Torment: Dark Paranormal Romance (Eclipse Warlocks Book 1)

by Ellie Cassidy

“You don’t always have to protect me.”

  He looked at me a long moment. “Yes, I do,” he said, sounding almost weary. A haunted shadow crossed his eyes, there and gone. When he spoke again, he sounded more like himself. “This is our world and without magic you are utterly defenseless.”

  “Then let me go.”

  “That’s not how it works, Lex. With or without your magic, you are Moon. The coven will never let you go.”

  “You mean your father.”

  “It’s an ancient law, buried in our origins.” His brow drew narrow on me. “You know that.”

  I did. It’s the reason our seed was bound, so we couldn’t accidently scatter Moon Halflings around the globe without our knowledge—or the coven’s. But there were exceptions. They’d sent my mother away. All the Reaped, exiled with their memories wiped.

  But I wasn’t my mother and without my magic I couldn’t be Reaped.

  I was stuck between a rock and the devil’s sea.

  By the way Gideon was searching my face, he knew I knew it. Time to change the subject, before he went for the jugular.

  “What do you want with the demon’s true name?” I asked. There was only one purpose I was aware of and only the Moon council were allowed to summon demon spirits from the underworld. Besides, this demon was already topside.

  “A demon’s name is powerful,” Gideon said. “There might be a spell or something I could use to trace the vermin... I don’t know, I’m grasping at straws, but that doesn’t matter, does it? I don’t have his name.” He offered me a hand. “We should get out of here.”

  Remembering the curtain twitch from the house next door, I agreed.

  With no other options available, I unfolded my bloodied t-shirt and pulled it on. I looked like I’d just come from a massacre.

  We’d need to stop by a store for a fresh shirt before I went home to Sage—something with long sleeves so she wouldn’t see the cut before it healed. There was no lie to explain away a wound that magically disappeared.

  That was the plan, until Sage and I ventured upstairs that night.

  I had no intention of getting anything on with her. It hadn’t been that kind of day. I’d been distracted, couldn’t clear my head of Rolling Stones and Callie. We’d lost the trace on her phone. He must have destroyed it after I’d alerted him to the fact, figured out that’s how we’d found him.

  Mistake after fucking mistake.

  So yeah, I’d been distracted and Sage had noticed, and she resisted my efforts to draw away after a quick hug when I said goodnight outside her bedroom door.

  She flung her arms around my neck and curled her fingers into my hair. “Don’t rush off.”

  “Sage, I’m sorry.”

  For everything.

  Last night was a mistake. Mine. Not hers.

  I’d thought I knew what I was doing. I had it all worked out. Sage would be safe and I’d find a way out for us eventually.

  Now a girl was missing, probably dead. Now I wasn’t sure I knew what the hell I was doing. I’d set a psycho free. Not once but twice.

  Now last night felt like a massive abuse of trust. Sage had no idea what she was involved in, who she was involved with. I couldn’t play fast and loose with her head during the day and take her body at night.

  I pressed my forehead to her. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

  “You don’t say.” She drew back to look at me, a warm, sensual smile teasing her lips. “We don’t have to do anything. Just stay with me a bit. I won’t even make you talk.”

  Her beautiful brown eyes begged me to close the distance I’d put between us, tugged at my damn heart.

  My hands were on her hips before I knew what I was doing. “I’m sorry this is so fucked up.”

  “Fucked up?” She lost the smile, her brow crinkling. “Have I done something wrong?”

  “No. God, no, you’re the one thing that’s right.” I dragged her hips to me, meaning only to brush her worry away with a light kiss.

  Bad move.

  She lifted onto her toes, pressing even closer, her body rubbing up against me as our lips touched.

  “Five minutes,” I groaned, telling myself it wasn’t fair to reject her. She’d done nothing wrong. The least I could do was say goodnight properly.

  I fumbled with the door handle and walked her over the threshold, kicking the door shut behind us.

  “No talking,” she promised and shaped her mouth to mine again, deepening the kiss.

  She tasted of pear cider and sweet fucking goodness. Suddenly her arms were no longer around my neck. Her fingers were roaming beneath my shirt, her nails lightly scraping my back. Her flustered, breathless sighs of arousal between slanted kisses sent a shot of heat straight to my blood.

