Marked in Flames, page 15
My Enforcer, my mate. We didn’t do emotions, we did sarcasm and hate. We threw things at each other, and we laughed and then we made love.
We weren’t maudlin or so rosy that we couldn’t see past the end of our nose. But we were everything. We were starting. We were beginning.
And in this moment we could be warm, we could be exactly who we needed to be with one another.
I smiled at him and let the fire burn within my gaze. “I love you too, my mate.”
He winked at me before he moved again, a little harder, a little rougher. I slid my hands down his back, my fingernails digging into his skin. He groaned before he leaned forward and nipped at the place where he had marked me as his. He didn’t need to do it again, didn’t need to mark me for everyone to know. All shifters and magical beings would know I was his.
Hell, with the way he continued to claim me in public, far more territorial than I ever thought possible, even humans without the sense of magic would be able to see that I was claimed by an Enforcer.
I had been marked by him, and as I grinned, he was marked in flames as well.
Fire danced along my fingertips as I played along his back.
“Branding me, are you?” he asked as he leisurely made love to me, and both of us sucked in deep breaths.
“Always.”
And then he picked up the pace, and before I could think, we were rolling, and I was hovering over him, riding him to completion.
My body clenched, my nipples tightening, and then I was coming, the fire within me burning to embers.
I had long ago fallen for my mate, and I hadn’t even realized it.
And in this moment, we were one. He came, filling me, both of us groaning and reaching for one another.
This was just the beginning, just a way to wake up, a way to greet our morning.
And I had never been more blessed than I was in this moment.
I collapsed on top of him, sweaty, exhausted, and yet wired.
“You’re so damn beautiful,” he whispered, running his hands over my hair.
“You’re just saying that because your cock is still inside me.”
I clenched my inner muscles, and he let out a groan that did things to me.
“You’re a vixen. A temptress.”
“I’m a witch, thank you very much.”
I pressed another kiss to his lips, and he grinned.
“Are you ready for today?”
“I’m not sure. I’m a little nervous.”
He cupped my face and shook his head. “You don’t have to be nervous. You’re better at speeches and being in front of people than I am. I just order them around.”
“You don’t think I order people around enough?” I teased.
“I think that you could do whatever you want. If you’d like to order me around, I’ll let you.”
I snorted and leaned down, kissing his lips. “You only say that because we’re alone.”
“That is true.”
I sighed into him, and then my alarm went off, and we laughed before we rolled off the bed and got ready for our day.
We had cleanup and healing to do. Our Pack was safe, our coven was safe.
And we were still learning who we needed to be as a power. But the enemy was gone, turned to dust and ash. And we were still here, victorious.
I was still learning the ropes of what it meant to be a Pack member, a coven leader, a mate. What it meant to live in a world where they knew who I was, what my power could do. That there was no longer a demon waiting for me to fall.
There was no longer true evil beckoning us into death and temptation.
I was bent over, wearing a towel and trying to pick what I was going to wear for the day, when the door to the bedroom slammed open, and Dara and Cruz stood there, grinning at us.
“What the hell?” Steele growled, pulling on his jeans on the rest of the way.
Dara kept her gaze averted and was only looking at me, thankfully.
“Today is a very big day, and that means you get to come with me while I get you ready, and you don’t get to see your mate until the ceremony.”
“I know what today is,” I said as I laughed, standing there in my towel with my hands on my hips. They had already seen me naked before, when I had been nearly burned to a crisp, so I didn’t really care in this moment. And while nudity didn’t tend to matter to shifters, I was newly mated to a wolf in the room, and I knew that he wasn’t pleased that Cruz could see so much of me.
“Come on now, I’ll take care of you, big boy,” Cruz said with a joking sneer, as Steele flipped him off.
“Eyes off my mate.”
“Don’t worry, he only has eyes for me,” Dara said with a laugh, and then Steele looked at me, wolf in his gaze.
“Under the moonlight?”
“If not before.”
Cruz sighed and shook his head. “You’ve fallen so quickly.”
“Damn straight he has, just like you have,” Dara called out. Cruz blew her a kiss and Dara caught it, holding it to her chest.
I just rolled my eyes. “You’re a death witch. Start acting like a death witch.”
“And you’re a firebird from hell. You should start acting like one too. Oh, wait, too late.”
I flipped her off and we both laughed, before she nearly tackled me in her hug.
“You’re going to have a wonderful evening tonight and the ceremony is going to be beautiful, and the Pack will be there, the coven will be there, the rest of the alliance will be there. It’s going to be amazing.”
“Why are you talking so quickly? Is everything okay?”
I looked at her then, at the way she carried herself, and blinked.
“You’re pregnant.”
Dara put her finger over her lips and winked. And as tears formed, I threw my arms around her and hugged her tight.
This was the beginning, a new chance.
Because I never thought this moment would ever come. I knew Dara had thought this moment would never come.
She was bringing a new life into the world, a world filled with choice, and perhaps danger, but with hope.
