by Chloe Adler
“But you knew how to do it. Wasn’t it in your grimoire?” I asked her.
Shaking her head, she rummaged in the debris and held up the book she’d been using. “Ryder’s family’s.”
“I bet Aurelia removed useful spells like that one from our grimoire,” said Chrys, her lips tight.
“Most likely.” Sadie narrowed her eyes. “I’m going to copy this one into our book.”
“You have your own?” I asked.
“Yeah, the one I started for class. I copied a lot of Aurelia’s into it, some of Ryder’s and new ones I’ve been learning.”
“Impressive.” I crossed to her and reached for the one she held but my hand flew away from it almost immediately.
“Sorry, Buns. Katharine put a protection spell on it.”
“Who’s she calling ‘Buns’?” Alec’s voice rang out from across the room and we all laughed, Julian in particular dissolving into high-pitched giggles.
Ryder’s phone rang and he excused himself, taking it into their backyard. I made my way slowly over to Alec, who was still standing in the far corner of the room.
“Alec,” I called out.
“Here,” he said. Until I reached the area he was standing in.
“Why don’t you come to me?” I held my arms out and he pressed himself against me so hard I almost fell over.
“This is weird,” he whispered into my ear. “I’m grateful to the girls but I don’t like being invisible.”
“It’s not forever; we’ll figure something else out. Something better.”
“I hope so.”
Ryder came back inside. “That was my mom. She said she found a way to set a new perimeter spell around the town.”
“What’s the difference between the new one and the last one?” Sadie asked.
“This one can only be removed by the witches who cast it.”
“Oh, that sounds promising.” Sadie rubbed her hands together. “Let’s do it.”
Ryder’s tone dropped. “There’s a catch.”
There always is.
Chapter Twenty-Two
A few hours later, Alec and I were curled up in my bed. I was no longer worried that he was going to be killed at any second by the Trackers. Now I was worried he was going to be killed by something here in the Edge, like a car that didn’t see him or a crowd that would trample him. My mind reeled with all the grisly ways he could now die.
“I don’t want you to go without me,” he said softly, nestling closer.
“It’s too dangerous,” I insisted for the umpteenth time. “Plus, don’t you want to start rehearsing for the circus? I’m so proud of you for being pro-active and getting a job there.”
“It’s less safe for me to rehearse while I’m invisible. As a matter of fact, it would be safer for me to come with you than it would be for me to remain here alone.”
My mouth was as dry as a desert. “I’m sorry, Alec. I’m going without you and that’s final.”
His lack of continued argument worried me.
The next morning Burgundy stood in front of me in my bedroom. “I don’t like it.” Her hip jutted out to the side.
“Neither do I,” Alec said from my bed.
I continued packing clothes and toiletries into my jerry-rigged backpack.
“Are you two bonded?” Burgundy asked us point-blank.
That would have been the moment that Alec and I exchanged looks but that wasn’t happening.
Instead of answering, I asked her, “You gonna help me or not?”
“Of course I’m going to help you.” She sighed, pulling a T-shirt from the “maybe” pile, folding it and placing it in the area designated “hell yes.”
It was one of Alec’s and I was about to grab it off the pile but thought better of it. Since I couldn’t bring him with me at least I could bring his comforting scent.
We worked in relative silence for the next fifteen minutes, with me asking Alec if he was still on the bed every five.
“I’m going to the kitchen to get some water,” he finally announced.
“I’ll go with you.” I jumped up.
“Can you let me do this on my own please? I don’t want a chaperone following me everywhere,” he snapped.
“Alec—” I started but Burgundy put her hand on my arm. “Okay. Sure. Sorry.”
As soon as Alec was gone, Burgundy threw her arms around me, wrestling me onto the bed. It sucked having a roommate and bestie that was a chick and still stronger than me. Ego. She wrapped her legs and arms around me in a bear hug that I couldn’t get out of if I’d wanted to.
