by R. A. Boyd
Paige nodded, brought Audra’s hand up, kissed the back like the woman had done to her, and said, “That all sounds good. Except for the diddling. I don’t give it up on the first date.”
Audra shrugged. “Eh, it’s okay. But first thing’s first. We need to break the spell and my mate is going to tell us how.”
Even though everything in her mind was telling her to run like hell, Paige followed the woman into the shop. She didn’t even balk as Audra locked the door behind them. As the lock slid into place, Paige glanced over at Aiden and stilled. His eyes were glowing a bright green and the tension around him was almost palpable.
Aiden and his large booted feet walked toward her. A frenzy of butterflies erupted all through her body. She wanted nothing more than to hop on and diddle him, as Audra put it, and at the same time run far away from him. She wasn’t meant for a mate. Mates were bad. They took control and didn’t let you go.
Dang-it. She hadn’t always felt that way. Had she?
“Can I have your necklace?” Aiden asked, taking slow steps toward her. His velvety baritone whispered along her skin, a caress that comforted and frightened her at the same time. “Zeke is going to free you of that spell.”
She tried to reach up and take it off, but it seemed as if weights had attached themselves to her arms hold her at bay. “I can’t.” She swallowed hard and felt tears falling down her face. Why was she crying? “You’re going to have to do it.”
He nodded and took a few more steps toward her as if he were afraid he would scare her off. If Audra didn’t have such a steely grip on her hand, she just may have escaped from the shop.
The closer he got to her, the more she had to fight to keep still and not run. When he was finally only a few inches away, his green eyes looked down into hers. The calmness and sympathy there did something to Paige and she breathed a sigh of relief at his closeness.
Some part of Paige had always known something was wrong with her. She’d never used to be this nervous, this unsure of herself. She was afraid of the Ghost shifters. All the reasons she should be afraid were there in her head like a script playing over and over, but it wasn’t how she felt. She reacted to those thoughts but always knew something was wrong.
Aiden’s hands reached up to her neck and she noticed his tattoos. A skull was on his left hand, and dark inky waves made their way up into the sleeves of his sky blue, long sleeved shirt. Another skull, this one smiling with red ink flowing from its eyes, nose, and mouth, leered down at her from his neck. She wanted to lean forward and kiss the mouth of the tattoo.
A jolt of energy shot through her body as his large hands touched the clasp of her necklace, and she reached up and grabbed the acorn. She wasn’t supposed to take it off. Not ever. Her mother had left it to her.
No. That was just another part of the script that had been written across her brain.
“It’s okay,” Aiden said, soothing her.
“Okay,” she said, her voice wavering as her breaths increased.
She could feel him unlocking the clasp as if it were part of her skin. Paige fought the mental anguish beating down on her from the thought of being separated from the special gift she’d been given by Poppa Sam from her mother. He’d said it had belonged to her mother, her mother’s mother, and so on. She’d always worn it with pride.
Paige gasped and leaned forward as Aiden pulled the necklace away from her, but Audra held tight to her hand to keep her back.
She watched as Aiden reached behind him and handed the gift over to the man who stood next to the counter.
“Is it done?” Aiden asked, still staring at her.
The brilliant light of her eyes changing back and forth reflected across his face, but not even the beauty of this man that was destined to be hers could pull her attention from the necklace. She could feel it moving away from her as if it were calling her name to demand attention.
“Give it back,” she whispered, fighting to focus on Aiden’s touch as his fingers lightly rested on the curve of her shoulders. “It’s- it’s mine.”
She said the words but she didn’t feel them. They were wrong. They were lies.
As if her body had been dumped into the pit of a frozen lake, Paige began to shiver and her teeth clacked together in a constant click-click-click that reverberated through her head. She needed that necklace. Poppa Sam would be so mad at her.
“Paige,” Aiden said, bringing her attention back to him. “Look at me. You’re going to have to fight until Zeke breaks its hold on you. Zeke,” he said, eyes still trained on her. He released his grip from one of her shoulders and ran his thumb under her nose. “How long, man? Something’s wrong. Her nose is bleeding.”
