Beautiful Corruption (The Corruption Series Book 2)

by Jessica Manson

  “Anything.”

  “Why did your leader really want me to join your coven so badly?”

  “Don’t Rosita. She will kill us,” Nissa said through tears and screams of pain.

  “Don’t make me ask again. My patience is wearing thin Rosita.”

  “She was going to steal your powers and divide them between the three of us.”

  “I see. And what exactly was she planning to accomplish here today?”

  “We were going to steal your powers for her and give them to her. She wanted to be a witch again.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Twenty.”

  “If I let you leave here today with your life, what will you do with it?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve been a part of the coven for so long. I guess I will have to find another one to join.”

  “No, you won’t be able to do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because if you leave her today with your life, you leave with no powers. I will trade your powers for your life. Your choice Rosita.”

  “Don’t do it. We can take her,” Nissa said.

  “No, we can’t. I will give you my powers if you promise to let me live.”

  “Of course, I will. Nissa the same offer stands for you as well.”

  “You will have to kill me before I give you my powers.”

  “Fine,” I said as I shot fire from my hand and watched as she burned.

  She screamed bloody murder as the flames engulfed her. “Okay, I’ll give them to you. Just please make it stop,” I snapped my fingers and the fire went out.

  I brought Nissa to stand beside Rosita and began to chant. I used the same chant on them that I used on their leader.

  Powers of the witches rise,

  Course unseen across the skies,

  Come to thee, I call you here,

  Leave your witch, leave her bare.

  Tears fell from their eyes as I continued the chant.

  Powers of the witches rise,

  Course unseen across the skies,

  Come to thee, I call you here,

  Leave your witch, leave her bare.

  I let the barrier drop when the girl’s powers were gone. I grabbed them both and pulled them in for a hug. “You girls are young and very bright. And today you have been given a second chance. Take this chance and do something with it. Go to college. Make something of yourselves.”

  “I have always wanted to be a nurse,” Nissa said.

  “That’s great. Do that. Become a nurse and save lives instead of taking them.”

  “I will,” She said.

  “If you really want to do this, if you are willing to make the sacrifices to go to school, I will help you. When you choose a school, I want you to contact me. I will pay for it. You won’t have to worry about a thing. Same goes for you Rosita.”

  “You would do that for us.”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I see a lot of me in the two of you. And unlike you I didn’t have a choice in what I became. But you do, you have a choice today. And no one should be limited to what they were. You can be better than that.”

  “Thank you,” they said in unison as they pulled me in for a hug this time.

  “Your welcome,” I said hugging them back.

  As the girls left, Tristan and Odin walked up beside me. “That was very kind of you Lilith,” Odin said.

  “I felt sorry for them. They are so young and headed down the wrong path.”

  “You could have killed them, but you chose not to. That was amazing to watch,” Tristan said.

  “It didn’t feel amazing. It felt wrong to take their powers, but they wouldn’t change their ways if they kept them.”

  “You’re right. They wouldn’t have changed. You did the right thing Lilith. You should be proud of yourself for changing two lives for the better today.”

  Latham cleared his throat causing us three to turn around. “Lilith your towel.” I looked down at myself horrified. I was standing in front of everyone naked. “You dropped it when you lunged for the leader.”

  “I hadn’t realized I dropped it,” I said as I wrapped myself up. I was so embarrassed. Everyone had seen me naked. “I’m going to go get some clothes on. Tristan, will you go get Gunner and the babies?”

  “Sure,” he said placing a kiss on the top of my head. He walked away to get my babies.

  Odin leaned in and whispered in my ear, “You were so sexy fighting those witches naked. I may have been frozen, but there was a certain body part that didn’t care.”

  “I hate you.” He pulled away from me laughing. “It’s not funny. You have to stop doing this to me.”

  “Doing what exactly?”

  “Driving me crazy.”

  “Am I starting to make you feel things again my Lamia Mea?”

  “Don’t call me that?”

  “Why not Lamia Mea?” My body felt like jelly at his words. His voice seductive in my ears. Tingles were in places they shouldn’t be. Feelings formed in my middle and it called for him to touch me there. I could feel myself wanting to open up to him. When he kissed me on my bare shoulder, I felt like my body would melt right into him.

  “Odin don’t do this. Please,” I said needing him to stop but wanting him to kiss me again.

  “You should get some clothes on before I take you to our room Lamia Mea. I can’t take much more of seeing you wrapped in that towel.” I made the mistake of looking into his eyes. They were filled with just as much desire as my body was. He leaned in and kissed me gently on the lips. “Lilith,” he whispered my name, but it spoke volumes.

