by Evie Wilde
“Cass,” Braeden said again, and I looked at him, his mouth not moving.
I opened my eyes to see the guys standing around me, Braeden still saying my name. “You okay?” Braeden asked.
I looked at each of the guys and smiled, glancing at each crotch, remembering my dream.
Ruby giggled and returned to her seat. The guys looked questioningly at each other. Ruby glanced back at me and smiled.
An hour after leaving the academy the train pulled into the train station, and we rented a van to the hotel. The ride over was filled with innuendos and immature comments about sleeping arrangements. I had to take the good with the childish sometimes with the guys.
The guys entered the hotel, and I hung back with Aurelius. “Tell me this wasn’t your idea to bring me here,” I said. “I can’t believe Braeden allowed this.”
Aurelius put his arm around my shoulders. “This absolutely wasn’t my idea, Cassandra. The guys asked, and I merely agreed to come along.”
“So, you know how close we are to the guild?” I asked. “I'd tried to push the thought of returning from my mind.” I momentarily thought about my little dream while napping. What if I hadn’t woken up? The whole thing made me smile.
“We still thought it was a good idea,” Aurelius said. “I’ll let the boys explain further. I’m in need of a nap.”
I stood by my suitcase alone and closed my eyes, picking up a not so good vibe. My old guild was close, and I could feel a similar heaviness to the one I felt when Ren trapped us in his alternate reality. I looked in the direction of the guild where it sat a few miles away and noticed a dark cloud hanging over the area. The vibe made my skin crawl and the hairs stood on the back of my neck.
“You okay?” Dash asked as he approached from the hotel. “The others are waiting?
“Who thought this was a good idea?”
Dash shrugged. “All of us.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll be there in a minute. Can you have Oliver come out for a second? He looked at me strangely and then nodded.
I sat on the bench along the walk to the front entrance, a dread still forming in my gut.
“Hey, what’s up?” Oliver asked. “Dash said you needed me.”
“Is that wishful thinking?” I asked jokingly.
“Always.”
“You know my old guild is just a few miles down the road?” I asked and put my hand on his thigh.
“I’m used to it now, you know?”
“I’m glad,” I said and moved my hand up. “Oh!”
“Was this your idea? To bring me up here and be this close to the guild?”
“We all agreed it was a good idea?”
“Including Braeden?”
“All of us,” he said.
“Dash and Braeden are looking for you,” Kyler said to Oliver. He eyed my hand and shifted his gaze to mine. I left my hand where it was.
Oliver scooted from beneath my hand. “See you in a bit.”
Kyler sat next to me, and we both looked at the dark skies above the guild. “I’m not sure how you guys thought this was a good idea.” I turned to him. “You know what happened there.”
He put his hand on my knee, and I moved closer to him. “We didn’t exactly come here for a break,” he said.
“So I suspected,” I said. “Why did we come here?”
“We discussed the four of us coming alone, but then decided we couldn’t let you out of our sight.” He pointed in the direction of the guild. “Don’t forget what he did to that place and to those people. Ren may not have cast the spell, but he sure as hell didn’t stop it.” He gently squeezed my knee and pressed his shoulder against mine. ‘We have some information suggesting Ren may be close.”
“So we’re here to follow up on that lead?”
I looked to my left at the small group exiting the hotel: Dash, Braeden and Oliver joined by Ruby Nicolette, and Sonny. My suspicions about Sonny had grown, and I wasn’t about to give him a pass for being an innocent bystander. I still felt like he was hiding something.
“Hey, Cassandra,” Nicolette said.
I ignored Nicolette and glared at Sonny. “I need to talk to you for a moment.” I stood and grabbed Sonny’s arm and pulled him away from the others.
“You’re hurting my arm,” he said and tried to pull away, unable to break my grasp.
“You had something to do with this little vacation, didn’t you?”
“Whoa,” he said as he backed away. I released his arm. “I was just helping Kyler out.” He looked at the others and then back at me. He scowled, and I knew something was bothering him. It was me.
