it wasn’t my fault, I completely understood it.  After all, if she
kissed someone else I’d probably lose it.  Of course, I felt guilty despite it
not being in my control, because I had enjoyed it a lot.  If it wasn’t for the
fear, and my instinct to live rising up when I felt Jaben, I wasn’t all that
sure I’d have fought off the magic in time… before Sierra ripped us apart I
mean.

I said tentatively, “I’m sorry, I feel guilty even though…”

She raised her hand and said in a brittle voice, “I don’t
want to talk about it right now.”

I nodded, not really wanting to talk about it either, and
took another bite of my reuben sandwich.  Of course, that not wanting to talk
about it only lasted around five seconds for Sierra.

She frowned, “So what did you mean… when you said to Jaben. 
Lie, with a small grain of truth.”

I sighed, “I don’t lust after Tara, I have a tentative
friendship with her.  I’m completely and totally yours.”

It was true, somehow Sierra had become the center of my
world.

She waved her fork and stabbed at her ridiculously large cobb
salad as if it had offended her.

“I see, so what was the small grain of truth then?”

Hmm, this couldn’t go well.  Of course, brutal honesty was
my only choice, I felt lies, but I was sure she would scent one from a mile
away.

“Well, I’m a young healthy normal male, and she was
completely naked.  While I was healing her, there was a very small part of me
that was aware of that.  It wasn’t so much Tara specifically, as a naked pair
of…” I trailed off, wondering if I was digging myself deeper.  Okay, that
wasn’t completely true, I was wondering
how
much deeper I was digging
myself.

“So you were lusting after her then.”

I sighed, “Lusting after is a little strong.  I’d say
attracted.  The same way you’re a little jealous, I suppose you could say.”

She frowned, “What do you mean?”

“A fire sorcerer can’t make up things from nothing.  We have
to gather the heat around us to form fire, once we have fire we can increase or
decrease the fire, and the heat with magic.  We can do the same with strong
emotions, but only if they’re already present.  If you had no jealous feelings
toward her at all, he wouldn’t have been able to put you in a murderous jealous
rage like that.”

I knew I should shut up, but I kept talking, “For a male to
be attracted to the women around him is normal, but it’s a background thing we
mostly ignore.  There is only one woman I lust for specifically, and love, that’s
you, the rest is… just background noise.”

She asked slyly, “You do?”

I shook my head at her fishing, “Of course, you scented it
on me the first time I laid eyes on you, and I’m sure it’s a familiar fragrance
to you by now.”

She nodded slowly, “I’ll get over it, I know you’re mine,
but my wolf is still furious.”

It was really odd, seeing her insecure like this.  Of course,
I remembered it had happened once before, that disastrous day after our first
night together, when she didn’t know where she stood.  I wasn’t anxious for a
repeat of that, and wasn’t dumb enough to try and let her work it out on her
own again.  Werewolves just didn’t do that.  The only way to assure her was to
make it clear that she was mine.

I slipped a soft rope of air around one of her ankles, and
grinned when I saw her eyes widen a bit, then I lifted her leg up and across
and between my knees, and started to rub her ankle and calf with my left hand
as I took another bite of my reuben.

It was amazing how much she relaxed at my simple touch.  Of
course, the touch was only effective because of the attitude and feelings
behind it.  For werewolves it was a sign of affection and they were extremely
tactile, but they could also scent sincerity.

She said softly in a teasing threat, “You should be careful
where you put my foot, I might still be annoyed with you.”

Yeah, it wouldn’t take much more than a twitch of her leg
muscles for her to ruin my day, considering how close her foot was to my man
parts… but she’d been smiling when she said it, and it reached her eyes as
well.  I was pretty sure I was safe… mostly.

“You’re worth the risk,” I grinned.

It was good to get something right…

It was close to two when we walked back to my apartment with
her hand on my arm.  We planned to just relax the rest of the day, it really
was a hellish morning.  Unfortunately, my power completely betrayed me, and
when we reached my block a young attractive blonde woman with a willowy body,
and dressed professionally, stepped in front of us.

