To Tame A Wild Heart: A Zyne Witch Urban Fantasy Romance (Zyne Legacy Romance Book 1)

by Gwen Mitchell

  Worst of all, despite the cost to both of them, she couldn’t bring herself to regret a second of it.

  Corvin’s teasing caress became more insistent, and soon she was swept up with him again, writhing back and forth between the pressure of his hand in front and his hardness behind her. The room filled with fog, and her world narrowed down to the slickness of their skin, the memory of watching him groan out her name in this very spot, the tenacity of his clever fingers as they found just the right spot, pressure, and rhythm.

  “You came so good for me,” he rumbled. “So hot and wet. So good, baby. Even better than I imagined.”

  She whimpered as she started to come again on his fingers. He removed them, and she panicked for a single heartbeat, until his hot length was stretching and filling her from behind.

  She gasped in surprised pleasure. He held her together as she broke apart around him, barely able to stand on her shaky legs. Then he positioned her forearms against the wall and grabbed her hips to thrust so deep she cried out. He pounded into her over and over. There was a new urgency to it, as if he couldn’t be deep enough, close enough.

  Her tears fell freely under the rawness of his desire. This was so good, and he would never know.

  He came against her back, leaning over her and resting his head on her shoulder as he caught his breath.

  A new kind of panic took hold of her, not wanting him to sense her sadness. She held her breath, swallowing the tears down. Then she felt dizzy—the steamy air was too close.

  “Hey,” Corvin said gently, turning her around to face him. His dark hair was plastered to his face and neck, and his eyes were serious. “Are you okay? Was I too rough?”

  She forced out a laugh, edgy and frantic. “I’m good. I mean…that was nice.”

  One side of his mouth quirked. “Just nice? You seemed to enjoy it pretty thoroughly.”

  She finished rinsing off and stepped out, taking a slow, calming breath as she wrapped herself in a towel. “Fine, if you must know, on a scale of one to ten, that was a fifteen.”

  He followed her into the living room, tying a towel around his hips. Water still clung to his naked chest as he relaxed into his favorite chair, and she had to give herself a mental shake to keep from licking the beads from his skin. Instead she kept her hands busy building a fire in the stove.

  “I’ll look forward to breaking my own record, then. I can do that, you know.” He snapped his fingers, and the pile of kindling she’d stacked burst into steady flames. “Come here.”

  She pulled her towel tighter and perched on the arm of his chair.

  “I hope you know I’m going to want to do that again,” he said, rubbing her arm. “Soon. And often.”

  She twisted her lips into what she hoped passed as a smile as she handed him his whisky glass. “Then I’ll just have to drink you under the table so I can get some sleep.”

  He studied the bottle on the side table, turning it so the crystal etchings caught the firelight, then frowned. “By the way, where did you get this?”

  She shrugged. “What’s it matter?”

  “This is my mother’s, from her private collection.”

  “And?”

  “She has it shipped from a Zyne distillery in Ireland. It’s very expensive.”

  Audrey reached for her glass, sniffed it, and made a face. “Smells like alcohol to me.”

  “Why did you take this one, then? There were plenty of bottles in the pantry. Easier to get to, and less likely to bear consequences.”

  She shrugged. “I like to give the middle finger to the authorities whenever I can.”

  He lifted his glass in a mock toast. “You like to play with fire.”

  “Sometimes.” She clinked their glasses together. “Though I have to admit, your mother scares me a little.”

  “You would be foolish if she didn’t.” He paused to sniff, the glass hovering so close to his lips.

  Her throat went dry, and nervous heat flooded her body, making her sweat. Could he smell the potion? What if he caught her?

  Would that be a totally bad thing?

  She watched those soft lips that had just caressed every part of her body, and had to fight the urge to knock the glass from his hand.

  Corvin closed his eyes and hummed his approval of the aroma. “If I’d realized what I was drinking earlier, I would have taken my time enjoying it. I’ve always thought about nabbing one of these. To giving the middle finger.” He smiled and raised his glass in another salute, then took a large sip.

