by S. L. Morgan
“Why didn’t any of you tell me this?”
“Because everything you knew, the demon knew. We couldn’t let it know what we were planning. The element of surprise was essential. The isolation and the school pulling you into that program was a blessing in disguise. It helped me and E use our nights to study every book of lore and every spell out there to extract and kill the thing while Dom worked to get the wolf submitted—to him.”
“Wait a second,” I said, letting out a breath. “He was working my wolf even then?”
“Yes,” Vannah said. “Only to follow his commands and accept his wolf when he forced the bond, though. That was his bright idea,” she said as she rolled her eyes. “He wasn’t going to force you into claiming each other because he knew you weren’t ready for that. So, he used that to his advantage in getting the jump on the demon thing. We only hoped that we’d have it all planned out and were ready to do this before it took you down.” She glanced toward the door of the room Dom was in. “It’s obvious a few things weren’t laid out before the demon started making its moves on you.”
“That’s why Dom asked you if I had the stomach spasm stuff before and why he took off in vamp record speed to get me away from the school?”
“Yes,” Vannah shook her head. “I sensed the demon was starting to draw on some power, but I didn’t think it was strong enough to take you on. I was totally wrong and stupid to assume anything less of that evil thing.”
“What the hell power could it draw on? Mine? Inside me?”
“No, it couldn’t go near that. I could even sense you had that locked way down.”
“When it took on the appearance of Dom in my mind, it mentioned something about waiting for a certain age or whatever. None of it makes sense, though. Why would it pull me away from Dom but allow us to somehow go all-in to merge? At least I thought we were going all-in.”
“It was feeding off your weakness and guard being let down while you were separated from Dominic. It led you to the bear shifter to taunt Dominic and you so that when you did get back together,” she tightened her lips, “you both would have no reservations in sealing your bond. It wanted your power united with Dominic’s power to accomplish whatever the creature was after. Dom didn’t give in to that.”
“So, instead of forming a mateship with me, Dominic forced the wolves together to get my power?”
I rubbed my forehead, trying to figure out what the hell Dominic had done.
“He worked to learn some ways of tricking your mind to deceive the demon in you. You couldn’t be aware of any of it. Dominic sensed that thing wanted you both to merge and bond, so he made the demon believe that’s exactly what he was going to do with you. He played the evil thing at its own game. While you thought you both were going to officially merge and claim each other as mates, Dominic was already putting us to work to close off your mind so he could go in as his wolf and use your merged power to extract the thing. I can’t explain why he wanted to go at it like that and what made him come up with the idea, but he thought it up soon after you both mysteriously no longer had your strong connection.”
“When I was drawn to the bear shifter?”
“Even before that. The night he talked to you he was in disbelief that a bond as strong as both of yours could end like it did. Not even being special and unique like you are would validate something like that. He knew it was something dark, and he worked relentlessly to set everything up to get the demon out of you. You know when he left for the quest?”
“Was he finding a location for you to manifest this cabin?”
“Yes,” Vannah answered. “We had to play along with what the demon was doing with you and trust Dominic was sensing it all correctly. Turns out he was, though, merging your wolves like that was too dangerous. We didn’t know for sure until after the demon was extracted, and I felt the power starting to turn on Dominic from not merging your powers the right way.”
“Why couldn’t he have brought this up to me when he thought it was happening? We would have done the merge the right way, and he would be fine now.”
“Like I said, Dominic worked to do this so that the demon would never see him coming. He succeeded and thank God you healed him, or we wouldn’t have him right now.” Vannah reached for me, “Listen, the magic you have in you is extremely powerful, and it is waking up. That’s why the demon started making its move. Fortunately, we were mostly prepared to take it down when it started hurting you. You and Dominic will have to merge correctly this time. I don’t see Dominic or your wolves doing well without forming the merge correctly.”
“Wait,” I said, my brain aching from this information download. “You’re telling me that the merge no longer exists?”
“It was temporary between the wolves, but Dominic felt it as much as the wolves did.” She looked at me in disbelief, “I felt the incredible desire for this to happen too.”
“Oh, God,” I covered my mouth. “You realize this is an extremely intimate connection, right? How did you feel it?”
“It wasn’t like that,” Vannah said as she arched an eyebrow at me. “I felt the wolves. It’s like they’d been starved for years to unite and become one. I felt Dominic’s surge of power and a sense of completion that he’d never felt before. Dom wasn’t merged, but he felt what it would do for both of you if it happened. He won’t be the same without you two becoming merged as one. He knows the void and the emptiness that you both have had since your wolves first found each other at Dark Water.”
“And I felt a sliver of that when my wolf allowed me to see what went down through her eyes.”
“He is a strong alpha, but this will weaken him,” Vannah said. “He now knows the feeling of true completion, having experienced it through his wolf.”
“Well, it’s not going to be a problem because I swear to everything here and now, I will jump his bones once he walks out of that room after I punch him for going on a suicide mission to extract that demon.”
“I was hoping for the first part,” I heard a groggy, humorous Dominic say from behind me.
