The Phoenix Prophecy: Nova

Kole thumps the pan down heavily on the stove, then heads to the fridge and pulls out eggs, milk, and blueberries. Seeing him cooking always amuses me. But then I know from experience that his giant hands can be surprisingly gentle when they need to be.

“Careful,” I tell him. “Mack will be pissed if you crack another pan.”

He doesn’t reply, and I can’t tell if he’s angry I’ve invited Nova up to The Hollow or struggling to contain his desire to see her.

“You don’t have to make the pancakes. I can do it.” I walk over and lean on the countertop so I’m in his eyeline. “You shouldn’t be around her if it’s this hard.”

“I can handle it.”

“You said that last night and look what happened.” I raise my eyebrows at him, remembering the desk.

“You complaining?”

“No.” I take a blueberry and toss it into my mouth. “Definitely not.”

“I need to get used to her.” Kole cracks an egg into a mixing bowl. “And if you two start dating, I’ll be seeing even more of her. Won’t I?”

He’s not looking at me. Instead, he’s focused on beating the eggs. He’s topless, and the veins in his forearms bulge as he smacks his whisk against the sides of the bowl.

“Do you mind?” I try to take another blueberry, but he knocks my hand away.

He stops whisking and rubs his beard with the back of his hand. “No,” he says gruffly.

“I thought you’d tell me it’s a bad idea.”

“It is.” Kole’s now measuring out milk and flour. “If she’s the Phoenix, we’re supposed to protect her, not fuck her.”

“Can’t they be one and the same? The prophecy says the Phoenix is fated to five mages. Fated. That rarely translates as ‘fated to be best buddies forever’.” I head for the laundry room and take a clean pair of jeans from the dryer. Tugging them on, I yell back into the kitchen, “Plus, the way she makes me feel? It’s not just about fucking.” I grab a shirt for Kole—one of his customary black tee shirts—and toss it to him from the doorway.

“What is it about?” He’s dressed now and starting to drop thick dollops of batter into the frying pan.

I walk over to the large glass doors that frame the sprawling lawn behind the mansion. It’s late summer. The days are still warm, but the early mornings and late evenings have a crispness to them that whispers fall will still be on its way.

“It’s like…” I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to find a way to explain what’s been happening in my head for past forty-eight hours. “It’s like the second she arrived in town, everything changed. Like I don’t even have a choice. Like I have to be near her.”

When I turn to look at Kole, he’s watching me.

“You feel it too?”

He nods slowly.

“So, it’s not just the hunger? It’s more than that?”

Kole slots his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and sighs. “It’s so much more than that, I can’t even put it into words.”

Our eyes lock together, and a silent understanding passes between us. Mack and Luther might be out trying to prove Nova’s something else, but in this moment, I realize Kole and I both know—without a shadow of doubt—who she is.

She’s the one we’ve been waiting for.

Right on cue, there’s the sound of tires on gravel as her cab pulls up to the front door. I leave Kole cooking and go to greet her. She’s wearing the same jeans as yesterday and a thin, white knitted sweater that stretches over her breasts in the most delightful way. My cock is already paying attention, and I quickly adjust myself while she turns to pay the driver.

As the cab reverses back down the drive, Nova puts her hands on her hips and nods approvingly at our surroundings. “You’re right. It is much less gloomy in daylight.”

Trotting up the steps, she looks me up and down and rolls her eyes. When she reaches me, she offers me a swift kiss on the cheek and slots her hand into mine. How can it feel so normal to behave this way with her when we haven’t even slept together yet?

“I thought you were still half-naked?” She stands back and rolls her eyes up and down my body. “Have to say, I’m a little disappointed.”

“Thought I’d save the good stuff for after our first official date.” I lead her inside, fighting the urge to drag her upstairs and peel her clothes off rather than sit politely and eat breakfast together.

“And when will that be? Exactly?” She’s looking up at me through long dark eyelashes. In daylight, her eyes are sparkling and the difference in color between them takes my breath away.

“This afternoon? I thought we could picnic by the lake. Maybe go for a swim?”

At that, her eyes darken a little. “Swim?” She seems flustered. Is she worrying about wearing a bathing suit? Because there is nothing I can think of right now that would be better than seeing her in a bikini. Wet hair dripping down her back.

“You don’t like swimming?” As a water mage, the idea that anyone wouldn’t like being in the water is completely alien to me.

Nova shrugs her shoulders and tucks her hair behind her ear. “No. It’s not that. It’s just…” She glances at me as we walk down the hall toward the kitchen. “I can’t swim.”

I stop in my tracks and grab her arms. “You can’t swim?”

“Never learned.” She laughs quietly at herself. “Ridiculous, I know. Twenty-five years-old and I’m scared of the water.”

I catch her gaze and smile. “Then that’s settled it. Our first date will be a swimming lesson.” She’s opened her mouth as if she’s going to object but, before she can, Kole’s deep voice booms out from the kitchen.

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