He smiled warmly up at me. “Sure. Want to watch an old movie?”
“Is there still some popcorn left?”
Fenris leant over the other side of the bed and produced the large bowl, still over half full of popcorn. “Of course. Now come back here.” He lifted his arm and I tucked myself back into his embrace. He really did give the best cuddles. I could barely keep my eyes open. The exhaustion combined with the snuggly warm comfort of Fenris had me asleep in minutes.
Chapter 24
LORI
“What do you mean, I glowed?” I asked. It was team meeting time again, some sort of debrief on the events that happened in the alley.
“I mean that when I came to, your whole body was glowing,” Fenris explained.
“If you were dead, how did you manage to heal yourself?” Cassian asked suspiciously.
“This.” I pulled the neckline of my top to one side and exposed my mark. “Levi was right. Orion felt my death like it was his own. He saved me.”
“You saw him again?” Jasper asked in disbelief.
Oops. Had I not mentioned that? I’d been so wrapped up in making sure Fenris was ok that it had slipped my mind.
“Yes, I saw him again.”
“You need to stop this. We know nothing about him. How could you let yourself be taken in by him?” Jasper was pissed and his obnoxious tone had me seething.
“It’s not like she has a choice,” Fenris piped up. I gave him a grateful smile. At least someone was on my side.
Saskia leant across the table towards me, concern in her eyes. “Is there no way to break it?”
“Levi is still looking into it, but from what he has already told me, I don’t think there is. If one of us dies then so does the other.”
“Oh, honey, I am so sorry,” Saskia said sorrowfully.
I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring look. “It’s ok. Honestly, it’s not so bad. If it weren’t for Orion, I wouldn’t be here. I might not know exactly what his intentions are, but I do know that they involve keeping me alive.”
Jasper scoffed. “For now. How do we know he won’t just claim you and keep you locked in a box somewhere?”
I let out a deep breath through clenched teeth. He was really starting to try my patience. “Because he can’t manifest on the mortal plane. Not without serious consequences anyway.”
Alec eyed me warily. “He told you that?”
“Yes, why? What does that mean?”
Alec and Jasper exchanged a glance and I knew that meant something serious.
“It means,” Alec continued, “that your Orion is one of the Original Fallen. He’s not merely a high-class demon like we originally thought, but one of the angels that fell with Lucifer.”
“Shit…” Saskia exhaled.
I was confused. What did that mean for me?
“Looks like you’re fucked, Princess,” Cassian crooned. I threw him a scowl and went back to ignoring him, although his words hit home.
“Am I?” I asked, looking at Jasper. I needed him to tell me everything was going to be ok, even though I knew it wasn’t. I hadn’t seen Jasper since before the incident, and even then, he’d been doing his best to avoid me like the fucking plague. I missed him and his grumpy demeanour. It hurt that he hadn’t even bothered to check if I was ok, and even though that made me as frustrated as Hell, I still wanted him.
The hard lines of his face softened slightly, and his shoulders sagged as he took a deep breath. He looked tired. Maybe my near-death experience had affected him more than he wanted it to.
“No. We won’t let that happen. But from now on, there will be no leaving the base. Until we know who sent Flint to get you, you aren’t even safe in the Conclave anymore.” My heart sunk. Jasper had said we not I. He didn’t care like I thought he did.
“It has to be someone with the ability to summon demons. Those two who attacked with Flint were possessed,” Fenris commented, steering the conversation back to the attack in the alley.
“There have been a number of sightings recently, mainly on the outskirts of town, but it is worrying that someone could be conjuring them to get to Lori. They’re expendable and that makes them a perfect tool,” Jasper disclosed.
“Well, it’s not a short list of suspects. It could be witches, necromancers; hell, anyone with even the remotest bit of magic could summon a demon,” Alec interjected.
Fenris smirked, amusement sparkling in his large eyes. “Yeah, but how many of those know how to null a mage?”
