Calluna

by Jewels Arthur

Calluna

  Coming on the cock of a falling angel… Fuck, that shit can make a girl ad-dick-ted. When Elias busted in here and his eyes landed on Landyn, I wasn’t sure if he wouldn’t kill the man. An unearthly rage flashed through him, so much so that it was almost palpable. I could feel his anger at the man he believed had forsaken me. I couldn’t help but clench my thighs as he spit out Spanish words. His eyes locked with mine, and the desire I saw there made my whole body weaken. His words felt as if they spoke to my very soul, cracking down every defense that I had.

  Te quiero, mi alma. Te necesito. I want you, mi alma. I need you.

  Taken in such a way, so abruptly and in front of an audience, would’ve probably made me bristle and blush before I met all these men. What just happened, though, was almost instinctual. His desire called to my own, the mate connection riding me to take him. To make him mine.

  “You’ve fallen for me?” I ask as I look up to him, my words sounding weak as they leave my chest. My breaths come out in pants, and my throat feels tight as I take in what he has given up for me. Everything.

  “I would fall for you over and over. You are mine. I love you, mi alma.”

  His soul.

  Well, I’m fucking sprung. I look around the room, now having claimed all four of my mates, and I feel an odd sense of completeness. Like that uncontrollable pull is no longer there. Instead, there’s a feeling of calm. Tears well in my eyes, and I quickly try to blink them away, unwilling to start crying again. As someone who typically never cries, I’ve been crying way more than what is acceptable lately.

  “Our souls have bonded. Those are the emotions you are feeling. I give you everything I have, everything I am. We are now one. Darkness meets darkness.” He says the words softly, and I see that his own eyes are shining. Uncontrollable sobs wrack my body, as if this large man’s emotions give my own body permission to cry. To soak in the overwhelming feelings of what he has done for me. What I have gained in each of these men.

  “Momma didn’t raise no weak bitch,” I sob with a small chuckle, making all the men throw their heads back in laughter as I attempt to wipe away all evidence of my emotions.

  Elias presses a soft kiss to my lips, which feel bruised from our passionate kisses just moments ago. He stands and faces Landyn, his hand extended. “Are you back for good?” he asks, eyeing Landyn thoughtfully.

  “Yes. I won’t be leaving her again,” Landyn says stiffly, looking Elias up and down with squinted eyes. I don’t know if Elias being butt ass naked with my cum on his massive cock does anything to help the situation, but Landyn puts his hand out, accepting Elias’. They shake each other’s hands forcefully, then release them as they continue to eye each other.

  “Not that all this alpha male shit isn’t hot as fuck, but you seem to be covered in two days of cum, beautiful. How about a shower?” Rhett breaks the silence, coming over to me and kneeling next to where I lie on the couch. I smile, feeling a small amount of weirdness at the fact that I’ve fucked three of the four men in the room in the last eight hours. This is most definitely not what Lars meant about getting out more.

  I allow Rhett to pull me up from the couch and follow him into my bathroom, standing by the sink as he pulls back the shower curtain and turns the water on. I look at myself in the mirror and see that my hair is in a mess on my head, what little makeup I was wearing is smeared across my face, certain areas of my skin are covered in what can only be called love bites, and I look—for lack of a better term—well fucked.

  I watch as Rhett peels off the sweatpants that hung low on his hips, showing me the rest of his gorgeous body. He puts his hand in the water, testing its temperature, before he steps in and pulls me in with him. Once we get into the water, I lean my head back, allowing the warmth to relax my muscles. Rhett takes a cup from the tub’s edge and begins pouring water into my hair, then he flips the cap on my shampoo and rubs some onto my scalp. I moan as he massages the shampoo through my hair, taking great care with me. I’ve never been taken care of like this, and I melt into his embrace. He rinses the suds from my hair, wetting a washrag I didn’t see him grab and lathering soap onto my body. He washes every part of me, and the motions make my heart clench as he touches my most intimate areas in a non-sexual way.

