I wasn’t sure why he was telling me this, but I listened. “If you clear your mind and only focus on what’s happening, it makes it easier. No matter how strong they are, you can do it. I know you can do it. Don’t even think about your animal half, it doesn’t work. I tell you this from experience.”
He paused for a long time. I stilled against him, listening to his heart and the ragged breaths that came from him. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me closer. It was the first time I seemed to have more control than he did. The rapid beats of his heart made mine increase, matching his. I touched his hand; he calmed and pulled me in even closer. “We should practice sometime. Perhaps Ariel can help.”
Another long pause stretched for minutes. “You’ve been able to use the Clostra, not because of the magic you may have from your mother, but from Maya.” He started slowly. “Some spells require stronger magic; the Vitae was one of them. We didn’t have the convenience of asking another witch because they all knew of the curse placed on Josh. It would have made things simpler.” He took a moment to gather his thoughts, and for once I didn’t feel like he was doing it to get me to see the reality in which he wanted me to believe. It was the truth, probably spoken one other time, to Sebastian.
“My mother thought he was a powerful witch, one strong enough to use the Vitae to keep Josh alive. It wasn’t until we used his magic that we knew differently. It was different than anything I’d felt, not like Josh’s magic. Not like mine.”
I knew that feeling, very well. I’d experienced it and had an intimate relationship with it, but Ethan wasn’t like me when it came to mastering it.
I remained silent and his apprehension melted away. When he spoke again it was without hesitation. “Then we met you, and the first time I was around you, I felt the odd magic again. I’d known about spirit shades, but at the time it was a limited knowledge. I knew witches had usually done it as a way to obtain immortality.”
I started to ask why they didn’t just allow a vampire to turn them, but he was giving information freely, and I didn’t want to interrupt. I assumed that if they were able to be changed and maintain their magical ability, Demetrius’s seethe would be filled with them.
He paused again, pulling me even closer, holding me tighter as if he feared I would leave. “Finding the host of the spirit shade was easy. Switching hosts was harder because he was reluctant. You can imagine that the host didn’t want to be divested of the power.” He took another break, and my thoughts spiraled. How had they taken the shade from the host? Had they exorcised it? Or had they killed him?
I was sure he felt me tense, or perhaps he knew me so well he could imagine my thoughts. His dark chuckle lacked mirth. “He woke up, no longer a host. He was human; he couldn’t even use his magic. I have no idea why he was so attached to the shade. But, I’m sure he’s still trying to figure out what happened. But it needed to be done. I was going to do whatever was necessary to protect Josh. Then we met you and everyone predicted you would hurt the pack. I’d always figured it would be through me, or Josh. Your magic was so similar to what I had—I knew there was a connection.”
“When did you find out the spirit shade was a Faerie?”
“When we first encountered the books I gave you. When Logan told me how they could be killed, Claudia and I had to find the Tre’ase who’d created him. We knew it would be too dangerous not to have him secured where no one could find him. Now the Tre’ase is secured and can never be found.” His voice was tight and I knew there was more to the story—a lot more.
“Who are you hosting? Ravyn or Leonel?” I asked.
Again the room was plagued with silence. “The one that they all deemed too dangerous. Instead of killing him, they forced him to live hosted by a body he couldn’t use. And that’s why it is so important for it to never be known that I’m the host. Too many people want him dead, and the ones that don’t will want the power he possesses.”
Not overreacting to that information was hard. I’d skimmed the books and knew how horrible the Faeries were, and Ethan had the one that everyone else thought was too horrible to live.
I turned to him, cradling his face in my hands. A light smile feathered across his lips, removing the look of remorse.
“Thank you.” I kissed him.
He returned it and then pulled away to look at me. His thumb stroked against my cheek. He kissed me again, first on the lips, then light kisses along my jaw. His lips drifted down lower along the curve of my neck. His teeth nipped at my skin, and I shivered at his touch, leaning into him more. Wanting more. Needing more. My fingers laced through his hair, drawing him closer to me. His teeth grazed against my skin. I shivered from his touch. I moaned as he traveled to my shoulder. Cool air mixed with the warm trails he left in his wake. More pressure against my skin, a gentle entreaty. He pulled away and looked at me. I nodded in assent.
