Charming the Alphas (Hex My Heart, #5)

by Talina Perkins

  Marabelle turned and walked back to the bedchamber, the train of her sheet in tow. Stacked on a chair by the bed, she found her clothing folded and her boots set to the side. A new sweater replaced the ripped one and a note sat atop in Lucian’s writing and ended with Zane’s signature at the bottom that simply read Wait for us in smooth black ink.

  Those two never did anything without the other. Her presence in their life served as proof of that. Both worked hard to make her feel loved and protected.

  She’d done a royal job of screwing all of that up tonight. How did she repay their kindness and love? Hades on fire, what kind of mate material did that make her? She put them in the middle of death’s path with her actions. Wasn’t that the opposite of what a mate did? She closed her eyes and bit at her lip to stave off a wash of curses better left tucked away in the back of her mind. Several deep breaths later she unclenched her hands and made quick work of slipping back into her jeans and sweater but left the boots off for now.

  Both Lucian and Zane wanted a forever with her. After tonight, they probably thought they’d made it out lucky. And could she blame them? Lightly she ran her fingertips over each bite mark on either side of her neck. She didn’t know why they’d bitten her. Within a couple of days the partial claim they had on her would fade into nothing. After that, they could return to their lives and be free of her insane life. Before they could leave though, she owed them an explanation and a thank you for saving her life. For however long it may last.

  What she knew in the way of werewolves didn’t amount to much. The magickal laws that bound them to their mates were a mystery for the most part. She did know one thing from the last few months of being with Lucian and Zane. Werewolves claimed with their bite and hot, sticky, kinky all-nighter sex that you felt for days. So the mated females of her men’s pack said. From the smiles on their faces, she had no reason not to believe them. That had her heart kicking up a notch and soft heat skimming along her chest.

  Without both, she wasn’t fully claimed. At this point, the trouble she stirred up would reap some nasty repercussions. Putting them in the middle of it could didn’t seem fair. She had to think of their pack too. Tonight’s small showdown would escalate and affect them all.

  Marabelle rubbed her temples. Most of what the healer had said went unheard as she slipped in and out of consciousness, but a few words whispered along the back of her mind. If they didn’t fully claim her soon, the magick of the dragons that played tug of war with hers would build until eventually she’d go crazy or it would rip her to shreds.

  Neither option sounded fun, but her options were limited. When mating became a forced subject, they had no business getting mated no matter how much she loved them and wanted them in her life. Despite what the healer had said there had to be another answer.

  Determination pushed aside the inkling of fear that wanted to take root in the pit of her stomach. Someone had answers and she wouldn’t find them sitting around in a sheet with fantasies of a happy family life or woulda shouldas. She couldn’t shake the feeling that Obsidian knew more about her father than he let on. Her father’s death a little while before she lost her powers to the High Council burned a hole in her gut, but what could a lowly witch do in the eyes of Royalty? Maybe, with the help of the dragons, all that could change and something good could come out of her losing her magick.

  Inklings of words from the healer broke through the fog. Marabelle closed her eyes and focused, when the low hum in her head kicked into a steady pounding again.

  Think Mara. The room had been spinning in loops. That much she remembered. Her stomach still felt uneasy. The old lady had placed her hands somewhere on her a few seconds before a liquid had been forced down her throat.

  That wasn’t all. Her eyes sprang open. “Of course.” The healer chanted something over her in the same language as the spell Marabelle had performed back at her cabin. Maybe the healer could shed some light on why the dragon’s blood potion had failed earlier.

  And why in holy Hades could she talk to dragons now?

  “You look beautiful with such marvel and wonder in your eyes. Or is that mischief and plotting giving you that glow? Should I be worried or prepare to slay whatever sorrow that’s stealing such beauty from you, baby girl?” Lucian’s husky voice played with her senses and stroked along her sweet spot. It was currently buried beneath a mountain of guilt, but the man had a set of vocals on him that made her wet no matter what he said. How he did it with a mere inflection of his tone? Not a clue, but she loved it all the same.

