Conjuring Wrath (Seven Deadly Book 3)

by Michelle Gross

  His whisper vibrated against my ear, and just like that my stomach heated. My lids fluttered opened to see him staring down at me. “We’re going to your place now?”

  “No, dimples, we’re going home.”

  My heart tightened, twisting into a knot. Home.

  “Gwendolyn going to the castle or with you?” Sebastian asked, creeping up beside us with Izzie.

  “She’s staying with me,” Barron replied.

  “About time,” Prudence said.

  Chapter 28

  Gwendolyn

  Despite Barron’s suggestive words earlier about warming me up, I was still cold and exhausted in his arms. He faded us into his living room, depositing me in front of a fireplace. There wasn’t a fire going yet, but a cozy brown carpet was underneath me. I sat shivering as he materialized some logs.

  Silence filled the air as he tinkered with the firewood. I pushed off my boots and socks and watched him with weary eyes. A strange combination of desire and comfort moved through me. Once the fire was lit, Barron disappeared again into his bedroom and came out with a blanket. Instead of dropping it on me like I thought he would, he placed it beside me before crouching behind me. “Lift your arms.” I did as he asked. My soaked shirt slid up my body and clunked to the ground. He unhooked my bra next and tossed it. I’d been wet and freezing for a long time. Goose bumps covered my body and my nipples were hard. I wanted to reach for the cover, but he wasn’t finished. His arms wrapped around me, and he unzipped my pants and pushed them down. I got the memo. Wet clothes would keep me cold. I wasn’t one to shy away from being naked. It wasn’t like he hadn’t already seen me without clothes.

  I stole a glimpse as Barron chucked off his shirt. My stomach sizzled. He hadn’t been kidding. Beautiful ink covered Barron. Intoxicating swirls, angry beasts, and words outlined his chest. When he bent over to grab the blanket, I saw a humongous sugar skull covering his entire back.

  I cradled my knees as he sat behind me, wrapping his arms around me. His bare feet touched me as he draped the blanket around me then hugged me to his chest. He was so much warmer than me. It took a second for my icicle frame to stop trembling in his warmth. That’s when I noticed his jeans were dry. “Did you change jeans?” I murmured slowly as he pulled the blanket closer.

  “I dried them,” he answered. No way did he do that! We weren’t there long enough. “With my power,” he added.

  I frowned and glanced over my shoulder. “Then why didn’t you just dry mine?”

  There was so much anticipation and want in his dreamy, dark gaze. Oh. He wanted me naked. I didn’t need verbal confirmation. The intensity of his stare was enough. He placed a feather-light kiss on my shoulder, and I turned back to the fire.

  The ensuing silence was comfortable with the occasional snap and crackle of the fire. The earlier exhaustion returned—stronger than before.

  “Warming up?” he rasped.

  “Yeah.”

  “Tired?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  I must have drifted off at some point. I didn’t realize that his head was on my neck until he lifted it. Despite Barron’s hardness, I was utterly comfortable.

  Wet, hot lips set my skin on fire. Then his teeth nipped at my earlobe. The blanket slipped off of me as Barron parted my legs. His fingers trailed up my thigh, over my stomach, and then he cupped my breast.

  Drowsiness and Barron’s hands were a lethal combination. Within a few swift touches, an inferno had taken over my body. Lust spiraled in my stomach and every place Barron’s fingers touched.

  My eyes fluttered and chest heaved. God, even my lungs felt full of fire as I moaned. I felt his caress everywhere.

  “Gwendolyn.”

  Have mercy. Hearing my name on his lips fizzled my brain. I couldn’t think of anything more than his body draped over mine.

  I let my legs fall open more, an invitation for him to keep going, and he did. One second his fingers were on my thigh, the next they were spreading my folds. Barron’s middle digit rubbed over me carefully…torturously slow. I wiggled my ass unable to sit still.

  With his other hand, Barron tweaked a nipple between his fingers.

  “Ahhh…” My eyes popped open as my back arched.

  I glanced at Barron. He lowered his mouth and his tongue traced the seam between my lips, urging me to open. And I did. His tongue warred with mine. Hungry. Desperate. I understood him. Once we touched, my thoughts fogged. I couldn’t get enough of Barron.

