Ruby’s Pride

by Romy Lockhart

  “I should be going,” I tell him, getting to my feet.

  “You can’t leave.” He gets up, and even in my heels he towers over me. He’s like a brick wall standing in my way. There’s no way I can smash through him if he doesn’t want to let me pass.

  “Your brothers will be wondering where I am.”

  “My brothers are not stupid,” he tells me flatly. “They know I have you.”

  “I seriously doubt that,” I tell him, not so sure once the words actually leave my mouth.

  We’ve been away from them for hours if it’s nightfall now. Surely, they would have found us by now? A stab of guilt hits me suddenly. What if they were attacked the instant they went into that field? They could be hurt. A chill crosses over me as I consider the other alternatives.

  “What if the Woodcutter hurt them?”

  He flinches visibly, before shaking his head. “The Woodcutter is no more. His field is full of troublemakers but he rusted to death a long time ago. His body is all that remains in that place. It will soon be nothing but scrap-metal.”

  “There are dangerous things in that field.”

  “And there are dangerous things outside our door,” he all but growls at me. “You banished that creature with your magic, Ruby, but you cannot use that magic while the sky is dark. It is too dangerous to go out there until morning.”

  Damn it. He’s right. I re-read the note before I slip it into my purse. This is the twist I was afraid of. There isn’t just one freaky smoke-ghost trying to drown me. There are many. They are the Darkness.

  I’m not done here yet, and probably not by a long shot.

  “When morning comes, we go back there,” I tell him.

  “I will not risk your life, Ruby.”

  “That’s not your decision, cave-man.” I mean, it’s kind of sweet but it’s also kind of misogynistic.

  “I wish you would not slander me.” His scowl has me rolling my eyes.

  I chance a glance downward and realize he’s not just irritated with me right now. He’s also incredibly aroused, and apparently fighting it.

  “Who says that was a slight?” I raise an eyebrow as I gaze back into his eyes. “Cave-men have their good points.”

  “They do?” He doesn’t sound convinced.

  I move in closer and my heart pounds harder as I realize just how identical he is to Corwin. By the time I place my hands on his warm, hard chest, I know I’m wet between my legs. Soaked at the thought of opening up for him.

  “They take whatever they want,” I whisper, my gaze on his lips.

  “And what do you want?” His breathing is short now, and a little shaky.

  “I think you know what I want, Ransom,” I tell him, smiling slyly as I take one step back and strip out of my dress. There are no crossed signals now. We’re so close to one and other and there are no barriers left. He pulls me into his arms and groans before leaning in close and taking a deep breath with his face buried in my hair. The second groan is more of a whine really.

  His cock throbs against my belly, and he pulls back from me just enough to get a good look at my face. Gazing into my eyes up close, I want badly to tell him not to waste another second.

  “You want this?” His question is a soft whisper, as his hands stroke over my hair.

  I can’t think of anything else I want more in this moment.

  “I want this,” I tell him, moving one hand between us, to stroke his hard length.

  The tension goes out of his expression, his gaze softens before he leans in and kisses me softly and slowly, opening my mouth and slicking his tongue over mine. I gasp in a breath as he breaks away.

  “Where did you learn to kiss?” I have to ask. Corwin was so damn bad at it.

  He smiles crookedly. “I may have watched you with my brother. Lucky for me, you showed him what you like.”

  I should be shocked, but if anything the room just got that little bit hotter for his confession. “Oh, really?”

  He nods. “I think I know what else you like too.”

  He sweeps one arm across the table behind us to send everything crashing to the floor. I hear something smash as Ransom lays me down on the table and gazes into my eyes one last time before parting my legs. He begins to lick me tentatively, making me shake and shudder under his ministrations as they become bolder.

  I’m already wet enough to take his thick cock but he insists on using his mouth to make me come. Thinking of him watching me with Corwin in the woods pushes me over the edge. I tense under him, moaning out my pleasure as he continues to lick.

  “Stop,” I tell him, when he just keeps going.