It was so cold. So hot. God, her body was tearing itself apart. That had to be the only reason she felt like this. Pinpricks of pain shot along her nerves and her heart pounded in her head so hard she had to concentrate to hear Audra’s words through the beating.
“Don’t you want to be my new sister, Baby Bird?” Audra asked, dread threading through her voice. The woman was scared for her.
Paige cut her gaze to Audra and nodded. She did want that. For some crazy reason, she wanted to be Audra’s friend so badly. But most of all, she wanted to experience Aiden. She used to fantasize what it would be like to have a mate. She didn’t hate the pairings of mates. Those were someone else’s words.
“Help. Us. Please.” Paige’s words punched through her lips. No. Not Paige’s words. It was her animal who had been calling out to Aiden for help.
That was it. Her animal had been crying out for so long. When was the last time she shifted?
“Please,” Paige said. The taste of blood crested in the back of her throat and when she coughed, red speckles covered Aiden’s shirt.
“You have to fight, Paige,” he said, holding on to her face and forcing her to look at him. “Zeke?”
“Titanium quartz.” Zeke’s voice sounded like he’d struck gold. “Shit.” No longer gold. Now he sounded as if he’d walked into a steaming pile of cow dung.
As Zeke began to speak in a language that sounded like Latin, the periphery of Paige’s vision started to darken and collapse inward. She was falling. Her legs gave out and she tried to brace herself for the stiffness of the hard floor but instead, she started flying.
She was flying and engulfed by the most wonderful scent of pine, cloves, and manly deodorant. Aiden. If she was going to die, this was the way to go.
In the arms of the man who’d told her to fight to live. Her mate.
Chapter 5
“Just don’t leave out of the room. Audra and I will bring you everything you need until I can completely break it. Don’t let her leave. She may not make it.”
With her eyes closed, Paige laid in bed, listening to Aiden talk to his sister and Zeke. She wanted to open her eyes and talk with them but her silly eyelids wouldn’t follow directions. Well, her body was going to have to perk up sooner rather than later. She had to pee.
“You’ve got plenty of space,” Audra said. “Just tell her she might die if she leaves the room. It’s the truth. That should keep her pretty ass in here.”
“I heard that,” Paige said, her voice groggy like she hadn’t uttered a single word in years. She licked her lips and tasted blood in her mouth. Ew. “Water. May I have water, please?”
Oh, everything hurt. Her toes, her head, her everything. Even peeling her eyelids open brought on a wave of discomfort and nausea. She reached up to touch her necklace, and everything came rushing back.
“Don’t go! My godfather, the evil bastard, is trying to kill you.” She brought her hands up to her head and squeezed for dear life as the memories of what had happened to her came back, flooding her senses like the putrid aroma of rotting meat. “He’s bad. And he’s not human. He’s so strong.”
Paige’s stomach lurched, and as she started to throw up Aiden was at her side with a trashcan. He held her hair back from her face as everything she’d eaten today, blood mixed with
it, came pouring out of her mouth.
“Shh,” Aiden said, rubbing small circles between her shoulders. Warmth radiated from his touch, making her feel more relaxed. Less like barfing. “It’s okay. You need to rest.”
Rest? Was he insane? If she was correct and didn’t have her dates mixed up, Poppa Sam had been holding her hostage inside her own mind for the better part of a year. They didn’t have time.
“Aiden,” she said as he laid her back on the bed. “You don’t understand. We have to do something. He’s evil. And powerful.”
He gave her a sad smile and kissed her forehead, and man-oh-man was that kiss heavenly. It did something to her insides that would have brought her to her knees if she weren’t already laying down.
“It’s okay, Paige,” he said, bringing the covers up. He took a bottle of water and put a straw in it, urging her to drink. “We’ll fix it.”
