by Apryl Baker
“Al, you are not turning our kitchen into a witch’s brewery.” Jason closes the cabinet he’d been being nosy in. “Seriously, this is nuts. Where do you guys put food?”
“What are you talking about?” Saidie scoots in behind us and starts looking through the cabinets. “This was full of food and plates last night…Bree!”
“My family dropped some stuff off today while you were out. As soon as they discovered we had a problem, they sent in supplies.”
“How did they know?” Micah’s tone is mild, but suspicion ripples through it.
“Because we have friends spread throughout the families,” Bree explains patiently. “Once they knew Alex’s magic was awake, extraction teams were assembled and sent out to retrieve her. My grandfather sent supplies and reinforcements as soon as he got the phone call.”
“But why?” Jason levels his attention on Bree, making her squirm. “Why would you align yourselves with us? There aren’t that many left in my family. Why not take what everyone else wants? What makes your family so different?”
“Because my family isn’t about taking power. We don’t need to. We’re just as strong as your uncle.”
Neither Micah nor Jason looks like they quite believe her. After listening to my uncle’s story, I’m not so sure I do either, but Luka trusts her. I can give her the benefit of the doubt, I guess.
“So what are we supposed to do?” I ask. “I mean, we can’t just hide inside. We’ve got class, and Jase has to go to football practice.”
“You will stay with me.”
Jason rounds on Luka. “The hell she is.”
“My place is warded, strong magic. No one will get to her there. I can protect her too, if they break through my defenses in a way you can’t. I will let no harm come to munya. I swear it.”
The struggle on Jason’s face is as comical as the shock must be on mine. Did he really just demand I move in with him? Oh, God, oh God, oh God. I can’t move in with Luka. I have enough issues fantasizing about him. Put me in the same room with him, alone, and there’s no way I’ll resist. Do I really want to, though? And what about Jason? Does Luka expect me to leave my brother alone and vulnerable? Hell, no.
“Over my dead body.” The steel in Jason’s voice alarms me.
“I’m not leaving my brother alone, Luka. I appreciate the offer, but if I go, then he’s defenseless. His magic hasn’t woken up yet.”
“They care nothing about him, munya. As you say, his gifts are sleeping. Yours are not. They want you.”
“But don’t you think they’d use my brother to get to me?” Luka himself told me they’d used his family against him and his mother. He’d seen them die at the hands of his enemies for that very reason.
“I did no consider.” Luka frowns.
“Jason can come stay with the pack.” Micah stands up. “We were going to suggest he come stay with us until his first shift anyway. Alex should stay with Luka for her own protection. Bree is here to help in case of magical emergency. It’s the right solution, Jason, and you know it.”
My brother wants to argue. His mouth opens and closes like an angry little fish, but there is no argument to stand up against Micah’s reasoning. My stomach jumps like a thousand tiny butterflies are trying to escape when Jason’s shoulders sag in defeat.
Oh my God.
I’ll be staying with Luka…alone.
Chapter
Nineteen
Luka’s apartment is not what I expected. He’s dark and brooding, and so I assumed his apartment would mimic that. Boy, was I ever wrong. Luka chuckles at my gasp of delight as he sets down my bags. I’d brought quite a bit with me since I wasn’t sure when I’d be able to leave. Jason glowered the entire time I packed, but what could he say? Nothing. He knows this is the right solution, even if he doesn’t agree with it.
This place is so opposite the Luka I know. I twirl, taking it all in at once. The walls are painted a soft blue, reminding me of a cloudless summer sky. Plush, multicolored rugs conceal the dirty, dingy carpet. Gold throw pillows decorate the semi-white sofa. It’s seen better days, but Luka’s scrubbed it as clean as he could get it. There are bright beads strung along the entrance of the hallway leading to the bedroom and bathroom. It’s something I did when I was a little girl, but here, it doesn’t seem girly. It seems right, natural. I remember reading Gypsies adored bright and shiny. Luka’s apartment is certainly that.
“What do you think, munya?” He sounds hesitant, unsure of my response. Again so unlike him…wait, he’s nervous?
