by Tasha Black
“You are that man,” she told me. “Maybe I can bring back what you’ve lost. Maybe we can. Together.”
Her thoughts were so similar to my own that it almost hurt.
“What if we can’t?” I asked her simply.
“Remind me what we did today,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“Did we not break out of prison together?” she asked. “And when I asked you to take my hand and trust me, didn’t you take it?”
I nodded.
“You got me to climb a tree, and a cliff,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “And when that skeleton threatened me, you stepped in front of it without a second thought.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, thinking.
“What?” she asked.
“Everything you just said is technically accurate,” I allowed.
“But?” she asked.
“But there was magic in me before,” I told her. “And it was that magic that made you dream of me.”
“Whatever the reason, I liked dreaming about you,” she told me. “I mean it was frustrating, but I never wanted it to stop.”
“I don’t want it to stop either,” I told her.
“Then let’s not stop,” she suggested.
While I hesitated, she tucked her index finger under the towel and flicked.
Instantly her beautiful breasts were revealed to me, pebbled nipples upturned as if waiting for my touch.
She smelled good enough that I could taste her, even without the panther’s senses.
“Kendall,” I murmured.
She leaned forward and brushed my lips with hers.
I lost all resolve instantly, sliding my hand into her wet hair and crushing her into me as I kissed her like she was about to disappear.
She whimpered against my lips, and I slid my hands down her shoulders, allowing the pads of my thumbs to brush her nipples.
When I lifted her in my arms and stood, she didn’t protest. Her warm thighs wrapped around my waist, and I had to close my eyes against the pleasure of it.
I lay her gently on the pillows and gazed down at her for a moment unbelieving.
This was my mate, the woman I had dreamed of, the woman I now knew and admired.
She held out her arms for me, but I moved to the end of the bed and crawled between her legs, nudging them apart.
“I need you,” she moaned.
“Patience,” I whispered into the softness of her inner thigh.
We had waited this long. I was going to take my time.
28
Kendall
I held my breath as Jared nuzzled my thighs, slowly working his way up.
There was no way that there wasn’t a mate bond between us. I swore I could hear his thoughts as he focused in on me, his whole being completely devoted to arousing my senses.
There was the cold air of the cabin, the softness of his lips and the scrape of his jaw.
And then there was the heat of his mouth, sending shockwaves through me as he licked and lavished my sex as if he never wanted stop.
I moaned, letting my head fall back and my hands tangle in his hair.
He clutched my hips to still them, even as they lifted to meet his mouth.
My hunger for him was so acute it was almost like pain. This was worse than paying my price had ever been.
But still he toyed with me slowly, his tongue tracing lazy circles all around the little pearl that throbbed and swelled, desperate for him to flick and suck.
I moaned and tugged at his hair, but he only smiled against my sex and continued to tease me.
A wave of need was sweeping over me, I wailed with despair.
“Easy, my love,” he murmured, crawling up to cage me in his arms at last.
Moonlight poured in the glass front wall of the house, bathing us in its glow. The moon must be very nearly full.
“Tomorrow,” he whispered, as if he was reading my thoughts again.
He bent and kissed my forehead.
I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him close.
“Kendall, are you sure?” he murmured, looking deep into my eyes.
I nodded, feeling tears prickle my eyes.
He bent to kiss me, taking himself in his hand, and nudging against my opening.
The rigid heat of him felt so huge I was almost afraid.
But when he pressed inside me, I felt only a stretching sensation and then rapturous pleasure.
“Are you okay?” His lips were at my temple, his body perfectly still.
“Yes,” I moaned, tilting my hips to encourage him to give me more.
As he moved the rapture seemed to fill my body. I could feel the flow of my magic moving between us, swelling with every wave of desire.
No. I could feel it flowing through me and into him, feeding him. Just like before, it circled back to me in an unending circuit, until I could no longer tell where I ended and he began.
Desperate for release, my body throbbed and chased the pleasure, so that my thoughts couldn’t dwell on my magic.
Jared moved faster now, setting a rhythm that could only end in one way.
I clung to him, almost afraid that my climax would destroy me when it came.
As I felt myself begin to splinter, he slid a hand between us to massage me. I cried out as the pleasure peaked suddenly, feeling as if light were exploding from inside my body, blasting outward to light me up like a star.
Jared roared out his own pleasure and I felt him jet inside me again and again.
At last, we were both panting and sated.
I pulled him down on my chest, stroking his hair, his jaw, his muscled arms as he held me tightly.
I wanted to talk to him about my magic, and ask him if he felt it too.
But the events of the day, and the intensity of what we had just done weighed down my eyelids and I found myself drifting off to sleep with my body wrapped around his.
29
Jared
I awoke to the sound of birdsong, and for a moment I wasn’t sure where I was.
My body was spread out luxuriantly on something soft as a cloud, and the delicious scent of a woman slid all around me.
