by CoraLee June
Mine? Oh fuck.
Inwardly, I gaped at my spider, and my fingers brushed over the red hourglass on my throat—the same one Tomb now had on him. Is that why we’d marked him? Had my spider demon...chosen him as a mate?
This just became a whole lot more complicated. And my spider was really pissed.
I could feel her vengeance burning me up like hellfire. She was livid to hear what Spector was doing to him. She wanted to make them pay. We wanted to make them pay. I just didn’t know how. This place was incredibly guarded, and I was fairly certain we were underground. They pumped us with chemicals and threatened us constantly. We were in a guarded maze with no way out.
But I’d find a fucking way.
When I glanced back at the trainers, I noticed they were finishing up their discussion with the scientist. We didn’t have much longer to stall. My energy was slowly depleting, but I had faith that I could take care of myself. Within me, my spider seemed to preen at the possibility of a challenge. I was starting to realize that she was a prideful, cocky motherfucker who was always up for a fight. Always looking to show someone up. We were similar in that aspect, I suppose: determined to prove ourselves and ambitious to a fault.
“Do you know what demon I am?” Crow asked softly, and the tenderness in his voice made me pause.
“Some kind of crow whisperer?” I quipped lamely.
“I have a malphas demon,” he replied ominously. “I attended Thibault too, you know. You probably don’t even remember me, but I graduated two years ago, a scholarship student.”
I peered up at him, trying to place the bright blue hair and mischievous smile. I didn’t recognize him, but then again I was always so stuck in my own world that I didn’t pay much attention to anyone else.
“The exact same thing happened. They offered me an exclusive opportunity I couldn’t refuse. Brought me to the ritual room. And then bam, I became this. Tomb was my first friend in this place.”
I wanted to ask him how he went from being one of Spector’s playthings to attempting to rescue us from a ritual, but refrained. I wasn’t sure if he would actually answer me or if we could be heard from the other side of that glass.
“Look, they think they can control us—our powers—through fear and anger. So they make us fight, test us, make us hurt one another. It’s par for the course in this place,” he said bitterly. “I used to never feel in control of my crows. They weren’t an extension of me. They were just this wild, angry entity pecking everything in their path.”
I shook my head while glancing around at the crows where they were hopping around the floor or flying around in lazy swoops above our heads. It was strange to see them so...docile. Especially when I’d seen firsthand what they were capable of. They were so in sync with Crow’s movements, too.
“So what changed?”
He brushed his long blue hair out of his face. “I came to accept that my birds were a part of me. And that they wanted one thing.”
“And what’s that?”
“To protect me. That’s what all of our demons are doing,” he said, holding my gaze. “So I want you to think about that, okay?”
It was a simple explanation, but he was right. My demon had always protected us, from the very beginning, even though she was forced to possess me. That realization, along with Tomb’s advice about accepting her as a part of me, clicked into place. She wasn’t my enemy. This was done to her as much as it was done to me, but now we had each other, and together, we could either be at odds or accept one another. Then, we might actually have a chance of surviving this and taking the fuckers down.
Holding Crow’s eyes, I nodded, my inward epiphany shining in my eyes. “You’re right.”
As I uttered the words, it was like the turmoil of fighting my spider finally subsided. Like a tumultuous sea, the storm passed over and we were finally in calmer waters.
“Get fucking started right now,” Oz shouted over at us, shocking us both out of the intense conversation we were having.
Crow’s jaw tightened, but he nodded over at my trainer before he began to walk backwards, giving us both some room to fight. “I’m going to order my birds to attack—even though they really don’t like the idea of attacking you. But I know you and your spider can handle yourself. Protect. Okay?” he said quietly as before grabbing my hands.
I nodded. “Protect.”
Closing my eyes, I drew out that instinct—the need to protect me, her, us. As soon as I did that, I felt her shadows coalesce inside of me. Her head dipped, her legs unfurled, and her presence came forward in my head like I’d woken her up.
