Ruby (The Silvia Saga Book 3)

by Jenna Lee

  Fuck, that’s hot. She lets me go with a pop. In the next second, she’s naked from the waist down, she sits down easing herself onto me. Her head falls back, and she lets out a little whimper. She rides me slowly, her lips part, and she breathes my name. Her hands find my chest, her nails dig in and it takes everything in me not to cum right now. Her pussy clenches as she leans down and presses her lips to mine.

  “I love you, my sweet boy.” As the words leave her, she lets go.

  For the first time in weeks, I feel lighter.

  We stay out here for a little bit just enjoying each other’s company.

  “We need to go and see your mother, make sure she’s doing okay.” Dara gets up pulling on her black jeans.

  My chest tightens at her words. Something isn’t right, my mother did get sick but something about this feels wrong. She has been in bed for a few days now sporting a fever. But she insisted that she’s fine, that we need not worry. Typical of my mother, she didn’t like anyone fussing over her. That’s her job.

  There have been a few others in the village catching the same bug that has her bedridden as well. I just hope that our healers can come up with some medicine remedy to get them fixed up. We haven’t figured out where the bug has come from, but we’ll get to the bottom of it. Probably just an infection from the vegetable crop or something. That has happened once before but years ago.

  Pushing myself up and out of the hammock, I go in search of my clothes only to find Dara standing there with them in her hands sporting a cheeky smirk.

  “Looking for something?” she asks winking.

  I chuckle grabbing them from her. Once I’m dressed, we make our way downstairs to find Jolie and Kayla on the couch talking. Kayla looks a lot better the colour has returned to her cheeks, and she’s now moving around the house, getting out of the damn bedroom that the girls had been holed up in all week. Being stuck in one place for too long isn’t good for anyone, I know that from experience. I shudder at the thought. The dark room, cold concrete floor, the dripping of the tap…

  Something touches my arm and I flinch moving backward.

  “Hey, it’s okay.” Dara’s voice soothes over me, breaking me from my thoughts.

  I let out a sigh trying to shake it off. Offering her a reassuring smile I step into the kitchen to find Declan and Oliver. Declan’s leaning against the bench talking to Oliver.

  “I’m heading over to Mom’s to check on her,” I announce grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.

  “I’ll come, Declan has to go do some training with Harlan,” Oliver says whacking Declan on the shoulder.

  We meet Dara and Jolie back in the living room, looks like she’s coming too. Our parent’s place is just next door. I knock lightly then push the door open.

  Our father isn’t here, he’s out with his friends bringing in the next harvest of fresh food. He isn’t home much due to his duties for the village. With mum sick, it doesn’t sit well with me. She needs to have someone with her at all times. What if something happens to her and no one’s around to help? My chest tightens at the thought. My mother is who held us all together as a family; her kindness is like no other. She thrived when we were all together.

  When she and Dad moved out to give us privacy with Dara, it felt strange. Don’t get me wrong it’s what we needed with Dara but not having them here each night for dinner is strange.

  We head upstairs into our parent’s room. The door creaks in protest as Oliver pushes it open. My mother’s in her bed but she sits up slightly with a smile on her face when she sees us entering. The others move inside, but I stop just outside the door taking her in. She looks terrible, her skin is pale, and she looks like she’s lost a bit of weight by the way her cheeks hollow in.

  “Come in, sweetie,” she crooks out.

  I offer her a warm smile not wanting her to think that I’m really worried about her. That will only stress her out, which she doesn’t need. I join Dara on the couch next to Mom’s bed. Dara takes my hand in hers giving it a squeeze. She can also see that Mom isn’t doing so well.

  “God, you look like shit, Mum, old fella not feeding you?” Oliver teases trying to lighten the mood. She offers a small smile.

  “I’m fine, my dears, just caught some bug.” She coughs, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. I notice a tinge of red and try to hold it together but, man, it hurts seeing her so frail like this.

  “Mom, you need to come to our house so we can be there if something happens. I don’t like you being here alone when Dad’s away,” I say, standing up ready to take her right away.

  “No, I said I’m fine, dear.”

  I look over to Jolie and Oliver who are both feeling exactly the same way as I am. She needs to be with us in our home and nothing she will say will change our minds.

  “Please, Mum, it would give us one less thing to worry about. Having you there under our roof at least we know that you’re okay,” Jolie begs taking our mother’s hand in hers.

  It’s silent for a minute but then our mother nods in agreement. She hates the thought of us worrying about her with everything else that we have going on.

  We get her safely back into her old room in our house. Once she’s settled in Declan calls us down for dinner.

  9

  Dara

  Reluctantly, I leave Anna to rest in bed, giving a kiss to her cheek before I leave. She smiles sweetly at me before shutting her eyes to rest. Walking out of her room my heart aches, she looks terrible but I’m glad she’s here with us now so we can keep an eye on her.

