Wicked Thing (C.O.A Series Book 2)

by Kim Cormack

  Her bloody fingers froze in place. She needed to fight someone or kill something. She didn’t need to sit in the frigging sun. Against her will her pulse slowed and her mind left the past behind and returned to the here and now. What had she been doing? She lifted her hands and looked at her bloody fingertips, knowing they were healed she licked the blood off of one of the tips to make certain.

  She heard Frost’s voice as he whispered, “Well, that’s not disturbing at all.”

  Grey jokingly scolded, “The third tiers might be watching us. We can’t have you trying to dig holes in the top of the Testing we’re supposed to be behaving ourselves and pretending to be easily tamed. Although, I’m certain they understand you can’t be domesticated after what you did during the Summit.” Grey held out his hand and gently prodded, “Let’s get out of here.”

  A light breeze tossed his wheat colored hair in front of his eyes. He squinted, crinkled up his nose and gave her an adorable grin. Lexy wiped the rest of her blood on her sarong and scowled as she took his hand. He understood that a part of her would always regress to that wild thing that he’d found in the woods while her emotions were turned off. Lexy took her hand away as soon as she was on her feet again, stared him down and coolly sparred, “I’m sure your job as my Handler would be far less complicated if I just wanted to watch sunbeams through trees while you pick flowers and listen to birds but that’s not what you signed up for. It’ll be a cold day in hell before you’ll find me sitting next to you singing uplifting songs while you strum on your guitar. I’m a Dragon. My job is to take that guitar out of your hands, bust it into a million unsalvageable slivers of wood and kill something with it.”

  Grey smiled at her overly hostile response and sweetly replied, “I wouldn’t have it any other way…Do you need a hug?”

  When in doubt, annoy the hell out of her. Those were his go too emotional anchors. He was doing it on purpose. He was a smart one. She’d give him that.

  Lexy turned back to look at her Handler and he was whispering in Lily’s ear. She tossed her glistening silken midnight hair and animatedly laughed. With no filter in place this pissed her off.

  Grey noticed she was watching him and he left Lily’s side, wandered towards her and stated, “I love you just as you are, Lex.”

  Right, just as I am. Until morning when you wake up and forget that we’re in love. Lexy looked at her Handler and sighed, “Spare me your inspirational fortune cookie quotes and grab your balls out of Lily’s back pocket so we can leave.”

  They all grinned at her well timed jest as they linked hands. For her, this was always the best part. The scenery flashed with brilliant white light and in an instant the four of them were rapidly descending through the in-betweens sky of blue towards the endless clean slate of the white sand desert. They slowed just before making contact and landed on their feet. Travel to the in-between was only surpassed by the womb like feeling of being wrapped in safety and warmth as they landed in the clean slate of the desert. She met Frost’s solemn expression with one of her own.

  Grey looked directly at her grabbed his manly bits and teased, “Still have my balls. I’m good to go.”

  Lexy scowled at him and gave him a gentle shove into the sand. He landed with a humorous thud, followed by a puff of dust that filled the air around him. He coughed a couple of times and then laughed even harder. When the cloud of sand had cleared her Handler was sprawled out flat on his back in the sand. He started to make sand angels proving that her hostility hadn’t managed to tick him off. When she was in this state, his endless supply of optimism annoyed the hell out of her. Grey was a sneaky one. He was making her feel annoyed, ‘feel’ being the operative word. She knew what he was doing.

  Grey stopped making sand angels. He sat up, tossed a handful of sand in her direction and teased, “Come on, Lex. You know you want to make one.”

  Lily sat down beside him, before she could even wrap her mind around the merits of making sand angels and she started to draw pictures in the sand with one of her fingers.

  Grey grabbed her hand and teased, “That’s not how you make sand angels.”

  Lily grinned at him and pointed at her drawing. It was a stick figure with wings. She started to laugh and said, “Fine.” As she laid down beside him in the sand and moved her arms and legs up and down a couple of times. Lily was smiling when she sat up and looked at the impression she’d made in the sand behind her. “That is pretty cool.”

