Phoenixash: A Reverse Harem Romance (The Rogue Witch Book 4)

by KT Strange

Max set her fork down on her plate.

  “I think I’m full,” she said, voice faint. Darcy rolled her eyes at us and snuggled up to Max, wrapping her best friend into a tight hug.

  “You’re going to be fine. You don’t have to shift.”

  “It’s not like I know how, I mean, it’s not like there’s a button somewhere that I press and just-—poof, you know?” Max trembled and I fought the urge to comfort her. The ancient pull and tug to protect her was stirring deep inside of me. She may not have been sworn to our pack, our own phoenix, but her and her kind were still our namesakes. Those kinds of blood oaths went back generations, passed down from wolf to wolf. From the way the other guys were tensely eating their way through their breakfasts, I knew that they were all feeling the same thing.

  Even if she hadn’t been a phoenix, her being Darcy’s best and closest friend would have been enough. The fact that she was, in some way, tied to us? Made that desire even stronger.

  My phone rang, splitting the quiet that had fallen around us. I yanked it out of my jean pocket and looked at the screen.

  Relief flashed through me at the name.

  “It’s Chels,” I said.

  “About time,” Cash muttered. I gave him a quelling look and he went silent as I answered.

  “Chelsea, hey.”

  “So good news, bad news. What do you want first?” Chelsea sounded hesitant, almost like she wasn’t sure if I’d be pissed or not to hear from her.

  “Uh, bad news I guess.”

  “The witch I hoped Darcy would work with isn’t going to come into the city. So you’re going to have to go to him,” she said with a sigh. Finn looked at me, his lips pressed into a thin line, and I knew that the other guys could easily hear Chelsea’s voice.

  “Him?”

  “Witches do come in the male form, yes, shocking, right?”

  “I know, I just didn’t think—”

  “Well, okay, good news is the he’s agreed to teach Darcy everything she needs to know about controlling her powers. He used to be a lightning witch himself, and so he’s a perfect fit in that regard,” she rushed through the words fast. “And he lives nearby to you, up Mount Baker. That’s close, right?” Something in her voice, and the way she worded things, set my senses on edge.

  “Wait, what do you mean by used to be?” I asked. Darcy frowned at me, rocking forward on the couch, her hands wrapping around the edge of the seat. Concern crinkled in the corners of her eyes and I wanted to tell her that everything was going to be fine. Even Max looked tense, her mitts wrapped around her breakfast plate.

  “See, there’s sort of the problem,” Chelsea said.

  “What’s the problem,” Eli’s voice was a low, angry growl. I gave him a look that said ‘shut up’ but he glared back at me regardless.

  “This is where you’re really not going to feel okay about this, but honestly, I don’t know of anyone else, so it’s either this or Darcy runs around blowing fuses and possibly electrocuting people. So just… chill out. Listen to me, and trust me.”

  “I trust you,” I cleared my throat as Eli’s low grumble echoed into the phone and Chelsea snorted. “We trust you.”

  “This guy knows what he’s talking about. He’s a good guy, and keep in mind, he’s run with werewolves before, in fact, you’ve probably heard about him.”

  “A witch that’s run with wolves, I don’t—”

  “His name is Wolfe. Silent ‘e’ on the end. Don’t forget about that, he gets picky.”

  I froze at her words and felt the hot stares of my pack mates, along with Darcy and Max’s confused gazes.

  “That’s not possible, he’s not real,” I said. We all had heard of Wolfe. Legend was it that he was a witch that could shift into werewolf form, and had taken our side in the fight between wolves and witches. Except that’s all he was, a legend. Even if he had existed, his story had been passed down for so long that the real man behind it would have been long dead, even if he was as long-lived as witches tended to be.

  “I’ve met him. Please trust me. He’s real, and his story doesn’t exactly match up to the myth, although he likes to pretend it does. He’s got a bit of an ego.”

  “So… is he, can he… shift?”

  “No, no, see that’s the thing, that’s kind of the part that’s not true. Y’see, he’s not really alive?” Chelsea’s voice went shuddery and nervous. “He’s sort of um, he’s… well, he’s a vampire.”

