It was a testament to how fucking exhausted I was that I didn’t even flinch. “Yeah, he’s hungry. Can you show me where I can get him some food?”
“Oh, no need. I can take him. We’ll bring you something back too.”
“Nah, I’m good. I’m probably just going to get some shut-eye.”
She held out her arms to Wren. “You’re safe with me, sweetie.”
Wren peered up at her, sniffed, then looked to me. “She smells safe. Can Wren go?”
“It’s up to you, buddy.”
He leaped into her arms, and she solidified enough to catch him.
“Oh my, we’re going to have so much fun,” she said. “Do you like pie?”
“What is pie?”
“Oh, my sweet boy…”
They drifted toward the door as if they were about to pass right through it.
Shit. I bolted up. “Dottie!”
She stopped and looked over her shoulder.
I winced. “You need to open the door, remember? Wren isn’t a ghost.”
She gave me a sly smile, and then with a wink, she slipped through the wood with him clutched in her arms.
Oh well, that was new. I guess outlier ghosts were different from human ghosts in more ways than I could imagine. I made a mental note as I pulled myself to my feet and stretched.
I needed bed.
The bedroom was cozy, decorated in warm colors. The bed was king-size with a comfy mattress, perfect for a good night’s sleep. Light spilled in from the balcony windows. I considered pulling the drapes closed, but sleeping in the moonlight was strangely invigorating.
I’d promised Fee I’d call, but I had no phone, so contact would have to wait till the morning. I didn’t have many fresh clothes, either. In a hurry to get out of my house, I’d packed on instinct, which meant a huge bag filled with several pairs of my favorite boots and a backpack containing a bag of toiletries, sleepshirts, a T that needed a wash, and one pair of leggings. Urgh, I needed to make a list of shit I had to buy.
I stripped down to my underwear and climbed into bed. The duvet smelled freshly laundered but was fluffy enough to tell me it was brand new. They’d prepared for my arrival… No, they’d prepared for the arrival of the new anchor, whoever that might have been.
Whose place was I taking? Who would have mated with the wolves if The Order hadn’t slain them all?
“Cora…”
I sat up in bed, clutching the duvet to my chest. “Who’s there?”
“It’s me…”
“Jasper?”
“Need you.”
My pulse sped up as cool air brushed my cheek.
“Give me your energy. Please.”
He’d never said please before. He’d never asked me for anything, always demanding or manipulating. But now he was asking…
No. Don’t read into it. This is Jasper we’re talking about.
“Cora… please…”
I hardened my heart. “Why? Couldn’t find any humans to siphon off?”
“Too weak… slipping…please…”
He’d said please three times. My skin prickled. This was wrong. He sounded wrong, like… Like he was dying. No, he was already dead. He was a malevolent entity. He couldn’t die… Could he?
The fact I knew so little about him was a thorn in my psyche. Fuck. The amulet gave me control. It prevented him from being sexually intimate with me, but it allowed me to offer him energy if I wanted to. I just needed to be willing.
I’d never wanted to give him anything… Not until now. Now, my gut told me to help.
Dammit. “Take a little. Just enough to recharge.”
The amulet glowed with my words. A long beat passed, and my breath hitched, and the world grew hazy. There was a tug in my solar plexus, a familiar sensation, the kind that accompanied his feeding during sex. It was strange to feel it now, without him being inside me.
Fucking hell. Don’t think about that.
Pressure wrapped around my throat. Jasper’s long, powerful fingers. His ethereal and wickedly beautiful face materialized inches from mine.
I waited for his lips to lift in his signature smug smile, waited for triumph to light up his green eyes, but none of that happened. Instead, his gaze swirled with deep darkness then bloomed with an emotion that made no sense.
My pulse fluttered in my throat like a hummingbird.
“Cora…” My name was a whispered breath on his lips. The fingers of his free hand stroked my cheek. “I thought I’d lost you.”
My heart lurched. What? What did he say? The heat of yearning trickled through my veins.
