Arcane (Halfblood Club Book 1) Read online

  The steam from her absorption of the hot water had clouded all the mirrors, and there were several. She took one of the fluffy towels off the rack next to the shower stall and wiped off the mirror. Then the one behind her.

  For the first time, she could see the glyph that he had marked her with. It was a blend of scarlet and gold with a blue crest in the centre that marked her as the property of the Sterling Clan. She reached over her shoulder with the opposite arm to trace over the design with a fingertip. Magic flared within it at her touch, and the glyph itself was strangely familiar. She made a mental note to have Jinx check it out.

  Sighing, she towelled herself dry then wrapped it around her and wandered into the bedroom. On the freshly made bed was her duffle bag. She grinned and imagined James’ look of distaste as he handled it. It had travelled across the country with her and never let her down. It was also always packed for any possible contingency.

  Izzy dug around in the bag and produced her own set of jeans and t-shirt to wear, along with a perfectly matched bra and panty set in purple silk. She shivered slightly as the silk skimmed her skin and then settled into place. The cotton going on over it felt like armour.

  A side pocket of the duffle yielded her sandals, and she finally felt ready to face James.

  Fully dressed and curious, she began to explore her prison.

  Well, perhaps not a prison, but he was still holding her there against her will. She wanted him and had chosen him months ago, but the reality of being given to him was almost unbearable. She was not property to be handed around, which she would make clear to him at her earliest convenience.

  Out the window, she could see nothing but yard and woods. The yard was clear of any but the sparsest grass, and the woods provided a lush wall to block the view from all highways and passersby. She seemed to be on an upper floor. The bathroom held the shower stall, an enormous tub and a double sink across from the toilet. The entire interior was mirrored. Privacy in the bath was obviously not high on his list of concerns.

  She smiled. As soon as that damned pixie dust wore off and her powers came back, she would put those mirrors to good use. James would have to get used to houseguests if he planned to keep her for a year.

  She found his study and made a note of the computer. Hurrah. She could get to her email and contact Jinx. She had a feeling her friend would be panicking by now.

  The thick carpet beneath her feet made her transit through the house silent. It also kept her from hearing James come up behind her.

  “You’re going to miss breakfast. Cheeves only makes it once.”

  The voice sounded behind her, and she shrieked and jumped two feet into the air. Somehow, he made it past her sensors. “Holy crap! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” She whirled to confront the arrogant bastard and found him lounging easily against the wall.

  He heaved a sigh and picked her up, taking her to breakfast by the simple expediency of carrying her. “It wouldn’t have been necessary to sneak up on you if you had come down for breakfast. The tour can wait. How do you like the house?” His tone was conversational. He was downright chatty that morning. Weird.

  He was never this sociable. Perhaps it was the company, she thought to herself and then snuggled more deeply into his embrace.

  Cheeves was one of the ugliest goblins she had ever seen. He had an odd number of everything. Three eyes, five arms—one sprouting from his back—and a tripod of legs. One nose with only one nostril was a little hard to look at. Or at least it would have been if Izzy had not met several goblins at her parents’ parties.

  Although they never travelled to Realm, their stream of magical visitors was never ceasing. While her father’s family had rejected them, the rest of his friends had not. They had provided the tools for her education. Grimoires, scrolls, and charms had been regular birthday gifts.

  “Good morning, Isobel. My name is Cheeves, and I am the housekeeper. Please let me know your food preferences, and I will endeavour to provide them for you.” He shot her a smile that could have curdled cream, half of his jagged razor teeth exposed.

  “Well, thank you, Cheeves. I prefer eggs benedict for breakfast and meat for any other course that you have. Medium rare. But in a pinch for breakfast, I can make do with anything that isn’t waffles.” Craning her neck around to look directly at him as she spoke was harder than it would seem.

  “James? Would you put me down, please?” She began to squirm restlessly and tried to throw him off balance.

  “No. I like you where you are.” He simply sat down. That stopped her squirms, and the plate heaping with eggs, sausage, toast, and fresh tomatoes distracted her handily.

  She was halfway through her breakfast when she noticed a disturbance in the lap beneath her. Her progress on the toast slowed and then halted as the erection prodding at her got more insistent. She twisted in her ‘seat’ to look James in the face. His own breakfast was untouched.

  “Why in hell are you getting an erection during breakfast?” Her tone was accusing, more for her delay in eating the fantastic food than anything else.

  “I have never seen a woman eat like that before. It’s quite a turn-on.” His voice was husky, and she could feel it through all parts of their bodies that were in contact.

  “I would have to concur with that. If my wife started to eat like that, I would be on her in no time.” Cheeves gravelly voice swivelled her head around, and her blush began to flood her face as she pushed her food away.

  “Sorry.”

  Suddenly, a fork was hovering in front of her with a segment of sausage on it. It prodded at her mouth, and as she opened, it slid delicately inside. She chewed slowly. The second time the fork hovered in front of her, she kept her mouth closed.

  “Not until you eat breakfast, James. You start to eat, and I will.” Her arms crossed over her chest, and she shifted her weight on his lap. He groaned as she rubbed against his swollen erection and reached for his plate. With deliberate focus, he plowed through the food.