I poked him in the chest and took a stepped forward, standing inches from his face. “What?” I said. “Wait. You don’t like our arrangement, do you?” He started to reply but stopped when I moved even closer.
“Cassandra, it’s okay,” Dash said.
“Let me be very clear about this,” I said slowly. “I don’t care what you or anybody else thinks about our group dynamic. It’s nobody’s business, including you.” I turned away but then stopped. “Let me be clear about something else, Sonny. If you so much as harm them in any way, or cause them to be harmed, you’ll have to deal with me.”
Sonny’s eyes grew wide, and then he smiled. “Understood.” He looked over at Kyler. “She’s got spunk.”
“Enough,” Aurelius said and stepped between us. “This is supposed to be a vacation, not a fight. All the rooms are ready, and I need a nap.” Aurelius followed us into the hotel and stopped us at the elevator. He handed us each a slip of paper.
I looked at the address on the paper, and the dread that had been growing in my gut consumed the rest of my body. Braeden glanced at me, his skin eggshell-white.
“We’ll meet there tomorrow morning,” Aurelius said and stepped onto the elevator. The door closed, and we each looked at the other.
“It’ll be okay,” I told Braeden. “We knew we’d have to go back eventually. Just remember, we have sworn to avenge what happened.”
Braeden nodded and followed the others onto the elevator.
So much for a relaxing vacation.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Cassandra
The next morning, we loaded into the van without Aurelius and headed toward the guild, my stomach turning in knots. I fought hard not to throw up, images of what I might find in that place crowding my mind. I’d managed to repress the need to revisit the guild since the day we were told of its destruction. I knew I couldn’t handle the horrific scene we might find.
I glanced at Braeden several times to find him staring out the window, his mind obviously wondering what awaited us. We’d heard the rumors, of course. Total destruction. Nothing but ash. He said the day we found out about the destruction, he went back to his dorm and cried well into the early morning hours. He said, and I felt the same way, that part of his soul died with the guild. He also swore to me, as did I to him, one day we would take vengeance on Edius for destroying all that we loved. Of course, it all bothered me but, I sensed the destruction still eating away at Braeden’s soul. The sooner we found Edius and did what needed to be done, the sooner we could move past the continual hurt.
The scenery to the guild looked all too familiar; the trees and rolling fields brought back great memories. I considered asking to stop by my old house, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to see someone else living there. I’d sold it shortly after the guild met its devastation. I knew I could never live there again.
We passed Walton’s Ice Cream and Soda store, a small business Braeden and I often went for ice cream. They had three picnic tables out front, and it was nothing for Braeden and I to hang out there and talk late into the evenings. I glanced at Braeden and noticed him look back at the store. He then turned and offered me a half-hearted smile. I wasn’t sure we could handle seeing the guild.
“You okay?” Dash asked. We sat in the very back of the van, holding hands. He knew it was going to be hard on us. He knew I would need a shoulder to
cry on.
Dash and I met early this morning for breakfast, leaving the others behind in the room as they snored. We talked about our relationship, agreeing it was in a good place. He brought up the fact we were sharing a room, four guys and me. The conversation was a bit awkward at first. But then Dash set me at ease, saying they would be gentle with me. I wanted to say there was a part of me that didn’t want them to be gentle, that I really enjoyed the rough stuff Dash and I had experienced. But I let that go and said I would really like for us to take our little reverse harem in that direction.
Dash laughed at the phrase I used and asked me to explain exactly what it meant. I explained, and he seemed to have an ah-ha moment. He stated the harem usually worked for men, and he had never considered it working for a woman, until now. He said it was all pretty awesome. That the guys enjoyed making me happy, and they loved to see me smile, and naked. In the end, we decided to hold off the group sex until another time as we were both afraid seeing the guild was going to kill any and all sexual mood.
