by KT Strange
Eli didn’t back down, looking at me steadily.
“Sometimes you spark up when you want us to remember that you’re a witch, and we’re werewolves, so we know our place in this relationship,” he said, his words hitting me like a physical blow. I felt dizzy, sick.
“I do not,” I shot back. “I can’t control it! It just happens!”
“Just like Daria coming here, interfering.”
“She helped you, you ungrateful asshole!” My insult bounced right off him like I hadn’t said anything at all. Finn was on his feet, Cash right behind him. I held up my hand. “No,” I said, “he wants to be an ass, then let him open his mouth and inform us, uninterrupted, of what a dick he is.”
Eli glared at me.
“How many times are you going to let your past come back to haunt us, Darcy?” he asked. My vision tinged red and I had to take a deep breath before I fried him right where he stood.
That feeling inside frightened me, the thought that I would even consider hurting him. I took a step back, shaking my head.
“I can’t with you right now,” I whispered, and then turned and ran from the room.
Twenty-Three
Elias
I had it coming.
Finn’s fist connected with my jaw.
I snarled, reeling back before I whipped my leg around, knocking him to the ground. Cash was on me in the next second, arms wrapping around my waist. He took me down, growling deep in his throat.
Finn swore. Ace had grabbed him, pulling him back so he wouldn’t lunge for me again. Cash stared down at me, hot anger in his eyes.
“What the fuck was that?” He demanded. “The fuck you say those shitty things to her? I’m not any more comfortable having her little witch buddy stay here, but what the fuck, Elias?” Cash pulled back, kneeling on the ground a foot away.
I felt Finn’s gaze on me, hot and angry.
“See, you’re the favorite twin again now,” I said to my brother, ignoring the flash of hurt on his face. We shared. That’s what we did. It had never been a problem. I’d held myself back on Darcy because that had been my choice, not because of him. From the beginning, Finn would have welcomed me in her bed as readily as any of the other guys.
“I’ve heard some pretty ridiculous bullshit, but you picking a fight with Darcy so that she and Finn would stop sniping at each other is about as stupid as it comes,” Ace said, and I glared at him.
“You think you’re going to tell me how it is?” I asked, sitting up.
“Yeah. I am.” Ace’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not a pup anymore, Eli. Last I checked, I have an equal voice in this pack, the same as any of us do. You think you can hold yourself apart from us, away from her, to keep the pack safe. You think that holding back, not loving her the way you want to, makes you more level-headed.”
Charlie coughed. “Preach,” he said.
“It doesn’t. Keeping her at arm’s length makes you the stupidest of all of us. It hurts her and weakens the pack. Every time she gets close, you hurt her so she’ll pull away.” Ace’s stare, hot and angry, had me frozen right where I was. A shaky voice inside me wondered where he’d be, what would have happened if Phoenixpack had not been almost completely slaughtered. Would he have been the head of his own pack, alpha in his own right? Mated to someone other than Darcy, with different pack-mates making up his immediate family?
“Well,” I grunted, not ready to admit he was right.
“I’m mad neither of you told us about fighting a damn dragon, but I don’t need your help in the relationship department, pal.” Finn got to his feet and bumped his shoulder against Ace’s. “The rest of you fuckers took your time coming around to the realization that that woman in there is the best damn thing to ever happen to us. I knew as soon as I saw her, that she’d change us for the better. So would you stop fighting it, already? We’ve got enough people on the outside of this pack looking to destroy us, and we’re doing their job for them.”
“Hey,” Charlie said weakly, “at least I bonded her. Eli had her all to himself for a week, playing hide and seek with the cops, and he didn’t have the balls to seal the deal. I may have waited, but I did bond-mark her.”
“Yeah, on her thigh,” Cash snorted. “Now every time I eat her out-"
“Alright.” I held up my hand, not needing that mental image to add horny as fuck to the list of emotions I was feeling. “I’ll go apologize.” I got up.
Ace walked toward me and grabbed me hard by the shoulder, his blue eyes dark.