Later that night, when I stood in front of the Packs, wearing a long flowy red dress, and held hands with my mate, I knew that this was our moment.
“As Alpha, it is my duty and my joy to watch you as mates. To declare you as mates. And to share with the world your bond of truth, determination, and fiery steel,” he said with a wink.
Everyone laughed at the horrible pun, but my mate just grinned at me.
“He’s been waiting a very long time to say that,” he said, deadpan.
“It’s okay, I’m sure I’ll make a lot of Steele jokes by the end of the evening.”
Everybody tittered, some outright laughing, as Steele just rolled his eyes and kissed me again.
We stood under the moon as the goddess herself blessed us, and I knew that this was our time.
Our moment.
We were all changing, but settling into who we could be. Who we had to be.
Audrey and Gavin stood to one side, hands clasped, and smiled wide. They had mated under darkness and had come out stronger. They had shown me who I could be if I just believed.
Chase stood by us, but his mate Skye sat with the others, their child in her arms. The future of this Pack.
Nico, Cole, and Adalyn sat with the others as well, no longer Aspen Pack or Redwood Pack members, but the Alphas of the Centrals. They came with their Pack, as did the Redwoods. Dara and Cruz stood with us, while our other friends sat in the crowd, blessing this union, our mating.
Sawyer stood by me as well, as my friend from my past, someone who would always be part of my future. He had nearly died for me, had nearly died for our people and the Aspens would never forget that. I would never forget that.
I knew that we were never going to be truly healed. That we would always remain marked and scarred.
The fact that Novah was there at all, sitting by Wren and the others, hollow-eyed but determined, reminded me that we had not all come out of this unscathed. We had lost part of ourselves in this war. We had lost the trust that had come with who we were.
I didn’t know how she would come through this, nor how the others who had lost so much would fare. But I knew we would. Because we wouldn’t be alone.
And as we were once again declared mates, and my mate kissed me, I held on to Steele, and our future.
The demon was gone, our Pack was safe. And our alliance would be able to flourish. The coven was once again whole, and magic was starting to flourish. And not only that, but witches who had been hiding for generations were starting to come to us, knowing they could be safe.
We had done that. Somehow, we had made that happen.
It wasn’t our ending, it was only a beginning.
We had changed. And we would change.
But finally, we Aspens were free. And we were safe.
As my mate held me, and others laughed around us, I knew that Steele and I would do all in our power to keep that so.
Because we had vowed to each other, and to our Pack.
Long live the Aspens. And long live the power we held together.
Chapter
Nineteen
Sawyer
My head ached, and I hoped it was allergies though I knew it wasn’t.
Bruises covered my side, but they were healing. They shouldn’t have been healing this quickly though. No, I was just tired, not thinking straight.
I staggered through the room, knowing I needed something, I just didn’t know what it was.
My ribs ached, as did my hips, everything from when I had hit the ground with such velocity that I thought I had broken everything in my body.
I hadn’t though, but I could still feel the pain.
I wasn’t as strong as those who fought around me. No, they all could take a hit and keep going. They were stabbed and clawed and bitten and could keep fighting.
I had stood by a wolf who had been shot in the arm and kept going, despite the pain I had seen in their eyes.
They had felt that pain. Having the ability to shift into a wolf or a bear or a cat didn’t negate the fact that they felt pain.
Though the Healer had been able to help me because I was Pack and we could use Pack bonds, I wasn’t a shifter.
I wasn’t a magic user. I didn’t have Jade’s power, or Dara’s. Although I wasn’t sure I wanted their kind of power.
It seemed odd to me that this was my life now, contemplating the power that different paranormal creatures had.
I was born human and had lived as human until recently.
And then I had stood on a precipice and made a choice. To follow my friend into darkness.
Because it wasn’t as if there was light behind me.
I ran my hands over my face as somebody knocked on the door, and I quickly yanked a shirt over my head and tried not to stagger towards the fist on the door.
“You okay?” Hayes asked, and I looked up, my head tilting back at a severe angle to see the big man who stood in front of me.
He was the only polar bear I knew. In fact, before joining this Pack, I hadn’t even realized that bear and cat shifters existed. But there were a few cats, including a lynx and a golden panther. There were others now, though they were pretty secretive of what they were. And as I had my own reasons to keep who I was and my past private, I understood it.
But Hayes was the only polar bear in existence for all I knew.
Though he had dark-brown hair and a big bushy beard, his eyes were that light blue that screamed supernatural.
He was tall, wide, and looked like he could throw you against a wall and you wouldn’t even notice that big paw coming at you.
He was also the Omega of the Pack and could feel every emotion the entire Pack felt, including mine.
I quickly tamped down on that bond, just how Hayes had taught me when I’d first been blooded into the Pack and he had shown me how to keep my emotions my own.
He raised a brow at me and stormed his way in.
But he wasn’t alone.
Of course he wasn’t alone.
She walked in, her light-blond hair tucked behind her ears, her bright green eyes intense.
