by Brea Viragh
Drawing in a breath, he held the air in his lungs, used it to fuel the rest of the spell to unlock the maze. A little ore, a little push, and a rush of heat burst through his body, searing him down to the bone. In a distant part of his mind, he heard Nova’s sharp inhalation.
Just as the lock snapped.
The wall of stone melted away, an illusion, revealing an open-and-cavernous room behind.
Van didn’t give in to the shaking in his limbs or the way his stomach roiled. The cost of the power, his own energy, and more. It had plummeted into the ground and now fumes were the only vestiges allowing him to walk. To peer inside the doorway.
Nova held out a hand to keep him from moving forward, along with a shake of his head. “Let me.”
The wolf led the way into the darkened expanse. Van didn’t have enough oomph left to summon a light, nor to dampen the sounds of their footsteps. Instead he used his own preternatural senses to scan the space, as Nova was surely doing ahead of him. No threats, he thought. But secrets. The walls smelled of them, of things kept hidden in darkness for too long.
“There.” Nova pointed ahead toward a stack in the rear of the room.
“What do you see?”
“There’s something off about the space. I’m not sure what, but it seems like the proportions of the corner are wrong. The walls aren’t lining up the way they should.”
Van stared where the other man pointed and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Anger seethed beneath his skin.
Another spell? He wouldn’t be able to break it this time, not without a few days in between to rest and recharge.
The two of them fell into step as they approached the corner. His chest tightened and he passed crates stacked two high on top of each other.
Nova dropped to his knees in one powerful move. “I can smell them.”
Van could, too. The more he tuned into it, the more the scent of old death wound through him. Old death and violence. Both carried a trace. These were not the new pelts he sought, not those of the girls who had been dancing with Odessa the night of their engagement party. Perhaps Ghast had been right and those had been destroyed.
Which meant...
Calen’s parents.
Their pelts were here.
Van held out a hand to stop Nova from reaching toward the pile on the floor. Instead he crept forward, dropping to his knees and inching his way through the grime on the floor. Through the shadows the shape of them became clear. He could see the individual strands of fur on the nearest pelt, reaching out to run a hand along the shape. Ears, soft and cold, a stretch that had once covered a spine.
Poor Calen. Once he returned from the lake, would Van have enough strength to tell him of this discovery? Should he keep it to himself?
He closed his eyes and searched down for the last vestiges of power. One that might help him pinpoint the wielder of the knife. He turned the pelt over in his hands, palm resting flat against the smooth underside.
A little more and he would be there. One final push. He’d have his answers, and with them, a way to break the curse.
The block keeping the knowledge contained disintegrated, knowledge flooding him like a glass of water after a long day. And what he saw there had his stomach rolling.
Oh, my God.
At once, a haze grew over his mind, fingers stiffening and causing him to drop the fur. His ears buzzed, warmth blossoming from his chest to the rest of his body.
“Hey, Van. Are you okay?”
Nova’s words echoed down a distant corridor of his mind until the floor dropped away. The ceiling, the walls. There was only black, and Van was floating.
MORNING CAME AND WENT, and when Odessa returned to human, Calen was still there. Still camping on the beach waiting for her to return.
“Are we ever going to talk about it?” Odessa burst out at last.
Because no matter how she tried to hide what she felt, the bond remained. The damn thread connecting them as much as she was connected to her own thoughts. Richer than any other bond with her packmates, even her own father.
And the more time she spent with Calen, the more they spoke and laughed and talked with each other, as they had for years, the more it grew in strength until she didn’t need to look at him to know his thoughts. Although he’d never been good at hiding them.
He had a face that could not lie.
This was worse, however. This was an itch beneath her skin that she couldn’t scratch and impressions in her brain that did not belong to her. Of all the rotten times for something like this to come about.
It was strange, awkward, and damned inconvenient.
And the flash of feeling she caught from Calen held those feelings and more.
He prodded at the fish roasting on the makeshift skewer. “I’m not sure what you want me to say.”
“Say how annoyed you are that you can feel my every thought. I mean, I already know that you’re annoyed, you’re not very good at keeping it from me.”
Calen shrugged. “It’s not so bad. I’ve always been able to read you pretty well. The same way you’ve been able to read me. Like when I broke that lamp in the foyer by accident and, even though you weren’t there when it happened, you knew in an instant and covered for me.”
“A lamp is one thing. Knowing the attachment you carry for me is another thing.” She stifled a laugh when his jaw dropped, and his eyes looked everywhere but at her. “Come on, Calen, you were never able to say anything before but now, I can feel it. Here.” Her hand knotted into a fist above her heart. “Don’t even try to deny it.”
And for a moment, she felt the bond go tight. The mental shields she hadn’t been aware of erecting slipped, and a heartbeat later she flashed across the clearing, out of her body, and saw through Calen’s eyes.
Oh. Damn.