  He makes quick work of cleaning himself while I stand in the stream of hot water, taking in every inch of his hard muscle and marveling in how stupidly pretty he is. He catches me staring and just smiles at me devilishly with a quick wink. He steps out of the shower and grabs three towels, wrapping one around his waist and handing me another to put in my hair. The last one he wraps around me as he pulls me into his chest, pressing soft kisses to my neck and shoulders.

  “You are unbelievably sweet,” I whisper softly. “I’ve never had someone take care of me like this before.”

  His lips freeze on my shoulder, his eyes connecting with mine in the mirror in front of us. “You deserve all this and more, beautiful. There will be no more moments where you aren’t being cared for the way you deserve. You’ll always have our attention, respect, loyalty, and love.”

  I turn in his arms and press my lips to his, sinking into his kiss. “I love you, Rhett.”

  “Always, beautiful girl. Always.”

  Calluna

  After my moment with Rhett in the shower, I know that I need to go check on the shop, see how the new employees are doing, and give Lars a much-needed break. He has been a lot more understanding about all this than most others would be in this situation. I walk back into the living room, now fully dressed with my blow-dried hair up in a messy bun. I look around the room to see it’s in much better shape than I left it, missing the remains of the fighting and fucking that just took place. Elias looks at me sheepishly from the couch, now dressed in dark blue jeans with no shirt, his large black wings tight behind him.

  He stands and walks over to me, pulling me to his chest. “Did I hurt you, Calluna?” he asks with concern furrowing his brow.

  “Not at all. I feel amazing,” I tell him truthfully, rolling my loose shoulders. “I do have to go to my shop though. I’ve been the absentee owner far too much lately. It isn’t fair to Lars.”

  I watch as the men all nod and begin pulling on socks and shoes. “You don’t have to all come with me. I mean, it’s probably going to be boring. You could all just hang out here, or do whatever you normally do with your free time.”

  “Of course, we will accompany you,” Elias states, as if the latter is the most absurd thing he has ever heard.

  “Yes, I want to come,” Landyn says, pulling me from Elias’ arms. “Besides, I can be helpful. Step one in winning you back.”

  “You don’t have to win me back,” I tell him seriously, rolling my eyes. “I told you I forgave you.”

  “Let him suffer a bit, mi Luna,” Damian says as he comes up behind me and kisses my neck. “He should win your trust back.” I shiver a bit in their arms, listening to the vengeful side of Damian that I didn’t know existed.

  “Fine. You’re cleaning out the bird cages. They’re the worst,” I say with a smile, tapping Landyn on the nose. He laughs deeply as he pulls me in to kiss me passionately. Jeez, all these men and all this kissing is making me want to hole up in my apartment and let them ravish me for a week or so. Heat pools between my thighs at the thought, but I shake my head, knowing that I need to adult right now.

  I slip into my flats and grab my bag, then walk out the door, listening as all four men follow me. I can only imagine what the neighbors would think if they saw, until I remember that I’ve recently seen both Violet and Juniper with harems of their own. If it weren’t for the book, I would seriously think it was something in the water.

  Landyn indicates that he parked in the parking garage this morning and we can take his SUV to the shop, and I eagerly agree, since I don’t have a car of my own. With my shop in walking distance and Uber available for going farther distances, I haven’t seen the point in the extra expense. Especially with everything being avai
lable for delivery these days. Today, though, after all the fucking that I’ve been doing, I’m thankful for a ride.

  “Can I drive?” I ask, hopping a bit in excitement. I haven’t driven in so long, I kind of wanna get back behind the wheel, although I don’t want them to know that.

  “It’s really big, and you’re really small,” Landyn says uneasily.

  I frown at him, squinting my eyes menacingly. “I think it’s clear from the past few days that I’m more than able to take something big, no matter how small I am. And I’m not small, you’re all just freakishly tall. I’m average height.” When Landyn doesn’t seem like he’s going to bend to my will, I stomp my foot and glare at him. “See this as step one of winning me back,” I say petulantly.

  “Fine, fine,” Landyn agrees with a laugh, throwing me the keys. “Just be careful.”

