Phoenixfall: A Reverse Harem Romance (The Rogue Witch Book 2)

by KT Strange

  "What was that?" I asked, still out of it but coming back to myself.

  "Keep your hand on the bite," Cash said, pulling his latex gloves off and packing away the small first aid kit the band kept in the van. "Pressure will help stop the bleeding."

  “He, uh, well, he tried to claim you but he kinda fucked it up," Finn said, sounding sheepish and nonchalant. A flare of anger sparked inside me for a moment, but I was too tired, and drained, to really act on it.

  The guys and I needed to have a serious talk about this claiming shit.

  "He got carried away. He's young—"

  "Not that young," Cash muttered, cutting Charlie off. "He's old enough to mate. Old enough to fight. Once Darcy's doing better, we need to give him the talk."

  Charlie rolled his eyes.

  "God not the talk."

  "Yes, the talk," Finn continued, nuzzling the top of my head as he pulled me into him. Slowly he was wrapping me up in the blanket, turning me into a Darcy-burrito. I didn't mind. The blanket was an old, worn quilt, the cotton soft after so many washings, and it felt good against my tingly, sensitive skin. Every part of me was alive. I wanted Ace. I curled my head under Finn's chin, breathing in his mint-scent so that could soothe me.

  "You're mine," I said, my eyes closing. I tapped my fingers in the soft hollow of his throat, then dragged them down to curl in the neckline of his shirt. "I'm okay with being yours, I want to be yours. Just gotta ask first."

  I wrinkled my nose when Finn jostled me, and then shifted me so I was laying between his legs, draped across his chest. That was nice. That was comfortable. He was so warm, and I let my eyes half-close as he and the other two talked, their voices a low, soft buzz in my ears.

  "We want you to be ours, sweetheart, and yeah, we do need to talk. We do need to work on this whole communication thing," Finn said after a few minutes as I drifted comfortably. My stomach rumbled, loud enough that Charlie snorted.

  "Sounds like someone's feeling better."

  "Had sex, want snacks," I said, then popped an eye open. Cash was watching me, a hunger in his eyes. He blinked, and it was gone. Maybe it hadn't ever been there and I was imagining things. Maybe he was thinking about cheeseburgers.

  "Get out the firewood," Cash said, slapping Charlie on the shoulder. "We need to eat, and there's some of those hot dog in the cooler."

  A hot dog sounded ah-mah-zing right about then. I lifted my head, sighing as Finn's hand rubbed up my back, his knuckles brushing my cheek as his fingers trailed up the un-injured side of my neck. The throbbing was fading.

  "Can I have like, three?" I asked. Charlie winked at me.

  "You get first dibs," he promised. "We even got stuff for s'mores."

  "Oh god, really?" I looked up at Finn and he smiled, tapping me on the nose.

  "Gonna feed you up, so you can heal and be all better," he murmured. "Might need to get you some turtlenecks for a few days."

  As Cash and Charlie went around to the trailer and pulled open the side door near the front of it where the camping gear and firewood was stashed, I rested against Finn and watched the fireflies wink in and out just beyond the door of the van.

  "One day we won't be camping out rough like this," Finn said, promise in his voice. "One day it's going to be five-star hotels, and steak every night, and—"

  "But I like this," I said, cutting him off. I settled into him. "The quiet. Just us, the pack together. It feels right."

  Finn let go of a breath, tangling his fingers in my hair as he held me close.

  "I knew there was a reason I loved you."

  "A reason?"

  He cleared his throat.

  "One extra reason," he amended.

  "Better."

  I felt the warmth of his breath on the top of my head, and he kissed my forehead, snuggling me tight.

  "So when we had sex, and you bit me..."

  "Uh, yeah." Finn tensed under me. "I didn't mean to. I just, you were mine, and I knew it, and my wolf instincts got the better of me. I wanted to claim you. I needed to claim you as my mate."

  "Just your mate?"

  "I don't need to be the only one to claim you," his voice was rough. "Wouldn't be right without the rest of the pack. We, all of us, we love you. Maybe we haven't all said it, but it's happening. You worked your way right under our skin, into our hearts, bit by bit. Didn't matter that we shouldn't have, cause of what we are, or who your family was. All that mattered was you."

