I flinched and dug my fingernails into my palms. "I'm sorry, Nell. I didn't mean to be so harsh with you."
You know you're a horrible person, right? After whatever terrors she went through when she was missing, you go and make things worse with your stupid, overreactive mouth. Good job.
I dug my fingernails in harder, drawing blood in the attempt to drown out that vicious, sarcastic, terror-inducing voice. A faint observation skittered across the back of my mind. I guess Olivia’s protection spell broke when she died.
The worst part was I couldn't be sure Shadow wasn't right about me.
Stop it, Roxanne. Logan's voice boomed in my mind as he rushed toward me and pounced, slamming into my chest.
I wrapped my arms around him on instinct and he pressed his fuzzy little forehead against my chin until I unclenched my fists and set him down on the arm of the love seat.
Ray sprang to his feet, rushing to my side. I flinched away from his warm, comforting presence.
I don't deserve his concern or his friendship, much less anything else.
His fingers closed around my wrist, soft and insistent.
"Ray—" My voice broke and I shook my head. He tugged me closer, staring into my eyes without blinking. "Stop beating yourself up. It won't help Nell or Kat."
Warmth seeped into me, blooming out from his light but steady grasp. I went completely still, realizing I couldn't argue with his iron-clad logic. More than that, I didn't want to argue, for once. The violent roiling in my stomach eased and I gave a tentative nod.
Darlene strode over to us, but her gaze was locked on my hands. She held hers out to me, palms-up in a wordless, motherly gesture that made my heart ache. I shook my head.
"Give me your hands, Roxanne," she demanded.
I shoved my hands in my pockets. "Don't waste valuable magic on healing a couple of tiny gouges, Darlene. Help Nell and Misty instead."
She muttered something I couldn't make out but turned her attention to Nell with a sad shake of the head.
A heavy, tingling sensation swept up from my toes to the top of my head and I swayed on my feet. I reached out and steadied myself on the arm of the loveseat. Ray's arm slid around my waist. My eyelids drooped and I yawned, letting my head loll against his chest.
I heard Misty's voice, but struggled to process whatever she was trying to say. Ray's scent and warmth enveloped me, and I gasped as he scooped me up in his arms.
Why is he picking me up?
You practically fell asleep standing up. He's putting you to bed. Logan's voice was clear but sounded as though he was coming from far away.
Ray's chest rumbled under my cheek as he spoke to someone, but I was lost in the layers of his scent, breathing deeply the mixture of salty air, something tropical, a hint of green apple hard candy, and underneath all that, his natural musk.
I hummed my approval, burying my face in the hollow of his neck as he shifted my weight in his arms.
"Sexy," I murmured. The word came out in a drawling slur, heavy with sleep.
Ray stiffened, going very still for an excruciatingly long moment. Then, without comment, I felt the bunching and swaying of his muscles as he carried me to my bedroom.
Way to make things awkward in front of half the coven. The thought slashed across my mind and I winced.
Ray lowered me onto the soft, familiar plane of my mattress. My arms clung around his neck of their own accord, though he tried to pull back.
"Stay with me," I murmured.
"You need to rest." He un-clasped my hands from behind his neck, and brushed a feather-light kiss He untied my shoes and gently tugged them off my feet. Then the overhead light clicked off, plunging me into almost complete darkness.
I groaned and rolled onto my side, groping for the comforter without opening my eyes. Needing you is exactly what I'm afraid of. That thought clung to me, even as sleep's talons closed around me and pulled me under.
My awareness shifted, flitting somewhere between nonsense dreams and my Night Realm. A flicker in the distance caught my attention and I moved toward it through a thick bank of swirling, storm-purple clouds. Soon, the clouds cleared and I realized that the flicker was actually two lit torches, one on either side of the entrance of the ruined temple that dominated the landscape of my Night Realm.
In the distance, the mountain of bones still loomed, and rivers of blood flowed out from it in all directions across the desert. I squinted at the throne on top of the mountain, but couldn't tell whether it was occupied or not. Movement at the entrance of the ruins distracted me and I turned to face it.
