by C. R. Jane
“That fire moved awfully fast,” says Mason suspiciously as he gazes at the building. I look over at him and want to cry. His powder is melting off his face in streaks and there’s soot and ash all over him. His funny costume has been transformed into a grotesque caricature.
“Do you…” I begin, my voice quivering with guilt and fear.
“Don’t even say it,” he says. “That wasn’t us. The magic we have together isn’t evil, and whatever caused this fire...was the definition of evil.”
We watch entranced as the fire trucks arrive and start to get to work to try and stop the flames before they spread to the nearby buildings. This is a part of New York City that has recently gone through a revitalization. It would be devastating for the fire to undo all the hard work that has been put into it.
Looking closer at the flames, I realize that Mason was right...there is something strange about the fire. The flames almost look green. I’ve heard of blue and orange flames...I’ve even heard about purple flames. But I’ve never heard of green flames.
I just want to get home and see Beckham and Damon all of a sudden. I want to make sure that their alright. If this was caused by Aiden....
I don’t even want to think about it.
“Let’s go home,” I beg Mason, wondering how our fun night out turned into such a nightmare.
Mason pulls me in closely to him and walks me around the corner to where we can hopefully get picked up as the street by the club has been closed off.
It’s only when we’re safely in the car, pulling up in front of the apartment building, that I can finally relax.
Chapter 3
I hate his crumpled brow and the storm clouding his eyes this morning. There’s a new worry in his eyes after last night and I swear I can still smell the smoke on our skin even though we both showered twice last night.
Pushing back the displaced lock of hair on his forehead, I lean in and kiss him. My mouth open and inviting his tongue, I devour him in deep hungry strokes. I cling to him, palms flat against his cheeks. Mason fists my hair, tugging me up and over his thighs; both hands falling to my back, digging in and bringing me flush against him.
Our mirrored groans vibrate between us, and the heat dissipates to slow, sucking kisses as we catch our breath.
“You’re delicious,” I murmur against his lips.
“And you’re trying to distract me from the fact that I’m leaving this morning,” he replies, a forlorn look on his face.
“What time is your flight?” I ask sadly, wanting to lock him away in a safe place after the horror of last night.
“I have to be at the airfield in four hours.”
“And then you fly to Amsterdam first?”
He huffs. “I don’t want to talk about the tour right now. I don’t want to talk about it until I’m gone. I just want to focus on this. On now.”
My heart goes haywire and I drop my forehead to his. The hum of the heater takes up the space where words should be.
“I’ll miss you every second,” he says, and the tension in his arms speaks to not wanting to let me go. Tucking my head into the crook of his neck, I breathe in Mason and close my eyes against the emotion that wants to run down my face. I love him. I mumble it into his skin as I nip and suck up his neck to his ear.
“I’ll miss you too.” More than you’ll ever know.
“I need to taste you before I go,” he whispers as he grazes his lips across mine.
“The silk of your tongue soothes how much my heart is burning,” he murmurs, the poet in him going all out this morning.
“Here,” I say, pulling him in for another kiss. “Have as much as you want.”
My groan mirrors his as he slides his hands down, down, down to the place I need him the most.
“Eva—”
“Can you feel how much I want you?”
I roll my hips against him and I know he can. “This is how I always feel when I’m with you, constantly ready, always needy, always wanting.”
“Baby, please.”
His tongue dips to run along his bottom lip as he looks down at me to see how I’m reacting.
“You make me feel so good,” I whisper reassuringly.
Mason bites his bottom lip as we move against each other. He says my name on repeat, a low base pounding in my ears as I lift into position over him.
“Eva, you’re perfect,” he moans. The rest of his words are lost in a gasp when he sinks into me. “I never want to live without this feeling.”
My heart takes off as we connect even more. He’s everywhere.
His unique scent seeps into my skin as the weight of his stare lingers, deep within me, my mind and body, everywhere. A deep need demands I move, and I do, head back, fingers on my neck as if they were his. I lose myself in the rise and fall. The slick sounds of love and lust meld into music, our fumbled words and grunted cries keeping time. Yes, please feel this. Feel what I never can illustrate enough, what’s buried inside, but spoken by touch. I love you.
“Please,” please, find yourself in me. “Mason,” please.
“I’m so close. Come with me.”
We move faster, harder, until my thighs quiver and I shimmer like the fire of the sun.
“Love.” He drives into me and we spring off the cliff together. “Eva.” His groan is muffled against my neck as I fall forward. Gripping his shoulders, I take in the pulse of our connection in a warmth that I savor. My incubus.
I gasp for breath, exhausted. I snuggle into his chest. Immediately his arms clutch me. Time seems to stand still as our bodies tick together. Minutes pass and finally Mason rolls until we’re lying on our sides, my head on his arm. I blink back into reality and find his staggered expression.
I smile and rub his cheek, rough with the new growth of a beard. He leans in to kiss me, light but lingering. In a second, he dives into me, forcing my mouth open with his tongue and taking me to task, stroking into my mouth with long licks. Deep, carnal, demanding, until I’m flat on my back. He pulls away. Propped on his elbow, he strokes over my neck right above my cleavage.