His lips crushed against mine, his tongue explored my mouth, and his fingers moved along the curves of my body until he came to my underwear. One hard tug, and he’d yanked away the barrier between us. I slid onto him, yielding to his invasion. Relishing my erotic connection with him as he continued to kiss me, hungrier, quenching a need that only I could sate. I reveled in the feeling, the knowledge that it was something solely for me. As we moved in our passionate joining, my fingers pressed into his back, gripping tighter. It was as if we were ravishing each other, trying to satisfy a hunger that had erupted in us. Calm a fire that burned deep in us, ravaging our bodies. Kindling a lust that couldn’t be easily satisfied. I thrust harder against him, seeking out pleasure.
His breath beat lightly against my lips before moving to my shoulder. The heat of his body ensorcelled me. I was drawn to it as the overwhelming desire to become one with it took me over. At the height of connection, the wave wasn’t gentle but a strong, powerful, rampaging storm, and I desperately succumbed to it. Groaning as his teeth sank into my skin, he laved his tongue over the bite. Pain. Fire burned over it and slowly diminished into a comforting warmth. His lips covered mine.
I was his and he was mine.
I descended the stairs as Winter led me to a part of the house that I hadn’t known existed. We walked past the game room, down a corridor where the halls narrowed; it was clearly an addition to the house that they hadn’t bothered to invest a great deal of time or money in. We turned the corner, and I saw the area where challenges occurred. I supposed it wasn’t good to have people fighting to death or even submission in the main house or outside.
When I walked through the door, I looked around the room, and the ranked members were there. My gaze roved slowly over their faces. I didn’t see the thrill of the fight, the confidence in victory. I saw concern so deep they were unable to mask it. Fear reasserted itself and settled in my belly. I still couldn’t believe it was happening.
Josh was sunk into the corner on the very opposite side of the room trying his hardest to keep whatever he was feeling from showing on his face. He was failing miserably. I could feel Cole’s intense gaze on me but couldn’t bring myself to look at him—instead I looked around the sparse room. It reminded me of the gym where Winter and I went to the practice, particularly the section where we sparred, called the dungeon. A large room, plaster on the walls that hadn’t been painted, and a concrete floor with stains on it where harsh chemicals had been used to clean even worse substances from it.
Sebastian approached Ethan with an iridium cuff, placing it on his ankle so that he couldn’t use magic during the challenge. My heart dropped to my stomach. Even if he wanted to, using magic wasn’t going to be an option. I didn’t know it was considered cheating to use it when you were fighting for your life. Didn’t you have the right to use everything you had at your disposal?
When Sebastian turned away from Ethan, his eyes landed on me, his brows rose, and he glanced over at Ethan again. He leaned in and inhaled, his brow furrowed.
“Sky, you’ll have to step out,” he informed me gently.
“What? I�
�m not going anywhere.”
“Mates aren’t allowed to stay during a challenge.”
What? How the hell did it get out so fast? I quickly remembered Cole noticing that I didn’t have Ethan’s mark. I looked back at Ethan and glared at him. He looked away, and I tried not to get my suspicions up, but the thought crossed my mind that he could have waited for us to be mated after. Instead, he chose to do it before. Was this the reason, so I would be forced out?
Sebastian inclined his head in the direction of the door. Did he think I was going to leave? I wasn’t going to leave and didn’t care about the rules.
Ethan just stared at me, waiting for me to leave. He was going to adhere to the rules like he always did. I was sure he was happy with that rule being in place. I narrowed my eyes on him and started toward him, ignoring Sebastian calling my name. Inches from him, I didn’t want dramatic displays of emotions. He seemed so confident; I wanted desperately for me to have it as well.
“You have fifteen minutes and then I’m coming back in.”