“Besides, Baby Bird,” Audra said, pointing at a white substance that lined the walls of the room. “You can’t leave this hotel room until my mate destroys this little acorn here. Cross that salt line and you’ll be back where you were a few hours ago, gurgling on your own blood and trying not to die. That nasty little pendant your Poppa Sam gave you was killing you. And we need to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Poppa Sam was bad, but was he really bad enough to try and kill her if she took off the pendant and broke the spell? Well apparently, he was.
“Why would he do that to me?” Paige asked as she looked upward, the large gold and silver ceiling fan erupting from the smoothness of the beige paint. “Why am I crying? I don’t feel like I should be crying.”
She reached up and wiped away the wetness that leaked from her eyes. Was she mad? Heck yes she was. But she didn’t feel like crying. She felt like hitting and punching.
“It’s the memories,” Zeke said from the doorway. “They’ll be scratching at you as the memories he tried to suppress start to come through. This little charm packed quite the punch.” He held up the shimmering acorn and Paige flinched away from it. “There’s a compulsion spell, repression spell, and a shift-dampening spell all wrapped up into one little murdering acorn charm. If it was almost anything else but titanium quartz I may have been able to break the spell already. It’s strong. I’ll need my sister’s help.”
Paige’s stomach lurched again as she looked at the evil little acorn he held up. It wasn’t her mother’s charm. She’d lived with her parents the first ten years of her life, and not even once had she seen her mother wearing it. Not even in pictures.
“He gave it to me right after the first snowfall last year,” Paige said, trying to sit up. “I found something and… I can’t remember. He was so mad. He never got mad at me. I never gave him a reason. But something happened. Dang-it,” she said rubbing the palms of her hands on her temples as if trying to force the memory to reveal itself. “I’m sorry. I can’t remember.”
Aiden reached forward and traced the curve of her jaw with the delicate touch of his fingers and it sent shivers racing through her body, straight to her core.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, ghosting her with a slight smile. “I’ll be right here until we sort this out.”
And then? Would he stay afterward?
She remembered him agreeing with her about not wanting a mate back at the Town Hall. That’s not how she, the real her, felt. Was it how Aiden felt?
“Take care of her,” Audra said from the doorway. “We’ll let everyone know what’s happening.”
She closed the door behind her and Zeke. Suddenly, the large room didn’t seem big enough. Here she was with Aiden, her mate, and neither one of them knew what to say or do. At least she didn’t.
“Aiden, I’m sorry I lied to you. To everyone.” She shook her head and closed her eyes, and when she opened them she looked down at her clothes and drew in a sharp breath. “Why am I covered in blood?” He reached forward and started unbuttoning her pants. “What are you doing?” Her voice was quick.
He cleared his throat and motioned to a bag on the side of the bed. “I’m going to help you shower. When Zeke was trying to break the spell you started bleeding from your nose. And your eyes. And mouth. And your pores. Zeke said separating you from the pendant was like pulling the spell out of your body. That’s just how deep your godfather had you under. The magic pretty much soaked into your skin. Zeke pulled it out.”
Paige’s breath caught in her throat. The man that she’d known her whole life, the man who had taken care of her for the past eighteen years, really wanted her dead. She had the feeling that he’d used her for something. She couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter what happened to her. Only that he got what he wanted.
“I don’t have anyone, Aiden. No family to speak of. I mean, if I do I don’t even know who they are. He kept me from them. From everything.” Scratch, scratch. The thoughts were teasing her, staying hidden in the recesses of her mind she couldn’t reach. “Rogues. He made us part of the Rogue pack that are hunting you and your people. I remember that. But why?”
“Come here,” Aiden said as he grabbed her by the hand, pulling her onto his lap. “We’ll figure it out. Stop thinking of it. Just… just come here.”
She hesitated and pulled away from him. Rejection flashed in his eyes and Paige instantly regretted her actions.
“Aiden. I would love to snuggle and be comforted by you, but I have to get this blood off of me. I feel… tainted. Poppa Sam put a spell on me so deep that it was part of me. I have to get it off. I don’t want you to touch that. Be tainted by that. Okay?”
Relief flooded his features and took away from the tenseness she hadn’t noticed in his posture until he let it go. “I get it.” He went back to unbuttoning her pants.
