Devon Monk - Magic to the Bone

“Complements can also achieve a lot through working magic together, and there is usually a smaller price paid. There are many degrees of Complement and Contrast. You and Cody are Complements on some levels.”

“That’s why he could pull magic through me?”

“Right.”

“So what is a Soul Complement?”

“The highest joining and expression of two magic users manipulating magic as one.”

I swallowed to try to find my voice. “Does that happen very often?”

“It is believed there is a Soul Complement for each person who uses magic.”

“Believed?”

His voice softened. “So few find each other. Fewer still risk death to discover if they can cast magic in perfect complement. It’s hard to prove if there is a Soul Complement for each person.” He paused, golden eyes studying me. “There have been some throughout history.”

“And there’s us,” I said.

“And there’s us.”

He didn’t look sad or excited about it. Just calm. Patient. Waiting for me to say something.

What did one say to someone who had just told you that they may be your perfect soul match? Predestined companion. Yang to your yin, and all that?

“I think this might get a little complicated after all,” I said.

“Mmm.” He reached over and gently brushed my bangs away from my face. “Want to ask me anything else?”

I laughed. “Not yet. Let me think this over, okay?” And there I was, asking him to give me time, to take it slow. He didn’t seem to mind.

“Sure.”

I rolled over and pressed my back against his warm, wide chest, and he wrapped his arms around me and held me tight.

After what felt like a long time, he said, “Allie?”

“Yes?”

“I didn’t expect this.”

“What?”

“You.”

I was quiet, thinking about that. I hadn’t expected him either. Hadn’t expected to care for him. To need him. Maybe even love him. “Are you sorry?” I asked in a small voice.

“No.”

I couldn’t help it. I sighed. “Good. Neither am I.”

I slept soundly and deeply, which was rare for me. First of all, I had a million thoughts spinning through my head. Second of all, when I’m first sharing a bed with someone, I wake up all night long, forgetting and remembering that I have someone in the bed with me. But Zay’s sheets were soft, his body warm, so warm we had to drape the sheet between us so we didn’t stick together, and his steady breathing lulled me. If he snored, I did not notice.

A beeping alarm clock, however, I did hear. Zay rolled away from me and turned it off.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“Five thirty.”

I groaned. “Why would anyone want to get up at this hour?”

“Well”—Zayvion rolled toward me—“I can think of some good reasons.” He kissed my lips, even though I had severe morning breath after the lasagna. I gave him points for being brave.

“What sort of good reasons?” I asked innocently.

“It’s a good time to read the paper,” he said.

“Uh-huh.” I wrapped my leg over his hip and scooted closer to him. “What else?”

“Sometimes I get in a run before breakfast.”

“So you like to work out first thing in the morning?” I asked.

“It’s a good way to get the blood pumping.”

“Then by all means, you should work out.” We kissed, and I savored the feel of him against me. I was sleepy, warm, and sated. We took some time kissing before getting into the full swing of things. But then, I’d always been told it’s best to stretch before any strenuous activity.

It was fun sex, casual sex, the kind of sex that didn’t have anything to do with magic, Complements, Contrasts, commitments, or complications. Just warmth, togetherness, and pleasure. I thought it was a perfect way to start the day. From the look in Zay’s eyes, he thought so too.

When we finally rolled away from each other, I stretched out on my back, arms over my head, toes pointed, and moaned. “So good.”

Zay put his palm on my bare stomach and kissed my breast. “What are you making me for breakfast?”

“Ha-ha. Who’s the guest here? I expect coffee and homemade eggs Benedict to be waiting for me when I get out of the shower.”

“How about cold cereal?”

“Do you have milk?”

“No.” Zay absently ran his fingers up my stomach, then down over my hip bone. “I could see what else Nola packed.”

I grinned. “Perfect. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

I rolled out of bed, away from his teasing hands. I suffered a twinge of modesty when I realized I didn’t have a robe to cover up with. No matter. It was still dark in the room, and I liked to think I had a pretty healthy body image. Just in case, I kept my shoulders back and sucked in my stomach as I headed toward the bathroom. Good body image or not, posture could do wonders for a woman’s figure.

“Save me some hot water,” Zay called.

I crossed the hall into the bathroom. My little stroll had cooled me off and I was prickly with goose bumps. I opened the clean chrome and glass shower door, and turned the hot water on high. I opened a couple cupboards—one was apparently a medicine cabinet, as it had one bottle of aspirin and an extra bar of soap in it. Another held towels. Neatly folded. Of course.

A good, thick steam was fogging up the room, and I stepped into the shower, added a little cold water, and took my time savoring the heat.

Unfortunately, my only choice of soaps were both heavily scented with pine. Another reason why Zay always smelled like a walking forest.

Smelling like a car freshener wasn’t exactly a goal of mine, but since I didn’t have any of my own bathroom stuff, including deodorant, toothbrush, and lotion, it looked like I was going to do with or do without.

And I was so beyond the finicky-girly stage of life. I thought it might even be kind of nice to smell like him.

I washed up and thought about the meeting with Violet. The disks being stolen during a break-in and fire seemed a little hard to swallow in the light of day. More likely there was someone on the inside, maybe even someone she was trying to protect who was behind the theft.

Could it be some of the Authority that Zay had mentioned?

Secret society of magic. I couldn’t begin to count how many ways that freaked me out.

It was just as possible that Violet might be looking for some way to dodge the corporation’s claims to the disk research and development process so that she could either sell the patent or put the technology, and herself along with it, up to the highest bidder.

That kind of tech—portable magic—would go for billions. Violet could be assured whatever kind of life she most desired.

But she’d had that with my dad. Or at least she said she did. The Daniel Beckstrom I knew was not beneath marrying a woman for her mind, then dumping her as soon as he got her intellectual property signed over in his name.

Violet was a smart woman. She may have decided there were more benefits if she were the widow Beckstrom, instead of just another discarded ex-wife.

That made sense, but now that I’d met her, I had a harder time fitting her into the money-hungry, calculating, black widow category. Intelligent enough to pull off that sort of a scheme? Sure. Willing to actually kill my father? I didn’t think so.

Which left me with the break-in-and-fire story for the missing disks. And somehow Bonnie, and whoever she was working for, and Cody fit into this mess.

I dunked in the water, and rubbed at my face. I needed to find Cody. If he really was there when my father died, then he could finger the people behind it. And since I’d healed him and practically bathed in his blood, I was confident I could sniff him out of the city. Where I found Cody, I’d find Bonnie.