“Take it off, and we can be together,” he said. “Take it off, and let me in.”
The heat of his previous words was doused in ice by his demand.
Motherfucker. “No.” I pulled away from him. “Enough!”
The amulet flared, and a blast of energy propelled him away from me.
I dropped my chin, chest heaving as I regained my equilibrium. What the fuck was that? That feeling? That look?
A lie, that’s what.
A manipulation.
Anger tightened my lungs.
I raised my head to look at him. “It’s just like you, isn’t it? Take, take, take. I help you out, and you try to take advantage.”
He was fully corporeal now, arms crossed over his chest, looking composed and collected, his lithe, muscular form highlighted in the silver rays of the moon. I hated how his presence quickened my pulse.
“I saved your life,” he said softly.
“You saved your fucking life. You’re nothing without me, and you know it. I’m your anchor, and without me, you…” I tilted my head to the side. “You what? What happens to you, Jasper, hmmm?” I pushed the covers off and strode toward him, not caring about the fact I was half-naked. In fact, there was power in being half-naked and not giving a fucking shit. “Where would you go if I died, hmmm?”
A shadow crossed his face—doubt… Fear? But it was fleeting. “What would have happened to you if that creature had devoured your soul?” he countered. “If I hadn’t been there to save you…again.” He dropped his arms to his side and stepped close, so mere inches separated us. “You think you’re this badass fighter, but sit down and count the number of times I’ve swooped in to save your ass, to save your friends and be your fucking knight in shining armor, then tell me the price you’ve paid is too high.”
His words were shards of doubt, piercing my armor of righteousness.
“I asked for sex,” he said. “One thing. Your body to service mine. I made it good for you.”
The pulse at my throat throbbed sluggishly. No, he was messing with my head. “You used me.”
He snorted. “No, Cora. You tell yourself that because it makes you feel better about enjoying what we have. You lie to yourself because admitting you want me causes you conflict.” He dipped his head, so his mouth was a hairsbreadth from mine. “I’m a bad, bad man, Cora, but you fucking love it.”
I lifted my chin involuntarily, lips aching for the brush of his, and there it was—the smug smile I despised.
“See what I mean?” He pressed a finger to my lips, and I jerked my head away.
When I looked back, he was gone.
My shoulders sagged in relief. I could never think straight when Jasper was around. I couldn’t breathe.
Fuck him and his mind games. What we had was sick and twisted and totally involuntary. It had to stop.
I padded back to the bed then froze as a shadow darted across the balcony.
Someone was out there.
Someone was outside my room.
Chapter Eleven
I grabbed a poker from the hearth and swung the balcony doors open to find a distorted shadow lurching about by the balcony railing. My brain struggled to figure out what I was seeing. The moon chose that moment to slip out from behind cloud cover to reveal a red-faced Bramble gripping a guy in a headlock.
“What the fuck?” I hoisted the poker higher. “Intruder?”
/>
“Yes!” they both said simultaneously.
Huh? “What?”
The guy looked up at me from the odd angle of being clasped to Bramble’s torso, her arms locked around his neck.
“She isn’t meant to be here,” he said.
“Me?” Bramble tightened her grip, and the guy made an oof sound. “What the fuck are you doing skulking about the new anchor’s quarters.”
The guy went still. “The new anchor?”
I got a good look at his face then. Pale gray eyes, silver brows, and close-clipped silver hair against dark skin. His face was all angles, but his full mouth softened his features.
“You’re the surviving potential?” He attempted to eye me up.
I didn’t care; it wasn’t like I had my hooha out. People wore skimpier bikinis.
“Not potential,” Bramble said. “She passed the test.”
“Congrats.” He grinned up at me, flashing even, white teeth and elongated canines.
The alarm bled out of my body, and I lowered the poker. “You two know each other?”
The guy stroked Bramble’s arm. “Almost intimately.”
“Gross!” Bramble released him and shoved him away. “You fecking wish, you arsehole.”