This small woman, a lynx, smiled up at me, but didn’t meet my gaze.
She was a submissive shifter, but she held a level of power that others didn’t.
Wren was the Healer of the Aspen Pack.
She was the one who saved us all.
She had saved my life, and I didn’t want to resent her for it.
Because it was her duty, but I hated that I was weak enough to not be able to save myself.
“I’m here to check on your wounds, and I guess Hayes is too,” she said with a wry smile.
She might be quieter than everyone else in this Pack, less growly, and couldn’t meet my gaze every time, but she was feisty.
I liked that.
“I’m fine. Bruises are healing, and I’m just about to jump in the shower.”
Not quite a lie, not quite the truth.
“You sure tamped down on your emotions as soon as you saw me,” Hayes said as he sank into my armchair.
I lived on the Pack lands now, as my house had been burned down when Jade’s had a while ago. I was still finding furniture that I liked, and I was borrowing what I needed until I found it. I had a decent enough savings account, and I still had a job. But I wasn’t great at actually buying things to fit my needs.
“Come on, take off that shirt, let me see your bruises.”
I raised a brow, I couldn’t help it.
“Really. In front of Hayes?”
Hayes barked out a laugh and just shook his head.
“I’m pretty sure that Wren could take you down with her tiny little pinky. She doesn’t need me to help you undress.”
Wren scowled between us.
“Are you sure you want to go there, Hayes? When I know where your eye is?”
That shut the Omega up quickly, and I looked between them, eyes wide.
“I always thought, well,” I cleared my throat. “I always thought the two of you…”
Wren finally met my gaze before she burst out laughing.
“No. Not even a little. We’re like siblings.”
“Siblings who fight,” Hayes growled.
“No, he has his eye on someone else, or should I say someones?”
Hayes flipped her off, and I had never seen the big man do anything untoward towards Wren. It was shocking, and it just made me laugh, despite the panic settling inside me as a new wave of something I didn’t want to name hit me.
Hayes leaned forward, eyes narrowed, and I knew he had felt it.
When Wren looked between us, she frowned.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I’m just tired. I’m human, you know, it takes me longer to recover.”
“Maybe, but you’ll let me know if things feel off? I worry.”
I lifted my shirt so she could see the bruises. “You don’t need to worry about me. You do a good job. All of you do. I’m damn lucky to have you guys in my corner.”
Wren looked at me then, and there was something in her eyes I couldn’t quite name.
I wanted to reach out, tuck that hair right back behind her ears since it had fallen. But I didn’t.
Wren didn’t want me. She was older than me by a few decades, which, in the supernatural world, didn’t matter. But in the human world, it meant that my life would be cut short, and she would keep living, and would one day find her mate.
I was attracted to her, and when she met my gaze, I realized that maybe I just needed a damn nap.
When I looked over at Hayes and saw the pity in his gaze, I knew that I hadn’t quite tamped down on those emotions well enough.
I cleared my throat and took a step back. “Thanks for checking on me. I am going to shower. And maybe take a walk. Then sleep. I promise I’m taking care of myself.”
“You better,” Wren said, as she passed her hands over the bruises.
I swallowed hard, ignoring the touch. Or at least trying to.
Hayes cleared his throat and stood up.
No, I hadn’t hidden that emotion quite well at all.
“Come on, Wren. He’s fine.”
“I like the look of them. They’re healing quickly. That’s good. I don’t work on humans that often. Only really Wynter these days.”
Hayes narrowed his gaze at Wren as she smiled at him. Oh. So that’s where the big bear was looking. I had to wonder who else he was looking at. But that wasn’t my place. Not when I was still figuring out what the hell was going on with me.
Nothing. Nothing was going on with me. And if I kept telling myself that, it would make sense.
Finally, the two left, but not after giving me one last look. Hayes with a look that said he wanted answers, but neither one of us were willing to speak. And there was something in Wren’s gaze again, but I didn’t know what it was.
But I knew I couldn’t answer whatever question was there.
I closed the door, locking it behind them. Not that a locked door would keep out a shifter if they needed to get in.
I made sure the blinds were closed, before all my energy left me and I nearly fell, making my way to the mirror.
My hands on either side of it, I stared, and I was so afraid of what I was going to see.
Because Wren hadn’t fixed everything.
She wouldn’t be able to.
It didn’t make any sense that I could still think, that I could still breathe. But here I was, changing the rules.
And as I lifted my lip, I let out a curse.
The fangs that had arrived soon after the fight glimmered in the light, and I closed my mouth, knowing I’d have to tell them soon. Knowing I’d have to end it all or find the group the elder had said existed.
But as a wave of hunger slid over me, a hunger that wasn’t for food, I cursed.
This might just be my own ending.
***
If you’re in the mood for a paranormal romance outside the world of the Aspens, try The Ravenwood Coven with Dawn Unearthed
Want to read a special BONUS EPILOGUE featuring Jade and Steele? CLICK HERE!