  As Lexy observed the two she realized that she was being ridiculous. He wasn’t flirting with her he was just being himself.

  Frost smiled at her as he piped in, “I’m curious, when did the thing with Melody start and how did you get away with it for that long without anyone knowing about it?”

  Grey grinned at him and responded, “You know I usually keep the details of my little dalliances to myself. It was a little bit uncomfortable when Orin found out, but I was just the relief pitcher. I always knew her feelings were elsewhere.”

  Lily looked up from her now larger sand creation, smiled and exclaimed,” It was a surprise to find out she had a thing with Thorne. I definitely didn’t see that one coming.”

  Frost couldn’t help himself. He remained standing barefoot in the sand beside where Grey was seated as he questioned, “I’m curious, were your feelings elsewhere too?”

  Without a moment’s hesitation Grey looked at Lexy winked and sweetly replied, “Always.”

  He meant platonic love. Best friend love.

  Grey changed the subject, “I have an unrelated question. In forty years I’ve yet to figure out why sometimes we need the tombs to travel and other times we just walk through the crypt?”

  Lily smiled at him and replied, “We need help from our clan’s Guardian to move back and forth between the realms via crypt. The white room is the equivalent of one of our personal tombs, but it’s operated by our Guardian Azariah. The only difference being, that we can operate the tombs all by ourselves using one of our own healers. We can go to the in-between without permission. It’s like travelling on earth, sometimes you need a passport and sometimes you don’t.”

  That made perfect sense. She watched Grey as he intently listened to Lily’s answer to his question. He was a truly beautiful person with his welcoming smile, sun kissed golden chiselled chest and strong looking arms. There was such character in his flaws. The true beauty was in his ice blue eyes and the way they glistened in the sunshine that reflected off of the white sand of the in-between. For a moment she found herself lost in them. Damn him. How was she supposed to move on from the one person she’d been born to love? Grey reached up for Lexy’s hand and his eyes crinkled in the corners. She took it and helped him up. He kept a laughably firm grip on her hand instead of letting it go once he was standing. She peered down as he loosened his grasp and laced his fingers through hers. Frost had probably been trying to deter another Lily and Grey hookup by talking about the Melody one. He was trying to help but all he’d done was remind her. She kept holding his hand even though the thought that crossed her mind had stung a little.

  Grey smiled at her, and whispered, “I say we go and find something fun to do.” He glanced at Frost and added, “How long do we have?”

  Frost smiled as he replied, “Take as long as you need. Come find us when you’re ready.”

  “Come on, gorgeous. Let’s go find one of those hot springs and decompress.” Grey playfully announced as he towed her away from the other two. She went with him willingly, knowing they needed some time alone. It felt like their rhythm was off. As they wandered through the endless white sand desert of the in-between under the brilliant sky of multi-hued blue, their laced hands swung back and forth to the soft repetitive rustling of their footsteps in the sand.

  Chapter 4

  Handlers and Dragons

  She couldn’t remain angry at him; she’d never been able too. When she held his hand everything within her became peaceful and warm. When her eyes met his she knew Grey was just happy to
be with her. Her Handler was both the cause of her turmoil and the only way to truly find inner peace. Their relationship was complicated to say the least.

  Grey smiled warmly and said, “Do you ever think about the day we met?”

  All of the time. Lexy smiled as she thought about him being snared in one of her hunting traps while cursing up a storm. She’d been alone for a long time. A wild thing living in the woods with a pack of stray dogs, eventually they’d left her too. Lexy squeezed his hand and thought about how she’d felt when he’d followed her home and showed up at her cabin. She’d been annoyed by his presence at first but after a few minutes of his companionship she was sold. When he’d asked her to come with him she’d gone willingly. Well, planned to go before some uninvited guests had attacked her little sanctuary in the woods.

  Grey looked at her and said, “Do you remember the first time we danced together?”