Alec’s elegant eyebrows rose towards his hairline. “Well, that certainly narrows the list down. I can only think of a handful with enough power to do that.”
I thought back to the moment in the alley when Fenris couldn’t call his magic. “Is that what happened to you? Did Flint block your power?”
Fenris turned to me and nodded. “All he had to do was get his hand on my skin and it was like I had no magic at all.”
Jasper turned to Alec. “Do you still have ties to the Coven of the Unseen?”
Alec flinched at Jasper’s mention of the witches and the colour fled from his face, but a second later his cocky smirk was back in place. What was that about? I glanced around the room, but no one else seemed to have noticed, or if they did, they gave no indication that they had. I guess it was just another secret that was kept within these walls.
“I have someone I can reach out to; she owes me a favour so I am sure she will help.”
“Great. Fenris, reach out to the Guild and see if any new mages have registered as visitors or if they have their eye on anyone. Saskia, get your ears on the ground, see if anyone has heard anything. Cassian, you know what to do.” Jasper issued his commands expertly and his tone brooked no argument. It was intimidating and sexy as hell. “Dismissed.”
Everyone stood to file out of the room, but Cassian grabbed my arm on the way out of the door. “Don’t forget we have training this afternoon. Meet me in the training room in an hour.”
Then he headed down the corridor towards his basement. I dreaded to think what was down there. What did he get up to? I had to admit, I was curious, but the guy terrified me. I couldn’t imagine he was down there doing anything good. He certainly didn’t seem like the type of guy to be doing crochet or painting pottery. An image of Cassian sat with knitting needles popped into my head and I chuckled. Nope. Definitely not one for knitting. Unless of course, he was taking someone’s eye out with the needle. That seemed more likely.
“Lori?”
I turned around at the sound of my name. I had forgotten Jasper was still behind me. As my gaze landed on his stern features, my heart skipped a beat. But I was still mad at him, and unsurprisingly, he seemed to still be mad at me. I feared this was going to be an explosion of his temper. He’d barely constrained it during the meeting and now he had me all to himself. I had yet to receive any sort of punishment for getting myself killed, or getting Fenris killed, and I had been dreading Jasper’s wrath. I was hoping that he would prefer to just avoid me, but it seemed I wasn’t going to be that lucky.
“What is it?” I replied walking back into the meeting room, closing the door softly behind me. I was determined to keep my cool. “Are you hoping to quarrel with me again? It was very thoughtful of you to dismiss the team. You could never have told me off really well with them overhearing every word you uttered.”
“How dare you convince Fenris to take you off the base!” Jasper roared thunderously.
“To be sure, it wasn’t the best idea I have ever had, but you will admit that going to see Levi was the right thing to do. You clearly weren’t going to take me.” I knew it wasn’t really my idea to go in search of Levi, but I didn’t want Fenris getting into any more trouble. Besides, I think out of the two of us, Jasper would probably give me the lesser punishment.
Jasper’s jaw clenched audibly.
“You have been avoiding me. I’m grateful that Fenris decided to help me. We learned a lot from Levi.”
“Oh, is that what he’s been doin
g,” Jasper replied sardonically. “He’s been helping you?”
“Now you are just being ridiculous, Jasper. Fenris has been nothing but kind to me and you know it.”
“I know nothing of the sort,” he retorted. “Did you not sleep in his bed last night?”
Oh, so that’s what this is about. Was Jasper jealous? I laughed suddenly and Jasper’s frown deepened. “I did. He offered me comfort and I took it. Now, perhaps if you had even bothered to talk to me like a man instead of avoiding me like a coward, you would know that. Did it even bother you that I died? Did you even care?”
He flinched at my words. Good. He needed to know how much his avoidance hurt. But he didn’t say anything. He just stood there and stared at me, his bright blue eyes giving nothing away.
“Fuck you, Jasper. I’ve had enough. I’m done.” I turned on my heel and headed for the door. If he wanted to burn the bridge between us then fine. I’d give him the fucking fuel and the match, and he could have at it.