  She watched in frozen horror as the smile slipped from his face, replaced by a quizzical expression. Then he slumped back in the chair and looked up at her with eyes gone glassy.

  “Audrey…” His eyelids drooped, and his head fell back. “What have you done?”

  She let the tears she’d been holding back finally break loose as she caressed his face one last time. “What I had to. Just like always.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Lilly had thought she would never wake up from her nightmare. The voices in her head had scratched and scratched until she couldn’t remember what thoughts were her own. Her brain had become a train station of misery and despair that didn’t belong to her. And that had been when the doctor wasn’t around. She didn’t want to think about when he came.

  At least now she was alone. Her room was small and bare, but it was hers. Guards came and went to bring her meals and fresh clothes. The rest of her time was so quiet. She could finally feed and dress herself. And she could speak and hear only her own voice.

  Sleeping was harder. She’d wake up sweaty and screaming, thinking she was still strapped to that cold, hard table with her jaw wired shut. Then she’d have to count the scabs to remind herself there were no more needles, no more wires.

  Sometimes she would cry for her mother, because she was getting harder and harder to remember. And other times she would think of Audrey. When all the voices had overwhelmed her, one voice had always been the loudest, and it was because Lilly could tell they were the same.

  She liked Audrey. She was funny and tough. She cursed a lot, but only when she was mad. Lilly missed Audrey’s voice. It had been like having a friend. A friend who had promised she was coming back for her.

  She was drawing a picture of what she thought Audrey looked like. She’d only seen her eyes that once. The ones she drew were pretty, but she couldn’t get them right—she didn’t have the right color blue.

  The door to her room beeped, and Lilly frowned at the clock. It wasn’t dinnertime yet. Maybe they had brought her more books to read. She tucked the drawing under her pillow and sat cross-legged on her bed. When the door opened, it wasn’t her normal guard, Charlie—the nice one who’d snuck her the books and coloring paper. It wasn’t the mean-faced one either. She didn’t know his name, because he was strong enough to block her out of his mind.

  Instead, a tall, thin woman slipped into her room and let the door close quietly behind her. She looked like a Barbie doll, with long, straight blond hair down her back and shiny black shoes. Except for her eye patch and the stern look on her face.

  Maybe a pirate Barbie.

  Lilly giggled to herself and tucked her face to her knees as she stared at the woman, and the woman stared back with her good eye. Her light blue eye was almost the same color as…

  Would you like to see your friend Audrey again, little one? the woman said without moving her lips.

  Lilly gasped. You are like me.

  She bowed her head, smiling slightly. I am.

  She was much prettier when she smiled. Oops, you can hear me, can’t you?

  The lady smiled again and sat down on the bed beside her. It’s all right.

  Do you know where Audrey is?

  No, but I know that she will come for you.

  She will?

  She promised, didn’t she?

  Yes.

  Then I’m sure she will come. All you have to do is keep wishing for it. Keep reaching out for her. I can help y
ou, teach you how to reach out farther than you ever have before. And I can teach you how to block out the voices that you don’t want to hear. Would you like that?

  “Yes!” Lilly said, her chest bursting with excitement. But her brow furrowed as she thought of what Audrey would say—not to trust anyone. That everyone wants something from you. “But why would you help me?”

  Sorry, she said, tucking her face into her knees again.

  No, you are wise to ask. Because I made a promise as well. Let me tell you a story. About two little girls, sisters…

  Chapter Sixteen

  The moon hid behind a shroud of thick clouds. Normally, the cover of darkness would be an advantage, but when those hunting her had supernatural senses and she didn’t, all the night did was hinder Audrey’s progress. She’d been tromping through the thick undergrowth, crisscrossing streams, and vaulting decaying fallen logs for a good forty minutes when she heard the first howl. It had been distant, coming from the direction of the fortress.

