“The Magic Council doesn’t give discounts.”

“Not even to their own members?”

“No.”

“Shame.”

“Besides,” he said, magic swirling in his eyes. If she hadn’t known better, she’d have thought he was feeling a touch whimsical at the moment. “If you pay off your debt too quickly, I’ll have no excuse to see you.”

“You could always, you know, ask me out like any normal guy would.”

“I have a feeling normal guys are too scared to ask you out.” He leaned in closer, his breath caressing her cheek, his hand kneading slow, deep circles into her back.

“Probably,” she agreed, closing her eyes. Her muscles went liquid.

“Dal didn’t heal you completely.” His hand lingered on the small of her back.

She cleared her throat—and her head of those treacherous thoughts. “There are some things magic can’t heal.”

“Sera, would you—” He stopped, his hand dropping to his pocket. “Sorry. Just a minute.” He pulled out his phone and read the message on the screen. “It appears that the first picture Finn sent you—the one of us at Trove—was taken from one of the security cameras.”

“Oh?”

“And the picture of us in the pit before the Games came from a camera in the arena.”

“So, Finn hacked into the security feeds?”

“Magic events and businesses keep their feeds in-house.”

“No connections to the outside world?” she asked.

“No, we cannot risk that the human population could get a peek at what we do. They don’t understand our world or our ways. Our practices are…”

“Draconian?”

“Necessary,” he amended. “Supernaturals are powerful and dangerous. Keeping them in check means no human massacres. And we avoid a war neither humans nor supernaturals can afford.”

“I know all about the consequences of misbehaving supernaturals. I hunt down monsters for a living,” she reminded him. “So, if Finn couldn’t hack into the security feeds from the outside, that means he had to do it from the inside.” Dread, dark and dreary, curled itself around her heart.

“Yes,” he said, his tone cautious. “But don’t panic.”

“Who’s panicking? I have to worry about the Magic Council’s plans to crack open my mind, a plot to a murder that same council using a flock of vampires compelled by an ancient magic artifact, and a magic-high mage with revolutionary aspirations and a cult of brainwashed minions to back him up. Oh, and did I mention that the magic-high psychopath is stalking me?” She laughed like a drunk hyena. “I don’t have time to panic.”

“Finn is weak. He’s only a threat when he’s siphoning magic from better mages.”

“He has a whole cult of mages to siphon magic from,” she pointed out.

“Forget about Finn. He’s just trying to intimidate you.”

Sera pulled her chiming phone out of her bag. “Well,” she told Kai, showing him the phone. “It’s working.”

On the screen was another message from Finn: a picture of her facing down the elemental bull with the subtitle, “Can’t wait to taste your magic again, Sera.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Blood Brothers

“THAT’S CREEPY, RIGHT?” Sera said. “I have my own personal stalker.”

Kai put on his hard, expressionless face. You could have cut diamonds on that face. Somewhere behind him, the contents of a trashcan caught on fire.

Sera looked down at the hand he’d locked around her wrist, then met his eyes. “You’re burning the trash, hotshot.”

A cool wind snuffed out the fire, spreading the scents of ketchup and pizza across the lobby. Mmm, pizza.

“You should let go,” she told Kai, nodding toward her trapped wrist.

“Why?”

“Firstly, because I don’t think gluing yourself to me will prevent Finn from sending me sleazy SMSs,” she replied cooly. “And secondly, because the guards aren’t going to let me drag you into the fighting pit with me.”

He released her wrist. “You’re right. You don’t have long until your next match. If you fail to show, we’ll have bigger problems than Finn.”

“The Magic Council’s wrath?”

“For instance.”

“And you don’t have any sway over your fellow Council members?” she asked.

“Over some of them, yes. That’s why I’ve been so busy stocking up on favors. You never know when you might need the support of another Council member,” Kai said. “But other than those few small favors, no, I really don’t have much sway.” He stroked the stubble on his chin. “But I could step on them for you, if you want.”

Sera coughed. “You’re joking.”

He flashed his teeth at her. Shit, was he serious?

“Yes, I’m joking.” He chuckled. “But you should have seen the look on your face. Like I’d suggested sacrificing you to a pit of hungry vampires.”

“You wouldn’t be doing those vampires any favors,” she told him. “I bite back.”

“Yes, I imagine so.” Magic pulsed in his eyes. He picked up the shopping back she’d dropped earlier and pushed it into her hands. “Now get changed. And don’t worry about Finn. The commandos will find them.”