The Hunted, page 21
There just had to be more. Some missing piece as to why Aradia’s shadow grew so strong so quickly. And that missing piece would help us restore all that had been taken.
“Áine,” Alejandro said.
“Yes?”
“Thank you.” His voice was raw, his energy shifting into mournful blues tinged with bright, celestial light. “It’s hard for me to have faith after everything that’s happened. So much of our spirituality speaks of order, balance, and purpose. That things happen for a reason, and we are being guided by the Great Goddess, always. After they conquered my people, I had a hard time believing in any of it anymore. I couldn’t channel or use my gift for a very long time. Worse than losing faith in a loving Universe, was losing faith in my fellow witches. Seeing what the Goddess has given you has reminded me of what it means to still have hope amidst darkness, and faith in a path I cannot see.”
Tears pricked my eyes. “I have decided not to smite you,” I said, barely above a whisper. “Because that was actually very sweet. I’m not sure I’m the one that deserves to be thanked, but I guess we can call it even. Thank you for rescuing Daelon and me and for saving our lives.”
I leaned into Daelon, the warmth from the pool and his body and Ali’s words encasing me in so much gratitude and comfort that I nearly made it rain starlight again.
“Áine?” Alejandro asked.
I peered over at him and his dimpled, impish smirk. I immediately narrowed my gaze.
“What?”
“I’m sorry for drenching your panties.”
“You are very close to getting put in time-out,” Skye said.
Daelon’s hand slid to my upper thigh.
“And also for frustrating you with my charm and attractiveness, since you have pledged yourself to a life of vanilla monogamy,” he said, his eyes smoldering.
“Oh, good Goddess,” Mer groaned. “If you continue to hit on our friends, we will no longer have any.”
“But what about the times it’s worked?” He exchanged a glance with Mer, and she shot daggers with her eyes.
“I’m offended that you assumed we are vanilla,” I shot back, and Daelon literally bit my neck. It was just a nip, a soft scrape of teeth, and everything about me went on full alert. He activated a part of me that I wasn’t used to feeling in front of others. It must’ve only looked like a kiss to everyone else, but I knew exactly what it was.
Daelon reminding me he owned me.
“Now I am very intrigued,” Ali said.
“Who spanks whom?” Skye asked.
“Great, now I’ve lost control of both of them. Sorry guys,” Mer said to us, biting down on a smile.
Daelon’s hand was so high on my thigh now that I could hardly think. Though they couldn’t see it underneath the water, it still felt like I was exposed. Like he was marking his territory and didn’t care who witnessed it. In fact, I think maybe he wanted his claiming to be noticed. A raw charge of power left him, and I channeled from his arm on impulse.
That is not a good idea, Daelon said, his voice low and sultry inside my mind. The head high was immediate, stronger than ever before. If anyone says one more sexual thing about you, I’m not sure I’ll be able to resist…
Resist what?
“Oh shit, what time is it?” Mer asked. “Ruth is holding ritual tonight. I’m sure you two would be welcome to observe,” she offered.
“We have plans,” Daelon said, and my breath caught in my throat at the tone in his voice.
“Uh-huh,” Alejandro said slowly. He pouted. “I guess we have to go.”
His voice was so disappointed that it made me giggle, and Daelon’s fingers dug into the curve of my hip.
“Breakfast tomorrow?” Mer asked. “We can eat in the dining hall and give you a chance to meet more people,” she offered.
“That sounds great,” I forced out, my head spinning. I was already drunk with desire. Daelon was right. Channeling from him was a reckless decision. It was a miracle they were leaving, because I was clenching my fists so tight my fingernails cut into skin to prevent myself from tackling him.
“Not in our public, sacred hot springs, you two,” Alejandro said with a pointed finger before pushing off the wall and swimming away.
“Says you!” I called out after him.
“That wasn’t what it looked like!” he called back.
As soon as they were gone, I turned to straddle Daelon. My lips brushed over his neck, lightly sucking.
“Don’t do that,” he groaned.
I lifted up, and he closed his hand around my throat.
“We need to get out of here. Now.”
We didn’t even bother getting dressed before the jump. We just clumsily grabbed our clothes and then each other and stumbled into Prairie’s house. Daelon caught himself on the bedroom wall, unable to catch me before I landed on my hands and knees.
He pushed off from the wall, and I started to stand before he stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.
“You can stay on your knees,” he said, the corners of his lips turning up. He stepped toward me, brushing my hair behind my ears before tilting my chin up. “You knew what all of your challenging and flirting would do to me. You knew how out of control I’ve been. And you did it anyway.”
Conflicting emotions bloomed in my stomach, like fear and lust and doubt were tangling up with each other. Drunk off his side of the soul bond and my own desire, I was immediately thrust into the headspace of submission. Which meant the tone of displeasure in his voice was like a stab to my heart, and yet, I also knew our game was more complex than that. Because Daelon loved when I fought against his dominance. He wanted me to challenge him, so he could prove just how his I was.
“Yes,” I answered, and when I smiled his eyes flashed danger. I sat perfectly still, alert to his every movement, his every indication of emotion behind his immovable, cool shield.