My last spin brings me face to face with Luka. He is nervous! The man is shifting from foot to foot, his arms behind his back. He’s looking anywhere but at me. I can’t suppress the grin covering my face. Here I was all in pieces about being here and what it would mean, when he’s in worse shape than I am.
“I love it.” Going over to him, I pull his head down and let my lips brush his. “It’s beautiful.”
A lazy smile appears and his arms go around me. “Mmmm…kisses from my schatzi. What more could I ask for?”
“Yours, huh? When did we agree on this?”
His hold tightens and his face goes dark and wild. “You are mine, Alexandria, mine to claim, mine to protect.”
“Yours to claim?”
The possessiveness in his expression warms places in my soul that I had no idea were buried in ice. “I claim you, Alexandria Nicolette Blackburne.”
“Why did you call me that?”
“Is your name, munya, the one you will keep for always.”
“No, my name is Reed.”
He smiles. “Your father, his name is Reed, but you are Blackburne. Names are powerful, munya. Blackburne is most powerful. Do no hide from it. Embrace it.”
I’m not prepared for the depth of his kiss when his lips capture mine. Emotions flood me—pain, longing, joy. I can feel the depth of his pain and his grief. All of this has to have brought back the nightmares of his family dying in front of him. He needs me, and for the first time in my life, I surrender everything to someone else.
Luka swings me up in his arms and carries me to his bedroom. His eyes are full of fire and need when he puts me down. “Do no fear me, Alexandria. I will no hurt you.” He brushes my lips with his thumb. “I promise to cherish you, protect you, and give you everything in my power to give you.”
My breath catches. It sounds like he’s saying vows, wedding vows. He’s so sincere. No one has ever looked at me like he does, with tenderness and a fierce protectiveness bordering on possession.
Kisses land on my eyelids and sweep down the side of my face. “I promise to keep you safe, to be your grancha, your protector.” His lips wander lazily down my skin to the small hollow between my neck and shoulder. “I promise to make you happy, Alexandria.”
He finds the bottom edge of my t-shirt and pulls it up and over my head. “Kurstie.”
“What did you just call me?” I screech, pulling away from him. He did not just call me another woman’s name!
He laughs, a full-on belly laugh. “Kurstie. It mean beautiful.”
“Then say beautiful.” The glare I shoot at him would send a sane man running, but Luka just gives me his lazy smile. Ohh, that man makes me want to hit him.
“You are beautiful, munya.” He takes my face in his hands and kisses me gently. “Beautiful inside too. Promise me only one thing.”
“What?” His kisses always distract me, even when I’m fuming. He knows that too. Sneaky man.
“To be mine, Alexandria. Only mine. Promise me.”
What he’s asking for sounds permanent. I want to say no. It’s on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t force the words out. I try, and it feels like someone is trying to stab me in the heart. I’ve only known him for a few weeks, but it doesn’t feel that way. I suspected I was falling in love with him, and looking into those velvety emerald eyes, full of heat, I realize I’m not falling. I already fell.
But I’m not telling him that. Not yet.
�
��Say it, Alexandria.” His voice is hard, demanding. “Say the word.”
That strange sensation I’d noticed earlier comes over me, and I open my mouth and blurt out what I was fighting to not say. To hold back the words is impossible. “Yours, Luka. I’m yours.”
The fierceness in his expression is scary, but tugs at my heart. He is everything I ever dreamed of, even if he is an arrogant, cocky man.
A shudder runs through me when his mouth covers my skin. His tongue trails a wet path down my shoulder. My bra hits the floor and I stumble a little, his mouth closing over one taut nipple. We’re walking backward, his tongue teasing my nipple, and the cry that is pulled from me is part shock at falling, part pleasure when his teeth bite down on the overly sensitive nub. He pulls at it and another low moan is ripped from me. God, where did he learn to use that mouth of his?