  I squeal a bit and run over to the huge, black SUV, trying to use the door to pull myself in unsuccessfully. Landyn laughs loudly and grabs a hold of my ass, pushing me up into the large vehicle. “I’m going to have to install a running board and a handle, aren’t I?”

  “Only if you don’t want to have to shove my ass in each time,” I say, settling into the soft leather and adjusting the seat.

  “Well then, maybe I won’t,” I hear him say quietly as he walks around the vehicle to get in the passenger seat. Elias, Rhett, and Damian pile into the back, and I feel thankful that the vehicle is so large, with two rows of seating in the back. I shift it into reverse and pull out far too fast, slamming on the brake and causing us all to be thrown forward.

  “Everyone got your seatbelts on?” I ask with a smile, as if I did that on purpose, and start laughing hard when I see all the men quickly grabbing the belts and pulling them across their chests.

  “Please don’t crash my truck,” Landyn says with a cautious smile, his hand holding on to the oh-shit handle above his head.

  “Oh, we’ll be fine,” I say, patting the dashboard and pulling out of the garage.

  When we get to Beastie Besties, we’re greeted by three teens sitting outside on the curb, looking at us in confusion. I stop the SUV and hop out, the force of the ground hurting the soles of my feet a bit. Okay, maybe a running board would be good. Or at least a small step.

  “What are you guys doing out here?” I ask, looking into the windows of the store to see that it’s dark inside. “Is Lars not here?”

  The blonde girl stands, brushing off her jeans. “He never showed up, so we’ve just been waiting around.”

  “I’m sorry.” I look around, finding it very odd that Lars never showed up. “That is so unlike him. I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

  “No worries!” the girl says with a big smile.

  I open the door to the store and flip on the lights, greeted by the noises of all the animals in their cages. Everyone follows in behind me, and I turn to look at my new employees again. “I’m sorry again that you guys had to wait this morning. I’m even more sorry for how you saw me acting yesterday. Life has been,” I turn and look at my four guys, “a bit chaotic the past few days. Now, what are your names, and what did Lars go over with you all yesterday?”

  They introduce themselves to me. The blonde girl is Beth, and the two guys with her are Dakota and Rob. There’s a third guy that I saw yesterday, Logan, but the others say that he has basketball practice today. Damian told me yesterday that Beth comes from a family of witches, and the three guys are all shifters of some sort, so I don’t have to worry about what craziness they may see in the store. Even if they were human, they wouldn’t see the insane shit because of the wards in the town, but I need people that can see the insane shit because there is a lot of it to deal with. I listen to their overview of yesterday, happy to hear that Lars went over all the basics with them. They can clean cages, feed animals, give them some much-needed attention, and Beth can even run the cash register. I think they’ll be a great fit here with us, and they seem to really enjoy the time spent with all the animals, which is the most important part.

  I watch as Landyn goes straight to cleaning bird cages, accidentally letting a few of the birds out and cursing loudly. Elias flies up and grabs the birds without issue, placing them back in their cages after they have been cleaned. Damian and Rhett play with Klaus, whose rash seems to be getting much better. Everything feels comfortable and perfect, except for the sick feeling I have in my stomach about Lars not coming in. I sent him a few text messages to check on him, but didn’t get a reply. I tap my nails on the counter as the sick feeling refuses to go away.

  We work through the day, and everything gets done so much faster with all the helping hands. I go through the inventory and get more cat trees and dog beds ordered, speak with some of my favorite customers, and get lots of cuddles in with Klaus. But the whole day goes by with no word from Lars.

  After Beth, Rob, and Dakota leave and I begin closing the store, I look at my phone one last time and feel my heart drop when I see there are still no messages. “I’m really worried about Lars,” I tell the guys.

  “Could he be mad that you’ve been absent so much? Maybe he wanted a day off, so he just took it?” Damian says logically, but it still doesn’t feel right.

  “I just don’t think he’d leave the store empty all day, especially with how flighty I’ve been lately. He wouldn’t let the animals suffer just to make a point.”

