Restless (9 page)

Leesa’s heart soared. She could be with Rave without having to leave her family behind.

“What condition?”

“That I stay with you in your apartment. Do you think your mom will allow me?”

“Of course she will. But I don’t get it. Why do the elders want you to stay there?”

“For my safety,” Rave replied. “My people are leaving to avoid the possibility of any full on confrontation with the vampire coven
during this perilous period. The elders know I will be safe if I stay with you.”

Leesa still didn’t understand.
What was so special about her apartment that it would keep Rave safe from vampires? Surely it wasn’t the comparatively meager amount of magic she had learned. There was no way she could stand against even one vampire—and they were supposedly hunting in packs now.

Rave recognized the confusion on her face. “Stefan has given orders that none of his coven are to go anywhere near you or your family
,” he said. “Since he’s a member of the coven’s ruling council, we know his command will be obeyed.”

Leesa smiled. She was pretty sure Stefan would never hurt her, but she hadn’t known he had extended his protection to her family. Not that she’d
really been worried about any danger from the vampires—not with Edwina out of the way. She wondered for a moment what Stefan had done with Bradley’s former tormentor. Whatever it was, Stefan had made it clear that Edwina would never bother any of them again.

“That’
s nice to know,” she said. She wrapped her arms around Rave’s forearm and squeezed. “I guess you’ll have to keep extra close to me, then, to make sure you stay safe.”

Rave kissed the top of her head. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Leesa turned to Balin and Dominic. “Now, I believe someone mentioned something about kissing a few minutes ago? What are we waiting for?”

1
2. BELONGING

AS LEESA FLOATED
in the air with her head near the ceiling of Balin’s cabin, she had to fight to keep from laughing at the absurdity of all this. Below her, Rave stood with his eyes closed. She watched his chest slowly rise and fall as he performed the intricate breathing exercises necessary to begin
Rammugul
, so he could decrease his inner heat.  She had levitated herself so she could implement her heat resistance spell without risking awakening the mysterious power that slumbered beneath the earth in this region.

She wondered if any two people in the history of the world had ever needed to go through so much preparation just to kiss each other. She didn’t see h
ow anyone could have. It was always worth it in the end, though, when their lips finally met.

“
Tempus resiti
,” she muttered, activating the heat resistance spell and then allowing herself to float back down to the floor.

A moment later, Rave opened his eyes. Balin placed his finger on Rave’
s neck, checking to make sure Rave’s magical heat had been lowered sufficiently.

The old volkaane nodded. “Go ahead,” he said.

Rave placed his hands lightly on Leesa’s shoulders. When he had massaged them earlier, there was love and caring in his touch, but now, as he prepared to kiss her, Leesa felt nothing but total, uncompromising love flowing through his fingers. She placed her hands on his hips and squeezed gently.

This would be
the fourth time they were going to kiss with Rave using
Rammugul
, leaving them unfettered by any timer or limits. Balin’s finger on Rave’s neck would monitor his heat and keep her safe. Her own spell would give her a few seconds of protection from Rave’s inner fire should anything go wrong.

She wished they could do this more often and with more privacy, but she was getting used to being “chaperoned” when they kissed.
She knew that eventually there would come a time when she and Rave could kiss in complete safety—after all, since wizards could live as long as volkaanes, the two of them had hundreds of years together stretching ahead of them. She just hoped it only took a small fraction of those years to figure out a way.

Such thoughts slipped from her mind as her eyes locked onto Rave’s. As always, she kept her eyes open as his face inched nearer, prolonging the joy of looking at him until just before his lips brushed hers.

He kissed her softly to start, pressing his mouth gently against hers and then slowly tracing her lips with the tip of his tongue. Already, she could feel her heartbeat quickening in her chest.

When he pus
hed his tongue between her lips she was ready, opening her mouth to let him in. Her tongue met his and they began their favorite dance, tasting and touching softly at first, then flicking and probing more feverishly as their ardor grew.

