Silver disks spun between Mischief’s hands, sparkling in the dark. Then he pulled back and shot the disks at my head.
CHAPTER EIGHT
I screamed, as Mischief’s silver sizzled down from the roof through the dark night, screwing shut my eyes against the flare. Moon’s knuckles swept across my lips like he could catch the attack in the palm of his hand; he tasted of sweet popcorn.
When the light no longer haloed my eyelids, however, I cautiously cracked open my eyes again.
Above the garden, Mischief’s silver had fizzled away to a weak spluttering that flickered from his fingers. He shook his hand like it was just a dodgy connection, which would ignite again. At last, he dropped his hands into fists. “Oh, well, that was embarrassing.”
Huh, so even gods had performance issues.
“So, the crazy angel mage attacks me again.” I licked the back of Moon’s hand in thanks, and he traced his finger against my lips, before glowering up at the roof. Boy, had he just had an intensive lesson in why you should never meet your gods. “Maybe I’m guessing why my aunt would’ve killed you.”
“There shall be no killing of my Mischief or any of our family.” Ramiel scrambled to his feet, whilst cocooning his wings around Mischief. Our family? Why did I flush with such warmth at that? “And you…?” Mischief attempted to smother his yelp in Ramiel’s feathers like he hadn’t just been spanked across the ass; his cool mask slipped beneath the blush. “Why can you not set aside your suspicions for my adopted mother, even though you insist that I deserve not to be condemned as an Addict?”
I grimaced. “Can we just drop the whole mom thing?”
“Because you don’t deserve condemnation,” Mischief’s voice was serious, whilst his gaze met mine and he tensed for another smack, “and whether the Wolf Charmer deserves to be trusted depends to be seen, including whether she violates her own wolf.”
I blanched. “Hey, no violating here. I’m only into willing partners, like, seriously enthusiastic—”
Moon’s lips quirked. “We’re not talking about in bed, Crimson, although please do let’s hear some more about these seriously enthusiastic partners…”
I swiped his arm. “Screw you, and that’s not an invitation.”
Mischief snickered.
“We mean shifting,” Moon supplied, hovering his fingers over his collar. His gaze was hopeful, even as he bit his lip. “Will you not understand what a violation it is to force a shift? The daft god up there,” he nodded at Mischief, who inclined his head like it hadn’t been an insult (I should’ve known that my rebel Omega wouldn’t be the type to go in for worship, so it was lucky that my mage god wasn’t the type to demand it), “was only magically cock blocking you from ruining something sacred. Let my first shift with you be on the full moon and my choice, please.”
I ran my fingers through Moon’s curls, before wrenching back his head; he gasped. “You know what would be my choice? That I hadn’t had to come back to the house my parents were murdered in, losing my new home and friends. Also, my choice? Not to start a new family with a wolf, angel, god, and whatever the hell Zetta is, whilst being turned into a diplomat who has to stop a war with the beasts that I’m the most frightened of and will probably kill me when they guess that tomorrow. So, don’t talk to me about choice because when did I get a say?”
Whoa, where did that rant burst from?
At last, Moon gave a small nod: it was all the permission, for which I was waiting. I let go of his hair, whilst my crimson coiled through his collar, thrilling at the shocking intimacy, as I forced myself deeper inside him. He turned away, curling his arms across himself, and his eyelashes matted wet. Then he arched once and exploded in a shower of silver into a large white wolf.
How was it possible for him to be even more sinfully beautiful in his wolf form, than he was as a man?
Moon whined, immediately dropping onto his front in a crouch before me, whilst his silky ears flattened to his head. His eyes glowed, as he peeked at me through butterfly thick lashes…and lash envy had to be a thing. The moonlight glittered over the strands of his white fur, and his golden claws gleamed like jewels.
I’d expected terror, disgust, horror, but I hadn’t been expecting the shiver at his majesty, or the smug possessiveness that he was my Charm.
Nope, there was no way that werewolves were simply savages. Moon could’ve been more fae than wolf.