  My hands went from her hips to the curve of her firm backside, grinding her into me. My cock stirred to life and that was the end of all my noble intentions.

  I was no longer thinking straight.

  My mouth crushed hers possessively, my tongue sliding in to taste and stroke, to possess her and be possessed until there was no space for any remnants of this hellish day.

  She rubbed my shirt up my body and I fucking helped to get rid of it right before we fell onto the bed in a tangle of limbs and roving hands.

  I delved into the V of her bodice, dragging the flimsy material aside to pop out a perfect breast. My mouth closed over a peak, sucking gently, my teeth grazing the pebbled nipple until it was swollen. She moaned, her fingers fisting in my hair as her back arched off the mattress, pressing herself into the thigh I had clamped between her legs.

  I slid up, my chest grazing her hard nipple as my mouth reached for hers, hungry for the taste of her flustered moans while my hand skimmed over the skirt of her sundress and hitched the hem, dragging it up her silken thigh. When I slipped a finger inside her panties, I found her soaking wet.

  Jesus. I tugged her panties off and dipped a finger inside. She was so tight and wet. The need to bury myself there burned as hot as a fucking furnace. Knowing I was her first was a dangerous thing. It made me want to be her last. It made me want her to be my last.

  “Lex,” she whimpered, rolling her hips beneath my touch.

  “I know,” I growled, slowly dipping my finger in again, determined to be gentler this time round. I dragged the kiss off her mouth so I could watch the arousal on her face. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips bee-stung from passion. “I think I fucking love you.”

  Her eyes fluttered open, glazed with want and filled with emotion. Her fingers were still tangled in my hair and she used the grip to bring my mouth closer, her lips parting to form the words I wouldn’t let her say. I crushed them with a hungry, plunging kiss. Too much. Too soon. I fucking knew that and I didn’t want to rush her, I didn’t want to hear those words from her until she really meant them.

  When I finally came up for air and let her speak, she said exactly what I wanted to hear. “I want you inside me,” she groaned huskily. “Right. Fucking. Now.”

  I had to roll away from her to kick my shoes off and remove the rest of my clothes. The heat throbbing my cock cooled a fraction, enough for me to remember why I needed a condom. Well, I didn’t need it. My body couldn’t carry any STD and I couldn’t get Sage pregnant, but she didn’t know that. Another lie between us.

  Her arms came around me from the back, her body flush with mine, her mouth pressing hot kisses to my throat. My blood caught fire again. I forgot about the lies and fumbled for the jeans I’d flung off to get the emergency condom from my wallet.

  Her nails scraped lightly down my chest, lower, lower, her palms flattening, her exploring fingers igniting flaming ripples over my skin, lower, lower—fuck! I grabbed her hand before she could palm my cock and damn explode me, rolling us over with her flat on her back and me on top while I ripped the foil with my teeth and quickly fitted the condom.

  Her long lashes were at half mast, heavy with desire as her gaze raked down my body. I spread her legs with one thigh then
situated myself between them. Slow. Gentle. I prodded her entrance, my jaw crunched down from the effort to resist the primal urge to plunge hard and deep.

  “I won’t break,” she breathed out, rocking up against me, taking my restraints to the limits. “Lex, please…”

  I stretched over her, elbows planted on the mattress to hold my weight so I could look into her eyes as I pushed inside slowly, allowing her to adjust inch by fucking inch.

  She pulsed around me, threatening to pump my seed. I bent my head to her, taking her mouth with my tongue as my cock surged deep, swallowing her cries of pleasure and there was no more restraint.

  I thrust in and out, hard and fast, driving us both to that apex of fucking bliss. Her inner walls clamped down on the burn as her climax skyrocketed and my own release shot through me, our kiss frozen, my entire body rigid and tensed into what felt like a small death. A fleeting glimpse of Heaven. Then my limbs loosened, shattering the tension into a million pieces of calm that made me feel like a lizard soaking up the sun.

  Lifting myself higher on my elbows, I gazed into her low-lashed eyes, keeping us joined until the last pulse of her orgasm faded out.