  Satisfied, Isobel opened her mouth and let the hovering fork feed her. The rest of breakfast was quiet and civilized. Cheeves was chuckling to himself as he did the dishes in seconds with a dose of magic and his extra hands.

  She had a feeling that the attentive fork was more the goblin and less the magus, but what the heck. It was as close as his kind would come to a standard human. They found the lack of limbs to be a handicap in bed.

  She had probably impressed him with her obsession with protein. Goblins loved a good carnivore.

  James was finished eating, and Izzy was astonished to see that her plate was empty as well. It floated away, heading for the sink, along with the insistent fork. James’ plate and cutlery followed suit. As coffee floated toward them, she sat, bemused by the casual use of magic that Cheeves was using.

  “James, are we in Realm?” She took what she hoped was a casual sip of coffee, but the grin crossing Cheeves’ face let her know that she had failed miserably.

  He sipped from his own cup of coffee, “No, we are at my private estate in the country. Why?”

  “You and Cheeves seem very casual in your use of magic.” She sighed in repletion and leaned more firmly against him, using him as an armchair. “I was taught to never use magic unless trying to achieve a specific purpose. My parents almost never used domestic spells.”

  “It must have been due to the slightly unstable nature of your magic. Most magi are fairly relaxed about magic in their own homes. As are the goblins and fairies.” He kept one arm wrapped around her as he finished the coffee.

  “C’mon now. It is time for a tour of the property. You’ll need to be able to find your way around here.” He stood up, and there went her seat. He kept her close by the expedience of an arm around her waist and began to steer her out onto the patio. The glass doors opened and then closed automatically. She heard nothing, saw no mechanism, and had to conclude that the door was magically charged, as were some other portions of the house.

  She shook her
head at the waste of energy. It had been one of her family’s strongest rules, no magic without a specific need. She was beginning to suspect now, that the rules that her family had set down had more to do with keeping her off the radar than conserving energy.

  James had a boyish smile playing across his mouth as he showed her the gardens, the maze, the carefully trimmed hedges, and the expanse of the forest beyond. She gave the appropriate oohs and ahhs as they walked along.

  Every time they stopped, he looked at her for approval of his home. She felt vaguely amused and flattered by his attentive nature. She would never have expected him to be so proud of his home or that her good opinion was important to him.

  It was in the maze that she began to sense that his attraction to her was not quite as fleeting as one would have imagined it to be, given that he was carrying out a family obligation.

  “Isobel, this is a maze built to my specifications. I would like to play a small game with you in it.”

  She was instantly suspicious. “What kind of a game?”

  “Hide and seek.” His eyes were all innocence.

  “Only, hide and seek? Nothing weird?” Her arms crossed over her breasts, and she arched one brow.

  “Well, if I catch you. You have to remove a piece of clothing, and if you catch me, I have to do the same.” A small twinkle was creeping into his eyes.

  “How many times have you played this game?”

  “This is a first, but it has been on my mind since I saw you crawl under a desk once to reattach some wires. The sight of your perky ass wiggling as you crawled around on the floor, whew. It was all I could do not to haul you out of there, right then.”

  She blushed as she remembered that particular day. It was his receptionist’s computer, come to think of it; it had come uncoupled several times that week.

  “Was the disconnection that she kept having a persistent problem or just a freak occurrence? I noted that it stopped as soon as I started to wear slacks to the office.”

  “Well, those tight little skirts that you wore were an awfully tempting thing. I almost banned trousers on women after you changed your clothing preference but realized that it would be impossible to explain that I wanted to toss my computer tech’s skirt over her hips.”

  “Yikes.” She smoothed her hands down her denim-coated thighs. She tried to divert his attention. “So, uh, how much of a head start will you give me here? And what if I make it through the maze before you?”

  “I will give you to the count of fifty. That should be enough for you to get good and lost.” He gripped her shoulders and aimed her at the granite pillars that bracketed the maze. “And after I count to fifty, I will be coming after that sweet ass of yours. Mark my word.”

  Izzy met his gaze and noted the heat that had been banked since she woke up starting to stir. She ran into the maze.

  Chapter Six

  James counted to fifty faster than he ever had in his life and moved deliberately into the maze after her.

  “Caught ya!” Around the first corner, Izzy stood with her arms crossed over her chest. “The shoes Sterling. Take ’em off.”

  “What?”

  “You said that if I caught you, you would remove a piece of clothing, the same for me. So... strip.” An evil grin lit her features as a dawning horror crossed his face.

  “That isn’t what I meant.”

  “Tough. You made the rules. Play fair.”

  “Fine.” With a reluctance that was not feigned, he took off his shoes. “Both of them?”

  “Well, you wouldn’t wear just one, would you?”

  “Fine.”

  “Ok, you can count again now.” She smiled and darted away, deep into the maze.

  He shook his head and counted by tens then ran after her. He stumbled and fell as her foot protruded from under one of the hedges, tripping him.

  “Shirt. Off. Now.” She leaped to his back and straddled him. Slowly, she leaned forward and dragged her fabric-covered breasts up his back. Tugging at the fabric without touching him with her hands.

