Claimed by Magic: a Baine Chronicles novel (The Baine Chronicles: Fenris's Story Book 2) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Mina

  Fenris

  Glossary

  About the Author

  Also by Jasmine Walt

  Claimed by Magic

  Book Two of The Baine Chronicles: Fenris’s Story

  Jasmine Walt

  Dynamo Press

  Copyright © 2017, Jasmine Walt. All rights reserved. Published by Dynamo Press.

  This novel is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and incidents described in this publication are used fictitiously, or are entirely fictional. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, except by an authorized retailer, or with written permission of the publisher. Inquiries may be addressed via email to [email protected]

  Cover illustration by Judah Dobin

  Cover typography by Rebecca Frank

  Edited by Mary Burnett

  Electronic edition, 2017. If you want to be notified when Jasmine’s next novel is released and get access to exclusive contests, giveaways, and freebies, sign up for her mailing list here. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

  Contents

  1. Mina

  2. Mina

  3. Fenris

  4. Mina

  5. Mina

  6. Fenris

  7. Fenris

  8. Mina

  9. Mina

  10. Fenris

  11. Fenris

  12. Fenris

  13. Mina

  14. Mina

  15. Mina

  16. Fenris

  17. Mina

  18. Mina

  19. Fenris

  20. Mina

  21. Mina

  22. Fenris

  23. Mina

  24. Mina

  25. Mina

  Glossary

  About the Author

  Also by Jasmine Walt

  1

  Mina

  “Come on,” Fenris gently coaxed. “You can do this.”

  Taking a deep breath, I lifted my face to the pale blue sky and focused my senses. In my small backyard, the plants were only surviving due to diligent watering—but the rosebush climbing up from the other side of the fence was starting to brown, its blossoms shriveling up. My tiny herb garden was burning up in the heat. The unusual dry spell worried the farmers, especially after the previous bad year.

  I can make this better.

  My magic hummed just under the surface of my skin. I quietly chanted the Words Fenris had taught me, careful to keep my voice down so the neighbors wouldn’t hear. My fence was high enough that nobody could look in from inside their house, but I was in no hurry to upset the residents of Abbsville by revealing I wasn’t a human like the rest of them.

  Slowly, clouds began gathering in the nearly clear sky. Excitement buzzed in my veins, and I had to clamp down on it, to force myself to focus lest I put too much magic into the weather spell. I wanted the squall to look as natural as possible. If I overdid it, the rain would come down in a sudden torrent and cause more harm than good.

  A gentle rainfall, I told the magic as I continued chanting the spell. Slow, gentle, and nourishing.

  “That’s it,” Fenris murmured as the air around us began to cool. “You’re almost there.”

  The breeze began to stir around us, whispering against my skin as it played with the blonde hair hanging loose around my shoulders. The sky grew darker as clouds crept over it, blocking out the bright sun. A drop of rain landed on my nose.

  “Excellent,” Fenris said as the rain began to come down in earnest. “You’ve got this, Mina. Next time, you will be able to do this spell by yourself.”

  I beamed at him as the soft rainfall started to moisten the dry ground—and my hair and clothes, I realized, as I’d not brought out an umbrella. But instead of running inside, I turned my face upward again and spread my arms wide, embracing the small storm. Triumph glowed in my chest as the rain fell on my skin, cool and refreshing and so very welcome after these weeks of drought.

  “This is amazing.” I laughed, spinning in a circle. I was giddy, like a child witnessing her first rainfall, and I found myself caught up in an unexpected bout of whimsy.

  “You are amazing.” Chuckling, Fenris snagged me about the waist and brought me close. His yellow eyes were glowing, as they always did, with preternatural light, but they softened as they roamed over my face. “So beautiful,” he murmured, leaning in. His lips brushed mine, and my body lit up, the rain instantly forgotten. Closing my eyes, I wrapped my arms around his strong neck and kissed him back, reveling in the sensation. I didn’t have to hide anything from him, didn’t have to worry about what he might think—

  Fenris lifted his head, nostrils flaring. “Someone is about to arrive. With an injured animal.”

  I held in a sigh, sliding from his embrace. Sure enough, Mr. Provence, one of the local farmers, came rushing around the corner—patients and customers always used the back entrance, which led straight into my tiny surgery. His short brown hair was sticking up every which way despite the rain, as if he’d been running his hands through it agitatedly, and his eyes were wide with worry.

  “Miss Hollin,” he said, relief evident in his voice. “Thank the Ur-God you’re here. My prize billy goat is badly injured. I’m worried he won’t make it, and I was counting on the breeding fees.”

  My warm, fuzzy feelings evaporated instantly. “Did you bring the animal with you?”

  “He’s in the bed of my steamtruck, out front. I…I was afraid to move him again.”

  Fenris and I exchanged a look, and I hurried inside to grab a small stretcher before meeting the farmer out by his steamtruck. The animal was lying listlessly on his side, his white fur around the head and rib area matted with blood.

