Pursued: Silver Falls University 4, page 18
And it worked!
“What the—” Julian’s voice was cut off by my squeal of excitement as I slid across the finish line before him, meaning I finished in second place.
“I did it!” I smiled at Dakota, who looked elated at Julian’s grumbling. The totemic wolf tugged my jaw and pressed a soft kiss to my lips.
“You sure did,” he drew out before looking at Julian. “Dude, your skills are in need of a brush up—”
“Nope,” Julian interrupted him and came to sit up next to me. “That’s it, Effie. We’re doing this for real now.”
“Before wasn’t for real?” I asked, alarmed.
“Oh, it was.” Dakota chuckled. “He’s just being bitter about it.”
I examined Julian’s face for signs of him being actually upset, but I just saw determination and a glint of amusement, which had me feeling more excited than anything. “Let’s do it then. Is it another three races?”
“Yep.”
I was going to win. I was totally going to win.
Caedmon Moroz
Effie’s giggling and squeaks of excitement instantly drew my attention from the game Ryder and I were playing. I looked down at the checkers board before meeting his gaze, except it was already over by Effie, which made the decision to get up easy. I crossed from the breakfast nook in the kitchen over towards the sizable two-story den.
I wasn’t positive how long they’d been in here, having been focused on our game, but Tore had now woken up and even lit a fire, the firelight warming the room and creating a cozy atmosphere. Effie was standing up, nearly bouncing on her toes while using a little wheel to control the car on the screen, Julian cursing up a storm as he tried to beat her little car to the finish line. Dakota offered me an amused look as Tore shook his head, completely transfixed by Effie.
I couldn’t blame him—her laughter and lighthearted nature were completely infectious.
“What’s this?” I asked when Effie crossed the finish line, jumping up on the couch and letting out an excited squeal. I didn’t smile often, but I couldn’t help but smile at her reaction, wanting to kiss her hard enough that she got that dreamy look in her eyes.
“I think it’s Mario Kart?” Ryder hazarded a guess, and Tore nodded. I stood behind the couch as Effie handed the controller to Dakota, nearly bouncing over the back as she threw herself into my arms and kissed me enthusiastically, excitement radiating off of her.
My cock was instantly hard, and I groaned against her lips. She pulled back and kissed me again, offering me a massive smile. “I won! I won a game, Caedmon—I never win games! I never even play games.”
Holy fuck she was adorable.
I chuckled softly, her eyes widening at the sound before she kissed me a third time, cutting it off momentarily. As she slid down and turned to watch the race, I couldn’t help but run my fingers over her hips and bury my nose in her hair, loving her sweet smell.
I rarely laughed, and I almost never smiled this much, but I couldn’t think of a time when I’d been happier, and it had everything to do with my mate.
My angel.
My angel, who was surprisingly good at racing games. Over the course of the next hour or two, I had even given the game a try when the others went to make a late snack, and—unsurprisingly—she’d kicked my ass. Although she had sat on my lap the entire time, so who was the real winner?
I hadn’t even realized how long we’d been playing until she won the last round and collapsed happily against me, her smile causing me to stare like the obsessed bastard I was. “Alright, no more. My fingers are cramping up! We need to bring this with us, though—everywhere.”
I would get her whatever the hell she wanted if it made her this happy.
“That we can do,” I assured her, tossing my controller down before lifting and carrying her towards the kitchen, taking a moment to appreciate how casually I was able to touch her now. How comfortable she was with me—how much she trusted me.
I wasn’t positive what the others had decided to make with the limited food we’d ordered from the store, but it smelled amazing. Effie looked around the kitchen with interest, making me wonder if she liked cooking. I bet she’d never had the opportunity to do it without someone breathing over her shoulder.
“Do you like cooking?” I asked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
“I don’t know,” she answered, a small smile playing on her lips before a shadow of sadness crept in. “Theresa always told me my food was horrible, so I never got a chance to practice. She’d always interrupt me halfway through before Gerald got home.”
I blinked, trying to control my anger, before asking, “Did she serve the food to him?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Sometimes me but usually her, after she ‘fixed’ it or whatever. Never seemed much different to me, but I didn’t always get to eat it.”
I examined her face before suggesting something to put it in a different light. “I don’t think your cooking was bad at all. In fact, I think Theresa wanted to take credit for it. So she would take over once the hard part was done.”
Effie stared at me in shock. Her mouth dropped open, her plush lips parting enough for me to get distracted, before she let out an actual huff. “You’re right. You’re totally right, Caedmon. There was this one time when I spent hours breading chicken—like so many chicken breasts—because I knew people were coming over, and once I was halfway done cooking them, she came in and told me I was messing it up…and then I watched her do exactly what I’d been doing for only like twenty minutes before they were freakin’ done.”
I nodded, hoping the news wouldn’t hurt her more than Theresa’s words had. My intent had been to make her feel better, but now I was second-guessing it.
Effie huffed again, giving me a tight smile. “Well, that means I didn’t suck at cooking, so I’ll have to try again. This time she won’t be there to take the freakin’ credit.”
