Witch Untold by Debbie Cassidy

Chapter Twenty-Two

It was almost four in the morning by the time I made it back to Grimswood sans Elijah. He’d opted to stay in Necro, claiming he had some business to attend to. I knew better than to waste my energy pressing him about it.

As much as I wanted to go straight to the cabin, the vial containing Sloane’s infected blood needed to be delivered to Anna. She wasn’t in her office, which wasn’t surprising considering the hour, and it hit me that I had no clue where the elder witch’s rooms were. The vial was too important to leave lying about. I’d have to leave it with The Elites. I could fill them in on Sloane’s condition too, put their minds at rest, and then I’d get back to my guys.

I knocked lightly, feeling awful for waking them at this time, but Jessie opened the door almost immediately. She was still fully dressed in her battle gear.

“It’s Cora,” she called over her shoulder.

She stepped aside to let me in. Shadows clung to the corners of the room, hugging the corona of light thrown by the freestanding lamp illuminating a cluster of sofas.

Poppy sat on the larger sofa, legs tucked to the side, mug clutched in her hand. She sat up straighter as I entered, her eyes asking me a question.

“Sloane’s alive.”

She exhaled sharply on a soft sob. “Oh, God. Oh, thank God.”

“She’s not out of the woods yet, but it looks like they’ll be able to help her.” I filled them in on what Mel and Micah had told me. “We just need to wait now. They’re doing all they can.” I looked from Poppy to Jessie. “I believe she’s going to be okay.”

I might be a realist, but I also believed in visualization, and right now I was visualizing Sloane back here with us, seated in her favorite spot on the sofa, fluffy-sock-covered feet propped up on the table.

She would be okay.

She’d be back.

A pang lanced through my chest. “She’ll be fine.”

“If she isn’t, then we’re fucked,” Jessie said. “There’s no way we can kill revenants without her.”

“Jess!” Poppy stared at her in horror. “Is that all you care about?”

Jessie’s dark eyes flashed with rage. “That’s our fucking purpose, Pops. It’s what we do, and we can’t do it without her. There are no more witches who can do the negation. If she dies, then the revenants are home free.”

“If she dies, then we lose our best friend,” Poppy snapped back. “That’s what we should be worrying about.” Her chest heaved with indignant rage.

“Yeah? And thinking like that gets us nowhere and nothing but pain.” Jess stood abruptly and stalked from the lounge, slamming the door to her room behind her.

Poppy slumped back in her seat, clutching at her bubble-gum hair with her fists. “Argh! She drives me insane.” She sat forward and covered her face with her hands. “I get it.” Her voice was muffled. “We all loved Brie, and fuck, it hurt to lose her, still hurts, but we can’t just stop caring about each other. We’re more than The Elites, we’re friends…we’re a family.”

I crouched in front of her and gently grasped her wrists, urging her to uncover her face.

She peered at me with teary eyes. “I can’t lose Sloane too, Cora. Brie, then Danny, and now Sloane. I can’t.”

“We won’t.” There was conviction in my tone that gave me confidence. “The Magiguard will find a way to save her. They have to find a way because Razor Smile is out there, and the possibility of more ice walkers is real. We need this drug, and they know it. It’s in their best interests to save her.”

I handed her the vial. “This is the blood Anna asked for to help track Razor Mouth. I couldn’t find her to give it to her.”

Poppy took it and clutched it in her fist. “Leave it with me. I’ll make sure she gets it. There is no way that fucker is getting away.”

“Let me know how I can help with the search.”

“No. You need to rest. You’ve already risked enough. You’re the anchor, and it’s time to be the anchor and stay safe.” She smiled wryly. “We’ll be headed into danger soon enough once Sloane is better. The glamour bracelets came in from the silent sisters. We have a raid to run on The Order. Humans to save, remember?”

Fuck, of course we did. We’d miss the Friday date we’d planned on raiding, but I doubted that would matter when we descended on The Order club as a group of adrenaline junkies perfect for revenants to feed off.

“Go get some rest,” Poppy said. “You’re gonna need it.”

* * *

The sun was comingup as I made my way through the corridors toward the main staircase. The thought of bed and sleep filled my head. Were the guys okay? And Jasper… I needed to see Jasper, but sleep needed to come first.

“Wait!”

I spun to find a ghostly figure behind me.

“Meredith?”

“Quickly, before it’s too late. I must tell you. I must—”

“Meredith?” Dorothy materialized behind her. “What are you doing here?”

Meredith’s expression smoothed out as she turned to face the other ghost. “Wandering. It is what we do, is it not?”

Dorothy pressed her lips together. “Not on game night. The others are waiting.” Her gaze flicked my way. “Oh, Cora. I didn’t see you there.” She drifted closer, her expression morphing to one of concern. “I heard about Wren. Is he all right?”

