She licked her lips. Should she be staring back? It didn’t matter if she should, because she was. She held his gaze and waited for him to back down. Her brazen attitude around him was going to get her hurt. There would come a day when he wouldn’t be able to control himself when she angered him.
What had changed? Was it their ability to speak to one another? When he’d sat with her on those long nights, there hadn’t been a word exchanged between them. Now, it seemed all they could do was spit fire at one another. They jabbed and nipped at each other’s patience until one of them lost control.
And it wouldn’t be her.
Ashe knew herself and her power. She brought her chin up in defiance. The Pack doubted she was half of what her mother had been because she lived carefully and shoved her power down.
“Let’s not destroy my apartment,” Ashe warned, feeling stronger than she ever felt in her life.
A smirk slipped over Cohen’s lips. He was close enough that she could reach forward and kiss his angry mouth. She wondered if his rage would melt away at the touch. She wondered if he would shiver if she ran her nails down the length of his exposed throat.
She licked her lips and his eyes fell to them. For a long moment, he seemed entranced, then his spine straightened, and he pulled back. He eyed her warily. It was a look she was used to. He wondered what she might have done, what kind of spell she could have wove over him.
Frustration gripped her. She wasn’t sure if it was the suspicion or if it was sexual. Her hand fisted in the fabric of her dress.
“Get out of my apartment,” she told him. “I’ll start working on your request. In the meantime, you should sniff out the murderer in your Pack.”
“They aren’t my pack.”
“Whatever. Just find the killer so there isn’t another witch hunt.”
Her words took him by surprise, as if he just now realized the gravity of her situation. Slowly, he nodded. When he left, she let out a cry of frustration and retreated to her shower. She had a lot of work ahead of her and she couldn’t do any of it if she was thinking about Cohen Vancourt’s body.
Chapter Five
Cohen snapped awake, gasping for air. His hands curled in the sheets beneath him, fingers threatening to lengthen into claws. The dream, or rather the nightmare, still clung to his mind as if he’d never left. The night had been alight with fire, glowing even as a reek filled the air. Smoke filled his nose and throat.
There was only one sure fire way to kill a witch.
His bear had panicked. The beast had ripped its way out of him, tearing apart what little of Cohen there was left. They ran toward the firelight. Anger burned through them, unable to push back the cold fear that sat deep inside of them.
He heard her screams first. The bear roared, as if to tell her they were on their way. He roared, hoping the sound would reach her. Hoping it would reach those trying to hurt her. But her screams turned into agony and he felt no closer. He ran for her life, ran as fast as he could. Yet, it wasn’t enough. A new smell filled the air. Burning hair and flesh.
Her screams grew choked. He couldn’t help her. He couldn’t save her.
Only then had the trees around him cleared. The figure in the fire was undistinguishable. It was a husk that vaguely resembled a human. Around it stood familiar faces. Grover smiled gravely. Mr. Jenkins looked relieved, as if the horror of having Ashe for a daughter was finally over.
Cohen tried to push the dream away, tried to push the bear back. It had only been a dream, one like a knife twisting in his mind. Part of him wanted to find his phone and call her, just to make sure she was alright. Maybe hearing her voice again would settle the ire of the beast inside him.
But, the beast rebelled. It was pissed. It wanted to find those that’d hurt her and rip them to pieces. It was going to make them hurt the way they hurt her.
Cohen was moments away from losing control when he felt her. The essence of her being prickled across his skin and warmed his core. The monster inside him settled and became a bear once more, perking its head up to search for Ashe.
“What are you doing here?” Cohen whispered into the darkness of his room.
There was a long moment of silence when Cohen wondered if he’d imagined her presence before he heard her soft voice. “I thought you could use help on the look-out tonight.”
“On the lookout?” Even though his voice held a hint of annoyance, he was grateful for her presence. Even if it was only her astral presence. It meant she was alright. “What lookout?”
“You know, when the killer comes back to the scene of the crime.”
“Like you are right now?”
He felt something incorporeal smack into his shoulder. It left behind a prickling, static sensation. “You aren’t funny. I didn’t kill anyone.”
“I don’t know that,” Cohen confessed. He wasn’t sure what made him so forthright. Was it the darkness that enveloped them? Or, was it the lingering nightmare and the fear of losing her? “You could have poisoned my father yourself for never helping you. You could be enchanting me so that you have one of his sons on your side when the Pack comes after you.”
Silence filled the room. It dragged on so long he thought she might have gone back to her own body, but then she spoke. Her voice was soft and so straightforward that it shot him through the heart like an arrow.
“Sampson did help me. He let you protect me when I was the most hurt. He knew I was hiding in the shed with you and he didn’t do anything about it.”
With him. She didn’t mention the things his other brothers did for her. She thought of him and his presence. In that moment, Cohen ached to hold her. He wanted to pull her into his body and hug her tight.
Never before had anyone ever been happier because of his presence. Her words struck him and left him dizzy with emotion. He searched the room for her presence, hungry for more. As if she could read his mind, she continued.
