I startled because he had a point. What if the Bloods were in on this murder together? But also, what if they weren’t? Maybe only Ivy or Lux was guilty? Could I simply assume that Aquilo was innocent because he’d known Kolby and had helped us?
“What’s the taste verdict then?” I asked, shifting in the mud. “Does it win the Michelin Star?”
“Only if it’s for murdering.” Moon wiped a sample of the mud into a bag, which he’d edged out of his pocket, as evidence. “It matches.”
It rocked through me with shocking intensity: this is where Kolby’s body had lain.
I hugged my mom’s cape around me as I stumbled away from the river, slamming against the Blood’s gate. My back ached, and my throat burned.
I was an artist. I made magical tech for my uncle’s business. I had a life in America.
I’d spent my life running from murders, rather than facing them. I hadn’t been trained in any of this. My family had only told me the sketchiest details of the supernatural world. Yet now here I was, making decisions that would shape it. I clutched my head, overwhelmed.
Then I remembered Mischief’s pale face on the silk pillow, whilst he slowly died. He was my responsibility. So was Moth, who’d knelt next to Ramiel, caring for Mischief with as much love as if he was family. The three sinfully beautiful Charms who were watching me expectantly were my pack. My duty was to all of them.
I had a life in America. But now my life was here.
I straightened my shoulders. “So, we know that one of these dicks likely killed the mage, but seriously, all we have for proof is the word of a wolf, and that didn’t go down well in the Clocktower. A rebel witch bringing a bag of mud that’s licked by her wolf — who’s an omitter of the truth — set against the word of one of the oldest, most powerful and trusted covens in Britain…? Call me a pessimist, but I think that we’d be the ones judged guilty.”
“I wouldn’t say pessimist,” Emperor raised his eyebrow, “I’d say optimist. In my version, it’d end with us thrown to the wolves.”
Amadeus sighed, winding his arms around Emperor’s neck. “Would it please you to be silenced?” He gently licked the seam of Emperor’s lips, before pressing closer and tenderly kissing him.
Moon prowled towards me, resting his head against my shoulder, and despite what he’d hidden from me, I loved the reassuring warmth of him against me. My shadows agreed, winding around him and stroking down his back. When he licked up my cheek, I shivered.
“Despite the fact that you’re not like any other witch, the ma has a soft spot for you, wee madam.” When Moon settled back onto his favorite place on my neck, I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed the feel of him just there and the gust of his breath against my skin. “A Traditionalist shouldn’t, but I’ve learned that when you’re caged, you don’t bite the hand that feeds you, instead you play the good puppy, until you’re strong enough to escape and rip out their throat.”
I stared down at the top of Moon’s curls. Huh, angelic beauty but no innocence. Was that all Moon was doing with me…?
Moon peeked up at me through his thick lashes, questioningly.
“Woah, did I just miss the part where we all went crazy and decided to go undercover in the coven that’s haunted my nightmares for the last…forever?”
I carded through Moon’s hair compulsively. Suddenly, my pulse was too loud in my ears.
Get a grip, Crimson, you’re not a kid anymore.
It was a shame that I could never talk myself into simply believing things, which is why making Okami had been better therapy for me than…well, therapy.
“As the Alpha speaks, I wonder what these witches could’ve done to make you fear them more than us, your enemy?” Emperor murmured, even though the glare that he shot at the Tudor mansion blazed bright enough to set it alight.
My breath caught at the memory of being a kid again and brought to play here with the Blood twins. I remembered the look of concern that my dad had always cast me (which he’d thought I hadn’t noticed), about the fact that I didn’t want to mix with other kids my age, but it wasn’t other kids. It was the twins.
The adults had often placed us in the courtyard at the back like we were pets that’d get in the way. The twins had looked like perfectly dressed dolls, whilst I’d never been perfect enough. My hair had been messy, my fingers coated in dried paint, and my clothes dirt smudged.
Lux had always started out our play dates the same way. She’d circle me and point out my flaws, whilst Aquilo had stood to the side as her assistant counting up each point. Then she’d punish me for each fault with a pinch, slap, or tickle and win the game if I cried. There aren’t enough Slytherins in Hogwarts to describe how much it hadn’t been a game but an excuse to torture me, and even as a kid, I’d known it.
