Bodie hadn't come back yet. I ignored the unsettled feeling that bubbled in my stomach at that thought—probably just a shitty consequence of Drake's horrid cooking. I grinned at my own pun.
And Drake was still upstairs, probably beating the hell out of a punching bag with my face taped to it. I still couldn't believe he'd admitted to killing Trite's parents. Talk about a small, fucked up world I lived in. The supernatural community was a fucking B-list soap opera.
My captor-slash-mate's alpha killed my best friend's parents, and my bestie wants revenge so now my mate and the other shifter I have a crush on are hunting down my friends. What a shit storyline. How the hell could this end in any way but tragedy? Soap operas pulled it off with random surprise babies that made everybody go goo-goo.
Somehow, I didn’t think a surprise pregnancy would end the Drake-Trite feud.
I glanced over at Tee, who'd curled up at the far end of the sofa and fallen asleep. Her words about mates floated around in my head, like decaying leaves drifting to the ground. If Aaron was on his way to rescue her right now, would I be able to leave with them? Or was I stuck here? Not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally stuck?
"Whatcha cooking?" Larry asked Easton, taking a deep breath as he moseyed closer to the stove.
"Parmesan chicken penne with fire-roasted tomato," Easton replied with a grin. "I had to have something other than chips and ninety-nine cent burgers. That shit was getting old."
"Well, it smells delicious," Larry told him before he wandered into the living room.
"You staying for dinner, then?" Easton called out over his shoulder. Of course, he had an easy grin for the mage. Not for me though. Grumpy bear.
The mage's typically dull eyes lit up as he sat down across from me. "Yes, please, that'd be wonderful." Then he brought his attention back to me. "Evening, Miss Summerset. It's that time again."
I rolled my eyes. "Isn't it always?"
He tipped his head in Tee's direction. "Is your friend doing okay?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I think she's just tired. It's been a long…"
What? Day? Few weeks? I didn't even know.
"It's been a long life," Larry supplied wearily with a sad half smile. "I'm just going to get this over with so that we can eat in peace, okay?"
"Sounds good," I muttered.
With a sigh, I glanced back over at Easton. His upper body flexed as he sprinkled something into the pot, muscles rippling beneath the soft beige shirt which he'd rolled up to his elbows. His blond hair was combed to the front with a breezy wave at the top, making him look as sexy and cool as a SoCal surfer. And his light blue jeans hugged his ass and thighs in all the right places before draping down over a pair of tan work boots.
He squatted down to check on the loaf of bread in the oven, and I bit my lip as I imagined him mostly naked, wearing only a tiny white apron. In my vision, he stood up and turned around, grinning at me before gesturing to the kitchen table.
"Climb up here, baby, and spread those legs. I'm ready to devour you."
Pain flared in my chest and I blinked, crashing back to reality as Larry's magic coursed through my system. His eyes were shut, and he was muttering intently, a bunch of pig Latin mumbo jumbo that reminded me of ancient priests and demon slayers.
How the fuck had this become my life? Living in the woods, lusting over Goldilocks, falling for the big bad wolf, being held by a dragon… I was living a fairy tale gone wrong.
The front door rattled again, and suddenly Bodie strode into the room, glistening with sweat, his shirt plastered to his torso. My eyes locked onto him and wouldn’t leave.
"Have a good run?" Easton asked him without glancing over.
Larry opened a single eyelid to assess the state of the room, then immediately shut it, never missing a beat of his incantation. I grit my teeth as the pain intensified, grateful that we were almost finished with this shit.
Bodie grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and chugged the entire thing, while rivulets of sweat and condensation slipped down his neck and soaked into his shirt. When he was finished, he chucked the bottle in the trash and nodded. "Yeah, the run was good. Can I talk to you for a minute?"
I hoped he'd turned and started talking to me, but he was still focused on Easton.
The burly bear shifter took a moment to turn off the stove and pull the bread from the oven—damn, the scent was mouthwatering. Then he turned and followed Bodie toward the door.
My traitor eyes trailed over both of them. Bodie’s running shorts left little to the imagination. But even Easton’s jeans couldn’t hide his package.