  "Finn," I murmured, reaching up my hand to cup the side of his neck, needing to feel his skin under mine.

  "I love you Darcy. I didn't say it right the first time, treated it like it was a joke. I treat everything like it's a damn joke, and you're not. I nearly lost you—"

  "Shhhh," I hushed him with two fingers on his lips, shifting so I could look up at him in the face. "You are talking a lot of crap right now. We both made mistakes. All of us, we made mistakes. I should have talked to you guys, really talked to you instead of just guessing at what you were thinking." It felt good to get it all off my chest. Finn nodded slowly.

  "Sometimes it feels like you were made for us," he said. "No witch could be as understanding as you are."

  "I wish you were wrong about that last part," I replied. We fell quiet. Outside the van, Charlie cursed, and then there was the soft crackle of fire. Cash's laughter rang out. I was curious as to where we'd stopped. They'd said it was a BLM campground, or Bureau of Land Management, which meant the site was free, but usually didn't have things like running water, or even pit toilets. Which meant squatting in the grass. I was okay with that. Being away from civilization could only be a good thing, avoiding hunters, avoiding people. Just being with the pack. I squirmed to sit up and Finn let me.

  "I need clothes," I said after a moment. "Can you pass me my bag?" Finn extricated himself from behind me and passed me the backpack I'd picked up for my new purchases from the shopping trip. I dug around for some un-ripped underwear, a soft t-shirt and some loose PJ pants. Post-sex comfort and snacks was a really important thing for me, I was discovering. Finn watched me as I got dressed.

  "No bra?" he asked.

  "Seemed to give Ace trouble," I said, "so I figured I'd go without one in case he wanted to try again. I don't want to discourage him."

  A grin split Finn's face.

  "Am I allowed to tease him about that?"

  "Absolutely not."

  "I might anyway."

  "I'll zap you if you do," I threatened, although we both knew that would never happen. The idea of me pointing my out of control powers at any of the guys was an empty threat. Finn reached out to hug me close, his hand sliding up my waist, around my ribs.

  "I think I like this no-bra thing," he murmured, his fingers cupping my breast through the soft cotton blend of my shirt. I tried not to squeak, and instead wriggled away from him, slipping my feet into a pair of flip-flops that I kept for quick jumps out of the van when we would stop. Finn followed me out, wrapping his hoodie around my shoulders. His scent surrounded me, and I sighed as I padded over to the fire-pit where Charlie was crouched. Cash stood and was whittling down the points on a few long sticks for roasting.

  "You wanna sit?" Cash pointed to a stump with his knife. I sat with a sigh, tugging Finn's hoodie sleeves down over my hands. The night sky above was sprinkled with stars. Finn opened up the cooler and pulled out a can of soda for me, cracking the top before handing it to me. I took a sip, the first burning sensation of cold carbonation on my tongue waking me up more.

  "Eli and Ace will be back soon," Charlie said, as he added another log to the fire. The heat fanned over me as the smoke curled and puffed up toward the open sky. I let out a long, contented breath and hunched forward, holding my empty hand to the flames. Finn passed Cash a few hotdogs and, in moments, the two of them were roasting our dinner over the fire. The scent of sizzling meat filled the air around us, and a feeling of absolute comfort settled over my shoulders.

  This was home. This was as it should be. Maybe
it wasn't a five-star hotel, but that didn't matter. Charlie went back to the van and returned with an old, battered acoustic. Finn smiled at the sight of it.

  "Let's call them back," Charlie said as he sat down on a low, horizontal log near the fire. His fingers dusted over the strings, twisting the tuning pegs. When he hit the strings all at once, the guitar sang out. The trees around our campsite seemed to shiver in response to the music. His fingers set into a slow pattern, picking across the strings. The silvery noise of them washed over me. Cash's free fingers drummed on the side of his thigh, keeping a slow beat in time with Charlie's strumming. Finn started humming, and when Charlie's plucking turned into a fuller, round sound, Finn's lips parted, and he started singing. It was a soft, cut down version of a song I'd heard on their record, but I'd never seen them perform it live.