Ray stared at me from the dark, yawning opening. I shook my head and blinked, but the vision didn't change.
He was dressed in ancient Greek Hoplite-style armor, minus the helmet, with a sword in one hand and an ancient spyglass in the other. What the hell is this, and why are we dressed so strangely? Curious, I lifted the skirt of my chiton and hurried down the path to meet him.
"Ray? What are you doing here?" I grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him into the torchlight outside the temple entrance.
He shook his head as he tugged me across the threshold. I stumbled into him, my ring-laden fingers splaying out against his armored chest.
"You shouldn't be here," I frowned up at him. My cheeks burned with embarrassment at the ruined state of the temple, not to mention everything else that inhabited the decimated wasteland of my Night Realm. My Night Realm was a reflection of me, and it was less than flattering.
He cut off my protest with a crushing, possessive kiss.
"I belong wherever you are." His whisper was harsh, ragged with need. "Ever since the universe was a new creation before even the Titans were shaped and given life, even before the divine spirit invented endless, infinite universes with more kinds of life and magic than we could ever begin to imagine, we were destined to find each other."
He stroked a finger along my collarbone. My breath hitched as he leaned down and claimed my mouth again. His tongue stroked against mine in a familiar, dizzying rhythm, and mine answered like we were old lovers.
Giving in to the magnetic pull I always felt when I was near him, I fumbled blindly with his armor, desperate to run my fingers over the bare skin of his chest. He paused just long enough to place his sword, and spyglass at the base of a nearby statue that bore an eerie resemblance to him. He stripped off his armor with ruthless efficiency and placed each piece on the statue, using it like a mannequin.
When he turned back to me in all his naked glory, the sight of him stole my breath. Ray was all tanned skin and hard muscles. The dusting of dark hair on his chest thinned and trailed past his belly button, drawing my eye downward. I licked my lips. Needy heat pooled in my core as he tugged me against him. My hands ached with the need to touch him, and I let my fingers wander over the hard planes of his chest.
With a deep, feral growl of pleasure, he untied the belt at my waist. He trailed his hands up my body, his light, teasing touch barely stirring the linen of my dress against my hypersensitive skin. My breath caught when he unpinned intricate gold brooches that held the chiton together at my shoulders. My dress pooled at my feet and I shivered with pleasure as he stood back to survey me.
He circled me like a lion circles its prey, his golden eyes devouring every inch of my deathly pale, exposed skin. When he moved to close the distance between us, a deep rumble erupted from the depths of the temple. The ground shook in time with the bone-chilling sound. A crack lanced across the stone floor between us. The fissure grew, the ground crumbling beneath our feet. We plunged into the abyss together.
The distance between us grew. When I landed on my feet, Ray was gone and I was standing alone and naked on the stage at the Bayshore Convention Center in the middle of our senior prom.
Hot shame burned in my cheeks as I scrambled, trying desperately to cover myself, but it was too late. Our entire graduating class saw me, and they were all pointing and laughing at me, feeding on my pain and shame. I wanted to rush
off the stage, find somewhere to hide, but my legs wouldn't move.
Shadow, my exact doppelgänger, with a wicked glint in her green eyes and perfectly manicured brown waves of hair cascading down her back, emerged from the center of the crowd and ascended the stairs. Her pale skin glowed almost translucent in the merciless stage lights. Smirking and triumphant in my black prom dress and perfect gothic makeup, she flounced across the stage to where I cowered. All the hair on my body stood on end as I clocked the sword clutched in her right hand, which had been hidden by the dress’s voluminous skirt before.
She leaned close to me and her perfect midnight black lips brushed against the shell of my ear as she whispered, "You can't escape me, Roxanne."
Blinding pain erupted just below my sternum. I looked down to find her sword buried to the hilt in my chest.
I sat up, gasping for air, and touched the spot on my chest where Shadow stabbed me. My bedroom snapped into focus; Ray stood just inside the door, shirtless and tousle-headed. His gaze shifted to where I clutched my chest, and he crossed my bedroom in a single stride.