“You need to stop,” he said, determination in his voice. “Stop.”
Our eyes locked.
“Let go,” I said, my voice soft, the warning in it clear. His hand dropped.
“Daria can sleep in with Max,” Ace said. “This apartment’s big enough to have an extra guest, right?”
“Well I’ll agree just so I can be on the opposite side of the argument as that guy,” Cash said, jerking a thumb toward me. “Text Max and tell her to buy an air mattress or something.”
“There’s gotta be one here,” Charlie mused. I ignored them as I left the room. There was one place that Darcy would go to.
I found her, sitting at the windows, staring out. She heard me enter our bedroom, her shoulders stiffening, even though she didn’t look back at me.
“I owe you an apology,” I said before I could say anything else stupid. Ace’s words had gotten under my skin. He wasn’t exactly right, but he wasn’t exactly wrong, either.
“Sometimes sorry isn’t good enough.” Darcy shifted, turning to look at me over her shoulder. Her eyes were dry, and I was grateful I hadn’t made her cry. “That was bullshit. What you said in there?” She shook her head. “Not okay, Eli. I would never, ever use my powers to threaten you, or abuse you.” She pushed herself up off the ground, and my eyes fell to where her throat tightened as she swallowed. “How can we be this close, and you still not trust me?”
I let my eyes fall shut and I sighed.
“It’s hard to put it into words.”
“Well I think you owe us, the whole pack, to try.”
I heard her walk toward me. Her hands were cool as she wrapped her fingers around my wrists and I opened my eyes.
It hurt to look at her this close. She was so beautiful, even with all the anger and pain in her eyes. Her hands slid up my arms, cresting my shoulders.
I didn’t deserve her.
I hadn’t properly said I was sorry.
I didn’t deserve her forgiveness.
She leaned up, standing on her toes.
Her lips brushed along my jaw, and a shiver threatened to roll through my body. Instead I grabbed her by the waist.
“Eli—”
I cut her off with a kiss, pulling her up into my arms, pressing her solidly against my chest. This is what made sense. This, I could do. Words came out wrong. How I could make her feel with my hands on her body was something she could never misunderstand.
This was where I’d never fuck up.
She sank down onto the nearby bed as I crawled over her, running my fingers up her body, feeling her tremble as my touch grew heavier.
“Sex is a bad way to deal with problems,” she whispered to me.
“I’m the problem, and this is a good way to handle me,” I said, and a sad smile cracked across her lips. I caught her in another kiss, my mouth hot as it found her neck, the pulse of her heartbeat.
“I made mistakes too,” her voice was hushed, gasping as I licked along her skin. She tasted so good, the crackle of her power on my tongue, the scent of fresh air right after the rain seeming to glow out of every inch of her. She had no idea what she did to me, driving me insane until I couldn’t think straight. “I, Eli—”
“Please,” I sounded husky in my own ears, “shhhh.” I ghosted my fingers over her lips. It didn’t matter. Whatever she’d done, pushing my limits, it didn’t matter. Her mouth was like plush velvet, and when her lips parted I let my fingertips slide between them.
Her
eyes met mine, her tongue slipping up over my fingers. I groaned, wanting to feel her hot mouth on my cock. This wasn’t about me, though. This moment was about reminding her that I loved all of her, even when her past caught us by surprise, or when her powers flared up.
I was hard in my jeans.The heat throbbed in my groin. She shifted under me, her hips arching up.
“Let’s get you naked,” I said as I dragged my fingers down her lips and along her jaw. I was rewarded by the prettiest blush spreading across her cheeks. She looked down and away, her lashes thick. I tucked my fingers under her chin, tilting her head so she had to look at me. Her eyes were dark with need.
Whatever she wanted, she’d get. I kissed her again, feeling her relax under me. I helped her out of her shirt, wanting to rip her bra right off of her.
“Eli.” She swallowed hard and then didn’t seem to know what else to say. I let my touch speak for both of us, thumbing along the swell of her breasts, dragging the cups of her bra down. She exhaled, chest rising and falling. Her nipples were tight, and I smirked when I flicked one, making her moan.
