He shook his head with his back to her as he poured the heated concoction into one of her cups. He carried it carefully in his massive hands, as careful as if it were the finest china, and held it out to her. “Drink first.”
Harrison crossed her arms defensively. “How do I know what that’s for?”
His jaw clenched. “Now I really am insulted. I’ve never used a potion to physically harm someone, Ms. Abbott. This will heal you. I would think you’d want to be in fighting form to have this conversation.”
“Well, set it down first.” She inwardly winced as a muscle jerked in his temple and his dark eyes narrowed. Another insult, she knew, but that was better than allowing their hands to touch. He was right. She was in no shape to fight right now. Not against an attacker, or the energy that would surely arise between them on contact.
He set the cup on the coffee table and took a dramatic step back, away from her. “Drink.”
“Bossy.” But she wanted to. The headache made it too hard for her to focus. And she needed answers.
She took a sip, and he seemed to relax, his mouth curving up in a sober smile. He was incredibly attractive, damn him. Adonis, was a comparison that sprung to mind. Or Atlas. He certainly looked like he could carry the world on those broad shoulders. His blond hair and black eyes were a startling combination. And he was so big. She’d always towered over everyone, apart from her brothers. He could no doubt pick her up with one hand.
Or crush her.
He shook his head. “We haven’t gotten off to the best start. Not even any formal introductions. I’m Jacob Gryffin. My family moved from Massachusetts to Argentina when I was very young, but we should still be known among your family’s circles.”
Gryffin. The tattoo she recalled on his back suddenly made sense, and the name jogged something in her memory. Her endlessly boring studies of Magian families. The Abbotts may be considered, for whatever reason, a top tier family in Boston, but, if she remembered correctly, the Gryffins had been akin to royalty. Until something happened that had caused them to leave the country, and their standing in the magical world, in disgrace.
Jacob lifted his chin, arrogant pride coming off of him in waves.
As if she, or any member of her family cared about lineages and histories. What she did care about was what she’d heard in the stairwell. Snooty Abbott bitch. “You and your friend…Ric, right? You obviously already knew who I was. Or who you thought I was when we, um, bumped into each other on the stairs.”
He flinched, his cheeks darkening, though his voice held a defensive note. “What Magian male doesn’t? You are powerful and beautiful with an impeccable pedigree. The most powerful female Magian of a generation. Other women envy you, and mothers all over our world wish you were their daughter-in-law. Including mine.”
Pedigree? “I’m not livestock. And this is the new millennium. My pedigree doesn’t matter. I don’t know how long you’ve been out of the loop, but we don’t force pairings based on social class anymore. Proxenos usually see to that.”
She took another sip of the tea, feeling the potion easing the ache in her head, though not her irritation. Talking Jacob wasn’t nearly as interesting as kinky, man-loving Jacob. Talking Jacob sounded like he had a giant iron pole up his backside. Kind of like the man at the diner this afternoon. “Were you spying on me today?”
From his expression he knew exactly what she was talking about. “I had to make sure Jane Smith, waitress, was the right woman. And I wasn’t sure you wouldn’t run if I’d come in without that subterfuge. Looking for you these last three months has been difficult. Then I find you here, living like this.”
He made a face, looking around her cozy apartment as though it were a garbage heap before he continued. “Seeing how much danger you put yourself into tonight made it clear it was time to put a stop to this. If I hadn’t found you, you would’ve been killed. Do you understand that? You’ve had your fun, you’ve played poor little human, put yourself in harms way and now it is time to settle down with your triad.”
Unbearable… Insufferable… No multi-syllable word could cover it. She took one final gulp of the cooling potion to hold back her growl. He was an ass. “I have no triad. And when I tell my family how you’ve behaved, what you’ve said, I’m sure the Proxenos will conclude that regardless of our magical compatibility, we are not a match.”
He crossed his arms, a broad smile, a real smile curving his lips for the first time, taking Harrison’s breath away. “I had a feeling you’d say that. Which is why I added another dose of your concealment potion, as well as a bit of binding I made myself, to the healing draught.”
She gasped, the cup dropping out of her suddenly nerveless fingers. “You said—”
“I said I’ve never physically harmed anyone with my potions. I never said I was above a little manipulation.”
At his words she bolted for the door, determined to escape into the hallway, scream for the neighbors. Anything. If he was willing to do this, had he done more? Something like making her believe she was about to be murdered to scare her back with him?
Jacob grabbed her shoulders and electricity shot through her body. She watched her magic reach out and twine with his, gold and blue arcing between them. Felt it heat her to her core. Damn it. It felt as amazing as she’d known it would.
He groaned at the pleasurable sensation. “That’s right. You can’t use your powers for now, but they will come when I call them. And so will you, before this is done.”
She heard the words she was surprised he knew, the ones few but the elders and protectors were given for fear of abusing the power, followed by a whooshing sound as the transport portal opened beside them.
“You can’t do this. It goes against Magian law.”
He gazed into her eyes, the darkness in his giving nothing away. “We already have one thing in common, Harrison. Neither of us likes to follow the rules.”
She heard Prince bark, and then nothing but the roaring of the portal as they flew to their destination. She refused to close her eyes, meeting his glare with one of her own. Feeling his need as if it were her own. Hating him for making her feel it.
When she got her powers back she would find a way to make him suffer for the rest of his stuffy, gorgeous, miserable life.
She just had to resist him until then.