Kendall…
I opened my eyes to find her curled into my side, her golden hair splayed across my chest.
Something rumbled deep in my chest, and I leapt out of bed, wondering if I was about to be sick.
I landed soundlessly on the floor, bare feet spreading out like paws.
The rumble in my chest stopped instantly and my sleep-addled brain finally realized exactly what it was.
My panther was back.
His senses danced along the border between us, ready to leap out of my skin.
That hadn’t been a rumble in my chest. The panther was purring in contentment. It had been so long since I’d experienced anything like it that I’d almost forgotten the feeling.
I turned back to Kendall, but she was still sleeping in the gray light of dawn. I couldn’t wake her yet, not after the day she had yesterday.
But there was no way I was going back to sleep or staying holed up in the cabin.
The panther cavorted in my chest, eager to taste the morning air and stretch his legs.
I padded downstairs and unlocked the door, glancing up to the loft one last time before heading out.
She was sleeping and it was still dark out. I would just go onto the grassy meadow in front of the house.
We cannot leave her, I warned the panther. She needs us.
Mate, he chuffed back at me. Of course, he would never leave her unprotected.
Satisfied, I stepped outside into the cold gray of morning.
Though it was the same sepia-toned Pennsylvania November as before, it felt completely different, as if the whole world had come back to life. I could hear the birds singing deep in the forest, and see the outline of each tree, though many were cast in darkness.
The meadow spread out before me, the big cat lending me his expanded periphery so that togethe
r we could see color and a panorama of the world around us.
But it was my sense of smell that brought depth back to the two-dimensional world I had inhabited without my other half.
I closed my eyes, letting it sink in.
I could scent the rich soil, the smaller animals scurrying in the field and forest, I even caught a taste of exhaust from the highway, which was miles away.
Above it all, the scent of my mate wafted to me through the walls of the ranger’s station, pure and sweet.
I opened my palms and relaxed, inviting the panther to take over.
30
Kendall
Something is wrong.
I woke suddenly from a dream of gently flowing water, my heart threatening to beat out of my chest.
Rolling over for the comfort of Jared’s arms, I found only the coolness of an empty bed.
“Jared,” I murmured, opening my eyes.
It was still dark, the world gray and cold. Jared wasn’t in the room, and the bathroom light was off.
Something is very wrong.
I tried to calm myself. He probably just got up early and decided to make breakfast.
I slid out of bed, the cold air giving me instant goosebumps. I wasn’t used to sleeping naked. A flash of what happened last night went through my mind. But I was too worried to dwell on it.
I headed to the railing that overlooked the rest of the cabin. But Jared wasn’t downstairs either.
“Jared,” I whispered. “Are you there?”
But calling his name into the empty cabin gave me the creeps, so I headed to the bathroom to make sure he hadn’t gone in without turning on the light.
The bathroom was empty.
I decided to get cleaned up and find some clothes so I could look for him outside.
Hurrying through as little of my morning routine as possible, I tried not to think about what could have gone wrong.
If the Order had come, they would have taken us both, I was sure of it. He was probably just out getting some fresh air.
I pulled a pair of sweats and a flannel out of the trunk back in the bedroom. They were too big, but if I rolled up the waistband and the sleeves they stayed on just fine. My clothes from yesterday were too filthy to contemplate putting back on.
I padded downstairs barefoot, hoping maybe he was sitting quietly on the sofa under the loft and hadn’t heard me.
But I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t find him there. He wasn’t in the cabin. I had known that to my bones the instant I’d woken up.
I headed for the door. Maybe I was being stupid, but that was my mate out there. I couldn’t let him disappear without investigating immediately. The last time he’d gone missing, it had been for two years.
The door swung open, letting in the even colder November breeze and the sudden sound of an anguished roar.
I ran for the sound, not even bothering to close the door behind me. I wanted to scream his name, but my voice wouldn’t work.
Jared stood at the center of the grassy meadow, arms down by his sides, head thrown back, roaring in agony.
I sprinted for him, closing the distance between us in seconds, my bare feet slipping on the dewy grass so that I slid into his broad back.
“What’s wrong?” I managed as I wrapped my arms around him, squeezing my eyes shut.
I felt him slump in my arms.
“I can’t shift,” he whispered to me, defeated.
I pressed my lips to his shoulder blade, not wanting to admit how relieved I was. I knew this situation caused him pain. The panther was his other self, as much as my magic was a part of me. I could not imagine life without it.
But I couldn’t understand what had caused such fresh pain for him. He hadn’t been able to access his panther side for a long time.
“I’m sorry,” I told him, trying to get to the bottom of it. “Why were you out here?”
He was silent for a long time.
“I thought I could feel him,” he said at last. “When I woke up. I swore he was right under my skin.”
