Midnight Magic, page 62
“Help me,” she managed to push out as her eyes locked with one of them, his brown eyes stared right through her and they flashed red for a hot second.
“You need to breathe.” The one who’s eyes just flashed red zipped in front of her and gently placed his hands on her face. He had to be a vampire with short, styled brown locks; even running over to her, there wasn’t a hair out of place. His cool touch settled some of her nerves, but if she passed out, the barrier would fall and she’d be dragged back to the coven.
Her cursed magic was a threat to everyone magical, including the one holding her face.
“What’s your name?” His voice came out sturdy with hints of worry. A hint of an accent she couldn’t place gave her a slight pause. Maybe he is willing to help me out.
“Piper. Piper Turner.” She eyed each of them, they seemed familiar, almost like a breath of fresh air. No, I’m being stupid. Why would they risk everything to help me? The thought sent a fresh wave of fear down her spine like an icy finger dragging against each bone.
“I can help.” One of the guys, the one with shaggy dark brown locks and a strong jaw line, placed his hand on her back and magic flowed from his fingers into her body, mixing with her own. With his skin against hers, she sensed his magic and something else under his human form. He leaned forward, and she locked her gaze with his piercing light brown eyes.
Her breath caught in her throat because staring into those eyes spoke to more than just wanting to be friendly and helpful. She almost saw a hint of desire resting behind the worry.
“Now, Piper, you need to release; the barrier is up, and it won’t go away until we release it.” His other hand grabbed her chin so she couldn’t look away. Tears streamed down her face because she didn’t know exactly what to do. She couldn’t hold these guys back if they turned on her, and she’d feel like a damn fool if she gave in and the guy was lying to her.
“Her heart rate needs to slow,” another guy growled, and Piper pulled her chin from the witchy shifter and focused on this one, sensing the dragon under the surface. He had super short hair, black in color, and wide shoulders. No doubt in her mind that there wasn’t an ounce of fat under his pristine clothes.
Then she looked at the final one, with long black hair that was just pressed down by his fingers. His blue eyes studied Piper, and he rubbed his hands against his hips. His tanned skin and eyes gave off a Hispanic vibe.
With a quick glance at all four men, she realized she was surrounded by a vampire, a dragon, a bear, and a wolf-witch. Holy fuck! A full-on gasp left her lips; if they weren’t friendly, she’d be royally screwed and in all the bad ways.
“Fuck off, Cole. You’re not helping her.” The wolf-witch grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. A hint of a zing rolled through her flesh, and she wasn’t sure if it was magic or wolf related. “Release your grip into the earth.” His voice low and calm held a commanding side.
Without thinking about it, her magic finally listened to someone else and released its hold on her body, freeing her hands from the ground. A crash echoed behind her, and she pulled away, seeing the two who were chasing her as they crashed into the barrier. The female had broken her nose and cursed as blood flowed down her face.
“You bitch. I’ll fucking get you once this comes down. You can’t hold it forever!” The two trackers the coven had hired glared at her. She backed into the four men, who all grabbed her at the same time.
Without warning, white flashed in front of her, and she wasn’t in the building anymore. She was in a field of flowers, the moon hanging full in the sky with lots of stars littering the night. Piper looked around and each of the four men were slowly and deliberately heading right for her. Waves of desire for each one rolled under her skin, and she struggled to breathe.
“With the five elements, your magic will once again be whole. Only with fire, earth, water, air, and soul will you be complete. With each mate you take, you’ll regain more control over yourself.”
Piper knew that voice, it was the Goddess of Creation, and she was talking to Piper, a cursed witch. Holy fucking balls! She wanted to scream out but couldn’t do anything as all four men grabbed her arms and shoulders.
“We complete you.” Their voices mixed and then white filled her vision once more, bringing her back to the building with the men surrounding her.
“Are you okay?” the vampire asked. She opened her mouth to tell them about the vision but quickly snapped it shut. This was all crazy, right? I mean, witches didn’t have mates, and from what she’d heard in stories, if they did, they only had two at most. Not four freaking men all to herself.
