Cursed Hearts (A Crossroads Novel)

by Light

“Please,” he begged, nudging his nose against her jawline. “I’m not going to do anything.” He felt her chest fall as she let out a great sigh. “I’m having such a good dream,” he mumbled. “Don’t wake me from it.”

  Ariahna rolled her eyes up to the sky, pleading for help from the heavens. Her arm curled reluctantly around his back, fingers barely a whisper as they ghosted up into his hair. It hurt her somewhere deep, knowing that she wanted this.

  “That feels nice,” Christian said somberly.

  “…Does it hurt?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, but I know it’s going to hurt worse when this is over.” He started kissing lovingly at her neck, working his way towards her mouth. “I know I shouldn’t,” he whispered, “but I miss you.”

  “Please stop,” she said weakly. “Hearing you say that hurts worse than what you did.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Aria paused, staring up into his eyes. “…I forgive you.”

  Ariahna closed her eyes, letting her own words wash over her – letting herself feel them completely. The only way she was ever going to move on was to forgive. She’d known that all along, in the back of her mind. She just hadn’t been ready before. She was now. She slipped her fingers underneath his chin, turning him to face her with a gentle touch. “I’m sorry too,” she said. Her lips rising up to meet his meant he never had a chance to reply.

  Christian let out a soft sound that was somewhere between a moan and a whimper. He hadn’t been expecting her to kiss him. It felt amazing, and yet it placed a weight over his heart. Did this mean she wanted to be with him, or was this all going to end as soon as they left the woods?

  “Aria,” Christian breathed. “…I love you.” He didn’t know where those words had come from, and it had nearly brought tears to his eyes to say them. Was that what he’d been feeling this entire time? he wondered. Was that what hurt so much?

  Ariahna felt her eyes flooding with tears. Her throat had suddenly closed up, stealing her ability to speak, and all the air had left her lungs on a breath. Forgiveness was one thing, but—why did this just feel like hiding a scrape with a gash? She wanted to say it back – more than anything, she felt it in her soul. And yet she knew that to say it would only be to open herself up to more pain. Would it be worth it in the end? She wondered what she would end up regretting more, saying it, or never getting the chance.

  “I—”

  “Just stay away from me, Amber!”

  Christian’s head popped up at the sound of Rome’s booming voice. He could suddenly hear all the sounds of the forest, including the crunching of leaves beneath Rome’s, and apparently Amber’s, feet.

  “Christian,” Ariahna said, attempting to draw his attention back to her. “Christian.” Her hand came up to touch the side of his face, gently turning him to meet her eyes. “We have to get up.”

  “Shhh,” he smiled. They were nearly hidden by bushes, and he thought maybe, just maybe if they were quiet, Rome wouldn’t find them. His fingers curled around her neck, intending to kiss her again when she winced. When he pulled his hand away, he could see shallow puncture marks. She had scratches going down her side as well. He licked his lips and leaned down, getting her to bare her neck to him with only a little reluctance. “Let me clean you up,” he said. His tongue brushed over her lightly dirt-covered skin.

  Aria felt her lips tremble as Christian started sliding down her body. Rome was getting closer, she could hear him arguing with Amber, and Christian was pressing hot kisses down her chest and stomach. “Christian,” she breathed anxiously. “Stop.” His tongue moved over her skin, and she blushed, realizing he hadn’t intended to do what she’d been thinking. This wasn’t much better. He moved back up, covering her body protectively with his own just as Rome found the two of them.

  “Go away,” he grinned. Rome didn’t look happy.

  “I told you she was a cheater,” Amber said evilly. She was the only one dressed between the four of them. That meant she got to enjoy smacking Rome on the ass with her hoodie, though.

  Rome whipped around and snagged the soft fabric from Amber’s hands. That was about the fiftieth time she’d done that. She’d been nothing but defiant since last night, and it wasn’t any better now that she was standing on two legs. That just meant he couldn’t get her to stop bitching.

  “Hey!” she said.

