Phoenixrise: A Reverse Harem Romance (The Rogue Witch Book 5)

by KT Strange

  With each step sure and steady, Darcy walked toward Creston. Sparks of electricity crackled between the fingers of both hands, twining up her arms and coiling over her shoulders.

  Creston stumbled back as she got within five feet of him and he lifted a hand as if to stay her from attacking him.

  “Where did Wolfe go?” she asked, Creston laughed and then, thinking better of it, fell quiet for a moment.

  “He's got his own priorities,” he said. “Looking after a genetic aberration isn't one of them.” He glanced over at where Frank was helping Finn to his feet, and I growled.

  “Don't you look at them,” Darcy said. “You don't get to look at them. You don't deserve to look at them.” She shuddered visibly and then shook her head. The cage containing the pack flickered, the flames going thin before flaring back up again. “Answer me. Where the hell did Wolfe go? What did you do to him?”

  Creston let out a shaky laugh.

  “I did nothing to him. It is not my fault that he left his belly so exposed that a single attack would bring his entire world crumbling down.” Creston eyed our girl with a smug, superior expression. “All I had to do was pull the threads, and he gave up on your dogs like they had never mattered to him at all.”

  The asshole wasn't making any sense, and I felt like he was just stalling for time.

  “Darcy,” I murmured. Creston's eyes flicked to me, assessment in his gaze. His tongue flicked out over his upper lip, lizard-like, before his lips twisted into a sick smile. “Your puppy wants attention.”

  “If you spent half as much time bettering your own life as you did insulting people,” Darcy sounded weary, like she'd been carrying a burden for far too long. “Just go. There is nothing for you here.” She flicked a hand out, pointing at our packmates in their cage. “Drop your fire, and I won't fry your ass.”

  “Useless bitch. If you had any power at all, you'd have them out of there in a—

  I lunged forward and grabbed him by the shoulders, lifting him up only to slam him down into the ground. He'd said too much, and from the low growls of my packmates, they wanted out so they could have a piece of him as well. Creston grunted when his head hit the dirt, and I lifted him again, pounding him back into the ground.

  Darcy didn't make a sound as I pulled my arm back. Creston's face screwed up tight and he lifted a hand to protect himself from me.

  The flaming bars surrounding the rest of the pack guttered and then evaporated into thin air, leaving behind nothing but a thin line of charred grass.

  “Idiot,” Creston whispered, his voice reedy-thin and he coughed. “I will have you begging for mercy as the fires eat you from the inside out.” He smiled once, and disappeared from my grip. My fist plunged down into the dirt.

  Eight

  Darcy

  The scent of burning grass was still thick in the air, and for a moment I held my breath, waiting for Creston to reappear. I’d never known him to be able to teleport, but maybe there were lots of things about Creston I didn’t know.

  Finn made a noise and I turned, just as he took a few unsteady steps toward me. He looked like a mess, his hair slick with perspiration, burn marks all over his arms and crawling up his neck. He looked like he’d been tortured.

  My throat closed up as he reached me. He fell to his knees and pressed his face into my stomach, his arms tight around my waist. He was shaking. I ran my fingers through his hair and bent down to embrace him. The rest of the pack approached us, dark expressions on their faces. Eli bumped his head gently against Frank’s, tugging him in for a quick hug.

  “You came at just the right time, doll,” Finn said, a waver in his voice I didn’t like. He sounded so weak. I traced a finger beside one long burn mark that wound up his arm and then glanced up at Eli. His eyes were hard, anger simmering deep within them.

  “Is he really gone?” Frank asked. Eli looked away from me, and muttered something to Frank.

  Cash bent to help Finn to his feet. He slung one of Finn’s arms around his shoulders and I stepped back to give them space. I didn’t want to be far from Finn.

  Now I was wishing I’d just fried Creston’s brain and been done with it.

  “I’ll be fine, sweetheart,” Finn said, voice low and rough as I stepped in close to him. “Stop looking at me like I’m about to fall over dead.” He lifted his hand to his face and wiped sweat off his brow. As he did I saw the faint outline of the letter C carved into the underside of his forearm. My mouth went sour, my gut freezing. Creston had cut him, long enough ago for it to heal over.