This one’s dick was too big. And this one’s dick was even bigger. But they both felt just right.
The image of me moaning, hands chained above my head and getting double teamed by the two of them, filled my mind and sent a wave of heat crashing through my core and settling low between my legs.
Fuck, that would hurt so good.
Even the captive fantasy aroused me in all the right ways.
Dino dildo, where are you? My lady bits cried mournfully.
There's a dragon dildo upstairs, my mind bit back.
I shook my head to try and clear the image of Drake that'd been burned into my pupils the other night. Dripping wet and shirtless, a splash of water slithering down his demon trail to hell.
Nope, no way was I going to pound-town with a dragon… or a dragon dildo. I tried to scrub my brain clean of that thought. But I didn’t have enough mental bleach to do the job.
Bodie and Easton came back inside a few minutes later, just as Larry finished up his spell. What the fuck had they been talking about? I let suspicion take over and shoved horniness aside.
"I'm gonna grab a quick shower," Bodie announced. "You guys go ahead and start eating without me."
I turned on the couch and nudged Tee but she barely even stirred.
"Tee," I whispered, not wanting to startle her. Last time I'd done that, I'd ended up with abrasions on my freaking eyeballs. I didn't really wanna go through that again. "Tee."
She groaned and snuggled into a tighter little ball.
I sighed. "Tallulah, it's time to eat."
"Go away," she mumbled with a furrowed brow. "There aren't enough rakes for all the unicorns."
I raised a brow. What the ever-loving fuck was she dreaming about?
"Come on, Tee," I tried once more, gently prodding her shoulder.
"Get a bucket," she muttered, rolling onto her other side and falling fast asleep again.
I grinned and shook my head. Whatever. I'd save her a plate.
Easton, Larry, and I ate in silence at the small, janky dining table next to the couch until Bodie and Drake came downstairs. They murmured between themselves, but I didn't even care; my mouth was too busy orgasming over every delicious flavor that touched my tongue.
Easton was a fucking god of cooking, and we were nothing more than mortals scattered amongst the silverware in his kitchen. Damn it. His amazing skills made the war-of-silence we had going even harder to focus on. I wanted to compliment him. But I didn’t.
Drake took his plate and jogged back upstairs without even a thank you. The self-isolating dick. But Bodie stayed. When he sat, he shared a knowing look with Easton who immediately wiped his mouth and stood.
"Mind if I borrow your car for a couple hours, Lar?"
"Sure," the old mage replied, taking the hint and standing, too. "Let me just grab my airpods."
I gripped the edge of the table tightly and broke the silent feud. "Why do you need Larry’s car? You have one." A sinking pit grew in my stomach. The guys did have a car. But I knew them by now. Drake’s paranoia had rubbed off a bit on all of them. Easton would want a new car if he was going somewhere they’d gone before. Like wherever they’d picked up Tee. "Where are you going?"
Easton swallowed hard and tried not to look at me, but his baby blue eyes drifted over anyway. "Unfinished business."
My mouth went dry. He was referring t
o Triton, he had to be. "Please don't kill him," I begged softly.
Easton's throat bobbed once more. "I won't. But I can't guarantee that no one else will." With that, he strode through the doorway leaving Larry to trail clumsily behind him.
Fuck. I lost my appetite and shoved my plate away. He promised he wouldn’t kill Trite, I told myself.
The engine turned over in the background, gurgling to life like a smoker choking. Gears grinded and brakes squeaked. The sounds grew fainter and fainter, and before I knew it, Bodie and I were alone at the table.
He finished and turned towards me. "You wanna take a walk?"
I crossed my arms. "Can't. Chained to a couch, remember?"
Bodie rolled his yellow-green eyes as a grin tugged at his lips. "It's almost like I have a key to those chains, isn't it?"
That made me laugh out loud. "Oh, so you want to take me for a walk? Like I'm some fucking German Shepherd on a leash?"
"No," he replied without missing a beat. "If anything, you'd be a poodle, or maybe a spaniel. Something uptight and prissy."