The guy stumbled back with a chuckle and leaned against the railing.
He was tall, with the build of a swimmer. His joggers hung low on his hips, and his black T-shirt molded to his torso, artfully highlighting the muscle beneath.
He crossed his arms, tip of his tongue peeking out to touch the corner of his mouth. “No, you wish, prickles. You want this bod. I see the way you look at me, and this—” He pointed an index finger at the spot in front of him. “This was just an excuse to feel me up.”
Bramble made a choking sound, her eyes bugging, then she launched herself at him.
He caught her wrists easily, holding her at bay as his chuckles rose to warm the night.
He glanced my way with an apologetic look. “See, she can’t get enough of me.”
Bramble yanked herself out of his grip and glared at him. “You’re a wanker, Lauris.”
He made a meh face. “Sometimes, but you know how it is.” He winked at me.
My mouth tugged, wanting to smile, but I staunched the urge. “What the fuck are you two doing on my balcony?”
Bramble tore her irate attention off the guy. “I came to check on you and found dickface creeping about.”
The guy cocked his head. “Uh-huh, and you came to check on her by scaling the walls?”
It was too dark to be sure, but I could have sworn Bramble was blushing. “Anna was being difficult.”
The guy tensed. “What do you expect? We’re just the ‘help.’”
Bramble’s shoulders unknitted. “Yeah. I just wanted to make sure Cora was okay.” She turned to me. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” My gaze flicked to the guy. “And you? What are you doing here?”
“Checking to see if you were okay, of course.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t have time for games, silver boy. And I don’t have the patience for strange men on my balcony.”
Bramble snorted. “Lauris isn’t a man. He’s a boy.”
Lauris bristled. “I’m twice your age, prickles.”
“Not in gargoyle years,” she shot back.
Lauris’s jaw tensed. “I’m not a fucking gargoyle.”
Bramble snapped her mouth closed and then nodded. “I’m sorry.”
Lauris’s shoulders slumped. “It’s cool. Look, I usually sneak back into the mansion this way.”
“You went off grounds, again?” Bramble’s voice rose in pitch. She placed her hands on her hips. “Do you want Bador to kick your ass?”
Lauris rolled his eyes. “No. Hence the sneaking in.” He staggered to the side as if someone had shoved him and shot out a hand to grip the balcony and steady himself.
“You’re fecking drunk, aren’t you?” Bramble huffed. “You stupid tosser. Bador’s going to—”
A gust of air blew my hair back, and then a shadow blocked out the moon.
Nope, not a shadow.
Bador.
He dropped to eye-level a meter away from the balcony railings, huge wings beating the air and keeping him in flight.
“Lauris.” Bador’s tone was tight with anger. “You have shamed me once again.”
The cockiness bled out of Lauris, and his features smoothed out. “Yes, Father.”
Bador looked at me. “I apologize for my son’s intrusion, Cora Dawn. Please forgive him.”
Lauris hung his head, the devil-may-care persona slipping beneath an exterior of shame.
I didn’t know his story. Hell, I didn’t know him, but my gut was a fucking great judge of character, and it spoke up now.
“Forgive him?” I looked across at Bador. “For what? For keeping me company and answering my questions about the mansion?”
Bador looked thrown.
I sighed. “Look, if I’d known I’d be getting him into trouble, I wouldn’t have cornered him and strong-armed him into hanging out with Bramble and me.”
I caught Bramble nodding a little too enthusiastically.
Okay, so she was happy to bust Lauris’s balls but didn’t want him to get into shit with the big B.
Got it.
Bador’s jaw unclenched. “You commandeered Lauris’s assistance?”
“I did. I’m sorry. I can be pretty pushy when I want to be.”
“And he was…helpful?” Bador asked, sounding skeptical.
“Yeah. Totally helpful.”
Bador didn’t look too convinced, but he nodded. “Very well. Lauris, come with me.”