  “Last night was so amazing,” she blew out on a ragged sigh around a soft smile and wrapped her legs around me. “I had no idea it could possibly get even better.”

  Chuckling, I rolled onto my back, bringing her with me. “The first time is never as good…or so I’ve heard.”

  Instead of tucking into my side, she flung a leg over to sit up, straddling my thighs, her palms pressed to my chest.

  “What was your first time like?” she asked.

  I laughed. “Not my finest hour.”

  She tweaked a brow at me. “Hour?”

  “Okay, not my finest five seconds.” I folded my arms behind my head, feasting my eyes on her just-fucked hair and flushed skin and pert breasts. “It’s never been the way it is with you, Sage, so fucking hot, it feels like I’m on fire.”

  A smile lit her eyes. “Well, you are kind of hot.”

  “Kind of?”

  Her gaze washed down my torso and up again, then snagged on my folded forearm. “I haven’t noticed that before. What happened there?”

  My heart missed a beat. Shit. “Um, it’s just a scrape I got earlier,” I said, unfolding my arms to wrap her waist.

  She didn’t let it go, picking up that arm to take another look. “A scrape?” Her finger traced the angry, jagged welts of the healing skin. “This looks like an old scar. Well, not that old.”

  I made a show of looking. “Huh, it must be inflamed from the antibacterial cream I used.” I rocked her off me and slid my arm around her, tucking her in at my side. “It’s nothing.”

  Lies on top of lies.

  Between me and Gideon, no place was sacred. Not out there. Not here in her bed. We were bending her mind, twisting her reality. And my grand noble intentions were the biggest lie of all. I didn’t know how to stay a safe distance from Sage. I didn’t even know how to fucking try.

  13

  SAGE

  @hawk

  Everything feels out of whack.

  It’s like the ground is shaking beneath my feet but I can’t feel the tremors. Like I’m about to fall through the earth but I can’t see the cracks.

  Callie wasn’t officially missing. It hadn’t yet been forty-eight hours since anyone had heard from her. But Grant was worried. Callie’s mother was worried. The Sheriff had even promised to send a deputy out to Chesnock Creek this morning to take a look around.

  It wasn’t just Callie, though.

  Everything felt slightly off today.

  I’d arranged to meet everyone at the brackens and when I arrived with Lex, the Snack Hut shutter was down with the Closed sign. Arran had part time staff to help out in busy periods or when he couldn’t be here. The Snack Hut was always open. Except for today.

  The gloomy clouds from yesterday were gone, the summer sun beating down on us, but a wintry chill covered my skin. Today the shadows nipping at my heels felt very real.

  And then there was that thing with Lex. Or maybe it was me. The puckered, angry scar I hadn’t seen and then I had seen and then I hadn’t seen again this morning was hammering at the fringes of my sanity. The obvious explanation was the one Lex had given. He’d had an allergic reaction to the cream which made a scrape seem worse than it was.

  But that wasn’t a damn scratch.

  Or maybe it was.

  Haley and Kenzie were already here, seated at a long picnic table. The park was relatively quiet. Besides us, there was only the Mom & Tots group on a spread of blankets beneath a tree and the handful of people passing occasionally through to the trail.

  “The Snack Hut’s closed?” I put out unnecessarily as Lex and I filed in around the table.

  “It’s freaking weird.” Haley cast a look there, frowning. “When last did you see Jessica?”

  “Not since Arran mentioned she wasn’t well.”

  “My mom sent me around there last week with chicken soup,” Kenzie said. “I hope she hasn’t taken a turn for the worse since then.”

  Lex placed a hand on my thigh. “Is it really that odd for Arran to close shop? Maybe he’s come down with whatever bug his wife has.”

  Haley snorted. “Can you imagine Arran tucked into bed, sipping on chicken soup?”

  I shared a smile with Haley and Kenzie at the picture that conjured.

  Lex gave us a look. “What am I missing?”

  “If anyone is invincible to the common cold, it’s Arran MacLeod,” Kenzie told him. “Have you seen him? He’s built like beast.”

  “More like a medieval warrior just stepped out the pages of a historical romance,” I corrected, because you know, give the man his due. Arran Macleod was ten times of gorgeous, mystical hunk.

