by Jayme Morse
There was still a path out of here. We just had to steer clear of the flames.
What we needed was to get the hell out of the woods. The woods were the worst place to be when a dragon was chasing you.
If we didn’t get out before it blew more fire down, completing the box it had placed around us, we were going to die here.
The worst part of it all? It seemed like we barely had a chance to get out of here.
The dragon shot another round of flames at us then, this time closer to our bodies than the last few had been. Just feet away from us, there was fire on the ground.
Noah was right. Dragons liked to play with their prey.
It was giving us hope that we would get out, just to take that hope away from us when it finally did finish boxing us in.
We were going to die. I just knew it.
Noah grabbed a fallen tree branch then and tossed it at the dragon. It was just enough of a scare to throw the beast off-guard, just long enough to distract it from us.
Then Noah moved forward with full speed.
I thought we were about to make our escape, but I was wrong. The dragon came back then, this time angrier and more aggressive.
I did the only thing I could think of then.
I pictured myself as the tiniest fae possible.
As I shrunk to pixie size, I allowed my wings to lift me into the air.
I grabbed some pebbles from the ground and then made my way to the dragon.
I didn’t want to do this, I didn’t want to fly so close to the dragon, but I saw no other option. It was a risk, but we were beyond risk-taking. If I didn’t do this, if I didn’t try to help us, I would have died without a fight.
I owed it to Noah, and to me, to try.
Carrying the pebbles up with me, I flitted across the sky until I was right in the dragon’s face. Then I sat down on its snout.
It could see me. I could see the annoyance in its golden eyes. It could see me, and it was even more pissed off than it was before.
I had one shot to do this the way I had planned. If I messed this up, we would both die.
I tossed a pebble at the dragon’s eye, with a little bit of magic behind it.
It flung with so much force.
The dragon snorted and squeezed its eye shut tightly.
I’d hurt it.
Then I threw another, this time at the other eye. It snorted louder and let out a loud groaning sound.
It hadn’t had the same effect that the first pebble had.
Three pebbles in and the dragon was shaking its head, trying to knock me off its nose.
I held on tight with my legs wrapped around its scaly skin and continued to throw more pebbles at it.
Finally, it worked.
The dragon backed away from me. I let go with my legs and watched as it flew in the opposite direction.
I hovered over to rest on Noah’s shoulder. The forest was being consumed by flames, but he was able to navigate in a way that kept us out of them.
I held on tightly to his shirt as he ran.
Once we were away from the forest fire and the dragon, Noah made an unexpected turn.
I wasn’t sure where he was taking us, but it was away from the dragons.
He stopped when we reached a sandy beach overlooking the riverside—far, far away from the dragons.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I glanced up at the sky above us. The stars looked like a thousand fireflies, hanging above us in the clear night sky, which was a mixture of blues and purples. I had never seen anything like it before, but I knew it was because we weren’t in the human world.
Morphing back into my human size, I sat down on the sand, completely exhausted. I still felt drained from drinking from Slade, and this whole dragon fight had made things even worse. I needed to rest.
Noah fell onto the sand next to me, letting out a deep sigh.
“That was a really close call.”
“It was so intense,” I said.
I laid down beside him, pulling myself onto my side, and wrapped an arm around his chest as I laid my head on his shoulder.
“Extremely.”
He shifted his body then so that I was underneath him. I could feel his heart beating against my chest as our cold skin touched. His blue eyes locked on mine as he hovered above me.
He brought his lips down on mine then, hard and passionately. His kiss was intense, fueled with passion and desire.
I kissed him back, tugging on his shirt to draw him closer to me. My legs wrapped around his waist. I could feel his hard bulge pressing against my thighs.
I wanted him so bad.
Noah began to kiss his way down my neck then.
As his lips crept their way down my chest, he pulled my top off and then, reaching underneath of me, unhooked my bra.
Letting it fall to the side, he dragged his mouth over my bare breast, stopping over my nipple. He took it into his mouth, sucking it. I arched my back in response, and then he moved onto the other one, giving it the same attention.
He unbuttoned my jeans, pulling them down my legs, and then parted my thighs. His hand grazed the lace fabric of my panties, and then he slipped a finger underneath of them, igniting a gasp from me.
His dark blue eyes locked on mine as he slipped a finger inside of me, followed by another.
I bit down on my lower lip. Did it always feel this good when a vampire touched you?
Noah’s eyes filled with amusement at my thought, and he began to move his fingers in and out of me.
Leaning forward, he kissed me again as his thumb swirled around my clit.
“Fuck,” I groaned out against his mouth as my legs began to tremble uncontrollably. I could already feel myself tightening at the core.
Rocking my hips against his hand, I reached down to undo his belt, but he whispered, “This is all about you.”
He continued to hit my clit, that was all it took for me to completely shatter from underneath him as the orgasm tore its way through my body.
“Noah!” I cried out into the darkness of the night, his name echoing through the woods.
Chapter 28
Riley
“Why didn’t you let me return the, um, favor?” I questioned as we walked back to the Academy.
