Curse of Stone

by Nikki Lockwood

  I turned to him and grinned. “Nightcap?”

  16

  “Fuck,” I snarled aloud.

  Velkan was with her. At her apartment. My fingers tapped frantically on the table. Mac tried to hold them still, but I pulled away. Her hands slid up my arms to my shoulders. I went rigid, hard as a block of ice. Even my wolf went silent.

  “What’s wrong?” Her voice was trying to soothe me, but it grated me.

  “Nothing,” I said, clenching my jaw and turning my head away from her.

  I put my lips to my glass of scotch and downed the rest. Mac was drunk, her bloodshot eyes and lack of control gave her away. In the year that I’d known her, I honestly couldn’t understand why Stone was friends with her. They were so different. I knew that Mac wanted to fuck me and in her drunken state, I could use her lowered inhibitions to my advantage. But I hadn’t bedded another woman in several months, not now that I was getting so close to being able to tell Stone.

  The vein in my neck throbbed. I slammed my fist down on the table. Mac backed away from me, her eyes narrowing.

  But words escaped me.

  17

  The unopened bottle of Johnnie Walker sat squeezed tight between my thighs as I one-handedly tried to open it. Vee smiled devilishly as he slid his hand down my dress towards the bottle. As his fingers stroked my upper thighs, the bottle slipped as my body spasmed in erotic jolts. Velkan grabbed it just in time, opened it and poured two whiskeys.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  His eyes cemented on me. My fingers twitched as I lifted my glass to my mouth. Downing the whiskey in one mouthful, I swallowed, hard.

  “Sorry about before, in the taxi. Thank you for getting me home safely,” I said.

  He placed down his glass and stepped closer to me. His arms encircled me, bowing me into his body. I gazed up into his eyes, searching every detail in his iris. His full lips twisted to one side, lowering his eyes to mine.

  “Now what kind of man would I be, if I didn’t.” His voice was velvety, deep, and rough. It was the kind of voice that made my clothes fall to the ground by themselves.

  My heart pounded. Lifting his hand to my chin, he angled my face towards him. Our faces so close, I could vividly see the scar on the left side of his face, jagged and deep. As I shifted my eyes to his, he moved his face forward, hesitated, then pressed his lips against mine. I kissed him back. His arms curled around my waist, lifting me up onto the kitchen bench and fastened me into the grooves of his body. The heat between his hips grinding against my inner thighs could’ve started a fire.

  I pulled back to catch my breath, but his mouth found mine again. Encircling my lips, his tongue tasting mine. My hands tugged at the bottom of his shirt. Every fibre of my body tingled. Every nerve ending heightened, each time he touched a new part of my flesh, my shoulder, my neck, the cauldron inside me boiled over.

  My phone rang inside my clutch purse. Vee tried to stop kissing me, but I held him tight. Whoever it was could bugger off.

  Seconds later it stopped but we paused when it rang again. Our lips held in place, entwined in a passionate war of delicate perfection.

  Vee stepped back as I pulled my phone out. I didn’t even bother to see who it was; Velkan had my complete attention as he unbuttoned the rest of his shirt.

  “This had better be important,” I said, tilting my head sideways at Vee’s bare chest.

  I waved him closer to me, and as he stepped within reach, I tugged him back in between my legs. Running my finger down his torso, I hooked it over the top of his jeans.

  “Stone, are you listening?” Jamie asked.

  Vee’s lips brushed over my collarbone. I pulled the phone away from my ear and turned to him. Our faces were so close, lips were almost touching, the electricity between us, like a cut cable hitting water, igniting contagious sparks.

  “It’s Jamie,” I whispered.

  Velkan looked down at me with a smile that made my legs quiver.

  “What do you want?” I asked Jamie.

  “Is Velkan with you?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “Put him on.”

  I held the phone out for Vee. He took it and walked into the living area, his voice lowering. I don’t know what they were talking about, but I didn’t want to know. Jamie had interrupted us, and the moment had passed. Damn it, Jay, always being a pain in the arse.

  Vee paced as he talked.

