by Amanda Carol
“Yeah. I’m sorry, but I didn’t want you to be caught off-guard when you got back. Plus…” I trail off, running my hand through my hair and gripping the back of my neck.
“You need me to help with Abby,” Zayne finishes for me.
I nod my head, as if he can see me. “That, and we need your help with the fire element. I know this situation sucks man. I would never ask if it wasn’t serious.”
“Nah, I get it, and I know.” He inhales sharply. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do. And don’t worry about Abs. I’ll take care of her.”
I hear a door open and close.
“Take care of who?” I hear Abby’s voice. “Is that Hunter?”
“Yeah. He and I were just talking about Aria’s magic training,” Zayne says to her.
I hate that he has to lie to her. One thing I’ve always admired about Zayne is that he’s always truthful, even if it hurts.
“Thanks, man,” I sigh.
“Anytime. I’ll see you soon,” Zayne replies and hangs up the phone.
Frustrated at this whole situation, I reach the steps to the barn, taking them two at a time, and go back to the training room.
I’m not even sure how long I’ve been in here, but sweat is dripping down my body. Shirt discarded, I sit down on a bench to work on my arms. Another perk of being a shifter is that our stamina is incredible. I can work out for hours and not tire. I finish my set and hunch over, resting my arms on my legs.
I hear the training room door open and close, but I don’t look up to see who it is. A moment later, black Converse come into my view, and I slowly track my eyes up toned legs, paint-stained jean shorts, a tank top with a low cut V that shows my favorite cleavage, long platinum-blonde hair, and finally my heated gaze meets my favorite set of pale green eyes.
“Thirsty?” Aria asks.
One of her hands holds a bottle of water, while the other twirls a strand of hair between her fingers. I take the bottle from her and twist the cap off, downing its contents. I toss the empty bottle off to the side while I watch her slowly take a step forward. Then another step, until she plants her palms on my sweaty shoulders and pushes me back. My hands travel up her legs as she straddles me on the bench. She brings a hand up and her fingers grab onto my hair as she tugs my head back against the bench.
Fuck. Me.
My dick has been straining in my shorts since the second I saw her legs.
She’s playing with fire, and if I’m not mistaken, she’s loving every second of it. And I’d be lying to myself if I said I wasn’t loving this too. She grinds into my erection and I tightly grip her ass as I guide her back and forth. She crashes her lips on to mine, and I’m kissing her back with as much passion and force she’s giving me until I remember the fucking door and the nasty habit my best friend has.
“Baby,” I say breathlessly between kisses.
“Hmm?” She nips at my earlobe, and the vibration makes my dick grow harder.
“The door,” is all I manage to get out before she kisses me again.
She pulls back. Her eyes are hooded, and her lips are swollen from our heavy make-out session. She smirks, and with a flick of her wrist, she uses the air element to lock the door.
Now, that was hot.
“Fuck.” I grip her legs and stand. I’m not taking her right here on this bench.
I walk us back into the locker room and set her down in one of the shower stalls. I reach behind her and turn on the water. She looks up at me and quirks a brow.
“I’m saving water,” I say, and drop to my knees in front of her.
I undo the button of her shorts and strip them off her and I do the same with her panties. She goes to take off her shoes, but I stop her. Her Converse to me are like heels to anyone else. I grab one of her legs and toss it over my shoulder, inhaling her sweet scent.
Her moan as I lick and suck at her sensitive bud is music to my ears. I reach over and grab her other leg and throw it over my other shoulder. I hear her hands smack against the shower wall to keep her balance as the hot water cascades down on us.
I’ve got her right where I want her; she’s not going anywhere.
I slip a finger inside her, and she cries out.
“Hunter, please,” she begs as her fingers tangle in my hair.
I slide another finger in, working them in and out as I work my tongue against her core. Her walls constrict around my fingers as she orgasms, and I so desperately need to be inside her. I set her legs down and stand, crashing my lips onto hers so she can taste how sweet she is.
“Turn around,” I growl against her lips.
She does, and I position her so she’s bent over, her palms flat against the wall. I kick my gym shorts off and run my dick against her wet center. She cries out when I thrust into her; the time for taking it slow is now over.
“Fuck, baby, you feel so good,” I groan.
I twist my hand in her wet hair and tug her head back. I lean forward and kiss her, catching all her moans with my mouth. I reach around with my other hand and cup her breast through her shirt, wishing I’d had the sense to take that off too. I feel her walls tighten around my dick as she comes again, and I kiss her fiercely as I find my own release.
The hot water is still running down our bodies as I pull out of her. I turn it off and grab our wet clothes off the floor.
I turn to her and smile, flashing her my dimples. “You’re amazing.”
“I know,” she quips.
I laugh. “That’s my girl.”
I grab her hand and lead her over to where my locker is. I keep a duffle bag locked in here with a few changes of clothes. I hand her a towel so she can dry off and pull out clean clothes for us. My shorts are a little big on her, but they’ll have to do until we get back to her cabin. I get dressed and lock everything back up. My breath hitches as she stands there in my t-shirt. I’ve never had a girl wear my clothes before, and even if I had, there would be no comparison.
