“Wait,” Ridley interjected. “I have a question.” He waited until he had everyone’s attention before continuing. “How the hell did he bring himself back?”
No one spoke as they all pondered the new mystery. Jonas tried to remember if Phillip had any friends, but the man had been so hated by the time he was old enough to know what was going on. He couldn’t picture the sadistic asshole being close enough to anyone to trust them with that kind of power.
Jonas knew absolutely nothing about spells, incantations, or witches in general. Being mated to Nicholas, he’d learn it over time.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have a large surplus of time at the moment.
“We need to get back to Wyoming,” Varik said, breaking the silence. “I’ll be honest. I don’t know how the fuck to deal with this.
We need help, and I don’t even know who to ask.” Jonas was onboard with that plan, considering it was the only plan they had. Nicholas was staring off into space, obviously lost in his own thoughts, though. “It could have been a binding spell.”
“You mean like the way you claimed me?” That didn’t make any sense to Jonas, but what the hell did he know?
Nicholas blinked a few times as he came out of his stupor. “No, no, I don’t mean that kind of binding. The only way he could have done it was if he already had the Relegatis before he died. A witch can bind him or herself to another living creature so that as long as one lives, the other can’t be killed.”
“Does it have to be a person?” Demos asked. “Could he have bound himself to an animal?”
“A person would be better, but yes, he could have chosen an animal.”
“Moonstar.” Nicholas’s eyes rounded, but everyone else looked at Jonas as though he’d grown a second head. “It’s this white wolf that lives on the property near Nicholas’s estate. She’s solid white except for this one patch of black right on her forehead in the shape of a star.”
Nicholas pushed up from the sofa and started pacing. “She’s got to be at least twenty years old now. No one could understand how she was still alive.”
“So, what do we do now?” Ridley stood as well and crossed his arms over his chest. “Don’t even try to talk me out of this, either. You can use all the help you can get.”
Jonas had no intentions of turning down willing allies. Nicholas looked like he would argue, of course, but one look at Jonas, and he quickly pressed his lips together and nodded curtly.
“We have to find Phillip.”
“No,” Varik said with a shake of his head. “Kieran, Devlin, and the rest of the Murphys are going to find Raven and the others. I’ve got orders to get you two back to Haven.”
“They’re just going to end up getting themselves killed,” Nicholas said vehemently. “If we find Phillip, we find your friends.” Rising slowly from his seat, Jonas crossed the room to stand in front of his mate and took Nicholas’s face in both hands. For better or worse, they were in this together. He’d dedicated his life as an Enforcer, a guard, a friend, and a lover to protecting Nicholas no matter the risk to his own life. He wasn’t about to back down when the man needed him the most.
“How do we find him?”
“Go home, Jonas. This isn’t your fight.”
“You’re my mate, and I love you.” Jonas dropped his hands and squared his shoulders. “As the head of your personal guard, it’s my duty to make sure that you don’t do something stupid to get yourself killed. There’s also the little fact that you’ve been entrusted into my care by The Council until we can find a way to break the spell placed on you.”
Nicholas rolled his eyes and huffed. “The spell is broken, Jonas. You’re free of your obligations.”
“The Council doesn’t know that yet,” Jonas answered readily.
“You wouldn’t want me to end up in a cell because you slipped away from me in the middle of the night, would you?” They stared at each other for a long time, neither saying a word.
Nicholas was the first to crack, smiling crookedly, even as he groaned and pushed a hand through his ebony hair. “You’re such a manipulative little shit.”
“I go where you go. I haven’t waited all this time for you to finally see me just so you can push me away again. Whether you like it or not, we’re mates, you claimed me—kind of—and you’re stuck with me. Get used to it.”
Without warning, Nicholas grabbed him by the front of his shirt and jerked him forward into a scorching kiss that curled Jonas’s toes.
When they finally broke away to gasp for air, Nicholas rested their foreheads together and closed his eyes. “You’re a crazy son of a bitch, and I don’t deserve how much you love me.”