  “What happened to him?” I demanded. I was expecting bite marks from some wild animal, but this…

  “I accidentally hit him when I was backing up,” Mr. Provence said guiltily. “He’s small enough that I didn’t see him in my rearview mirror. I know it’s a slim chance, but I was hoping you could still save him. He’s a long-haired breed, and you know how very rare and expensive those are. I can’t afford to replace him if he doesn’t make it.”

  “I will certainly see what I can do. Let’s get him into the surgery.”

  Between the three of us, we managed to get the billy onto the stretcher, though he began bleating with pain the moment we tried to move him. Poor creature, I thought as we brought him inside. Probably had broken ribs, at the very least. And that bleeding around his head was anything but reassuring.

  I informed the farmer that it was too early for a prognosis and that the goat would need to stay overnight. Once he was safely gone, promising to return late the next morning, I got to work in the surgery with Fenris. Chanting the diagnostic spell he’d taught me, I gently, carefully, patted down the billy goat. As I did so, a glowing haze formed over the animal’s body, delineating bones and ligaments, blood vessels and organs. I was seeing inside his body, and…

  “Three broken ribs,” I murmured. “Bleeding from the liver. And the brain.” My heart sank.

  “We’ll handle this together,” Fenris said, twining his fingers with my own. “The brain is the most urgent and requires finesse. I’ll take the lead there, while you concentrate on the ribs and liver. I’ll call on you in case I need to draw strength.”

  Nodding, I let Fenris turn his attention to the brain while I focused on what I knew I could handle most easily�
�the ribs. One of them was stabbing into the liver. Magic flowed down my fingertips and into the abused bones, gradually knitting them back together. I gritted my teeth as sympathetic pain flared down my own abdomen—the cost of performing healing magic. Very few trained mages wasted their efforts on animals when there were never enough qualified healers to tend mages and humans. But from my earliest memories, I had always been drawn to animals and felt they deserved healing magic as much as their owners.

  Finally, the liver bleed was healed and the blood clots reabsorbed. The goat’s ribs were knitted together, and Fenris had successfully healed the brain injury. All the pain finally faded away, and I sighed in relief. I was exhausted, and even Fenris looked a bit tired.

  “There,” he said, stroking the billy goat’s head. “All better now, right?”

  The billy opened his eyes, then bleated in alarm as he beheld Fenris. “Ow!” Fenris cried as the goat bit him on the arm. “Ungrateful creature!”

  I laughed, coming forward to soothe the poor animal as Fenris backed away. “He’s probably just frightened of your wolfish nature,” I said, stroking the goat and sending calming magic into him. The billy settled beneath my hands, though he continued to glare balefully at Fenris. “And he’s just been through an ordeal, besides.”

  “I suppose,” Fenris said, still sounding a bit miffed. “I’ll go make some tea while you finish up with him.”

  Shaking my head, I cleaned the blood from the billy’s fur, then settled him into my largest cage with blankets and water, where he would remain until the next morning. He might be healed, but he still needed to rest after all that trauma. I’d have to remember to apply some bandages before his owner came back so the magical healing would not be quite so obvious. But that could wait, since the billy might gnaw them off overnight.

  Satisfied that my patient was comfortable, I cleaned up the surgery, then went out to the living room where Fenris sat, drinking from one of the cups already.

  The tomcat I’d rescued was sitting on the kitchen table across the room, glaring suspiciously—he hadn’t warmed up to Fenris yet and was unlikely to come near me while the wolf shifter was here. Fenris had also made sandwiches, I saw, noting the two plates on the coffee table—one was empty, with nothing but crumbs, and the other had a single sandwich on it.

  “You’re going to have to get over it sometime,” I said, rubbing the cat behind the ears. He swatted at me, and I tsked. “You can’t be mad just because I like to have company over.”

  The cat ignored me and began licking himself. Knowing I was dismissed, I turned to Fenris instead. “Am I out of cold cuts and bread, then?” I teased as I sat down next to him. Shifters had very large appetites—Fenris would need far more than one sandwich to sate him after all that healing.

  He gave me a sheepish smile. “I’m afraid so. I’ll buy you more from the general store.”

  “No need,” I said, taking his free hand in mine. “Your help today was thanks enough.” I turned his hand over, my fingers playing across the roughened skin as I searched for the bite. But there was no trace of it. “Healed already,” I murmured. “Amazing.”

  “Mostly,” Fenris said, smiling. “One of the perks of being a shifter. But a kiss would still help make it feel better.”

  I kissed his hand, right where the bite had been. Fenris’s eyes darkened, and he set down his teacup. “Not there,” he growled, tangling his fingers with mine. He pulled me close until I was practically sitting in his lap. “Here.”

  His lips found mine, and I kissed him deeply, my exhaustion forgotten. The woodsy scent of him filled my head as warmth spread through my limbs, stoking the fires of sexual hunger that had awoken in the back of my mind the moment I’d met him. I slid my hands over his broad shoulders and down his chest, enjoying the feel of the powerful muscles beneath his tunic. From experience, I knew just how built he was beneath his clothes, how effortless it was for him to scoop me up in his arms as if I weighed nothing…

  “Take me to bed,” I murmured against his mouth. “I don’t have any patients left for the day. You can stay the night.”