  She’d done her best to cover her scent tracks but had no idea if it would buy her much time. She was more worried about the Hohlwen. She didn’t know how close they had to be to hone in on her energy signature.

  There were a lot of unknowns in this half-cracked plan of hers, but she’d discovered two things so far. One, the spell blocking her magic only extended a few miles from the fortress. And two, the food at the Arcanum and her daily exercise had gotten her in the best shape of her life.

  She hadn’t stopped or slowed down since she’d first slipped into the woods from the tower, and she was barely out of breath. Though she’d used her power several times to fade ahead—especially uphill—her magic was still fully charged, thanks to the impending full moon. When she’d first felt her connection to the Conduit surge to life, she’d laughed at the sheer joy of being unrestrained. For a few minutes, as she ran through the forest, she’d felt more free than at any other time in her life.

  Nothing could stop her now. No one could hurt her. No one could even touch her. Though regret at what she’d done to Corvin tried to weigh her down, every leap, every flex of magic reminded her of what had been taken against her will. Now it was hers, and she wouldn’t give it up again without a fight.

  In the meadow with him, she’d started to imagine what life could be like if Corvin came with her, if she didn’t have to be alone. But despite her efforts to point out the Synod’s flaws, he’d stubbornly clung to his cloistered life and archaic ideals. Audrey refused to be broken, and Corvin was already yoked. She poured her frustration at that unfairness into every pump of her legs.

  As she crested a hill she’d been charging up, there was another howl much closer.

  “Damn it.” She wiped the sweat from her eyes. She couldn’t see much, just the watercolor outlines of trees in every direction, except for a patch of open sky dead ahead. Audrey doubled her climbing pace as the terrain got rockier and sparser. Wild things scuttled away, startled by her sudden appearance, but the forest was surprisingly quiet otherwise.

  She gave a mental tug on her powers, just to make sure she was ready if she happened to run into a bear or a cougar or something. That would be just her luck. The rocks she was scaling grew larger, and the paths between them steeper. She could no longer see anything below but treetops swaying in the wind, which was also gusting stronger the higher she climbed.

  What if you can’t find a way down?

  She was beginning to feel like a cat getting chased up a tree. She concentrated on a ledge fifteen feet up, gathered her magic, and faded there. From the top looking down, the jump gave her vertigo. She swallowed back a wave of nausea.

  Another howl, too muffled by the forest below to judge distance or direction. Hopefully the mountain climbing would slow them down. After all, wolves weren’t built for mountain terrain. They couldn’t leap tall boulders with a single thought the way she could.

  As she neared the summit, the path straightened, and she could run outright. Her legs finally started to burn. She pulled the straps of her bag tight and ran full tilt, leaping over anything darker than the bone grey dirt. She was moonlight and wind, and though her heart was pounding fiercely and her breath was sawing in and out, she felt like she could run like that forever.

  Then she heard it—not a howl, but the huffing of breath and the thumping of giant paws closing in.

  Much closer than she’d thought. Without turning to look, Audrey cut left into smoother terrain so she could sprint faster. She wanted to go west, but she’d get down the mountain to the south and work her way around if it meant losing the tail.

  She faltered and nearly slipped down a giant crevasse, but her powers kicked in instinctually, and she found herself faded safely to the other side. Though she didn’t sense their presence, she scanned the sky for Hohlwen. She felt far too exposed.

  A howl sounded from right over her shoulder; several more echoed on all sides. They’d already surrounded her?

  No.

  This was her only shot to save Lilly and herself. The Synod would never let her go free after this! If the wolves didn’t tear her apart first. Fire ate at the bottom of her lungs, and blood pounded in her ears. She didn’t dare look back, but she cast an energy blast over her shoulder.

  There was a yelp, and then a tree shuddered and creaked, but the chorus of huffing and growls only got louder. She could nearly feel the wolf’s breath on her neck.