“If you’re ever interested,” I said, squeezing her hip gently, “I know a chef who’s based out of Chicago, although his roots in cooking tie back to South America, that likes taking on beginner chefs. I know you probably don’t have a serious interest in cooking, but you could do one or two classes just for fun. I’m sure he’d be thrilled to come to us, wherever we end up.”
“That sounds amazing.” She smiled softly, her eyes sparkling with interest.
It did sound amazing, and I was going to do anything, pay any amount of money, to keep her saying that to me.
“Dinner’s ready. Probably will be hot, so be careful,” Julian called out in warning to Ryder and Dakota. They were talking about something in the den now, looking over a school pamphlet. I knew Dakota had been doing research on London-based schools since the other day, so I had a feeling it was something about that.
As we sat down to eat, I looked over everyone’s relaxed faces, and while I knew that life was about to get more complicated, I couldn’t help but enjoy the security and peace of the moment. My life had never held this type of normalcy before.
I should’ve known it wouldn’t last.
Lifting a bite of lasagna to my lips, a sense of premonition had me looking around. The security sensors were quiet, but I absolutely knew something was wrong.
“Effie, come here.” I told her to stand as everyone else went quiet, clearly sensing—
The windows shattered inward, tiny shards exploding through the room. Wind slammed through them, and a sonic wave of magic crashed over us all at once. It was a pure chaos that knocked us unconscious, the darkness dragging us under without a chance to escape.
The last thing I heard was Effie crying out my name as she curled against my chest, sheltering her face from the glass. Someone was going to fucking pay for taking away her happiness.
20
EFFIE HARLOW
“Effie! Come play with us!” A smile flitted to my lips as I looked up from the book I was reading and saw that my friends were done with their tutor work early, already playing in the castle courtyard. Sitting up straighter, my gaze moved to my own tutor, who was currently talking to my dad, their brows furrowed in some serious debate.
They would often talk like this for hours.
Deciding to take the risk, I slipped from my chair and left my book open as if I was taking a small break rather than leaving completely. I had made it all the way to the stairs of the open-air pavilion when my dad caught me.
“Little moon, where are you going?”
My friends scattered, and I scowled at their betrayal, but I quickly wiped it from my face, turning and offering my father a large smile. “Me? I was just taking a break.”
My dad’s gaze lit up with humor as my tutor shook his head, looking amused as well. My dad sighed. “Go play. You have one hour.”
I squeaked in excitement, tossing out a ‘thank you’ before running into the courtyard. My best friend peeked out from behind a corner.
“I was so worried he wasn’t going to let you play!” she exclaimed happily. The other girls came back as well, all of them shooting my dad concerned looks as if worried he would change his mind.
“I have an hour to play,” I told them, and they immediately relaxed.
With the exception of my best friend, whose father was one of my dad’s guards, all of the girls seemed scared of my parents, specifically my dad. Then again, I couldn’t totally blame them…
Being king did tend to intimidate people.
The memory faded easily as consciousness replaced it. I was momentarily relieved by the change, the dream having confused me, but I quickly found myself wishing I could pass back out. Pain slammed into me and echoed through my head like a stone being tossed down an empty hallway, the sensation churning my stomach.
Gritting my teeth, I curled further in on myself, the ground around me seeming to rumble as loud voices shouted in panic. They were voices I should have found familiar, but because of the haze of pain coating my senses, it was hard to recognize that. Instead I focused on taking stock of my body.
My skin felt numb to the touch, frozen, except for a sharp, stinging pain that broke through on my wrists and ankles. The scent of fresh water and cold wind hit my nose, and the sound of shattering glass echoed in my ears. The sensation of cold rock under my fingers paired with the coppery taste of blood in my mouth made me dizzy. I needed to open my eyes, because this unrelenting onslaught of sensations was overwhelming while feeling essentially blind.
“She’s waking up,” a masculine voice said, demanding my attention. I tried to force my eyes open, feeling like they were glued together, the sensation of sand beneath my eyelids making me whimper.
“Effie, I need you to wake up.” The second voice held an air of command that had my eyes snapping open. It wasn’t forced by magic, but something told me it could be if needed, which meant…Julian. That was Julian, and Ryder’s voice had been the first.
But when I opened my eyes and cold air hit them, a pained noise left my throat. Something had clearly gotten into them because my vision, while slowly clearing, was extremely blurry. It was disorienting, and my wolf was working overtime, trying to pull together a picture of the room based on our other senses.
Considering the wind howling in my ears, it wasn’t working very well.
Where were we? What had happened? I couldn’t remember, and the more I tried to force the memory to the surface, the sicker I felt.
“Her eyes are all fucked up because of the toxic magic they used,” Dakota growled, his voice filled with unparalleled fury. My mates were all around me, I could feel all five of our bonds, and with that realization I fully focused on that connection, using it to ground me as I sorted through their intense emotions.
They were livid, more angry than I’d ever experienced, and while I knew it wasn’t at me, all their attention was currently focused on me.