He gave me nothing. Nothing at all except for a flicker of intensity in his eyes and his very obvious arousal.
I sat up on my knees and reached for him, my hand wrapping around his length. He tensed, and it stirred up all of my longing, all of my desperation for him to take control.
“Please me while I decide what to do with you,” he commanded, his voice infecting my body as if by enchantment.
My hand slid to the base as I leaned forward, teasing him with my mouth and my tongue. He brushed through my hair gently before grasping the back of my head. My hand moved in tandem with my mouth now, tentatively bringing more of him in.
“You can take more than that, baby,” Daelon purred. His voice was so soothing, so coaxing, that I allowed him to push further, gently thrusting his hips to meet me. He cursed, and his shield broke in an instant, showing all of his cards.
Revealing just how much he wanted to lose control with me, to give into everything he’d been fighting and holding back. I fed off of his energy as I took all that he gave, letting him use me and take from me as he saw fit.
When a throaty moan escaped his lips, I felt his pleasure as if it were my own. “That’s it. Such a good girl,” he praised, and it felt like I was fulfilling my purpose.
His thin threads of control continued to weaken and break, and soon he was being rougher with me. He was still careful not to push my limits, reading my body language as he thrust and tangled his fingers in my hair.
“Hands at your side, Áine,” he said, and this time his voice was rougher, juxtaposed with the soothing caress of his praise.
I hesitantly did as I was told, which earned me a soft, reassuring brush of fingers down the side of my face with his free hand.
He tested me as his energy engulfed us in a familiar scorching fire, and I read the tinges of jealousy and possession. He shared more with me, images of Ali and me flirting, Ali’s hands on my bare skin as he threw me into the pool. And he continued coaxing me to take more of him as he did.
The message was clear.
“He can flirt with you and long for you all he wants, but you belong to me,” Daelon ground out, his voice low and raspy. “In fact, I love to see just how much others want you, knowing that I’m the only one who has the privilege of using you, watching you beg, making you come, and fucking you in every way I desire.” He tested my limits, and I struggled for air.
Forever, he added in my mind, and it thrilled me to know he could no longer speak. He tensed, and I knew he was close, knew that I had brought him to the edge so easily.
He pulled back, swiftly lifting me into his arms while my legs wrapped around him. When we were on the bed he leaned down and kissed my forehead and then my lips.
I reached for his forearm and he twisted so that his palm was around my own. When he looked at me now the primal desire had transformed into something far more serious, something sacred and devotional. I allowed him to pull from me as I did from him, and we were careful not to take too much from each other—I because he didn’t have as much to give, and he because I was apparently more addictive than all the elixir in the world.
His energy was so rich, so Daelon, like fresh autumn air and an overcast sea breeze, everything strong and sturdy, and I could even sense the glimmer of hope and faith that ate away at the dark abyss of shame. It was all told through a story of feeling, frequency, color, and taste as I pulled his essence into me. Like before, the act of energy sharing allowed me to pretend the connection bound us both ways. That forever was more than just a word, but rather a spell born of our love and dedication to a shared future.
I brushed my other hand through his dark hair, its slight wave a touch more grown out since we left the castle. He kissed my hand and removed his grip from my arm, breaking the high of our mutual give and take.
The hardness of his features melted. “You are the most radiant thing in this world. And that is why I have always strived to protect you from anything that could dim even a drop of your light.”
“And your soul is beautiful and worthy. There is nothing inside you deserving of the shame you carry,” I said.
I could tell he was battling the urge to hide from my words, to board himself back up. And I was so proud of him when he didn’t, when he found my eyes again and bent to kiss me, short and sweet.
He cupped the side of my face, his brown irises flickering through varying emotions. When I shifted beneath him, they landed back on desire. Our lips locked, consuming each other just as we had before, like we would never be able to get enough.
That was how the rest of our night was spent. Consuming, engulfing, and devouring, Daelon giving just as much pleasure as I’d given him, juxtaposing the rough with the gentle, the harsh with the sweet, the sinful with the divine. And as time went on, I realized that I couldn’t breathe in enough of him to prevent the feeling of scarcity, couldn’t lose myself enough to forget Lucius’s insinuations, and I couldn’t submit deep enough to rip myself open and infuse the other side of the bond into my flesh and soul.
Chapter 20
In the middle of the night, I finally let myself cry. I shed my chosen-one, Goddess-blessed skin, and I became the twenty-two-year-old witch who’d already lost too much. The witch who was being stalked by a psychopath, who had too many fates tied to her ineffable power, who couldn’t reciprocate her partner’s soul bond.
The ocean of power roared and flexed, and rain poured from the sky. A low roar of thunder and my growing tremors woke Daelon. Or maybe it was my pain rippling through my energy and into his own aura.
That thought only made me shake harder. He gently tugged me to turn and face him, his face contorted with worry.
“Please talk to me,” he begged. “I know you haven’t been letting me completely in lately.”
I blinked through tears, a flash of Lucius turning the pool of starlight into inky black rising to the forefront of my mind.
I told you I’ve marked you, and it is only a matter of time before I will claim what is mine.