I dropped to my knees, slipping my arms around his neck, desperate to stroke away his distressed whines and to touch the softness of his fur. I shuddered at the sensation of it beneath my fingers, even as I remembered the wolf pelt on my bed and Moon’s distress when he’d seen it, which transformed him from urging me to claim him to jerking away from my touch. Hey, could I blame him? It’d once been a wolf just like him… So too had the Omega who’d saved me on the night of my parent’s murder.
I shook my head, whilst memories flashed through me of white fur, along with the fangs that’d stained my white dress red as they’d caught me (after I’d run away from the carnage of the ballroom), and dragged me up the staircase. I’d wriggled free, running to my parents’ bedroom, before the same wolf had nudged me into the wardrobe. I’d trembled, trapped inside, whilst outside wolves had howled and fought.
Over me.
In the midst of the massacre, that Omega had saved my life, before my aunt and her coven had arrived to discover me inside the wardrobe, holding onto my mom’s cape.
I quivered, forcing my breathing to calm. Moon’s shift had triggered my memories, but he didn’t frighten me. I rested my chin on his head, and he settled too. My crimson swirled around us, caressing his fur and twitching at his tail, whilst he whimpered in pleasure. Moon had always been sensitive but in his wolf form, he shook at the lightest touch, especially to his tail.
I wished that this transformation had been his choice because I got how close a Wolf Charmer could be with her Charm, but not with his unnatural shift. I could feel the collar and the way that it controlled him, thrumming through his magic.
So, the whole violation thing had been a dick move.
“You weren’t being a drama queen about the control I have over you,” I murmured. Moon pressed his ears tighter to his head, but I circled my thumbs over them until he relaxed. “I promise that I won’t use it more than I have to, however, if you promise to realize that you are my Charm. This isn’t just tradition, you can feel it, right?” Moon blinked up at me with a yip. “I don’t give a damn about the other witchy rules, except that you’re mine.”
“By my fangs, true romance isn’t dead.” The sultry voice bit out dryly from the shadows of the woodland, before barking with laughter. “Your speech wasn’t quite Gone with the Wind, but that’s to be expected when your generation learns its moves from 50 Shades of Grey.”
“My generation, grandpa? It sounds to me like you should be tucked up in bed by now.” I pushed myself up, whilst winding my fingers around Moon’s collar.
Moon growled, and his fur bristled.
“May I request that you retreat inside the house?” Mischief called from the roof, whilst Ramiel’s wings burst wide. “That’s no grandpa but a…”
The vampire broke the treeline, stalking across the lawns towards me like this was his mansion and I was the one squatting in his garden.
Yeah, that’s the third thing that you learned when you were born into the House of Silver: Vampires were real but were actually Fallen angels locked in a civil war with the original angels, making them our enemies. Honestly, witches collected enemies like empty wine bottles.
And why did they all have to be so divinely hot?
The vampire wore tight leather trousers, and his large gray wings burst out of a slashed punk military jacket in rainbow colors like he was trying to recapture the daytime. His ebony skin was velvety, and his eyes had no right to look so soft and sexy, at the same time as his fangs gleamed and his steel claws flexed. When he swiped his tongue across his lips, I noticed the silver piercing
on its tip. That’d make kissing werewolves like in my dream interesting, unless wolves liked a little pain mixed in with their pleasure…?
I shook myself. The vampire’s fangs were for tearing out our throats not love bites, no matter how charming he appeared. Stella had warned about these temptations and how pretty the other side would look and talk.
When my shadows wound through me, I attempted to blast them at the stranger, but instead, they only shifted anxiously inside. Stella wanted me to learn my powers hands on. I guessed that tonight would be when the reality bit me in the ass that my crimson only worked on wolves.
I hated the sensation of being helpless. Was this what Moon felt like as my Charm?
“Pray, are you waiting for another one of your orgasmic texts?” Mischief hissed. “Go inside at once.”
My eyes narrowed, as I took a step backwards, hauling Moon with me towards the house.
“The bossy angel is right.” The vampire pushed his hands into the pockets of his trousers, whilst Mischief stretched his wings wide in outrage. “But you wouldn’t make it before I reached you. Me? I’m fast. Oh, and I’m also Dual, the Fallen Duke.”