She bit her lower lip as she focused on each of them. Hints of darkness lined her view, and she was moments from passing out from all the magic use.
“I need to stay awake. I—” She barely pushed the words out as fear of the barrier failing simmered under her skin. Light flowed from her fingertips.
“Something’s wrong with her magic, Gavin. She needs to breathe,” the bear shifter growled as he grabbed her hand and sucked in a quick breath.
“I know, Travis.” Gavin held her other hand as more magic pulsed up her arm. “Cole? What are you doing?” Gavin’s growling grew louder as Cole grabbed Piper’s face, his blue eyes locking with hers. There was so much power simmering under his skin, like he was struggling not to shift right here and now.
“If you don’t calm down, your heart will give out.” Cole helped her to breathe but the darkness was still taking over. “Leo will give you blood but that might not save you.”
She gave a side glance to the vampire who nodded, his hand on her shoulder. She couldn’t hold it back anymore and then everything went black.
CHAPTER 2
LEO
Leo didn’t hesitate as he caught Piper in his arms; Gavin and Travis still held onto her limp hands. They’d be safe if the barrier stayed up, but in four hours, he’d need to find shelter to be safe from the sun. The two who had trailed her were still standing at the door like they expected it to come down as soon as Piper passed out.
“Why the fuck did I find my mate now? Of all the freaking times.” Gavin shoved his free hand through his hair. Leo didn’t like the sound of sharing his witchy mate with a wolf-witch. He pushed down his irritation as Travis narrowed his eyes on Gavin.
“No way, she’s mine,” Travis growled, and Cole released his grip on her face to glare at both of them.
“Mine,” Cole growled back. Oh, come the fuck on, universe. I have to share her with three other shifters? Not cool. Not cool at all.
Leo cleared his throat and adjusted Piper in his arms to make it easier to get to his arm. “If I’m not mistaken, it seems we’re all linked to the same woman.” Leo bit into his wrist, blood springing to his flesh before he pressed it to her lips. Blood dripped down her lips, some slipping past, then he used his other hand to open her mouth a little more so she could get more of his blood.
The act of feeding someone was erotic, and his cock was freaking hard as stone, but he kept going as she moaned around his wrist. Heat flushed through his body.
“What? That’s not even possible.” Travis shook his head. “You three are getting your signals crossed.” He still held onto her hand.
Gavin muttered something in Latin, but Leo wasn’t focusing on the wolf-witch as Piper slowly drank from his wrist. Another light moan left her lips, and a second later her eyes snapped open. She pulled away and scrambled out of his arms and away from all four of them.
“Damn it, woman.” Gavin grabbed her hand and muttered the spell again.
“What the fuck are you doing?” She tried to pull away then froze as little red cartoon hearts emerged from her chest. Four in total, all flowing from her and touching each of the four men in the room. “What was that?” She pulled away, and Gavin let her.
“To show us who your true mate or mates are.” Gavin shoved his hands through his hair, and Leo knew he had been right. The freaking universe had linked all four of them to this sexy witch.
“No, that can’t—” She blinked a few times then covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh goddess, above you didn’t…” Her eyes widened.
“What do you mean?” Leo asked, not understanding her train of thought.
“When all four of you grabbed me, I had a vision.” She glanced at the door, the two witches were still there, one leaning against the barrier while the other worked on her bloody nose. Her heart rate picked up and the scent of panic pulsed from her body. “Thanks for the blood, but I’m sure you four need to get back to your homes.” She glanced around, and Leo used his vampire speed to stand at her side then grabbed her wrist. Not a chance in hell would he be letting her out of his fucking sight. When vampires found their destined mate and didn’t complete the bond, a deep depression took over them, only death or completing the bond breaks it.