His lips formed a tight line. “I don’t know if the others really want me to tell you this…”
“Just tell me,” I insisted.
Noah looked hesitant, but he explained, “The coven and I made an agreement.”
“What kind of agreement?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “You made an agreement that I wouldn’t be allowed to jerk you off?”
“Yes. Well… sort of.” His dark blue eyes met mine. “We agreed that Slade has to be the first one to be with you.”
“Wait, what?” I just stared back at him, confused. “You mean, Slade has to be the first one to fuck me?”
He nodded. “Pretty much.”
“Um, wow. I mean, first of all, I wasn’t actually going to have sex with you. Not yet, at least. Not today.”
I wasn’t going to lie. All I could think about was being with Noah in that way, to the point where it completely consumed my thoughts.
But doing it on the sand wasn’t really how I wanted our first time to go. I wasn’t a virgin, but I still wanted my first time with Noah to be special.
“Second of all, I decide who I want to be with. Not you guys. You don’t get to tell me what to do. Or who to do.”
“I don’t like it any more than you do. Trust me. But Slade is the Alpha of our coven,” Noah explained. “He claimed first dibs on you.”
“But what if I want to be with you?” I asked.
“I guess you would have to talk to Slade about it then,” he replied with a shrug. “But as my Alpha, he’s made it really clear that I can’t go there with you until he does.”
“Until he does? So, you guys just plan to… share me?”
Not that the idea sounded bad. The truth was that I really did want all of t
hem. I wouldn’t have been opposed to it, by any means.
Noah’s dark blue eyes flicked over to meet mine. “If it’s what you want.”
I didn’t have to respond, because I knew he already knew the answer. The answer was written all over my face, and I had just let it leak out in my thoughts, too.
It actually was what I wanted.
Chapter 29
Riley
The next week flew by. Since Jordan, Drew, and I had arrived late, our midterm exams came. We somehow managed to pass all of them with straight A’s. I was impressed by us, to say the least.
My coven threw a party to celebrate that midterms were already over. It was going to be held at the river, on the same beach where Noah and I had fooled around.
On the night of the party, Jordan and I helped each other get ready. We wore matching dresses.
I wore a black dress that hit just below my thighs; it had a low v-neck and a ruching in the waist. It accentuated all of my curves in the right places. Jordan wore the same dress in red; it complemented her chocolate brown hair. We both wore heels in the same colors as our dresses.
Jordan wore her chocolate brown hair straight, which was new for her. Normally her hair had a bit of a wave to it. It looked so much shinier and healthier than it had in the human world.
Then she helped me curl my blonde hair, because I was terrible with hair styling tools. I hadn’t known what my hair would look like curly, since I never ever wore it that way. I just wanted to do something different to dress up for the guys. As I looked in the full length mirror, I was relieved that it actually looked good on me.
I had applied purple smoky eyeshadow that made my green eyes pop, while Jordan had opted for a silver and gold look that stood out against her dark brown eyes. We both framed our eyes heavily with black eyeliner and mascara.
She wore a shade of pinkish brown nude lipstick, while I wore a shiny pink gloss that popped against my skin, which was still sun-kissed from summer.
“You ladies look gorgeous,” Drew said.
“Aww, Drew! Look at you,” I cooed as I reached out to ruffle his hair.
He took a step back from me, shooting me a playful glare.
“Hey! It took me forever to style that,” he said.
His hair was cut shorter than usual, and he had applied more gel than he normally did. He was donning a dark navy blue polo shirt. I had noticed that Drew had gotten so much more muscular since we became vampires, probably thanks to being turned and Vampire Fitness class.
“But you guys look like models,” he went on. “This whole vampire life is treating the two of you like fine wine.”
I giggled. “Let’s just hope my coven thinks so.”
“Or my vampire boyfriend,” Jordan commented with a grin.
“What? You have a vampire boyfriend? Since when?” I asked.
Jordan hadn’t mentioned even crushing on any of the guys at school, and now suddenly, she had a boyfriend?
I felt like such a hypocrite. I had kept my whole entire relationship with Dylan a secret in the past. But that was different. He was her brother.
“We made it official yesterday. You’ll meet him at the party tonight. He actually gave me this.” She waved her hand in front of me, and I saw the ring she was wearing.
A silver ring with a gorgeous amethyst stone.
It was a magic ring.
Maybe I was biased. Maybe it was because Dylan had given me my magic ring (which still hadn’t turned up yet) that made me pause. Maybe it was because I knew what those things meant now.
Whatever the case, the only thing I did know was that I got a really weird feeling about Jordan receiving one from this secret boyfriend of hers.
“Why did he give you that?” I asked.
“It’s a promise ring, just like my brother gave you his.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “You could at least pretend to be happy for me, Riley.”
Just like her brother had given me a magic ring with a dead faerie soul inside of it. She was leaving that part out of it. I wondered if she thought that it was just a regular ring, or if she knew that it was magical.
I decided that now wouldn’t have been the right time to question her about it. She was already on the defense.