  Cash cleared his throat and nudged me, shaking his head before I could say anything. Charlie scooped my hand into his and pulled me away. Ace wouldn’t even meet my eyes.

  “Let’s go to the house. That fucker isn’t likely to come back now that you’re here,” Charlie said, his voice buzzing in my ear. I dragged my eyes from Finn, who Cash was helping toward the house. Eli followed, Ace and Frank trailing after him like lost puppies.

  “I’m no match for him,” I demurred.

  “If you weren’t, why the hell did he run? Don’t answer that. Just hear what I’m saying, deep in your heart. You’re five times the witch he is, and fifty times the person," Charlie said. I nodded and then a deep flare of pain crawled up my leg. I stumbled and he caught me. “You okay?”

  “Adrenaline wore off,” I said, laughing humorlessly, “I think I forgot I’d hurt myself.” Charlie helped me as we stepped into the house.

  Wolfe had set himself up pretty well with the sprawling, multi-storied house in the middle of nowhere. The entryway soared into vaulted ceilings with glossy wood floors, scattered rugs, and two overstuffed leather sectionals that dominated the area by the fireplace. Cash helped Finn over to the one of them, and Finn nearly collapsed onto it, catching himself with one arm.

  “I’ll get some water,” Frank said, grabbing Ace by the wrist and tugging him toward the kitchen. Charlie gave me a significant look, then trailed after them. Eli stood by the floor to ceiling windows looking out over the grounds.

  On the couch, Finn gave a low yelp as Cash rearranged him. Eli flinched.

  “You wanna fill me in on what happened?” I hobbled over to Eli. My ankle was seriously hurting, and it felt like I’d strained all the muscles up my leg trying to compensate during my showdown with Creston.

  “What do you think?” Eli barely turned his head to look at me, his eyes furious and his jaw set. “Your ex decided it was fun to roast werewolves alive.” His words hit me like arrows and I exhaled. “You ever seen what it looks like when the very best person in the world gets set on fire?”

  Bile rose in the back of my throat.

  “Hey asshole,” Finn croaked from the couch, “lay off. It wasn’t that bad.”

  Eli growled and shoved his hand against the glass window, pushing away and turning his back on me. My heart dropped. He had made it clear that he blamed me.

  “I want us out of here as soon as you’re ready to move,” he said and then barked at the wolves in the kitchen. “Get him some damn water. Frank, is there a first aid kit anywhere?”

  Frank looked up from where he was talking to Ace, and then nodded, bolting off to the second floor.

  “Hey,” I said, grabbing Eli by the arm. He wasn’t going to treat me like I’d brought this on the pack. Eli glanced down at my feet and then up to my face.

  “Where’s your other boot?” He shook his head and pulled free of my grip. “We’re leaving in thirty minutes. Find something to wear.”

  Cash let out a low whistle as Eli crossed the room to a set of french doors and threw them open, disappearing onto the deck outside.

  “You need to rein in your brother,” Cash commented to Finn, so quiet that I could barely hear him. “Want me to go talk to him?”

  “Let him stew,” Finn said as he sat up, hissing in pain. He lifted his shirt with trembling fingers and my skin went cold at the sight. Burns crawled up his skin, bubbling and twisting the flesh, red and shiny. It was in the sha
pe of hand.

  I pressed my fingers to my lips and tried to hold back the rising vomit. Tears welled up in the corners of my eyes.

  “Oh my god,” I whispered. “Oh my fucking god.”

  Finn glanced up at me and then dropped his shirt, wincing. Cash sighed and ruffled Finn’s hair before wandering off, muttering about finding Frank and the first aid kit.

  “It’s not as bad as it looks —" Finn exhaled and stopped speaking, a look of pain crossing his face again.

  “Like hell it’s not. I should have killed him.”

  “Not saying I liked the little shit-stain, but he isn’t worth getting blood on your hands.” Finn reached out for me, his hand palm up. I took it and he pulled me down onto the couch beside him. “You’re here. You’re alive. That’s all I care about.”

