Page 38 of Ignited Spirits (Haunted Magic #3)
BISHOP
“ W hy are you looking at me like that, St. James?” Izzy asks from her perch on the conference table.
She’s dressed in another hand-me-down gown, this one a pale gray that matches her eyes. I assume it’s from Seph, but Levi didn’t really give us much detail.
Since we left in a rush again, none of us had time to pack any changes of clothes. We’re making do with whatever we can find or what Levi can magic up for us because it’s too dangerous to go back to Earth right now.
The six of us are in the meeting room before everyone else.
Izzy was too anxious to wait any longer, even though we tried to distract her with the practice room and wandering the castle.
She just wants to get this whole thing over with, which I understand.
It’s been hanging over us like a gloomy storm cloud for the whole day, making it hard to focus on anything else.
I step between her legs and lean down to plant my hands on the table, caging her in. My face is close enough to hers that I can feel her warm breath feathering over my cheek. “Like what, sweetheart?”
Her breathing picks up, and I can feel one side of my mouth kick up at the effect I have on her. Being around Izzy has always made my heart beat harder, my palms sweat, and my thoughts scramble.
I’m still getting used to the fact that she’s officially mine. That I can touch her the way I’ve been craving for years. That I can hold her all night and wake up to her sleepy smile. That I can tell her how damn much I love her every day.
If I’m being honest, I never thought I’d see the day that she was mine. Between her reckless actions, that almost got her killed more than once, to her stubborn insistence she’d never take a mate, I thought I would be waiting forever for the woman I’ve been in love with for so long to love me back.
Yet, somehow, I got lucky enough to convince her to give me a shot. I’ll spend the rest of my life proving to her that she made the right call.
Hopefully we’ll be done jumping from crisis to crisis soon, and I’ll be able to show Izzy all the good things about life. She’s packed a lifetime of hard and terrifying and soul-destroying experiences into twenty-two years.
Izzy deserves to see all the things that make life a gift instead of a curse.
She deserves a lifetime of watching sunrises with people she loves, laughing so hard she can’t breathe, being who she is without fear or shame, and so much more.
It’s my mission once we finally take down Lua to give her all that and more.
She scowls at my slight smile. “Like you’re contemplating knocking me out, tying me up, covering me in bubble wrap, and forcibly keeping me safe from everything that could even give me a paper cut.”
I tilt my head and pretend like I’m considering it. “You know, that’s not a bad idea.” I can’t help my chuckle when her frown deepens.
As much as it kills me when my mate is in danger, I also know I can’t keep her from this fight.
I love her exactly as she is. Locking her away in the name of safety would just snuff out her spark, and I can’t do that to her.
All I can do is make sure we’re with her every step of the way and keep her as safe as possible.
Izzy crosses her arms and glares at me. “You’re a dick, St. James.”
“I know, but you love me anyway.” My smile is genuine as I think about the first time she told me she loves me. That will forever be one of the highlights of my life.
She’s about to deny it, so I slam my lips into hers.
Izzy resists for a second before melting into me. Throwing her arms around my neck, she presses herself as close to me as she can get while she gets lost in the clashing of our lips.
Predictably, my cock goes from half-hard, like it always is around her, to full mast as soon as she starts grinding her center against me. I’m moments away from taking her on this table, not giving a fuck who might walk in, when the door slams open.
I reluctantly break away, leaning my forehead against hers as we both catch our breath for a moment.
“Get a room, you two,” Aiden grouses as he strides in and plops down in one of the available chairs. Izzy’s parents and Rhys follow Aiden’s lead and claim chairs across the table from us.
I huff a laugh at Aiden being Aiden. He’s become as much of an annoying younger brother to me as Deacon was.
When I came back to Hawthorne Grove to finish out college, I was lost. I had no one and nothing.
But through meeting Izzy, I not only gained a mate who’s my whole world but also her family who’s adopted me as their own and a group of true friends I started my business with.
Now, I have even more people that have my back with the Nightshades, Cain, and Levi.
Thinking about my little brother and my family has been getting easier lately. Instead of feeling like a hunting knife is shoved in my chest any time I remember his infectious smile or fully body laughter or how my parents were always there for me, it now just feels like a dull ache.
