Page 88 of Desired for Her Blood

“If we must.” Grinning, she leans in close to my ear. “The faster we get Zuben’s tests over with, the sooner I can have you inside me.”

She swims ahead of me toward shore, and I’m about to accelerate to help her out of the pool, but she presses down on the rock and shoots out of the water all on her own, rising a few feet above the surface before landing.

“Wow!” she shouts, looking between the three of us. “Did you guys see that?”

The cave trembles with what sounds like an explosion, and the water around me sloshes.

Ember looks around in alarm. “What was that?”

“Look out!” Axe yells, pointing up, while moving toward her.

A huge rock descends from the top of the cave, directed straight toward Ember and Axe.

In a flash of light, she swipes her arm. The rock redirects, crashing against the far side of the cave.

“Holy shit.” I swim to shore and shoot out of the water, landing beside her and Axe.

Zuben’s eyes are wide with awe as he joins us. “That was most impressive. It appears that you have gained more control over your magical powers.”

“Control?” She shakes her head and I wrap my arms around her trembling body. “I have no idea what I did. Did I cause the explosion that made the rock fall?”

I hold her more tightly.Did she?

“You sure as hell kept it from crushing us,” Axe says, his eyes wide.

“Do you think so?” she asks softly.

“You must have some sense that it happened,” Zuben says. “Concentrate. How did it feel as you moved the rock? Were you aware of what you were doing?”

Shrugging, she leans into my chest and I kiss the top of her head.

“I didn’t think,” she says. “Or feel anything. Not really. I saw the rock falling and acted on instinct.”

“Most interesting,” Zuben says. “Most interesting.”

“And what made the cave shake?” I ask. “Was that an earthquake? Was it me?”

“I do not know the answer with certainty,” Zuben answers. “But based on the localized nature of the disturbance, I would guess it was not an earthquake. And I really don’t think it was you.”

Another explosion echoes from somewhere deep in the granite, and more rocks rain from above us.

Ember breaks free of my hold and, arms outstretched, she spins. Light emanates from her entire body, and all the rocks fall outside the radius of the circle where the four of us are standing.

“Holy shit,” I say once the rocks stop falling.

“Is profanity the limit of your vocabulary?” Zuben asks.

“I think Ryker summed it up well,” Axe shakes his head. “Ho-ly shit.”

“What happened?” Ember asks, blinking and looking around us.

“Your magic,” I wrap my arm around her waist, looking into her eyes with admiration. “You saved us again.”

“No. I meant…what caused the rocks to fall?” she says.

“An explosion is the most plausible explanation.” Zuben dashes over to the wall of the cave and presses his hands and then his ear against it.

“Has this ever happened down here before?” I ask Axe.