Atomic Mage by Garrett Carter (short books for teens txt) 📕

smile to Sabine that elicited a small blush, he dove again into the snake woman's mind.

Falling tears and promises made

Cade dropped into Sabine's mindscape with a grin, walking up to the snake woman's mental shield, as the slithering carpet of vipers that parted before him.

His grin grew into a soft smile as he laid eyes on the beautiful Sabine who slithered toward him on top of her mental defense.

Taking a moment to actually look at her he was enamored by her looks, "she is much better looking when she was properly fed." He mused in his head.

"Why yes I am my.... thank you Cade I am glad to hear you like what you see." Her stuttering reply took him by surprise, he was sure the words hadn't been spoken aloud, but the blushing Sabine had clearly heard his thoughts.

"I hope you like what you see in my memories, I do hope to get to enjoy the blood coursing through your veins and the body that contains it." He again was blown over by the now furiously blushing Sabine, who wouldn't meet his eyes at the moment.

"Let's take a look then we can decide if we are going to be swapping fluids," he replied, a small blush starting in his face, his little fienemy putting his two cents in as his pants began to get tight at the thought of Sabine enjoying his body in any way, shape, or form.

"I think I would enjoy swapping fluids with you Cade if your Dresk would allow it," Sabine replied still not meeting his eyes.

"We will cross that bridge when we get to it, but first let get you vetted." He said before he chuckled at the curious expression on Sabine's face as she mouthed "vetted".

After he cleared his throat and adjusted himself he dove into Sabine's memories.

As Cade flew through Sabine's memories he grew to respect the small woman.

She had not lied when she said she had been killing the slavers for years.

Quite a few of them had succumbed to her paralysis venom like Mina, only to be drained and left for dead or she had put that long blade at the end of her tail to good use and removed heads and limbs.

One raping asshole got the ultimate comeuppance as he overpowered her and instead of using his head and finishing the fight with the dangerous woman, he tried to use his dick and was relieved of it.

"That was the one who came closest to ending me." Sabine said as she appeared next to him as he viewed the memory.

"And are you ok?" He asked concerned for the seemingly dainty woman, who he had just watched decapitate a human man who was at least a head taller and much more muscular than Cade, even with his body improvements.

"That happened years ago, I haven't allowed any more close calls like that one since," Sabine said in her breathy voice.

Cade had a moment of weakness as he imagined the slight woman moaning his name in the same breathy tones.

A truly furious blush grew to encompass Sabine's whole torso at his stray thought.

Furious at himself for the thought, Cade cleared his thoughts of sexual thoughts and reminded himself the woman next to him was a stranger, anything more would wait until he was sure of her.

Sabine's blush evaporated as the nasty thoughts about her coming from him disappeared from one moment to the next.

"I'm sorry if I overstepped Cade," Sabine said as she looked down, her heart racing in her chest.

Cade noticed her posture and was on guard as he saw the same downcast eyes in a few of Sabine's memories before she tore into her opponents.

Dipping a mental thread into her actual brain, he was surprised to find not murderous intent but sorrow and a bone-deep hurt that stemmed from her almost need for him and Mina to accept her.

"It's ok Sabine no overstepping here, I...." Cade trailed off for a moment as he tried to figure out how to put into words, that didn't make him look like a letch, that he wanted the slim woman next to him.

"I just want to get to know you and the person you are before we do anything more. Does that sound ok?" He asked hesitantly.

"I am willing to try if you are Cade," she said as her melancholy fell away to be replaced by a hopeful expression.

"We can continue then," Cade said and resumed his trip through Sabine's past.

Coming upon a particularly powerful memory, Cade was surprised as he took in a preteen Sabine being shoved into a crevice in a riverbank by a much larger 30-foot lamia.

"Stay here and conceal yourself as I taught you, I will try to make it back to you my "bean" but know that your mother loves you always."

The larger lamia came up to his nose and was visibly exhausted by what Cade assumed was her and Sabine's race to escape their pursuers.

He both saw and heard them closing in, the stop the larger lamia made only closing the distance of the pursuit.

The larger lamia pushed her daughter deeper into the crevice hiding her as well as was possible as she turned to lead their pursuers away.

"Her name was Xandia, and she was the best mother a girl could ask for."

The memory froze as the unemaciated version of Sabine again came into view, and a light rainfall began.

"She taught me so much in such a little time, trying to prepare me for what lay ahead, but the greed of others forced our time too