“Umm, Aiden? You touching the button on my pants is making me feel stuff I’ve never felt before.” Scratch, scratch. “I can do it myself.”
He nodded and put his hands down at his sides. “I respect that completely, but I just want you to know. For some stupid reason, all I want to do is take care of you, and if that means helping you get undressed or bathing you while you stand still and accept my affection then that’s what I’ll do. Sounds a bit pervy.”
She snickered and punched him on the arm. “Not pervy. And you don’t have to give in to those urges. I know what you said earlier. You don’t want a mate. All that stuff I said at the Hall about not wanting a mate wasn’t me. That was him. But I understand that you feel different.” Slowly shaking her head, she drew in a breath and clasp her shirt right above her heart. “It was a spell. Another spell. Oh, my gosh! I stayed away from people because he didn’t want me to form a bond with other shifters.”
Poppa Sam was the one who started the Rogue pack. He was the leader of the whole dang thing. At one of the meetings, she’d met a boy that she wanted to lose her virginity to. Poppa Sam had read her diary and then stopped her from going to the meetings. She’d protested and told him she was sixteen and could do what she wanted. And then she stopped. Stopped wanting the boy, stopped accepting his phone calls. Dang-it, she didn't even remember his name when she’d seen him later that summer. She still didn’t.
“He’s been using me my whole life. But I don’t understand why he would do that.”
“Come on,” Aiden said as he helped her stand. “Stop dwelling on what he did. He did it, and now it’s done. Take a shower and wash all that shit away. You’re safe now. I won’t let him hurt you ever again.”
Despite all her protesting just a few minutes ago, Paige let Aiden undress her and start a shower. Her godfather, the bastard, had taken everything from her. Her emotions, her strengths, her ability to shift. Her family.
He’d taken it like she was a malfunctioning toy that had to be reset when it wasn’t doing what he wanted it to. He’d adjusted her memories, her feelings for the people he didn’t approve of, and now it was all coming back in a deafening roar she couldn’t even begin to understand.
Everything in her wanted to peel off t
he blood covered clothes and take a shower, but even the action of lifting her arms to take off her shirt made her want to cry. She was a shell. He’d emptied her out long ago and put in the bits and pieces he saw fit. And now, she had Aiden. A man who didn’t want to be mated but was giving in to his instincts because his beast told him to.
Well, on the bright side, she was getting a sister. Even if Aiden didn’t want her, Audra did. Unless her acceptance of Paige was contingent upon Aiden wanting her.
Paige sniffled. Too tired to use her hand to wipe away the tears, she turned her head and used her shoulder to collect the moisture that was falling from her eyes and nose.
The tips of Aiden’s fingers danced along the skin of her waist as he pulled to take her shirt off. His touch was doing something to her. She welcomed it but mourned it at the same time. He didn’t want a mate.
She gasped as his fingernails scratched down her legs with gentle ease as he removed her pants, panties, and socks. Embarrassment warmed her cheeks and ears, and she let out a nervous giggle.
When he stood up and towered over her, he looked down into her eyes and smiled. “I know what I said back at the meeting, but I didn’t mean it either. I’ve been watching my brethren flitter around with their mates and it pissed me off.”
“Why?” she asked, trying to focus on something other than his growing erection.
He was big. The idea of actually getting to see it made her heart beat faster and lust ache in her belly, and she could tell he’d noticed.
He took in a deep breath through his nose and a panty dropping smile pulled at the edges of his lips. “I told myself centuries ago that my mate would never come for me. That was foolish, though. The Creator doesn’t renege on promises, but so much time had gone past. I had to tell myself something or I would have been begging to be put down. And then watching the others get their mates made me want one even more, and that just pissed me off. Can I bathe you?”
“I’m a virgin.” The words shot through her lips before her brain had a chance to censor them. She cleared her throat and crossed her arms across her chest and instantly regretted it. The feel of the goosebumps on her arms slid across her nipples, bringing a warmth to her lady-parts. “Just so you know.”