  Heat fused their gazes together as she turned to him, and the fire he stroked to life every time they were close caught momentum as it always did a second before he stepped from the shadows. Crimson red penetrated the once rich brown of his irises. Despite trying to work up some level of anger only love surfaced, and gratitude. He drifted closer and she matched him step for step.

  “Tell me what’s wrong?”

  Everything fell under that category. Listing it all wouldn’t help unless he found a way to help turn off her emotions. Life needed a freaking on-off switch. And a pause button.

  She stiffened her spine and let out a deep sigh that ruffled the hair framing her face.

  “You should know no harm will find you while we’re here. Unless you’re counting Zane and me. We plan to use every wicked trick in the book on you until you tell us everything that happened tonight.” Lucian cocked a brow and continued, unaware of her warring emotions his words stirred up. He leaned in and lowered his voice to whisper close to her ear, his hand pressed to the back of her head to draw her closer. She followed his lead. If only for one more moment with him.

  “God, we thought we lost you. The drive back from Hope Ridge was the fucking loneliest eighty miles I’ve ever driven.” Thick with fear, his voice cracked and his arm tightened a little more.

  She tilted her head back and kept her eyes open as he lowered his lips to hers leisurely. If she thought denying him would be hard, it would be totally impossible with him looking down at her with so much love. As if she would break, he brushed a soft kiss over hers, his fingers working into her thick hair.

  Tears threatened to show at the tenderness her enforcer showered her with, but she forced solid steel into her weak resolve. No one said it would be easy to disconnect her heart and let her men go. Oh, goddesses look away, woman. Why could she never listen to her own advice! Instead she parted her lips in anticipation as Lucian peered down at her with ruby red eyes framed in thick black lashes. Damn, were those her knees trembling? She placed her hands on his chest to steady herself and felt the strong beat of his heart.

  Do it, woman, she mentally slapped herself. Or else they could get hurt in a way there wouldn’t be any coming back from.

  Breathy, she forced herself to speak. “Luc, this can’t...” A sudden bow of his head and a sweep of his tongue along her lower lip and nothing else mattered. An energy she’d never felt before zinged to life inside her. Before she could stop herself, Marabelle wound her arms around his neck, carried forward by an invisible force exposed in the golden shadows of the room that wrapped them within a protective cocoon.

  Drifting closer still, their bodies melded together as if they were made for the other. Pressed together from hips to shoulders, her nipples stiffened behind the confines of her bra and for a moment, she wished she’d never found her clothing or left the warm confines of the bed.

  Her tongue darted out and slid over his in a sensual tease.

  Marabelle nearly melted on contact. Fierce, possessive need took hold within her as Lucian fisted her hair and pulled her mouth fully over his. Did he feel the pull too? The uncontrollable need to possess?

  The warm, claiming caress of his tongue along hers sent a burst of heat to skim along her nerves and left a lingering taste of bittersweet citrus in her mouth. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered about that.

  Her sex clenched and throbbed with need and everything fell to the wayside. His body, her
need and the tight coil in her core demanded she satisfy the urge he created within her.

  His hand fell from the lengths of her hair and caressed down the slope of her back until he cupped her bottom in a firm grasp. Liquid dampened her panties and a growl of appreciation rumbled up his chest as the scent hit the air.

  “Don’t even try to deny it, baby girl. There’s no way you’re slipping from our grasp now that we have you right where you belong.”

  She sucked back a gasp. How’d he know?

  It didn’t matter. Nothing did. Hades on fire. Not when the steel length of his erection pressed against her lower midriff and nearly had her melting into a puddle of need at his feet. Both were dressed, but it didn’t matter. She could feel every engorged ridge of his confined cock beneath the rough denim of his jeans.

  “You’re beautiful when you’re flushed and horny.” His voice dipped to a low hum and he teased her with a smile. He glanced the back of his knuckles across her overheated cheek and a familiar heat bloomed in her core to spread through her body like wildfire fueled with magick. Light surrounded them as a warm colored glow lit her skin. Like she said, wildfire and magick.