Whether it’s time or Izzy or a combination of both, my past is relaxing the stranglehold it’s had on me for years.
Maybe one of these days I’ll open up to Izzy about all the shit that fucked me up with the crash and my aunt when I was younger. I know talking about all of it would be healthy, but some things just hurt too much to put into words.
Pushing the thoughts about the memories out of my head, because I need to be focused on the mission, I press another quick kiss to Izzy’s lips. Her body sways to follow me when I pull back, and I know I have a smug smile on my face, if the glare on hers is anything to go by.
It’s not like she can blame me, though. Knowing I affect her even a fraction as much as she does me is a pretty great feeling.
Grabbing her around the waist, I pick her up from her perch on the table and sit down in one of the empty chairs, placing her on my lap.
“St. James…” she growls as she tries to turn around to face me. My arms banded around her waist prevent her from doing that, much to her annoyance.
“Yes, baby?” I ask innocently.
She gives up trying to turn around to look at me and dramatically collapses back against me. “One of these days, you’re going to get stabbed. By me. Repeatedly. I hope you know that.”
I bark out a laugh. “You threatening me, sweetheart?”
Although I won’t ever admit it, I love it when she pushes boundaries. I love her fight almost as much as I enjoy punishing her. There’s definitely something fucked up about me that punishing her is what gets me going, but it is what it is.
“No, just making you a promise if you don’t stop manhandling me,” she tells me sweetly.
“We’re going to talk about your defiance later,” I rasp in her ear softly enough that only she can hear me.
Izzy stiffens before she starts squirming around on my lap. She rubs her thighs together to get relief from her arousal.
I let out a soft groan at how good she feels before moving my hands to her legs and pulling them apart. Gripping her thighs, I keep them spread so that she can’t get the relief she’s looking for. Sassing me doesn’t get rewarded. She should know this by now.
She struggles against my hold for a moment before collapsing back into me, and she sighs. “Promises, promises.”
I chuckle but don’t get a chance to respond, because Hades and the rest of his mate group walk in. After pulling out a seat for Seph, Hades stands behind his mate’s chair and stares down Izzy, his black and red gaze swirling as he does so.
Stiffening, I have the urge to hide Izzy away from the cura who still makes me uneasy, despite the fact that he’s been overall helpful.
There’s something about Hades’s energy that sets me on edge.
I used to have the same feeling about Levi, but after getting to know him, he no longer makes my skin crawl.
“I can’t stay long, earthling. I have some bullshit I have to attend to, but I wanted to give you this before you go.
” Hades sets a black and purple knife sheath on the table and slides it toward Izzy.
“Seph is very attached to you, so don’t do anything idiotic to get yourself killed.
I will make your afterlife very uncomfortable if you do. ”
Archer’s eyes flash purple for a split second, and a growl rumbles in his chest at the threat.
Hades flicks his apprehensive gaze to Archer before shuttering his expression and seeming unruffled.
After a moment, Archer’s eyes go back to normal, and he slumps in his chair.
Hades’s shoulders relax when Legion disappears, which is interesting. Hades is so much more powerful than I could ever hope to be, so it’s easy to think of him as at the top of the food chain. But, based on his reactions to hellhounds and hydras, he’s not as all-powerful as he would like to seem.
Izzy chokes on a laugh. “Don’t go and get sappy on me now, Hades.” She picks up the sheath and grasps the intricately carved deep purple handle. Pulling out a curved, black blade, she examines it curiously. “What is this?”
The onyx blade seems to absorb all light instead of reflecting any, making it look like a knife-shaped black hole. Izzy runs her thumb along the pointy part of the blade as she studies it.
Hades leans his forearms on the back of Seph’s chair. He dresses more casually than I would expect for a king, constantly in button-downs with the cuffs casually rolled up and necks open wide. As the king, he can do whatever the fuck he wants, I suppose.
“It’s a blade forged from the waters of the River Styx. It will kill anyone it cuts because it has the ability to store souls. If you’re in a sticky situation and low on magic, all you need to do is prick the other person with the knife, and they’ll no longer be a problem.”
She turns wide eyes on Hades. “What? Why would you give me this? I don’t need any help killing people. I need help not killing them, because that’s all my magic seems to want to do.”