Leo glanced around at the others quickly. Gavin would lose his connection to his wolf in three days if Piper didn’t mate with him. Cole would go on a rampage; the timeline was a little fuzzy, but that would be really bad for shifters everywhere. Then Travis would lose his connection to his bear, but Leo didn’t know if there was a time frame or not. This doom was probably since the witches who created all of them liked to fuck with their creations. Leo didn’t blame all witches, they weren’t the ones who did this shit, it was their great-great-great ancestors.
“I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say we aren’t letting you out of our sight.” Leo motioned to the shifters, and they all nodded once.
“But this place.” She flung her arms out toward the windows. “The sun will be coming up sooner or later and this has too many places for sun to get to you.” She motioned toward the walls again to make her point.
“I have an idea but you won’t like it.” Gavin pulled a pouch out of his front pocket but kept it out of sight from the witches at the door.
“Come over here.” Leo grabbed Piper’s hand and led her to another room. The trackers started yelling in panic and their heart rates picked up.
Piper reached for the little pouch Gavin had showed them a moment ago. “Is that a travel bag?” Piper hissed as soon as they stepped into another room with more windows. More ways for him to die if they were stuck here too long, but he could see it in Gavin’s gaze. The wolf-witch had a plan, and he was up for almost anything. Except separation from his newfound mate.
“It is.” Gavin rolled his shoulders then looked up at Leo.
He’d heard of the little travel bags witches used to jump from one spot to another, but Leo had never traveled this magical way before, and he very much doubted Cole and Travis had either.
“Cole, can you cover the windows with Travis?” Gavin placed the bag on the counter as the other two listened to him. “It can get us to the edge of town, maybe Crater Lake, but that could be pushing it.” Nervous tension rolling off the man in strong waves.
Leo thought about his cabin at Crater Lake, and he pulled out his phone, getting the map pulled up and his location of the cabin marked. “Like here? It’s on the west side, so closer than the lake itself.”
“Perfect. All right, Travis and Cole, your beasts are going to hate this. But deep breaths before traveling have been rumored to help.” Gavin glanced at the dragon and bear.
“What are we doing?” Cole asked as he inched closer to Piper. Travis did the same. The tension in the room grew stronger.
“Grab Piper and focus on breathing,” Gavin ordered, and Piper bit her lower lip as Cole grabbed her hand and Travis grabbed the other. “Since you know what your place looks like, I need to be by you.” Gavin clutched the bag and stood in front of Piper, grabbing her arm with his free hand.
Leo stepped in next to him, holding onto Piper’s free arm. Her heart rate picked. “You need to breathe as well,” Leo narrowed his eyes on her, and she nodded.
“Sorry.” She took a few deep breaths. “Having four guys this close…Well, you could say this is the stuff of fantasies and not real life.” She focused on Gavin. Heat rose to her cheeks, and he didn’t have be a mind reader to know exactly what she was thinking about.
“Now, picture a place we can all fit, not a bedroom or if you have a small kitchen. Living rooms work best.” Gavin eyed Leo. “Got it?”
“Yes.” Leo nodded. Gavin rubbed the bag against the blood lingering on Leo’s wrist from where he fed Piper. When he dropped it, white smoke rolled around them and a scream in the distance filtered away. There was a pull behind his navel, and a second later, they stood in the living room of his cabin. The couch pressed into his hip, but everyone else had plenty of room to move around.
“Perfect.” Gavin smiled, but no one released their grip on Piper. Heat filled her eyes as she looked around them.
“Uh, I…” She swallowed and glanced around at them. “I need food if possible. Maybe even sleep.” She pulled back and walked toward the kitchen. Cole, Travis, and Gavin all kept shaking out their bodies. “What’s wrong with you guys?”
“Our shifter sides don’t like traveling like that. Makes our animals go bat-shit crazy for at least ten minutes.” Gavin sighed.
“Ten fucking minutes,” Travis groaned, and Cole growled once more.
“Ten long as sin freaking minutes. I never want to do that again.” Cole clenched his fists at his side.