I hesitated, glancing between Dual and the house. Then I squared my shoulders, turning back to Dual.
So, he was a vampire duke? I was a Wolf Charmer and a witch, and he’d turned up at my house. Why should I be the one to run?
Although, my pulse pounded harder at the little smile Dual gave as I turned back, like he was pleased by my choice. “Me? I’m a Wolf Charmer, and this is my wolf.” Moon growled on cue. “So, put away your fangs because his are bigger than yours.”
Dual only sauntered closer with a sway of his hips. “It’s not the size that counts, it’s what you do with them.” His smile widened to reveal even more fang, but then he sighed and his fangs retracted. “Better?” He slunk even closer, and I stiffened. “Blood and bones, I’m flattered by your belief in my courage, but it’s not as if I’d come alone to a Wolf Charmer’s house…”
I gasped, clutching even tighter to Moon’s collar, as three more vampires prowled from the trees.
Dual smirked. “Sorry, the minions are a cliché, but I am their Duke, and your family aren’t known for their talk before beheading policy with my kind.”
“You know, I can’t see why,” I gritted out.
Dual lay his hand over his heart. “And I thought that we were having a moment. Moonlight, two beautiful people, threats of violence…”
“Just tell me why your punk ass is here.”
He cocked his head, and his braids that were threaded with rainbow beads clicked. “I wanted to see if the new Wolf Charmer was as hot as I kept hearing.” I flushed, jerking back as he reached out to stroke my cheek. “Also, if you were still a bitch like all the others.” He glanced down at my hand on Moon’s collar with a frown. “Your wolf’s still leashed, so I guess that I have my answer there too.”
My flush darkened. I craved for Dual to turn that small smile on me again, rather than his disapproving frown. But why should I care how he looked at me? He was right: My parents would’ve killed him the moment that he walked out onto the lawn, wouldn’t they? Except, I only had the sketchiest idea of why. Simply because he had fangs and the angels didn’t?
Did he kill humans?
“Do you drink blood?” I blurted.
Dual’s eyebrow raised so high that I thought it might float off his forehead. “In some circles, questions like that would be considered rude.” Then he leaned close enough for his warm breath to ghost across my cheek. “Blood is more delicious than anything but the feel of a hot body beneath my lips…its taste is heavenly.” Holy hell, a vampire was talking so seductively of feasting on blood that my legs wanted to buckle beneath me, yet did that make him a killer? Then he chuckled, as his arm snaked around me. “And I only drink from Blood Lovers who give themselves to me more than willingly.”
I shoved him back. “Hands off, I’m not your Blood Lover.”
Dual sighed, running his tongue across his lips again; I was mesmerized by the glint of silver. “Pity. I’ve never tasted a Wolf Charmer before.”
“What a shame because you shall certainly never taste this one.” Mischief struggled to raise his foot off the roof, where the wards trapped him. “It’s interesting how you would risk coming to the House of Silver, you insufferable arrogant Fallen, unless what motivates you is not courage but rather fear.”
“Fear?” Dual snarled, pointing at Mischief. “Two angels who appear glued to the roof, a shifter trapped in wolf form, and a witch who knows nothing.” He laughed. “I’ve never felt less afraid at a witch’s house. Maybe I shall discover what you taste like, angel.”
Ramiel stepped in front of Mischief, whilst he grew in size, and his expression became fierce. Ramiel swept his wings forward, and a rose gold sword curved into his hand, which flamed with pink fire at the tip. “Nobody tastes Mischief but me.” Then he blushed, glancing over his shoulder at Mischief. “I meant—”
Mischief patted his shoulder. “Oh, we all know what you meant.”
Dual backed up a step. “So, I’ll hold off on tasting the bossy angel because of his bodyguard. After all, when you’ve tried one angel, you’ve tried them all…”
I wrenched on my shadows, pulling them back from the collar and out of Moon. “And my wolf’s no longer trapped.”
