Page 21 of Tino

We decided to take a walk, planning on reminiscing about more of our favorite childhood memories as we did so. It wasn’t hard recalling the many adventures we’d been on as kids. But after walking around for over an hour, still in the safety of the wards, of course, it became harder to stop myself from smashing my lips against Tino’s and claiming him right there between the trees, the mages be damned.

“Fuck, Tair. Stop looking at me like that,” he groaned, looking away from me as if I caused him great pain.

“Like what?” I asked innocently.

“Like you want to eat me.”

“But Idowant to eat you.”

He just groaned in response and tugged on my hand. It seemed like he was done waiting, too. I was getting beyond giddy as we practically ran towards our cabin, not slowing down even for a second. Thank fuck my ankle had healed fully, nothing, not even a broken ankle, could stop me from claiming my man.

I just hadn’t considered Silver, though.

Big mistake on my part.

We flew through the door, Tino’s lips finding mine as he pushed me back against the door, stealing my breath and giving me something else to live for other than air.

A loud cough broke the amazing kiss and we turned to face a smirking silver haired man.

I groaned and let my head fall back against the closed door. “Why?” I whined.

“You know why,” he waved off my answering whine of protest. “You can do plenty of stuff that doesn’t bind you together and causeinnocent mages to lose their lives. And I bet you weren’t even thinking about those just now.”

Fuck, what was wrong with us? We almost caused all these people harm.

“Yeah, those faces you’re making, they only confirm my suspicion that you were so far gone you didn’t even think. This is also the reason we haven’t asked you to deactivate the locket yet, since doing that only amplifies the need to bond,” Silver informed us. “But for you two, for lack of better words, to cool down, let’s start training a day earlier. And then after a good trainingsesh, you’ll be sent off to bed. Tosleep.”

So, we did exactly that. Silver, Wilston, Xari, and Niam all threw their magic at some magical dummies the mages had created. It was strangely entertaining. They had their familiars out and it was the first time I saw King and Leon. And the first time Tino saw any of them, too, it seemed.

The familiars moved effortlessly between them as they worked. Willow and Nujik stood and watched in amazement as the four men showed off their powers. I figured they should spend their timetweaking the ward so we could bond sooner, but I didn’t dare say that.

“Wait?” Willow said, looking closer at the familiars. “They have magic?”

Xari nodded. “They do!” Then they continued without offering anything else. I smiled at Willow’s baffled face. I loved how Xari knew just how to mess with people without them knowing. I would’ve done the same if I could feel emotions, always teasing and pushing their buttons only to feel their reaction to it. Not that what he was doing was evil or anything, I believed he’d teased Willow because of what she’d done with me, his way of showing he had my back.Maybe.

Nujik approached Silver, and since they were furthest away from us, I couldn’t quite hear what he told both Silver and Wilston, but they nodded in agreement and went back to training, this time holding hands and merging their magic, creating something truly stunning together. Ice filled one of the practice dummies with blazing fire on top, not melting the ice but working together somehow. I had no idea how something like that was even possible. Then Silver shotout what appeared to be glass shards from his free hand, shredding the dummy to pieces.

“Shit,” Tino muttered in amazement.

“Shit, indeed,” I agreed, unable to look away from their power display.

Nujik then talked to Xari and Niam and they followed suit, working their magic together like the others had done. And then… then Niam madefuckinglightning. I blinked several times, not understanding what I’d just seen. No mage ever, from my knowledge, had made lightning before.

They didn’t stop there though. Nope. Xari held out his hand, targeting the last standing dummy and then the dummy exploded.

Seriously.

It went kaboom!

“Dinner time!” Hane called from a safe distance, not even aware of what had just happened here.

“Coming!” Silver yelled back, then he turned and beamed at the rest of us. “Did you see how awesome that was?!”

I couldn’t even express how it had both filled me with relief and terror. Relief because we were undoubtedly strong. Terror because I would have to control that kind of power soon.

Willow and Nujik said their goodbyes for the day and walked back to their cabin hand in hand. We flocked together and Niam had the great idea that we should eat together tonight. I wouldn’t mind spending more time with what was becoming my family.

“Do you ever miss your parents?” Tino asked me once we were back in bed.