Once, I’d fought back, kicking Lux’s legs out from under her and landing her on her ass. Lux had only stared at me, however, before laughing and ordering Aquilo to straddle me. Aquilo had glanced at his sister, looking uncertain, before she’d narrowed her eyes. Then he’d barreled me backwards and pinned me to the ground. His white-blond hair had swung in my eyes, and his lips had pressed against my cheek. His body had felt heavy against mine, and even though he hadn’t been taller than me, he’d been strong. I’d panicked, thrashing side-to-side.
Then Lux had bitten her thumb, smearing it onto my mouth. Shocked, I’d stubbornly kept my lips pressed shut. My guts had churned sickly at the thought of the type of blood magic that she was trying to weave on me.
“I curse you,” Lux had hissed. “From Wolf Charmer to wolf.”
Could she transform me into a shifter?
I’d wanted to scream, but then the blood would’ve dribbled into my mouth. I’d never felt so trapped as beneath those twins. Tears had leaked out of the corners of my eyes and down to mingle with the blood that Lux smeared like an anointing across my face. Lux had grinned in triumph because she’d won the game already.
Still, I’d refused to drink her blood, until she’d clamped her fingers over my nose. My eyes had widened in shock, and I’d struggled.
“Lick,” Lux had crowed.
I’d stared up into Aquilo’s icy gaze, pleading with him to help, but he’d only coldly stared down, whilst I’d suffocated at the hands of his sister.
At last, as my lungs had ached and my vision had grayed, I’d reluctantly opened my mouth and even before I could lick, my mouth had been flooded by the bitter tang of Lux’s blood.
I’d choked, spluttering. “Please, please, don’t turn me into a wolf…”
“Too late. Your mummy will have to kill you now.” Lux had snatched her brother by the sleeve and yanked him up.
Just for a moment, I’d thought that there’d been a hint of apology in Aquilo’s eyes, but then he’d stuck his nose in the air and trotted after his sister out of the courtyard.
I’d twisted to the side and stuck my fingers down my throat, until I’d hurled. If I could get out every last trace of Lux’s tainted blood, could I save myself?
Becoming a wolf would be worse than death.
Then I’d stiffened, as Aquilo had darted back into the courtyard, but to my surprise, he’d only crouched over me, pulling my hair back from the vomit.
“It won’t happen,” Aquilo had muttered, not meeting my eye, “you won’t turn into a wolf. I don’t think it works like that. My sister just likes to scare people.”
“I hate you,” I’d hissed, unable to stop fresh tears falling.
It’d been seriously satisfying to shove Aquilo onto his snooty ass, and watch his shocked hurt.
Now over a decade later, I shook from the strength of the memory, as I glanced between my three Charms, standing in the shadow of the coven, where I’d once been so frightened and alone. But I wasn’t alone anymore.
I was all grownup now.
“And there I was thinking that you weren’t my enemy, Emperor.” I smirked. “Because I don’t tend to have wild sex with my enemies.”
�
��Hate sex,” Emperor raked his hand through his immaculate hair, “can be most invigorating.” I flushed with a sudden warmth, imagining his muscled chest and the beauty of the butterfly tattoo. “Talking of hate… I detest this plan but I also know diplomacy. It’s one of my many special skills.” When the cocky bastard winked at me, my breath caught way too noticeably. Amadeus giggled. “The House of Blood desire power and would do anything to undermine your aunt’s, so that they’ll become the most powerful coven in Oxfordshire. Do you imagine that Ivy could resist taking you on as her protégé who’s brought to heel by her guidance…a leashed Wolf Charmer?”
“But that would mean you’d all be leashed as well, and I won’t do that to you,” I insisted.
“That’s our choice, isn’t it?” Amadeus’ voice was flinty.
I pinked, whilst my Charms glanced at each other and then nodded.
I sighed. “This isn’t like interning over the summer. I can’t just knock on the front door and be like: Hey, I know that I stole my Omega from Lux’s training but I’m here to be trained myself. Surprise!”