Burgundy always smelled of cinnamon. I breathed in her scent, instantly relaxing against her. She whistled and Rex bounded into my room, leapt up on my bed and joined in the cuddle puddle.
“I love you.” She pulled away to hold my face between her hands, those long red fingernails brushing the hair back from my eyes. “Whatever happens out there, you come home to me, okay?”
I nodded, my eyes filling up with tears. She wouldn’t let me look away. Cursed vampire strength.
“You’ll look after Alec?” My soggy voice betrayed me. I sniffed.
“Of course,” she exclaimed. “And you promise to check in with me by phone at least once a day?”
I nodded against her.
“Because if you don’t I’ll grab a flight or another flying shifter and come after you.”
“Yes ma’am,” I said and she shuddered, letting go.
“What if you can’t find it?” she asked me.
“I’ll find it. Alec said they sell it all over China. How hard can it be?”
Saying goodbye to Alec had been significantly more difficult than I’d imagined, the idea of leaving him akin to voluntarily removing an arm or leg.
Before I left we made love and he seemed like he’d made peace with my departure. Burgundy, Alec, Chrys and Carter saw me off from our landing pad in the backyard. The flight itself was several hours. I’d never flown that far before and by the time I reached Mongolia, even my feathers ached.
There was a moratorium on shifters landing in China but right across the border shifters were welcome, especially griffins. Apparently they were revered supernatural creatures on the continent, though they weren’t native to the area.
The city of Sainshand was closest to the border, a typical desert town. Like Arizona, except with camels. The people were incredibly nice, giving me food and a place to sleep but refusing to take any money in exchange. I stayed there the first night of my arrival, forcing myself to get up early and onto the train bound for Beijing.
Beijing was loud, louder than I had expected, especially after quiet Mongolia. The people of Beijing made New Yorkers look half asleep. Hustle. Bustle. Bustle. To the tenth degree. In the cities, if you didn’t walk with the throng, it was easy to get knocked over onto the busy sidewalk and trampled. People pushed and shoved one another, friend and stranger alike. Go with the flow or go home. And I’d probably leave the country with a lung disorder, the smog was so out of this world. Yet there was something extraordinary about the whole vibe. It all worked like a well-oiled machine.
I tried calling Burgundy and Alec when I landed in Beijing and again on my train ride to Shanghai. Neither answered their phones so I left messages telling them I was fine.
By the time I got to Shanghai, home to fourteen million people, China had grown on me—and not like a fungus. The Bund was a spectacular nightly light show where I learned immediately not to carry anything valuable on my person if I wanted to return to my hotel with it. Thankfully, one of the many great things about China was how cheap everything was. I bought some disposable clothing and travel gear, which I would leave in the giveaway pile at the local hostel before I left for home.
On my first day, I started my hunt. The spell Ryder’s mother needed to lock down Distant Edge—this time, hopefully forever—required a rare mineral: cinnabar. Oh, and of course it was illegal, because why should this be an easy trip? With luck, I’d find it
in Shanghai. That’s where Alec’s family was from and he’d said the herb was reasonably easy to find here.
I scoured the herb shops, pharmacies and acupuncture clinics and still came up empty-handed. Of course.
Returning to my hostel late that night, I stripped off my clothes, lay down on the hard, board-like mattress and cried. It wasn’t something I ever did in front of people. How was I ever going to find this elusive red crap?
My phone rang and I emptied the contents of my shoulder bag to get to it. I had extended coverage in China, but names or numbers didn’t flash on the screen. I prayed it was Alec.
“Hello?” I practically yelped into the phone. “Alec?”
“It’s me,” said Burgundy in a higher pitch than was normal.
“What’s wrong?”
“Promise me you won’t panic.”
“Saying that is making me panic. Please, just tell me.”
She sighed deeply. “Alec is missing.”
“What?” I screamed into the phone. “Missing? He’s missing? Oh my god, I’m coming back.”
“There’s nothing you can do; we’re on it.”