“It’s working,” I murmured, a small smile spreading across my face. I couldn’t believe how easy it was. Now that I wasn’t at odds with her, her powers were right at my fingertips to use without the need to first feel threatened. Not just the webs, but her core strength seemed to bolster me. My vampiric senses were even sharper, my energy boosted. It was like we were finally mixing ourselves together rather than holding them in separate containers within a shared body. It felt right.
“Good,” he said quietly, still holding my hands. “Do you feel that need to protect? Feel how in control you are?” he asked. “How you merge into one?”
My fingertips began to tingle. “Yes,” I replied.
“Good. That’s how I feel, too. I’m going to attack, and I want you to remember that I’m in control of my birds. Not Spector, not my anger or fear, me. I would never hurt you, okay? And your spider won’t hurt me.”
“Why are you saying this?” I asked, opening my eyes.
“Because I don’t want you to fear me, Little Spider,” he replied in a playful yet meaningful tone. “Or yourself. Just think of this as a little play time for our demons,” he said with a smirk.
“If I have to tell you one more time, you won’t like what happens,” Oz’s voice boomed.
“No need to get your Spector sweats in a shit twist,” Crow called back. “We were just mentally preparing and all that.”
He looked to me with a nod, a smirk ghosting over his lips. “Ready?”
I let my anxiety go and did exactly what he said—viewed this as nothing but playful sparring between our demons. We weren’t going to let Spector pit us against one another. If anything, we’d show them how well we could band together. “My spider is gonna kick your feathered ass.”
Crow laughed, the sound warming me up. “You wish, Little Spider.”
With a clap of his hands, the entire outline of his body vibrated with moving shadows that misted off his body and then materialized into more birds.
While he built his feathered army, I didn’t waste any time. Holding my hands up, I started building a webbed wall between Crow and me, hoping to block them off. I forced webs to move with decisive energy. I flung my left arm out, and webs shot from my fingers and attached to the glass wall. I did the same thing with my right hand and then moved my hands in sync, adding more and more strands until there was a wall of a thin yet intricate web that separated us.
Crow smiled at me from the other side. “Well done, Little Spider,” he praised. “But let’s see how you do when they get past your little web.”
Dozens of crows animated on the spot, their bodies flying toward my web. They cawed and circled, looking for weaknesses in my wall, searching for an opening. One part near the glass had a small gap, and birds dive bombed through it with excited flaps of their wings. My heart rate picked up as I shot web after web at them, trying to catch them, but they zoomed out of the way.
“Have to do better than that!” Crow hollered at me with a laugh in his voice.
“Fucking cocky ass bird boy,” I grumbled to myself.
One of his birds shot through the web and came at me, nipping at my shoulder. Another whirled around my hair, cawing as it tangled its body inside the red strands. Another one got through before I could get the gap filled in, diving for my hands and curling its claws around my fingers, trying to get me to stop throwing out webs.
<
br /> A crow landed on my shoulder and nipped at my ear, and I realized I needed to change tactics.
I shot my webs out, wrapping them around the birds one by one in little nets, where I set them on the floor. I smirked at Crow triumphantly. “Ha! I won!”
Crow’s violet eyes narrowed. “You really think that was it?” he asked.
Then shadows exploded out of his hands. Like a missile, it careened toward the center of my webbed wall, and then hundreds of birds were moving in a single intent, their beaks breaking through the barrier like a rocket. I screamed and dove for the floor, barely able to throw up enough webs to keep the birds from attacking me. I squealed and covered my head with my arms, knowing it was just a matter of time before they’d break through and cover me. I wasn’t afraid of Crow’s birds anymore, and I admittedly was having fun, but the birds still kind of made me anxious.
“Okay, okay! I surrender!”
“I win!” Crow called cockily, swaggering over. His birds immediately calmed and started hopping around, their weight bearing down on my little web cave. I could barely see him through the tiny igloo-shaped barrier I was crouched under. Hundreds of birds were all over the place.
“You cheated,” I huffed.
Crow laughed. “Did not.”