“You can shift if you need to,” Leo offered, pointing at the back door. Travis didn’t delay, shifting as soon as he stepped out of his jeans. A bear roared and pranced around the front door. Piper slid over to the front door eyeing the bear, completely fine with seeing a thick brown bear storming about. Then she slid back into the kitchen.
Gavin however stopped moving after two minutes. “Thanks for the offer. I’ve had some practice simmering my beast down.”
“If he’s not shifting, neither am I.” Cole glared at Gavin while folding his arms in front of his chest. His body pulsing raw energy like he might lose control at any fucking moment.
“And if you destroy this place, we will have to change locations.” Leo added in with a quick glare. Travis shifted and jogged back in. “Better?”
“Yeah, that was definitely an experience.” Travis stood naked in the living room. Piper strolled back from the kitchen and paused when she looked at Travis. Hints of jealousy rolled through Leo’s blood.
“Sleep. I need sleep first.” She turned and focused on Leo as her heart raced in her chest. “How many beds do you have?”
“I have two couches and three bedrooms.” Leo motioned toward the stairs.
Everyone settled into bed right before sunrise, and Leo made sure he was safe from the rising sun. Once he did, he checked on Piper in one of the three beds. She seemed peaceful, and soon each of them would need to mate with her to seal the growing bonds. As he stared at her, he thought about all the problems each would face if they didn’t mate with her. Sharing her wasn’t ideal, but he didn’t want to go into a severe depression for not claiming her, and he was sure the others didn’t want to deal with what would happen to them either.
But all that needed to wait; the sun was rising, and he needed to sleep. He took the room next to hers and fell into bed, hoping sleep would take him fast so he didn’t have to think or worry about his future mate.
CHAPTER 3
GAVIN
Two and a half days left. Gavin wanted to walk up the stairs and find Piper, but he stayed on the couch, staring at the smooth walls. There wasn’t much decor in this place for him to stare at, but he kept himself busy. After eight hours of sleep, he was restless and his wolf paced inside wanting out to find her.
“Damn it.” Piper groaned, and Gavin bolted upright, seeing her at the top of the stairs. The scent of magic filled the air and light filtered out of her palms. “Come on, this isn’t fair.” Tears fell down her face as her heart raced. Gavin couldn’t take it, he stormed to her side without his shirt or pants on. Only his boxer briefs clung to his hips.
“Breathe, Piper,” he ordered, and she turned to face him. A rush of air flowed toward him, knocking him back a few inches. He paused as the wind tried to keep him back. Then he reached out and grabbed her arm. With his magic, he tried to help settle hers down, and she gasped when she met his gaze.
“I’m so sorry.” More tears fell down her face.
“Why are your powers so crazy?” He cleared some of the tears away. The wind stopped and the magic faded to a simmer, like it was waiting for him to walk away so it could misbehave, so he grabbed her other arm and brought her close to his body. Having her close calmed his own beast down.
“I’m cursed.” Her lower lip trembled. “All because of my freaking mother.”
“Your mother?” He pulled her into a hug, wanting to settle her down.
“She made a deal with a dark witch. But that magic had a cost and now I…” Her voice trailed away. Something in her eyes spoke to a realization, and he didn’t understand. Did she know how to fix her magic?
“What?”
“Nothing, I don’t want to worry you any more than you already are.” She cried against him. He rubbed at her back as her magic settled down completely. Mate with her. His wolf pushed the idea into his head a few dozen times as they stood there.
“I don’t want to rush you into anything, but I need you to know I have about two and a half days to mate with you. If I don’t, I’ll lose my wolf side completely.”
“Right, we imprinted, didn’t we?” She met his gaze and finally managed to stop crying. “I’m a fucking mess. How could any of you want me? I mean you’re all sexy men with your own lives.”
“And I’m pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say we’d give it all up to keep you safe. Period.” He leaned in closer. When she didn’t back up, he kissed her. Warmth flooded his system and he felt at home.
“Am I interrupting something?” Cole’s voice filtered in, and Piper pulled back.
