Neck-Romancer: A Neck-Romancer Novel

by Elizabeth Dunlap

  “No idea, I don’t speak Spanish. You would think Abuela would’ve picked up on that after all these years, but whatever. I’m sure it says something about her lack of involvement in my life has given me abandonment issues, and she’s super extra sorry about it, but it could also be about a goat barbeque, so who the shit knows.”

  Alec swiped the card from me and scanned it. “Lucky for your Abuela, I happen to speak many languages, Spanish being one of them. It says, ‘Congratulations on your specialization. They love you. They hope Highborn is feeding you enough.’ And Abuela put a P.S. that you shouldn’t let boys touch your tetas.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, she’s said. I’m surprised she didn’t mention for the hundredth time that it’s not too late for me to have a Quinceañera. Can’t exactly be a Wiccan Catholic. I don’t think Jesus would approve of how many times a day I ask the goddess to keep my butt perky.” Alec muttered under his breath, something about it’s a good thing the goddess delivers, when his mom came out of the Council room with her robe hanging off her arm, revealing a dress that looked like it costed as much as my parents’ house.

  “Alec, I’m afraid your father and I need you to come home for a few days. There’s nothing wrong, we just haven’t spent time with you in almost a year, not to mention we have a few things we need to discuss. If that is okay with you, Headmaster?” Cauldron gave his approval as Lady Claus barely looked my way. I had a feeling I was going to be the topic of their conversation, but they could complain all they wanted. Alec and I were bound together now, for life. There was nothing they could do about it. He’d never get married or have kids, not without me. Anyone who had a problem with that could suck it.

  My soulmate looked very displeased, but he clearly was going to go along with it because he approached me and tugged on my elbow until we were far enough away on the balcony where the adults couldn’t hear us.

  “I’ll only be a few days. I wouldn’t go at all, but I will not stand for my parents not accepting you. They can’t just talk me out of being with my soulmate, and I’m not leaving the house until their bias is silenced.” The rabbit wiggled in my arms as Alec kissed my forehead, and I almost dropped the bunny trying to get closer to him, to memorize his smell, the way he felt against me.

  “I’ll take that,” someone said beside us, and once the rabbit was gone, I clung to Alec until my arms started to shake.

  “I might have to put a spile to you because you’ve gotten all sappy,” he whispered into my ear, making me hold him that much harder. “Everything will be fine, I promise. The spell on Pierce will stay until I get back, and Gilbert is still at Highborn so you won’t have to worry about him not getting back through the barrier.”

  “You’ll…” Shutting my eyes, I swallowed and ran my fingers through his short curls. “You’ll come back?” Why was I asking him something like that? God, I really had gone sappy. He only had to touch my lady bits once, and I was throwing myself at him like a lovesick thirteen year old.

  “I know you’re feeling vulnerable from all of this, so I promise I won’t tease you. Much.” I growled, and he squeezed his arms around my waist as he tried not to laugh. “I’m not going anywhere, Jaz. I made you a promise, soulmates or no. Pierce can protect you if Cole and his douchebags try anything.”

  It had only been one day since Cole tossed beer on my head and Alec kissed me, sealing our fate forever, but it seemed a lifetime ago.

  “You trust him with me?”

  Alec nibbled on my ear where his mom couldn’t see, and I had to hold in a gasp. “If I can’t trust Pierce with my soulmate, his role in our lives will end very quickly. He can’t be part of our relationship and not take care of you, regardless of what he is. We’ll also talk about this later.” He pulled away, kissing along my temple, and I opened my eyes to stare into his as a very thin stream of smoke came from his nostrils. He dipped his chin and slowly leaned in to kiss my lips, every gentle touch filled with enough passion to sustain me until he returned.

  9

  The Lycan’s mate

  Wolf Pierce sat panting in the warm sun on the train station balcony, instantly alert as soon as I was within smelling distance. He ran to me, his long wolf tail wagging, sniffing me all over to make sure I was okay, no doubt smelling the rabbit that the Chancellor had taken from me. High and Mighty said he would let it go into the wild, but I wouldn’t trust him with an electronic gold fish.