“You’ve gotten stronger,” I told him. “I’ve seen it. The full moon is coming tonight. Do you think that could release him?”
“I never needed that before,” he said softly.
I brushed his back with my lips again, slowly, deliberately, and I felt a bit of what I had experienced last night.
“Can you feel that?” I asked him, my eyes closing at the intoxicating flow of magic between us.
Am I making him stronger?
I traced his left shoulder blade with the tip of my tongue, the magic dancing between us.
He was quiet. I could feel his anticipation.
“My magic is flowing into you, Jared,” I told him. “I know you can feel that.”
He pulled away slightly, breaking the contact a little, but not leaving my embrace.
“I don’t want to drain you like they drained me,” he said quietly.
“You aren’t draining me,” I told him honestly. “It feels good, like it’s making me stronger, too.”
He turned in my arms, cupping my face in his big hands. “Do you mean that?”
I nodded, feeling tears prickle as I gazed into his eyes.
He wore the same haunted look that had been seared on his face since I found him in that cell.
But there was a ray of hope in his eyes now too, a hope so terrible I could have confused it with agony.
“Kendall,” he murmured.
I went up on my toes, pressing my lips to his, feeling a burst of magic thrill through me and explode between us.
When I pulled back his eyes had taken on a more intense shade of green.
“Kendall,” he said, his voice soft with wonder. “When you’re near me, I can see the birds on the other side of the valley. I can hear your hair rustling in the breeze. I can smell…”
I blinked at him as he trailed off.
The expression on his face had gone from wonder to horror.
“What is it?” I asked him. “What’s wrong?”
“We have to go,” he said in a low voice. “Now.”
“What?” I asked, confused by the sudden shift in tone.
“Kendall, run.”
31
Kendall
He was telling me to run, but my feet wouldn’t budge.
Movement in my periphery caused me to spin around. But what I saw defied my senses.
Men appeared out of thin air all around us, stepping through the bounds of a spell that must have kept them all hidden until now.
Jared pulled me tight to his chest. I could hear his heart thundering like a caged animal.
Come back to us, I pleaded with the panther I had only seen in dreams.
Please.
But his arms around me remained stubbornly human.
“Well, well, well,” a familiar voice said.
Its owner strode up to us, wearing a dark, hooded cloak that marked him as a member of the Order of the Broken Blade. He stopped just in front of us, and pushed back the hood.
Pale dawn light danced in his coppery hair.
“Declan,” I breathed, unable to get my mind around what was happening.
“Hey there, love,” he chuckled. “Told you I was going camping. Glad you could join me after all.”
I pressed myself back against Jared, horrified.
“That was a clever trick, dropping your glove,” Declan went on, smirking. “Made it super easy for me to find you.”
“You…” I trailed off, unable to find the words to describe his betrayal.
“Yes, yes, me,” he said. “I befriended you because you’re part of that horrible girl gang that whores itself out to the guardians. I knew you could get me the info I needed to bring back the Raven King.”
I gaped at him, feeling incredibly stupid.
“I never told you anything about our plans,” I said, recovering slightly. “I never even told you I was a witch.”
“That’s true, you didn’t,” he allowed. �
�But that bangle I gave you told me everything I needed to know. You wore it everywhere, didn’t you? It made it possible for me to scry on you whenever I wanted, even through the wards around the castle. Like my own little private line.”
My heart sank. If the bangle was a listening device, then I had given the Order all the information they needed. That was how they had managed to stay a step ahead of us all this time. It was all my fault.
And right now, it was sitting on Bella’s dresser, keeping up the flow of information to them, even in my absence.
Shame cut through me, and I wasn’t sure how I could stay on my feet when all I wanted was to collapse on the ground and weep.
“You gave us plenty of useful information, but I had no idea that you could also give us the magic we needed,” Declan went on. “Not until you told me about your panther dreams.”
32
Jared
Kendall trembled in my arms. The brave woman I had accompanied all the way here was gone, replaced with a woman betrayed and humiliated.
Declan.
That was the name of the man she’d told me she was dating. And he had been using her all the time just to get closer to the guardians, and closer to his evil goal.
He seemed disappointed when she didn’t respond.
“They aren’t training the witches at Primrose as well as they used to,” he went on, shaking his head in mock censure, “or you might have noticed the finish on that bracelet.”
“What’s the plan, carrot top?” I asked him flatly.
“He speaks,” Declan said, eyebrows lifting. “You’re looking well, cat.”
“Are you going to enact your silly plan, or are you just going to monologue all day?” I asked impatiently.
“Don’t worry, kitty cat,” he said, angrily. “We’re finally going to use you up and throw you away today. You won’t have to pretend to be bored when we take down the veil. You’ll never even get to see it.”
I had made him angry. I fought back a smile. I couldn’t save us, but I could make sure this wasn’t fun for him. Maybe even distract him enough to get Kendall out of here somehow.