“Áine, please,” Daelon said.
The rain battered against our windows, strong winds creaking and whistling against the house’s foundation. It reminded me of our time back at the cabin, when my emotions were constantly this volatile, and my magickal outbursts were frequent before Daelon coached me back down to earth. When he first showed me that he could be my anchor in a sea full of shadows.
I took in a shaky breath. “I want to feel what you feel,” I said. “I want it so badly that the disconnection only widens.”
“It’s not like that, little witch,” he said softly. “It’s not something you can gain with effort. It might make me feel out of control and possessive over you, but at the bond’s core, underneath my ego expression, is just peace. There is no striving or need. Only calm, only wholeness that can never be broken apart. Just how it feels to be a part of a coven, but more concentrated.” He brushed away a few of my tears with his thumb.
“It’s not you,” he continued. “I didn’t want to say it before, because even thinking it was enough to send me to a dark place that I’d rather not live inside.”
I knew what he was going to say, and everything inside me tensed.
“I think it’s Lucius’s doing. I think it’s some kind of curse, because he thinks you—” he faltered, and the rage he’d avoided rose to the surface of his eyes. “He thinks that you belong to him. He believes your power is tied to his, and his to yours, and that you cannot exist without each other.”
My shudders stopped as I listened to Daelon’s voice, and I had the sudden realization that Lucius must’ve said all manner of things to Daelon when he still thought that they were allies. All manner of things about me that Daelon had to just listen to and laugh off. The amount of self-control and restraint Daelon held genuinely humbled me.
“He’s so used to getting everything he wants,” he hissed. “He fashioned the entire realm exactly how he envisioned it. He thinks he is the god of our reality, and he’s so powerful that what he says and believes ends up infecting the outside world.”
“I know,” I blurted, unable to keep the secret inside any longer. Daelon didn’t deserve my dishonesty, not after all he’d endured and sacrificed to keep me safe.
He searched my eyes, his jaw flexing.
“I accidentally summoned him in my astral projection. I was stressed out about the soul bond, and he all but confirmed that he was the reason for the perversion. And then when we were training, he somehow knew that I was battling. He misinterpreted my surge of fear and adrenaline, and he reached out to me,” I said, the tears welling up again at the look on Daelon’s face.
“I knew you were hiding something,” he said, and it broke me.
I felt just as I had when Lucius and I were arguing while Daelon was chained to the dungeon cave wall, like I was betraying him, causing all of this somehow.
Low thunder rumbled, and soon after came a deafening crack of lightning. I needed to stop before I scared children again, or even worse, caused some kind of physical damage.
Daelon reached for my shoulder, and it only made me feel guiltier when he abandoned all of his hurt and anger to help me, to put his sole focus into soothing me with the neutralizing shield of his energy.
Because that was the man he was.
I leaned into his frequency, letting him settle the tall waves of my power into something more manageable.
This is what happens when you bottle up emotions. It’ll all come out in ways you didn’t intend, I heard from the great beyond. I thought it might’ve been Hecate’s distinctive brand of wisdom.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right when it happened,” I whispered. “I just knew you were already struggling with the bond being disrupted, and I didn’t want to burden you. I also didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to say it aloud and make it real.”
“What is it exactly?” he ground out, fighting through his own volatility now. “You don’t feel a bond… with him, do you?”
“No,” I said, perhaps a tad louder than I intended. “Of course not. He’s just angry he lost this round, and he’s lashing out in ways he knows will hurt us the most. It’s all delusional nonsense and some kind of hex. A hex we will break.”
Daelon searched my eyes again, and I wondered what he saw there nestled between shades of green. “He was talking to you. While you were standing right next to me,” he said, his eyes growing distant as if remembering the exact moment in time.
I reached for his hand, but it was rigid, offering me nothing.
“You just carried on like it didn’t happen,” he said.
My lips trembled. “I don’t know what else to say. I don’t want any of this to be happening. I don’t want to be connected to him. I don’t even want to go to war with him, not when it means so many witches will be caught in the crosshairs. I just want to live with you in our house by the ocean, where we can restore our land and build a life together.”
Daelon wasn’t moved by the imagery like he usually was, and his hardened, hurt features were beginning to make me feel desperate.
“We don’t live in that world,” he said, and his words were a weapon designed specifically for me. “We live in his.”
I flinched as if he’d actually wounded me. I pulled back my hand. We’d been angry at each other before, but this time felt different.
This time he wasn’t comforting me, telling me that my guilt was misplaced and that my worries were groundless. He wasn’t saying anything at all.
My tears dried up as my defensiveness set in. I didn’t deserve to be treated this way. I shouldn’t have hidden what had happened, but we were in public, and it would’ve ruined all the beautiful moments that followed with Ali, Mer, and Skye. Lucius had spoken to me mere hours ago, not days or weeks. The astral projection was a few days ago, I supposed, but it was also right after Daelon found out about the severance of our bond. And the creepy things Lucius said about claiming me were humiliating. I didn’t want to repeat them just as much as Daelon didn’t want to hear them, even if he acted like he did.