He moved so fast that I barely felt a disturbance in the air before he pinned me to the door. The wall of his chest pressed against my back and the door was cool against my suddenly fevered cheek.
“I don’t want to care. I don’t want to be tormented by you, but I am.” The words were a harsh whisper against the shell of my ear. “Before you walked into my life, I was so certain of what I wanted. I had a plan. Something to complete my life on this earth. But now… Now I don’t know what I want.”
“That makes two of us,” I snarled as I bucked against his hold. “I’m sick and tired of not knowing where you stand. What is it that you want Jasper?”
“What do I want?” He growled, grinding his hips against my ass. “I want to punish that sassy fucking mouth of yours. I want to spank you for the way you defy me. I want to tie you to my bed so I know exactly where you are, and I want to make you scream my name as I lose myself in you over and over again.”
I couldn’t breathe. I literally couldn’t breathe.
“Then why don’t you?”
Jasper grabbed my waist and turned me round to face him. He pinned my arms by the side of my head and trapped my body with his. His bright blue eyes darkened to the black of the beast and glinted dangerously in the low light. I’d brought the beast to the surface and, while part of me wanted to run, the other part of me wanted to stand my ground and find out what would happen when I prodded the beast.
“Because I won’t be able to control myself.” His lips found the soft column of my neck and I shuddered as his fangs scraped tantalisingly across my skin. “I will want to claim every last drop of you.”
Fuck. Why was that so hot? The lethal promise of his words had my pulse thudding and my heart skipping beats.
“What if I want you to?”
A moan of desperation escaped his lips and it reverberated through me. He was hanging on by a thread and I wanted to pull it and watch him unravel.
“You’re not ready for me. For what this would mean.” His eyes found mine again, desire still aflame in their dark depths, but it was mixed with a strong sense of conflict. Like he was torn between making the right decision and doing what he wanted.
“What would it mean, Jasper?”
“That you would be mine.”
Oh, fuck. There was that word again. Mine. I still feared the implications of that word. Jasper was right. I wasn’t ready for that. I also wasn’t sure that he wanted this. He seemed to be fighting it just as much as I was trying to understand it.
As if sensing my reticence, he took a step back and I felt the fog of desire lift a little. I understood now why he avoided me, why he hadn’t told me what was happening between us. He had wanted me to make the decision without the influence of whatever this was between us hanging over my head. He wanted me to choose him, but not because I had to, but because I wanted to.
“You should go,” Jasper whispered, pain flashing in his eyes as the obsidian brightened back to electric blue.
I nodded and he stepped back from me completely, my body instantly feeling the loss of his warmth. He wouldn’t even look at me. I gently reached out and cupped his face, his light stubble tickling my fingertips.
“Just give me time, Jasper, but don’t avoid me. I need you and I want you to be around. Please?”
He gave my cheek a careless flick with his finger. “For you, anything.”
I raised my eyebrows at that. “You mean you could be less grumpy?”
“Are you going to be less impertinent?”
“Hey, you like my sassy mouth,” I teased. “You think it’s one of my–”
His mouth crushed mine, bruising my lips and cutting off my words. He kissed me like my every breath belonged to him, and he demanded their return. My heart raced. My blood was on fire and my hands fisted in his hair trying to pull him closer to me. His tongue delved into my mouth and he owned me. I was powerless to resist his claim on me, and instead of pushing him away I kissed him back until I was breathless.
Jasper broke the kiss with a strangled cry of desperation. He looked at me with such hunger in his eyes that my body fizzled and hummed with the need to let him take me right there on the meeting room table.
“You really should go,” he breathed. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold back.”
I could tell. I could see the anguish in his face, and I knew he was right. He was at breaking point and I needed to be one hundred percent sure this was what I really wanted before giving myself to him.
“I have to get ready for training with Cassian.”