Sanity leaves me and my flesh turns into an inferno as his wonderful mouth kisses its way down my body, removing clothes as he goes. Somehow, my jeans disappear without my realizing it. His kisses drive me a little mad, his heated naked flesh meets mine and it feels like I’m in an inferno. We’d both shed our clothes amidst all the fire he churned up within me.
“Munya?”
“Hmm?” My back arches when his fingers find the heart of me. Oh, sweet mercy. Those fingers are as talented as his lips, maybe more so.
“Are you a virgin?” My body quivers when his fingers begin to explore. The sensation he’s causing is so erotic I can’t breathe, let alone talk. I shake my head. It’s all I can manage.
His forehead touches mine and I look up into his eyes. They are dark pools of need and desire. I hear the faint sound of something tearing, and he shifts. Condom. My foggy brain realizes what it is the minute he enters me.
“Mine, Alexandria.”
“Yours, Luka.”
After that, there isn’t any more talking. Just the sensations building within us both, growing more intense with each movement of our bodies. He laces our fingers together, his eyes never leaving mine. I can see the promise of forever in them.
When release hits, it takes us both by surprise. It rolls through me like the tides hitting the rocks at night, brutal but beautiful. Luka collapses on me, his face buried in the crook of my neck. Our breathing is hard and labored and he’s squashing me, but I wouldn’t ask him to move for all the world.
“May wo eve tu.”
My sleepy brain barely registers the words as I drift away, content for the first time in nine years.
***
Rain. I feel it wash over my skin, cleansing me. The thick paste of wet earth squishes between my bare toes. The smell of the leaves and damp earth mingles around me, comforting me. Even though it is a cold rain, I feel warm. The wind gently blows at me, a reassuring caress. I am at peace as I walk through the darkness.
Whispers. They are everywhere, calling to me. I keep putting one foot in front of the other and ignore the need to turn and run to them. Eyes wait for me in the trees ahead, and I walk on, aware of their watchful presence. They give me the strength I need to move forward.
I step out of the trees and into a meadow. It is neither raining nor cloudy in this little haven. The moon shines full and bright in its glory upon my bare flesh. I hold out my hands and raise them upward.
The howls surround me, urging me on.
I start to shift my stance to do what I need to do when I catch the scent. My nose flares at the familiar wrongness of it. It steals through me and shatters my peace.
He is standing at the edge of the meadow, watching me.
Angry chocolate eyes glare their accusation.
The wolves raise their voices in challenge.
Power flows out from him and silences them.
I feel it pour over me, trying to force me down onto my knees.
Pain lashes my body, my mind fills with images of blood and death. I start to shake with the effort it costs me to hold my stance.
“You will not taint your blood.” His voice cracks over my sensitive flesh, tearing at it. Blood flows from the lacerations he’d inflicted with just his voice.
No, he will not do this to me in my woods. He is not supposed to be here.
I snarl a low warning as he pushes more power into me.
He smiles at the challenge and whispers one word.
“Mine.”
His power cuts through me, into my wolf. She screams in pain and howls with rage. He did something to her, to us. I cry out, feeling it.
He reaches for me.
My head hits the floor, and I wake up gasping for air. I’m breathing hard, and the old familiar fear steals over me. Who is this man stalking my dreams?
It’s just a dream, I remind myself.
But are they really just dreams?
Have they ever been just dreams?
I don’t know.
Chapter Twenty
It’s been a week since Luka hid me away in his apartment. Not that we haven’t had fun, mind you. We’ve had lots of fun learning each other’s touch, but I’m going stir crazy. Sure, I go to classes, but someone is always there when I get out to escort me to my next one. I feel like a prisoner. Luka slipped out earlier to attend to something, warning me not to leave the house. Seriously, he should know by now that I do not like being told what to do.
Saidie answers on the first ring. “Hey, Alex! Didn’t think you’d come out of the sex pit for another week at least.”
I feel my face heat, but I laugh it off. Truthfully, if Luka hadn’t gone out, we’d still be in bed. “I’m going out of my mind cooped up here.”
“Come on over. I was getting ready to binge watch Supernatural. We both need to get up to speed on the things that go bump in the night.”