  Four

  Darcy

  Outside of the times when we’d nearly all been killed, I’d never seen my pack of boys so pissed off as they were after Chelsea’s phone call. Charlie hung up after an exchange of numbers for this Wolfe guy, and looked at all of us.

  “No,” Eli said, getting to his feet. Finn followed him up.

  “What? You afraid of a vampire?” Finn asked, glancing at me. “He’s not going to hurt her. If Chelsea says he’s good, and if he really is Wolfe…” His voice slipped almost into what sounded like awe, like he couldn’t really believe what he was saying was true. Ace grabbed mine and Max’s plates with a sigh.

  “They’re going to be arguing about this for at least an hour,” he said.

  “The fuck we will,” Eli turned to look at us all, his blue eyes hard and narrowed. I swallowed involuntarily. He looked furious. “There is nothing to argue about. We’re not letting some blood-sucking, corpse-defiling monster near Darcy.”

  “Hey, I have opinions about this,” I said, speaking up for the first time. Max looked at me and mouthed vampires? I shook my head. That was something we’d never really discussed when I’d told her about magic and witches and things. Probably should have clued her into that, but she’d been big Buffy fan, and I didn’t want to wreck the whole fantasy for her.

  Eli stepped up to me, his arms crossed over his chest. His face was set, and I knew that he wouldn’t be swayed.

  Too bad he wasn’t the boss of me.

  “I want to learn how to control my powers,” I said, “and nothing is going to get in my way of doing that.” For the survival of the pack, I had to forge onward, even if it meant learning from someone who could rip my throat out and drain the blood from my body in sixty seconds. Or so the legends went.

  “I think I need to sleep,” Max said faintly. “I feel really sick.”

  “Hey,” Finn stepped over to her and grabbed her hands, helping her up. “You can crash in our bed. C’mon.” I tried to put as much gratitude in my expression as I could as he took her back behind the partition wall, and the sounds of him rustling up a spot for her on the rumpled mattress could be heard.

  “She gonna be okay?” I asked when Finn came back. Eli, for the time being, had decided that giving me a flat glare would suffice instead of arguing his point.

  “I’m kinda guessing she almost shifted today when she got stabbed, but since she doesn’t really know how, that’s why she burst into flame and set everything around her on fire. That’s going to take it out of her. Not even eating breakfast will help replenish those calories.”

  “She’s going to be thrilled to find that out. She’s always trying to lose weight,” I commented. Ace snorted.

  “Why? She’s fine, she’s pretty just as she is,” he said, then his cheeks turned pink. “I mean, she’s not you.” I smiled at him.

  “Ace, I get it. You like her, as a friend.” I put a hand on his chest and he scooped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in to plant a kiss right above my ear. “You’re allowed to think other girls are pretty. Especially my friend, who is very pretty.”

  “I don’t want you to think—”

  “Who did you bond?” I asked him, grateful that the rest of the pack were looking elsewhere at that moment and giving us a second to sort through this thing that was happening.

  “You, because I love you, and because no one, not ever, could replace you,” Ace’s words were so serious as he cupped my face and kissed me.

  Elias cleared his throat.

  “Now that you’re done
re-staking you claim,” he grated. Ace’s arm tightened around my shoulders and I grabbed his hand, squeezing his fingers. Elias could be a real ass sometimes. All the time. Cash snorted.

  “Don’t be mad cause the young one did it before you could get the stones to,” he cut in. Elias shot him an evil, vicious look.

  “Let’s not forget we got our phoenix sleeping off her little firestorm,” Finn said, and Elias shook his head, like he was shaking off the desire to swat Cash clear across the face.

  “Our phoenix?” Charlie asked, a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.

  “Like there’s another wolf-pack waiting to watch over her until she can defend herself. Yeah, ours. She’s Darcy’s friend, and our friend too. She’s been through enough, and hell, once she figures out how to flame up on purpose, no hunter is going to want to get within fifty feet of us.”

  “She didn’t seem all that defenseless today, you’re right. It’s not a bad thing to have a feather-head tagging along,” Charlie mused with a shrug of his shoulders.

  “Tagging along? She’s got her internship,” I said. “She’s not going anywhere except back to her dorm as soon as we figure out how to stop her from setting everything on fire.”