  My hand clutched Pierce’s fur while we waited for the train to return. Cauldron had stayed behind to speak with the Chancellor, leaving me alone with my wolf mate.

  The sun was almost set, blinking on the edge of the horizon in one last attempt to burn itself into my retinas. We wouldn’t get back to Highborn until well after midnight, and I had classes the next day. Thanks a lot, High Council. I totally didn’t need to study for that potions exam, it’s no big.

  Pierce stretched out on the compartment bench, and I lay against his warm side, stroking his fur in thought until I fell asleep, exhausted from the day. From the week. Month. Year. Decade. Century. All of it.

  A cold, wet nose nudged me awake well after midnight. I stretched, yawned, and stood up to see the ticket master waiting for me to move my ass. Grabbing my bag, Pierce and I went from the train to the station, and onward through Highborn village until the school was there on its hill waiting for us.

  I sank my fingers into Pierce’s soft neck and he looked up at me, his ears perked up in confusion as to why I’d stopped walking.

  “When we have a moment alone, maybe I’ll tell you why I hate this place so much, Pierce. We should probably get to know each other, being mates and all.” He nudged me with his snout, and it barely registered I was still without underwear until his nose pressed to my bare thigh and I jumped away with heat licking all over me as I remembered the way Pierce’s eyes looked in his human form.

  Stop getting turned on, he can smell it, you idiot!

  Loudly clearing my throat, I continued up the hill and through the barrier with Pierce coming up beside me, into the entrance, across the front hall, and up to the advanced studies dorm where we passed a bunch of the guys playing a game on a big table.

  “I hit him with my short bow!” one of them shouted, rolling a small dice and cheering when it landed.

  One of them gave me a smile as he wrote something on his paper. “Hey, Neck. Where’s Alec? He never misses Crypts and Casters.”

  “Crypts and what?” I asked, coming over to the table to see what they were doing. The boy held up a sheet littered with his scribbles of stats and whatever else nerds used for this game, and the top had ‘Crypts and Casters’ written in a fancy logo. “Ahh. Nerd games.”

  The boy sitting at the end of the table, Gene Pendragon if I remembered correctly, rolled his eyes at me and pushed up his Superman looking glasses. “It’s not nerd games. I’ll have you know the High Chancellor himself plays this game, as does his brother, our Headmaster. They’re ranked, it’s legit.”

  Another of them held up a blank sheet, just waiting for someone to fill out with their character information. “We have a spot open if you’re interested.”

  “Hard pass, nerdlets. Peace out.”

  “YOUR LOSS!” Gene shouted to our retreating backs.

  As if I’d waste my precious sleep time with a bunch of weirdos.

  The first thing I did after shutting and locking my bedroom door was make Pierce turn his head so I could finally put on some panties. While taking the opportunity to change into a nightgown, I felt my cheeks heating as I looked at Pierce’s furry back. If he went back to his human form, I wasn’t sure what I’d do. He still made me far too nervous.

  “Pierce.” His ears perked up but he remained facing away. “Could you stay a wolf for now? I umm…” What would be a good excuse? I needed one, since the real reason was me being a chicken. “I’m nervous that Alec’s spell will fade if you keep changing, and he won’t be back for a few days.” I pushed my dresser closed and removed my boots, tossin
g them in the corner before coming up to Pierce and putting a hand on his fur. “You can sleep on the bed, just stay in this form, okay?” He sneezed to show he understood before he jumped up onto my bed and laid his head down on one of the pillows.

  Okay, stomach. Stop flipping like a pancake. Nothing will happen, he’s a wolf, it’s all fine.

  My hands shook as I waved my hands to turn out the lights, and my knees almost gave out before I could sit on the other side of the bed. I slid my legs under the blanket and laid down, pulling it over my shoulders, hoping it would stop the shivers that had started overtaking me.

  Pierce moved closer, his large wolf body promising enough heat to chase away my fears.