“Ben, so nice to see you again, do you have time for a few
questions?”

It was Kira Downs of course, and this couldn’t be good. 
Still, I had no doubt my power would have warned me if avoiding the woman was
the better option.  At least I hoped so, it was the only thing I had.

I sighed, “Kira, I suppose one or two, what’s this about, I
thought my fifteen minutes were up?”

She looked around, “Maybe somewhere more private?”

I considered that for a moment.

“I suppose we can do that yes, if you promise not to give me
a hard time when I ask you to leave.”

She looked hurt for a moment, but I could tell it was fake. 
I was sure she was used to much worse treatment by the people she ambushed.

She eventually said, “Fine.”

We led Kira and her cameraman upstairs, and Sierra went into
the back immediately, I knew she had no interest in making the news.

Kira asked curiously, “So is that your girlfriend?”

I shook my head as I sat on the couch and waved next to me to
offer her a seat, “She is not news.”

Kira tilted her head, I noticed she did that a lot, “The
people would be interested, it puts a personal face on the mysterious psychic.”

I sighed and brought out the guns, “How’s your producer
Martin?  I hear he has a lovely wife Candace and two beautiful children, all
doing well.”

She blushed and got angry for a moment, but controlled
herself.  I hoped that wasn’t too rash, she could make me look bad after all,
if I made her an enemy.  But then, I doubted Candace would appreciate learning
that Kira was often in her husband’s office, and not in any official capacity,
or clothes for that matter.  Blackmail was an ugly thing, but at times, so was
the press.

I shrugged, “She’s off limits, but you are here, invited
into my home, so ask your other questions.”

I gave her a moment to regain her self-control, and she
finally did.

“So tell me Ben, what do you know of the takedown at the
gentlemen’s club last night?”

I pulled the information quickly.  Aiya hadn’t told anyone
who gave her the tip, but apparently all the other cops aren’t idiots, which
was no surprise, and they knew she worked with me a lot.  Unfortunately, one of
those cops had leaked that speculation, but there was no proof.  But then, what
reporter needed the actual truth to report a story?  Ironically in this case it
was even true.

I shrugged, “Just what I saw on the news.  Human trafficking
is a horrible thing.”

Her smile was so fake, “One of my sources told me you gave
them a tip?”

“Sort of, but not directly related.  My tip was on how to
find the missing local girl, and I believe the rest was merely kismet.”

Kira tilted her head… again, and asked, “So you’re saying
you didn’t know anything about the trafficking?”

I didn’t like that question, so I dodged by answering
another one.

“I believe we covered this previously, I only see things if
I have something personal of the person, so of course I didn’t see anything
about those young Russian ladies or who they were except as it related to where
the girl was.”

Kira asked, “You seem even more reticent today than usual,
why is that?”

“Turn off the camera, and I’ll answer that question off the
record, if not I think we’re done here.”

Kira sighed and signaled the cameraman to turn it off.  I
checked, and she didn’t have any other recording devices going, a small part of
me was disappointed by that, I thought she was sneakier.

“The answer to that should be obvious, do you really want me
to answer it?”

Kira nodded.

“Well, if you were a mob boss, and a psychic just took down part
of your business, what would you do?  I was rather hoping this was one story
that wouldn’t come out.”

Kira frowned, “Actually, the story I’m going to run might
help.  If you think the mob gets their information from the evening news you’d
be wrong.  They probably know already as well, as long as we’re talking off the
record.  The story would… perhaps give them pause, because of the follow up I
would undoubtable run, and it would be high profile.”

That was an interesting point of view, but I wasn’t sure it
mattered either way.  The idea she’d write a follow up story about me getting
dead by the mob also wasn’t very comforting.  I also wasn’t too worried about
it, if they got too insistent a little mesmerizing would take care of the
problem.  I had just wanted to avoid it altogether if I could.