“I’m not sure if I would have kept hiding there if it hadn’t been you that stayed with me. My father knew where I was going. He’s a shifter, after all. It wasn’t hard to track me, but when he saw that it wasn’t Archer or Gage that kept me company he always turned away. You were the thing that kept me safe all those years ago.”
His throat closed. He shoved his fists into his eyes as if he could use the force of them to chase away the tears that threatened to fall. He was ashamed of himself. He’d fought to get ousted from the Pack, so he could follow Archer and hadn’t once thought about what that meant for Ashe. It left her alone in a world that continually hurt her.
She was years younger than him, barely more than a teenager when he left. What happened after he left? What kind of pain had she endured in his absence because he’d wanted to go where his brothers went?
The bear perked up, grinning as best a bear could in Ashe’s direction. Cohen could feel it’s hunger, not one for sustenance, but for the pleasures of the flesh. The beast revealed images of Ashe, things it craved. She was naked and bent over the bed as they rammed deep inside her. Another image showed her knees over her head, their hands grasping her heavy breasts.
Cohen swallowed past the rise of desire. Everything the beast showed him was rough and demanding. It wanted to show her the line between pleasure and pain, show her how good it could be. Cohen tried to tell the beast that Ashe would not enjoy pain, she’d already lived through too much, but it refused to listen.
“I don’t blame you for leaving,” Ashe began. “But, I am mad that you left them.”
He felt the edge of his bed sag as if she sat beside him. He reached toward the motion and felt his fingertips tingle. He kept them there.
“You were supposed to protect them, too, and you left them. I thought so highly of you for so long and then you showed how selfish you were. I…” Her voice trailed off.
Cohen fought through the tightness of his throat to speak. “I left to protect them.”
There was no one else in the house to hear his confession. No one else und
er this roof beside the two of them. He’d never mentioned this to anyone, keeping his secrets buried deep. If he never gave them voice, they would never enter the world. But someone needed to know. He needed someone else to carry this burden with him.
“I was afraid that I would hurt them. After Sampson kicked us out of the Pack, I thought I’d be alright as long as I had them, but I could tell after a while that my control got even worse. Before we left Stonefall, I knew my bear was different. It was wilder, more volatile than any I’d seen before. When it was just the three of us, I watched my control slip further and further each day until I could barely hold the creature back.
“I left them to make sure the monster that I’d become didn’t hurt them. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I hurt them. They were the most important part of my life. So, I left and found a place far away from humanity.”
“That’s where you went wrong,” Ashe’s voice said as it moved closer.
He felt the bed bend as if her weight were atop of it, her body lowering to lie beside his. He ached to feel the true weight of her presence, to feel her skin, her warmth as he pulled her tight. But, tonight, he would settle for her voice.
“Cohen, you need people in your life. You can’t let the bear’s voice grow too loud.”
“You don’t understand. You don’t have an animal.”
Her presence reared back, and he knew he’d said the wrong thing.
“If you could hear the things my beast tells me to do,” Cohen hissed. “If you knew what it wanted me to do to you every time I’m in your presence, you’d understand. You’d see me for the monster I am.”
He fisted his hair in his hands and tugged, as if the tight sensation on his scalp would relieve any of the frustration built inside him. Even when she wasn’t completely here, his beast begged and pleaded. It filled his mind with images of her naked and at his mercy. It wanted to hear her beg, to hear her moan while they blended pain and pleasure.
There was a tingling sensation on his cheek. It cascaded down his face as if she were touching him.
“What does your bear want to do to me?” she asked.
He shook his head, refusing to hurt her more than he already had. Cohen should have told her to go back to her body. She would never be safe in his presence. But, then again, perhaps he was not safe in hers, either. She was an enchantress, powerful and possibly manipulative.
Cohen licked his lips as he considered this.
***
Ashe waited with baited breath. She hated to admit, but her body ached with the suspense. Warmth pooled between her legs in anticipation.
His voice rumbled, low and heady when he spoke. “My beast wants me to lie with you in this bed and force my way inside you. It wants me to hurt you until you like it.”
Pleasure spiked through her core. It made her body gasp. She felt her hand slip over her hip. Her fingers paused at the waistband of her panties, tapping as she bit her lip.
“Tell me the details,” she whispered.
Cohen rolled so that he was on his side. He propped his head in his hands, his eyes burning with the light of the beast inside him. The bear was wild, and she could feel it’s hunger even from where he was. It was echoed in the smile that split his lips, revealing a sharp tooth and a dimple.
She’d adored him when she was younger, but he’d been so much older than her. She’d been sure he’d barely looked in her direction. He stayed in the shed fort with her like a babysitter. She never once thought he’d see her as anything more than a brat that needed a sitter.
Now, the hungry look in his eyes said otherwise. It warmed her and made her body throb with need.
“The beast wants me to slap your ass while my cock is inside you. It wants me to make sure you feel my hands on you, rough while I make you scream into the sheets.”
Ashe’s fingers slipped past her waistband. They searched for her folds and found just how wet she was. She found the source of the throb and made a slow circle.