“I am happy for you,” I insisted. “I’m just surprised is all.”
“I don’t know why that’s so surprising,” she replied, the annoyance written all over her face.
“It’s a pretty ring, Jordan. Now, we’d better get going, ladies, or we’re going to be late,” Drew commented.
I knew he was just trying to prevent an argument from ensuing, and I didn’t blame him.
I wasn’t sure why, but Jordan was pretty weird lately. I couldn’t help but think that it had something to do with this secret boyfriend. I couldn’t wait to find out who he was.
*
I never would have thought that there would have been a portal in the library or that it would drop us off right on the beach.
What I had thought was going to be a small get together to celebrate midterms turned out to be a huge ass party. There were so many vampires there, a lot who I didn’t even recognize. They were all just as dressed up as we were.
The moonlight casted a glow over the water and beach, and there were also tiki torches and glowing lanterns. Good music was playing loudly from speakers. Everyone was currently dancing to a Drake song.
Thankfully, the Academy was on the other side of the forest, or there would have been no way to keep this huge, well-lit party hidden.
“We should get a drink and then go look for your men,” Drew told me and then, turning to Jordan, added, “And your man. And then I should find me a man.”
I laughed as we headed over to the drink table. Grabbing a cup, I filled it up with some Sprite and vodka, my go-to drink. Drew and Jordan both grabbed some beers and then we made our way across the beach.
I scanned the area for my coven. I didn’t see them anywhere. But what I did see were a lot of vampire couples laying along the sand. Some were making out, and others were drinking each other’s blood.
Apparently, this must have been what set teen vampire parties apart from teen parties.
I spotted my coven then, at the edge of the beach.
As I approached them, all four sets of eyes fell on me.
“Hey, Riley,” Tristan called out to me. “Come over here!”
I approached them, noticing that my friends had continued to walk down the beach, probably searching for Jordan’s boyfriend. Oh well. I would meet up with them later.
Right now, I was just excited to see my coven.
The closer I got to my mates, something began to happen.
I could smell them; each of them had their own individual scent.
Noah’s scent reminded me of saltwater mixed with sunshine, as strange as that sounded. I could also pick up on floral and musky notes.
Tristan smelled like hot cocoa and peppermints.
Julius smelled like oranges.
Slade smelled spicy. I realized it was familiar; it was the same scent I had thought was his cologne in the past.
“Holy shit. Are you sure you can smell us?” Tristan asked, eyeing me curiously.
“I’m positive,” I spoke out loud.
Tristan and Julius shot a worried look at each other. Noah’s expression remained stony, while Slade’s expression became concerned.
“Why do you guys all look so weirded out by this?”
“Because this isn’t something that happens often. In fact, it’s extremely rare,” Slade told me through mind-speak.
“What does it mean?” I asked them. To be honest, they were kind of scaring me a bit.
“It means that we’re blood mates.”
“W-what?” I had never heard of blood mates before. I didn’t have even the slightest idea what that meant.
“You know how werewolves have mates, right? I’m sure you’ve seen it in movies and stuff. It’s the same way in real life. Well, blood mates ar
e pretty much the same thing. It means that we’re your mates. All of us,” Julius explained.
“You share a bond with each of us,” Tristan added. “It’s a sacred bond, a bond that doesn’t happen often. A bond that means we’re all meant to be with you.”
“Each one of us is your soulmate,” Noah said.
“I thought you could only have one soulmate,” I commented.
“Typically, most vampires only get one. But nothing about you or our situation is typical.” There was a sad look in Noah’s dark blue eyes as he spoke.
I understood what that look meant. He had wanted me entirely to himself, but that was no longer possible now that I was connected to all four of them.
I wished I could say that I was disappointed, too, but I wasn’t.
It actually explained a lot. Like why I wanted not just one but all of them.
*
Learning that I was Blood Mated to my entire coven was both exciting and scary. I wasn’t sure what it meant for our futures, but I did know one thing.
Tonight, I just wanted to dance the night away.
For some reason, alcohol hit me harder in the faerie world. I wasn’t sure why, but I suspected that it might have had something to do with all the blood I’d been drinking.
Needless to say, I was drunk as fuck.
I had spotted Jordan dancing with a guy from across the beach. I had seen him in the past. His name was Enrique. We had a lot of classes together, but I didn’t know much about him. He seemed quiet and possibly a little weird.
He definitely didn’t seem like the type of guy who Jordan would have gone for back in the human world, but everything was different here. Maybe she had this unusual connection to him, the same way I did to my coven. I wanted to be happy for him, even though I didn’t fully trust him, especially after the ring he had given her.
Sure, Dylan had given me a magical ring, too, but I couldn’t help but feel like it was somehow different. We had known each other for years; he’d been my best friend, not to mention my high school sweetheart.
Enrique and Jordan had known each for, like, a second. It seemed so strange that he would give her this magic ring.
And was it his magic ring, or was it her own ring? If it was his, why wouldn’t he have wanted to keep it for its magical abilities?