  "Do you remember those days, we'd sit and talk about our plans to get away," Finn sang, his voice low and rough. "We just had to get away. Hop on a plane and just go, through pink horizons, chase our dreams across the sky..." Cash reached for Finn's roasting stick when Finn sat back on the rounded mound of a boulder, his eyes closing as his voice floated, haunting on the air.

  "Now the only thing that's left to do is leave you. But I think you know I'd never truly leave you." Finn's face was flushed from the fire, the orange and yellow light licking over the flop of his blond hair as it curved over his forehead. My heart pulsed and I sat forward. It was like watching something magical take place. It was magic. I felt the call in his voice, something deep down, and it tugged at me, begged me to go to him. It was his magic, the magic that pulsed through his veins, calling out to me.

  He took a deep breath, his hands fisting on his knees.

  "I'll never let you go, I need you by my side. Cling to the memories and cherish our goodbyes. We're a long, long way from all we know, but through it all I'm not alone," his voice half-sobbed into the air, soaring above Charlie's guitar as the chorus grew into itself, filling the small clearing and almost drowning out the crackling fire. I couldn't look away. I was rooted in place, not breathing, staring at Finn. "Through it all, I'm not alone," he repeated, "You... are my home." His shoulders sagged for a moment. Charlie's fingers kept up, the guitar's warm tones giving me a beat to breathe to again.

  A crackle in the brush behind me, and the sound of feet over rocky ground, made us all look up.

  Eli stood there, one arm around Ace.

  Ace's face was wet, his eyes red-rimmed. My hand was up, reaching out to him, before I could even think. He came to me, pulling me off my seat and up into a hard, tight embrace. His face burrowed into my shoulder and he shook. The sound of Charlie's guitar playing faded behind the beat of Ace's heart against my chest, and the soft huff of his breaths on my neck.

  “I love you,” Ace’s voice was broken and muffled into the fabric of Finn’s hoodie.

  “It’s okay, Ace.” My fingers threaded through the hair on the back of his neck. He shuddered. I felt another hand run along my spine, and then Finn was pressing into me, his arms going around both me and Ace at once. The warmth of both of them filled me, from top to bottom, and I relaxed.

  “We got you, Ace,” Finn whispered. “We got you.”

  Twenty-Five

  Darcy

  Two days passed, the warmth surrounding me at night as Finn and Ace bunked down with me in the back of the van. It was a tight squish, but nothing was more comfortable than waking up surrounded by shirtless, sleepy guys. By day, we went swimming in the river, roasted more food over the fire, and I tried to keep control of my girly-bits whenever one of the guys walked by shirtless.

  When we finally left the campground, it was with heavy regret in my heart. Time alone, without the pressure and stress looming over us had been the best gift I could ever ask for. Work hadn't stopped, not really. For the band's part, we’d filmed a few acoustic covers around the campfire, and I was super grateful to Chelsea because she’d retweeted each one. Chrissy back at XOhX headquarters had even texted me to say how glad she was that I was back on board and doing an awesome job managing everything.

  “Chels is the nicest person,” I said as I leaned back against Ace, my feet propped up on Finn’s lap. I was sitting sidewise in the back of the van, the fresh breeze filtering through with all the windows cracked. I scrolled through the band Twitter feed. We were getting more mentions, hearts, and re-tweets than ever. The Instagram was pretty crazy too. “She keeps promoting you, and things are starting to get a bit crazy.”

  “Willa told me our record sales are up,” Charlie said. “We’ve moved more than five hundred units in the last week alone.” I jerked my head up, sitting forward in surprise. Ace’s hand wrapped around my waist to keep me in place.

  “Seriously? Five hundred?” That was huge for a small band. Most bands didn’t even break a couple hundred. To do five hundred in a week?

  “More than.” Charlie tapped at his phone and then held it out for me to see the screen. “They want to push the single to radio right away, with one of the bigger trackers than they’d wanted to use before. They want to use Sam Actually.”

  I exhaled. Sam Actually was the business name of Sam Desmond, one of the top radio trackers in the country. He was known for breaking the biggest stars in radio, and convincing program directors at radio around the country to take a chance on the most risky of tracks. If Sam Desmond wanted to push Phoenixcry… I tried not to think about it. Too many butterflies in my stomach would take flight. Sam Desmond was big-leagues, major-label-big-leagues.