His lips kinked into a half-smile as he leaned in. “I only need ten.”
Ethan looked in his brother’s direction and then in Sebastian’s. “Josh, too,” he said. If looks could kill Ethan would have died a thousand deaths with just one of Josh’s sharp glares. Josh’s lips drew back into a snarl that would have made any were-animal proud, but he was more compliant than I was. I was still meandering, stupidly thinking they might not push the issue if it seemed too difficult of a task. But there weren’t too many tasks they deemed too difficult to achieve.
“Is this your first time?” I asked Josh as the heavy metal door closed behind me. I leaned into it and tried to listen, but no sound came through it. Like so many of the rooms in the house, it was soundproof.
“No, but I always seem to end up on this side of it when it’s Ethan.”
As soon as ten minutes passed, I grabbed the handle and yanked at it, only to find that I was locked out. I started banging on the door, but I wondered if they could even hear me through its thickness. After a few minutes of drilling on it with my fists, I conceded.
Minutes later Cole walked out, his face covered in bruises and his lip split. His nose might have been broken—it had definitely taken some hits. He limped a little farther out, and the ache in my chest didn’t stop. It pounded harder and the room started to spin. I heard Sebastian calling my name, but I couldn’t respond or focus on it. His sharp growl as he called my name snapped me into a response. This felt wrong, surreal, and the anger hit me harder than anything I could imagine. I didn’t know who to direct it toward. Sebastian, for not making it a submission fight. He could have done it. It was in his power. Josh, for not trying harder to talk Ethan out of it. Or Ethan, with his stupid, ridiculous, and insufferable arrogance, taking his position so seriously he compromised his life.
When I didn’t move from the spot, Sebastian grabbed me by the arm and grumbled, “Come in.” How cruel was this—how callous could one be about this death, my loss?
He pulled me in and I was ready to tell him and anyone who would listen what they could do with the pack and their ridiculous primitive, barbaric, and antiquated rules. I was leaving the pack. This wasn’t the life or the world for me.
I closed my eyes for a moment, preparing for it. I just needed a moment, but I knew all the time in the world wasn’t going to prepare me.
“Why are your eyes closed?” Ethan’s voice asked. I looked around the room, which had blood splashed everywhere.
Ethan was stretched out on the floor, propped up on his elbows. Dr. Jeremy frowned at his ankle as he assessed it. Confused, I directed my attention to Sebastian for more information, but he was preoccupied with his conversation with Winter.
Okay . . . I figured the fight had been stopped, but looking at Ethan, I had no idea who had won.
I knelt next to him. “Did someone stop it?” I asked as I looked at his ankle, which was swollen and angled in an odd position. There wasn’t any doubt: it was broken, badly.
“Ethan won, and Cole is in a little hiss. He decided to leave without me looking at his injuries. Pride.” Jeremy cast a derisive look in the door’s direction and then gave Ethan the same look. “The same pride that led him to continue when he shouldn’t have.” He gave Ethan a stern look. “This isn’t going to heal right away, you know this?”
Ethan shrugged; it would heal.
“It was a submission fight?” I asked.
Ethan nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I pushed the words through gritted teeth, trying to master my anger, but it was getting difficult. For thirty minutes, I’d stood on the other side of the door wondering, scared, when I had had nothing to worry about.
“I decided at the last minute,” he admitted softly. “Actually during it, when I knew I was going to win.” I smiled inwardly. He’d done it for me, but I had a feeling this was going to be on the short list of compromises he would make.
Dr. Jeremy wiggled in between us and grumbled, “All he had to do was win a damn fight. I have to come in and work a miracle and make his ankle new again.”
Ethan smirked and gave me the look we all gave one another when Dr. Jeremy started with his “woe is me” speeches about how underappreciated he was and how excellence was always expected. We’d have to appease his ego and tell him how wonderful he was. It didn’t take much, and it had become something we’d grown to expect.
I leaned in and affectionately nudged my nose against his cheek. “You’re are the best, and if anyone can make him as good as new, it’s you.”