  “What’s going on, Lucian? What’s happening to me? To us?” Her gaze danced between her hands and him.

  “I don’t have all the answers for you, baby, but I do know we’ll take care of you. Your home is with me and with Zane. As long as you let us in, you’ll be safe.”

  Three thumps of her heart and not a vein in her body lacked the wave of lust that hit her.

  “And loved in every way your body can take us.”

  Before she could think, a deep moan slipped from her and that’s all the invitation he needed. With one hand on her bottom, he had her hauled up his body and had her legs wrapped around his middle. They let the moment carry them, and she loved how her body molded with his from to V of her sex all the way to their lips, never breaking contact.

  A sudden pinch sparked a different kind of fire and spread out from her neck until it had her pulling back. What the hell? “Stop... Lucian.” She broke their kiss. Something wasn’t right.

  Lucian grew tense beneath her. “Mara, what’s wrong? Are you worried about Zane? He went to get some food. Should be back soon.”

  She pressed a hand to her throat. “That’s not it.” She swallowed hard. Was it his mark that burned or Zane’s? The heat grew and sizzled along the tender flesh of her neck until she couldn’t tell which side burned more.

  “ARGH. We shouldn’t. I’m so sorry.” Stupid! She was so stupid letting herself get carried away in her emotions. In the rush of lust important details were shoved aside. They needed to clear their heads and find answers that would help them all out of the mess she’d created.

  Her mistakes had almost cost them their lives once already. She wasn’t about to force them to do something that could put them in harm’s way again. What if the chaos inside her spread to them when they tried to complete the mating? Then what?

  A spark of fear lit his eyes. “Ahh. I can see your beautiful mind working, but it’s not that easy, baby girl. You’re feeling our bond and wanting to complete the mating ritual. And the dragon’s blood is fighting it and your magick, I presume. God, I wish I could take the pain from you, give you firm answers but all I know right now is that we’re not leaving this room until we’re a family. Permitting you still want us.”

  Honestly, that scared her and excited her.

  Lucian nuzzled her neck and placed butterfly kisses along the slope of her shoulder and along her jaw. “I can smell your need for me. For us, Mara.” She closed her eyes, titled her head and let his words brush against her skin as he spoke. “Tell me how can we help?”

  You’ve already done so much. Lucian and Zane were her greatest weakness. Could she let them be her greatest strength? From what she understood, they’d been forced to bite her to save her. More than any of that, both men held high positions within their pack and she was a witch. Their shared history turned bloody once and cost thousands of lives. What was to say it wouldn’t happen again if the High Council wanted to twist tonight’s truth to their favor?

  Her brows pinched together. What a freaking mess. They’d taken more from her tonight—her job and now her home. Nothing survived the blaze left in their wake so the spell book was toast and all her childhood memories were ash by now.

  “Your home is with us. Let us help you make new memories, Marabelle.”

  She flinched and drew back to look into his eyes. “That makes twice you’ve done that. How?”

  “When we marked you, your emotions connected to ours. It’s not a complete bond yet where you’ll be able to read our thoughts, but if you settle your mind enough you’ll feel us too.”

  That deserved some thought and time to mull over for a while. More than she had right now, though.

  He lowered her slowly to the floor but didn’t release her from his embrace. “And I can see the hurt in your eyes. Any mate could read the pain. I know how much you lost again tonight because of them, but if you let us we’ll help you build a life full of happiness again.”

  She wanted that and he made it sound so easy. Maybe it was and she was over-thinking all of it as usual.

  “It will all be over soon. We’ll bury it under orgasm after orgasm until there’s no pain left. Just toe curling pleasure. Your screams will be something entire different after tonight. That’s a promise” He slid a finger beneath her chin. “Everything else, baby girl, will come one step at a time and we’ll figure this all out.”