“Wren will be fine.” I looked over her shoulder at Meredith, who shook her head ever so slightly.

A prickle ran up my spine.

“Oh, thank goodness.” Dorothy pressed her hand to her chest. “We were all so worried.”

“The Magiguard are taking care of him, but he should be home later today.”

Dorothy smiled. “Will you bring him to see me? Please.”

“Of course.” I couldn’t help but glance at Meredith again, but the space where she’d hovered a moment ago was empty.

Meredith was gone.

* * *

The cabin wassilent as I crept up the stairs to my room. The place smelled clean, like furniture polish and bleach. Leif had a tendency to clean when he was stressed out. The doors to their rooms were closed. I hovered outside Tor’s, tempted to knock, but that would be mean. He struggled to sleep as it was. Instead, I made a beeline for my own room.

The door was ajar, and the sound of deep, even breaths drifted out to meet me as I pushed it open and peered inside.

Tor and Leif lay on my bed, naked except for boxers. Tor on his back, one arm thrown over his face, Leif on his front, face turned away from me. Rune was stretched out at the foot of the bed, wolfy face resting on his paws.

They’d left a space between them for me, and I ached to join them, but there’d be no sleep for me until I spoke to Jasper and made sure he was okay. I’d died and then come back to life in his arms, but with all the other shit going on, there’d been no time for us to absorb this, to talk about it and reconnect.

Sleep would have to wait for a moment longer. I stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. “Jasper? Jasper, are you there?”

The skin at my nape pricked in warning, and then his hands smoothed down my arms to grasp my hands, chest pressing to my back.

I leaned into him, and he wrapped our arms around me. “How’s Sloane?”

“They’re taking care of her.”

“And you? How are you?”

I closed my eyes. “Tired. But I wanted to see you, to speak to you.”

“I want to speak to you too.”

Something in his tone had me turning to face him, because I needed to see his expression. I needed to look into his eyes to decipher what I was hearing.

Darkness looked back at me. “Jasper, what is it?”

He cupped my face. “I think I understand now.” He stroked my cheeks with his thumbs. “I think I understand what love is.”

The pulse in my throat fluttered. “You do?”

“I’ve always thought of myself as invulnerable to pain,” he said softly. “But when I thought you were dead, I experienced agony for the first time. Burning, searing, and destructive. In that moment, a part of me was ready to die.” He brushed his lips across my forehead. “So tell me…is love tumultuous, messy, and destructive. Is it need, passion, and want?”

“Yes, Jasper.” I pushed the words past the lump in my throat. “Yes, it can be all those things.”

His eyes flinched and then his mouth parted on a sigh. “In that case, love is a beautiful storm, and right now, here with you, I’m standing in the eye of that storm.” His hand slid down to my throat in a familiar claiming that made my pulse race. “I love you, Cora. I think I’ve loved you for a long time.”

A wave of emotion drew a sob up my throat because the candlelit dinners, the retreat in the mountains, the jealousy, the heat, all the tiny little things I’d ignored made sense now. While I’d been ignoring my feelings for him, he’d been unaware of his.

We’d wasted so much time.

But no more. I pushed up on tiptoes and kissed his lips, not demanding, not claiming, but tentative and questing. He cupped the back of my head and deepened the kiss, in the way only he knew how.

I gripped the back of his neck, pushing him against the wall and molding myself to him, as if the connection of our bodies would somehow communicate the emotions words failed to do.

But he broke the kiss, anger flashing in his eyes. “Not now, for fucksake.”

“What?”

He blinked at me, as if struggling to see me. “Cora. Cora, I have to—”

Then he was gone.

“Shit. Fucking shit.”

* * *

I tiptoed into my bedroom,stripped off, and carefully climbed onto the bed. Jasper would be back, and we’d figure out this vanishing thing. I’d speak to Conah about it. There had to be a way to fix it.

Tor moaned softly in his sleep and Rune made a rumbling sound in his chest, but none of them woke as I settled between them. The heat of their bodies was a blanket settling over me, soothing away the foreboding that scratched at my chest with needle-like nails. My muscles unknotted, body relaxing and growing heavy.

Tor rolled onto his side and slung an arm over my waist, nuzzling my ear. “Mmmm.”

Leif mumbled and rolled toward me too, hand sliding onto my thigh.

I looked down the bed to see Rune watching me with golden eyes.

Do you want to watch the sea with me, Cora?

Yes.

He dropped his head to his paws again.

I exhaled and closed my eyes. Content. Safe. Home.

The crashof waves pulled me toward the man standing on the cliff, looking out onto the ocean.

Rune turned to face me, golden hair whipping about his face, hazel eyes bright with vigor.

“You came.” He held out his hand.