  The sequins on my dress were diabolical and had started to scratch against my skin. I needed to change, it was too tight to crash out in, tonight. Wandering towards Vee, his back to me, I slid my hands around his waist, and kissed his bare back. The warmth of his skin felt so good. I sighed. It surprised me, the lack of restraint I had around Vee. It wasn’t a normal thing for me, to bring home someone I had just met. The brakes needed to go on, because even though I wanted to have sex with him tonight, I couldn’t allow myself to. I had to know more about him.

  I grabbed a long black singlet and pair of shorts from my drawer, and walked into the bathroom to change, it was the only room that was separate from the rest of the apartment. I brushed my teeth as they felt a little yuck after all the alcohol, and if I wanted to kiss this man all night, I had to rid my mouth of any foulness.

  Flicking my hair to one side, I reached around my back to try and unzip my dress, but it was awkward, and I couldn’t reach it, so I tried another angle, and another. I swapped to my other hand, forgetting that it was sore, and swollen.

  “Ouch,” I exclaimed.

  Staring at my reflection in the mirror, my thoughts flashed to Harley. What the hell had come over him? He had never raised a hand to me let alone his voice. It wasn’t like him at all.

  I tried again to pull the zipper down with my non-sore hand, wriggling in every awkward position trying to reach my zip, I even knocked my hairbrush from the vanity, sending it crashing to the tiled floor with an almighty crash, but I still couldn’t reach it. I leant over the sink and let out a frustrated sigh.

  “Are you okay?” Velkan asked.

  I sprang upright and whipped around. Vee stood, amused in the doorway.

  “No, not really,” I said, laughing at the stupidity of it. “I can’t reach my zipper.”

  A smile creased his face, as his eyes trailed the length of my dress. “Turn around.”

  I turned my back to him and pulled my long black hair to one side. The heat from his body radiated, and as he got close, his warm breath on my neck, sent electric spasms down my spine. The touch of his hand running down my back as he unzipped my dress flashed waves of sensual fire coursing through my body.

  “Thank you,” I said, holding the front of my dress.

  I watched his face in the reflection of the mirror, his eyes unmoved from me. Vee’s hand slid around the side of my neck. I was trembling with nerves. A heat spread between my legs. Any restraint I had left evaporated as his lips pressed against my bare shoulder. My head tilted backwards in pleasure. A fuzziness filled my body.

  The rasp of my sequined dress hitting my ankles, jolted my head forward, and eyes open. I hadn’t realised I’d released my grip from my dress. Only covered by a black lace bra and G-string set. Vee’s chest heaved in the mirror. My breathing quickened. I bit down on my bottom lip as his chest pressed up against my back, flesh on flesh. Allowing myself to sink into him, his other hand wrapped around my waist and held me against him.

  Velkan’s lips pressed against my neck, and my knees went weak. Lucky, he was holding me up. His hands slipped from my body, he bent down, and scooped me up in his arms. He carried me from the bathroom, towards my bed, and lay me down. He knelt between my legs, his body hovering above mine. Our lips crashed against each other like two magnets colliding. His body curved down, using his arms to hold him up, he pressed down on my body, our bare skin touching.

  18

  I stood outside Stone’s apartment. My body shaking. The sounds coming from behind the door, were making me lose my fucking mind. Kissing, moaning. My
lips curled back. A growl escaped me. Fuck. Velkan shouldn’t be here. He had said he only wanted to talk to her, and that’s not what was happening.

  I widened my stance and pounded my fist against the door. The sounds stopped.

  “Bloody Jay,” Velkan said.

  They weren’t moving fast enough. I pounded on the door again. There was muffled shuffling, then footsteps. I stepped back from her door and crossed my arms. The anger inside me about to slam into the pair of them.

  The door flew open. My mouth ran dry. Arms dropped to my side. There she stood, wearing shorts and a singlet. Her hair tousled, and a touch of pink kissed her cheek. She was perfect. I wanted to reach out and stroke her.

