Bound by Duty

Chapter Eleven

Over the next two weeks if I wasn't with Aidan, then I was with Micah. We changed locations often and, if the weather was bad and Bethany was working, we would just go to my apartment. I was kind of avoiding her because it was awkward to know I was spending all of this time with her boyfriend and we weren't telling her. It had been so much easier when I was hiding my power from everyone and the worst thing we had to discuss was where our next double date would take us. She was still my best friend, but I had to be honest with myself and realize that my human best friend just couldn't know, no matter how much I wanted her to.

In my sessions with Micah, we worked on so many things, but the biggest challenge and his biggest focal point was my mental defense. He wanted to make damn sure that I not only knew how to keep other Mages out, but that I could get in. This was some of the stuff Cole was most concerned about, too. He and I kept missing each other as he searched for more of his connections and I intentionally avoided having to talk to him and not explain about Aidan. But, we had texted and he was pacified to know that I was working on things. The problem, however, was that I just didn't get it. So, here we sat on the beach, yet again, as Micah explained the process.

"Okay, Amelia. We're going to try this a different way. Instead of you coming at me, I'm going to come at you. I'm going to do it slowly and we're going to talk through each step." His patient tone amazed me. I had all but given up on myself already. I sat up straight and forced myself to focus. So often in these sessions my mind drifted to Aidan and wished I were cuddled with him on my couch, watching a movie instead of sitting on a windy beach with my best friend's boyfriend. I opened my mouth and let out an audible exhale, trying to clear my head. I tilted my head toward my left shoulder and then my right. "Okay, Micah. Let's do this." I sounded more confident than I felt.

"This time, I want you to keep your eyes open," he directed. "Remember that humans can't see what we're doing here, so don't react to what you see. I'm trying to make this easier on you so I'm going to be very blatant about it. Watch me." Micah stared intently at me, his eyes slowly transitioning from their normal ice blue to red. It always freaked me out because he looked almost demonic — his blond hair, pale skin, and now bright red eyes. But as I watched him, I saw the tendrils of red start to float between us and knew my own eyes deepened to violet as my power rose in response. The red wisps spun and swirled, looking like smoke as they moved from him toward me. Suddenly, the smoke zipped quickly toward my face and it took all my strength to hold steady as people walked by on the beach. The smoke came to a dead stop right in front of my nose. I was almost cross-eyed as I stared into it, waiting for something to happen.

"Now, stop me." Micah gave me all of two seconds for that to sink in before he was pushing at my mind. It was as if a stranger were beating on my front door. Pounding furiously.

My hands went to my ears to stop the pounding. "What? Micah? What the hell?"

"Amelia. Stop doing that and stop me," he said through gritted teeth.

I closed my eyes and let the pressure in my mind extend throughout the rest of my body. When I felt that feeling of simmering electricity in every cell that was finally becoming familiar, I let my power seek out his. With a mental shove, I pushed at the red smoke. Not realizing I didn't need to push that hard, Micah and I both flew apart and back into the sand.

I sat back up, rubbing my temple, one eye closed and the other squinting across at him. His reaction was much the same as he scowled.

"Too much?" I asked. He gave a chuckle. "Too much, indeed. Let's try it again, except this time, I want you to let me in. Not far, but just far enough to open our lines of communication."