Kyler joined us for breakfast, but he still seemed to be bothered by something. He wasn’t about to share, and I didn’t want to press him in front of Dash. I had to respect the guys being guys.
“I can’t image what we’re going to find,” I said and squeezed Dash’s hand. “I’m just glad I’ve got you guys to help us through it.”
“When you hurt we hurt,” Oliver said. “Whatever we can do to make this easier then that’s what we’ll do.”
“You really think we’re going to find Ren at a burned-out building?” I asked.
“No,” Oliver said. “But Aurelius thinks training there will ignite the group. Bring us even closer together. He thinks it will be a reminder of why we’re training in the first place.”
“Seems like the magic world is placing a lot of responsibility at our feet,” I said.
“Bring it on,” Braeden said. The closer we got to the guild the more anxiety and anger he felt.
We pulled through the open gates, and the guild was just as we’d heard. Kyler stopped close to the concrete stairs leading up to the building that once was. Braeden looked back at me.
“You okay?” he asked.
I nodded. “It doesn’t seem real,” I said. “Knowing Ren isn’t the man I thought he was makes this place seem as fake as him.” I shrugged. “It’s hard to explain.”
Braeden opened the van door and took my hand as I stepped out. “It’s going to be okay.”
Although most of the guild was gone, there were separate sections still intact. We walked around the rubble for a few minutes, nobody saying a word. Sometimes you just had to quietly take things in, in order to come to terms with what happened.
“We should begin,” Aurelius said, appearing from the forest surrounding the guild. He stepped to the center of the guild and, using magic, drew a pentagram in the ash covering the concrete foundation. “Both Edius and Ren are very powerful wizards, which means it will take a group effort to reverse a hex so powerful.”
“Why couldn’t we do this at the academy when the poisoning occurred?” Braeden asked. “We were all there.”
“We weren’t,” Oliver said. “You and Dash were too sick to help. It took us all to defeat Challis, and it’ll be the same for Ren and Edius.”
“He’s correct,” Aurelius said. “Show me your hands.”
We held out our hands, and Aurelius did the same. He looked at each of us and waited.
“The rings you gave us,” I said.
“Correct,” he said. “The rings are a conduit for you to share your magic. It’ll create a single source of power.”
Aurelius’ words sounded strange, and as I looked into his eyes, I saw something dark pass by. Not an evilness, but hopelessness, as if he was giving up on life. I let it go for the moment.
“The spell needs to start with one person, then the others,” Aurelius said. He moved back and cast a poisonous cloud hex, the puffy cotton-like object the size of a house. It floated to the left of the guild. “The cloud will slowly make its way toward us. It’ll take the combination of your magic to make it go away.”
“What’s the counter spell?” Oliver asked.
“Dissipato alarto,” he said. “Try it.”
Dash stepped forward not waiting, stepping toward the cloud. “Dissipato alarto!”
The cloud shook and wavered, but only moved closer. Aurelius shook his head in disappointment.
“You have to work as a team,” Aurelius said. “This is not an individual effort!”
Dash looked at me and then at Aurelius. “Sorry, dude, just trying to help.”
“Let’s do it again,” I said. “I’ll begin.” I nodded at each of the guys. Oliver seemed to be the only one trying, Braeden obviously preoccupied by our surroundings. I completely understood.
We held out our fists containing the finger with the ring. I repeated the spell and heard Dash, Oliver, and Braeden do the same. Kyler withdrew his hand and stepped away.
“Why’d you stop?” I asked Kyler.
“This is bullshit. There’s other ways to do this than with some stupid ring.” He shook his head and walked away toward the trees. I started after him, but Braeden grabbed my wrist.
“Let him go,” Braeden said.
Kyler shifted into a wolf before disappearing into the trees.
“All this shit has his mind jacked up,” Dash said. “The hexes, the poisoning, Sonny; it’s all weighing on him. Let him work it out. He’s told me when he’s running around the forest as a wolf it’s much easier to think.”
Aurelius let out a loud sigh. “Meet back here in two hours,” he said. “I’m going to rest.”