I took it, tipping my head back to look up at his smiling face. He had dimples. How had I not noticed that before? I reached up to stroke his cheek, marveling at the rasp of stubble and the silken spaces in between. I brushed his bottom lip with my thumb and his smile fell slightly, eyes darkening with desire.

“Cora, I know this time is precious, that we don’t know how long this will last or even if we’ll be able to come back here. I know we should spend it getting to know each other, but…Is it wrong that all I want to do is taste you.”

My stomach flipped. “No. It’s not wrong. We can talk when we’re awake. This time”— I slid my free hand up his chest—“is for other pursuits.”

He claimed my mouth in a kiss so deep it touched my soul. The crash of the waves battled the rush of blood in my ears. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my torso to his, soft breasts against hard pecs. Heat bloomed low in my belly, wetness between my thighs.

Anticipation.

Need.

His hands moved over me like I was a delicate instrument that he was learning how to play, fingers digging in slightly here, palm flat and soothing there. Every caress was new, leaving my skin alive and tingling with sensual sensation until the brush of fabric against my skin was almost painful.

His hands ventured beneath my top, skin on skin, skimming, hooking in my bra to snap it open, and then my shirt was gone, vanishing like magic.

He broke the kiss to look down at my naked form. I dropped my gaze from his mouth to his naked chest, noting the dark ink that rose up on his pectoral in the image of an eagle. The wing curled over his shoulder as if hugging it. Bronze taut skin, cobbled abs, tight, sexy V pointing down to…oh, God, this had to be some kind of dream exaggeration.

The sound of waves was distant now, the brisk air warm as a summer breeze. The world was a haze around us, cocooning us in this moment so it was just the two of us.

He cupped my breast, teasing my sensitive flesh with the brush of callouses on his fingers. I sucked in a breath and held it in anticipation as he dipped his head and claimed me. He drew me deep into his hot mouth, flicking his tongue against my nipple in a way that sent shockwaves lancing straight down to the heat licking at the apex of my thighs. The breath I was holding exploded from my lips as I arched to meet him, fingers sliding into his silken hair to hold him to me. He gripped my thighs, hauling me up, urging me to wrap my legs around his waist. Our bodies kissed, slipping and sliding in a desperate dance to become one.

He pulled back with a groan and claimed my mouth, hands on my ass urging me to keep up the tempo as we ground together. It was too much, not enough, and everything all at the same time.

I needed him inside me.

I kissed him, sucking on his bottom lip and then dragging it between my teeth. “This is a dream so we should be able to…” I rolled my hips.

He tipped his head forward, breathing heavily. “You have no idea how much I want that, but we can’t take risks.”

He lowered me, and disappointment bloomed in the pit of my belly.

But then he dropped to his knees and drew my thigh over his shoulder.

He looked up at me, gold flecks swimming around dilated pupils. “I’m going to taste you now.”

His mouth settled over me in an intimate kiss that left me gasping and writhing against him. My fingers tangled in his hair, hands fisting, wanting to pull him away but needing him to continue. My thighs quivered and then heat rushed up my body, choking me. Sparks painted the insides of my eyelids, and my body went into a spasm, trembling as I came.

He rose and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to him and taking my weight while I recovered. His arousal was a hot brand pressed to my belly.

He hadn’t come yet.

“My turn.” I dropped to my knees and pulled his cock toward me.

It tried to arch away at my heat, but I steered it back, swiping away the salty tear at its tip with my tongue before taking it in my mouth. I returned Rune’s intimate kiss, circling my tongue around him, drawing a hiss of pleasure from my mate.

“Cora…” His fingers flexed in my hair. “Fuck.”

I sank onto him. His taste overpowered me with its flavor. My clit throbbed as I pulled back before taking him again.

“Fuck…” He fisted my hair with a groan as I began to work him.

I wanted to taste him, to claim him, to give him release.

“Cora, I’m going to come.” He tried to pull away, but I cupped his ass, telling him it was okay, because fuck it, he was mine. This was mine.

His body shuddered, ass tensing, and then he came, hot, potent, and delicious. I clung to him, devouring every drop.

“Cora. Oh, God. Oh, God.”

I pulled back and looked up at him, licking my lips.

“You are so fucking sexy.” He hauled me up and crushed his lips to mine, and the world melted away.

My body was frozen.I couldn’t move anything but my eyelids. The sun was too bright, the snow beneath me too white.

Wait. What the fuck?

“Here! She’s here!” Tor’s voice was loud in the eerie silence.

The crunch of frosted ground was followed by hot hands on my body.

“I got you, Cor, I got you.” Tor cradled me against his chest, and I curled into his heat.

“What happened?” Leif asked. “Cora, what happened?”

I opened my mouth to tell them I had no idea. That I’d been sleeping, but all that came out was a high-pitched whine.

Panic clawed at my throat. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t fucking speak.