“Go on.”
Cohen’s laugh was low and deep. “You want more?”
“Yes… please?” Her fingers brought her close, pleasure engulfing her like waves, but not yet crashing over her.
“How about I pin you down, my hand in your hair? How about I show you how sharp my teeth are while I explore your skin? I want to feel one of your nipples in my mouth. I could show you what my teeth and tongue can do for you.”
Her breath came fast. She turned her head into the pillow, her back arching. The waves crashed faster and faster now.
“Then, when I’m done with your breasts, I’m going to mark you as mine. Do you hear me? I’m going to sink my teeth into your skin so that when any other male looks at you he’ll know you belong to me.” His voice was a growl now. He twisted toward her astral form, crawling toward her as his eyes burned.
The wave rose and slammed into her. Ashe cried out, unable to hold it back. Pleasure rippled through her body. It crashed through her, from her toes to her fingertips.
“I can hear you,” Cohen growled, ending with a chuckle. “Did my words get you off?”
Ashe fought for her breath. It was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. Sure, she’d served herself before, but the image that Cohen and his beast had painted for her had made it… different. She didn’t know how to explain it. All Ashe knew was the furious beat of her heart and the way her breath came fast.
It all died into an ache. Her skin longed for the feeling of his hands. She yearned for the sensation of his arms around her, but the image he’d painted had not included any kind of tenderness. It had been about ownership. It should have scared her, the way his beast had pulled forward and taken control.
Thinking back, she saw the transition. She’d egged Cohen to reveal what the beast wanted and so the beast had crawled forward, eager to share. Even now, the beast smiled wide. It was pleased with itself. He leaned back and scented the air as if he could smell her desire. A look of disappointment crossed his face.
“I’m not really there. Remember?”
His lips curled with anger. “I’ll find you, my little bird. I’ll find you and mark you.”
Ashe should have pulled back. She should have given Cohen the solitude he needed to wrestle his beast. Instead, she leaned forward. She reached to touch Cohen’s face with her astral hand and searched his eyes.
“Give me the man,” she demanded.
Cohen rose over her with a growl. “The man is weak. He isn’t what you need, little bird. Tell me you want me.”
She shook her head. “You aren’t going to bully me. Give me the man or I will take him from you.”
The beast watched her with a wary gaze. He knew she could do it. It was part of the power she’d inherited from her mother, the power her mother had abused. Ashe was not about to let Cohen’s beast be a brat.
The thing was, the beast didn’t know she couldn’t do it from a distance. She’d have to be in the same room as him, but she hoped her bluff was good enough as she held his gaze.
“You’re too good for him, little bird.”
The glow in his eyes dimmed until the shadows swept over them again. They pulled over his face like a curtain. Ashe realized they were of his own creation. Whatever power Cohen had, he’d twisted it into a shield between him and those around him. It hid the struggle between him and his beast, and at the same time it frightened away those who might get too close.
Cohen let out a long sigh and collapsed onto the bed, weakened. Silence filled the space between them. Back at her body, her cheeks warmed. She couldn’t believe what she’d just done. It was not so revealing as other things, but it was enough to embarrass her. She’d never opened up like that to anyone.
“Did you have fun with the beast, at least?”
“I have thoughts about his tastes, but he acts like a brat.”
Cohen snorted. She watched the shadows writhe around his eyes and wondered what she might have to do to make them disappear completely. It wasn’t
enough to pull them back from time to time. She wanted to see them forever gone.
He rubbed his face. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t think I would lose my control so easily.”
“No need to apologize,” Ashe assured him. “He might be a thug, but he didn’t do anything wrong.”
She should get back to her own body. Her need to alleviate her own loneliness had lasted too long, as much as she’d had fun. The sun would soon breach the horizon and she’d had little sleep. In the morning, Cohen would tell the Pack about Sampson’s death. The loss of the Alpha left a vacuum of power. Sampson’s illness had already left them too weak, they would have to declare a new Alpha.
That meant there would be fighting. It was the only way shifters knew how to choose. More often than not, the positions went to family members of the previous Alpha if only because that was where the flow of power resided. If an Alpha was strong, his offspring would be, too.
She glanced at Cohen. He was the strongest of them all, but his own existence scared him. Would he fight for power? Absolutely not. He was already looking for a way out of the bond he had with his brother and Kaylee. He was already looking for ways to escape this place.
What could Ashe do to make him stay? She knew her mother had an arsenal of tools that would force Cohen to stay, but it broke her heart to think about using them. She would not be the monster that woman had been. It would only prove the Pack right about her. She needed to find another way to make Cohen want to stay.
“You called me Little Bird,” Ashe mentioned.
“I did?” Cohen held his arm over his eyes, as if he could shut out the entire world.
Chapter Six
Ashe moved about the house with her head down. It seemed as if the entire Pack had gathered under one roof. It was smothering. She lurched for the door and burst into the open air, gulping down breaths. It was too much. There were too many accusing eyes on her already, no matter how she tried to hide herself. She could never hide from them.
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