I didn’t expect Cole to make a big issue out of leaving, but I definitely didn’t expect him to leave in the middle of the night the day after the challenge. The bruises to his ego were just as bad as those to his body. He’d waited the day it took to heal but had refused to do it in the pack’s infirmary. Instead Dr. Jeremy had done a hotel visit. While Ethan had a broken ankle, Cole had several minor breaks: ribs and nose, and small fractures to his cheek. Injuries that would have taken humans weeks to heal from.
Being mated made Ethan more acquiescent. By more acquiescent, he was less of an ass. Less of an ass meaning he continued to ignore most of the things I said, but at least he listened quietly while smirking. Which is what he did each time I reminded him he had to stay off his feet for three days.
On the morning after Cole left, Ethan limped into the kitchen. I looked at his ankle, which had started to swell more. “Most people would have pins in their ankle and not be able to walk on the foot at all and would be reduced to getting around using a leg scooter. Dr. Jeremy recommended three days. But if you are okay with dealing with him, good luck.”
CHAPTER 23
Two days after the challenge, I slipped into the passenger side of Sebastian’s car and glanced back at Josh, who had moved to the backseat. I tried to remain calm, but seeing Josh made the situation seem worse. Ariel wanted to meet with me, and I had a feeling it wasn’t just to get to know the weird wolf with the magical ability. I was foolish to think I could start a spell like the rever tempore and it would go unnoticed. It wasn’t the type of spell that could be done without consequences—major consequences. It often resulted in a punishment that made the person who’d performed it regret that they had done it and deterred others from even considering doing it.
“She just wants to talk,” Sebastian asserted in a gentle voice. Of course she was going to say she just wanted to talk. She certainly couldn’t expect Sebastian to bring me to a meeting with an agenda of inflicting merciless pain upon me. With Sebastian’s calming reassurance, and Josh’s relaxed state, I was able to let go of some of my apprehension. But there was still a remnant of it, an ever-present nagging feeling, a reminder of what I had done and that it had consequences. It was a repeating theme with magic—it had consequences.
“How is Ethan?” Josh asked. I figured it was a distraction. He knew how is brother was, he’d seen his behavior the day before. He was being Ethan—caustic, dogmati
c, and stubborn. Dr. Jeremy had told him to stay off his ankle for a couple of days and it should be good in no time. Ethan cared to hear only the last part. For a person who was a stickler for pack rules, he had a rather casual relationship with medical ones.
“You know how he is. I guess he’s decided he really doesn’t need that leg, so he’s going to go against all medical advice and do whatever the hell he wants. I guess he obtained a medical as well as a law degree,” I retorted, having difficulty keeping the irritation out of my voice. Josh flashed me a grin. Why the hell was he so relaxed? I hoped he was high—that would explain why he wasn’t overly concerned about this meeting with Ariel and the new Creed, or his brother, who was the most annoying patient ever. Maybe London had given him information that had reassured him.
The apprehension revved back up the moment we got out of the car and went into the metaphysical store, which was a front for the witches’ headquarters. I meandered, looking at the various things on the shelves. Fidgeting with candles, perusing the small library of books of spells, and focusing on the alchemist’s and Wiccan protection stones that were near the entrance. Even the woman at the counter seemed to be irritated that I was wasting time. I didn’t recognize her as being one of the new members of the Creed.
After several more minutes of me meandering, we walked back into the main room. Ariel sat at a desk and smiled at our approach. First at Sebastian, and then she extended it in our direction.
“I’m so glad you agreed to this meeting. I will try not to take up much of your time.”
Did we really have a choice? That request had subtle undertones of “if you don’t comply, we will rain hell on your pack until you do.” I had to give it to Ariel; she was working overtime to be the new, nonthreatening face of the Creed, which made me more concerned about the amount of power we were dealing with. Once we were directly in front of the usher, she stood and came around to the front of the desk, standing before us, relaxed and personable. When she spoke, her tone and genteel manner were obviously intended to make things seem less scary. I wasn’t buying it.
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