  She did. It had been the three of them, Arrianna, Grey, and her. They had been here, in the in-between. Before she met him she’d never danced and it had been years since she’d even heard the sound of laughter. He’d brought those things with him into her life. Lexy gazed into his eyes and said, “I’m back already Grey. There’s no need to keep trying.”

  He laughed, towed her towards him and started to dance with her. Her heart couldn’t help but join her undeniably lovable soul mate. He spun her around and then dipped her.

  She smiled, and teased, “There’s no music, Greydon.” Just as she finished the sentence a song that she’d always adored began to play. Grey pulled her close to him and they swayed together to the romantic song. He started to be goofy and sang the words in her ear. It wasn’t remotely sexy but it filled her with joy. She closed her eyes, rested her head on his shoulder and melted into his embrace. It was in these moments that she wished with all of her heart that they were allowed to be together. The fact that they weren’t had never stopped it from happening. The sensation of her toes in the warmth of the sand as they danced, along with the tenderness of his hand on her back deterred her from stopping the moment they were in the middle of. Being with him like this made her feel happiness that was worth every second of pain she’d be feeling in the aftermath. This was how she continued to break her own heart.

  The scenery flashed around them and they came upon the strangely placed little tidal pool that contained mystically seductive powers. This particular place had always intrigued her. It was a perfect little swimming hole in the middle of a meadow beside one lone apple tree in the in-between. Sometimes it was more like a miniature lake and you couldn’t tell what lay beneath the surface and other times it was all white sand and scattered with brightly colored starfish. Today, it was the ocean version. Why had he brought her here?

  She gave him a funny look and questioned, “Why are we here?”

  He replied, “I didn’t mean to bring you here. I’m sorry I guess all of that talk about Melody made this place cross my mind.”

  Ouch. Yes, his unknowing insensitivity knew no bounds. She reminded herself once again that he didn’t remember. “We can’t stay here. You know what this place does.” She glanced at the tree full of ripe apples and added, “I’m just going to quickly grab an apple. I’ll only be a second.” Lexy wandered away from him and over to the apple tree. The orchard from her childhood flashed through her mind as she plucked an apple from one of the low hanging branches. Lexy tossed it to him and Grey caught it in mid-air. Then she tried to yank another one off of the branch for herself and couldn’t. Not a damn one would budge. She grabbed for another, allowed her legs to go out from under her and dangled rather humorously from the apple with the full weight of her body. Oh, Come on!

  Grey tossed his head back and howled laughing. He strolled over to stand beside her, as she dropped from her chuckle worthy position and landed on her feet. He handed her his apple and chuckled, “Take a bite of this one and let me try.” He leapt up, grabbed the branch, and dangled from it. Eventually, he lost his patience and started to comically swing up and down on the branch like an immortal yoyo. Not a one of the apples dropped to the ground. “Seriously, what in the hell is with this damn tree?” Grey laughed as he jumped up and tried again.

  Lexy took a bite of the scrumptiously delicious perfect apple and savored it, while she watched him rather ineptly endeavouring to remove another from the branch. Grey was a stubborn guy. If she didn’t stop him they’d be doing this for hours. She felt a warm shiver and glanced back at the naughty thought inducing pool. It was time to leave, with every second that passed her best friend slash Handler was looking more appetizing than the apples on the tree.

  She grinned at him as her eyes travelled to his rippling tanned abs to his sexy toned chest. From this vantage point that little loin cloth he was wearing wasn’t concealing much anymore. The pool was working its seductive magic on him as well. They needed to leave. Tiberius had left her feeling rather unsatisfied at the Summit. It would be wrong, so wrong to be with Grey for the sake of a physical release. But you’re in love with him. He loves you too he just doesn’t remember. She had to snap out of it and now. Lexy looked at the love of her life and asserted, “We need to leave. Right now!”

  He dropped to the grass and started to chuckle, “Is that pool over there making me too sexy for you to handle?”

  Yes, it was…She rolled her eyes.