Amadeus slunk to the gate, caressing over the planets with his hands. OK, jealous of the gate now. “Then how about we break in through the back?” He fluttered his criminally unfair long eyelashes. “Queen Banon never let me do anything fun. It was all about looking a pretty Beta prince for my future Wolf Charmer and not,” he pouted, “skinny dipping to cool down or adventuring into the Wilds.”
“I’m astounded.” Emperor’s lips twitched like he was trying not to laugh.
“I know,” Amadeus nodded, “cruel, see? Now I’ve only just been Claimed by my Wolf Charmer and already I’m starting my life of crime.”
“Hey, hold up,” I protested.
“You’re corrupting me,” Amadeus accused, curling his tongue behind his teeth in a way that made me want to tangle it with mine.
“Yep, three princes and an ex-artist, the world’s scariest criminals.” I fluttered my shadows around the gate, feeling for the wards that both protected the House of Blood and trapped even sound from escaping.
You had to love overconfidence. Ivy hadn’t set the wards to keep out a Wolf Charmer. I guessed that she’d never imagined I’d be breaking in, rather that I’d be huddled in fear to escape her.
At last, the wards gave way, and the gate swung open with a creak. When Moon clasped my hand, I shivered at the way his magic entwined with mine, reassuring and safe. I caught his eye and smiled.
Had I made it clear just how much I didn’t like this plan? Creeping into the courtyard of my childhood torture? Risking going undercover with witches, bullies, and murderers?
Now there was a killer combination.
“Watch out, bad Beta on the loose!” Amadeus whooped, diving into the courtyard.
So, not all of us were frightened…yet.
Emperor snarled. “Idiot incubus…” He stalked after Amadeus through the gate.
Moon’s fingers squeezed mine. Then Moon and I strode side by side into the House of Blood.
The covered courtyard was smaller than I remembered it (or I was larger, of course), although just as shadowy and swathed in vines. I shuddered as I studied the stone wolves that guarded the archways like Narnia’s White Witch lived here. They’d always creeped me out.
Emperor stalked to the largest stone wolf, drawing his thumb down the wolf’s forehead in a gesture that felt like a private blessing from a prince and was so tender that I blushed to witness it. “These were real wolves…my subjects.” His jaw clenched. “Do you believe that they make pretty ornaments?”
I gasped. How extra creeped out would I’ve been as a kid, if I’d have known that these were true wolves? Yet what if its fangs weren’t bared, as I’d always thought, in savage rage, but rather in an attempt to get the witch to back off, before he was transformed?
Wouldn’t I do anything to save myself from an eternity turned to stone?
I jumped at the growl. “I think the Bloods are jerks too, but it’s kind of not the time to get all horror flick on me, Moon.”
Moon blinked at me. “No fair. It wasn’t me.”
Amadeus shook his head, and Emperor raised a haughty eyebrow.
Grrrr — Moon and I startled, swinging around, as the growl echoed again behind us.
I stared into the dead eyes of the stone wolf that was prowling towards me.
My heart lurched, missing a beat, and I shook my head as if somehow that would make the stone wolf disappear. “Nope, I didn’t order any magical gargoyles today, thanks.”
The stone wolf snarled.
Moon grabbed me by the elbow, dragging me back, until we stumbled into Amadeus.
“I’ve never felt like the lamb before.” Amadeus’ eyes were wide, then they sparkled. “It’s making me all tingly.”
Tremors chased through me, as the stone wolves circled us. Why had I thought breaking into a coven would be a good idea again…? “What happened to these being your subjects, prince?”
Emperor slowly backed away from the largest stone wolf, who growled low in his throat, still baring his fangs. “Let me clarify: they were once my subjects. Now they’re under the command of the House of Blood like guard dogs. I’d have thought that the way they’re intent on herding us together would’ve clued you in.”
I glanced around to discover that my Charms and I were now trapped together in the very center of the courtyard. As long as Ivy came now to rescue us, our plan had worked.
I grinned, even though I clutched onto Moon’s arm harder, “Chill out, guys. So, the guard dogs have caught us…? You’re the royal criminals remember. Now we just have to—”
Suddenly, vines snapped out of the archways, winding around my Charm’s collars, before hanging down as leashes. My Charms struggled, scrabbling at the spiky collars that pricked their skin; beaded blood trailed down their throats. My eyes widened in shock, as more vines shot around their mouths like muzzles.