"What's wrong?" He sank down on the edge of my bed and brushed my hair out of my face.
I started to look away, but found myself trapped and breathless as the soft morning sunlight made his eyes glow the exact shade of gold they had in my Night Realm. I struggled to find the words to describe what had happened and froze when his hands cupped my face. His touch was gentle but immovable as he stared into my eyes.
My mind raced with images from the dream. I shuddered when the gold in his eyes glowed just a touch brighter. I licked my lips, but his faraway gaze didn't follow the motion.
"Ray?" I gasped as I internally relived each sensation from the night before all over again. "Are you—"
"Seeing what you're thinking about?" The deep, husky rumble of his voice rippled over my skin and I shivered. "Yes. Every bit of it is playing out and I’m watching your thoughts and memories like a movie."
My breath hitched in my chest and I went deathly still. "How?" I stammered. "Do you know how you're making it happen? How are you controlling what I remember, think about, and envision so that you can view it? What happens if I try to think about or focus on something else?"
"Not a clue." His breath quickened and his head tipped back as the moment he undressed me replayed in my mind. I ached to move closer, to see if he felt as good in real life as he did in the Night Realm.
He went statue-still as the content of the dream shifted into nightmare territory when the earthquake started. It all played out in my mind’s eye, eclipsing my vision of my bedroom as the memories enveloped me, too. His lips pursed and eyebrows drew together as he coaxed each event from my mind and we watched them play out together. The pain in my chest returned. I winced as the piercing glow in his eyes dimmed and they returned to their normal milk chocolate brown. His gaze lowered to me, and he tugged me close, shifting me so I was cradled on his lap. I leaned into his touch as he rested his chin on the top of my head.
"What did Shadow mean?” he asked. “Do you think she'll hurt you?"
His voice took on a hard, protective edge and his arms slid around my waist, locking me in place.
I shrugged. "I honestly don't know what she wants or what she's going to do." Curling into the warmth of his embrace, I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach.
Ray feathered an impossibly light kiss against my temple and one of his hands stroked soothing circles on my back. "No matter what happens, I'll find a way to keep you safe, Roxy. Whatever she does or doesn't do, I'm here with you."
My phone vibrated on my nightstand and I lunged for it, hoping for news of Kat. Misty's daughter Crystal's face flashed on my phone's screen. She hasn’t called me since I left the coven and stopped studying magic with Misty. My stomach clenched and my palms itched as I answered. Flicking a glance at Ray, I turned on the speakerphone and settled back into his embrace.
"Crystal?” I cleared my throat. “Is something wrong?"
"I'm hoping not, but...did my mom end up staying the night at your house last night?"
Still gripping my phone, I shot to my feet with a grimace, shuddering at the wave of tension that gripped my muscles and propelled me into the living room.
"I don't think so." Rushing to the front window, I flicked the vertical blinds open with cold, stiff fingers. The only cars in the yard belonged to Ray and me. "Why?"
For an excruciating moment, absolute silence stretched from the other end of the call. My heart pounded so hard every single beat shook my body from the inside out.
"Her neighbor called to tell me she never made it home last night. I was hoping that she was with one of you, but I've called everyone and no one has seen her since she left your place.”
My mouth went sandpaper dry and I swallowed hard. I spun to face Ray, assaulted by a wave of dizziness. "Crystal, please tell me I'm not the last one you called."
Every cell in my body trembled and my heart rate skyrocketed.
"I wish you weren't," Crystal whimpered. "I'm going to call the hospital and the police."
Ray plucked my phone out of my shaking fingers and tucked me against his chest. He put my phone up to his ear, speaking to Crystal. "And we'll start looking for Misty, trying to trace whatever steps she took after she left here. Whatever it takes, we'll help you find your mom."
"Thank you." Crystal's voice broke on a sob.
When Ray ended the call, I was already hyperventilating. I buried my face in his chest, breathing in his familiar scent, focusing on it to keep myself from completely unraveling.