“I know. So, what do we do now?”
Taking a step back, Nicholas looked around the room, meeting each man’s eyes before moving on to the next. “I’m going to try a summoning charm. It will be better if we can bring Phillip to us.”
“I don’t like this.” Varik growled and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I’m sorry, man, but I get the sense that this whole magic thing isn’t really your forte.”
“Who are you calling?” Jonas asked, watching the vampire lift the phone to his ear.
“We need backup.” Varik held a hand up for silence. “Stavion? I need a witch.” There was a long pause before he spoke again. “No, not the tramp in the basement. I need some powerful hocus-pocus shit, and by the way, you owe me big for this. Do you have any idea what’s going on here?”
“Where are they going to find witches willing to help?” Ridley asked quietly, moving to stand closer to Nicholas and Jonas. “There are two covens close by, but they wouldn’t spit on you if you were on fire.”
If there was one thing Jonas had learned during his time at Haven, it was that Stavion Shogard could accomplish just about anything. “I have no doubt that we’ll have half a dozen witches here before the night is over.”
Demos drifted over to stand with them while Varik continued growling and snarling into his cell phone. “What do we know about Torren Braddock?”
“You think he’s involved?” Granted, Jonas didn’t know the man very well, but it seemed unlikely. “You don’t trust him.”
“I don’t know him well enough to trust him,” Demos said with a shrug. “It just seems a little too convenient, though. He shows up out of nowhere, doesn’t put up a fuss about following you—a virtual stranger—across the country to protect someone else he’d never even met.” Demos paused, still staring across the room at Varik. “Did you know he’s from Nevada?”
“And he just happens to go missing, along with three other men, when you get here,” Ridley said, picking up Demos’s train of thought.
“Then minutes later, Jonas and Nicholas almost get blown to bits.”
“He’s a witch,” Nicholas added, speaking slowly as though working out something in his head. “Does he have any family?” Jonas lifted both eyebrows and held his hands out to his sides.
“You’re asking me? I don’t know any more about him than you do. What does it matter?”
“It could be possible for him to get a message to a member of his family through etheric projection.”
Okay, now they weren’t even speaking the same language. Jonas was so tired of this crap. He much preferred bad guys who fought with daggers, swords, teeth, and claws. No matter how strong they were, it was something physical that Jonas could fight against. How was he supposed to fight something that he couldn’t see?
“It’s like an out-of-body experience,” Nicholas began to explain, apparently interpreting Jonas’s confusion. “It’s controlled, rather than a spontaneous act, however. Also, instead of traveling to a higher or spiritual realm, a person’s etheric body can travel among the physical world.”
Jonas threw his hands up. “I quit. This is insane, and it doesn’t make a bit of sense. If he could do that, why didn’t he send this ghost body of his when he was being held by Natalie?”
“She was drugging him.”
“So, you think Phillip is just letting him run rampant?” Jonas growled in frustration. “Right, I see that happening.”
“Why did he take them in the first place?” Demos asked. “Why didn’t he just blow the plane while everyone was there?”
“A lot of dark magic requires sacrifice.” Jonas felt his eyes widen as he gaped at Nicholas. “You mean a life for a life?”
“What?” Varik yelled into the phone. “You’re kidding!” His eyebrows drew together as he listened to whatever Stavion was telling him. Then he sighed heavily and rubbed at his face. “Okay, okay, we’re on it. I’ll call Kieran.”
They all started yelling the minute he hung up the phone.
“What?”
“What happened?”
“Who’s kidding? Why are you calling Kieran?” Varik shook his head, looking tired and agitated. “Aslan and Galen know where they are.”
Well, that brought Jonas up short. How the hell did the little squirts know anything about what was going on, let alone where the missing men were? “How?”
