Page 29 of Xarius (Shunned Mages #1)

Niam

We’d parked by a Chinese restaurant an hour’s drive away, because we all hungered for some fried rice. I was simply pleased to try more food as we travelled. We had no idea how long we would remain on Sutiner, so I wanted to try as much as possible while we were here.

Silver looked exhausted as he shimmied into the booth. Xari and I sat next to each other with Silver on the other side, our view was of the door, always watching out for possible threats.

“We need to figure out how they’re tracking us,” I whispered, loudly enough for both to hear. “We can’t keep getting attacked while searching for Wilston.”

Xari shook his head. “And the other mages have yet to get here. If it takes them a year, then we’ll have to fight, what, every other day? We’ll be exhausted beyond belief.”

“If Wilston is Silver’s soulmatch, they’ll be able to help,” I reminded him.

“If Wilston wants to come with us,” Silver reminded us. “He might’ve found a family here and wants nothing to do with other mages.”

I hadn’t thought about that. “But surely if he’s your soulmatch that won’t matter?”

He shrugged. “How did you know you two were “meant to be”?”

“Umm, well, Xari knew I was his soulmatch because of the locket, so we knew right away because of that,” I said, hating I couldn’t say something romantic about the first time I saw him.

“Niam thought I was stalking him,” Xari said, not caring at all how badly that painted him. He even sounded fond of the memory now. “And when he refused to speak with me, I chased him down and kidnapped him.”

Silver’s eyes widened and shot over to do a quick scan of my body. Was he checking if I was mentally unstable, or was he impressed by the fact it had worked for us? I couldn’t tell.

“So, no love at first sight?” Silver questioned, looking pointedly at me.

“Hmm, I remember finding him attractive.” Xari beamed at that. “But because he’d been stalking me, I didn’t feel anything other than scared when he popped up and wanted to chat.”

Xari sighed. “I smiled! Teeth and everything!”

I shook my head, “that made it worse!”

“Still worked in the end,” he muttered, looking over his menu.

“And I’m glad it did,” I said, taking his free hand in mine.

“But it wasn’t love at first sight, it might have been if I hadn’t been wary of Xari.

” I looked at Silver when I said the next words, “if Wilston is your soulmatch, then you’ll find out eventually, but try to befriend him and see how it goes.

I remember that after the whole kidnapping thing, we were drawn to each other rather quickly, lust driven almost.” I blushed, but kept talking, “if you can’t keep your hands off of him, then maybe that’s proof enough. ”

He nodded, looking deep in thought. I would be confused and tired, too, if I were him.

We ate in silence, all of us ordering the same thing and eating it quickly. We weren’t safe anywhere, but since we couldn’t have our familiars inside the restaurant, we felt even more vulnerable.

Back in the van, we took the locket and focused on Wilston.

It didn’t seem to work, though. “It’s still focusing on Silver.

How did we shut it off before?” I asked, racking my brain.

“Oh!” I said, taking the locket and placing it over Silver’s heart.

He startled a bit, not expecting to be attacked with a locket, but then the light burst from it and Silver glowed from the inside out.

“If Wilston is your soulmatch, then maybe he’s glowing, too? We both glowed when it happened to us,” Xari explained.

“Then let’s hope he’s not around other people,” Silver grimaced. “But it’s late so it’s probably the best time we could’ve done this.” He handed us the locket and this time, it warmed in our hands as we thought about Wilston .

“We should be a week’s drive away, if the glow is to be trusted,” Xari said, smiling kindly at Silver. He looked so drained, sitting there squished between us.

“Let’s find a safe place for the night,” I suggested. “We can get a motel room with a separate room for Silver.”

“Sounds perfect,” Silver agreed. “Then I’ll get to enjoy a shower before we get on the road.”

As soon as we’d gotten our suite, we barricaded the door and windows with our magic. We were lucky enough to get a suite with separate bedrooms for privacy.

“Why don’t you try making tungsten with your magic instead of metals that are easily meltable?” Silver questioned Xari as he watched him work.

“I haven’t thought about that,” Xari admitted. “I guess I got used to the normal metals and just stuck with that.” I smiled at them, our teamwork was already starting, Silver helping us out by thinking of things we hadn’t.

“And why not make the front of the door sticky, too? Or slippery? Anything to mess with them.”

While they talked all things magic, I left them and jumped onto our bed, snuggling with Snowflake.