Odessa hadn’t realized his concern for her. Just as she hadn’t realized what her imprisonment had done to her complexion. Sharp cheekbones jutted out from a pale face, eyes dull and lips thin. Beneath the shirt she wore, her collarbone stood in relief, as though the rage and the fear had stopped fueling her and had begun to eat her alive instead.
She saw his pain, his worry. His unrelenting desire for her.
After a heartbeat she was back in her body, with Calen forcing his gaze away once more.
“Did you do that?” she asked him, her voice hoarse.
“No.” He cleared his throat and took precious seconds to decide on a diplomatic answer. “And to answer your first question...my attraction and desire for you has never been in question. However, it is out of place and an insult for someone of my stature to be with someone of your stature. It doesn’t make a difference what I feel.”
She sat with that, knowing he made sense, knowing he told the truth. So why did it piss her off?
“Let’s see what this is,” she stated. Going boldly. It had always been her way. “It’s about time we see what this feels like.”
“Dessa, come on,” Calen scoffed. “Stop it.”
“Stop what?” she asked as she went to him.
Calen stilled as her arms drew around his neck, and her lips were on his before she could stop herself with the many and varied reasons why this was a bad idea. She had the brief impression of smoke, of soap, of softness combined with incredible strength before she realized what she was doing. Kissing Calen.
Calen.
He stood still under the shock, his impressions coming through the bond clearly in shades of stark white and black. Surprise, a hint of fear, a fleeting sensation that none of this was real and the universe was playing a terrible joke on him.
Then he dove with a growl, taking her mouth swiftly and drawing her against him until they were molded together. No more waiting. No hesitation. The softness of her melted into his strength. The kiss...Odessa groaned. Such primitive heat, and something timeless about it. Ageless.
Calen deepened the contact without hesitation, and she let him take the lead. Once he’d gotten over the initial hurdle, th
e strangeness of crossing their stations in such a manner—after all the years they’d been friends—he could not stop. Refused to let go now.
The small noises in the back of her throat spurred him into action. When her hands moved to his shoulders, to his neck, he held on tighter. Energy vibrated between them and Odessa knew something between them shifted irreversibly. Something she would be powerless to stop.
Well, shit.
Her blood rose. Heat, passion, things she never would have believed possible with Calen, rose. Rose to staggering and unheard-of heights. A sharp, clear ache wound through her chest and curled in her abdomen.
His fingers curled around the nape of her neck to keep her close. The power of his touch went straight down to her toes and the rest of her turned liquid. Boneless and aching for him. When his tongue swept through her mouth, white heat ground through her and the land shifted and rolled beneath her feet.
His body was male, aggressive, mouth domineering in a way she wouldn’t have expected from him. It swept her into a world of nothing but feeling. Odessa could only continue to cling to him, stripped of her power and holding him like a port in a storm. The growl rumbling through his throat aroused her to the point of pain, the spot between her legs aching, the sound closer to wolf than human.
Then his mouth moved down her neck to the curve where her shoulder met her throat, nibbling along her pulse and feeling it beating frantically.
Such possession in his touch. Such certainty. Odessa’s body went up in flames, needing him. More heat than she had ever experienced in her life.
How, she wondered. How is it possible?
Reluctantly he drew back from her. Odessa, used to getting her way, reached for him again, only to find space between them. She could still taste him, watching the way his dark eyes scanned her face.
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” he muttered, dropping his head. “It’s me.”
She ran a hand through her hair. “Yes. It’s you.”
“This can’t happen. Dessa. No matter how many nights I sat awake dreaming of this moment, it can’t happen.” Calen bit his lip. “You taste like candy.”
Her gaze turned possessive as she scrutinized him the same way. The dark shadows of a beard down his jaw and neck. A face that held strength and power, and a mouth she’d never thought of as sensual until she’d tasted it. His hooded eyes were narrow and a blue so deep it rivaled the night sky.
She couldn’t read him then, couldn’t feel his thoughts and emotions through their bond. And found she missed it. White teeth flashed in the smile she sent him. He’d managed to erect a wall to keep her out.
“I think it’s too late to stop it.” She pressed a hand to his chest.
“You talk so casually about it but think about what this means.” Calen set a trembling hand over hers and reluctantly pushed her away, though he kept her hand in place. “Even if—when—we find a way to break your curse, there’s no way we can be together. And if we go down this road, if you kiss me like that again, I’m not going to be able to stop. I’m not going to be able to give you up because I’m not strong enough.”
It was the agony she heard that had her stepping back another foot, her heart pounding. She wasn’t sure if she could go back to the way things had been. Duty. Loneliness. Leading her people might be a love affair, but it was a position of isolation. Calen had been the constant in her life, her friend through thick and thin despite everything separating them.
She never would have suspected the affection she felt for him, as a friend, could mask something deeper.
“I guess now isn’t the time to get into it,” she replied, trying to sound easier than she felt. “Lord knows we have enough to deal with.”
“And you burned the fish,” Calen griped.
The redness in his cheeks, the twitching of his fingers...Odessa laughed. Head back and real, genuine laughter shaking her. There was such happiness in that moment, in the stir of affection she caught from him, that she could do nothing less.
