Kate Daniels 02 - Magic Burns

That pain is just weakness leaving your body! Come on! Push! Push! Make that weight your bitch!”
    He cracked up. The weight stopped, perilously close to his chest, while he shook with laughter. I stepped up and grabbed the bar. It put me into an incredibly compromising position, since his head was really close to my thighs and the area directly above them, but I didn’t want to explain to a rabid Pack how I was responsible for the Beast Lord crushing his chest with a weight bar.
    I put my back into it. There was no way in hell I could ever pull it up without him pushing.
    The bar crept up very slowly.
    â€œCurran, stop playing and lift.”
    I looked down and saw him looking straight at me. He had a smile on his face. The sight of me puffing and straining apparently amused him to no end.
    He raised the bar up and slid it into the twin forks on the sides of the bench.
    I beat a hasty retreat, putting a few feet between him and me. He sat, pulled his shirt off, and used it to wipe the sweat off his chest. Slowly. Flexing a bit for my benefit.
    I turned around and looked at the scenery. Having a streak of drool hang from my mouth would seriously cramp my style. Besides, if he full-out flexed, I would probably faint. Or jump off the building.
    I needed to get laid. Otherwise my hormones might go on strike and short-circuit my common sense.
    Curran came to stand next to me. Before us the broken city grappled with an impending flare. In the distance husks of skyscrapers sagged to the ground. Between them and us stretched the twisted labyrinth of streets, punctured by greenery, where nature had reclaimed the ruins for its own.
    Maybe I was imagining things. Maybe he was just wiping off his sweat because he didn’t want to be sweaty, not because he was showing off for me. Once again, I was giving myself too much credit.
    â€œWhat are you going to do with the child?” he asked.
    â€œI’ll take her to the Order. There is a vault below the Order’s building. It has a two-foot-thick steel door, and it’s blanketed in a ward the entire mage division of the Military Supernatural Defense Units can’t bust. The safest place in the city right now.”
    The Order had to own other facilities too, but I didn’t rate high enough to know their location or function. I wouldn’t have known about the vault either if Ted thought he could hide it from me. If you put a door marked “Authorized Personnel ONLY” and me in the same building, sooner or later I’ll try to jimmy its lock to discover what’s so special about it.
    â€œYou can keep her here,” Curran said. “We’ll look after her.”
    â€œThank you for the offer. I honestly appreciate it. But things are hunting her. She’ll be safe in the vault and I don’t want to be responsible for any deaths.”
    He sighed. “You do realize that you just insulted me, right?”
    â€œHow so?”
    â€œYou implied that I can’t protect her or my people.”
    I looked at him. “That’s not at all what I meant.”
    â€œApologize and I’ll let it go.”
    I kept my hands firmly on the iron rail before me. Grabbing the weight bar and walloping the Beast Lord upside the head wouldn’t be the best diplomatic move.
    â€œI’m sorry, Your Majesty.” There. I was civil. It almost killed me.
    â€œApology accepted.”
    â€œWill there be anything else?” Your Arrogance.
    â€œNo.” He picked up an enormous dumbbell and began to curl, working his biceps.
    I turned to leave and stopped. He was in a good mood. Relaxed. He didn’t wig out at me. Now was as good a time as any. “Myong…”
    A low warning growl reverberated in his throat. “I said later.”
    Technically it was later. “I think she loves him very much.”
    He snarled. “You forget yourself! Drop it.”
    â€œShe’s very passive and she’s terrified of you. It took a great deal of courage for her to come and see me.”
    He tossed the dumbbell aside. It went flying and hit with a loud thud, leaving a dent in the pavement of the roof. Curran strode toward me, eyes blazing. “If I let her go, I’ll need a replacement. Want to volunteer for the job?”
    He looked like he wouldn’t be taking no for an answer. I swiped Slayer from its sheath and backed away from the edge of the roof. “And be girlfriend number twenty-three soon to be