  He groaned, and the sound made me tingle. Slowly, he rubbed his thumb over my clit. Yes! I bucked into his hand and cried out. Like a starving man, Barron claimed my mouth with his and that throaty cry became a whimper on his lips. His fingers slid on down. My body trembled when a single digit traced my opening. One soft stroke down my pussy, then a teasing outline around my entrance. I whimpered, close to biting his lips and then, he sank his digit into me. We moaned simultaneously. Rolling his thumb over my clit, he began to finger me.

  “Oh,” I panted.

  Oh, my God. What was this?

  Why was everything so intense with Barron? I would burn from the inside out.

  Withdrawing his hand, he laid me down on the carpet. His eyes darkened as he moved over me. Barron was like a predator with his muscles and veins jumping. God, just the sight of him—swollen lips and flushed cheeks—was ecstasy for me. He gave me a hot, wet toe-curling kiss and then stopped. Whimpering, I reached out and ran my fingers through his hair. Then, he feathered kisses down my neck. Oh, yes! I loved that. My back arched as he kissed each nipple. Anticipation beaded on my damp skin. When his lips pressed against my navel, my stomach fluttered, and a ticklish sensation bloomed over me. Then it was gone, and a deep, throbbing ache took its place.

  “Barron,” I whimpered.

  Almost there. My clit throbbed just as his hot breath blew against it.

  “Oh, God!” I moaned, tensing and bucking into his mouth as he explored me with his tongue.

  He teased and sucked at my clit, and when I thought I could take no more, his fingers replaced his mouth. He pushed one finger and then two inside of me.

  “Ohhh…”

  Barron curved his fingers and stroked me deep and slow. The way I shamelessly writhed into his hand could have been embarrassing, but it was something more. And, then it happened. My body jerked and vibrated as I came in his mouth.

  But his sweet agony didn’t stop. Barron kept sucking and pumping his fingers until another one swept over me.

  “Barron,” I whimpered as I wiggled trying to get away from that insufferable mouth of his. I’d never experienced such intense orgasms.

  My body was jerking under his caresses and tongue. I wanted him inside me more than anything. Overstimulated and satisfied. I was a heady sensation of both, but still needed more. Wiggling and reaching for him to leave my swollen clit alone, I was ready to feel him deep inside me until I opened my eyes.

  “Barron!” I scrambled out from underneath him. Legs spread apart, eyes bulged, I watched as Barron’s essence barreled around the living room and spread around me. It was strange how my clit still throbbed mercilessly. Lust climbed, climbed. Oh, oh.

  Then his essence rushed forward. So much of it seeped into my body as I shook from my orgasm. It was as if my body was absorbing—taking it all from Barron.

  “Barron,” I whimpered. The pleasure wasn’t stopping. I remembered something about Wrath saying I would receive Barron’s wrath. Was that how?

  “Oh, fuck!” I’d never heard Barron like that. Frightened. Lips tight, eyes crinkled as if he were in pain as he glanced around at what I saw too. His essence was flowing into me. He reached out for me, then lowered his head, and dropped his hand. Squeezing my thighs together, I tried to sort out what I was feeling through the tremors of ecstasy that weren’t leaving my body. “What am I doing to you?” His croak helped ease my passion because it broke my heart when he stood and backed away from me. “Oh, Gwendolyn… I don’t know what I’m doing to you. And I
don’t know what you’re doing to me. I won’t let myself do anything to hurt you.”

  No, no, no.

  His retreating steps scared me more than anything that just happened. My chest tightened.

  “Barron…” Shaking my head, I reached out for him. “Don’t go.”

  “I’ll bring someone.”

  He faded before I could say anything.

  _______

  Minutes later, Kitty faded in. “What’s got Barron so spooked?”

  “It’s nothing.” Of course, I didn’t tell her the reason. Her arched brow told me she knew otherwise but didn’t press me to answer.

  How could I tell her that his essence seeped into my body? And that it made me orgasm?

  No, thank you.

  Despite being frustrated with Barron for running, I still fell asleep on the sofa. Hours later, I awakened. Although I was thoroughly satisfied, Barron worried me. He let confusion and fear take over just when he was finally opening up.

  If Barron’s curse needed an outlet, then I wanted to be it. We had no idea what would happen until we took our bodies all the way. Besides, despite being alarmed at first nothing was wrong with me.