“No, I can scent him. I’m getting on a train to the border tonight.” I hung up on her, not interested in arguing.
Immediately I began packing, but soon sobs overtook me and, holding onto his T-shirt I crumpled on the bed with my knees to my chest, rocking.
Something smooth and scaly wound its way up my arm. I swatted at the invisible sensation. Thwap. My hand hit something solid an instant before the pressure increased around my wrist, tightening like a rope.
What the hell? “Alec?” Gingerly I prodded my wrist with my other hand. Sure enough, an invisible snake was wrapped around it. I should have guessed he’d stow away. Pulling my arm to my lips, I kissed him all over and then reached for a tissue to blow my nose and dry my eyes. “We will talk about this later, mister. I’m pissed off at you right now but I’m so happy to see you. Well, feel you.” His tongue licked me. I immediately called Burg back to tell her where he was.
“That little devil,” she exclaimed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Alec’s hard body was pressed against me when I woke, which confused me on several levels. I had placed him on the desk in my hostel room so as not to roll over on him in the middle of the night and yet here he was in all his glory, except not. He remained invisible. My hands moved over him, exploring, until he woke up.
“Hey, no fair taking advantage of me while I’m asleep,” he mumbled with laughter.
“Well it was either that or strangle you for sneaking into my backpack. Really, Alec, you could have been hurt. And what if my bag had gotten nicked?” I propped myself up on an arm and looked in the area I hoped his eyes were. “Shit, I can’t even give you a rough talking to in your state.” I sighed and plopped back down on the bed.
“That you even care about my safety . . .” His breath was on my face and then his lips. I briefly wondered if all those stories of humans having sex with ghosts weren’t actually some Signum turned invisible.
“Alec . . . don’t you want to talk?”
“Let me do this for you,” he groaned and I snapped my mouth shut.
His mouth found my cheek and then my collarbone, working it’s way down. I sighed, letting him work his magical mouth and tongue over my tender skin, lighting up my nerve endings. In moments he was on my groin, causing miniconvulsions as he grabbed and pulled my ball sack tight, sucking hard on just the tip. I pumped myself into his mouth but he held my shaft still, not letting me push any deeper.
“Alec,” I groaned, reaching up to find his face and accidentally knocking my hand into him. I moved up and fisted his hair to push his head down on my cock.
He fought me, lifting off my hardness, pausing. “This is my game and either you let me play it or you forfeit.”
Holding my hands up, palms out, I bowed my head in obedience.
“That’s what I thought,” he said, devouring my dick with his mouth.
I grunted in satisfaction as he took my length deep inside, throating the sensitive rim. He turned his head left and right to add friction, and I arched into him, buried deep in his throat. Immediately he released me, letting my dick flop hard on my stomach with a wet splat.
I sat up on my elbows and smiled in his direction. A challenge.
His body shimmied up mine, visceral but invisible. It was beyond strange to partake in sex with a ghost. My arms moved over my head as he pulled them upward and playfully nipped my lips. I strained my head toward him, and he yielded, opening his mouth and letting me taste myself on his tongue.
Taking both my hands into one of his, he reached his other hand between our legs and fisted me, rocking his own hard cock against my thigh. We both knew he was stronger from the Chinese pole so I didn’t bother trying to fight him. We moved together in a rhythm. My cock was still wet and his hand slid expertly over me, squeezing and releasing at the exact right times. We were both close as I panted into his mouth.
Another minute passed before he stopped kissing me, shifting his entire focus to grinding and pumping. A moment later we exploded together and within seconds he moved down between my legs, tonguing me clean.
Rolling on my side, I waited for him, holding my hands out to the empty space. He grasped them and nuzzled into my neck.
“Alec,” I murmured.
“Are you okay?”
“I am now.”
“I’m glad you’re here, I really am but . . .”
“I couldn’t let you come here alone. As much as you are worried about me, I’m worried about you. Alone in China, trying to find the cinnabar for me.”