  The tears that had been threatening to come, finally did.

  “You’re so hurt..."

  “I’ve been hurt worse by uglier bastards. Darcy I promise you, I’ll be good in a few days,” he swallowed hard and gazed steadily into my eyes. “Don’t think for a minute that I’d trade a second of my time with you for skipping what that jackass put me through. Better me than Ace, or Cash, or even Eli, as much of a dick as he’s being right now.” He lifted a hand and cupped the side of my face, running his thumb along my cheekbone. “Seeing tears in your beautiful eyes? Wrecks me. Please don’t cry, sweetheart.”

  “Sorry, sorry.” I wiped at my face. He was the one who was hurt, and I was making it all about me. “I want to hug you but I’m scared to.”

  He let out a reckless, exhausted chuckle, and his hand dropped into his lap.

  “Please don’t,” he said, “not that I don’t want you in my arms right now, but...” He looked down at his body. “Gimme a day. Then I’m not going to be able to keep my hands off of you.” He closed his eyes, slithering down the couch into a comfortable slump. “I’m just gonna nap, or something. Close my eyes for a few minutes.”

  I bit my lip and lifted my fingers to his hairline, stroking his wild hair. He’d been through so much. He moaned quietly when I gently dug my nails in and gave him a scratch.

  "That’s so nice,” he whispered, his voice sounding distant and exhausted. “You know how to treat a man right.”

  “Don’t really know what I’m doing,” I confessed. His breathing deepened and I pulled my hand away to let him sleep. I edged closer to him, curling up and resting my head on the couch beside his shoulder, not wanting to touch him but wanting to be as close as I possibly could be.

  I closed my eyes; they were hot and teary.

  “I’m sorry, Finn,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

  It felt like nothing would ever make it better. Seeing him so beaten down was simultaneously depressing and infuriating. What he’d been through? The only way I could fix it was to destroy Creston, turn him to ash. My thoughts swirled in the darkness behind my eyes and tugged me down into a restless sleep.

  I can feel you. You’re so beautiful.

  Creston’s weight was heavy on me, and I gasped as I tried to squirm out from under him.

  You think that I didn’t know what I was doing? Oh, I did. Every time I broke down your barriers a little more, I knew you would give in to me. You couldn’t help it, Darcy. You were meant to be mine. Every inch of you belongs to me.

  I opened my eyes. Creston’s face loomed over mine, his voice echoing in my head. The edges of reality were blurry, the darkness creeping around us. The bed was solid under my body. His bed. I remembered all of this like it was yesterday. The walls of his bedroom bled into the sky above it, inky black with a scattering of stars. It hadn’t been like that before.

  Eyes on me, Darcy, that doesn’t matter.

  I couldn’t help it, my gaze snapped back to his face. His skin was so hot through his clothes. His hands wrapped around my wrists, and slowly, so slowly, like we were moving through syrup, he pressed the backs of my hands to the sheets. Panic welled up in my throat and I opened my mouth to scream.

  Shhhh. It’s alright. I’ve got you. You’re safe from them. Creston’s voice was a foggy echo in my head, his lips unmoving. I knew he meant my wolves, my guys.This wasn’t a memory anymore. This was something new.

  His hips pressed down into mine. The lump of his erection rubbed hard into my hip. I couldn’t scream. My throat frozen. My whole body was. The urge to move burned under my skin, but I couldn’t. More than Creston’s weight held me down. Some unseen magic kept me there, trapped in a place that felt like a dream but was so real.

  We can be together like this, my sweet, and you are so good, so good for me. I forgive you for everything you’ve done. It could be so easy, couldn’t it? If you were here like this with me?

  His fingers tightened on my wrists, bearing down, warming up. Heat from his body flared against me and he started to glow.

  And if I can’t have you?

  A smile twisted across his face and he burst into flames, igniting the sheets and engulfing me in fire. The blaze scorched my psyche so much that it felt like physical pain, and finally I screamed.

  Creston pulled from the bed and stood . The flames melted away and left his skin smoking for a few seconds. His edges warped as reality pulled at them.