  We are on house arrest anyway with this whole James situation, so it makes sense to keep her close. Oliver meets me at the top of the stairs, he wraps his arm around my shoulder giving it a tight squeeze. I can tell he’s worried too by the way his brows are drawn together. It’s so hard to see Anna like this, so lifeless. She’s always there for us, looking after us and lending an ear for a chat. But seeing her like this it isn’t right. I know she hates not being able to look after herself. But she will have to suck it up because she isn’t going anywhere and we’re going to take care of her. I pray that the healers find a remedy soon. I’d have to check in with Jolie to see how they are doing and if I can help.

  We make it into the kitchen to find everyone else sitting down at the table. A smile forms on my lips seeing that our table’s full to the brim with my family. Jolie’s sitting next to Elijah laughing at something he said. I find myself a seat between Oliver and Blair opposite the two new love birds. Speaking of love birds… Kayla and Alaric sit at the head of the table; Alaric has his arm around her chair watching her every move being the protective lover. Kayla looks at me flashing a quick smile. She looks great, and it’s so good to see her moving around the house on her own. My best friend’s back and in Silvia with my family. God, that feels good.

  Declan clears his throat holding a huge pot of pumpkin soup, he places it down in the centre of the table along with some bread rolls. As soon as the pumpkin smell hits my nose my belly grumbles in protest. Luckily our crops within our village were still growing producing our food. Without them, we would be going hungry. We need all the strength we can get right now.

  “Dig in,” Declan announced.

  “Looks so bloody good, thanks to Declan,” Kayla says leaning over being the first to plow into her bowl.

  I glare at her, she shrugs.

  “What? I’m starving.”

  “Didn’t say a thing.” I smirk gesturing for her to continue.

  We all eat, and I sit back in my chair watching everyone. This is what I’m fighting for to have more of these memories and more dinners with the people I love so much. I know that time’s ticking and that we need to get out soon to locate the final stone. Something told me this one would be the hardest to find. Why couldn’t my father leave me with a map locating them all? Surely that would have been an easier solution to save Silvia. But that would have been too easy for James, he would have found a way to snoop around and find the map.
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  Harlan clinks his glass with his fork, and everyone stops talking giving him our full attention.

  “Now with our mother here with us we need to keep an eye on her at all times. Something is going around the village a bug that the healers are trying to find a remedy for.” He pauses meeting my eyes.

  “Dara, I need you to stay focused on training with Jolie. I know you’ll want to help create a cure and find the source to this bug, but your main priority is finding the final stone. Can you do that for me?”

  Everyone’s eyes are now on me. I dramatically flutter my eyes letting out a little huff.

  “Yes, sir, I obey your orders. That’s what I was going to do anyway.” I give him a little salute for good measure. Everyone starts cracking up laughing at me.

  Harlan shakes his head, but I don’t miss the little smile. What else does he expect from me? I need to give him some Dara sass to lighten the mood. He knows me and orders didn’t go down the best. I have been learning, don’t get me wrong, but it feels good to have a little joke with everyone.

  “Glad we’re on the same page then. The next week’s training is to be everyone’s focus,” Harlan orders around the table. Everyone nods in agreement.

  We continue finishing our dinner. I catch Jolie’s attention finally; she’s been glued to Elijah’s hip and I haven’t talked to her for the entire meal. She’s leaning on him for support which I totally understood.

  “How are you guys doing with finding a cure, Jolie?” I ask pulling a piece of bread apart with my fingers.

  “Not good. I haven’t had much time to look into it outside of training. The other healers are working on something but it’s hard without knowing what’s causing it. Most people just have fevers nothing major so it’s hard to work it out,” she confesses lowering her head.

  She’s dying to find something that will help her mother feel better but with her limited time and trying to find the source it hasn’t been easy. Especially since we aren’t going too far outside our village. With James’s destruction, it put up restrictions.

  Harlan comes over carrying a large plastic bowl. He fills it up with soup and takes it up the stairs to his mother. I had faith that we will work out a way to take away her pain, but something told me she wasn’t through the worst of it yet.

  10

  Dara

  We’re lined up on the mat down on our hands doing push-ups. What the hell did this have to do with saving Silvia? I need to be practising magic not this stupid strength shit. Groaning, I fall down on to my belly, but I don’t push myself back up I just lay there breathing heavily. I feel him before he speaks.

  “Up, Dara, ten more,” Harlan demands.

  Just because I like hearing his demanding voice I don’t move. I want to get him riled up to his boiling point. He’s so much sexier when he’s angry. I hear Oliver chuckling beside me, which in turn has me grinning trying to hold in my laughter. I feel him leaning over me before he places his hands on my shoulders. He kneels down, my eyes cast up to look at him. I smirk fluttering my eyes, but he looks furious.

  “Fucking do what you’re told for once, Dara, before I spank your arse so hard that it’s red for a week,” he growls cupping my face in his palm.

  My eyes light up at his words; my panties just got drenched. Fucking Harlan and his commanding attitude gets me all riled up. That’s why I defied him so he can punish me just the way I like it.

  “You’d love that wouldn’t you?” he asks lowering his voice.

  I squeal as he jumps up pulling me with him. He pushes me backward until I slam against the training room wall, not once does he look away from me. He looks feral, hungry, his pupils dilated.