  “Odin. I can’t do this.” I turned away from him and ran upstairs. I grabbed my clothes and locked myself in the bathroom. Once the door was shut, I slid to the floor as tears streamed down my cheeks. How was it possible that I loved two men at the same time? How could I want two men to touch me? They both have something I want. Something I long for. Something I couldn’t get from just one man. Odin had the passion my body needed while Tristan had the trust my heart longed for. I wouldn’t be able to have one and not the other. I needed them both. Selfishly. Undeniably.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I didn’t get up until someone knocked on the bathroom door. “Give me just a minute.” I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were red, puffy and swollen. There is no way I could hide the fact that I have been crying. I threw cold water on my face to try and help, but it didn’t.

  Someone knocked again, “Babe, dinner is ready. You coming?”

  “Yeah, go ahead. I’ll be down in a few minutes.” I put my clothes on and brushed my hair out. I put on light eye shadow and some mascara to try and cover the redness. It helped a little bit, but if you looked hard enough you could still see the evidence of tears.

  When I got to the dining room my heart sank. The only spot left for me to sit was in between Odin and Tristan. I could tell Odin was not going to make this easy for me. When I sat down Tristan gave me a kiss on the cheek. And Odin stared at me like he could tell I was crying. Tristan didn’t notice, thankfully.

  Ava started crying when I started to get up to get her, Tristan stopped me. “I’ll get her. You eat.”

  When he walked away Odin leaned into me. “What’s wrong?” he whispered into my ear.

  “You,” I said as a single tear slipped out of my eye. He wiped it away.

  “I’m sorry I upset you. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

  “Why are you doing this to me?”

  “Doing what?” I started to answer, but Tristan walked back over to us. I kept my head down as we ate dinner. If any of the others noticed Odin and I, they didn’t say anything. It was hard to hold myself together in front of everyone when all I wanted to do was cry. A few tears slid down my cheek throughout dinner, but thankfully Tristan was too distracted playing with Ava. Odin noticed though. He looked heartbroken for me. He wanted
to console me. He wanted to wrap his arms around me, to hold me, to kiss me. I know because I wanted to do the same thing to him.

  Odin reached over under the table and grabbed my hand. His touch made it worse. The tears were about to come in streams instead of drops. I jumped up from the table and excused myself. I ran upstairs, but not to the comfort of Tristan’s room. Instead I ran into Odin’s. I looked around, everything was the same as I left it. I ran my hand over the dresser and stopped when I saw a picture of us. It was from our honeymoon in Croatia. We took it in front of one of the waterfalls right before I attacked that woman.

  That was all it took. The tears poured out of my eyes. I didn’t understand how my heart could be so conflicted. I had hated Odin for what he did. I should still hate him, but I can’t. I love him. I have always loved him. And right now, at this moment, I wanted his arms around me. I needed the comfort of them.

  As if someone granted my wish, two arms wrapped around me from behind. I turned around and leaned into Odin’s chest. He picked me up and carried me over to the bed. He let me cry on him for as long as I needed. I knew he would, he always did. He always knew when I just needed to cry.

  He rubbed the back of my head and kissed my forehead. “I can’t do this to him Odin. I can’t break his heart.”

  “I know baby. I know.”

  “Just the thoughts I have of you are enough to make me feel so guilty I can’t stand it.”

  “I was only flirting with my wife, but if it is causing you this much pain I will stop. I hate to see you hurting. It kills me Lilith.”

  “Do you know what kills me?”

  “No what?”

  “The fact that I want you more than I want him.”

  “Our time will come baby. Maybe not today, tomorrow or next year. It may be a century from now, but we will have our time to be together. And I will wait for you forever.”

  “I can’t ask you to do that.”

  “You didn’t. Waiting for you is my choice. You are the only girl for me. It has always been you. Do you remember my vows to you when we got married?”

  “Yes.”

  “I meant every word I said that day. My heart belongs to you forever Lamia mea. You are truly my counterpart and without you I am nothing. So, Lilith, today I make a new vow to you. I will wait forever until the other half of my heart returns to me. I will wait until you return to me.”

  “Do you remember my vows to you?” I asked him.

  “Of course, I do. They are forever etched into my mind.”

  “I meant what I said too. I may have forgotten for a while, but I meant it. I want you. I want your flaws. Your imperfections. Your mistakes. I want you Odin.”

  He kissed me tenderly at first. When he realized I wasn’t going to pull away, he kissed me deeper. I know I should have pulled away from him, but I needed to feel his lips on mine. He tasted like the same familiar mint that always left me craving more of him. He tangled his hand in my hair and I leaned my body into him. His other hand started to slip under my shirt. When his fingers made contact with my skin electricity shot through me causing a moan to escape me.

  He threw me onto the bed and climbed on top of me. He kissed me again with so much hunger. He lifted my shirt and his mouth found my nipple. He sucked and licked it vigorously. “Stop,” I said. He didn’t. I didn’t want him to, I needed him to. “Odin, we can’t do this.” Finally, he paused. He lay his forehead on my stomach, catching his breath.

  “I’m sorry I got carried away.”

  “It was both of us. But I can’t do this. I’m married to Tristan and I don’t plan on breaking my vows to him.”