“What?” she asks, looking down her body as if there’s something on her.
It reminds me of when I first kissed her. Our “not first kiss.”
“Fuck it.” I drop the wet towels and take two strides toward her.
Cupping her cheeks, I bring my lips to hers. Her hands come up and grip my wrists, just as they did that day. And just like the first time, I don’t deepen it. I pull back and rest my forehead against hers.
“That was most definitely not our first kiss, and it sure as hell won’t be our last,” I whisper.
She chuckles softy. “I sure hope not. I kind of like kissing you.”
“Kind of?” I pull back, quirking a brow at her.
She smiles. “Okay fine. I love kissing you. It takes my breath away.”
My heart skips a beat at what she said. My response is to grab her hand and bring it to my lips. I turn and grab the wet towels and throw them in the hamper right outside the locker room. I lace my fingers with hers as we make our way out of the training room. A figure standing right outside the door catches my attention, and I look over to find my father. I stop and pull Aria behind me in a protective stance.
He glances between the both of us before his eyes settle on me. “We need to talk.”
“I’ll meet you back at the cabin,” Aria says as she gives my hand a small squeeze.
I watch as she greets Bennett, who takes in her attire and looks over at me. He gives me a thumbs-up and walks with Aria out of the barn. I turn on my heel, and my father follows me back into the training room.
“I assume you have a plan for capturing Luna?” he asks when the door closes behind him.
Why can’t he ever trust me?
“I do,” I reply, crossing my arms over my chest.
He looks at me expectantly, like I’m supposed to fill him in on the plan. Not sure why I should. He never tells me anything, and I’m supposed to be his Beta.
“Care to share?” he asks when I don’t say anything.
“Why? So you can shit on it and tell
me how awful of a plan it is? Tell me all about how you would handle it? We both know you would send Luna and Abby away the second they got back, no questions asked. No, we need the information that Luna has. I’ve got this,” I snap at him.
“You better hope so. If anything goes wrong, and someone else gets hurt or dies, their blood is on your hands. I sure hope you’re prepared for that,” he scolds, staring me down.
I meet his stare. “I won’t fail.”
He nods his head. “We’ll see.”
And with that, he turns and leaves me standing alone in the room. His lack of faith in me, his own son, pisses me off. I just wish he would let me prove to him that I can take care of this pack. I storm out of the training room and glance at the clock on the far wall by the cafeteria.
One hour until showtime.
Everyone is here and we go over the plan once more. Aria and I will lure Luna down to our old underground cellar right on the edge of the woods. Kat and Grace will already be inside waiting for us, and as soon as we get Luna inside and lock the old jail cell door, Kat and Grace will start the acid rain. Zayne will come back later and enchant the bars.
Ciera stays behind while everyone leaves to get into position.
“You go on ahead. I’ll catch up in a few minutes,” she tells us.
She kisses Declan, and he leaves with the girls. Then she walks up to me with a sad look on her face and hands a pair of handcuffs to me.
“Here. I enchanted them so they would bind Luna’s powers,” she says.
I curse under my breath. “Ciera! Why did you do that?”
She gently places a hand over her arm. I reach for it and push her sleeve back to find that a white bandage is covering more than half of it.
“Shit,” I gasp.
She snatches her arm away. “It’s nothing.”
“That’s not nothing, Ciera. Does Declan know you did this?”
“No. And I prefer to keep it that way. Besides, there’s nothing he can do about it anyway. His healing powers won’t work because this is a consequence of the binding magic,” Ciera explains. “You know a price always has to be paid when using magic that goes against the balance of nature.”
I run my hand through my hair. “I know.”
I will never ask a witch to use their magic for personal gain, and especially not magic that isn’t elemental. You never know what the consequence will be for using dark magic, just that there will be one. Ciera has always been fearless when it comes down to protecting her own. I’ve always been proud of her loyalty, but I would never have asked this of her.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I tell her.
“I wanted to. Luna is very powerful. If anyone could break through our magic, it would be her. I just wanted to help.” Ciera’s eyes fill up with tears.
I pull her into a hug and cradle her head to my chest as she wraps her arms around my waist. She’s like a little sister to me, and even though we argue sometimes, I wouldn’t trade her for the world.
“You know I love you, right?” I say.
“Yes, I know,” she giggles into my chest.
“Then, as your honorary big brother, I’m telling you not to ever do that again. I don’t want you risking anything if it means you get hurt in the process. You hear me?” I hug her a little tighter.
I always wanted a younger sibling when I was growing up. A sister or a brother. I didn’t care. I just wanted someone to help share the burden of living under my father’s roof. Then Bennett and his family came along and I finally got my brother. When his family left the Compound when he turned sixteen, Bennett wanted to stay. So my mom took him under her wing and kept an eye on him until he turned eighteen.
When Kora showed up with Ciera, she became our little sister. She was this little burst of energy that Bennett and I just felt very protective over. Ciera used to follow us around and wanted to know everything that we were doing and why we were doing it. She was always a curious little thing, and it doesn’t surprise me at all that she’s a teacher now.
“Yeah, I hear you.” She pulls away.
“Thank you,” I say, placing my hands on her shoulders.