"This is my fault." Shadow didn't have to say it for me to know it was true. "If I could have accessed my magic properly, Misty wouldn't have gotten sick."
Ray gripped my shoulders and gave me a gentle shake. "Stop it."
"No." I laid a hand on his chest and pushed back until I could look him in the eye. "Misty told me yesterday that the only way to fix the situation with my magic is to reintegrate with Shadow. I didn't listen and now another high priestess is missing. This time, it's not just somebody I used to know. Misty was my mentor. I was closer to her than anyone in the coven besides Granny."
I crossed my arms and paced to the kitchen, glaring at the spot where I landed on my ass after the spell to help Nell failed.
Ray followed and reached around me, turning on the coffee machine as I surveyed the now-spotless floor. I frowned down at the place where Misty got sick the day before and Ray followed my gaze.
"Nell wouldn't leave until she cleaned up the vomit and your bathtub. I tried to tell her I'd handle it, but she just waved me off and insisted on doing it herself because she felt like it was all her fault in the first place." Ray shook his head, his lips contorted into a focused frown.
"That was kind of her." I grimaced and chewed on the inside of my cheek as my thoughts raced, trying desperately to catch up with our constantly-evolving situation. Grabbing two mugs out of the cabinet, I passed one to Ray, and then set mine beneath the coffee machine's spout. My mind continued to spiral.
Ray got the creamer out of the fridge and set it on the counter beside me. The contemplative frown on his face deepened and a tingling sensation shot through my chest.
"What?"
He passed me the sweetener and a clean spoon. "Do you think Nell could just kind of play the level of spaced out she was yesterday if she wanted to get Misty out of her way, since Misty took Nell’s place as High Priestess after she went missing?"
My head started throbbing again and I cradled it in my hands. "I don't know. My gut tells me that Nell isn't a real threat for the moment, but I don't know whether I can trust that feeling."
My coffee finished brewing and I went through the motions of making it as sweet and creamy as possible. I caught a bit of cracked skin on my bottom lip between my teeth, tugging at it as I scrambled to put my wild, racing thoughts into words.
Ray started brewing his own cup of coffee. Even his micro-movements fel
t warm and welcoming.
I stirred my coffee in a vicious clockwise motion, willing my thoughts to fall in line. "It's just...there's so much going on here. There's no real way to tell what's relevant to finding Kat and Misty and what's just junk information, or a red herring, or some other kind of misdirection."
"And there's no easy way to find out what's true and what isn't," Ray grumbled.
"Unless…" I took a too-hot sip of coffee and winced.
"Unless I can figure out how I do that weird-ass truth seeing thing and we find a way to use it to our advantage," Ray murmured, more to himself than to me. He spooned sweetener into his coffee with a distracted, constantly shifting expression.
I nodded and reached out to still his hand from putting yet another scoop of sweetener in his coffee. "That's not a bad idea, but we need a contingency plan in case that doesn't work. There's so much going on here, and it would be so easy to miss a small, crucial detail." I paused and drummed my fingernails against my coffee mug. "But maybe that's the point. We can't afford to ignore any investigative avenues, even if I do feel like we're purposely being tugged in too many directions all at once."
"I don't like it." Ray shook his head and took a deep gulp of his coffee. "The only way we can follow all the leads at once is if we divide and conquer. After what I saw of your nightmares last night, I'm damn sure not letting you out of my sight."
I blew out a frustrated sigh and set my half-drunk cup of coffee down on the table. "If we're not going to split up to cover more ground, how do we choose what to focus on now?"
Ray took my hand, grounding me with his touch. "Misty disappeared most recently. We'll see if we can trace her steps after she left here last night."
He grabbed my laptop off the side table and passed it to me.
"I should probably just give you the password so we don't have to do this every time." I waved him over so he could watch as I keyed it in. "Got it?"
"Yeah." He settled in the chair at the head of the table and started scanning through the archived footage from the night before while I poured out our lukewarm coffee and washed the cups.
Coven of Lies (The Bayshore Witch Legacy Book 2) Page 13