Page 22 of Xarius (Shunned Mages #1)

Xarius

We woke up a few hours later. A gathering of people were drinking and having fun outside, blasting music and grilling, if the wonderful scent of cooked meat was any indication.

“Sleep well, baby?” I asked, using a finger to remove Niam’s hair from his forehead.

He yawned and stretched. “I did, what about you?”

“I did, but to be honest, I feel like I could sleep for days and it still wouldn’t be enough.”

He sighed. “I feel the same way. But can you imagine getting stronger than this? I already feel crazy powerful, and I know my magic isn’t even close to full capacity yet.”

“I know, it still baffles me that we got rid of those guys that easily. I mean, they never once saw us! How crazy is that?”

He hummed, trailing a finger down my chest. “I think we should find somewhere we can bathe.” Oh , what did my sexy bonded have in mind? I couldn’t wait to find out.

“Bathe, huh? So a motel or another forest but more secluded?”

“Motel, please, if we can afford it.”

“We have plenty of money for motels now that we can grab most things without paying.”

“Wait, you want us to steal?” he sounded so scandalized that the excited emotions I felt from him were hilarious.

“If we need to, yes.” I wasn’t above stealing. We would try our best not to steal, but we needed food. “Maybe when we get the other mages to join us, they’ll have powers that make stealing easier,” I pondered aloud. “Maybe we’ll be able to make money.

“Wait?” he said sitting up. “Wouldn’t you be able to make gold?”

“Um, I guess so? But coins aren’t worth much. ”

He rolled his eyes, that sexy minx . “I meant, you could make gold that we could sell.” Oh. OH!

“Baby, you’re a genius!”

“I know,” he grinned, then kissed me. “But let’s get dressed, then drive to a motel and find some amazing breakfast. And then we’ll bathe and get some money before moving on our journey.” I could only nod, his plan sounded perfect to me.

We got dressed and went outside to thank our invisible familiars before sending them off. The drive to the motel we picked only took an hour, the locket getting brighter the further we got.

Niam stabbed into his stack of pancakes, eyes glinting as he took his first bite.

I’d yet to taste my own, too busy drowning in his pleasure filled eyes and the soft moans he emitted.

Fuck, maybe we needed a longer rest here before hitting the road again.

I’d always known I would be the obsessive type as soon as my soulmatch was near me, but I was surprising myself with how badly I wanted Niam.

It was all the time. Even when fighting mages, he’d been sexy as hell, making them crumble in pain.

The shy guy who had accepted his fate was nowhere to be seen now.

The man stabbing through his pancakes was so much more than that.

“Are you just going to suck all the taste out of my food with your eyes, or do you plan on eating your own pancakes?” he asked, raising a brow.

I shook my head, smiling. I loved how easy things were between us.

If we had to deal with mages trying to kill us and relationship drama, too, I think I would throw a hissy fit.

I liked that we were a team. No words needed to be said.

No one was in charge. It was fucking perfect.

I hoped we worked this well with the other mages, too, but somehow, I doubted it.

I thought this thing I shared with Niam was just between us.

And I would readily admit that I selfishly wanted it to remain that way.

We were still in the countryside, but this time in a slightly bigger town.

It was easier for us to move through the country by driving on roads and through forested areas, and somehow the locket seemed to choose that, too.

The other mages would’ve been dumped in a deserted area as well, which meant they would likely be in small towns somewhere.

Fuck, I hoped that was the case. Fighting against mages in the city wasn’t appealing at all.

I was a country boy myself, not going to the city unless I really needed to, like with the charity event I attended with Julie.

“I want to bathe after this and maybe wash some clothes in the bathroom, too,” Niam said, drinking some orange juice. I’d started on my pancakes while deep in thought, and they were just what I needed. The dough was soft and pillowy inside and drenched in sirup.

Swallowing, I answered, “Sounds good. Maybe we can get you another pair of sneakers before we hit the road, too.”

“Why? I already have a pair.” He was too cute.

“I was thinking that we needed you to wear something you could run in.” His sneakers had zero cushion, and had he been at my weight his feet would’ve suffered already. And I wasn’t even going to start on his thrift store boots.

“Running shoes?” he questioned.

“Or just shoes of a better quality. I want you to be fast on your feet and with those so low on the ground and the half-ruined laces, you need something better. ”

“Well, how am I supposed to say no to that,” he grinned, not at all offended that I didn’t like his shoes.

In fact, I hated them. I knew he got them from home, and that made it even worse.

The fact that those were the best shoes he chose to take with him.

I couldn’t wait until the day I saw his parents.

I would make them cry harder than they ever had before.

Not because I planned on laying a hand on them.

No, I would simply use my powers on them.

I was mentally rubbing my hands and cackling with delight at the thought.

The cafe we’d picked out was only a five-minute walk from the motel we were staying at, preferring that over a hotel for an easier escape route. We walked back, hand in hand, alert to our surroundings.

Niam didn’t seem to like being out in the open without our familiars near, so he’d called them. We knew they were with us even though we couldn’t see them. How they moved around people, we had no idea. We had to stay alert and that meant our invisible familiars had to deal with people themselves.

When we reached our motel room, we dismissed our familiars and walked in.

We’d dumped our stuff there before going to breakfast, so everything was ready for us when we came inside.

The yellow wallpaper was likely not yellow, but white, a nicotine layer coating the outside.

The red carpet was a choice. Either too many murders happened, or there was a sale on red wall to wall carpet, no other options existed, it was one or the other.

“God, I can’t wait to have a real shower,” Niam said, looking through our stuff for clean clothes.

I couldn’t either. We hadn’t cleaned up, truly cleaned up, after the mages had attacked, and even though life on the road was like that, I still preferred to always smell fantastic for my bonded.

I wasn’t about to be cockblocked for smelling like ass. No thank you.

“We might as well use your favorite soap,” I said, handing him the cotton candy scented one.

He smiled as he grabbed it, clearly feeling even more excited now.

I loved how easy it was to make him happy.

Niam wasn’t a difficult guy, just some love and attention to his wants and needs and he bloomed so prettily.

He winked at me and headed for the bathroom, saying casually over his shoulder, “Want to help me save water?”