I scoffed, immediately drawn in by his insult. "I am not uptight."
"Yeah, you are." He scooted back from the table and crossed his ankle over his knee. His fingers threaded behind his head and he smirked. "You probably don't even want to walk in the woods. I'll bet you're scared of spiders, of mud... and the big bad wolf."
Oh my cross-dressing Jesus, this man. If my eyes rolled any harder, they'd be knocking down bowling pins. "I am definitely not afraid of any wolves. Especially ones who think they're big and bad, and really, they're just all talk."
Bodie was not all talk, but I couldn't keep from poking the beast with a stick anyway. It gave me a sick sense of satisfaction to irritate him. Kinda like playing Russian roulette, it was thrilling in a death-defying sort of way. It brought out his wolf a little, which was kind of like a dom. And that made me hot as fuck.
He stood and took a couple long strides into the living room, unlocking my chain from the couch. Then he wrapped it around his hand a few times and slowly stepped toward me like he was reeling himself in.
"You and I," he said darkly, making my pussy swoon, "have shit we need to discuss."
I swallowed hard and gasped for air. Had someone turned off the fucking oxygen in the room? Jacked up the heat? Slipped me some fucking crack in my noodles?
My heart hammered as my body practically screamed for him. I wanted another taste of those delicious fingers, that supple tongue, and his rock-hard cock.
Bodie stopped a few feet from me and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply before biting his bottom lip. "I can smell your arousal from over here, little Butterfly. Come and take a walk with me. We can talk... and then I can rail you until you're screaming my name at the moon."
I took a deep, shuddering breath and clenched my trembling fingers into a fist. He didn't need to see how powerfully he affected me—he could already smell it.
There was no sense in denying what he’d said, but I could at least do my best to ignore it.
"We do need to talk," I agreed. "I have some shit I need to get off my chest."
"Like your bra?" he teased as he tugged on my chain, leading me out the door and into the night.
I waited until Larry passed us, earbuds in already, fuzzy head bobbing side to side to his music. When the mage had entered the cabin and shut the door, I turned back to my wolf.
"No, you leg-humping bulldog!" I hissed in reply to his question. "Like how sorry I am."
Bodie paused, the grin on his face momentarily slipping when he looked back at me. "Sorry?"
I caught up to him and he fell into step beside me, my chain rattling softly in his grasp.
"I owe you an apology, Bodie." God, this was painful for my ego. My tongue tried to twist, and my lips twitched to purse, but I fought the urge to clam up. "I've been fighting this mate bond thing tooth and nail, and I've been pushing you away at every turn. I honestly didn't believe it was real at first, and then, once I did, I just wanted to pretend it was still fake. It was... easier that way."
He nodded, staring straight ahead as we slipped between the trees. Tiny twigs snapped beneath our feet, muffled slightly by the soft moss and dewy leaves covering the forest floor like a living carpet. He wasn’t looking at me. I couldn’t read his expression so I wasn’t sure how he was taking all of this. Nerves crept over me.
"And I..." my voice broke, and for a moment, I didn't think I had the courage to say what needed to be said.
Come on, Aubry. Time to face the facts. Being a badass isn't only about battening down and buckling up. It's also about being vulnerable and taking risks. Telling the truth when it's easier to lie. Admitting your feelings when it's easier to light them on fire and watch them burn...
I swallowed hard and tried again. "I never meant to hurt you. When I left with Trite... it wasn't because I wanted to leave YOU and US behind. It wasn't because I cared about him in any way other than friendship. I just... I can't be your prisoner forever. How are we supposed to feel something real in a completely fucked up situation? How am I supposed to fall for you with my hands bound in iron and my true self stemmed with mage magic?"
Bodie sighed and stopped walking. "Did you ever ride a wolf?"
I blinked, completely blindsided by his abrupt subject change. "First of all, fucker, I was in the middle of pouring my heart out to you. And second, I feel like this is some perverted innuendo-slash-pickup-line that is going to fall so flat and backfire so hard."
He chuckled, running a hand through his feathery brown locks. "It's really not. I meant that in the most literal way possible. I want us to continue talking, but there is someplace I wanted to take you to talk. So I want to shift, and have you ride me, so we get there faster."