Moon arched and howled, before exploding in a spray of glitter. When he appeared back in man form on the grass, I grasped him around his shoulders, helping him to stand.
Moon smiled, as I brushed his curls out of his eyes, until Dual whistled long and appreciatively.
“Well, hello gorgeous, now I see why our new Wolf Charmer keeps you leashed…and it appears naked.” When Dual looked Moon up and down, Moon ducked behind me with a whine. He hadn’t been shy of his body in front of the angels, but then they hadn’t been a vampire duke who looked like he wanted to feast on him. Dual’s expression gentled, as he smiled at Moon. “I’ll always have room for you at my court. I knew that you’d be beautiful, but you make me want to start penning sonnets.”
How did Dual know Moon, when Moon had been in the REJECT room…? Or was Dual simply spinning the vampire equivalent of a chat up line?
I clasped Moon’s hand firmly in mine, before turning it up so that the palm showed; I hadn’t expected Dual’s scowl when he saw the brand. “He’s Claimed already. He prefers strokes to sonnets, so screw off.”
“What would you know about what a pri—”
“Be silent!” Moon’s command rang through the garden, just as his silver burst from his chest and wrapped around Dual’s throat. Dual choked on his sentence, before gaping like a landed fish. He gestured at the other vampires to attack, but Moon calmly said, “Tell your people that you’re safe and to go home.”
“I’m safe. Go home now,” Dual yelled, mechanically.
The vampires hesitated, before retreating back into the wood.
I stared between Moon and Dual who were glaring at each other, whilst the silver bound them together. “What on the wide witching earth is going on?”
Moon risked peeking at me for a moment, before continuing his glaring contest. “I can mind control the Fallen,” he explained in a rush. “On the face of the moon, I wasn’t hiding my power, more like…” He shrugged. “We’re enemies, you bought me like a slave, and stick your red tentacles in me like I’m a puppet. Aye, I hid it from you.”
I blinked at him. Enemies? Why did that make my crimson hiss with fury? And tentacles…? My shadows whimpered, and I didn’t even know that they had feelings to hurt. Boy, did he not want to know what it’d feel like to be on the receiving end of true tentacle porn if he pissed them off.
“Can you control me too?” I demanded. “Is that why I haven’t been acting like a proper witch? And have been…” I bit my lip, before whispering, “dreaming about you?”
Moon’s eyes widened, before he smirked. I couldn’t help wishing that I could capture those amused lips with
mine and force him to see me as more than his enemy. “Enough of that, although I’d love to hear more about my starring role in those dreams… I can’t control you, only angels and the Fallen. Do you think my pale behind would still be here if I could?”
“Perfect,” Mischief drawled. “The wolf mage can make us into slaves to kill or kiss at his bidding. And all I had to worry about before was being trapped by an evil house that was slowly killing me.”
Moon tilted his head. “Don’t worry, I hate using my magic to control because I know what it feels like.”
When he glanced at me, I knew that he meant my shadows; they lashed at him in retaliation before I could stop them, and he stumbled backwards.
Instantly, Dual slipped his arms around Moon’s waist, steadying him.
“Let go,” Moon snarled, and Dual immediately dropped his arms to his sides.
When Moon twirled around, dragging his silver back inside, I eyed him carefully.
“Do all werewolves have magic?” I asked.
Moon wet his lips. “Only me, and when we’re in the Wilds, let’s keep what we’re doing tonight a secret, aye?”
“It’s not like this is proof,” I waved at Dual. “I mean, what if he’s choosing to obey you?”
“I don’t obey.” Dual clasped his hands behind his back, as he studied the stars like he owned them. “I’m a duke.”
Moon cast me a sly smile, before slinking closer to Dual again and teasing his hand down his chest. Here was my bold Omega again, as he murmured, “Tell us your secret sex fantasy that you’ve never told anybody and you truly don’t want us to know.”
I laughed. I’d been expecting Moon to get Dual to bark like a dog or hop on one leg. I’d seriously misjudged his level of deviousness.
Only Perfect Omegas: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance Series (Rebel Werewolves Book 1) Page 9
