He cast a dark glance toward the bedroom area. “As I’m coming to see. It’s amazing you two are related. You’re nothing alike.”

I shrugged. “True. Even though we’re identical twins, our personalities are quite different, but while I appreciate the offer to whisk us away to the Rockies, we still need to stay here. I wasn’t lying when I told Klebus that we need to stay close for our business.”

He frowned. “I could transport you every day.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Through your personal portal?” That was quite a commitment.

Luckily, Tessa interrupted with two suitcases in tow. She huffed, looking winded even though she’d only carried them twenty feet from her bedroom.

“Will you carry these?” She dropped them at the hunter’s feet. “They’re so heavy.”

He didn’t reply but easily picked them up. “Where are your bags?” he asked me.

“Not packed yet. Be right back.” I hurried to my room and threw some clothes and toiletries into a backpack. When I returned to the living room, I had it slung over my shoulder.

The Fire Wolf looked between my small bag and the two massive contraptions my sister had packed. He held out his hand to take my pack too.

“I’m good.” I kept the backpack strap over my shoulder. “And thanks again for offering to put us up, but we’ll stay with Prish. It’ll be safe there.” My bestie’s family always had protective wards around their homes. Too bad I hadn’t taken them up on the offer to ward mine.

“Are you sure she’s okay with that?” the hunter pushed.

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve already texted her to give her a heads-up.” Since Prish hadn’t responded, I knew she was sleeping and her phone was on silent, but we both had open door policies with each other, so I was confident she wouldn’t mind me staying. But as for my sister . . . That one I wasn’t so sure about. I’d have to ask Prish tomorrow if she was okay with Tessa crashing at her place too.

The hunter was scowling when I looked back at him. I had a feeling he wasn’t used to being denied anything.

“Thank you again for . . . saving me.” Even to my ears, that statement sounded lame, but I had to end this—whatever this was—between me and the hunter once and for all, because we were yet again getting tangled up in each other, and even though it was possible he was finally recognizing that I was his mate, it needed to stop.

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter 7

Despite my not-so-subtle hint that things were once again over between us, the Fire Wolf accompanied Tessa and me outside. I figured when the ride I’d hired pulled up to the curb, I could bar his entry to the vehicle, but considering how well that had gone earlier today, I didn’t know if he’d take no for an answer.

So we all stood on the sidewalk as cold night wind whipped around us. I tried to put distance between myself and the hunter, tried to make it clear that even though I was appreciative of all that he had done, that this thing between us couldn’t continue.

But he kept drifting toward me, as though the wind blew him in my direction. I finally stopped trying to avoid him.

“What?” I asked with a sigh. “You obviously want to say something.”

“I do.” His eyes burned brighter. “You need to train.”

Okay, that was a comment I hadn’t been expecting. I straightened. “I do train, and I train pretty damn well, thank you very much.”

“Not the kind of training you’ve been doing, but new training.”

Despite telling myself not to ask, I found myself saying, “What do you mean?”

“Finally!” Tessa squealed. She rushed to the curb and waved at our approaching ride, which left me and the Fire Wolf alone on the sidewalk.

His amber-hued eyes blazed into mine. The joking expressions and seductive grins that he’d sported when we’d been looking for Tessa were nowhere to be seen. In their place, tight lines surrounded his mouth, and his energy ran high. “I mean that the power that’s awakening in you is raw and unfiltered. You need to learn how to control it. To train it. It’s incredibly powerful. Twice, it’s saved you. And considering we haven’t caught Jakub, you need to be strong enough to defend yourself if he sends someone to take you again. Your new power is the key to that.”

Tessa opened the front door to the car. Puffs of exhaust swirled from the tailpipe. “Can you grab my bags?” she called to the hunter. She didn’t wait for his reply before sinking into her seat and closing the door.

I waved the fumes away as the Fire Wolf made no move to help with my sister’s suitcases. He continued staring down at me, his eyes now brimming with crimson fire.

“I know,” I finally said. “Okay, yes, you’re right. I need to learn how to control whatever’s awakening inside me, but I don’t know if now’s the right time. I’m perfectly capable of defending myself without this new power. It’s probably more important that I learn how to suppress it, so it stops interfering with my magic. Because training it will only draw attention to myself, and that’s not something I want.” Like my forbidden power, this new one was unique too. Neither was good to advertise.

“Tala,” the hunter said in a low warning tone. “Have you stopped to think that maybe Jakub and his cohorts know about this new power of yours?”

I stilled as the Fire Wolf lifted my sister’s suitcases and put them in the trunk. A part of me wanted to tell him to mind his own business. I was supposed to be making it clear we no longer had any reasons to associate, but I couldn’t stop my biting curiosity.

I joined him by the back of the car. “But how could they?” I said, keeping my voice quiet. “Nobody knew about my new power before this week. Not even I knew what was happening.”

Even though I’d had strange magical reactions during the past month, none of them were as powerful as what had unleashed itself on the warlocks in the insane asylum or the sorcerers who’d tried to abduct me tonight. During the past few weeks, I’d merely thought I was coming down with something and that was why my magic had been misfiring. Now, I realized it was actually the beginning of my awakening power manifesting.

He slammed the trunk closed, his expression grim. “There were cameras at that club in all of the rooms. It’s possible there were witnesses to what you did to me when you sucked my power and then enhanced it.”

My eyes widened. “But the fire you created—”

“It destroyed the cameras after the building went down, but if those cameras had live feed rolling somewhere, it’s possible somebody was watching.”

I just stared at him, unable to believe what I was hearing, as the scent of exhaust curled around us. So it was possible that Jakub not only knew about my forbidden power if he’d witnessed it on the cameras, but it was also possible that he knew about my new power too since it had briefly sucked the Fire Wolf’s magic from him.

“You’re saying that you don’t think they mixed Tessa and me up tonight.” I shook my head, frowning. “You think they know that the powers they’re after belong to me and not her, even though she didn’t tell them.”

“Yes.”

“But could they have known what was happening in the club—with my new power and forbidden power? How could they have known that I took your power by accident and then enhanced it?” But then I remembered what Tessa had told me. She’d bragged about my forbidden power to Star Tattoo Guy. They’d known about my forbidden power from the beginning. It was why they’d taken her. But now their cameras had revealed that it was me who held that power, not her.

In a rush, I explained to him what Tessa had told me that morning—all of it. I didn’t know why I was telling him. I knew that I was supposed to be pushing him away, telling him that everything was over between us, but icy fear now filled my stomach, and the thought of dealing with this threat on my own after almost being abducted . . . I suddenly didn’t want him to leave.