Dakota’s words fully processed, and I realized I’d been right—I did have something in my eyes. Were my mates then experiencing the same level of pain since we’d all been hit with the toxic magic he mentioned? My wolf began to pace anxiously inside of me, and my fingers trembled. What type of situation had we gotten ourselves into? How? When? I had a million questions, and panic was building in my throat, making me feel suffocated.
“Lil bit, can you look at us?” Tore’s voice grounded me, and I searched for him, but all I could see were…waves? My neck was so tight and my body was frozen as if I were a statue, unable to move or turn. I stared down at the waves that hit the entrance of the space we were in, covering the ground around me with icy water before slipping back into the massive body of water below us. My skin felt both numb and in excruciating pain, and icicles had formed on my clothing, the details of them becoming startlingly clear as my vision finally sharpened.
“I’m trying,” I said, my voice sounding horrible, like I’d screamed for hours. “My vision is all messed up, but it’s finally clearing a little.”
“I have no idea how he got access to magic like that—damn near poison gas,” Dakota snarled. He sounded closer than the others. In fact, I had heard from all of my mates except Caedmon. Was he here?
Dakota’s words began to click in my head as I put together what had happened. Toxic magic like poison gas? Images of glass windows shattering inward as purple smoke filled the room began to leak into my head. Everything had gone dark after that, taking away the happiness of our relaxing night and replacing it with…whatever all this was. Someone had taken us…somewhere. That was all I’d been able to put together so far.
“Hastain. It was fucking Hastain.” Caedmon’s voice was filled with an eerie amount of calm that was all wrong. I needed to see him. I needed to see what was causing him to speak like that. Trying to move again, I hissed, the metal cuffs around my wrists making themselves known. They were locked in front of me with a metal chain that was bound to the floor. My back was pressed against something hard and cold, the waves crashing against my left side causing that part of my body to feel frozen in place. Oddly, despite having been sleeping, I wasn’t lying down—rather my feet were locked in front of me, and my body slumped in an awkward position that was causing the pain in my neck.
The need to see my mates superseded that though, driving me to turn my neck anyway. I whimpered, taking in a scene that could have been plucked from my nightmares.
The huler.
The cave walls were dark and stained with old, dried blood, and the edges of the mouth that faced the lake were edged in deadly looking icicles. Oddly, neither of those was the worst part. No, the most nightmarish part was that my mates, who were spread throughout the space, were all tied up like me. Trapped. Imprisoned.
Directly across from me was Ryder, he and I having been placed closest to the edge of the cave, both of us getting the brunt of the waves. His magic tried to spark to life as he stared at me with dark, burning eyes that conveyed his worry better than he could have ever expressed verbally. My brow dipped as I studied his cuffs and realized that his magic seemed to be fighting against them, their dark blue metal a type I’d never seen before. Had Hastain put him in those to stop his magic? Did he know Ryder had the ability to fight against this type of cold?
I looked down at my own cuffs and then to Dakota’s. Our cuffs looked normal in comparison, Dakota’s expression dark and dangerous as he studied my wrists, which were bleeding actively from pulling against the metal. My magic, despite being drained and confused, wasn’t repressed like Ryder’s—although his cuffs were causing our connection to feel nearly cut off, which had my magic feeling almost manic and panicked.
It didn’t appear that any of my other mates around the huler had been forced into special cuffs like Ryder, but magic metal or not, they were clearly strong—enough so that my men couldn’t physically break out from them.
My gaze moved to Caedmon, who was next to Ryder, his dark, expressionless gaze on me. Something truly terrifying flashed across his face, something that should have had me flinching back…but I wasn’t scared of Caedmon. I knew he would never hurt me. I was, however, worried about the others, especially if he shifted.
Finally, I looked towards Tore and Julian against the back wall on either side of the door out of here.
This was bad. This was really bad.
“Hastain?” I asked, trying to focus on the explanation for all of this. My body was trembling in its restraints, wanting to move but unable to. Tore let out a low rumble, panic infusing his gaze at my struggle. Julian was oddly quiet, but I could tell that his magic was surging under his skin, ready to lash out at any moment.
My biggest concern, though?
How long had we been in here? It appeared my mates were nearly as frozen as myself, and while I could tell it was nighttime, I couldn’t tell how late into the night. My gaze darted to the sky. The beautiful stars shone brightly, no clouds in sight, but a frigid wind carried the winter air into the caves along with the waves. One thing I did realize was that this huler was lower than the other one had been. Or maybe the waves were higher…either way, they were easily crashing in again and again.
“He used magic to attack, but it was a magic like I’ve never seen before. It was more akin to poison gas. We all started waking up only a few minutes ago,” Ryder explained, his expression tight as if striving for control. I didn’t think he needed it, especially not now. I craved for his magic to lash out, for it to fill the space in an explosion of heat that would melt all of the cold away and fill our connection with the vibrant strength it normally held.
“Bastard was waiting,” Julian bit out. “I should’ve known that he was waiting—it was way too easy to get back on campus.”