She smiled at me and asked curiously, “As long as we’re
talking off the record, is that your girlfriend?”

I just shook my head, “You know she is, I never denied it,
just said she isn’t news.”

She got up and left then, leaving me feeling a little
uneasy, and I headed to the back.  Sierra was lying sideways on the bed,
reading a book.  I crawled in and cuddled up behind her, spooning her with an
arm wrapped around her.  A part of me wondered how wise it would be to move in Sierra’s
house.  Between reporters, Kira specifically, and other complications it might
put a spotlight on the pack.

I wouldn’t insult them by questioning it though, they were
werewolves, and I was a pack ally and mated to the third strongest wolf in the
pack.  I had no issues sharing their problems, I supposed I needed to get used
to sharing mine as well.  No matter how dangerous it might get.

I kissed the back of her head, her scent filled my nostrils,
and she felt really good against me.  A part of me wanted to initiate
lovemaking with her, but we spent the afternoon talking instead, while I held,
caressed, and stole a few random kisses.  I supposed it was good that I was the
kind of male that liked cuddling, or else this never would have worked,
werewolves loved to cuddle, at least, mine did. 

There was more to building our relationship than
supernatural fights and sex, and spending the day like this was one of them.  Besides,
there would be plenty of time for more intimacy tonight, and I knew that waiting
would make it even better…

Sierra and I started to cook dinner around seven since we’d
had such a late lunch. 

Todd had woken up and was already gone to pick up Aiya for
their date.  I still felt a little conflicted, even though I knew I had no
right to, but most of me was hoping it would go well.

It’d been a couple of nights since I’d heard from Mike and
Jenna as well, and I still hoped that would turn out okay.  I had no doubt it
would change things between us, but I was hoping to keep our friendship.

Sierra said reluctantly, “I need to work a couple of hours’
tomorrow morning, just to make sure everything was done right in my absence.”

“Sure, I have a couple of things to do as well, then maybe
we can spend some time at the pack house?  You can give me the nickel tour of
the house, and our room?”

She grinned and pushed me up against the counter, then
leaned forward and stole a kiss, “That sounds like a great idea.  What will you
be up to?”

I needed a few hours alone to go through the knowledge I’d
acquired from Jaben’s mind.  I didn’t think for a moment he knew it all, there
would always be more to learn, but I wanted to integrate what he did know about
fire, and then practice those things.  Well, some of them, I don’t think I’d be
comfortable manipulating the emotions of the people around me, but I still
needed to understand it.

“Fire magic, and I need to talk to Tara, make sure we both
know where we stand and that I’m yours.”

Sierra raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged, “She could be a good friend, and ally.”

With any other woman I was sure I’d be in deep crap
suggesting I go talk to her alone, especially after that kiss this morning, but
Sierra could scent I meant what I said, and had no secondary motives.  Things
like that cut through a lot of the garbage human relationships had to go
through.  Sure, dating a werewolf was exciting, and added new challenges, but
some of the human challenges were taken away as well.  I supposed it was a
wash, all relationships are complicated, she was just a different kind of
complicated.

She asked, “Ally?”

“Sure, she’s done a lot of favors for me the last nine
months, I thought I might just make it official.  Although I don’t know if the
witches have a ceremony like the pack does, it may just be our word?  I also
don’t know if that would make her a default ally of the pack or not, or if I
would be… a buffer rather than a tie?”

Sierra frowned, “That would depend on you.  She’d have the
right to call on you, and you could in turn call on us, or not.  I for one
would rather be there helping to watch your back, but that’s because I’m your
mate, not because of the other.”

I nodded slowly, “Well I wouldn’t abuse that avenue, and it
would work the other way as well.”

“Do you trust her that much?”

I frowned, “I trust that she’s a light witch, and would die
before casting a dark spell.  I also know she helped me when she didn’t have
to.  I do have some concerns on the personal side however, and that’s why I’m
going to talk to her first.”