  “Why do you defy me, Dara? Is it because you want me to get angry and let it all out on you, hmm?” he mewls keeping the pressure on my shoulders holding me against the wall.

  He leans in running his nose along my neck breathing in deeply. My eyes close and I whimper.

  “Fuck me, now,” I command, needing him inside me.

  “Aw, somebody a bit needy? Should I give you what you want?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “Nah, that wouldn’t be fair, considering you broke the rules. I want to make you pay, make you whimper right in front of me. Beg me to put you out of your misery.” He bites down on my ear. Fucking hell that’s hot.

  “Plea—” Someone screams.

  Harlan pulls back and we look at each both thinking the same thing.

  Anna.

  The guys are already out of the room by the time we hear the second scream. Oh my God, my heart slams against my chest as we run up the stairs going straight for her room. We walk in to find everyone here. I move toward Jolie who has her mother’s hand in her own looking down at it. Leaning over her shoulder I let out a gasp. Anna’s arm is infected with a nasty red rash starting at her fingertips working its way up her arm stopping just before her elbow. It looks horrid, the red rash doesn’t look normal. It has specks of purple in it, like nothing I’ve seen before in my life.

  Anna’s eyes are closed; she’s in pain. Blair moves on to the bed taking her other hand trying to comfort her.

  “What the hell is that?” My voice comes out shaky. I didn’t want to scare Anna any more but something isn’t right.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this before. The colouring is putting me off. We need to help ease the pain,” Jolie suggests her eyes never leaving her mother’s arm.

  She looks petrified. If Jolie hadn’t seen anything like this, it meant it’s bad, because we had no idea what we were dealing with. But if we could help ease some of her pain at least that would be something.

  “Anna,” Albert yells running into the room with Harlan right behind him.

  We move out of the way so he can see her. He leans over kissing her on her forehead.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he reassures her.

  I haven’t seen this sweet, caring side of Albert before and my heart melts. I know the guys got their sweetness from not only Anna but Albert too. Jolie takes my hand moving just outside the door. I pull her in for a hug and she sobs on to my shoulder. Rubbing her back I let her cry it all out. She knows this isn’t good especially since she isn’t sure what it is that’s causing this. If we knew the source or who spread this virus, we could fix it. But Jolie being helpless really affected her. She has to help everyone it’s just who she is but when she can’t it kills her. She pulls back and I wipe away her tears.

  “It’s going to be okay; we will help ease some of her pain.”

  She nods her head, letting out a deep breath before we go back inside. I take Jolie’s hand as we lean over Anna’s bed taking Anna’s hand into my other one; I close my eyes.

  Taking a deep breath, I focus all my attention on healing Anna and easing her pain. My magic comes to the surface; the blue smoke just within reach. Jolie squeezes my hand telling me she’s ready as well. Opening up my eyes we collide our magic together on to Anna’s heart, just as it hits a zap tingles up my arm starting at my fingers. Suddenly green smoke appears rising from Anna’s chest. We both pull back at the same time looking at it in shock, one second, it’s there but as soon as we both pull back it’s gone. Glancing at Jolie, she shrugs her shoulders having no idea what that was.

  “It’s like it’s a barrier stopping us from helping to heal her. I’ve never come across this type of thing before, but it reeked of magic,” Jolie explains not taking her eyes off her mother.

  Anna lays perfectly still but her eyes say it all. She’s worried, she doesn’t want to say how much she’s hurting but I know she’s in a world of pain. A tear rolls down my cheek. We can’t even help her by easing the pain.

  “We need to go out and search for the source of this, right away,” Harlan orders heading straight for the door, ready to go.

  A loud bang echos through the room followed by steps running up the stairs. Roger, Albert’s friend appears at the top step. He leans over trying to catch his breath.

  “Come
quick, something’s spreading around the village,” he says between breaths. The colour drains from my face. We all jump to action following him down the stairs and outside straight into the chaos. There’s a child on the ground clutching her arm. Leaning down I reach out grabbing it, looking down I notice the exact same rash that Anna has.

  Oh my God, it’s now spreading around like wildfire. We had to find the source of this, right now.

  11

  Declan

  Dara stands up and turns around to face us. She nods telling us exactly what I didn’t want to hear. That it’s exactly the same symptoms that our mother has. We have to find out what the hell is going on here. How come people in our village were getting sick? There has to be an answer somewhere we’ll just have to find it. Harlan slaps me on my shoulder.

  “You, me, and Jolie need to head out. Oliver will check out the skies.”

  Nodding my head Jolie appears next to us and we head off walking through the dense forest. Oliver jumps into action transforming into his eagle form, taking to the skies.

  “Wait up, I’m coming to help,” Dara yells, jogging to us.

  “No way, you need to stay here. Look after our mother,” I say rubbing the back of my neck.

  I hated lying to Dara but there’s no way she’s coming with us, it’s too dangerous for her to be out here with James wanting her dead. We made a pact, my brothers and I, to keep her inside as best we can until we are ready to head out to claim the final stone. Dara being her usual stubborn self puts her hand on her hip.