“Well this turned out well,” Oliver said and headed to the van. “I’m taking a nap.”
“I got back seat,” Dash said and followed Oliver.
“Let’s take a walk,” I said to Braeden, and the two of us left the burned-out remains of the main guild building. The small campus was littered with smaller buildings, including one of the magic ritual chambers we used while at the guild.
“Seems like one thing after another,” Braeden said as when stopped in front of the ritual building. “Every time I think we’re one cohesive group, something happens.”
“We need to focus on the good things,” I said and held his hand. “Like this place.” I led Braeden inside.
“Wow,” Braeden said. “It’s untouched.”
The building was a perfect twenty-by-twenty foot square. In the middle of the floor was a large pentagram, and large wax splotches marked each tip of the design. Eight windows lined the walls, the stained-glass colorful and bright. The building had no furniture as visitors were required to either stand or sit on the floor. We took a seat on the pentagram.
“What’re you doing?” Braeden asked when I waved my wand in the air.
I called out a simple hex Oliver had taught me from one of the books he’d read, and everything calmed.
“You going to tell me what you just did?” Braeden asked.
“A positive hex spell,” I said. “It lets us talk freely without any inhibitions.”
“Like the fact I love you and think you’re the most awesome woman on the planet?”
I giggled and nodded. “Something like that.”
Braeden looked around the room, and I could tell he was reliving some of the memories we had in the chamber. “They did a pretty good job of cleaning up out there,” he said, and I nodded.
“My initiation into the guild was done in this chamber,” I said. “Ren performed the ceremony.” I still couldn’t call him a guildmaster. “I think that’s when I really knew.”
“Knew what?” Braeden asked.
“That someday you and I would be more than just friends,” I said and leaned toward him, our kiss slow and gentle.
Braeden placed his hand against my face and softly stroked my skin, the warmth of his hand overpowering. He pulled away for a moment. “Even when we were kids I knew the time would come,” he sa
id. “We were always meant to be.” He moved his lips back to mine, and my body began to lie back. Braeden moved over me, his hands roaming, his mouth exploring.
His lips were both warm and wet against my neck, my fingers combing through his hair, my eyes closed, the darkness driving me toward ecstasy.
My shirt rose, and his lips pressed against my stomach, his tongue licking, heading down, and then down some more. My breathing was heavy as his fingers found the waistband of my pants. I slid my hand over my breasts, my nipples hard and wanting to be freed.
Braeden said my name and mumbled something else. His hand pushed my bra toward my neck. He kissed my crotch and let his face linger there for a moment before pulling my pants down my legs. I stole a glance at him and found him staring at my pussy, studying me. I watched his tongue drop between my legs and then watched it rise between my lips, spreading them apart as he found my juicy clit. I wanted his dick. I wanted to taste him.
I slid from beneath Braeden and moved him to his back, undoing his pants and pulling them off, his hard cock flopping with the freedom. I kissed him hard, maybe harder than I should have. “I want to try something new,” I said.
Braeden smiled. “I’m all for trying new things with you, Cass,” he said seductively, his thick voice melting my soul.
I faced away and straddled his face, hearing the word, “fuck” escape his lips. And then I felt his mouth on me. I drove back against his face, pressing his head back to the floor. Lowering my stomach to his, the heat between us intensified. I wrapped my hand around the base of his cock and squeezed, making Braeden squirm.
I took a deep breath, fighting back the oncoming orgasm and failing miserably. My pussy shook against Braeden’s face, his nose pressing between my ass cheeks. As soon as I regained my composure, I slid the head of his cock into my mouth and clamped my lips around the rim, my saliva covering him. I moaned and felt the vibration in my hand at the base of his cock.
Despite the movements of my hand and the warmth of my mouth, Braeden continued his assault. I moved my hand up and down in small twists, the rim of his cock stretching my lips as I pulled him in and out. I made love to it, to him, losing myself in my need to please him.