We still hadn’t figured out what had happened with his glow or the fire claws, but I believed him dealing with the mages’ bodies might’ve given him magic, too.

I could be mistaken, though. But it happened right after that.

He purred and soaked up all my attention, loving he was getting petted and scratched.

I was, too. I couldn’t wait for this whole thing to be over and for us to live a normal life.

Snowflake would get his own kitty bed and Leon would…

Well, he’d get whatever an ostrich would like for a bed, maybe not inside though, we’d see when the time came.

Xari came into our room, leaning over the bed to give me a kiss.

Snowflake batted him away, not wanting to give up my full attention.

Xari laughed, “you need to sleep with Silver tonight, protect him for us, okay?” Snowflake looked at him for a few seconds and then admitted defeat, prowling out of the room to join Silver .

Xari closed the door and walked over to where I was lying on the bed. “Now I have you all to myself, look how that turned out,” Xari grinned, stripping off his clothes and leaving only his boxers on.

I quickly followed, removing my own clothes sans boxers and joined him under the covers.

We had no idea when we would get some alone time at night again.

Silver had the teardrop trailer to sleep in with Snowflake when we slept on the road, but if he wasn’t comfortable sleeping in there, he would need to sleep with us in the van, meaning no sexy fun times for us anytime soon.

Leon was sleeping in front of the main door, protecting us all while we slept, and since the hallway turned into three separate rooms, including the bathroom, this would be the best opportunity for us to enjoy each other.

I ducked under the covers and slid down his body, taking his boxers with me.

I didn’t waste any time, wanting to do this.

Finally. I’d yet to taste him, so I got to licking and teasing as his cock grew under my attention.

He groaned, clearly loving this as much as I was.

I licked around his tip, tasting his saltiness and testing out my skills as I swirled my tongue around the head, slowly taking more of his length .

I started bobbing up and down, getting a rhythm going. Xari held one hand on the covers and the other gripped tightly in my hair, controlling my movement. I loved it.

“So good, baby,” he moaned, easing his hold on my hair a little.

“Your mouth is perfect.” I doubled my efforts, his praise really doing it for me.

“I’ve dreamed of fucking your throat,” he rasped.

“To fill those perfect lips with my cock.” I took myself in hand, not able to continue without touching myself.

Xari came with a loud groan, alerting Silver what we were up to, not that I cared.

All I wanted in this exact moment was to come myself.

I swallowed and fell to the side, working my dick over, chasing my own release.

I was still under the covers, the air hot and humid, but I didn’t care.

I was too worked up to care about something as ridiculous as air.

Then the covers were removed, and I took in a gulping breath of fresh air.

Xari took over and stroked my dick instead, trailing kisses down my neck while he did so.

I surrendered to him, letting him do whatever he wanted.

“So. Damn. Perfect,” he whispered between his kisses.

“So. Hot.” I melted further into the mattress, feeling so worshipped and loved.

“And all mine .” I came, the room spinning as I felt my body twitch with pleasure.

I was so exhausted that I didn’t even register Xari cleaning up my mess.

The next thing I knew, I was being pulled against his body, him holding me tight as he stroked my waist.

He'd somehow gotten us both dressed, too, while I was in my fully satiated state of pleasure. “I love you,” I said, needing to remind him every chance I got. Xarius had been the one I never knew I needed, but since he’d stalked his way into my life, I finally found myself, too.

He didn’t just complete me, he complimented the parts of me that I didn’t even know I had.

“I love you, too,” he said, kissing my neck. “When all of this is over and done with, I want to spend all my time loving you.”

“I want that, too,” I whispered, a little afraid of speaking about the future.

What if we jinxed ourselves by doing so?

“Maybe get a kid or two?” I couldn’t stop myself.

I needed to know if children were something he wanted or not.

It’d never been for me, but maybe that was because my future had been too grey and dark to think about things like that.

No way a child would fit into that kind of darkness.

But apparently, the fear of jinxing us wasn’t enough to stop myself from pouring out my wishes for our future.

“Or five,” he smiled against my neck .

“Or five,” I agreed, smiling as well.

No mages attacked us, allowing us this night of amazing sleep and morning showers before we hit the road. We’d decided on breakfast on the road, not wanting to tempt fate. We sat huddled together in the front of the van, Silver in the middle again, and scarfed down donuts and to-go coffee.

The road ahead was long, but with the locket glowing with promise we knew things would be okay, or we hoped they would. A week and then we would reach Wilston.

I smiled at them both and then began to drive.

The End