“For us, for Distant Edge. Our friends. I just wish that my own sister wasn’t the one to have betrayed you.”
“She betrayed you too,” he mumbled. “But—”
“What? There’s no excuse for what she’s done.”
“She’s bonded to one of them, which limits her choices.”
Before I met Alec, I would have scoffed at this but now that I’d experienced it myself . . . “The way we are,” I ventured. Naming it for the first time.
“Yes, like we are.” His hot breath tickled my face. He’d moved closer, his hands tightly squeezing mine. “I’ve never bonded before. It’s strong. Like an addiction.”
“A pull,” I admitted.
“Your sister,” he said, “she has to placate Landry to keep her mate. She has to live with the enemy, knowing he not only despises everything she is, but that his mission is to completely destroy her family, her entire race.”
I grunted.
He continued, “Forgiveness is harder than holding a grudge. It’s both an ability and a choice that moves us beyond our animalistic natures. And it’s more beneficial for you than for her. I’m not holding a grudge against her, how could I? You feel the connection we have. She has to do whatever it takes to hold onto her mate. Right?”
“I guess.”
“Your sister did some things she’ll regret for the rest of her life. That’s the key word, Jared. Regret. My father,” he sniffled, “he regrets nothing. Sam accepts you for who you are, but not my dad. He can’t even see who I am. I . . . have no family.”
“You have me.”
“I know. That’s what’s keeping me moving forward right now.”
I pulled him in for a long embrace. He buried his face in my neck, sniffling while I stroked his head.
“I know how much it hurts,” I whispered in his ear. “We do have each other now and that’s not going to change.” My chest was full with the realization. My mate. I had finally found him, after all these years.
We held onto one another for an hour, dozing. A single closed-mouth kiss on my lips stirred me. The wooden mattress shifted slightly and I sat up.
“I’m going to jump in the shower.” I got up and walked to the bathroom.
Stepping around the doorway after my shower, I shrieked, coming face-to-face with an invisible man wearing my cl
othes.
“What the hell, Alec? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“Sorry, man, I thought this would be easier for you.”
“It’s not.” I sat down on the bed, dropping my head into my hands and sighing deeply. Alec sat down, and the arm of my long-sleeved button-down draped itself across my shoulders. I leaned into him, letting him hold me. “Crap, I give. When we’re alone this isn’t a bad idea.” I pushed my face into my own shirt, the contours of his lean muscles like a drug. He still smelled like Alec, a hint of burnt maple with deep, rich notes of cocoa. For that I was grateful. My need for him overpowered my annoyance and anger, and I threw my arms around him and pushed him back down onto the bed. At least I could see his outline. Flattening my body on top of his, I held onto him like he was a piece of wood bobbing in the ocean after a shipwreck miles from shore.
His hardness throbbed against my own and it took every ounce of discipline not to jump him. Even invisible, the man was hot.
“Where should we go to look for the cinnabar? This is your city,” I whispered while snuggling down between his shoulder and neck.
“Old town, for sure. I remember seeing apothecary stands there when I was a kid. Unfortunately, I was too young to know all the different herbs and powders but I do remember the one I thought was sparkly red sand. I begged my mom to buy it for me.”
“Did she?”
“Thankfully not.”
“Why not?”
“It contains high levels of mercury.”
I sat up. “Oh. Is that why we can’t get it in the States?”
“Yeah, it’s illegal. They sell red rocks they call ‘cinnabar,’ but none of it is pure and they don’t sell the powder at all.”
“All right, I’d never thought I’d say this, but get naked so we can go.”
Alec laughed, throwing my clothes onto the bed.
“Good thing it’s summer or you’d freeze your gonads off.” I smiled, getting dressed.
We chose to skip breakfast and get out to old town, stopping for coffee on the way. I did not want to take the subway or a bus and risk him getting mashed between people, caught in an automatic door or sat on. It was a long walk and the heat became oppressive, but holding the hand of my mate took my mind off it.