Magical Midlife Dating (Leveling Up 2)

“You shouldn’t have jumped through it! They probably don’t mean to kill me, Austin. I can’t say the same for you.”

“We won’t be here to find out.”

“I admire your confidence, but I’m locked in here. I can’t figure out how to magically unlock it.”

“I got it.” He dropped my hand and crawled forward, but stopped when his unmentionables bumped against the bar. “Oops. This is probably incredibly awkward for you.”

I huffed out an unexpected laugh as he worked his way forward again, a little more careful than normal with a part most men didn’t want to scrape up. Near the edge of the cage, which was still swinging, he grabbed one of the bars on the door and his muscles bulged. The door clicked, the deadbolt bumping against its frame, but it didn’t swing open.

“You keep healing me. I’ll worry about this,” he said.

I grimaced, because I hadn’t intentionally stopped.

I thought about his wounds and about his nervousness about his privates and the rough bars, trying to jump-start the magic I largely didn’t know how to do consciously.

“Mmm…maybe don’t work directly on…that part…” He groaned, stopping for a moment and lowering his head. “It’s distracting me. We don’t have that kind of time.”

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” I muttered, my face burning. “I’m just trying to—”

“After we get out of here, please feel free to practice that trick on me. I’ll make myself available any time.” He smirked as he readied to yank on the bar again. “Any time.”

“This is no time to joke around,” I murmured.

His muscles bulged again and he grunted. With a loud clang, the door to the cage ripped open. The top hinge popped off, and the door swung downward, the other hinge groaning with the effort of holding on. Unable to handle the strain, it tore free and the door went somersaulting down toward the spikes.

It hit and bounced a little before settling, part of it sinking into a gap between the spikes, the rest stuck on top. The sound reverberated through the room.

“That was loud,” I whispered.

“I can’t hear the others through that magical barrier. If there’s another barrier of some sort down below, I doubt anyone will hear anything,” he said, swinging his legs over the lip of the cage and slowly lowering himself.

“That hairy creature said he couldn’t let me down because of the noise.” I touched a healed part on his pec, his skin almost waxy in appearance.

He covered my hand with his and his eyes softened. “He was probably just saying that to save his skin. Those mages would kill someone for less, I have no doubt. Nice fashion. That a new trend?”

I looked down at my backward shirt. “I was leaving room for my wings.”

“Gotcha. About that, how’s it coming?”

“Do you see any wings?”

“It’s going well, then, got it.” His chest rose and fell with a deep breath, and he looked down at the spikes below. “Your healing magic works incredibly quickly. Or maybe it just feels that way because you’re numbing the pain.”

“How are we going to get out of here, Austin? I don’t know that you can jump down there without hitting those spikes, and even if you didn’t, you’d probably go splat.”

“I can’t, no. That’s out of the question.” His gaze roamed my face. “I’m waiting on my knight in shining armor to save me. That’s you, by the way. I figured you needed a damsel to live out your true potential.”

I lowered my brow, my stare definitely hostile and probably unhinged. “This isn’t a time to joke. I couldn’t even get that lock to open, and my wings won’t come. I’m dead in the water. I’m basically just waiting for the bad guys to save me at this point.”

He spread his arms. “And then I came along and ruined your plans.” His expression sobered. “I apologize. Whatever you’re doing with your magic is making me feel like I’ve taken a happy pill. Listen, Jess, your days of being rescued are over. You have the ability to save yourself—and me. There’s a reason Ivy House chose you above the Havercamps and everyone else. Mr. Tom, Niamh, and Edgar—they all know Ivy House chose correctly. I know Ivy House chose correctly. All that’s left is for you to believe it. I need you, Jacinta. I need you to fly me out of here, because I am positive they will kill me when they find me with you. I’ll make it incredibly hard for them, but there’s not much I can do stuck up here in human form. They’ll take me out. I’ve put my fate in your hands. I’ve put my life in your hands.”

“But why?” I groaned out, dread overcoming me.

“Because I know you can do it,” he said softly. “I believe in you.”

I shook my head. “Even if my wings come out, they’re going to be smaller and weaker than the guys’.”