"Oh." I didn't really know what else to say. "No, I've never ridden a wolf."
His grin was a mile freaking wide. "Alright, so after I shift, just straddle my back like you'd do a bicycle."
"And hold your ears like handlebars?" I crossed my arms and smirked.
"You pull my ears, I'mma fuck you up."
He was teasing—I thought. But if he wasn't... My pussy clenched tight, imagining all the glorious ways Bodie might manhandle me while he 'fucked me up.' Would he spank me? Deny me orgasms? Getting in an actual fight with him would also be epic. I imagined us sparring on the mats, panting and sweating. One wrong move and a fist to the face could be replaced with lips to the face. And then before I knew it, I'd be getting pounded in the most delicious way possible.
"Not the ears," he continued sternly. "You grab a big fistful of fur and hold on tight, okay? Think you can manage?"
I glared at him, pursing my lips and drawing his heated gaze. "I can handle it."
"Good."
He shifted quickly, and his beast roared into place as his skin stretched and his bones snapped and popped. Jet black fur erupted along every inch of his body as his clothes disappeared and he dropped onto all fours. His wolf was huge, way bigger than I imagined, as big as a horse.
He stared at me intently, intimidating the hell out of me, as he bent down and took my chain in his powerful jowls. Then he lowered onto his belly and waited for me to clamber up.
I hesitated for a moment, gently raking my fingers through his ebony coat before squeezing tight and hopping on when he knelt. "So help me god, if you drop me, we are not continuing this conversation."
His wolf let out a low growl, which somehow emboldened me.
"And if you whack me on a branch or some shit, you can totally forget all the words I've said so far. Got it?"
He shook his fur like I was some big, wet storm cloud raining on his parade.
I was about to reply to his cocky, non-verbal comment, when he lurched into a run. Shit! I tightened my grip on his fur and fought the urge to squeeze my eyes shut. I wanted to see the whole world as it blurred past. Wind rushed at my face and pulled tears from my eyes. The sounds of crickets and cicadas blended with the images of glowing firefl
ies and the silhouettes of scurrying forest animals. My breath synced with Bodie’s as our bodies aligned rhythmically on our race through the forest.
Before I knew it, we broke from the trees, leaving the spongy dirt behind and climbing out onto a large boulder. Bodie dipped his head and I slid off right at the edge of the giant rock, staring down about twenty feet or so into a tiny pool. A waterfall cascaded on our left and all around the pool a ring of boulders separated it from the forest. The moon’s reflection wavered in the water. It was beautiful.
Bodie shifted back into human form as I sat there dangling my legs over the edge.
"You almost dropped me off a cliff," I scolded, as he sat down next to me. I wasn’t quite ready to admit how much I liked that he’d picked out a romantic spot for us. I wondered if he’d seen it earlier, when I’d hurt him. That thought made my heart clench a little. That he could be mad at me and see a place like this and still want to share it with me.
Bodie chuckled as he pulled his sneakers and socks off and set them aside. "Yeah, but I didn't drop you. So all your words still count, and we get to continue our conversation."
I grinned and stared up at the stars. It was so different from the smoggy city lights. Peaceful and pure. Real.
"I don't know..." I teased.
He scooted closer to me until our thighs brushed. "I believe you were saying, 'I'm falling for you so hard, Bodie, and I'm sorry for leaving with that dickbag mage who smells like an old lady's underwear drawer.'"
I laughed out loud. "Why the hell do you know what that smells like?"
"Unlucky guess."
"Doubtful. Admit it. You have a granny fetish."
He laughed and grabbed my hand. "Caught me."
We sat together for a second in comfortable companionship. Then I nudged him with my shoulder as I kicked my feet, looking down at the rippling water below. "I really am sorry for hurting you when I left with Trite." I glanced at him, but the smile was once more missing from his handsome face. "I'd thank you for not killing him, but I have a feeling that's exactly what Easton is trying to do right now—on your orders."
Fae Captive (The Mage Shifter War Book 1) Page 22