  “That’s what you get for not summoning my fucking clothes,” Rome growled. “Deal with it.”

  “Are you okay?” Ariahna asked.

  “He’s great,” Amber said dryly. “Scamper along now.”

  “You don’t get to tell her what to do,” Rome said. “Now take your own advice and leave us alone.”

  Amber crossed her arms, staring back at him haughtily. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, either. Why are you defending her?” she asked. “If you were any kind of real wolf, you’d be able to tell she’s not like us.”

  He turned fierce golden eyes to Amber. “You are not my equal, and you do not get to judge what kind of wolf I am, or what kind of wolf she is. If you ask me, she’s better than all of us. You’re just a sore loser.”

  “I did not lose. I told you, she cheated. I would have kicked her ass in a fair fight. I’m a lot stronger than that pathetic bitch.”

  “Hey,” Christian interjected. “That fight was fair. You said it yourself, you’re stronger than her physically. Well guess what? Her magic is her strength. And that’s not the only area she outclasses you in. She’s obviously smarter and more gracious too.”

  Ariahna was trying to disappear underneath Christian. She summoned their clothes suddenly, hoping to end the conversation. She was tired of everyone talking about her like she couldn’t speak for herself.

  “We should get dressed,” she mumbled.

  Rome hurried to gather his clothing, stumbling into his jeans before tossing Amber’s sweater back to her. “Christian, get dressed.”

  “Do I have to?” he grinned. The look in Rome’s eyes was enough to get him up. He made sure to grab Aria’s clothes to cover her as he stood.

  “You’re obviously not cut out to be a leader,” Amber said. “You can’t even keep your beta in line.”

  “Do you ever shut up?”

  “How am I out of line?” Christian asked.

  “You’re not,” Rome replied.

  “Yes, he is. He should not be cuddling up with your proclaimed ‘alpha female’. And when you give him an order, he should comply without question.”

  “We may be wolves, but we’re also people. I don’t own him, and I respect her right to be with who she wants. Even if that means sharing.”

  Amber sighed. “You’re so misguided.”

  Now that Ariahna was clothed she felt like she could contribute to this conversation. She stepped between Amber and Rome, staring down the distasteful expression Amber was giving her. “It’s apparent that you take this all very seriously. However, if you’re going to view us only as wolves, then you need to acknowledge that Rome outranks you. And for that matter, so do I. Your opinion is unwanted. We’ll handle our own business in our own way. If you don’t like it, you’re free to leave. We’re not forcing you to remain with us, and you certainly weren’t invited.”

  “You,” Amber whispered furiously, “do not outrank me. Despite what these foolish little boys think, you are not alpha material. You shouldn’t even be with them. Your kind is not welcome among us. You don’t belong. And by the way, I’m not going anywhere. I am the only alpha female in these woods, and I’m going to be the only one in this pack. You?” she said, shaking her head. “You can’t even look me in the eye.”

  Rome stepped around Ariahna, staring into Amber’s cold expression. “You listen to me,” he said. “You don’t belong. You are the omega. Do you even realize that out of the four of us, you are the only one who can’t change at will? That makes you weak. The truth of it is, you need us, not the other way around. So you have two choices. You can either fall in line, or get the hell out of the
way.”

  Amber waved a hand dismissively in his face, turning wordlessly and stomping off through the trees.

  “Major attitude problem,” Christian commented. “Hey Amber,” he shouted. “Watch out for falling tree branches!” He watched Ariahna blink away in astonishment a moment later. She was there, and then she was just gone. “Shit, did you know she could do that already?”

  “Yeah, but it’s not really fun,” Rome mumbled.

  The two of them walked back in relative silence, but Christian could tell by the stern, apprehensive look on Rome’s face that something was on his mind. “You okay?” he asked, stopping him near the greenhouses. “You aren’t pissed at me, are you? Because I thought—”

  “I’m not mad.”

  “Not even if I told you that… she kissed me?”

  “No,” Rome said tightly. “Just… know your place.”