  I sat up, free of the weight that had been holding me down.

  “What do you want?”

  “I’m going to kill every single one of them if you don’t come home with me, Darcy.” Creston’s eyes flickered, two glowing coals in his face. “Come to me. On the ridge, past the stream. You’ll find me there.”

  He shimmered like heat rising from the pavement and vanished. I closed my eyes.

  “Wake up,” I whispered, sitting up suddenly. All of my muscles felt sore, like I’d been straining in my sleep. My stomach was sick, and I looked next to me. Finn still slept, face pale and sweaty. Ace cleared his throat; he was sitting across from us.

  “The rest of the guys are outside talking,” he said. “You were out for an hour. We’re letting Finn rest. He’ll heal faster.”

  “Did I make any noise in my sleep?” I asked. He shook his head. I got off the couch, slowly, so as not to disturb Finn. “I need to talk to you guys.” I crooked my finger as I walked toward the french doors. “C’mon.”

  Ace followed me dutifully, opening the door for me, catching my fingers in his.

  “Hey you know it’s okay, right? Like, you’re here, that’s all we care about.”

  I met his eyes.

  “Did you guys really think we were dead?” I asked. Ace grimaced.

  “Well it looked pretty convincing when we couldn’t find you, but it’s not like we had a long time to search before Creston brought even more fire raining down on us. I didn’t have a lot of hope. Maybe that’s the wrong answer, and I was supposed to say I always knew you and Charlie were okay, but I didn’t.” He sighed and jerked his head to where the guys were sitting around a burnt-out fire pit on the deck. “You’re here now. That’s what I’m focusing on.”

  As we walked toward the rest of the guys, I was filled with a sense of purpose. Eli still looked pissed, or maybe that was just his face. I couldn’t decide right then.

  “How’s the patient?” Cash asked. Charlie was sitting on an overturned stump, Frank on the ground between his legs, leaning against him.

  "Sleeping it off,” Ace answered for me.

  "I need to go after Creston,” I said, heading off the conversation and blurting it out before I lost my nerve. The guys fell quiet and stared at me. “He’s not going to stop. He’ll come back, maybe tonight, before we have a chance to leave. And he found us here, so who’s to say he doesn’t have some way of tracking me?” That idea filled me with dread and I swallowed hard. “I’ve got to finish this fight before he brings it back to us.”

  “What, feeling guilty now that you realize you should have taken care of that problem when you had him at your mercy?” Eli drawled, the anger and venom nearly making me lose my nerve. I glanced away.

  He wasn�
�t wrong.

  “Elias,” Cash said, “stop it.” He sighed and got to his feet. “Darcy you don’t have anything to prove, or anything to do. You can’t go after him, you don’t even know where he —”

  "He’s in the woods, waiting for me. He came to me in a dream. I know that he’s there.” I looked up at Cash in earnest, willing him to understand me. “This isn’t optional. I have to face him now. Before he recovers. I don’t think I’ve got that kind of fight in me twice.”

  "You’re gonna — nah, I can’t deal with this right now,” Eli spat, before pointing a finger at me. “You don’t even know what he did to Finn. And now you’re going to endanger yourself to what, prove a point? Take him out? You should’ve done that before.”

  "Eli,” Charlie roared, getting to his feet and getting right in Eli’s face. I stepped back, swallowing hard as Eli snarled back at Charlie, shoving him away.

  I was pushing too hard, and it was pulling the pack apart. Eli was right.I should have ended Creston when I had the chance.

  Before my boys could hurt each other, Cash shouldered himself between the two of them.

  “We are not going to fight like this,” his words were urgent, “you are both gonna step the fuck back and calm the fuck down.”

  Charlie glared at Eli and then stormed away, Ace behind him. Cash wrapped a hand around Eli’s shoulder and turned him so that he was facing me.

  “Both of you behave,” Cash said. “Darce, you can’t go after that guy. Not now. We need you here. Eli, tell her.”

  “She can do what she wants,” the words dragged out of Eli’s mouth and he wouldn’t meet my eyes.