“Is this what you want?” I asked, grinding my hips down into hers, loving the way she answered me with a slow roll of her hips. “Me taking care of you like this?”
She let out a little huff of air.
“I want… like before.”
I looked up at her. Her cheeks were turning redder.
“Like in the field. When you held me down.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Oh yeah?” I palmed one of her breasts, watching her writhe as my rough skin teased her sensitive flesh. “You want me to make you do what I want you to do?”
She bit her lip and glanced away.
“Darcy,” I ordered, commanding her to look at me. She obeyed with another huff and a wriggle of her hips.
I sat back, kneeling on the bed beside her legs.
“Bra off,” I said, “lose the jeans too.” Her mouth dropped open like she was about to protest, but then thought better of it. She wasted no time, kicking her jeans down her legs. They ended up somewhere off the end of the bed, and I took a moment to admire the smooth curve of her thighs, the warm skin of her calves as I stroked them. “Spread your legs.”
I wanted her in her panties. I wanted to see her expression shift when I ripped them off.
Leaning over her, I lowered my voice, wanting to know if the timbre of it made her jump, or freeze in place,
“You did wrong today, Darcy, letting your power go like that,” I said. Her muscles twitched, and her eyes were wide.
“I—”
Crack!
My hand slapped against her thigh and she jerked, inhaling sharply.
“No explanations. You’ll listen for the first time in your life.” I rubbed the spot I’d hit, soothing the skin before spanking her there again. “You keep letting your temper get the best of you. What’re you going to do when a mundane sees you light up like that?”
I dragged my hands up her hips.
“You think we’ll always be around to protect you? To keep you safe? We’re not with you every second of the day.” I watched her carefully. I wanted to push her, but not hurt her, not make her feel bad, not really. Yeah she needed to sort her shit out and get her magic under control, but I never wanted to hurt her. Just push her boundaries.
“I didn’t mean to,” she whispered. I gave her a look and she shut her mouth so fast that I heard her teeth click together.
“Darcy.”
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Crack!
My hand stung from the force of the smack, and she cried out, her hips jerking away. Grabbing her by the waist, I flipped her over.
She was shivering.
Possessiveness, and desire, roared up inside of me. My hand came down over the naked curve of her ass. Her spine went straight and her toes curled; she made a noise that was half moan, half curse.
“Light up once, and it’ll be five times worse,” I warned her, drawing my palm away only to spank her again. “Time you learn some damn discipline.”
My hand marked her ass, spanking down hard over the curve of it, along her thighs, until she was gasping and tensing up each time I lifted my palm from her body.
Hand prints bloomed pink, red in places where they overlapped.
The sound of a cleared throat in the doorway made me look up. Cash leaned there, smirking.
“This a private show?” he asked. “Or can player 3 enter the room?”
Face-down and quivering, Darcy groaned at his terrible joke.
“C’mon and give me a hand. Or her a hand. That’ll work too.”
Darcy lifted her head at my words, making a questioning noise. Cash sighed, tugging his shirt off as he walked to the bed.
“Looks like somebody’s been bad,” he teased as he flopped on the bed beside her. He ran a finger along the curve of her ass, making her flinch. “Pretty. I like you in pink.”
“Don’t praise her. She hasn’t earned it yet.”
“Aw shit, you hear that sweetheart? The boss says you gotta earn your praise.” Cash chuckled. “I got an idea of how you can earn a little praise.” He reached down to his zipper.
“Cash did you a favor today—”
“Are you for fucking real?” Darcy growled. “Letting Daria stay here was not doing me a—”
Her words cut off with a shriek when I spanked her harder than before, my hand grabbing her ass-cheek, letting my fingers dig into her soft skin.
“Help Darcy stay quiet, Cash.”
He laughed, softly, and stroked a hand over her cheek, before wrapping his hand around the back of her neck.