  “It’ll probably calm down once she’s had a nap. The scare set her off, probably, that’s all, but that doesn’t mean she can go back to her dorm, or even her internship,” Finn said. Ace sighed, shifting as I tensed in his embrace.

  “She’s got school,” I hissed.

  “Staying alive is probably more important than grades,” Ace hesitated over his words, looking down at me apologetically. “It’s more important than our record deal. And whoever is chasing her? I don’t think they’re gonna stop after they figure out their guy is dead and she’s not.”

  I swallowed hard, the implications weighing me down.

  It was one thing for me to throw away my internship, because I hadn’t exactly figured out what I was going to do about that mess yet while I went up a mountainside and pretended I was Rocky, but Max giving up everything she’d worked for too?

  “Maybe I can call our program administrators, and ask if we can figure something out, take time off or something.” I wondered if I could get a doctor’s note for my magical powers going on the fritz. Ace squeezed me again.

  “We’ll help you, any way we can. I know Willa loves you, and if you need to take some time off, she’ll let you.”

  “I’ve dicked her around so much,” I said with a groan. Finn shrugged.

  “Eh, she’s used to worse from musicians. At least you’re not a drug addict who’s groping every girl that comes within five feet of you. That would probably describe half the guys that work at the record label, and most of the musicians too,” he said.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence there. I appreciate that you think I’m a little better than that,” I drawled, the sarcasm dripping from my words.

  The door to the jam space slammed shut, and I jumped, startled. Elias was gone, along with Charlie. Finn sighed and scratched a hand through his hair.

  “He’s pissed. Let him go. Charlie’ll keep him calm,” Finn said when Cash made a move to follow. Ace wavered at my side. I squeezed his fingers in mine and stepped away.

  “I need to talk to him about a few things,” Ace explained when Finn raised an eyebrow. Finn shrugged one shoulder and Ace trotted to the exit, slipping outside and letting the door close softly behind him. I let out a long breath.

  “Max is sleeping?” I asked. Cash tilted his head, his listening expression crossing his face.

  “Mmhmm,” he said.

  I swallowed hard.

  “You really think I can do this?” I asked, even though I was determined to. Somehow I was going to wrestle my powers back under control. That was the first task. Creating a heartstone? I’d have to ask this Wolfe guy if it was even possible.

  Finn advanced on me, his hands wrapping around my shoulders.

  “Babydoll, there’s nothing you can’t do,” he said, kissing me soundly. I relaxed into his embrace, fisting my hands in the front of his shirt. Warmth traveled up my back, Cash, behind me as his fingers travelled along my spine.

  “Everything feels so crazy out of control,” my voice was rough and low. Cash’s hand cupped my cheek, and he brushed aside some of my waving curls. My eyes fluttered shut. Someone’s hand, Cash’s, probably, thumbed along my hip. “You can’t distract me with sex.”

  “That a fact, sweetheart?” Finn kissed me again, his tongue licking slow into my mouth.

  “Max is right there,” I hissed at him. Cash snickered in my ear and pulled away. A few seconds later, music filled the space, drowning out any small noises I might make.

  “Guess you better be nice and quiet then,” Finn whispered to me as Cash curved his arms around my waist and picked me up, pulling me over to one of the low couches that made up the sitting area of their jam space. My heartbeat was hammering in my throat.

  “Seriously, things are—”

  “Going to wait for us. Don’t worry so much about the future,” Cash murmured low into my ear as they sandwiched me between them on the couch. It was so wrong, but Max was a sound sleeper, something I knew from our years as roommates, and I wanted to feel good. I wanted to forget. Cash’s fingers skimmed along my knee, and Finn pulled me in for another kiss, the stubble on his cheek rasping over my skin when he bent to mouth at the line of my jaw. Their heat was oppressive and overwhelming in the best way and I shivered.

  When Cash’s fingers made another pass over my thigh, I caught his hand in mine and guided him over to the crotch of his jeans. The firm bulge of his erection, half-hard already from just a few touches, told me everything I wanted to know about how much my guys needed me. Whenever they were uncertain, it felt like being intimate was their way of reminding themselves that I was still with them, and that we were all together.