  “You are married to me too so technically you aren’t breaking any vows Lilith,” he said frustrated. He got up from the bed and started pacing. “How do you think it makes me feel to see you kiss him? How do you think I feel seeing his arms around you? To know that you lay right next door in his bed every fucking night. It’s fucking killing me Lilith. Every day you rip another piece of my heart out when I see the two of you touch. You are my wife. You should be with me, not him.”

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered as I pulled my knees into my chest. I have been so caught up in my own pain that I haven’t noticed his. How could I be this person? How could I do this to both of them?

  “I know you’re sorry, but it doesn’t stop the pain,” he said through tears. His heartbreak was killing me. This isn’t the first time I have hurt him. First it was him and Parker and now it’s him and Tristan. How could he still love me after all the pain I have caused him?

  “How can you still love me after everything I have done to you?” I asked him.

  “How can you still love me after what I have done to you?”

  “Because my heart doesn’t know how to beat without you.”

  “Exactly.”

  “What do we do about it?”

  “Nothing. I love you Lilith, but I won’t make you choose. You will come to me when you are ready.”

  I made myself invisible before leaving Odin’s room. I didn’t want anyone seeing me. I went downstairs to get Ava and Elijah. They would be a good distraction from my broken heart. Gunner was playing with Ava while Tristan was feeding Elijah. “Mind if I take them for a bit?” I asked them both. I loved how Gunner acted like he was a father too. It was sweet.

  “Sure. Is everything okay?” Tristan asked.

  “Yeah. I just needed time to deal with everything that happened today. Thank you for giving me the space I needed.”

  “No problem, baby. But you know I’m here if you want to talk, right?”

  “Yeah I know. Thank you. We will be in the library if you need me.”

  The babies and I went into the library. All of the medical things had been removed. I lay the babies on one of the bean bags in the middle of the room and walked over and grabbed a book from the shelf. It was a book from my favorite poet, Edgar Allan Poe. I turned to the page that held my favorite poem, Annabel Lee. I read the words to Ava and Elijah aloud one verse standing out more than the rest.

  But our love it was stronger by far than the love

  Of those who were older than we-

  Of many far wiser than we-

  And neither the angels in Heaven above

  Nor the demons down under the sea

  Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

  Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

  I read that passage over and over realizing that my soul was connected to Odin and nothing could dissever it. Not the Gods in heaven or the demons in hell. Not Draven nor my love for Tristan. Yes, I love Tristan and I would stay with him, but my soul belonged to Odin. There is no changing it.

  Tears fell at my new revelation. Not because I was sad, but because I finally understood my love for two men. I have always heard that if you love two people at the same time that you should choose the second. Because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn’t have fallen for the second one. But that’s not true. You can love two people at once, just never at the same level. And sometimes two people need to fall apart to realize how much they need to fall back together. Odin was right, one day, we will find each other again. Maybe when we are slightly older, our minds less hectic. That’s when we will be right for each other. But right now, he is chaos to my thoughts and I am poison to his heart.

  My heart belongs to Tristan while my soul belongs to Odin.

  Finally feeling like a weight had been lifted from my shoulder, I curled up next to the babies. I love the way babies smell. So sweet and innocent. I envied them. They didn’t know the pain of a broken heart yet. And it would be a long time before they did. I missed my innocence. I missed my solitude. I missed the time before my heart knew pain. But I regret nothing. I wouldn’t be who I am today without my sufferings. And my babies make my life complete. I wouldn’t have them without knowing the love that broke my heart.

  As my babies slept so innocently on the bean bags I walked over to the desk.
I pulled open the bottom drawer and did something I haven’t done in a long time. I did what I promised Odin I would never do again. I slid the blade of my hidden razor across my arm; I watched as my blood fell to the floor. It felt like every pain that I have felt in the last twenty-four hours seeped out with my blood. It was a release I needed. A release that only I could give myself. My own personal escape. My therapy.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  It was well after midnight and I was still sitting beside my babies reading over Edgar Allan Poe’s poem when I heard a knock at the door. “Come in.”

  “Hey baby,” Tristan said peeking his head in. Odin walked in behind him.

  “Hi.”

  “Are you okay? You have been in here a while.”

  “Yeah I’ve just been reading and spending time with the babies.”

  “What are you reading?” Odin asked.

  “Edgar Allen Poe.”

  “I didn’t know you liked poetry,” Tristan said.

  “Yep. I actually used to write it when I was younger, but I haven’t written in a very long time.”

  “Tell us one.”

  “No way.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it is stuff, I wrote as a kid.”

  “So.”

  “It’s embarrassing.”

  “Come on baby. For me please,” he said batting his eyes. “Please,” he begged.

  “Come on Lilith, share a poem with us.” Odin joined in on the begging.

  “Okay fine. But you better not laugh.”

  “Scouts honor,” Tristan said as they both held up two fingers.

  I thought back to the last poem I wrote:

  I long to feel his lips on mine,

  No longer causing my heart to pine.

  The feel of his arms around my waist,