Shifter Magick (23 page)

“
Okay
.” Julie sniffed. “Let’s meet after class
next
Monday and Wednesday so we can go over your reference points. I need to be sure everything aligned.”

“Deal.” Kera said.

Maddox looked amazing. He wore a black button up shirt and dark
denim
jeans. The effect paired with his dark hair and ice blue eyes was breathtaking. Kera looked over at him again.
Was it possible that the shifter heritage was different than that of the Indian or American? He looked like he could have both bloodlines in him. His hair was thick and glossy but his cheek bones were pronounced. His ice blue eyes looked more like Anglo Saxon but he had tanned skin. She had never seen someone so exotic. Kera thought about how they looked together. Maddox and his exotic features and her generic blond hair and green eyes. She looked like every box made blond but she was
a
natural. It wasn’t like she could use that in an argument though.

“You’re beautiful.”

Kera closed her eyes as his voice rolled over her. “Don’t tell me you can read my mind.”

Maddox chuckled. “No.” He murmured. “Should I?”

“
Absolutely
not.” Kera turned to look out the window. “I
need some secrets.”

“
Secrets are dangerous Kera.” His gloomy voice caused her to turn her head. She met his glance out of the corner of his eyes. Her turned back to the road and sighed. “Forget it. This night is about you. It’s your birthday.”

“Let’s not make this about my stupid birthday. Nothing ever good has come out of that.” Kera winced in the silence that followed her outburst. Her stomach clinched in regret. She was quickly ruining the night. Her head began to throb again. It was starting to look like she would keep this headache all
day. The highway became congested with cars. People were bumper to bumper on a Friday night. She winced again. It wasn’t a good night for dealing with large crowds.

“You are so easy to read.” Maddox told her ruefully. “Trust me Kera, I thought about your special requirements before I planned tonight.”

“I trust you.”

“Thank you.” He smirked. “That was almost true this time.”

His bluntness made her laugh.

“That’s better. I love the way you laugh.”

She wanted to hear him say that again. Maybe she could come up with the strength to tell him how she felt about him. “I trust you.” Kera said again with all her heart in it.

Maddox smiled. “I could kiss you right now.”

“I’ll take you up on that whenever we get where we’re going.”

He bit his lip then sucked in a breath between his teeth. “Kera, tell me about your fascination with music.”

“
Okay
,” thankful for the change in subject, she closed her eyes and thought of the first time since her accident that she caught a moment of solace. “
My mind likes puzzles. Every movement, sound and smell takes up a certain amount of awareness. Memories also consume space in our lives. The memory of what we’ve learned like how to read and events that make up a ratio of constant accumulate to what we consider as normal. Music is an all consuming force that can entertain the creative and logical parts of the brain and over whelm memory and everything that we have learned so that the few
moments a song is playing it is all we know as real. I’m absolutely fascinated with the concept of a melody so alive that it speaks to me on a level I’m not sure I
can logically comprehend.
”

“You’re mind is amazing.”

She glanced at him and shifted in her seat. It would be nice if she could tell if he was being serious, but she couldn’t. Her explanation seemed a little crazy and defiantly too passionate.
“Music is a defense mechanism for dealing with…”

“Kera, If you continue to put yourself down I’m going to think you have low self esteem.” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. “You have no reason to think less of yourself. You are a very intelligent and very beautiful woman who happens to share a special rare quality I never thought I would see in anyone but the male gender of my family. I happen to regard you very highly and consider you a very special part of my life. I wish you could see that.”

Kera swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I’m falling for you.” She whispered.
“Don’t say anyth
ing back or I won’t believe you
.”
They sat in silence for a moment. Each of their heart rates filling the car.

“
You won’t believe me because physically I’m holding you back
.”

He was spot on. She couldn’t lie to him. “Anyone else…”

The growl that came from his chest made the hair on her arms stand up.

Eventually she would learn when to bite her tongue. He drove another five minutes in the congested traffic before he turned on a desolate road. By the time they parked the sun was starting to go down. Maddox got out of the car and went around to the trunk. Kera sat in the cab of the car for a few minutes to give him time to cool off before she
apologized
for saying something stupid.
When she
stepped out, Maddox stopped what he was doing and caught her around the waist. He pulled her body flush with his and pressed her back against the outside of his mustang. His breath hit the crease between her ear and shoulder. When goose bumps appeared, he kissed them away. His hand traced the edge of her shirt, and then he pushed beneath the seam and splayed his hand across her back. The sensation of his callused palms against the smooth skin on her back was knee weakening.

He kissed along her jaw line all the way to her lips. He kissed her with a passion she had never experienced before. “No one else.” He murmured against her lips. “Don’t bring anyone else into this relationship Kera
, not even theoretically
. I can’t control myself when I think of you with someone else.”

Kera nodded.

“I already want to kill Andrew
for touching you
.” He admitted.
“I don’t want to wait forever. I just want to believe you’re ready first. I don’t want any reservations.”

Her kissed her again and left no opportunity for her to speak. After a moment, all thought left her mind anyway. Her headache disappeared and all there was before her was Maddox.
Eventually she would tell him she had already fallen for him and that she had no reservations. He was all she wanted and maybe she would believe that she was what he wanted too.