“Can you send your little murder away now before they start crapping on me?” I asked, my voice slightly muffled.
Crow scoffed. “My demonic feathered friends would never poop on you,” he said. “Unless I ordered them to.”
My eyes widened. “Don’t you dare!”
He laughed, and then all at once, the birds evaporated back into shadows and sunk into his body. With a relieved sigh, I flicked my wrist, and the webs parted for me, letting me crawl back out. Crow took my hand and helped me stand up. He smiled down at me, but it wasn’t a friendly smile. It was a roving, hungry one as his eyes took in my flushed face and heaving chest. Gently, he reached forward and plucked some webs from my hair.
“This is a good look on you,” he said, his voice low and genuine.
“What is? A sweaty loser?” I joked.
He shook his head, and then suddenly his mouth was pressing against the edge of my cheek, his lips skimming my ear. “No. You at one with your spider. Smiling. Playing. Using your powers.” His lips grazed up, and when his tongue darted out to lick the shell of my ear, my stomach flipped over. “You looked fucking sexy as hell, Little Spider.”
Before my heart could even stutter out a beat, Crow had pulled away, walking off, and I was left gaping after him with heat in my core and a black feather behind my ear.
Chapter 10
“You have thirty minutes to clean up, then go back to your cell,” Oz said gruffly while escorting me to the locker rooms. He lingered for a moment, and I thought he was going to follow me inside and watch me strip out of my sweaty clothes. I nearly gagged. I didn’t want his predatory eyes on my body.
“Okay,” I gritted in response while walking through the double doors.
Thankfully, he didn’t follow after me, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the small tiled room with lines of showers along the walls. There were no dividers between the streams of water, but no one was in here with me, so at least I had some privacy.
It was blissful, turning on the hot water and standing under the stream. It was the first time since arriving that I didn’t feel the intrusive stare of my captors as I took hurried showers in the training locker room. My body ached and stung with wild abandon from the intense training session. Each beaded droplet of water slipped down my sweaty skin, washing away the feel of Spector embedded in the grime. It was a private mercy, and I relished in it.
As I was dipping my head back under the water, the door suddenly opened, revealing a sweaty, shirtless Crow. His blue hair was clumped with moisture, and his muscles were gleaming. He stopped in his tracks when he saw me. I stood frozen beneath the stream, not knowing if I should cover my nakedness, too caught off guard to react. But when I saw him trail those dynamic eyes of his up and down my slick body, I drowned in his gaze, my body flushing at the attention.
“Sorry. They told me to get cleaned up,” he said roughly, though his tone lacked any signs of remorse.
I sure as shit wasn’t sorry. A shirtless Crow was sexy as hell. My spider was thrilled. She wanted to explore the intrinsic connection between us and sink her fangs into his veins. Hungry saliva rushed into my mouth at the thought.
We didn’t say anything for a long moment. We simply exchanged hooded stares and silent pleading, both of us drinking in the sight of one another as awkward tension made my throat close. His body was beautiful. Rolling abs that rippled in their defined glory flexed with each inhale of his heaving breaths. There was a delicious V that led my hungry eyes down to the waistband of his training sweats, where his hand was poised and ready, like he was asking my permission to undress.
“Y-you better hurry. Oz said we only have thirty minutes. You don’t want to miss out on a hot shower,” I said, feigning innocence when all I really wanted to do was beg him to strip and show me what was causing the impressive bulge in his pants.
Watching me, he slowly flicked his button open, then slid down his zipper with excruciatingly sensual confidence. He took his time easing his tight clothes over his muscular thighs before dropping them to the wet floor.
“Oz is taking a nap outside. We have plenty of time,” he replied suggestively before running a hot palm over the front of his black boxers, making his cock bob behind the strained material.
My mouth filled with wanton venom, coating my lips and tongue with a flooding need. My breathing was rapid. There wasn’t enough air in the small shower room. All I could breathe in was steam coated with his lusty scent.