  Fenris chuckled. “Eager, are we?” His hand skimmed beneath my blouse, and my breath caught as his thumb brushed the underside of my breast. “There will be gossip, you know.” He trailed kisses along the edge of my jaw, making a path toward my ear.

  “There already is.” I gasped as he bit down on my earlobe. “Everybody is wondering when you are going to propose to me.”

  Fenris laughed, scooping me up in his arms. “I have to tend to my horses, so I can’t stay the night. But,” he added, his voice dipping low with sensual promise, “there is no reason why I can’t tend to you first.”

  2

  Mina

  Fenris carried me to the bedroom, where he stripped me naked and proceeded to ravish me like a man starved. His hot mouth and skilled hands drove me to the edge repeatedly, finding my sweet spots with a deftness that spoke of experience.

  “Let me touch you,” I panted after the fourth climax.

  Fenris lifted his head from between my legs, his yellow eyes blazing with lust. Rising onto his knees, he undid his tunic belt, then pulled the tunic over his head, leaving him bare from the waist up. My mouth practically watered at the sight of him there, half naked, and I knelt on the bed before him so I could run my hands over his bare chest. His muscles flexed beneath my hands as they traveled down his abdomen, the hot skin and crisp hairs teasing my palms. And when my fingertips finally reached the waistband of his pants, my breath hitched in my throat.

  “Mina—”

  I slid my right hand beneath the waistband and cupped his balls. Fenris made a low groan deep in his throat as I squeezed gently. “It’s my turn,” I breathed into his ear as I massaged him. I licked his earlobe, and his right arm banded around my waist, as if he wanted to keep me exactly where I was.

  “Higher,” he growled, the sound reverberating through his chest, which was pressed up against mine. I obliged, letting my hand drift upward. He groaned again as I wrapped my fingers around his impressive length and began to stroke him. Using my free hand, I slid his pants down until they pooled around his knees. He kicked them off the rest of the way, then allowed me to push him back onto the bed.

  I spent the rest of the evening exploring his body, finding out how he liked to be stroked, where he liked to be touched. It turned out that his neck was quite sensitive, and that licking him in certain spots produced the most interesting sounds. And when he finally came, my name a roar on his lips, it filled me with such a heady sense of power that for a moment I was quite speechless.

  “You’re magnificent,” he said afterward, stroking my hair as we cuddled. “I have no idea how I resisted you for so long.”

  I chuckled, nuzzling his neck. “It seems like wasted time, doesn’t it?”

  We snuggled for a few more minutes, then dressed and went back out to the kitchen for a snack. I hadn’t eaten dinner, and the sandwich Fenris had made me was still waiting on the coffee table, forgotten. I heated some leftovers from last night’s dinner, and as we ate, we went over our plans to reclaim my true name and recover the fortune I had relinquished when I fled my hometown nearly thirteen years ago. Haralis, the city of my childhood, was in Innarta, a southern state all the way on the other side of the Federation. From Abbsville, in the northwest, it would be a long journey to the Eastern Seaboard.

  I had no idea if returning to Haralis would be dangerous, since I didn’t know if my cousin had survived the fall after I pushed him down the stairs that fateful night. I might have to stand trial, and since there had been no other witnesses, who knew how that would end?

  Even so, anything was better than this uncertainty. I had to confront my past if I wanted to enjoy my future without having to skulk and hide.

  “Barrla has agreed to take care of the cat and my horse during our journey,” I said. She liked animals nearly as much as I did, and as my best friend, she was the person I relied on for such things. “H
ave you found someone to look after your horses yet?”

  Fenris nodded. “They’ll be staying with the breeder I bought them from,” he said. “I’ve also asked Marris to come by to check on the garden. I’ve put out spells to keep rabbits and other pests away, but it never hurts to have someone check.”

  I chewed on my lip. “I am worried about leaving Abbsville for so long,” I confessed. “These farmers really depend on me. Or rather, their animals do. What if there is another infection, like we had last month?”

  “You were never going to settle here permanently,” Fenris reminded me. “The people of Abbsville managed to get on without a resident veterinarian before your arrival, and they will no doubt survive for the few weeks we will be gone.”

  I nodded. “There is a vet in the next town over if they need one,” I said. “He’s not bad—for a human without magic, that is. Have you already figured out the best route to get to Innarta, then?”

  “I’ve been making inquiries,” he said, “and the fastest way is by airship. We can fly from Willowdale to Deros, and catch a connecting flight that will take us straight to Innarta.”

  “I’ve never flown on an airship before,” I said. “When I ran away from home, I took steambuses.” Those trips had been very long and arduous, and though I was a little apprehensive about flying, I was also relieved we wouldn’t be crammed on a bus for such a long distance. I still had vivid memories of snoring and overweight passengers crowding me, the smell of cheap sausage and garlic in suffocating heat, and grimy public lavatories. None of which would suit Fenris, I suspected.