“Well, I guess Galen had some kind of dream. Aslan was in his room screaming like someone was trying to rip him apart and going on about a strange, glowing man in his bedroom. From the description, it sounds like Torren.” Jonas didn’t blame Aslan for screaming. He’d seen a lot of things in his long life, but a ghost in his bedroom would have freaked him out as well. “Is this that projectile vomiting of spiritual beings or whatever?”
Nicholas wasn’t amused by his description. “Etheric projection, and yes. That’s what it sounds like,” he said with glare and a growl.
“Why those two?”
Glancing over his shoulder at Demos, Jonas decided that was a reasonable question. As far as he knew, neither of them had ever met Torren. “What was Galen’s dream about?’
“He was a little hysterical, but Cassius was able to calm him down enough to get that he was dreaming about Bannon.” When Varik didn’t continue, Jonas wanted to jump across the room and shake the hell out of him. “Well?”
“They’re here in Vegas.”
“Why Aslan and Galen?” Demos repeated his earlier question.
“What do they have to do with any of this? They can’t both be psychic.” He stopped and grimaced down at the floor. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
Once again, everyone looked to Nicholas for answers.
“I’ve never met either of them. I’d guess the one who saw Torren—”
“Aslan.” Jonas interrupted to supply the name.
“Right, well my guess is Aslan is Torren’s mate. A witch’s mate has the strongest connection to him or her, even stronger than family.”
“And shifters can communicate with their mates through telepathy,” Ridley added. “If this Galen guy was sleeping, it would make sense that his mate’s communication would manifest itself as a dream.”
“Look, I don’t think it matters how they got the information.” Varik looked in danger of bursting a blood vessel. “I’m calling Kieran.”
Jonas couldn’t stop from asking the next question. “Then what?” Varik glanced at Nicholas before meeting Jonas’s eyes again.
“We’re going hunting for zombie witches.”
Chapter Ten
Pressing both palms flat against the tiles, Nicholas dropped his head and groaned as the hot water cascaded over his shoulders and down his back. Kieran and the Murphy brothers had come running when Varik called. They arrived at the Trinity Pack with a million questions—all aimed at Nicholas.
It wouldn’t be so bad if he had answers for them. His knowledge of magic was limited, and that of the darker side of the art almost nonexistent. Phillip had to be stopped before he unleashed something he couldn’t control. Nicholas just wished he wasn’t the one who had to do it.
Killing his brother once had been hard enough, not only physically but emotionally. Phillip was strong, and the magic in him powerful. He wouldn’t be an easy opponent to defeat. After their last battle, Phillip knew all of Nicholas’s weaknesses and would no doubt use those faults against him.
The shower door slid open then closed, and a warm, solid body molded around his back. “I’m sorry,” Jonas whispered around the back of his neck. “I know it’s hard. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through, but we can’t do this without you.” Nicholas dropped his head farther and groaned pathetically. “I wish I could just go back to forgetting.” A sharp smack landed on the outside of his thigh, and Nicholas jumped at the sting. Against his will, his cock perked up to take notice as well, filling and swelling between his thighs. “What the fuck, Jonas?”
“You want to go back to forgetting? You want to forget me again? I’m not going to let that happen.”
Nicholas tried to turn to face his mate, but Jonas held him by the hips, preventing the movement. “You could die because of me. Don’t you get that?” How could something that made him so happy also rip his heart out? All he’d ever wanted was to be with Jonas. His coven, his leadership, the status and prestige handed down to him—none of it mattered.
His heart had been alive and his spirit free when he’d recited the words that would bind them together. It had taken only seconds for his world to come crashing down when he’d realized what he’d done, though. How could he have been so stupid, so selfish?
“Well, I’m not dead yet,” Jonas said offhandedly. “There’s a good chance that we will all be dead within the next twenty-four hours. I’ve lived a long life, Nicky. I’ve seen a lot of things and met some interesting people.” His lips stretched into a grin against Nicholas’s neck. “I finally got you to admit how you feel about me. I’m not afraid of dying.”
Nicholas squeezed his eyes closed and swallowed down the lump in his throat. “I’m not going to let you die.”