  Stone glared at me. My wolf puffed up. I had interrupted their little make out session, and just in time it seemed. Her erect nipples pressed out against her singlet. My eyes ran over them. My jeans tightened. I wanted to lick, nip, and suck on them until her body bucked beneath me.

  She looked down at her chest, folded her arms, and scowled at me. “What do you want?”

  You. “Can I come in?”

  “No, I don’t think that is a good idea. What happened? Where’s Mac?”

  I waved my hand, dismissing the question. Mac. Fucking Mac. I mean if I needed to release some pent-up frustration, I could always…no, I couldn’t. She was Stone’s friend. If I did that, it would mess everything up. It was fun to play on her crush of me, turn up the flirting, but only in front of Stone. I thought it would make her jealous, but now I see that I’d fucked up, again. Stone was a grown woman, who didn’t play games. Making her realise she felt the same way about me, as I did her, was going to require more tact than that.

  “You seem to be okay, all limbs attached, and not injured. So, what do you want?” she asked.

  “I have to tell you something,” I whispered. As the words fell from my mouth, Vee pulled the door open wider. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. My back straightened, and body tensed. Anger flashed across me.

  “Never mind,” I said.

  “Go home, Jamie. We’ll talk about whatever it is tomorrow,” Stone said.

  My nostrils flared. Stone’s eyes widened, but I kept mine fixed on Velkan. His mouth drew into a hard line. I widened my stance, expanding my presence.

  She started to close to the door, my hand flew out stopping it. “Velkan, a word.”

  Velkan stepped in front of Stone. “I’ll just be a minute.” Then stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

  I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at him.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” he asked.

  “What are you doing?”

  He didn’t answer me. So, I continued. “You said you wanted to talk to her, then I find you here, in her bed.” My wolf bristled against me.

  Velkan smirked. “You act as if you are the dominant here, remember your place.”

  “I am the dominant here.”

  I was right, and he knew it too. If Vee wasn’t the son of the chief she-wolf, then his position within his pack would be considered an omega, not because he was a runt, but because he was quieter, calmer, and didn’t exhibit the dominance of a beta or alpha male. He was more submissive, but that was due to his obedience from being captured as a pup, it had damaged his dominance.

  My lips curled back, and a growl rumbled behind my clenched teeth. “She’s mine.”

  The instant I said it, a glint of knowing flashed across his eyes. The bastard already knew. Fuck.

  “Go home,” Velkan said, dismissing me.

  I just fucking stood there. Unable to move even an inch. Pulse pounding in my ears. Adrenaline raging through me. My vision blurred in white. This wasn’t happening. Velkan was up to something. He couldn’t like her - he’d just met her.

  Oh, shit. It was her scent. It had to be.

  The door shut, and the sound of the locking chamber clicking shut stung my ears. A heaviness fell onto my heart. I snarled. My body twisted and contorted, bones cracked and popped, dropping me to my knees.

  19

  When my vision returned, I was no longer in the hallway outside Stone’s apartment but running on all fours alongside the Palatonic River. My wolf had taken over and knew where it was headed.

  Hours must have passed as this trail led up the mountain, and it was farther than the outskirts of the city, past our den. My wolf was free, I was free. Stone’s scent and all other scents left by humans now replaced by wood rot and the damp earth beneath my paws. My heart pounded in my ears. My throat and tongue dry from rapid breathing. But I didn’t stop.

  Focusing on avoiding trees as I ran, even then the weight in my heart didn’t lift. I barrelled forward. Ears pressed back. The river trickled with constant movement. The agile cracks and rustles from night creatures alerted to my presence. The sounds of the forest masking the thud of my paws hitting the ground.

  I had fucked up. Again. Given Velkan an opening. I should’ve never introduced any of the pack to Stone before I’d marked her. Even sneaking up in the middle of the night in wolf form to pee outside her door, didn’t ward Velkan off, although he would’ve smelt it and knew he was crossing my territory. Fuck. Why hadn’t I just bitten her and dealt with the consequences afterwards. She would’ve forgiven me, eventually, but at least then she would be claimed as mine and no other wolf could touch her under pack law.

