I laugh a little, shaking my head at her, not getting it. “Please, Faiza. Explain.” “Look, close-up magic is nerdy as hell,” she says, leaning forward and talking to me seriously now. “But it teaches you a great deal about how to do things in plain sight. And if you can’t even sneak marbles into y
“You can sit there, Ariel’s boy,” Blaze says, waving a general hand towards the wall by the door as Luca follows me into the small gym and pulls the door shut behind him. “You are not to interrupt. Read your book, if you would, or watch. But no talking.” Luca raises his eyebrows at me, I think a l
“I am,” Luca says seriously, pushing up from the floor as he intuits that the lesson is done. “Well then,” Blaze says, looking at him for a long second and then shifting his eyes to me. “Perhaps you can put our Ariel through a different set of paces. See if her dodging skills adapt well to a diffe
“You win, you win,” Luca sighs, letting me slip in his arms a little until we’re face to face. “That was awesome – you improved so fast.” He nudges me happily with his nose. “We should have got you in the gym long ago, Shrimpy.” “Well,” I sigh, letting my weight fall back against his arm as I stre
Ben leans closer to Jesse, probably explaining quite patiently that Jesse’s completely misinterpreting the entire situation, as I tug on Luca’s sleeve, feeling his anger surge, trying to draw his eyes back down to me. “Luca, please,” I say quietly, a little desperate, glancing between him and Jack
“All right. I just…have very little time alone with you now, Ariel,” Luca says, straightening up and slipping his hands into his pockets as he, apparently, adjusts himself to the knowledge that his time-share deal with Jackson is apparently dead. “At least, time without him around. And that’s…diffic
“It’s okay,” he murmurs back. “What I want is…not the most important thing. I just…feel like I’m losing you, Ariel.” “What?” I gasp, whipping my head up to look at him. He shakes his head sorrowfully at me, raising a hand to trace his thumb across my cheek. “I don’t want you to feel bad. I proba
The next morning, my wolf wakes me up early, knowing that I need it. I mean, she doesn’t frequently function as my internal alarm clock – we both like our sleep way too much for that – but today she gives me a sleepy little nudge with her nose before climbing to her feet and giving her fur a rough s