  “There’s even talk of uh, some incentive,” Charlie continued. He licked his lip. Finn caught his eyes and looked over at Cash, who was sitting in the front with Eli.

  “Incentive? Are they talking what I think they’re talking about?” Finn shifted as he spoke, putting his fingers on the tops of my bare feet, rubbing over them to warm them. The breeze was a tiny bit cool on my skin and I smiled at him.

  “Pay-oh-la,” Cash drawled. “Good ol’ filthy greenbacks. If they don’t want to play our track because they believe in it, they’ll play it cause they just got wired ten grand.”

  Payola was illegal. Super illegal. The practice of paying off radio programmers to get them to spin certain tracks. It was not just illegal, but crazy frowned on by the rest of the industry. I couldn’t believe that the label was even discussing it openly enough with the band that Charlie was being told about it.

  “Well they might not have to, if our numbers keep surging,” Charlie said.

  “I’ll talk to Willa,” Eli’s voice broke into our discussion. “We’re not letting them do that. We’ll grow on our own merit, not because Troy decided to shove tens of thousands of dollars toward a bunch of radio programmers.”

  The van was silent for a moment and Charlie sighed.

  “Sounds good to me. Troy might not like it—"

  “I’ll talk to Willa,” I said. This needed to be handled delicately, especially if Troy was going to get pissy over the band standing up to him. Ace hugged me and kissed my cheek, nuzzling me after.

  "Are you scent-marking me?"

  "Uh huh," he said without shame. I rolled my eyes and Finn chuckled.

  "You're gonna smell like all of us, and any other wolf we run into is going to know you belong to Phoenix pack," he said.

  "Phoenix pack?"

  "Each pack is named after one of the mythical creatures," Finn explained, his voice lilting into what I'd taken to calling his 'storyteller' voice. He did it sometimes, Eli too. Cash rarely. Charlie and Ace never. I wondered if it was something to do with their ages, and also the fact that Eli and Finn were sort of the de-facto leaders of the pack. "Supposedly, back before I was alive, and long before my grandparents were alive, the mythical creatures were sort of like our guardians, and we were their warriors, sort of." He shrugged. "I don't know much about it. The phoenix was our symbol, our guardian, so..."

  “So, you were called Phoenix pack. And I'm guessing that's where the band name came from." I stretched, putti
ng my bare toes down on the carpet and searched around for my socks. We'd be at the venue soon. Another load-in, soundcheck, and all of that, with the added lick of danger of possibly running into hunters. Max had gotten back to me that she hadn't heard anything from Craig, which both worried and reassured me. At least he was staying far-the-fuck away from her. Nothing was stopping him and his group of hunters from tracking us down to this venue, since the list of tour dates was publicly available pretty much everywhere there was social media.

  I was trying not to think about it too much.

  "We're traditionalists," Charlie explained as Eli flicked the turn-signal on. "Oh shit." Charlie sat forward in his seat and I looked up. My jaw dropped.

  A crowd stretched out along the sidewalks, spilling over, and police officers were everywhere. I picked up my replacement phone, a new Samsung, and opened the app that held our tour book detailing everything about each venue.

  The venue held three thousand, one of the biggest shows on the tour. But the crowd had to be at least five hundred kids already, if not more, and it wasn't even noon. Beside me, Finn ducked his head down, staring out the window.

  "That for us or is there someone throwing out free money on the street?" he asked weakly.

  "It's for us, or well, us, Glory Rev, and Chelsea Sawyer," Eli said. I glanced at him. His fingers were white on the steering wheel, and I wondered if he was nervous about the possibility of hunters in that crowd. My stomach was turning over at the thought. “Shows blowing up, I guess.”

  Ace pressed his face to the glass.

  "Plus side, is all the cops." Cash eyed up a cop who was controlling traffic, signaling for Eli to stop before turning. "Hunters are gonna have a hard time jumping us at this show."

  "Oh, I'm sure they'll try," Charlie said, sounding cheerful. "And I fucking welcome it. We kicked ass, especially with our little lightning bug back there." He jerked his head toward the back seat where I was curled up between Ace and Finn. I rolled my eyes.