“You alright, Little Spider? I didn’t go too hard on you today in training, did I?” he asked while stepping closer to me.
His bare feet scuffled across the tiled floor as I put soap in my palm and started rubbing it along my body. I was pinned under his stare and desperate for friction against my sensitive skin. What would he think if I touched myself?
I couldn’t risk sex with Crow. I didn’t understand what happened with Tomb or if I could recreate it. And I wasn’t too hungry, so I didn’t have the excuse of demanding and feverish need directing my every move, though I could feel desire swiftly sweeping through me with each passing second.
Right now, my craving and hunger had nothing to do with the spider in my soul and everything to do with my own selfish need to fuck and feel normal for a moment.
“I thought I handled myself pretty well,” I teased. “A little more practice and I’ll be kicking your ass, Crow.”
I turned and faced the stream of water, letting the steady downpour hit my face as I trembled in anticipation, knowing his gaze was hot on my ass. It wasn’t until a hard body pressed against my back that I moved.
“What are you doing?” I asked breathlessly.
“Touching you,” he murmured, his fingers coming up to trail lightly over the curve of my hips.
I shivered at the touch and spun back around to face him, my hands colliding with his chest. I licked a droplet of water that had collected on the top of my lip, wishing I was licking water off his skin instead. My eyes flicked down to his black boxers which were drenched and slipping, the heavy material sliding down in the most torturous strip tease of my life.
“You’re soaked. Why don’t you take your boxers off?” I asked.
“Take them off for me, Motley,” Crow demanded in a low timber. Sparks of tension bounced between us, the electricity so tangible, so lifelike, that I wondered if we’d electrocute ourselves with the palpable power.
“No. You saw what happened to Tomb,” I argued while taking a step back. My body collided with cool tile, making a shiver travel up and down my spine. “Do you want to be tortured? Do you want to die, Crow?” I asked. My hands were braced against his pecs, shoving him away while still refusing to break the contact. Despite the turmoil racing thr
ough me, I appreciated the hot comfort pulsing where my fingers connected with his skin.
“Take off my boxers, Motley. I want to see you lick your lips when you see my cock. I want to feel your soft hands wrap around it,” he rasped while pressing into me. Our bodies molded together, water the only thing between us.
I didn’t want just another fuck driven by my need to feed or the demanding lure in my bones. I wanted to take my time. My fingers trailed, slipped, dipped. I sunk them down his abs and toward the sagging fabric. I pet the soft hair just above the band of his underwear with sacred appreciation.
I stopped.
“Why did you try to save us that day? How did you even get out?”
“I don’t know,” Crow replied softly before reaching up to palm my breasts. His fingers gripped hard, plunging into the pillowy skin and kneading my flesh. I gasped and moaned, hating the distraction of his touch when I so desperately wanted to understand him.
“What do you mean?” I asked the moment he pinched my nipple between his thumb and index finger. My back arched off the tile, crashing us even closer, sending his hard cock pressing against my stomach.
“I escaped. I nearly died. Went into hiding and made plans to never return here,” Crow began before leaning in to lick a trail up my neck. Slow, slow, slow, like he was savoring the taste. The low growl of approval that tumbled around in his chest made me whimper. It was too hot. Too much. “And then one day, something felt wrong. My crows were restless. It was a pull like nothing I’d ever felt before. At that point, I’d learned to trust their instincts. They were why I’d escaped Spector in the first place.”
He bit my earlobe and sucked on the skin right below it. Pulling with his mouth between gasped words and revealed intuitions.
“What did your demon want?”
Crow chuckled against my skin before pulling back. He grabbed my wrists and positioned my hands on his hips, using his thumb to stroke my skin. “I didn’t know, at first. When he led me to that building and I saw that there was another ritual going on, I laughed from the irony. When he urged me to break through the windows, I wanted to cry.” He leaned forward and kissed my lips then, a tender, slow, sensual, taunting, invigorating, stroking, tugging, enrapturing kiss. Our lips moved in tandem, our tongues tangling with desire.