  Liquid slipped from her channel. Could she come from words alone? She so wanted to try right now. Every syllable he uttered acted like a stroke to her clit. Her lips parted and Marabelle took a deep breath to recover from the overload of emotions. “Tonight,” she took half a step back and cleared her throat, “um, right before I drank the potion, I heard you or maybe it was Zane in wolf form outside the cabin. I almost didn’t go through with the spellwork.” She fingered the soft material of his over shirt and let her gaze glide over the way it hugged his chest and arms. “But I had to try.” She pulled her hands from him and let them fall to her sides as she looked into his eyes. “I hope you can forgive me. Maybe understand why I had to do it. I also owe Zane an apology and now—”

  “Shhh... you don’t owe me or Zane an apology. You should know anything you need we’re there to back you up.”

  She gave a half smile. “Is Zane mad?”

  “Not at you, but he will be sick to his stomach when I tell him what you just told me.”

  Her brows furrowed together in confusion.

  “Mara, it wasn’t us outside your cabin.”

  “Then who was it? The High Council?”

  “In a way, but let’s wait for Zane.”

  She nodded. “Good idea.”

  Lucian palmed her hands, replaced them on his chest and inclined his head in a way that told her he wanted something. “There’s something else you’re not telling me.” She gave him a mock look of innocence. “Fireballs and wood chippings ring a bell?” HA. So he was after details about her extracurricular activities. She swallowed. A girl needed her secrets.

  “Make no mistake, baby girl, we will talk.” His tone brooked no misunderstanding with the way he slowly pronounced his last words.

  She worked her mouth a couple of times. “That sounds like a threat.”

  “A loaded one with as many spankings as your perfectly plump ass can handle if you ever put yourself in danger again and don’t call in backup.”

  Remorse replaced a fraction of her resolve to remain tight-lipped. She’d hurt him and Zane. “No promises, but I like—” Low rumbled voices cut off her train of thought and she stopped mid-word. Turning around, she expected someone to be standing at the door. Hoping for Zane, she found no one. “Like getting into trouble...” she half mumbled over more voices. Male. No wait. “Do you hear that?” She spun around again. It was a gargled voice like a lazy summer stream over river rocks but distinctly female f
rom the pitch. She turned back to Lucian and stumbled slightly.

  “Easy, Mara. You’re still weak and growing weaker. The healer said you’d have a hard time tuning them out at first.”

  “Who?”

  “Our new friends.” He nodded toward the outer hall she assumed led to where their hosts were located.

  “Here, drink this.”

  “The dragons? Is that who I hear?” She thought that had been part of the crazy warped dreams she had after swigging back ancient magic. He nodded.

  “Where were you? Hell, where are we?”

  “Dragon’s lair.”

  “Got that.” She angled her head and shot him a pointed look. “I mean where?” Dancing sky lights and stars didn’t exactly give her locations on a map.

  “Beyond the rainbow and this side of Chicago is my best bet.” He shrugged with a small laugh. “At last check there’s no cell reception, and I didn’t spot a landline anywhere along my route to the mess hall.”

  Luc held up a crystal glass. “Now drink this. It’ll help.”

  He tipped the large glass to her lips while he steadied her with his other hand. Cool water quenched the back of her throat and she took several more gulps.

  “Goddesses yes! That was like sex in a tall glass. Hades on fire...” She pressed a hand to her mouth to hide a smile and half a groan from the pain.

  A creak of wood from across the room brought their gazes around. “I’d like to think we’re better than a simple glass of cold water.” Zane strolled across the threshold, performing a delicate balancing act of what looked like a week’s worth of food. He threw her a hurt look and feigned a bruised ego from the small smile that played at the corner of his lips. The telltale sign always gave him away, but that little secret was hers to keep.

  “Thought you got lost.” Lucian tucked her back into his front with an arm wound around her waist.

  It felt right. Safe. And honestly, she didn’t want to break the contact either, but it was time for answers. Now that Zane had returned, she could get down to digging for what they knew.