  I was seriously beginning to believe that Barron truly feared what his sin was trying to do to me. He didn’t understand that his curse was a part of him, and it craved a reprieve from itself too.

  I needed to talk to him without him shutting me down about it.

  That man would go on being pent up for the next hundred years thinking he was doing me a favor. Suppressing his feelings and feeding Wrath would be all he accomplished.

  Not being happy, staying alone. Not anymore. I was there alive, thriving, and born—stitched and woven to be there with and for him. It would not deter me. Barron, the sin of wrath, belonged to me. I would make him so happy it couldn’t see straight. Even if the world came crashing down, he’d given me more than I could ever dream. A place to call home. Wholly, completely, solely mine. Him.

  Chapter 29

  Barron

  “You don’t seem well,” Jackal, Maureen’s soulmate, lifted one dark brow.

  Because I wasn’t. I was drowning in my thoughts.

  Thinking led to Gwendolyn. Then, I remembered the honey dripping from my lips—the delectable cunt I’d been devouring. Then, I recalled Wrath breaking free to have his way with her. My curse slipped into her like it had the right to her.

  Panic gripped me like a vice as I staggered away from her naked and sprawled out so beautifully like the perfect creature she was. Wrath tormented me. I’d lived with it enough to know that the only things that came from rage was pain, a lot of killing, and hurt. I could never let my sin do to her what he did to me—or worse. What if soothing my anger meant Gwendolyn had to take it from me? What if owning my wrath hurt or destroyed her?

  My heart twisted like someone rammed a knife in my chest. What kind of soul-matching was that? Something so small, so tempting, and sweet shouldn’t have been gifted to the man cursed with wrath. I wouldn’t let myself hurt her—I’d never let Wrath get to her. The knowledge of not having her put me in a state of grief. I mourned for what I wanted. I let myself think I could have her, then once again, I willed it away as anger crept up like it always did. I knew what I had to do before I raged.

  My heart beat erratically. For once in my miserable existence, it wasn’t wrath keeping me company. I was being tormented from within. It twisted and turned and pulled me into a pit of despair. Even with the pending apocalypse I’d never felt sorrow. Thanks to Gwendolyn and her ever-loving dimples, it crushed me. She showed me it could devastate me. The thought of not being with her because of Wrath ripped my soul wide open.

  Maureen shouldered some of Jackal’s weight. Fatigue marred his face as he glanced at me. Maureen brows arched as she studied me. “Barron—”

  “I need you to help me,” I blurted.

  “Gwendolyn is your responsibility. Don’t ask any of us to stay with her when you don’t want to.”

  “You’ll have no choice,” I gritted out. “I’m going to lock away Wrath, and I need your help.”

  “Lock away?’ Maureen’s lips pursed. “How?”

  “By imprisoning myself.”

  “Barron,” she started. “That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said. You know you’d hate yourself for not being here to help us.”

  “I’d hate myself if I hurt a single hair on Gwendolyn’s head!” I snapped and inhaled deeply, reigning in my frustration. The way Maureen took a step back, dragging Jackal with her, I knew what she saw. I was too close to raging. “You guys can let me out when I’m needed. I want to help, but I can’t this way, not anymore. I can’t be free to roam.”

  “You won’t hurt her.” Maureen whispered sadly.

  “He fears it because he loves her,” Jackal slurred. “You came around. So will he.”

  “All right, Jack, help me out here.” Maureen huffed as Jackal adjusted his weight. “And, stop breathing on my neck. It’s distracting.”

  He chuckled.

  “Let me help.” I slipped my arm around Jackal. “Was this the last city for you guys today?”

  “Yeah,” Maureen sighed. “He’s exhausted. I can’t carry him when he gets worse.”

  I nodded, fading Jackal to Maureen’s home and plopping him down on the bed.

  Maureen, her arms crossed, appeared next to me. “You never denied what Jack said about you loving Gwendolyn.”

  “It would be a lie if I did, and I’m not one to spew them to protect my pride.”

  Maureen stiffened. “Barron, there’s no need to attack me.”

  My skin rippled. “I’m not. I wish pride was the problem. I can’t be with Gwendolyn without my wrath closing in on her.”

