Dreamwalker (Stormwalker #5)(96)

“You’re not all right,” Mick rumbled beneath me. His strong arms held me in place, which was fine with me. “I’m not letting you out of my sight until you heal from this one.”

“I guess I’ll have to live with that,” I said, feeling happy.

I was weak and aching, but I didn’t have the awful hangover I usually did after wielding big magic. Didn’t mean it wouldn’t hit me later, but I glanced over at the goblin woman, who was in the circle of her husband’s arm, both of them conversing with Cassandra.

Whatever the goblin woman had done, she’d made the outflow of magic easy and sweet. While I was sore and exhausted, my brain wasn’t fried and my nerves weren’t jangled. In fact, I hadn’t been this relaxed in a long time.

The heap that was Emmett Smith stirred. He climbed to his feet, blood-soaked tissue jammed to his nose. His aura was no longer the vast black, terrible thing it had been, but it was still shot through with darkness. Stripping Emmett of power had not suddenly made him good.

“Damn you, Janet Begay,” he said to me, his voice as hard and clipped as ever. “Now I have to start all over again.”

“Being evil is a hard row to hoe,” I said, or attempted to say. My mouth wasn’t working very well. “Suck on it.”

Emmett scowled at me, a minor mage with delusions of grandeur, then stomped toward the ruined wall leading to the parking lot, ready to begin his reign of havoc again.

The goblin man tripped him. Emmett went down, cursing as he banged his knees. Nash calmly walked over to him, pulled Emmett’s hands behind his back, and cuffed him.





Chapter Thirty

Cassandra, though her face was lined and gray, became her efficient self and started ordering people about, outlining procedures for clearing up the mess. Grandmother looked as though she wanted to lecture me, but Mick forestalled her by carrying me into our bedroom in the back of the hotel and closing the door.

He laid me on the bed, stripped off my clothes, and ran his touch over my tired limbs, filling me with his healing magic.

“Mick.” My voice was better but not completely whole. “Oh gods, I tried to hurt you.” I put my hands over my face. “Some part of me wanted your magic so bad …”

“I know.” Mick gently pulled my hands down and traced my cheek with gentle fingers. “I was prepared not to let you.”

“We’re lethal to each other.” I said. I let him place my hands over his chest, feeling pleasant heat there as he briefly kissed my lips. “What are we going to do?”

Mick’s smile was philosophical. “Who knows? As long as we’re killing each other, at least we’re not hurting anyone else. And hey, it makes our relationship a hell of an exciting time. Wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

I warmed, but watched him worriedly. “Thanks, that makes me feel so much better.”

Mick lifted my hand and kissed the ring that meant I belonged to him. “We balance each other, love,” he said. “I’ve tried to teach you all I can to keep you alive and sane, and you’ve given this dragon an understanding of what it is to care for someone more than anything else in the world. You taught me how to love, Janet Begay.”

“You gave me freedom,” I said, my words soft but sincere. “And taught me how to love you back.”

A wicked light entered Mick’s eyes, and he touched his lips to mine again. “I think we taught each other how to have fun too.”

“Yeah?” I eyed him hopefully. I wanted to draw Mick into my arms and show him how much I appreciated him trying to stop me killing him and everyone else.

Mick only kissed me one more time, touched his fingertips to my eyelids, and said, “Sleep, my mate.”

Damn him. I could never resist his spells.

I dreamed. In darkness I walked from the hotel to the railroad bed and down the other side, to my usual meeting place with Coyote. He waited, wind ruffling his fur in the moonlight.

Thanks, Janet, he said.

I blinked at him. “What? No lengthy explanation of what happened, no admonishment, no praise that I finally learned my lesson? That’s so unlike you.”

Would be redundant. Coyote’s tongue lolled from his mouth as he began to pant. I knew your compassion would win. It just needed a little nudge. Must have been difficult, all that stolen magic, good and evil, flooding you. I would have been tempted to do what you did, myself.

“Instead, you wagged your finger at me, figuratively speaking. I’m ashamed of myself, though, and a little freaked out. I might not have stopped if not for that goblin woman and her husband. What exactly are they?”

Ancient beings from the dawn of this world. Coyote closed his mouth and furrowed his coyote brow. Well, they might not have been alive that whole time, but they’re descended from those ancient beings and retain their power. They certainly have potent earth magics. Stronger than gods sometimes, are ancient earth beings.