She felt his grip tighten on her shoulders, and she was certain his hold
on her was the only thing keeping her from floating back up into the sky. She would not have been surprised to discover she was actually glowing.

Sliding
her hands behind his back, she pulled his body tightly against hers, joining them together as much as their limitations allowed. She loved the solid feel of his muscular body pressing against her, stomach to stomach, his chest against her breasts. Far back in her mind, a part of her longed for the day when they could do this—and more—warm skin to warm skin, but she knew that moment lay somewhere in their future. She was not going to let it rob her of one iota of the joy she was feeling right now.

And then even
those thoughts vanished as currents of pleasure consumed her, wiping all thoughts from her head and replacing them with almost indescribable feelings of closeness, belonging and love.

Finally, she realized the kiss had ended. Whether Rave had pulled his lips away a second ago or a minute ago, she had no idea, nor did she know whether he had ended the kiss voluntarily or whether Balin had stopped it. Right now, she didn’t care.

She opened her eyes to see Rave smiling down at her, his eyes filled with love. She sighed and then smiled back.

“Well,” she said, “I’d say that was certainly worth the drive in the rain—most certainly, indeed.”

Rave’s smile widened. “I’m glad to hear that,” he said, “because I’d love to do it again.”

It took a moment for Leesa to realize he meant right now. She looked at Balin, who nodded.

Leesa turned back to Rave and grinned. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

She closed her eyes. A few seconds later, she felt herself floating away again.

13. MORE FRIENDS FOR MAX

BALIN’S STEW TASTED AS DELICIOUS
as it smelled. Hungry, Leesa had gladly accepted a second helping when Balin told his guests that whatever didn’t get eaten today would be thrown outside for the birds and squirrels before the volkaanes departed for New Hampshire later tonight. They were leaving shortly after sundown, because it was easier for them to travel at speed in the darkness, when there was less chance of being seen.

After returning to earth from her second kiss with Rave, Leesa had practiced her magic
for almost two hours, first inside the cabin and then outside. Dominic wanted her to get used to performing multiple spells at once, and the need to levitate above the floor or ground before performing any spell provided the perfect opportunity. Outside, she had added the air shield to her levitation to try to stay dry while she performed a series of other spells. Several times, her shield failed in the middle of one of her incantations, causing Rave to grin in amusement as he stood watching in the rain, letting his heat evaporate the drops before they could even get him wet. By the time Leesa was done practicing, she was drenched and exhausted.

Rave had
quickly dried her off in his special way when they came back inside, making getting soaked well worth it. And now that Balin’s yummy stew had replenished her energy, she was feeling exceptionally happy and content.

“There’s one thing we need to do before my people leave,” Rave told her as she sopped up the last of her stew with a hunk of bread. “If you think you can manage it.”

“What’s that?” Leesa asked before taking a small bite of bread.

“It has to do with Max. Do you think your aunt would let you take him for a walk in the rain
today?”

“Max?” Leesa asked, surprised. “What do you need Max for?”

“I want to introduce him to Dral and Bain so we can get a message to them if needed.”

Max’s ability to pass messages to Rave telepathically wa
s one of the stranger phenomena Leesa had witnessed in a year filled with many strange magical phenomena. She hadn’t considered that Max could do it with other volkaanes, but it made sense. Volkaanes and dogs had a special affinity going back many centuries.

“I’m sure
Aunt Janet will be okay with me walking him this afternoon,” she said. “After all, a dog’s gotta do his business, rain or shine. I’ll call her when I get back to the car.”

A little more than an hour later, Leesa pulled the SUV to the curb in front of Aunt Janet’s house. The rain was still falling steadily, but nowhere near as hard as earlier.

She grabbed her umbrella and got out of the car. Dominic had remained behind with Balin—the two ancient men always had plenty to discuss—so she was alone. Rave and his friends would be arriving
before too long and would wait in the nearby woods until Leesa summoned them through Max.