Mason’s eyes glow, wicked. And just when it had found a steady rhythm, my heart takes off in a sprint.
“Eva.” His voice is soft, but hot. Very, very hot. “I think we have time for one more before I leave.”
“Yes,” I whisper.
He doesn’t give me time to say anything else. Pushing me into the mattress, he slips between my thighs and kisses me until I can’t breathe.
“Eva?”
“Hmm?”
Mason nuzzles my neck who knows how long later, kissing his way up my jaw until he finds my lips. He is minty fresh. As I open my eyes, my vision is filled with freshly shaven, beautiful blue-eyed Mason Shaw.
“Morning again.” I run my hands up his arms, which are pressed on either side of my head, up to his shoulders to cup his cheeks. White v-neck, black jeans, and fully ready. Damn.
His smile is breathtaking.
“Good morning yourself, love.”
“Come back to bed?”
Pressing his lips into my forehead, he says, “You’re more than tempting but I have to get going.” He kisses my nose and then my mouth, sweeping his tongue against mine and teasing me long enough that my pulse beats between my thighs.
“It’s really time? I shouldn’t have fallen asleep,” I practically whimper. He lays his head against my forehead. “My driver is downstairs waiting. Be careful for me, Eva.”
He stares at me as if he’s trying to memorize the sight of me.
“You promise too. Be careful,” I say to him.
“There’s a surprise for you in the drawer. Don’t open it until I leave,” he says sternly. I nod even as my eyes begin to well up with tears.
“I’ll see you soon. I love you,” he says.
And then he’s gone.
I spend the rest of the day moping around the penthouse. Damon is at football workouts and Beckham is meeting with the producer of his next film so I’m a
ll alone. I wish Mason had left during the week so that I would be busy with school. I don’t like to be so dependent on them, but after the fire last night, I’m still feeling out of sorts. I decide to call Lexi and see if she wants to have a girl’s day.
She answers after four rings. “Yes,” she says, sounding out of breath.
“What are you doing?” I ask suspiciously. Although Lexi loves cheerleading, working out is not her thing. And she sounds like she’s just gotten done running a marathon.
“Nothing,” she says too quickly, making me even more suspicious.
“Lexi,” I press, letting her know that I’m on to her.
“I’m over at Max’s place,” she whispers reluctantly.
“What?” I squeal. I’ve been wanting those two to get together.
“Is everything okay?” she asks, sounding worried all of a sudden.
“Everything is fine,” I say.
“I just expected you to be with Mason before he left.”
“He just left,” I explain forlornly. “I was calling to see if you wanted to have a girl’s day to distract me, but you sound like you’re kind of in the middle of something.”
Lexi giggles. “I so am,” she says, sounding so lighthearted in that moment that it’s easy to forget that she’s a witch who knows secrets about me that she’ll never tell.
Her happiness is contagious, and I find myself feeling a little lighter than I did before the call.
“Well get going,” I tell her. “This is a big deal.”
“It’s just a fling,” she says defensively even though I can hear a bit of wistful longing in her voice.
“Right,” I say with a laugh, knowing better.
“Call me later!”
“For sure.”
We hang up and I’m drenched with regrets. That’s the most we’ve laughed in a conversation in weeks...maybe even months. There’s a layer of distrust that I’ve built up when it comes to Lexi and I’m not sure how to get rid of it.
I sigh and stand up, deciding to try to work on my art history project since I haven’t come up with anything yet. I happen to glance at the clock on the nightstand and remember that Mason said there was a surprise in it for me.
Practically running towards it, I throw open the drawer and see a little packet that says: For When I Can’t Hold You.
Carefully opening up the packet I pull out some documents. Looking through them, my heart threatens to melt. Mason purchased me a star...well not just a star, an entire constellation. I carefully look at the map, excited at the prospect of finding the stars tonight after it gets dark.
There’s a note on the last page.
“Every time I get lonely at night because you’re not here, I’m going to find your stars in the heavens and imagine you’re looking up at the same ones at the same time as me. I love you more than you’ll ever comprehend.
Forever yours,
Mason
After I finish crying because I’m not sure how I can miss someone so much who just left, I decide to leave my art project for another day and take a nap since I’m still exhausted from the extracurriculars of this morning. I curl up in bed, holding Mason’s pillow close to me, wondering how in the world I got this wrapped up with the three of them so fast in this life.
I never want it to end.
Chapter 4
“Were you waiting on someone?” comes a voice from behind me. I gasped and turned around, my hand over my mouth to suppress my cry. It was Aiden.
And if Aiden was here that meant one of two very terrible things. Either Damon had betrayed me and told Aiden what I was trying to do…or Aiden had done something to Damon.
I would rather it be the first option.
“Just walking the gardens,” I said shakily, even though I knew it was useless to lie. There was a glint in his eye that told me he knew what was going on and who I was waiting for.