  He pauses to glance at me and shakes his head. “I’ve watched your eyes glow gold for two of my brothers while they pleasured you, Ruby. I will not stop until they glow for me.”

  He goes back to scraping his tongue over my sensitive, swollen clit. For a second I don’t know if I want to slap him away or pull him closer. It starts to feel good again after a few mildly uncomfortable seconds. He gets into a rhythm that drives a second full-on screaming orgasm from me within a few incredibly intense minutes. I feel like I’m coming forever as he moves his tongue between my folds to taste the evidence of his pleasuring.

  He glances up at me, with a grin that fades a little on his locking with my eyes.

  “It didn’t feel good?”

  “Oh, it felt incredible.” I sit up when he backs away. “What’s wrong?”

  “We should not keep going if you don’t want to accept me as a mate.”

  Ugh. The whole mate thing. I don’t want to burst his bubble, but I also don’t want to be so desperate to feel his cock inside me that I start to cramp up when I don’t get it.

  “I want you, Ransom. Believe me.”

  “Something isn’t right,” he tells me, gazing me over. “You warm for me, yet something is preventing you from giving yourself over. What is it that I don’t have that they did?”

  His question stuns me. I gaze at his engorged cock and wonder how he can care about any of this when he’s desperate to bury it inside of me and I’m ready and willing to take it as hard as he can give it.

  “I don’t know how this mating thing works, Ransom. I didn’t make my eyes glow on purpose. It just happened.”

  “I know,” he says, his tone quiet.

  “Maybe you need to be inside me for it to happen?”

  He smiles sadly, the heat already draining from his eyes. “I do not think so, Ruby. I will not try to force a mating on you.”

  Goddamn it. If my magic was working, I’d make my eyes glow. Anything to have him finish the job.

  He helps me up from the table. “You should get some sleep. We will go and find my brothers in the morning. They will keep you safe while you complete your task.”

  Chapter 19

  I go back to my room and throw my dress down on the floor, kicking off my shoes and looking around. There’s literally nothing I can take my frustrations out on in here. I open drawers in a dresser that unsurprisingly turns out to be empty. I doubt there would be a drawer full of dildos in an abandoned house like this anyway. I sink onto the bed and try to console myself with my fingers. It only makes me wish harder for Ransom’s cock. I don’t know why he started that if he wasn’t going to finish. It’s not like he got anything out of it. I barely even touched him.

  I give up trying to find some satisfaction, resigning myself to a sleepless night of cramps and irritable thoughts about my kidnapper. Ransom never should have taken me away from the others. They wouldn’t have done this to me. I wish Ax was here. He was so eager to finish what we’d started. I know he wouldn’t let me down.

  Eventually I do fall asleep, despite how restless I felt for hours. My dreams are a tangled interwoven mess of past memories. In them I’m continually arguing, and my point is always lost in the heat of the quarrel. My dad is pissed at me for breaking the engagement with Adam. Crystal is pissed at me because I made Pearl cry. My boss is pissed at me for breaking a mug and s
taining his carpet after he promoted yet another kiss-ass man-child ahead of me. My dad doesn’t listen to my reasons for leaving that poor, sweet-hearted boy. Crystal just can’t with me anymore. My boss gives me unpaid overtime to make up for the mess I made. My voice dies a little over each of those arguments. It feels useless to keep fighting. I’ll never win.

  I wake up feeling defeated. The candles have burned out to nothing, and the room is gloomy but not quite pitch-dark. It must be daytime.

  I get up, wondering if it even matters that I’m naked anymore. The pessimistic message the dream delivered has sunk its claws in deep. It won’t be easy to shake off.

  I sigh as I pick up the ugly nightdress and sling it on, imagining it as a cat suit again. It transforms in a swirl of glitter that seems more stupid than magical this dull-as-shit morning.

  “At least something works,” I suppose out loud.