  Rhett puts his arms around me, pulling me close. “If you’re worried, we can stop by his house. See if he’s okay.”

  I nod, biting my lip in thought. I’ve been a really shitty friend and co-worker lately, but I just know that he wouldn’t abandon the animals. Something has to have happened. We walk out into the darkness and over to Landyn’s SUV, and I toss him the keys, as my stomach feels like it’s in knots. “You drive, I’ll give directions. I’m too nervous.”

  We drive through the darkness, exiting town and heading down the backroads that lead into the bear community north of town. The trees out here are crowded together, making the darkness seem much worse than it is. Landyn’s headlights shine brightly in front of us as he drives slowly, on the lookout for wild animals and shifters out on their nightly runs.

  “Lars lives out here?” Rhett asks, leaning forward between Landyn and me.

  “Yup, right on the edge of the bear community. He lives by himself, since he doesn’t interact with the rest of the clan much, but he always stays close to the community for his family.”

  “This is where Rhett was attacked, about a mile or so that way,” Damian says thoughtfully, and I remember him telling me that the night we met. That they were running out by the bear community outside of town.

  “Do you think the brothers come out here often? Maybe they took him?” Fear claws through me, and I grab onto Landyn’s hand. “It’s just up here, please hurry.”

  When Landyn puts the SUV in park, I leap out of it and run towards Lars’ door, but I don’t see anyone around. His door is slightly ajar, and none of the lights are on inside. I push the door open in a rush, reaching for the light switch. As light floods the room, a scream leaves my throat as I take in the room around me. Several animals lie on the floor, unmoving, with the familiar black smoke wafting from their open mouths.

  My blood runs cold as I walk towards the coffee table in the center of the room and see Lars’ old dog, Apollo, lying on his back, his legs stiff and his tail, that I always remember wagging crazily, lying limp.

  Calluna

  As I rush into the room and drop to Apollo’s side, I hear the men run in behind me, their gasps audible in the quiet room. Soundless tears escape me as I put my hands into Apollo’s fur, murmuring words of a spell that I hope will help him. I feel a heartbeat pounding in his chest, and the amount of black smoke is less than the others in the room, so I’m hoping that’s good news.

  “I call upon the powers far and near.

  To banish the darkness that has resided here.

  The moon will awaken,

  the sleeping sun.


  May the darkness be broken,

  may the spell be done.”

  I chant the words, barely above a breath, with my eyes sealed shut. My hands tingle with the black sparks I felt yesterday outside of Black Moon Magick, and I concentrate on that power.

  “The blood that I spill,

  bends you to my will.

  My darkness will reign,

  my power you’ll gain.”

  “A knife,” I growl, my eyes still tightly shut. I hear movement as I continue to repeat the words, and a knife is placed in my open hand. Opening my eyes, I cut my hand, my blood dribbling into the dog’s mouth. I watch in awe as the dog twitches, its eyes flashing open. A sigh of relief exits me just as Apollo jumps from the table and turns to me. Prepared to greet the sweet, excitable dog, I’m thrown when he leaps at me with his teeth bared.

  My back hits the floor as Apollo stands above me, his large paws on my chest and his teeth still bared menacingly. His eyes are pure black, the warmness I remember gone. “Calluna!” I hear someone yell, but all I can do is stare at the dog above me.

  “Nobody hurt him!” I yell, putting my hand out to stop the men from harming the dog. I slam a hand into the dog’s chest, filling it with that same black, electric energy, and throw the animal off my body. “Grab him,” I growl to Elias, who’s standing closest to the dog. He grabs the thrashing dog and throws it into the nearby bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him and holding the handle to keep the door shut. Apollo growls and barks on the other side, his nails digging into the wood.

  “What the fuck was that?” Landyn asks, his eyes wide as he looks around the room. “You’re a witch?”

  “Yes, kind of,” I reply as I stand and stretch my shoulders and back in pain where Apollo slammed me to the ground.

  “Fuck, I just thought you were a changeling. You practice dark magic?” Landyn asks, looking around the room. “What happened here?”