“C’mere, doll,” he said, shoving his jeans down one-handed. “Let’s put that pretty mouth to better use than sassing us.” She made an indignant noise, but it was half-hearted at best, an eager hitch to her breathing when he pulled out the length of his cock.
He groaned when her mouth brushed over the head of it, his hand guiding her.
I let my own gaze fall over her body, where her underwear pressed into her hips. I stroked her there, watching her shiver, her muscles twitching. The wet noises of her sucking Cash off were making me painfully hard, but I wasn’t ready to let her off the hook that easy by just fucking her and getting it over with. No. She wanted to be told what to do. She wanted more than that, even if she didn’t have the words to say it.
And whatever Darcy wanted, she was going to get.
Twenty-Four
Darcy
Cash’s fingers were tight in my hair, tangled in the loose curls. He murmured soft encouragements under his breath as my tongue slicked up the length of his cock. He might have thought he was keeping me quiet, but I wanted this with him. There was something powerful in feeling all his tense, coiled muscles underneath me as I made him feel good, a sort of twisted control that I had over him. He may have been holding me, but I had him.
Eli’s hands smoothed over the sore skin of my ass, the mattress dipping under his weight as he moved over me.
“You keep sparking up at us,” Eli’s words were heated and I paused, lifting my gaze to Cash’s face as Eli spoke. “I’m starting to think maybe Wolfe didn’t train you properly. But this is something I’d never let him do to you.”
Cash groaned.
“Fuck Wolfe, can we not talk about that blood-sucking fucker.” His head tipped back and his thumb dragged around my cheek, pulling my mouth open. “C’mon, baby girl, stop teasing.”
Eli’s fingers slid into the waistband of my panties and tugged them down. The skin was hot, on the edge of sore, and I squirmed.
“Are you teasing him, Darcy?” His voice was a quiet threat.
I shivered and shook my head.
“I think you are. I think you’re going to do what you want, and keep pushing past any boundaries we set for you.” He palmed the sensitive skin of my ass, before his hand went away.
I tensed right before the hit, crying out and pressing my face into Cash’s thigh
as heat radiated outward, down my legs, spooling in my stomach. Cash pulled on my hair.
“Look at him when I punish you,” Eli said. Meeting Cash’s gaze was almost more painful than Eli paddling my ass until I squirmed. Cash’s eyes were half-lidded, a knowing smile twisting his lips. He knew how much this was turning me on, and we’d barely done anything.
“I want her up here. Come up here for me, sweetheart.” Cash let go of my hair, and grabbed my forearm, his fingers circling it easily. I had no choice, shifting along his body. His jeans chafed my thighs, and his cock laying thick and hard against my stomach. “I’m going to fuck you while he teaches you a lesson. Maybe we can get you to stop lighting up the room if you learn how to focus on one thing while being distracted.”
“That sounds like the absolute worst way to learn how to control my magic— ah!”
I jerked forward from the thwack of Eli’s hand across my ass, hitting both cheeks at once. He grabbed my hips and pulled me up. Cash put one arm behind his head, the picture of a relaxed and smug jerk, and casually stroked the length of his cock with his other hand.
“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it,” he teased, his eyes traveling down my body. “Those panties are in the way, Eli.”
“Deal with it yourself,” Eli retorted, holding me tight, slowly lowering me onto Cash’s dick, until the head of it brushed my wet skin through my panties. I closed my eyes as Cash groaned.
“Soaked already. Every damn time.”
I could feel Cash’s fingers tease me; the lightest touch had me holding my breath. He dragged his knuckles up and down along my slit before gripping the front of my underwear.
“Please,” I said, “let me just—” my words cut off with a gasp when he shredded my panties with a jerk of his wrist. Eli kissed the side of my neck.
“If you didn’t wear any, we wouldn’t have this problem,” he said into the shell of my ear. Cash snickered, petting my hip in silent apology before stealing my breath again with his next move. He pumped two fingers into me without warning, then three. I tensed. If Eli hadn’t been holding me tight, I would have pulled away, even though it felt so good.