Witching heavens, there was no way that my Charms were being leashed and muzzled.
Moon fell to his knees, breathing hard through his nose. When his amber eyes met mine, the silver in them sparked in his distressed shame. The muzzle had pulled him down into a dark place; I recognized the look. I edged my fingers into his mouth, trying to unbind the vine, but it was stuck fast.
I swallowed, ducking my head.
What had I been thinking? I couldn’t protect myself, why had I thought that I could protect my Charms or the three Wolf Kingdoms?
There was a sudden rumbling above my head. I peered up at the roof of the covered courtyard. Then red — red — red splashed down in a gushing wave, painting my Charms and me in scarlet. I screamed, as I was drowned in hot blood.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Blood-red light bled through the stained glass window of Mars, bathing the stone walls of Cosmos Tower in an alien dawn. I eyed Ivy warily, as she leaned against the window, staring down at the college’s quad below like I wasn’t dripping cooling blood just across from her Carrie style, whilst my three wolves knelt at my feet leashed and muzzled with vines.
It’d been part of the plan to be caught, but boy, had I underestimated the creativity of the coven’s alarm system.
Cosmos Tower was the highest point of the House of Blood. I remembered hearing my mom chatting about the beauty of the stained glass and the way that the roof sparkled as if with true stars but that I couldn’t go in yet because it was where she did her grownup work. Honestly, she couldn’t have made me want to peek inside more, if she’d told me that the walls had been made out of chocolate and it’d been stuffed with juggling kittens. It turned out that in fact grownup work was much less fun than juggling kittens, go figure.
“Look at all these humans,” Ivy breathed. She traced her finger over the glass, whilst the students scurried below. “I come here to watch the vast planets orbiting stars and the tiny humans who orbit us with as little knowledge that we even exist. I still swore to protect them, however, from the wolves.” At last,
she turned to me, although her glare was directed at my Charms. “What happened to listening to your instincts?”
I shrugged, unwilling to answer and allow even more coppery blood to invade my mouth.
Ivy tutted. “Look at the state of you. Your mother would’ve had a fit.”
I stiffened, but she was right. My mom hated me to even get mud under my fingernails, whilst we were visiting other covens. If she’d seen me looking like a blood monster, she’d have probably denied that I was her kid.
Ivy sighed, before ducking the cloth in the water and tucking it under her arm. Then she picked up the bucket and trudged towards us like cleaning up guests was something routine and chucked the ice-cold water over my kneeling Charms.
The three princes’ hollers were muffled through their muzzles. Amadeus’ thin top stuck to him, transparent against his snow-white skin. When Amadeus shivered, Emperor slipped his arms around his shoulders. I bet Emperor hated that he couldn’t fix his hair in a mirror.
The way that Moon panted, staring fixedly at the ground, whilst his hands opened and closed compulsively on his knees, worried me. I’d seen Omegas muzzled and leashed in the Training Center.
What had happened to make Moon so afraid?
My shadows slipped out to stroke over my Charms and sooth their distress, even if I knew that controlling them as a traditional Wolf Charmer would, was part of the plan. When Ivy turned to me, I hunched my shoulders in preparation for the splash of freezing water. Instead, she only dragged the cloth gently over my face to clean off the blood. Why did she have to be treating me with such tenderness still?
“I swore to protect you,” she murmured. “Did you know that?”
Dazed, I shook my head. Ivy was just the same as the rest of the dick witches, wasn’t she?
Ivy drew the cloth over my forehead. “Your mother and I were best friends ever since school. We made a pact to protect and care for each other’s kids if anything happened to the other.” Her gaze darkened. “Stella had no right to send you away because you belong with me. You feel it, surely? I could teach you so much. My goodness, you look so like your mother.” Her ample bosom heaved. Was that why my mom had insisted that I play with the twins? Was I betraying my own mom by trying to prove her best friend a murderer now? My chest was tight, and I couldn’t meet Ivy’s eye. She fingered my blood-soaked cape. “Don’t look so sad; I have a potion that will bring the bloodstain right out of this.”
Only Perfect Omegas: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance Series (Rebel Werewolves Book 1) Page 24