  Fuck. I went tumbling forward in slow motion. Curling my head and tail under my body as I rolled in mid-air and then hit the ground, crashing, splattering forward. A tree trunk stopped me. I lay there, not moving. Everywhere hurt. A wet warmth spread across my snout, and my front left leg. Stone’s face danced across my eyes. Her green eyes flickered in the moon light. Long black tousled hair fell around her pale face, like a black and white photograph. My heart twisted with a sharp ache.

  Gingerly getting up onto my four paws, I shook it off. With a minor limp, I ran on. I would return to Stone, yes, there was no way I was giving up on her.

  The rocky path that wasn’t really a path, tested my injured leg. Darting from ledge to ledge, making my way up the mountain range. Landing each time with lip curling, teeth clenching, snarling, pain.

  My wolf wanted to isolate itself from the world, from the torment of seeing Velkan with our mate. It was angry with me too. As I passed through the clouds, snow blanketed the mountain ranges. The icy air rasped in my lungs. With the final steps, my paws patted out onto the ledge, which no humans to my knowledge knew about.

  The first light of sun was breaching the earth in the distance. Darkness still shadowing most of the land. Sitting on my hind quarters, I panted. From here, the city was a distant memory. But Stone, she was my past, present, and future, there was no escaping her. Velkan had no fucking right. My head tilted back, opening my throat, and I howled, loud and long.

  20

  The next morning I’d woken alone. My happiness wrenched away. In bed, I hid under the covers as a wave of shame came over me. I couldn’t bear the thought of Velkan sneaking out after I’d fallen asleep, so he didn’t have to face me in the morning or sleep here. This was bad, worse than bad. At last, I’d met a man I liked, and he’d run for the hills. Good work. An unjustified moment of self-loathing followed the array of embarrassed and rejected thoughts that made my cheeks flush with a seared hotness, and a cringe-fest.

  This was Jamie’s fault. All his fucking fault. Vee and I didn’t have sex because of him. Part of me was thankful for that interruption because it had reinstated the restraint I needed. But Jay, what the hell could’ve possessed him to knock on my door? He knew Velkan was here. Something must have happened with Mac because she wasn’t with him. It didn’t seem likely that she’d turned him down. I’d never seen him like that before. He wasn’t drunk but his blue eyes were different, softer.

  The stench of alcohol seeped from my skin, fuming the confines of beneath the sheets. It was enough to send me rushing to the bathroom for a hurl. I gave myself a good self-berating for drinking too much, but it was sh
ort-lived as I wallowed in self-pity of waking up alone.

  In the shower, pressed up against the wall, water from the overhead perforated nozzle rained down over me, generating a sense of release. I pressed my fingers against my lips, recalling Vee’s lips against mine. A wave of heated shame hit me again. I couldn’t stand any longer, my head spun in a dull ache. Turning the shower off, the cool morning air, even in my apartment, clung to me. Wrapping a towel around my wet body, I jumped straight back into bed, the lingering warmth between the sheets, seducing me back to sleep.

  Fog was all around me. I couldn’t see far in front of me as I stood at the entry to the alleyway. Velkan was nowhere in sight nor was the taxi. A loud crash sounded from within the alleyway, like a tin rubbish bin had been knocked over. Panic jolted through me; my senses heightened. A faint scratching sounded. Ahead in the alleyway, a large silhouette figure appeared, and two bright red eyes burned at me. Run, my brain screamed at me, but I couldn’t move. This was what I had wanted to find all these years, but now, faced with a creature in the shadows, did I want to see? In the deafening silence, the thud of my heart sounded in my ears like a drum. The creature stood still, staring at me.

  Clack, clack. The new noise rang out from deep within the fog, but not in the alleyway, the footsteps were headed towards me along the street. The silhouetted creature had heard it too, and with a gust, it out-stretched its giant wings and took off at rapid speed into the darkened foggy night sky.

  Startled, and scared, I let out a short sharp scream as a cold hand touched my arm.

  “Are you okay miss?”