I turned back, and he looked like a million bucks. He was healthier than I’d ever seen him, and even though he seemed tired, he was alive. I felt my heart react to the sight of him, and then he became serious and ran a hand through his hair. I could tell the things Vannah was telling me about him experiencing a void was beginning to wash over him. I watched as his humored expression was replaced with a look of sorrow and loss.
He shook his head as if it were a foreign emotion to him, which it should have been, he was a total badass, not this dejected-looking shifter. I shot up and ran over to him. I needed to feel his closeness, and I could sense he needed to feel mine. I was swallowed up in his arms and held tighter than Dom had ever held me before.
God only knew how we were going to handle filling the void that he and our wolves were feeling. I only had a sliver of an idea of how awful that sensation might have been. That’s when I felt his wolf call to me alone, and that’s when I nearly made good on my word and sealed our bond right then and there.
Thank God Ethan and Vannah were here because Dominic was definitely not in the mindset to stop anything. What the heck were we supposed to do now?
25
Dom kissed the top of my head and gently pulled me back. His eyes brightened some as he studied mine. “I’m sorry we had to hide all of that from you,” he said in a soft voice. “I’m so glad you’re safe, and that thing is finally gone.”
I brought my hands to his face. “You are one brave guy to hide it all and to go after that thing the way you did. You’re lucky we could bring you back.”
“More determined than brave,” he arched an eyebrow playfully at me. “I was done with that thing the minute I felt the intense evil that was locked up inside you. I knew it was a matter of time before that dark energy got the jump on you, and then we all would have been screwed. We had to be smart about it, and thank God we managed to get it out of you and kill it.”
; I could sense the yearning in Dominic, and it was odd how the energy was transferring over to me. He seemed happy that it all worked out, but it was almost like he was grieving the death of someone dear to him.
“Vannah told me you wouldn’t be okay after sensing our wolves coming together in that merge,” I said, running on the emotions I felt radiating off of him.
“I’ll be okay. More importantly, I want to talk to the old lady who was hell-bent on killing you. Where is she?” he asked, anger in his eyes.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her,” I said.
Vannah walked over to where we stood. “Yeah, about her,” she started, obviously uncomfortable. “She’s gone. Like…she turned into gold dust and blew away after she said some weird stuff. I’m pretty sure she’s dead.”
“Dead? Gold dust? I don’t understand,” I said, utterly confused.
“She said something about aging when she was around Jenna,” Dominic added.
“Yeah, she started aging rapidly before my eyes after you expelled that demon. As soon as you had shifted and had taken off, it was like she just started withering away, but not before telling me that she’d done everything she could for you, Jenna,” Vannah said, looking like she was the bearer of bad news.
“Well, if she was actually doing anything for me in the first place, that’s news to me,” I said. “I really don’t know what to say to that.”
I knew the old lady had been attached to me somehow since I was born—it seemed as though she was someone important to my parents—but I had only ever been confused by her presence and been told fractions of the truth between her erasing my memories. It would’ve been nice to know whose side she was really on before she turned into metallic dust.
“That’s not all,” Vannah continued. “She said the evil at the school might start to awaken, and you will need the power of the strong alpha to destroy it because it won’t stop hunting you, Jenna. She also said that Ethan is the new oracle, and he’ll be your protector. I’m not sure if Ethan knows that yet. Honestly, I’m not really sure what it even means.”
“Hold up,” I said, rubbing my forehead incredulously. “This day keeps getting better and better. The school waking up part, I think we’ve all known about that risk the whole time, and I figured she’d want us to merge. It’s all she kept talking about. This oracle business about Ethan, though…Can he handle such a thing, whatever it is? This lady is like the bearer of the worst news of all time every time she shows up.”
“Don’t worry about E,” Dominic said as he rubbed his hand along my arm. “I’ll talk to him. I’ll make sure he understands we’re in much better hands with him at the wheel. He’s bound to know more than we do about this. I’ll find the right time to have that talk.”
“I think you’re right,” Vannah said. “He certainly seems to know so much more than I would’ve ever expected. Maybe that won’t be such a hard conversation to have. I hope not, anyway.”
Dom’s eyes drew up and to the front door when it opened. “Hey, bud,” Dom said with a smile. “You did good. I would have never taken that thing out if you weren’t riding co-pilot in my head like you were.”
“You are safe,” Ethan said as I spun around to see Lusa, covering her heart and smiling broadly at her brother.
“We got him back,” I said, even more confused now that Dom had said Ethan was in his head.
“Let me make you guys something to eat. Vannah stocked this place up. You’ll be happy with all of the steaks and pies that are in here,” Lusa said as she walked to the kitchen.
I glanced over at Vannah. “How did you manage any of this without the school catching on? Where do they think the five of us are?”
“I had Ethan help me cloak my magic while I built this place and used a magic spell to get your favorite foods in here.” She smiled at Ethan, “High props to this kid. He worked hard to help me, and he did it all past his bedtime.”
“You and Jenna will seal your bond, right, Dominic? You will do it the right way. You’re hurting,” Ethan said somberly.