  Cash’s eyes sank shut as I rubbed my hand over his cock through the denim of his jeans, and Finn chuckled.

  “What?” I asked. Finn’s hand worked under the back of my shirt, his fingers calloused and warm against my skin. I tried not to shiver at the touch, and he laughed, low and gently.

  “You’re sweet, Darcy, everything about you. Just kills us. You’re wrecking Cash.”

  “Not wrecked,” Cash’s voice broke on the words, making the lie obvious as I ran my fingers along the line of his cock, prominent evidence of his arousal.

  “Really?” I popped one eyebrow up when he looked at me from under a thick smudge of lashes. His eyes were so dark, stormy blues that caught mine. His hand wrapped around my wrist.

  “Could take you right now, babydoll, but I’m being patient, being a good man, letting Finn in on this fire we’re stoking between us,” Cash said, leaning in close to kiss the curve of my jaw, his fingers directing my hand to grind down over the bulge in his jeans.

  “So generous,” I exhaled the words slowly. Finn’s hand was wandering, dragging along my skin and sending tiny sparks of electricity through my body. Maybe I was wrecking Cash, but these boys were wrecking me. The air rushed out of my lungs when Cash lunged forward, wrapping me up in his arms as he kissed me. His lips were rough on mine, tongue demanding that I give into him. But while I was giving him what he wanted, I was taking comfort from them. Finn’s hands on me, his fingers all over my bare skin, helping me out of my shirt so his kisses could press down my spine—it grounded me. Cash’s fingers tangled in my hair, cupping the back of my neck and his mouth moved over the corner of my mouth, then to my jaw, under my ear. The tension was winding up in my belly, and I reached to push Cash’s head down further.

  “You want something, doll?” Cash licked at my skin, tongue lashing lines of fire on me that immediately cooled in the air of the jamspace. The music thudded in the air; he tugged down the cup of my bra and I moaned.

  “That’s it, sweetheart, let us make you feel good. Cash’s got a mouth on 'im and he might as well put it to good use here,” Finn’s voice rumbled along
my back and into my ear. Wet, perfect heat enveloped my nipple and I bit down on my lip to stop from making noise. I couldn’t wake Max. I needed this too much to be interrupted. Teeth scraped along the tender peak of my breast, and Cash groaned in response to my fingers digging through his hair to cup his scalp.

  “Gonna give it up to him?” Finn asked, sounding smug. “You look so beautiful, him doing those things to you. The look on your face? I go to sleep each night dreaming of it.”

  “Smooth talking bastard is all words and no action,” Cash breathed, pulling away from me for air. He smirked, his lips berry-red and swollen from all the kisses.

  “Shut up,” the affection in my words spilled out, spreading a smile across Cash’s face as he ducked down again, kissing my bare stomach.

  “Let me help him out.” Finn’s fingers worked around my hip, and he flicked open the button of my jeans.

  “Why do you guys have to draw this out every time,” I asked, feeling like I just wanted to have sex right then and skip any preliminaries. My body was two inches away from taking the control from my brain and pouncing on Cash, demanding what I wanted from him.

  “It’s better for you this way,” Cash insisted. “Besides, I like to hear that desperation in your voice.”

  I hissed at him, but he chuckled before licking a stripe along my hip-bone. Finn’s hand bumped against Cash’s cheek, diving down through the opened zipper on my jeans. The warmth of his palm sank into my flesh as he cupped my sex. I arched into the touch, not ashamed for a second. They were mine. The need I was feeling was just a mark of how deeply we were under each other’s skin, entrenched firmly inside the hidden places that I thought would never light up.

  “Get outta my way,” Cash sounded amused as he pushed at Finn’s hand. Finn dragged his fingers across my underwear and I whined as he pulled his hand out of my jeans.

  “Oh you think you can do better?” Finn sat up behind me, tugging me across his lap. Cash wrapped his fingers in the waistband of my loosened pants, pulling them down my legs. I sighed, bending my knees and letting my thighs fall apart over Finn’s legs. Cash grinned up at me, running his hands through his longer, dark-brown locks.