  I woke the next morning with a grumpy haze and waved my fingers for my coffee pot to start making me a cup as I stretched and yawned, only remembering Pierce was in bed with me after I’d thrust my breasts into the air mid-stretch. He was still in wolf form, but he was definitely looking, as was the silvery Gilbert who I noted had returned during the night.

  “Morning,” he said, his eyes flicking to my chest fast enough I almost didn’t catch it. I got up, stretched again with my front turned away from them, and picked up my phone to check my notifications. “I see Alec isn’t here. Good riddance. It’s about time you yeet him from this school.”

  When had he learned that dumb ass word?

  In disbelief of what I’d just heard, I slowly turned my sleepy eyes back to him. “I don’t know what that was, but imma need you to never use that word again.”

  “Pfft,” he scoffed. “I can do what I want. Plus, Mr. Cool Guy won you over already, Pierce told me.” Pierce tried to look innocent under my glare, panting away like everything was fine. He’d definitely turned back into a human while I slept, and who knows what I’d done in my sleep. Moaned his name. Farted a million times. Recited the Gettysburg address. “He advised me maybe if I tried to act cooler, you’d realize your feelings for me.”

  Goddess, I’m surrounded by idiots.

  “Yes, well, probably better to not tell me your plans, just in case.” I walked to my dresser and started taking out various pieces of my uniform. “And as for you, Lycan. I asked you to stay in wolf form to keep you safe.” Bock, bock, bock. “You’ll be coming with me to classes so I can keep an eye on you. Gilbert, you should probably—”

  When I turned to where he’d been, there was only empty space. He’d disappeared, probably sulking about me mistreating him. I rolled my eyes and took my pile of clothes down the hall to the bathroom where I showered and changed before coming back to my room to see Pierce sitting in the same spot, panting away. I grabbed my bag, and we left the dorm, arriving five minutes early at my first class.

  The potions room was cold and unforgiving, not unlike my professor, so Pierce gladly went under my desk to warm my bare legs up as the other students started coming in. I reached a hand to pet at his ears when my desk mate and her friends sat next to me, giving me sour looks but ignoring me as much as possible. I had my own book now, so I only had to deal with them when the professor felt like torturing me.

  “I already got my dress,” one of them said after I realized they’d been talking quietly to themselves for several minutes. “If Gene doesn’t ask me to the dance, I am literally going to jump off the top of the school.”

  “For reeeeal!” another giggled as she inspected her nails. “If he doesn’t want you, imma steal you for myself. Then he’ll know what he’s missin’.”

  The third one took out her phone to show her friends a picture that I couldn’t see. “This is my dress. See the sequins? It’s dope, right?” They all squealed over the photo and I rolled my eyes.

  Underneath my desk, I felt Pierce nudging my shoes, pressing his nose along my legs, until I looked down and saw him sniffing at the crotch of the shorts I had on under my plaid skirt.

  I leaned down and grabbed his long snout with my hand. “You get your nose out of my vag, or I will neuter you, you little skank.”

  He licked my face with his long tongue, completely unafraid of my wrath.

  The day went by like a slow healing scab, and I was definitely itchy long before we went back to my dorm room for a few free hours before dinner. Hearing all the girls talking about the dance had put a bad taste in my mouth, mostly because it was in two days, and seeing as how I hadn’t paid attention to anything except my studies and Alec’s lips, I had nothing to wear. Not to mention most of the girls were bragging that the witch boutique in Highborn Village was sold out of anything worth wearing, and I’d never get approval to go to an Ordinary store during the school week.

  I was left with the option of fixing something I already had, and having the skill of raising the dead didn’t leave much room for the skill of magical alterations.

  Pierce jumped onto the bed to chew on one of my shoes as I opened my coffin bag and used a spell to pull out everything inside it since I hadn’t fully unpacked yet. All of my belongings trailed to the air, hanging around above our heads so I could take stock of what I had. I waved my hands to put the regular clothes away into my dresser, and stacked up the books on my desk. The only thing left was three dresses that I definitely wouldn’t call ‘dance worthy’ but they were still passable.

  With a twitch of my fingers, one of them came closer to me, the short, blue skirt ruffling around, showing off the silvery spell thread woven into the fabric. I waved two fingers to Pierce so he would look away before I removed my uniform and slipped on the dress, using a quick spell to zip it up in the back.

