Page 21 of Hers to Claim

“We hate him.” Pricilla’s lips thinned into a scowl. “Well, that’s a great place to start because it’s unlikely you’ll blow anything up doing that.”

Pricilla spent the next two hours teaching Mari how to shield herself with her magic in various ways, acoustically, magically,and visually. It was slow work because Mari didn’t understand how to make her magic cooperate with the delicate weaves Pricilla tried to show her. Brute force didn’t work at all, which is how she’d mostly gotten along to this point, it was more like an exercise in coaxing.

“It’s interesting. Your magic isn’t like anything I’ve ever felt,” Pricilla commented, her eyes closed. Mari could see them flicking back and forth behind her lids as though she were reading. “It’s wilder.” She took a slow, deep breath.

Mari felt Pricilla’s magic swell until it started to invade her space.

“See how mine is smooth?”

Mari let her awareness glide over the edge of the bubble around Pricilla. “Yeah, like a marble. There’s a very defined edge. Mine is…” She didn’t know what hers was, aside from not at all like the other sex witch’s.

“Not like that at all,” Pricilla said, echoing Mari’s thoughts. “The edges are rough, not really jagged but textured somehow.” Pricilla made a face as she tried to find the right words. “It’s like the edges are fuzzy.”

“Do you think that’s because of what Dohal told me? Am I not a sex witch?”

“Oh, you definitely are. I think you might notjustbe a sex witch though.” Pricilla opened her eyes. “So, are you ready to start the awkward part? I want to see something.” She grinned.

“Yeah,” Mari said with caution. “What do you have in mind?”

“I want to see what it’s like when you’re aroused. Second date and all.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief. “Pick your poison.”

Mari looked over her shoulder to where Rio sat in the sun. He watched them from his lounge with interest, his book forgotten in his lap. When she beckoned him with a wave, he got up right away and moved toward her.

He stood behind her quietly for a moment, as if he was deciding what to do, then he reached down to tip her chin up, angling her head back so she could see him looking down at her. With a heart-melting smile, he let his fingers slide down over the column of her throat. Her magic stretched out into the room before she could even try to contain it. His hand kept moving, drifting down over her collarbone and then her sternum.

“Holy shit,” Pricilla said, her voice unsteady. “Is it always like that?”

Rio chuckled. “That’s nothing.” He leaned down to favor her with a chaste kiss.

Her power strained for him. She grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him down to kiss her properly. His lips parted easily at her insistence, a slight purr rising from his throat.

“Woah, okay.” Pricilla laughed. “Stop.”

Mari straightened in her chair, leveling her gaze at the other sex witch. A part of her was irritated with the interruption. She wanted this.Neededthis. Her magic wrapped around Pricilla, hungry and aching.

Pricilla groaned, her eyes dropping to the floor between them. “I know you’re not doing it on purpose but I need you to dial that back.” Her voice sounded the slightest bit strained, worried even.

That brought Mari back to herself with a start. She tried to claw back the magic, but it was so wild, so unruly, that she couldn’t quite get hold of it as it spiraled away from her.

“Through the focus,” Pricilla said through clenched teeth.

Mari tried to channel the power, and thought for a heart-stopping moment that drew out forever that she wouldn’t be able to wrangle it, but then she forced the tangled mass of it through the necklace. The magic that flowed out from her now was more docile, more biddable. She pulled it back into herselfand sighed with relief as it settled under her skin. Across the way she saw Pricilla do the same.

Rio crouched next to her. “Did something happen?”

Pricilla shifted a little in her seat. “Her magic didn’t appreciate being interrupted. It was like being caught in a riptide.” She shook her head. “My power wanted to join with yours. That’s not something that generally happens so easily.”

“Or without your consent?” Mari reached out to Rio for comfort. He took her hand with a smile, the contact soothing in a way Mari would never be able to articulate. She didn’t like what her power was doing of its own accord recently. Maybe encouraging it was a terrible idea.

“Well, it’s not that simple. My magic did consent, enthusiastically and wholeheartedly.” The wry twist to her voice made it seem like that was something she did not appreciate. “The force of your desire is…” She trailed off as if she didn’t want to say what she was thinking and then continued after a moment, “Formidable. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

Mari tightened her fingers around Rio’s. “Dohal said I couldn’t be controlled. Is that what he meant? Am I dangerous?”

Pricilla gestured absently. “I don’t know that I would say dangerous. I wasn’t expecting what happened so I got swept up in it. I was also already flexing my magic and it wanted to play. I’ll be more cautious next time.”

Mari appraised the other witch again, more slowly this time. The halo of her power was still there, but smaller. “Did I take some of your magic?”

Pricilla wrinkled her nose. “Not exactly. More like it went running to you, as if it was filling a void. This is what I was talking about when I said I’d be vulnerable to you. Denying you hurt. I could do it when I focused, but I didn’twantto.”

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