  “What is my place, exactly? Do you really want both of us to be with her? Or is this about you and Kaleb?”

  Apparently they shared a keen sense for deductive reasoning.

  “…It is about Kaleb, but that isn’t the only reason. I understand enough to realize that if we fight for her love, neither of us will have it. Besides, two guard dogs are better than one,” he smirked.

  “You’re smarter than you look,” Christian grinned.

  “Thanks,” he scoffed. “That’s not what I wanted to talk to you about though… Are you willing to tell me what the counselor has over you yet? Because I don’t care who you are, or what you’re into, I know you don’t like sleeping with a forty year old man.”

  “He’s thirty-six,” Christian muttered. That really wasn’t the point.

  Rome raised his eyebrows at him, waiting for him to elaborate.

  “…I ran away.”

  “Ran away? Like from an orphanage?”

  “From a foster family. They weren’t the worst I’ve ever had, but let’s just say they cared more about the check that came in the mail than me. They always did. Anyways, I forged some fake names and signatures to get into the school after I got an acceptance letter. And because I had the money to afford it, no one really questioned anything. But he found out, and if I don’t—” He sighed. “He’ll get me kicked out.”

  “I’m sorry,” Rome frowned, roughing a hand through Christian’s hair. “I want you to know I didn’t mean that shit I said yesterday. I really do wish we would have grown up together. I should have been able to be there for you. This would have never happened in the first place.”

  “It is what it is,” he said. “And Rome, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. For… everything, I guess.”

  “Don’t sweat it. We’ve both got a lot of lost time to make up for. I just want you to start with making things right with Aria. What you did was—”

  “I know,” Christian said. “I was just doing what Dallas taught me. I didn’t want to leave. I just didn’t know what else to do.”

  “Well, from here on out, you’re going to go off of what I teach you, not Dallas. Okay?”

  Christian nodded. Rome didn’t know it, but he was really starting to look up to him. He was actually proud to know that Rome was his brother. There was something about being around him that made him want to strive to be a better person. Perhaps it was because for the first time, he felt like someone really cared about him.

  “I’m going to blackmail him,” Rome muttered abruptly.

  “What? No, Rome, you can’t. I tried that. If I tell anyone this is all over for me. Believe it or not, I like this school. I get good grades, and I actually want to freaking stay.”

  “What if I come forward and say he did it to me? Your name will never even come up. He’d be stupid if he tried to expose you then, because he’d have to admit to blackmailing and abusing you.”

  “You’d seriously do that, for me? You’d publicly go on record stating that another man forced you into sex? And that you let him—you know.”

  Rome took an extremely deep breath.

  “What are we talking about?” Kaleb grinned, crossing his arms and leaning against the side of the greenhouse.

  “What are you doing out here?” Rome asked.

  Kaleb shrugged. “I don’t know. I wanted to find you, and then I just started walking.”

  “…Is that my fucking journal?”

  “You have a journal?” Christian laughed.

  “No,” Rome said. “I meant—it’s the Artisan’s. You know that!”

  “Yeah, but teasing you is so much fun.”

  “I found it in your room,” Kaleb said casually.

  “Okay, clearly we have to establish a few ground rules.” Kaleb looked back at him with a devilish grin and Rome felt his skin flush with heat. He didn’t know why, but he was embarrassed.

  Christian tried not to smile at the two of them. It was like watching Rome meeting Aria all over again. His shoulders shook with silent laughter when he realized his older, clearly more mature brother, was less sexually experienced than he was. There was something amusing about that. “I’m gonna get to class,” he said, pointing over his shoulder and slipping away.

  Rome rubbed a hand over the back of his neck as Kaleb stepped closer. “So… um… what did you want to talk to me about?”

  “Who said I wanted to talk?” Kaleb teased. He was annoyed with Rome and his indecisiveness, but there was still just something fun about watching him squirm. Kaleb shook the small leather book in his hand a moment later. “I wanted to talk to you about this, actually. I think you’d agree it’s an interesting read.”