Aunt Janet must have been watching through the window, because the door swung open before Leesa even reached the top of the stairs. She closed her umbrella and stepped into a warm hug from her aunt.
Max stood close beside them, his tail thumping back and forth while he waited his turn.

“It’s so nice to see you,” Aunt Janet said when she finally let Leesa go. “Quite a storm we’ve been having, isn’t it?”

Leesa dropped to one knee and gave Max a vigorous chest rub, causing his tail to become even more animated.

“The rai
n’s not so bad now,” Leesa said, “but it sure was coming down like crazy earlier.”

“Would you like something to eat? We’ve got blueberry and peach pie. And some ice cream.”

“I’d love some,” Leesa replied, “but I’m pretty stuffed right now. Maybe I’ll have a small piece a little later, after I walk Max.”

“Well, come sit,” Aunt Janet said, motioning toward the couch, “and tell me what you’ve been up to.”

Leesa and her aunt settled onto the couch, and Max curled up on the floor against Leesa’s leg. She wished she could tell Aunt Janet all about the magic she had been practicing, but not even her mom and brother knew about that. Instead, she told her about the books she’d been reading, her lunch with Cali, and assorted other normal teenage girl stuff.

The two of them chatted happily for half an hour
before Leesa decided it would be a good time to take Max for a walk. She was certain Rave and his companions would be nearby by now.

“Are you sure you want to take Max out in the rain?” Aunt Janet asked. “I could just let him run around the back yard for a bit.”

“No, I want to walk him. It’s always fun. My umbrella will keep me dry.”

Leesa hooked Max’s leash to his collar and grabbed her umbrella.

“We won’t be long,” she said as she stepped out into the rain.

As soon as they
had ventured far enough along the edge of the road to be out of Aunt Janet’s sight, Leesa squatted down at Max’s side.

“Rave, we’re outside
now,” she said into Max’s furry ear.

She still felt a little funny talking to Rave through Max like this, but she had seen ample proof that it worked. She straightened up and continued walking.

Max pulled harder on his leash now, almost tugging it out of her hand. It wasn’t long before she saw why. Rave, Dral and Bain stepped out onto the road a few hundred feet away.

Leesa unhooked Max’s leash and let him go racing off toward the volkaanes. She knew he would go straight to them and nowhere else, which is exactly what he did. She restrained her own urge to run with him, although she did quicken her pace.

By the time she reached the volkaanes, Rave had already introduced Dral and Bain to Max, who was happily receiving attention from both of them. His tail was going back and forth as rapidly as Leesa had ever seen it. Both volkaanes looked up at her arrival, nodding to her in greeting.

Standing under her umbrella,
Leesa felt a little strange to be the only one concerned about the rain. She was tempted to just close the thing and snuggle close to Rave, but if she came back wet her aunt would wonder why.

“It’s done,”
Rave told her, slipping his hand into hers. “Dral and Bain have connected with Max the same way I did.”

“That was quick.”
Leesa was not surprised—she remembered it had taken only a few seconds for Max and Rave to become best buds. “I think I need to get a dog of my own,” she said, smiling. “Then I won’t care that you don’t have a cell phone. I’ll just call you through my dog whenever I want to talk to you.”

“
That might be a pretty one-way conversation,” Rave replied, smiling, “but it’s actually not such a bad idea—if your mom would go for it. Remember, you won’t be able to bring a dog with you when school starts back up, so she and Bradley would have to take care of it.”

Leesa hadn’t considered that. “You’re right. I don’t even know what my mom thinks about pets, now that’s she’s
finally normal again. We never had any growing up, but maybe that was because of the way she was.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about it for the next couple of weeks, anyhow. I have no intention of leaving your side.”

Leesa liked the sound of that. She squeezed his hand and pressed herself against his side.

“That’s right,” she said, grinning. “You
have
to stay close to me—you need me to protect you from all those nasty vampires.”

Her comment
drew a loud chuckle from Dral and Bain.

Rave grinned. “I
suppose I do.”