Magic and Wolves: Book 1 of West Mountain

Breakfast

Hammer woke up to the smell of sausage and the sound of humming. Blinking open his eyes slowly he took in his surroundings. He didn't quite remember going to bed the night before, he had a vague idea, but it was all a little blurry. Now she was in his kitchen, her hair pulled back in a messy bun, dressed only in a sports bra and a pair of his shorts, making breakfast.

"If you're not careful A Chuisle, I'll get used to this kind of treatment." Hammer said, "raising up on his elbows to watch her move around the kitchen."

"Well, only on special occasions." Cecilia winked at him as she came out of the kitchen, a plate in her hands.

Hammer sat up and leaned against the headboard, taking the offered plate, his mouth watering at the sight of waffles, sausage and eggs. Cecilia walked away to the kitchen and then returned with a mug full of coffee.

"Ugh, how did you know? This is exactly what I needed after so much magic last night."

"Sylas gave me a few tips." Cecilia settled on the bed next to Hammer with her own plate of food.

"Sylas? The bartender? How would he have known?"

"Hmmm, he is not just a bartender. Apparently, it's his job to know about all Fae." Hammer looked at her, stunned. "Now is not the time for that though. We have other things to talk about."

"Like what?"

"Like your innate magic and the fact that by waiting to complete our mating bond your magic is no longer stable." She said this all calmly not betraying the panic and fear bubbling inside her. She was afraid for him, afraid of losing him.

It had only been about 3 weeks since they had meet but she couldn't imagine life without him now. Most Fae Mates complete the bond within a few days of finding each other, the fact that Oscar and Franny lasted 3 years is close to miraculous.

"Oh" Hammer muttered taken off guard. "I never mentioned the innate magic because I've spent most of my life hiding it."

Cecilia didn't respond, she simply raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue.

"Many mages, especially more conservative Mages like my old coven believe Innate magic is only caused by inter-species Mating and those that have this kind of magic are not Pure. I don't know if that is necessarily true, if one of my ancestors wasn't a mage, I don't know about them. All I know is when my father first saw this," He held up his hand, blue sparks of lightening started dancing across his hand, "he insisted I never tell anyone. He trained me harder on my control so I wouldn't accidentally slip and be found out. Once I was allowed to get the tattoos, he insisted I get the rune for lightening, to help hide this more. I don't always have control over it, like my shield the other week."

"When it was electrified?"

"I let my control slip, just a bit, and it happened. I was lucky it was only enhancing the shield." Hammer glanced over at Cecilia, she was deep in thought, her finger tapping against her lip, so he continued. "My father insisted I fail my battle assessment. He said that kind of training was too risky for me."

"Fuck, that's messed up." Hammer just shrugged in response, "You're not there anymore Sampson. You don't have to hide who you are here. Maybe it's time to use that control of yours to develop your gift, instead of repressing it. You talk about being in balance but are you truly balanced if you keep denying a part of yourself?"

"It's a little difficult to argue against my own logic." Hammer stood up, grabbed Cecilia's empty plate and went into the kitchen. "Since we're on the subject of magic I have something for you."

He walked to the second interior door of his house and disappeared into the room behind it. Cecilia shook her head, chuckling to herself, she knew he was either trying to change the subject or had gotten lost in his one-track mind again. When he came back, he was holding a purple and green crystal hanging from a long silver chain. He slipped the chain over Cecilia's head when he reached her.

"Sampson what is this?" Cecilia lifted the crystal up inspecting it. It had been smoothed down into a long pillar shape, green at the bottom, moving up into purple. Cecilia could feel the magical energy of the crystal. It pulsed in her hand, like a steady heartbeat.

"Protection." He settled back on the bed next to her. "This will protect you from magical attacks, spells, hexes, curses, things like that. It will only last against 3 or 4 magical occurrences then it will have to be recharged, so to speak."

Cecilia was stunned, she had an idea of how skilled a Mage Hammer was through what little she had seen and her conversation with Sylas, but Hammer had taken her sarcastic joke and in less than four hours made it a reality.

"I have 4 others, we need to do some tests first but if it works out, I can get more of the crystal and make enough for your border patrol. It won't protect them from physical attacks but we Mages like to use our magic over our fists. Don't get me wrong, we are trained to physically fight but most find it more refined to use magic."

"This is incredible Sampson," she looked at him, her feelings for him growing deeper, "You're incredible."

"Just trying to balance the scales." Hammer rubbed his hands together, "I need to open the shop soon."

"We still need to talk about the Mate bond Sampson." Cecilia watched him still and take in a deep breath.

"We will, trust me. I know this is important and I can feel the changes in myself. I'm not trying to ignore it or tough it out." Hammer crouched by the bed in front of Cecilia, pressing his forehead to hers. "It will take some time for me to recover from last night. I'm no more dangerous than a wet kitten."

"Sounds plenty dangerous to me." Cecilia scoffed.

Hammer laughed, pressing a quick kiss to Cecilia's lips.

"Cecilia, I have my business and I'm sure you have more Alpha duties to attend to and if you're lucky maybe get some art done." Hammer walked into his open closet and began to get dressed for the day.

Cecilia watched as he pulled on a pair of gingham slacks and a matching vest over a white button up, as he was slipping his feet into dress shoes Cecilia spoke up.

"Why do you always dress so formally?" Hammer looked up; his eyebrow raised.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know if I've ever seen you dress even slightly casual except at night."

"Is there something wrong with dressing up? I enjoy looking my best." Hammer chuckled. "Do not like the way I look A Chuisle?"

"I'm not saying that Sampson." Cecilia chuckled, "I was simply curious. I enjoy that you always look so put together. Makes you even more fun to look at."

She stood up and walked over to him, grabbing a hold of his vest pulling him against her, "Plus, it makes me want to make you a little disheveled."

"Is that so?" Hammer raised an eyebrow at her, smirking slightly.

"Mmm." Cecilia hummed, breathing in his scent, she stepped back grinning. "We should go, we can talk tonight."

"I look forward to it." Hammer chuckled.