Dom pulled me into his side. “I’m going to get dressed whether Jenna wants to stare at my body all day or not.” He pressed his lips against the side of my head. “Then I’m going to throw down at least four of those steaks.”
“Dominic, you promised,” Ethan pressed.
“I’ll make sure he does, Ethan.”
“You’re all overreacting. I’ve got this. Seriously, I just need to eat something.”
All of the food was made in record time, and we ate like we’d been starved for weeks. I learned that Dom had ordered all the shifters to participate in a surprise quest to get them out and away from the school, and that was the reason he’d left me alone with E. He needed to make sure the professor saw him leave.
The excuse for my absence was that I was on the quest that would determine if I would become a master for my third year at IA. My highly-anticipated master’s quest was planned to ultimately end in my failure, and I would be teleported back to the school by falling into a freaking fairy trap. A fairy trap of all things was what Dom decided would send me back from my fake quest, and I had to go with it. Even though my ego hated the idea, I knew Dom had gone to great lengths to make these plans, and he was nothing if not thorough.
All of the work he’d done even convinced me, but I couldn’t get mad at the fact that he’d pulled one over on me. He admitted that the demon knew everything Dom knew about us because the bastard had been eavesdropping on everything since I’d locked it up.
He got into Dom’s mind enough to know our history at Dark Water…the thing was trickier than a leprechaun, which had me wondering if leprechauns were actually demons themselves.
We were set to have two days out here—cloaked in this enchanted cabin. Everyone had their own cozy rooms, but there was no way I was leaving Dominic’s side.
“Dom,” I said, curled up in my gym shorts and tank, arms and legs wrapped over his chest and legs.
He had been tenderly running his hand along my arm as we both sat in silence. “Yeah, babe.” He kissed my head, and I tightened my embrace around him.
“About us merging…”
Good God, how am I supposed to bring this up?
“Don’t,” Dom said softly. “Don’t bring it up. It’s not happening. We achieved what we needed, and we finished that demon off. There’s no need for us to merge right now.”
I sat up and straddled his waist. Dom repositioned himself under me and began running his hands along my legs. His eyes followed the trail of goosebumps his fingertips created as he slowly caressed my hips.
“Thank God for E being in my head, or I wouldn’t have been strong enough to go through with my plans of leading that creature on to believe I was going to claim you as my mate.” His eyes met mine. “Your breathing, sounds,” he smirked. “You almost ruined my plans. I could have taken you right then and there,” he finished with a sexy grin.
“I almost ruined your plans by going along with them? Are you trying to change the subject from what I know we need to do after you almost killed yourself, merging our wolves outside of the shifter norm?”
“It was all magic, Jen,” he shrugged. “I knew there would be some price to pay for doing it that way because we depended on magic for all of it.” He squeezed the outside of my hips. “I also knew you were strong enough to get me back. Like I said, it all worked out in the end.”
“Dom, I can sense how hard the struggle is and how massive the void is in you. Why won’t you do this? We have, what, a day or two before I fall to a leprechaun’s deathtrap you set for me?”
“Jen,” he grew more serious, “not here. When we merge these wolves and claim each other like shifters naturally do, it won’t be anywhere near this school and especially not in a witch’s enchanted cabin. It’s not going to happen like this.”
“I’m not accepting that,” I argued. “I can handle it. We can make up for our passionate and intimate moment some other time, but I’m not go
ing to sense you feeling like this. It’s not right, and it’s not fair.”
“I will get over it,” he said, slowly and assuredly. “You forget that I can control my wolf, and right now, we’re both recovering from being juiced up like that. Your wolf will be fine too. We’ll make sure we stay in extremely close contact with each other. We’ll keep our bond close and reward ourselves after we graduate by becoming true mates. We’re not doing this at this school.”
“You act like you have it all figured out. What if I want it? Right here and right now.”
Dom’s eyebrow arched as if I’d provoked the Master Dominic side of him. “That’s what you want, Jenna Silvers?”
First and last name approach. Here we go.
“I want you, Dominic Rossi.”
Dom’s lips tightened, and then I was underneath his powerful body. Dom lifted my thin camisole top and gently pressed his lips to my stomach. For the first time since all of this crazy crap went down, I started to feel the electric sensations that only Dominic created in me. His hands kept my arms at my sides while his lips tenderly explored my stomach and ran up the center of my chest. He said nothing when my breathing picked up, and he continued to massage my highly sensitive skin beneath his lips that were now under my neck.
I softly moaned and tried to pull my arms from his hands, but he had me pinned. I felt like I was going to implode with all of these feelings that felt more real now than when I thought he and I were really going for it and going to merge our wolves.
The power that was pouring out of him had me craving and writhing beneath him, teasing my upper body with only his lips. His eyes finally met mine when I licked my dry lips and moaned, begging him for more.
That’s when he took my hands and pinned them above my head, and our lips met in a crushing kiss. Dom was driving me wild with his fervent kiss, then teasing my lips by nipping at my bottom one, my chin, then back to kissing me. He’d never kissed me like this before, and by glancing at his dark eyes and seeing his look of determination, I shivered under the strength of my man as he soared back to life.