“Well, I don’t want to die, but it’s not the end of the world.” Jonas chuckled, but Nicholas found nothing humorous about the situation. “It would be the end of mine.”
“Stop it,” Jonas chastised. “I’m always going to be with you. I meant what I said. I won’t let you forget me, not ever.” His soft lips whispered up the side of Nicholas’s neck, and he sucked the sensitive skin into his mouth before scraping his teeth over it. “Actually, I’d be okay if you forget everything except me…at least for now.” Strong hands stroked down his back and over his hips, pulling a deep groan and involuntary shiver from Nicholas. He’d be happy to go on forgetting everything but Jonas for the rest of his days. Their problems wouldn’t simply disappear just because he refused to think about them, though.
“Let go,” Jonas whispered into his ear. “It’s okay, Nicky. I’m not going to let you fall. Let go, and I’ll catch you.” Thick arms wrapped around his waist and held him tight as Jonas nuzzled his cheek against the back of his neck. His lover’s hard cock nestled along the crease of his ass, and those long fingers began pinching and tugging at his nipples.
Once the pebbled buds were tortured and throbbing, Jonas glided one hand down Nicholas’s chest, over his tightening abs, and palmed his straining erection. From tip to base, Jonas stroked him slowly, contracting and relaxing his grip in rhythmic waves along Nicholas’s pulsing cock.
“Jonas.” It was the most he could get out before the moan rose up in his throat and spilled from his panting lips. Rocking back and forth, he pumped his hard length through his mate’s grasp as the water beat down over them.
Jonas’s other hand slid up his throat and cupped his chin, turning his head roughly to the side. Their mouths crashed together, and Nicholas’s growl echoed off the tiled walls of the shower stall.
Reaching over his head, he wound his arm around the back of Jonas’s neck and held him in place as he attacked his mouth with a burning hunger.
His lust-hazed brain vaguely registered the release of his jaw and snick of a bottle cap. Too lost in the feel of Jonas’s tongue sliding against his, and the hand wrapped around his aching cock, Nicholas didn’t have enough brain cells left over to feel nervous.
When Jonas’s digits pushed between his ass cheeks and began rubbing slow circles around his hole, instead of tensing and moving away, Nicholas arched his hips and pushed back against Jonas’s hand.
They continued to duel in a battle of lips and tongues, and the line that separated them began to blur until Nicholas didn’t know where he ended and Jonas began. When his lover’s finger breached his opening, pushing in slowly and gently, the small pinch of pain only heightened his pleasure and desire.
Jerking out of the kiss, he dropped his head back to Jonas’s shoulder and panted, praying that his wobbly legs would hold him up for just a bit longer. That long finger pumped in and out of his hole, stroking him from the inside out and making his world tilt on its axis.
“Mmm, you like that,” Jonas murmured to him, his voice sexy and confident. “You’re going to love this.” A second finger pushed in beside the first, clear to the second knuckle, and then…
“Oh, my, God!” Nicholas bucked and shuddered as lights exploded behind his closed eyes. “Do that again.” Jonas chuckled breathlessly before nipping at Nicholas’s jaw.
“One more,” he rasped a moment later when a third finger joined the others. “One more, and then I’ll send you around the world.” Nicholas would go anywhere Jonas wanted to lead him. Humping back and forth between the fingers pumping into his hole and the tight grip on his cock, Nicholas’s belly clenched, and electric currents sizzled up his spine.
Though the alpha in him rebelled at such a submissive act, Nicholas couldn’t deny the need any longer. Tilting his head to the side, he bared his throat and bowed his back, lifting his ass higher in offering. “Fuck me, Jonas. Fuck me and claim me.”
* * * *
The words were music to his ears. Before he knew what was happening, his fangs exploded through his gums, throbbing painfully as his mouth watered and his eyes locked onto the pulsing vein in Nicholas’s neck.
Haven 3: Forgotten Sins Page 8