She couldn't remember what those feelings were like, but the emotions were sweet and sharp.
“Are you serious?” she teased in return. “Oh, no. The fish was your department, mister. Don’t be jealous that my flames got the job done.”
Calen arched an eyebrow at her. “You’re the one who distracted me.”
“Disrespectful wolf.” Odessa leaned forward and nipped at him. “Blaming me for not being able to cook. Maybe you should stick to baking instead of trying to go outside of the box.”
There, in the easy joy between them, Odessa lost her heart without realizing.
Chapter 19
Hours later, she’d made up her mind. And once it clicked into place, she would follow through until the death. Stubborn, some called her. Boneheaded, although that came from others who didn’t know her well.
Both were equally true.
“I want to do this.”
Calen looked up from the fire, a lock of dark hair shading half of his expression. “What?”
“Look.” She crouched down beside him. “I know how you feel for me.”
“Dessa, cut it out.”
They’d been down this road already, she knew. “It’s true!” she insisted. “And once we break the spell, we both know what’s going to happen.”
The fire crackled and popped, the movement of the flames reflecting in Calen’s eyes. “Things are going to go back to normal,” he said bitterly. “Me chained to a stove and you chained to your husband.”
She nodded slowly. No sense in sugarcoating it anymore. “What if we...give in? Just this once?”
He pursed his lips, staring her down until she wanted to squirm. “Wasn’t one kiss enough? Be serious. You don’t want someone like me.”
“What if you are exactly what I want?” Her grin turned feline. “Calen, we’ve known each other for so many years. You’ve been an amazing friend and partner in crime even when I didn’t deserve it.” She stumbled on to finish when he tried to interrupt. “There’s always been something between us, although it took me forever to see it, to start to make sense of it. Why can’t we give each other tonight? Once, before everything has to change.”
“Before it goes back to the way it’s supposed to be, you mean.” He lifted a hand as though he might stroke one of her curls, and then let it drop.
“I don’t know what I mean,” she admitted.
“If you’re unsure, then why do this?”
“Because I know, if I don’t go with what my gut is telling me, if I don’t give it a try, then I’m going to regret it for the rest of my life. Don’t try to stop me when I’ve already made up my mind.”
“It would be impossible.” His lips softened into something resembling a smile. “We wouldn’t want you to regret. Would we?”
Odessa could barely breathe. Could barely keep her insides where they belonged when Calen settled his mouth atop hers, his lips coaxing and teasing.
It was waking up after a long sleep. It was falling out of the sky once you realized you had no wings.
She could not think fast enough. Feel fast enough. How had she never realized this burning before? This desire to throw herself in his arms and never surface?
Her hand curled into his shirt and dragged him closer.
He kept his touch slow and patient. Unhurried in the way he savored her. Memorized the lines and planes of her face as though feeling her for the first time.
Odessa opened her mouth to him when his teeth nipped at her lower lip. An invitation, yes, but also a surrender. Calen needed little else to sweep in, pressing her solidly against him and keeping her there. Their surroundings faded away and she moaned. Aloud, uncaring if the others heard her. They could all go to hell. Not really. She loved them in her own way, her little family of prisoners just as trapped as she. But at the moment, she burned. She glowed—
Her palm came up to cup Calen’s jaw, angling his face to deepen the kiss.
How she’d missed this, this touch she’d n
ever known before. How she craved more and hated having it end although they’d just begun. He could kiss her for the rest of her life, and Odessa had the feeling it would never be enough for her. The warmth in her belly spread and grew, deepening beneath her sternum until it felt like all the stars of the night sky glowed under her skin.
His tongue slipped between her lips to taste her. She met his parry with one of her own, until it felt like she’d crawled inside of him. How could she not have known him before this? Not have seen Calen for what he was?
Her mate.
God’s damn their difference in stature. God’s damn her arranged marriage and the fate of the pack. She would let them all hang and burn for Calen’s love.
A part of her grew cold with that knowledge, and she pushed it aside until it shrank out of her consciousness.
She knew they had no guarantee of tomorrow. They had no guarantee of anything once the sun rose high overhead and her human skin disappeared, replaced by downy white feathers.
Staring up at Calen, his height dwarfing her, Odessa made the decision in an instant, and without an inch of regret. “Take me to bed, Calen,” she demanded. “For whatever time we have tonight. I want you.”
He stared at her, and it seemed he couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. “You don’t really know what you’re asking,” he told her again. “When we manage to break the spell, then you’ll have to go through with your marriage. I can’t jeopardize that for you no matter how badly I want you. No matter how long I’ve dreamed of a moment like this.”
Odessa shook her head. “You talk too much. Let me worry about those things. Let me worry about the consequences.”
“I don’t like knowing that they’re there. The consequences,” Calen admitted.
“There are always going to be consequences to any situation. I want you tonight, Calen.” She grabbed his hand and placed it between her breasts against her rapidly increasing pulse. “Don’t make me beg.”