  Lex gave my thigh a playful squeeze. “Should I be worried?”

  “Sure, if he was ten years younger and didn’t have a beautiful wife who’s practically a saint.”

  “Jessica inherited like a hundred million dollars or something ridiculous and put it all into a global foundation trust,” Haley filled him in. “The Jessica Macleod Children’s Foundation.”

  Grant’s arrival abruptly ended the light-hearted conversation. “She’s not answering her phone,” he said as he slid onto the bench beside me. “I understand her ignoring me, but now her mom is worried.”

  Assuming he meant Callie, I offered, “Maybe her battery is dead. Or she just needs a timeout. I mean, we’ve all gone dark at some or other point and a bad breakup—”

  “We didn’t break up,” he cut in, his tone moody. “I told her I’d hooked up with Kenzie. That it was a mistake and wouldn’t happen again.”

  “A mistake?” Kenzie laughed. “Seriously?”

  Grant glared at her. “You’re not being super helpful here.”

  “Well I’m not the one who went blabbering to Callie.”

  “Like I had a choice.” His glare zeroed in on Haley.

  “You had the choice to not cheat on her,” Haley muttered.

  “If she’s gone and done anything stupid, this is your fault.”

  “If by stupid, you mean dumped you, then good for her!”

  “I mean if she’s gotten herself into any kind of trouble.”

  Haley shot to her feet. “You know what? I am sorry I ever said anything. I’m sorry I cared enough.” She sent me a terse look, shaking her head. “I can’t do this.”

  Kenzie looked on, an amused smile playing on her lips. Was she actually enjoying this?

  I blew out a noisy, frustrated sigh as I watched Haley storm off. “Grant, that wasn’t fair.”

  “Do you think I don’t fucking know that?” He stood abruptly, looking down on me with a wrecked expression. “If anything has happened to Callie, it’s my damn fault.”

  “Don’t be such a martyr,” Kenzie drawled. “Last time I checked, you hadn’t put a ring on her finger or made a vow of fidelity.”

  I turned on her, my
jaw slack. “What is the matter with you?”

  “I’m perfectly fine,” she said. “You’re all manufacturing drama where there isn’t any.”

  “I’m done,” Grant hissed through his teeth and walked off.

  I swung a leg over the bench with a quick glance at Lex. “I’ll be right back.”

  “No problem.” His smile was a fraction too late, too thin.

  I couldn’t really blame him. Me and my friends were a real blast today.

  Grant was almost at the park gates when I caught up to him. “Are you okay?”

  “Not really.” He kept walking. “Maybe Kenzie’s right. Maybe I’m making a big deal out of nothing.” He sent me a dark, disturbed look. “But I have a bad feeling about this. Something feels off.”

  Everything about this day felt off to me. “For what it’s worth, I’m really sorry. It wasn’t just Haley. I totally agreed with her about interfering and we shouldn’t have.”

  “You shouldn’t have.” He stopped in his tracks to set a look on me. “And I shouldn’t have fucked Callie around.”

  Curiosity got the better of me, despite the inappropriate timing. More than curiosity. It was this day. I just wanted one solid explanation for some of the crazy surrounding me. “Why didn’t you break it off with her if you wanted to be with Kenzie?”

  His eyes held mine, his jaw working before he said, “I like Kenzie. I’ve liked her for ages.”

  Ages? “Like liked?”

  He sighed. “I know it’ll never work between us. She’s so random about guys and this thing between us now, it’s just a casual hook-up for her. Keeping Callie around was my daily reminder that Kenzie and I aren’t in a relationship that counts.” He grimaced. “I kept telling myself no one was getting hurt.”

  I pursed my lips. What was there to say? This was Grant. I wouldn’t lie and tell him that using Callie wasn’t a total lousy thing to do. And he already felt guilty enough without me laying it on any thicker.

  He shoved a hand through his hair, looking a little lost. “I’ve disappointed you.”

  “No, you haven’t,” I said truthfully. “But Grant, if you have real feelings for Kenzie, then Callie isn’t the only one who’s going to end up hurt when this is all over.”