  Rome let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “I was looking to talk to you about it,” he said. “I wasn’t hiding it from you or anything, if that’s what you think.”

  “No,” he said. “But after looking through it last night, I think I have a little theory on how to break these curses.”

  “We have to bring the yew tree back to life.”

  “My way’s easier.”

  “Wait… were you snooping through my room?”

  “No. I was looking for you and I found this on your nightstand. Honestly, you should have hidden it. What if someone else had found it instead of me?”

  “Well… are you going to tell me, or not?”

  “That all depends on you,” Kaleb said.

  Rome sighed. He knew right where this was headed. “Come on, we shouldn’t be talking about this here anyways.” He led Kaleb back into the forest, walking with him along the trail to the yew. He figured it would be good if he knew where it was located, if nothing else.

  “I think this is probably my favorite place in the world to be,” Rome muttered. He pressed his back against the trunk. “Well, out of the few places I’ve been,” he laughed. “So, what do you want for this grand piece of information?”

  “The same thing I wanted last time,” Kaleb said. “But I think you already knew that.”

  Rome turned his head to look out at the water through the tangled branches. “I had a feeling,” he admitted. He waited the span of several heartbeats before walking over to Kaleb. This wouldn’t have been happening if Christian hadn’t told him Ariahna had kissed him. Rome took the journal from his fingers, thumbing through the pages for a moment.

  He was stalling, and Kaleb knew it.

  “You are so predictable,” Kaleb muttered.

  “And you’re not?”

  Kaleb turned to walk away from him and Rome reached up quickly, sliding his hand over his jaw and turning him back. His heart was racing, and the only thing he could feel was the softness of Kaleb’s skin beneath his fingers. The kiss was so spontaneous, he’d taken himself by surprise. It was rough at first, and then meek – the mark of nervous, eager lips giving way to sincere emotion. He kept his tongue to himself, unready to push it that far yet, though more than content to explore the sensation of their mouths moving together in a harmony of wet, sensual skin. They were lying underneath the tree, locked in a moment set apart from time, and Rome was surprised to realize tha
t he had been the one to ease them down into the lush, inviting grass.

  Kaleb rolled on top of him playfully, kissing him with a vibrant passion. A great warmth was swelling up inside of him and swallowing him whole. It was a feeling he’d never been blessed with, but often longed for. A feeling of acceptance and belonging, of adoration, affection – perhaps even love. He felt wanted, and that was more precious to him than anything that existed in this world – more valuable than all of his father’s possessions. Money couldn’t buy this feeling. He’d learned that over and over again throughout his life.

  Rome pulled away with a soft hum. “We should slow down.”

  “We’re already moving at the speed of a glacier,” Kaleb replied as patiently as he could. “How slow do you want to go?”

  “…Virgin girl slow,” Rome said, only slightly embarrassed.

  “I’ve been with virgins who moved faster than this.” Kaleb could see the discomfort on Rome’s face and held off on further argument. “It’s fine. I don’t have a problem with taking it… slow.”

  Maybe I’ll even get to third base before one of us dies, he thought.

  “I realize I don’t know anything about you,” Rome said. “Would it be so crazy if we tried to get to know each other a little better first?”

  Kaleb narrowed his eyes slightly at him. He had to admit, the idea of anyone wanting to get to know him sounded a bit ludicrous. “What do you need to know, other than that I’m interested?”

  “I don’t know. What you like, what you don’t like.” He shrugged, feeling self-conscious. Kaleb settled in the grass beside him, propping his head up in his hand and staring back at him curiously.

  “Are these the kinds of things you talk about with Aria?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “Okay,” he smiled. “I like you. I dislike Amber.”

  Rome laughed. “I dislike Amber too. But I meant more like… I like to play the guitar,” he said as an example. “Is there something like that that you enjoy? A hobby or something?”

  Kaleb turned a thoughtful expression up to the tree branches. “I play tricks a lot. Get myself in trouble on purpose, or sneak around and leave nasty things for people to find. I find the best entertainment is the kind you create for yourself,” he smirked.