  He laughed spun around slowly in a circle and teased, “Well, take it all in.”

  Her increasingly sexy Handler glared at the tree, leapt up and dangled from the branch and started to comically shake it.

  Come on, Greydon. She knew they’d be here for a while. He wasn’t about to allow himself to be beaten by a tree. She’d seen that pig headed expression on his face on countless occasions. That was the, ‘I will continue trying to do this until hell freezes over look.’ He growled and reefed on the branch then pulled himself up and straddled it. He was using every bit of strength that he had to tug the apples off of the tree and they wouldn’t budge. He was huffing and puffing having a seriously comical testosterone fuelled hissy fit. In all of these years she hadn’t been able to stop herself from giving him a little push over the edge while he was like this. Lexy grinned and teased, “I thought I told you to grab your balls before we left the Testing?”

  She reached up and easily plucked an apple from one of the branches and then doubled over laughing. It had randomly come off like it was nothing. Lexy hollered, “Get down, or I’ll knock you down.”

  He scowled at her from his perch in the tree and said, “You wouldn’t dare.”

  She’d never been able to resist a dare. Lexy wound up and poised herself to throw the apple. She launched it at Grey just as he jumped off and landed on his feet in the grass. It missed him by a hair.

  Grey started to chase her around the tree while animatedly mocking her, “You think you’re pretty funny, don’t you? I’m so tough. I’m a Dragon.” His face broke into a grin as she darted out of his way.

  She backed up and warned, “I’ll throw another one, if you come any closer.”

  He took a step towards her and cockily mocked, “Give it your best shot, cupcake.”

  She wound up, fully expecting him to step out of the way as she whipped the apple at his head, but there was a cracking noise behind him and the whole branch he’d been hanging from a moment earlier thudded to the ground. His attention was diverted for only that split second that it took for the apple to smoke him on the back of the head.

  He bent over, rubbed his wounded skull and complained, “Shit Lex, you weren’t supposed to actually do it.”

  She strolled over to him, smiled sweetly and said, “I thought you’d move out of the way.” He was faking her out. She knew it but took another step towards him anyway. He grabbed for her and she darted out of the way. He caught up to her and gave her a good shove into the pool of pheromone enhancing water. She grabbed for him as she toppled over and yanked him in with her. They both surfaced, still laughing as they started to splash each oth
er like children. They looked at each other and raced for the edge, knowing the first one out of the water would have the upper hand. Lexy scrambled up the embankment and she was almost out when he grabbed a hold of one of her legs and towed her back in. Grey had her trapped against the sandy edge of the drop off. Something changed in his expression and she’d seen that look enough times to know what happened next. Lexy placed her hands against his chest to keep him from closing the space between them and whispered, “We should get out of the water and go somewhere else.”

  He quietly replied, “Not just yet.” Grey tucked her soaking wet crimson hair behind one of her ears and stared into her eyes for a moment before whispering, “I wish you could see how beautiful you are with the sun shining behind you. You’ve taken my breath away, twice in one day.”

  “Grey,” she whispered. Damn it, he was smooth. Her resolve was going to last all of five seconds if he didn’t stop looking at her this way.

  He stared deep into her eyes and confessed, “I know I acted like I didn’t remember kissing you but that wasn’t the truth. Tiberius was all over you and I didn’t know what to do. I don’t know. I guess I was trying to give you an option if you were needing that from someone. I know it’s been a long time. I mean how long ago were you with Tomas?”

  He actually thought she’d gone without since Tomas. She smiled because the only person she’d been with since then was him.

  He continued his little speech, “I was only gone for a few minutes and when I came back you were talking to Orin and I thought that made more sense than risking any complications in our situation. At the end of the night I was kind of put in the position where either it had to be me or Frost that took Lily out of the equation and we both know Frost can’t be the one to do that for ability control reasons.”

  Every inch of her being wanted to embrace this confession and take the beautiful experience that came with it but she knew how this would play out.