  When I stood at the mirror, I turned this way and that, examining the way my ass looked, and wondering if the dress would work. I grabbed one of my spell books and found something that would work to lengthen the fabric until it was trailing past my feet, the silvery threads peeking through the deep blue. The deep V neck was perfect, it looked even better with the skirt so long.

  I automatically turned to ask what my companion thought, forgetting it was Pierce, and found him sitting slack-jawed in his human form as he lounged on my bed like this was a normal day.

  I put my hands to my hips and scowled at him. “I told you to stay in your wolf form, Pierce!”

  He stared at me, his eyes trailing from my feet to my head, like I was a masterpiece on display in a museum. When he met my eyes, my stomach tightened and my breath caught in my lungs.

  Oh god, play it cool. Everything is fine. I’m definitely not going to jump his bones, but shit, I really wanted to find out what his lips tasted like, hear what noises he would make when I ran my hands through his long brown hair. Would I feel in charge with a man almost as short as me, or would he still make me feel vulnerable and exposed?

  I turned away so fast I ran into the mirror, and thankfully it didn’t break because I did not need that kind of aggravation right now.

  “You look incredible, Jaz.” He was off the bed and standing behind me, forcing me to keep my eyes down so I wouldn’t see his in the mirror. “You should change for dinner, though. Let me help you.” His fingertips brushed my long curls across my back to my shoulder, every touch of them against my skin making goosebumps pop out, and I had to hold in a gasp when he lightly put his hands on my back above the dress so he could pull the zipper down.

  “I…” I cleared my throat and pulled on my curls to keep them out of his way. “I could’ve done that.”

  “I’m aware,” he said softly, his fingers still on my back, drawing small circles between my shoulder blades. “You almost drove me mad today, Jaz. Every time you remembered it was me underneath the fur, your scent became so intoxicating, I could barely keep myself from shifting. I needed you so badly. I still do. I’ve never felt such an ache to possess someone in my life.”

  A shudder went through me as I blinked several times, wishing I could run away, but also not wanting to move an inch while his hands were touching me. “What about waiting until I was ready?”

  He leaned into my back, his hot breath against my ear. “Look me in the eye and say you
don’t want me.”

  “I can’t.” I swallowed so hard, I was certain my tonsils would end up in my stomach. My skin was on fire, and every stroke of his fingers relaxed me and tensed me up all at once. “I can’t look you in the eye, Pierce.”

  He nibbled on the edge of my earlobe and my knees went wobbly. “Tell me why.” He drew a gasp from my lips, a growling moan escaping his throat in response.

  “Because I want you.”

  Pierce spun me in his arms, making my dress fall off my shoulders to reveal my bare chest, and he crushed our lips together in a kiss that scorched me from the inside out.

  Kissing Alec was decadent sin.

  Kissing Pierce was a raging fire.

  This was what I’d been so afraid of. I knew he would ignite me all over, and I’d never recover.

  I’d be his forever.

  As our kiss deepened, my magic burst from me, enveloping us in its embrace, marking him as its second magicae equidem. His claim to me wasn’t one sided anymore, now we belonged to each other. It wasn’t the same as kissing Alec since Pierce didn’t have magic, but I felt the bond just as deeply.

  Pierce stepped back without breaking our kiss, just enough where my dress fell off me and pooled onto the floor, and I didn’t have to wonder anymore. I felt naked, vulnerable, exposed, and it excited me so much I started shaking underneath Pierce’s embrace.

  He tried to pull away, and I followed, not willing to stop kissing him, but he put his warm hands to my cheeks and held me out to study my face. “I would never hurt you, Jaz. You don’t have to be afraid of me.”

  “I’m not shaking out of fear, Pierce,” I assured him, leaning in for one tender, sweet kiss. He softened as I ran my hands over his face, learning the curves of his cheeks, the corded muscles of his neck. “It’s because I need you too. So much I’m aching with it. The only thing I’m scared of is the intensity I feel when I look into your eyes.”