Then the music started. A harmonica and base
was a
prelude to
John Popper singing The Mountains Win Again in the distance. He belted the tune with soul that most artists didn’t understand. The words meant something and the music furthered the movement.

“
Dreams we dreamed at night were never meant to come to life
.” He
sang and Maddox sang along. Kera rested her forehead on his chest. Who did she thank for this moment of perfection? She felt like she belonged. She felt happy. In this moment of enlightenment it seemed that something more was at play. It wasn’t just by chance that she met this man and he just happened to be what he was. If there
was a God, did he have something to do with this? If so, why did her mother die? Was it all for some purpose?
The electric guitar had
its
solo,
and then He sang.
“A pocket is no place for a smile anyway
. Someday I will find love again will blow my mind. Maybe it will be the love that got away from me.”

“Blues traveler.” Kera whispered.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes.” She liste
ne
d to the rest of the song as he held her.

Maddox thought of everything. They were far enough away from the concert to clearly hear the band but not too close to be consumed by the sound. He brought dinner and they ate on a blanket in a beautiful park. The sun set during dessert and the stars began to appear above them.

“Thank you.” She whispered as she lay next to him. Until this moment she hadn’t thought of her mother and what today meant to her. “Why isn’t your car fixed yet?”

He sat up on his side and looked down at her. “That’s not a happy story Kera. Maybe I’ll tell you another time.”

She reached up and touched his cheek. The energy that flowed between them was starting to become familiar but it was still unusual. “This is a hard day for you too. You almost died.” Her voice choked up at the thought. She remembered her vision and tears started to roll down her face.

“
I destroy it every year.” He told her as he brushed her tears away. “Then I start rebuilding it all over again.”

“Why?” She whispered.

He hesitated before he spoke. “Because every year I was almost done and I didn’t know what I would do with my time if I didn’t have to spend every free minute rebuilding it.”

Her heart started to race. “And now?”

“I have you.” He whispered. “If you’ll have me.”

Kera nodded and started to choke up again. She laughed at herself and through her arms around him. She disregarded all her fears of injuring someone and used her strength to roll him on his back and hold him tight. His arms came around her too and the pressure was a fleeting memory. She hadn’t always been like this, her father’s bear hugs used to make her feel safe and loved in the arms of someone stronger and able to protect her. For the past five years she had felt her strength diminish the feeling of safety in her father’s arms. She had learned to rely on herself.

Now Maddox held her so tight
she felt safe and cared for again. She squeezed him harder.

“Are you crying?” He whispered in her ear.

She nodded. “You’re stronger than me.”

He loosened his hold. “Did I hurt you?” his voice
threaded
with panic and he tried to pry her off him. The harder he tried the tighter she held him. Eventually he stopped being gentle with her. Maddox rolled over her and pulled her arms over her head. He clamped her wrists together with one hand and with the other her pulled her shirt up and doubled it over her breasts. The cool air hit her stomach and ribs, and then his warm hand traced her sides and stomach
searching for an injury
.

The breath came out of her like a punch in the gut. She found herself only able to breathe shallow breaths. “I’m not hurt.” She met his eyes.

“You’re sad that I’m stronger than you?”

She shook her head no.

“Happy?”

Kera bit her lip and nodded.

Maddox smiled and released her wrists. He looked down at her exposed stomach and his smile faltered. Something hotter blazed in his eyes. “I can’t wait to kiss every inch of you Kera.”

She stopped breathing as the thought caused the muscles just below her stomach to tighten.

Maddox jumped up and shook his head. He reached out for her and pulled her to her feet. “Let’s take a walk.” He said as he pulled her along.

Kera pulled her shirt back into place with her free hand and followed him. She was partially glad he hadn’t turned to her to see the huge grin on her face but she wanted to see that look in his eyes again.

They walked until the sound of Blues Travelers was a distant rumble.

“Do you know where we are going?” She asked.

Maddox smiled. “Who said we’re going anywhere?” He laughed. “I’m trying to burn off some energy.”

“So you don’t want to think about us kissing each other everywhere?” she teased.

“That’s mean.” He shook his head. “Keep talking like that and you’ll find yourself back in your dorm room with Rebecca talking about bow ties and wine.”

“Oh, my gosh!” Kera shoved him. “You heard that?”

Maddox grinned. “You forget I’m stronger than you. That means my hearing too.”

Kera smiled at that security she had in him. Her hand reached up to her necklace and ran over the metal of the key that was warm from
lying
against the skin of her chest. Kera sighed.

“What’s that?”

Kera looked up. “My mother gave it to me.” She whispered, wondering if he would be offended at the mention of her mother. “It was my sixteenth birthday present
…
well one of them.”

“What was the other?”

Kera shrugged, “I don’t know. My dad brought it up when he was here last month but I haven’t found the courage to open it.”

He stopped and took her hand, making her stop a few feet in front of him. “You have to open it Kera.”

She shook her head, heart now sitting firmly in her throat.

“Relax.” He whispered.

Kera released her grip on his hand, but he didn’t let her go.

“What are you afraid of?”

Her chest shook in a silent sob. “
I’m afraid it’s something I won’t understand
.” She whispered. “
She’s not here anymore
.”