  He tried to roll and knocked her onto her side in the lush grass covering the maze. Her hair fell around her, and she looked at him through dark lashes. He snarled and stripped off his shirt, leaving the planes of his chest bare.

  “Your rules. You made them up.” And then she was running through the maze again. Listening to the pounding of his feet behind her, she put extra effort into her speed and leaped, landing on top of one of the hedges. She lay flat and waited.

  It was seconds after the leaves of the hedge had stopped swaying that he came pounding around the corner. He moved through the clearing, and she still waited. Sure enough, he backtracked and looked through the clearing thoroughly as he sought his mate.

  She stayed motionless. Each second ticking by was agony. She waited, and he eventually walked through the clearing with a determined look on his face. It would only be a matter of seconds before he used magic to find her. She would have to take his jeans and claim her reward first.

  Lightly and with a great respect for the greenery that was supporting her weight on its slender stems, she moved off the top of the hedge. On silent feet, she stalked him through the maze, each turn a possibility, and then, finally, she caught sight of him. He stood in the centre of the maze, looking into the pool, a pose of reflection and control.

  Silently she crept up behind him then announced, “Gotcha. Take ’em off, James.”

  He jumped and whirled, “How the hell did you do that?”

  “No excuses. Take them off.” She gestured to his jeans, and his hands slowly began to unsnap the button.

  “How the hell did you sneak up on me?”

  “I am a talented woman. No stalling.”

  “I didn’t see you in the vision pool. There was no trace of you in the maze at all.” The zipper was slowly lowering, and she was watching with undisguised interest. This was the perfect chance to see him in full daylight, buck naked.

  “Oh, I don’t show up in vision devices. It was a spell my parents put on me when I was a baby. Just because the High Council wouldn’t acknowledge me didn’t mean that no one else would be interested in my talents. I register as a rather large shrub.” She shrugged and gestured for him to continue his disrobing. She was betting that he went commando.

  Oh, she owed herself five bucks. He was gorgeous. “You look much better like this than in a suit. You should run around naked all the time.”

  She could swear that a blush ran across his face. “Uh, thanks.” She almost laughed out loud. It was a little odd to have him at a disadvantage, but she was going to enjoy it.

  “Turn around. The view from the front is very impressive, but I want to check out the full package.”

  Now, she knew he was blushing. But he slowly turned at her command, completely caught off-guard by her aggression. He was completely bemused, not at all used to having the tables turned on him. She wanted to keep the upper hand.

  “What the hell is that?” She walked forward as he stood with his back and tight ass facing her. There was a mark over one of his shoulder blades, and it looked suspiciously like the one that adorned her shoulder, except it was the Marlin family crest with the glyph over it.

  “It is your family’s mark. It ties us together for the year of the hand-fasting.” She ran her fingers over it and felt the pulse of magic under her hand.

  “When did you get the mark? It wasn’t at the ceremony. I would have noticed.”

  “Your mother planted the marks on both of us, allowing for a true sharing of power once the pixie dust wears off.” He was keeping up the conversation rather well, considering his advanced state of arousal. Her fingers trailing across his shoulder was sending tiny pulses through his nerve endings, and her scent was flowing around him.

  “Ah, and that isn’t supposed to be for another day. Right?” Her voice was low as her hands trailed over him and she felt the warmth of the flesh beneath her palms.

  “Yes, the dust has a lifespan o
f forty-eight hours.” There was a fine trembling in his muscles beneath her hands.

  “Well, what would you say if I told you that my mom burned out one day when she healed me?”

  She had to step back as he whirled to face her. She blinked in surprise as his hands flashed out to grip her arms. “So, right now, you are in full control of your powers?”

  “Yep.” With a tiny surge and a flick of her fingers, she was on her butt on the ground. Not the desired landing, but it proved her point.

  “So, we are meeting now as equals?”

  “Yes. With everything out in the open.”

  “Fine. Strip.”

  “What?”

  “We are on equal footing, right? So, strip.”

  A devilish grin lit her face, and she took off her shoes, bending over to give him a fantastic view of her ass. She stood and wriggled out of the jeans, putting a bit more wiggle into it than necessary. The panties were next. The t-shirt had fallen to cover it anyway.

  Then, the shirt was all that she had on.

  A pearly drop had formed at the end of his cock, and she crossed her arms and inched the shirt up over her hips then paused. His jaw flexed in frustration as she froze for a moment. Then, her short strip tease continued, drawing the cotton up to below her breasts and then stopping.

  “Aw, shit,” was all she heard when she paused. So, she continued, baring her breasts to the breezes and dropping the shirt to the ground. Of course, the delicate bra was still in place, but a flick of her fingers and a shrug of her shoulders had it sliding off in no time.

  “Are we even now?” There was a distinct slickness between her thighs, she was just as aroused as he was, and one of them would have to make a move.

  “Yes. We’re equal.” He lifted her in the air and pulled her to his chest. Her legs locked around his waist, opening her to him. His first thrust went across her clit and slid through the slick wetness that she was generating. His second found purchase within her, and there was no stopping him.