Magic Steals by Ilona Andrews Page A

isn’t a needy commitment thing.”
    â€œOkay,” he said, stretching the word.
    â€œWhere is this relationship going, Jim?”
    â€œThis is the kind of question that can explode in my face,” Jim said. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”
    â€œI mean what happens from here?”
    â€œWe discover if Steven is responsible, beat his ass, go to your place or my place, and celebrate.”
    â€œAre you being deliberately obtuse?”
    â€œNo, I’m being very precise in my answers.”
    Grr. “Let’s say for the sake of argument that we continue this relationship.”
    â€œI thought that was a given,” he said.
    I waved my hand. “Let me keep going with this, or I’ll never get to the point. Where do you see us a year from now, if everything goes well and we stay together?”
    â€œAre you asking about marriage?” he asked.
    â€œI’m asking about mating.” Mating in the shapeshifter world was a firm declaration of being in a relationship. Some couples married, some didn’t, but mating cemented the relationship.
    â€œI never liked that word,” Jim said, “But yes. Mating. Marriage. This wasn’t the way I wanted to approach this.”
    I made a conscious effort of will not to freak out because the word
marriage
came out of his mouth. This had to be said. “That would make me the alpha of the Cats.”
    â€œYes.”
    Words came out of me, tumbling one over the other. “What happens when we’re challenged, Jim? My purifying powers don’t work against shapeshifters. The magic won’t always be up. I can’t always use my cursing and even if I could, they wouldn’t respect me for using magic. You and I both know that they understand and respect physical prowess. They would see me as a freak. Not only that, but I would be a liability. If you stand there and protect me so I have time to write my curses, that makes our battle strategy predictable. It would anchor you to one place. I’m not a fighter, but even I understand this. We sacrifice mobility and the element of surprise. I will get you killed, Jim. I’m not an alpha. I’m a half-blind, vegetarian tiger.”
    There it was. It lay between us now, out in the open.
    Jim opened his mouth.
    â€œIt’s not that I don’t want to be badass,” I said. “I do. I would like nothing more than to grow giant claws and do the kick and spin and disembowel everything around me thing, but I can’t.”
    Jim nodded and opened his mouth again.
    â€œAnd it’s not even the blood, because I can bite. It’s just that I’m not good at fighting. I’m not vicious. I’m scared ofgetting hurt. I am afraid of pain. I don’t want you to die because of me.”
    Jim looked at me.
    â€œAren’t you going to say something?” I asked.
    â€œAre you done?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œDali, you are a
tiger.
You’re the largest cat on the planet and you weigh over seven hundred pounds in your beast form.”
    I took a deep breath. If he were about to chew me out because I was a tiger and I couldn’t fight . . .
    â€œWait,” Jim said. “Let me finish.”
    I cleared my throat. “Okay. Continue.”
    â€œYou have accelerated healing even by our standards.”
    â€œThat’s true.”
    â€œYou don’t have to be a good fighter for us to make a good team. If you just sit on our attacker for a second, that’s enough for me to kill them.”
    I opened my mouth and closed it with a click.
    â€œYou’re concentrating on weakness. It’s good to be aware of your weaknesses, but you need to think in terms of assets. What strengths do you have?”
    I glanced at him.
    â€œYou have bulk,” he said. “You have healing. You have paws the size of my head. You are majestic.”
    â€œMajestic?”
    â€œYour fur is so white, it