Of course, he would taunt me. “Hardly. You give yourself too much credit.”
“In that case, close your eyes and stop stalling.”
Huffing, I did as he said.
“Now, use your power, infuse it with mine, but not so much that you pass out again. Are you able to do that?”
“Yes.” I did as he asked, calling upon that incredibly awesome magic which resided within me. It sprang forth, and I let out a steady stream, connecting with the hunter, until I felt his power begin to rise.
His breath sucked in, but unlike at the club, when we’d rescued my sister—where all of my power continued to flow out of me until I ran dry—I felt a slight push from his end. It was subtle at first, as if he was testing my magic, sensing how it felt and reacted, but then I felt a jolt surge into me.
An array of sensations flooded my insides. Burning fire. Crackling energy. Mind-blowing power. It wasn’t like before, when I’d accidentally stolen his magic from him at Jakub’s club, or when I’d sucked the magic and life out of the warlock in the insane asylum and the sorcerers who’d tried to abduct me. No. This was more controlled, but I wasn’t the one controlling it. The hunter was simply using my magic that floated to him as a lifeline. He was inching his own magic along it, carefully maneuvering his power into me until it was inside me. But I still couldn’t control his energy, I could just feel it.
I gasped. Gods, he was so powerful. My stomach clenched, the feel of him wrapping around me nearly overwhelming me.
“Don’t fight me,” he said quietly. “Let me fuse my magic with yours.”
I forced my muscles to relax, the tenseness around my shoulders abating. Opening myself up more, I released the natural inclination to shield myself. More of his power soaked into me, flooding my cells and bathing me in his strength, but his power couldn’t stray from my source. He couldn’t consume me like I could him when I let myself become unleashed. My forbidden power kept him contained to that tether.
Still, it didn’t lessen the sensations. The nerves along my skin tingled as my head swam with the feel of him. So much energy. So much power. And then I felt him reaching out, as if he were holding my forbidden power like a rope in a raging sea, but still swimming away from it, rope in hand, while searching for something. “What are you doing?”
“Using my magic to try to find your new power. Damn, colantha. You have so much magic inside you.”
I kept the lid to my forbidden power blown wide open, but I also kept a strong hold on it so that it didn’t surge out of me in one giant gush. Still, a sense of lightheadedness hit me. “Do you feel anything yet?” I asked.
“Not yet, but I sense something in you.” I felt him searching farther and deeper, probing along that chest of power residing down low inside me. “It’s near here, like a deep, dark cavern that’s hidden but powerful enough that I can feel its void. Do you sense it?”
I shook my head. “No, all I feel is my witch magic and my forbidden power.”
“Let me try to show it to you.” His magic caressed me, dancing along my tethered cord. It sent a chill of goosebumps down my spine, like someone had swept a feather along my nerves but from the inside out. It was the strangest sensation, utterly foreign yet enticing.
“Follow the feel of me,” he coaxed.
I did as he said, or tried to, and even though that feathery sensation didn’t lessen, I didn’t shy away from it. It was as I’d feared though. All of this felt so strangely intimate, as if I’d welcomed him inside me even though we weren’t directly touching.
“Do you feel this here?” His magic tugged at me, probing me to sense whatever it was he was detecting.
“Where?”
“Here, to the side of where your forbidden power lies. There’s something there. I can sense it.”
I squeezed my eyes tighter, that dizzying feeling sweeping through me again. Even though I’d been careful not to wield too much of my forbidden power, it was still beginning to take a toll on me.
Willing myself to try harder, I scrunched my face up, reaching out internally. My magic brushed his, creating a tingling sensation like the soft stroke of a feather. A slight groan came from him.
I felt along his power, searching for the cavern he’d spoken of. Another strangled sound came from the hunter when my magic caressed his.
“Gods, colantha,” he moaned.
I gasped, realizing that intimate feeling extended not only to me but him too.
“Do you feel it?” he rasped. “It’s here.”
I felt harder, willing myself to detect what he sensed. A moment passed, and then . . . a hint of something unfolded before me, like someone had brushed open a curtain before it drifted softly closed. A jolt of pure pleasure followed as his magic coiled around me in triumph.
My eyes flew open as another swirling rush of dizziness stole through me. I lurched back, breaking our connection.
It was too much—releasing my forbidden power while feeling him, wanting him, craving him. All of this while my forbidden power bound us together. It was just too much. This was more intimate than any sex I’d ever had.
“I can’t.” My forbidden power sucked back inside me, like someone had let go of a fully inflated balloon and it flew through the air until rushing into a storage chest before the lid snapped shut.
I brought a hand to my head as my arm reached out to the floor to steady myself. Another wave of fatigue filled me.
In a heartbeat, the hunter’s hands were wrapped around my shoulders, holding me. “Tala? Are you okay?” That husky tone still filled his words, and I knew he was reeling too.
I nodded, and with each breath I took, some of the dizziness abated. “It’s always like that with my forbidden power. It’s so much, and it’s so strong. Every time I use it, it tires me.” Of course, I didn’t mention the other part. The bit about feeling him being too overwhelming.
I felt him studying me, but I looked down. That was a mistake since my gaze landed on his crotch. The hunter was tenting big time. A huge erection strained against his loose pants.
I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated on breathing deeply and bringing myself back to the present. But my core still clenched with hunger. And it wasn’t hunger for food.
Slowly, the swirling sensation of the room began to fade, and that pulsing and aching desire for the hunter lessened to something I could manage. I just thanked the gods I hadn’t done anything stupid, because training with the hunter was even worse than I’d thought it would be. I’d been worried about battling and sparring, but that would be infinitely easier to deal with than what I’d just experienced.
“I think that’s enough for today,” I said.
“Did you sense what I did? Did you feel that cavern?”
I nodded. “I think I did, a little.” I finally lifted my gaze to his. Raging amber eyes met mine. He was looking at me so intensely—heat running rampant through his irises like a raging inferno. I concentrated on the point of this training session so I wouldn’t get lost in his fire. “Do you really think that was my new power? Do you think it resides beside my forbidden one?”
“It’s possible. It was the only thing I sensed that felt untouched in you.”
I shivered, unable to help it. Even though the hunter had kept his word and hadn’t touched me physically until just now, it had felt as if he’d been touching all of me throughout that entire session.
I’d never allowed somebody else’s magic to join with mine before. I didn’t even know something like that was possible. My witch magic certainly didn’t allow it, but my forbidden power? Apparently, that one did, and the hunter had sensed it and had the foresight to try it.