Lauris’s gaze locked with mine for a long beat, confusion flitting across his face, and then he dropped a wink and hopped onto the balcony railing. Bador rose, huge wings sending gusts of air to slap us in the face. He grabbed hold of Lauris and shot into the air.
Bramble shook her head. “Honestly, half the time I don’t know whether to hug him or throttle him.” She brushed past me and into my bedroom. “Well, come on, fill me in on what happened with Anna.”
* * *
I sat on the bed with my back against the headboard. I’d donned the shorts and T because I was done being practically naked. Bramble parked her butt on the edge of the mattress leaning back, braced on her hands.
I ran her through my meeting with Anna—and the elder witch’s attempt to manipulate me with her love-me mojo.
“Ha! Another anchor that Anna’s mojo doesn’t work on.” Bramble looked smug. “Fecking fab.”
“Another?”
“Charlotte’s immune too. It’s why…” She shook her head. “Never mind. Look, you gotta be careful. Be wary, ask the fecking questions. Don’t be a yes woman.”
Wren moaned softly from beside me on the bed. He’d returned a few minutes ago with a bloated tummy and a sleepy look on his face. Dottie had made good on her promise to feed him.
I stroked his head absently. “I’ve never been a yes woman.”
“Yeah, E said that. He said you had a strong will. You’re gonna need it here.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Bramble?”
“Shit, I don’t even know meself. But things aren’t all they seem, never have been. Just be wise and trust me. I’ll take care of ya.”
I’d noticed how her speech patterns changed when she was angry or excited. It was quirky and kinda cool. Bramble was my kinda gal, and Elijah seemed to trust her, so that was good enough for me.
“So, what happened at the testing?” she prompted.
I filled her in, and when I got to the part where the elders called me Hecate Blessed, she let out a squeak.
Wren babbled in his sleep as if in response.
I shot Bramble a sharp look.
She put her finger to her lips. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I assume from your reaction that you know what Hecate Blessed is?”
“It’s fecking awesome.”
> “Yeah… That doesn’t help.”
“Hecate Blessed is a term used to mean uber power. Like the last Hecate Blessed witch was the anchor before Charlotte, and before that, it was the first anchor. E said you were special. I guess he was right.”
But I wasn’t powerful, not with this amulet on. I fingered the pendant.
Her gaze dropped to my neck. “Ah feck, that thing. Look, don’t worry, once you’re the official anchor, that amulet won’t have such a muting effect on your powers. Your bond to the wolves will feed you miasma and strengthen the connection to the cosmos that you already have.”
So that was the well I’d been drawing from. “You know a lot about this witchy stuff.”
She shrugged. “Kinda goes with the territory when you live among them.”
Which begged the question. “And why do you live among them?”
Her smile was wry. “It’s all I’ve ever known. I was raised here by Charlotte. She found me when I was a child, abandoned, and wandering the forest. I don’t remember anything about the time before.” She shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t care. Charlotte never told me this, but I’m a fecking good snooper, and I caught on to the rumors about me.” She raised her hand and swept it across the air as if highlighting a headline. “Battered pixie found in the woods. Apparently, my body was littered with cuts, welts, and bruises.” She dropped her hand and snorted. “Whoever I belonged to before were wankers, and Charlotte… She loves me. She raised me as her own. I guess not being allowed to have kids of her own made it easier for her to see me as hers.”
Not being able to have kids. “Wait, what?”
“Urgh, they didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“You can’t have kids, Cora. Ever.”
No kids. I’d never thought of having children. Heck, I didn’t even know if I could but being told I wasn’t allowed had my back up.
“There’s more,” she said with a wince. “The seal requires that you remain chaste. So, from the moment you don the anchor mantle, it’s no penetrative sex for you.” She leaned in. “You can use toys and stuff but no living dick.”
No dick? “You have got to be kidding me.”
“Nope.”
I stared at her, waiting for her to break and tell me it was a joke. She didn’t.
Witch Unexpected: The Thirteenth Sign Book 1 Page 9