  There’s a knock on the door as I’m gathering up my things to take with me. I sigh deeply and ignore it. He knocks again, harder this time. Again, I ignore it. Why should I give Ransom the time of day now? He only messed up my mission and potentially put his brothers’ lives on the line. It wasn’t even worth the hot kiss, or being licked out until I screamed.

  “Go away, Ransom,” I yell when he tries knocking a third time.

  The creak of the door opening makes me narrow my eyes, but it’s Ax I see standing there when it swings fully inward. “Ransom doubted you would be speaking to him this morning.”

  “Ax! Where did you come from?”

  “When we realized you had not followed us into The Woodcutter’s territory we left to find you, but it was not as simple as just leaving.” He steps into the room and I move quickly toward him, examining his upper body in shock. He has scrapes and bruises over his chest and some deep gouges on his arms.

  “What happened?” I ask, taking his hands in mine and feeling a fierce possessiveness move over me. Whoever did this to him was going to find out what torture was as soon as I got my magic-wielding hands on him or her.

  “We had to fight our way out. The Woodcutter’s golems were not in the mood to let us leave.” He doesn’t look bothered by his injuries, in fact he shrugs them off easily. His eyes only darken when he gazes deeply into mine. “Are you okay, Ruby? Did Ransom do anything to hurt you?”

  I frown at the question, but I know Ax isn’t asking if his brother left me with the lady equivalent of blue balls last night. “He didn’t hurt me. He thought he was saving me from making a big mistake.”

  “Are you quite sure?” He strokes the side of my face and I lean into his tender touch.

  “Yes, Ax. I’m fine.” And I suppose there’s something I need to admit, considering Ransom actually did what he did out of worry. “There’s something I have to tell you. Are the others with you?”

  “Warner is outside. Corwin is talking to Ransom downstairs.” He gives me a small smile. “We are alone right now, Ruby.”

  That reminder would have worked me up if he’d come to me last night. This morning, my mood is too sour to be upturned so easily. I kiss him briefly on the lips and move past him.

  “We should get moving,” I say as I head for the stairs. “We’re burning daylight.”

  Corwin and Ransom appear to be locked in a staring contest when I get downstairs. Ransom is the one to break eye-contact when I approach, but only after Ax coughs behind me.

  “Everyone can calm down. I’m fine.”

  Corwin frowns at his twin before turning my way. “We were so worried about you, Ruby.”

  This coming from a guy who looks like he took a whipping to the chest. I swallow hard on sight of the deep welts across his body. “Oh, Corwin.”

  He glances down. “I’m okay. This will heal quickly.”

  It really doesn’t look like it will. How can I even consider making them go back through that creepy evil field again now? Just so I can free another witch who might be able to help me figure out a way back home. It’s crazy to even consider it.

  “Ruby said she has something to tell us,” Ax announces, before heading toward the open front door. “I will call Warner inside.”

  “If it is what Ransom told me, I don’t believe Warner will want to know,” Corwin says darkly.

  I wonder what the hell Ransom told him, then I see the dishes still on the floor from last night, and I remember Corwin saying he could smell my arousal when Warner was carrying me into their woods that first night.

  “I told him we are mated now,” Ransom tells me, his gaze not quite meeting my eyes.

  What the hell, Ransom? I purse my lips, trying to decide if it’s the time to announce that no, we aren’t mated, but yes, we did fool around on the table last night. Somehow, I don’t think that’ll go down well with anyone and I’m trying to actually clear the air over what Ransom did the first night at The Well, not give his brothers more reasons to be angry with him.

  Warner walks into the room with Ax close behind. He’s the only one who doesn’t look beaten up. I can’t see any visible bruises or cuts on his body. I feel like my initial thoughts of him were on the money. He might have been brutally attacked in the past, but he came out the victor and he always will.

  “Um,” I say, realizing I can’t remember what I was about to tell them. I’m starting to feel the effects of being surrounded by four hot, naked brothers all over again. Wait. One of them has been exiled from the others. I need to fix this. “Ransom didn’t try to kill me.”