  She tossed a few more blasts in random directions and heard another crash in the trees. She juked right just as one of the massive beasts lunged at where ankles had been. She blasted him right in the face, and he tumbled back down the hill with a pained whimper.

  Audrey started fading, first to one side, then the other in a zig-zag pattern. As fast as she could think, she flitted up the mountainside. Sweat poured into her eyes whenever she paused to catch her breath and rain energy blasts behind her, but the combination of adrenaline and the nearly full moon kept her magical battery at a seemingly endless charge.

  Still, they stayed right on her heels.

  She faded another twenty feet just as a wolf broke through the trees and came up beside her. He was massive—five feet at the shoulder, solid muscle and thick black fur. His white fangs gleamed, and the unnatural glow in his eyes flashed as he narrowed the gap between them with long, graceful strides.

  He gave a long, low howl. Others answered from behind, sounding farther away.

  The leader of the pack dodged a shower of energy blasts. One caught him in the shoulder, and he fell out of her peripheral vision.

  She turned up the juice and ran so hard she felt like she was flying. Ahead, there was a break in the already sparse trees. Without thinking, she closed her eyes and pictured herself there. She materialized in the clearing…only to find herself in midair, falling. She snatched at a tree root on the way down and caught herself, though her shoulder and knees slammed into the cliffside. A cascade of rock chunks slid off the ledge and rained down on her. One hit her square in the face, and she almost let go. The strap of her makeshift bag broke, the contents skipping along the crags into the dark abyss of the ravine below.

  Audrey was able to wedge one foot into a crevice of the nearly sheer rock face, but just as she shifted her weight, the root she was holding onto slipped loose. She sucked in a breath to scream, and suddenly she was dangling by her wrist, held in a vice-tight grip. She looked up to see Roderic’s stern face. His normally grey eyes glowed with golden flames.

  He gritted his teeth as he slowly lifted her with one of his giant, tattooed arms. When she was high enough to throw her leg over the edge of the outcropping, she climbed the rest of the way on her own, but his hand remained a manacle around her wrist. She felt a tingle of magic as he wrapped some spell around her before letting go.

  She lay on the ground with her eyes closed, willing her heart to calm before it exploded. She was boiling hot, and a sheen of sweat covered her skin, which now puckered in goosebumps in the cool night air. She’d run for her l
ife before, but never with a magical turbo-boost like that. She already knew, but Audrey tried to summon an energy ball in her hand and felt nothing but a faint sputter of magic. As usual, she was totally and completely screwed.

  And, as usual, the best thing to do is keep your mouth shut.

  She sat up and found herself face to snout with three giant wolves, their teeth bared and hackles up. She scuttled backwards and bumped into Roderic, shirtless and bleeding from a jagged gash in his shoulder with scorch marks at the edges.

  Had she done that? She expected a wave of guilt, but the adrenaline flooding her system was keeping her numb to all emotions.

  Roderic climbed to his feet and spoke in some guttural language she didn’t recognize, probably demon. The wolves bowed their heads, then trotted off into the night. He grabbed Audrey under the arms and set her on her feet like she weighed nothing. Though she refused to look at him, he inspected her body, then turned her face one way and the other.

  “Are you all right?”

  She shook her head and flinched away.

  He sighed. In the blink of an eye, he had a shirt on and was holding a blanket out to her. She let him wrap it around her shoulders but did nothing to stop it from sliding to the ground.

  What now, genius?

  “Can you walk?”

  She nodded.

  “After you, then.”

  With the foreboding guard over her shoulder, reeking of unspoken disappointment, she trudged back down the hill. Though the consequences of getting caught had entered her mind before, she hadn’t had time to consider all of them. It was a no or go situation. She either went for it, or not, consequences be damned. In times like that, it’s better not to think about them too hard. Now that the answer was no, she had no choice but to face them. She had failed Lilly, betrayed Corvin, and would most likely loser her powers and memories now. Life had gone from complicated to grim in a few short hours. She should be used to it by now, but this time it really fucking stung.