She nods. “You’re welcome.”
I slip the cuffs in my back pocket as I open the door. Aria is waiting for me on the porch, and Ciera runs off to catch up with Declan and the others.
“I thought we were meeting by the barn?” I ask Aria.
“They can handle that on their own. Besides, Abby texted and said they’ll be here soon.” Aria looks down at her feet and starts to kick the gravel nervously.
She stops as I reach up, placing my finger under her chin and tilting her face up to look at me.
“Hey, where’d you go?” I ask her.
I always say that whenever she goes quiet on me. It’s when she goes silent that I know that the wheels in her head are turning and something is bothering her.
“I’ve been horrible to Abby. What if she doesn’t forgive me?” she asks.
Her eyes start to fill up with tears and when one slips free, I swipe it away with my thumb. It makes me happy that she’s holding nothing back from me now.
“She will,” I whisper.
“I’ve been pretty shitty to a lot of people,” she sniffles, walking down the steps.
I follow her. “You had your reasons.”
“No excuse. I think maybe when this is over with, I need to make amends with everyone.”
“If that’s what you feel like you need to do, then you should do it.” I want to encourage her, but not push her. “They will forgive you. Every single person in this Compound has fought off inner demons at some point in time.”
Aria has seen my inner demons with her own two eyes. My father and I don’t try to hide the fact we don’t get along. I don’t really give a fuck if people see it, but I want to protect Aria from my father. I don’t trust him enough to be sure he won’t send her packing, and if he does, I will have to make a choice. But there is no choice. My answer is her. It will always be her.
“Hunter.” Aria stops walking, and I turn to her. “It’s my fault that Axton is dead.”
I scoff. “What?”
“I should have told you that Isabella wanted Declan’s blood. Maybe if I had, Declan would have stayed, and Axton would still be alive.” Her voice is barely above a whisper.
I understand where she’s coming from, thinking that way, but the truth is, as much as that information would have been useful, it wouldn’t have mattered. The outcome would still have been the same.
I cup her cheeks. “Listen to me. It wouldn’t have made a difference. Isabella was going to get his blood one way or another, and my father wouldn’t have let Declan stay here, not with his healing ability. It is not your fault. Do you hear me? Isabella killed Axton, not you.”
“Yeah, but—”
“No. Aria, before Axton was killed, we thought Wolfsbane was just a myth made up to scare young pups into submission. Think about it this way. If we didn’t go, we would have never learned that. So, what then? She would have ended up storming the Compound, and not only would she have gotten what she wanted, but she would have used Wolfsbane on us, killing us all.”
“She can still do that,” Aria replies.
“She can try. We know about it now, so we can prepare.” I shrug. “Let’s just see what Luna says, and then we can go from there, okay?”
She inhales sharply. “Okay.”
Just then, headlights appear, and we see Luna’s car pulling in. I watch as she puts the car in park and open the link to Aria.
You ready?
Yes, Aria replies.
We both start making our way over to her car.
“Hi, Luna!” Aria greets her by the driver’s side door. “Did you have a nice trip?”
“Hello, honey. It’s good to see your bright, smiling face again. Yes, we had a lovely time.” Luna shuts the door and goes to the trunk while Zayne and Abby get out of the car.
“Here, let us help you with those
.” Zayne glances at me before walking Abby to the back of the car.
He hands her a suitcase, and while Luna is bent down into the trunk, he meets my gaze again and nods.
“Hey, Abs, let’s take this stuff back to your cabin. Then we can come back and grab the other things.” Zayne takes Abby’s bag.
“Okay.” Abby throws her purse over her shoulder as she and Zayne walk off.
Luna shuts the trunk and she finally notices I'm there. “Oh, sorry, Hunter. I didn’t see you standing there. Everything okay?”
“Actually, we have something we want to you to see. We found a vampire who follows Isabella and brought them back to my parents’ underground cellar. You think you could use some elemental magic for some added reinforcements? You’re the only one here that’s willing to go near it.” I take a breath, hoping that she’ll take the bait.
Witches sought refuge here to be protected from the vampires. Vampires are drawn to a witch’s blood, and when they drink it, they gain the witch’s ability for a short time. They can make the power permanent, but they would need another witch to cast a spell to get the powers to stick. A witch like Luna.
“Of course. Lead the way,” Luna says.
I lead us over to the cellar. If there’s one thing that Luna has always been protective over, it’s the witches. I see Bennett and Knox in the woods, but that’s common around these parts, so her seeing them close by wouldn’t raise an alarm. When we reach the worn cement steps that lead into the cellar, I go down first. Luna follows me, while Aria brings up the rear.
“Okay, where’s—” Luna starts to say.
Moving quickly, I grab the cuffs from my back pocket, reach for her hands, and slap them on her wrists.
“What is the meaning of this?” she asks as I shove her into the barred room and close the gate behind her.
Kat and Grace come out of the shadows and start working on their enchantment for the acid rain.
“I may have lied about the vampire part. But we do have a follower of Isabella locked down here.” I lift an accusing brow as Aria comes over and stands next to me.
Realization hits Luna like a slap in the face. She rushes forward and places her hands on the bars.