He laughed softly at that. “Good luck. I’ve a feeling you’ll need it.”
“I know.” I took one last look at him as I left the room. There was so much left unspoken between us, but he had promised to be around me a bit more. Perhaps we could work through this together and finally figure it all out? Then again, Hell was a great place to build snowmen…
Chapter 25
LORI
I looked up at the ice-blue eyes set into Cassian’s frowning face from my position on the floor. A condescending smirk twisted his arrogant features as he stared down at me. He’d knocked me flat on my back. Again. I’d lost count of how many times I had ended up down here. I stopped counting after twenty.
If I thought his training sessions were bad before, now that he wasn’t holding back, he was fucking brutal. He wouldn’t let me get to my feet or give me a chance to move out of the way. He just barrelled into me over and over again. There was no let up. Just a constant onslaught of unending ferocity from him and I’d had enough. I was so ready to call it a day.
I was never one to give up, but this was fucking impossible. All I had to do was escape him, which sounded easy enough, but all I’d achieved was a bruised back and a sore arse.
“Up.” His voice didn’t even conceal his boredom.
Nope. I was fine down here, thank you very much. Getting up was the last thing I wanted to do right now. I’d rather have my blood boiled and my teeth pulled out then get up for another round with Cassian.
“Fuck off.”
“Up,” he commanded sharply again. He held his hand in front of my face, but I wasn’t stupid enough to take it. Well, not stupid enough to take it again. I’d already learnt what would happen if I took his hand about eight tumbles ago. It ended up with me head over arse and back on the fucking mat.
I slapped his hand away and rolled onto my side. A groan escaped me. Everything hurt.
“Come on, Princess. You asked for this.” He was goading me. He kept calling me Princess because he knew it pissed me off. Yes, I’d asked for help protecting myself. What I did not ask for was to spend the day getting my arse handed to me. I guess Cassian just never did anything the easy way.
I pulled myself to my feet, my knees a little unsteady beneath me, but I squared my shoulders and faced Cassian head on. He widened his stance, preparing to attack again. All his muscles coiled tightly, poised and ready to take me down again. His clothes were stretched in all the right p
laces. He was built like a powerhouse, all power and lethal precision poured into every inch of that toned physique. What I wouldn’t give to see what was hiding under that shirt. My eyes raked back up to his face and I found him staring at me with a knowing smirk trying to break the lines of his beautifully harsh mouth. How could someone so gorgeous be such a dick? Life was so unfair sometimes but if I wasn’t going to enjoy that body at least I could enjoy tormenting him.
“You need to get laid,” I taunted. “All this pent-up tension can’t be good for you.”
“Are you offering, Princess?” His voice dropped an octave, and he cocked his head to the side. “You do look good flat on your back. Judging by your lack of accomplishment today, perhaps that’s all you’re good at.”
So that’s how it is. We were venturing into playground territory and after all the years working in a bar, I was a fucking master at that. I just needed to find his weak spot.
Challenge accepted big guy.
“Come on, Cassie. You can do better than that.”
His eyes narrowed dangerously at my use of a nickname; he didn’t like that at all.
“Princess, you have no idea what I’m capable of. You’ve been trying to escape me all day, I’ve barely broken a sweat but you…” He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Well, let’s just say I can smell you from all the way over here.” I got it. Yeah, I was sweaty, I stank, and he didn’t even have a hair out of place. He still looked as perfect as he did before we started this training session. If you could even call it that. Felt more like torture than training.
“Cassie, you have your entire life to be a jerk. Why don’t you take today off?”
He just huffed and started to move round the mat. Great. Now we were circling each other in a dance to the death. Bring it on, tough guy.
“You’ll never survive out there, Princess. You couldn’t even take down two possessed puppets. How are you supposed to fight something worse? You can’t even move out the way fast enough. Must be all that ass you’re lugging around. At least it’s a soft cushion for you to land on.”
To Crave Darkly: Trials Of A Morta: Book One Page 21