“Supernatural?” What in the world is that?
“Oh. My. God. You don’t know who Dean Winchester is?”
“Uh, no. Locked up in a nuthouse, remember?”
“Pfft, they don’t have TVs there?”
“Nope, not that we were allowed to watch recreationally, unless it was some kind of non-violent show.” Wait, I do remember Saidie mentioning Dean and Supernatural the other day. I just have never even seen it advertised on TV.
“Get yourself down here. Might as well drag on your pajamas. I have mine on for the binging. Thank God for Netflix. We’ll start on episode one so you can get as addicted as the rest of us.”
“‘Kay. I will see you in about ten minutes. Just let me change and send Luka a text. He’ll freak if he comes home and I’m not here.”
“Mmhmmm…Luka. I can just imagine.”
“Keep those thoughts to yourself or I will have to beat you bloody.” I laugh, but I hear the bite in my voice. My wolf doesn’t like anyone talking about Luka any more than I do, and when she decides to come out and play, I end up nervous and on edge the rest of the night.
“Keep your panties on,” Saidie tells me. “I don’t want him. He’s too broody for me. Now get yourself down here.”
I send Luka a short text as soon as I hang up with Saidie that I’ll be at her apartment watching movies. Luka doesn’t own a TV, and even though I’d spent almost nine years without one, I’ve gotten used to having one since I came home. I’m in withdrawal.
Five minutes later, I knock on her door. She opens it dressed in the cutest pink Hello Kitty pajamas. Mine are SpongeBob. I love SpongeBob, no matter how ridiculous I might seem. Saidie pulls me into a hug, and I get the feeling she’s in need of company more than I am.
Once we are settled on the couch with drinks, popcorn, and fuzzy throws, she pulls up Supernatural on Netflix. “I can’t believe you haven’t seen this show. It’s like a classic.”
“You okay?” I ask before she can hit play on the first episode.
“Sure, why wouldn’t I be okay?” She gives me this way too chipper smile.
“Because you just found out everything you thought was stories is true? I know how I felt when I learned the truth. Scared Jason and Uncle Sabien to death. I was in shock a
nd kept thinking of mutant bunnies.”
“Mutant bunnies?” Saidie quirks an eyebrow at me. “Why would you think of mutant bunnies?”
“Because I lost my mind a little. I know it’s not easy dealing with all this. I mean, I spent almost nine years in a mental facility because I couldn’t deal with what I saw when I was little.”
“That had to be weird, coming from there to going to college.”
“It still is,” I confess. “I struggle every day being around people I don’t know and trying to act normal. Sometimes I freak out if I even think someone gets too close. All I wanted was to be free of that place, and there have been times over the last couple weeks I’d give anything to be back there. It was safe, if nothing else.”
“How do you cope?” She leans forward, filching a bag of Doritos off the table.
“Jason, mostly. He believes in me and supports me. If he didn’t have faith I could do this, I’d probably still be in Compton or transferred to an adult facility. I’m a lot better than I was, even more so than when they released me. Learning I wasn’t crazy, that the things in my nightmares were real, helped. It gave me confidence in my own sanity, I guess. Compton left scars on me, though, scars that will never go away, but I’m getting better.”
“It all seems so surreal. I tried to talk to my mom about Nanna’s stories, but she refused to even discuss it. There was this wild look in her eyes. She said to never bring up that nonsense again.”
“You’re not evil, Saidie.”
“For now.” She repeats Luka’s words from the other day. “I Googled it. Necromancers, according to our faithful search engine, are evil monsters who raise zombies and use them to exact revenge, get what they want. I don’t want to be like that, Alex.”
“Then you won’t be.”
“But what if Luka’s right and I can’t help it? I’m scared, Alex.”
“Hey, now, you’ve got the monster squad around to keep you from going to the dark side. You can’t let fear of what-if take over your life. Evil is a choice, Saidie. No matter what, you have to choose to be that way. You’re not the kind of person to choose it. You love your family, your friends. You’re a good person, and that’s what’s going to keep you from going all Darth Vader on us.”