  “Explain.”

  “No.”

  “Don’t you fucking rage on me, you big—”

  “Will you help me?” I asked her.

  She frowned. “I would if I thought you needed it.”

  “I’ll go to Sloth. Isabella will…”

  The surrounding scenery changed. Maureen’s bedroom disappeared as my bedroom took its place. My gaze bounced around the room. I didn’t fade… Gwendolyn. Her tantalizing presence and floral scent filled my senses. She conjured me to her again.

  I glanced around the room until I found her with her arms crossed. Gwendolyn glared at me.

  “Why did you materialize me?” I asked.

  “I needed you, but I guess that doesn’t matter to you. None of it matters if we weren’t meant to be together.”

  She was mad at me. But, even when angry Gwendolyn was so fucking beautiful. Was she trying to prove a point? Was I supposed to just give in? That would happen anyway since I couldn’t keep my hands off of her. That’s why I needed to be locked away.

  My nostrils flared. “What are you talking about?”

  “Gwendolyn?” Joy’s voice drifted by the door before she appeared at the doorway. She must have taken over Kitty’s shift. My sister froze when she saw me. “Oh, Barron. I hadn’t realized—”

  “Stop dragging this out,” Gwendolyn cut her off, whipping off her shirt.

  “Okay, I’m leaving.” Joy tossed her hand up quickly and ran off.

  “No!” I barked.

  “Bye,” Gwendolyn shouted and lunged for me.

  I stepped to the side and grabbed her forearm and pulled her against me.

  “Stop being difficult!” she yelled.

  “What are you trying to do?” I growled. Her ass pressed into my thigh. Thank Hades, she wasn’t tall enough to feel my very stiff dick.

  “Trying to prove to you how well we go together!” She huffed angrily when she couldn’t attack me.

  Gwendolyn would be the best thing to come home to if it weren’t for my sin wanting to destroy my world. My heart sank just thinking about Wrath imploding inside of her. The possibility scared me.

  “Did you not see what happened?” I asked. “My sin was attacking you.”

  “No, it wasn’t
,” she cried. “Your essence is already a part of me.”

  I laughed bitterly. “That wasn’t my essence. That was Wrath.”

  “How are you so sure?”

  “My sin was going inside you.”

  “It doesn’t want to hurt me.”

  I turned her around, holding her at arm’s length. “I care enough to never risk finding out.”

  “Ugh!” she screamed. “Guess I’ll have to show you the hard way.”

  She stepped back. Suddenly, the quilt shot up from the bed and wrapped tightly around my body. What was she thinking? Arching a brow, I lifted my arms, and the blanket shredded.

  “Nice try.” Chuckling, I said, “Did you really think wrapping a quilt around me would hold me?”

  Her gaze darted around the room. “I wonder…” She smirked before fading. Gwendolyn faded. I went after her. When I reached the in-between, she sucker punched me in the gut.

  I moved toward her. “It’s not safe for you—”

  Before I finished, she faded again—to Grim’s woods.

  Even though I couldn’t see her, I sensed her behind a tree with pink cotton candy leaves and an orange trunk. “What’s the point of this?”

  She tossed her pants from behind the tree. I swallowed quickly. Perspiration beaded my forehead. Be strong. I couldn’t let wrath get the best of me, but my skin was already hot, slightly shimmery as a giant cloud of blackness formed in my mind. No. Fuck no. Gwendolyn misbehaving and running from me had me irritated as fuck. The dark hole I fell in when raging was already crawling over me.

  Her bra and panties flew into the air.

  An inferno of yearning took root in me. My cock strained against my pants. Fluctuating between fear and frustration, I was a mess. Part of me was concerned about Gwendolyn’s life while the other half simply wanted to fuck her against the tree.

  I would rage, and I’d had no idea what would happen to her.

  “Oh no, you don’t!”

  I hadn’t realized my vision had faded for several seconds until Gwendolyn’s naked body running toward me came into view. Even then, I only had a second to brace myself as she jumped me like a fucking lemur. Her tiny formed crashed into mine. She wrapped her long legs around my torso. The girl climbed my large body like a monkey until we were eye-to-eye. She gripped my shoulders and whispered, “Please don’t leave me. Don’t slip away when you can stay…”