  Corwin narrows his eyes at Ax who shrugs.

  I take a breath. “Okay. It turns out The Well does have a portal that leads back to my world, but that portal closes at night.”

  “It does have a portal?” Ax asks, sounding curious. “Really, truly?”

  I nod and a slow grin spreads across his face. He moves over and hugs Ransom, making the moody twin laugh out loud.

  “Brother, I am so glad to hear this.” Ax’s voice is thick with emotion.

  “You will not be so glad about our other news,” Ransom tells him, gazing me over as if daring me to unveil his lie. “I’ve become mated to Ruby too.”

  Ax pulls back from the hug. “Truly?”

  Ransom nods and I roll my eyes. I don’t know how long he intends to keep this up for, but considering he feels he can’t touch me if we aren’t mated, I doubt the charade is going to last very long. What do I care if I’m going home soon, anyway? Maybe it means I can wrangle a twin sandwich out of these guys before I say goodbye.

  A pang hits when I think about leaving. A lump forms in my throat. Shit. I knew I should have been trying harder to get the hell out of here. It’s only going to get more difficult to think about leaving the longer I stick around.

  “So if there is a portal here, then why hasn’t Ruby gone home?” Corwin asks the question slowly, as if he doesn’t really want to know the answer.

  “I did,” I tell them. “I was sent back. I have a task to complete. I can only go home once that’s done.”

  “A task?” Corwin raises an eyebrow.

  I fetch the card from my purse. “Ransom said none of you can read...”

  I trail off as Warner takes it from my fingers and I watch his one eye scan the note quickly. His scowl is deep when he gives me it back. He shakes his head vehemently before going outside.

  “So, the gist is, I have to rid this land of the darkness that’s destroying it before I can go home for real.” I don’t bother mentioning that my going home is a choice I get to make. I don’t want to get their hopes up. If I get the chance to go home, I’m getting the hell out of this crazy place and finding a therapist ASAP. Right after I find a sex shop that sells dinosaur dildos because finding a real guy to measure up to these four is going to be mission impossible. “So what do you know about this darkness? Because I kind of need to figure it out before I can get rid of it.”

  The guys are all silent. That’s not a good sign.

  “The thing that tried to drown you is a malevolent spirit that came here years ago,”
Corwin eventually says. “All that we know about this force are rumors. When we were children he was thought to be something of a myth. But then things began to happen, more sightings were reported. He became a very real threat to our world. The Good Witch tried to stop him, and she wound up frozen in ice.”

  “So he’s one person or thing?”

  The guys look at one and other before Corwin speaks again. “We cannot be certain of that. He was always spoken of as a single entity, but the destruction caused to our world seems as if it must have been caused by an army. If he is one entity, he is incredibly powerful.”

  Just the kind of news I wanted to hear. “Then I need to free The Good Witch. It’s the only way to find out more and get help to banish him.”

  I just hope to hell she doesn’t tell me I had the power all along or some shit like that. It really wouldn’t make the trip worthwhile. She must know something. Like how the hell I’m supposed to banish him when he doesn’t come out in the sunlight and I can’t use my magic at night.

  “We must leave now,” Corwin says. “If we are to get past The Woodcutter’s territory before nightfall.”

  Right. That’s the way to get there, but the journey’s longer now that we’re starting from here. And we can’t do freaking anything at night other than hide, considering I’m defenseless then. I nod.

  I pass Ax my red dress and purse to put into his bag of supplies and we head out. This time when they talk about me riding one of them in lion form so we can get there faster, I don’t complain or make jokes. There’s no more time left to care about stupid shit. Getting through this task is all there is now. I don’t care what it takes. There’s no losing here. I have to win.

  Chapter 20

  The Woodcutter’s territory is as scary as the guys made it sound. We’re immediately attacked by a flying barrage of rocks when we set foot on the ground there. The guys take the brunt of the damage, until I concentrate and send the rocks flying straight back to the idiots who threw them. At twice the speed and with violent force behind every last one of them.