“I think you’ve been out here long enough,” he says, holding out his hand for me to take. The thought of touching him fills me with the usual dread, but what choice do I have?
As we walk, the reality of how far I have fallen from grace presses over me like a heavy coat. I don’t want to live another day. It’s cruel that I have to in order to save Fairie.
The castle seems even more foreboding than usual. Aiden takes me through where he murdered Mason. Although it’s been cleaned, I can still see his body lying there, can still picture me crying over him, trying to heal him.
Aiden has a small smile on his face as he leads me back up to my chambers…more aptly called my prison.
I finally can’t stand it. “What did you do with him?” I ask, sorrow caught in my throat.
“Oh, are we not pretending anymore that you were trying to plot another uprising behind my back?”
“Just answer the question and then punish me as you would like,” I answered.
“How about this. I will keep your angel alive, if you sleep with me tonight,” he said, leaning against the door and watching me aptly.
I freeze in place. Sleeping with him was the one thing that I had managed to stay away from. I think it would kill off anything that was left of my soul to do it.
“You’re taking awfully long considering you’re the reason that your angel is currently being tortured right now.” ‘
“Tortured?” I ask.
“Why don’t we go look to give you some incentive to make the right decision.”
He leads me out of my quarters and down the mazes of hallways that made up this place. If I ever got the kingdom back, I was going to burn this place to the ground as my first order of business.
We finally make it to a section of the palace that I had never been to before. Somehow, it is even darker here. The evil is so heavy in the air that it coats my skin, drowning me in its darkness. I know that I can scrub myself for days and I won’t be able to get rid of the feeling.
We stop in front of a heavy wooden door. Aiden takes a key out of his pocket and inserts it in the door. He catches me watching the key closely.
“Don’t bother trying anything, My Queen. It’s spelled to only work for me.”
I hate that I was such an open book with him. That thought disappears as soon as we enter the room and I see what horror waits inside.
I immediately start puking all over the floor.
Damon is here. But I didn’t know if you could call him alive. He is stretched out on a table, his limbs bound with something I assume is magical based on its ability to hold him in place.
There are two fey servants and another angel standing by the table.
One of them holds remnants of Damon’s left wing. Blood drips from the wound and the skin where the wing has been ripped out and there’re black veins spreading out from it like the skin is dying.
Damon is a ghostly white color. His face is almost unrecognizable because he had clearly been hit and tortured for hours.
I try to run to him, but Aiden holds me back.
“Do you see what you’ve done to him? What you’ve done to all of them?” Aiden whispers in my ear.
I scream, dropping to my knees in agony.
"It will only get worse from here, Eva," Aiden says with a smile. “There's one more wing left. And that will go next. What good is an angel without his wings?"
I weep, ugly broken tears that I can’t stop. I didn't know what to do. I hadn't realized how much I'd fallen in love with Damon until this moment. I would have done anything for Beckham and Mason. And I would do anything it took to save Damon now, even though it would take the last remaining bit of my soul.
"I'll do it," I whisper, keeping my eyes focused on Damon’s face as if my gaze was what was keeping him alive.
"What was that, darling?" Aiden asks.
"I'll do it." I say louder this time. At that moment Damon lets out a groan.
"Eva," he calls out, as if he was seeing me in a dream. Or more likely a nightmare.
Aiden puts his hand on my shoulder to keep me in place.
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"You can stop," he says to the fey and angels who are working on Damon. The fey immediately move away, but the angel stays put, peeling off another one of Damon’s fingernails as he looks at Aiden.
I try to lunge at him, but again Aiden holds me back.
"That wasn't the deal," the angel said, his eyes blackening with rage.
"If you would like to see for yourself what having your wings ripped off feels like, please do continue," Aiden says calmly, a challenge in his gaze.
The angel reluctantly steps away from the table, sending a death glare at Aiden.
"I'll let you know if your services are needed," Aiden says, motioning for them to leave the room.
"Go to him,” Aiden says, a sick smile in his voice. “You can stay with him for an hour and then I expect you to be bathed and waiting in your quarters for me an hour after that.
I stiffened at him wanting to use my bedroom. I had memories of Mason in there. I didn’t want to tarnish it with Aiden.
“I’m having you in your bedroom,” says Aiden gleefully. “That way I’ll know you will always be thinking of me.”
I felt like I was going to hurl again. Of course, the sick bastard would have a plan like that. He seemed able to see right into my inner psyche. It’s like he was reading my mind at all times. I could never be one step ahead. He was determined to conquer me both body and spirit.
He was succeeding.
Aiden leaves the room and I immediately sprint to Damon’s side, covering him with my tears. Deep, aching sobs erupt from me.
“Eva,” Damon croaked, finally coming to consciousness. I didn’t think that was a good thing. “Eva, I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice flickering in and out as he gasped through the pain.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” I said, gently brushing a kiss against his lips. “I’m going to fix this.”
“I’m so sorry,” he kept saying over and over again until he once again crashed into unconsciousness, leaving me all alone.