I bit my lip to keep down the bubbling hysteria because manic laughter wasn’t great for diplomacy. Instead, I stuck with the act. “What could you teach me?”
Suddenly, Ivy’s look became sly, as she tucked a sticky strand of my hair behind my ear. “Oh now, don’t tell me that you haven’t thought about it? That’s why you were sneaking into my house, after all…?” I recoiled, but she gripped my chin. “Hush now, there’s no harm because you came to me for help and not Stella who handled it all wrong with you from the moment that you landed from America.” Then she whispered close to my ear like she was imparting a secret, “I believe you worthy. In fact, with my guidance in my home, I think that you could be the greatest Wolf Charmer that’s ever lived.”
I startled, whilst my pulse pounded. Why did it matter so much to me that she believed in my worthiness as a Wolf Charmer? What would it have been like to have been raised by her, instead of being sent away from everything that I knew to America? Or even to have been guided by her over the last week…?
Maybe Ivy did only want me as a political pawn, but she’d wanted to adopt me, which had been my mom’s wish.
Emperor tugged on my leg, but I ignored him.
Ivy smiled, kissing my cheek. “Well, you’re here now. How about a hot bath, doesn’t that sound nice? Then a good rest, followed by a yummy meal. We never miss pudding here. You’ll be part of a family who know what you are and still want you…have always wanted you.”
Numb, I was unable to answer.
So, this was what it was like to be tempted with my dream future, but to have to shatter it myself. Although, did she just say family…?
How had I forgotten that if I’d grown up here, I’d have been at the mercy of the twins every day?
“Where’s my new brother and sister?” I asked, careful to keep the snark to a minimum…for me.
Ivy’s expression hardened. Mages balls, I didn’t want her to look at me like that. “In case you’re wondering, I don’t blame you for taking your Charm when Aquilo pretended that he’d been returned to you. Also, I know you’re not fool enough to have believed that he was telling the truth.” So, that was how Aquilo had covered for me; I winced. “I paid for the best education and employed the strictest methods to ensure that my son knew his place and would hook a good marriage in a respectable coven, but the snooty brat chased away every suitor. Well, if he has the audacity to trick his sister, then maybe it’s time that I give in and allow Lux to train him. Perhaps she’ll have more luck at preparing him for a witch’s bed.”
Unexpectedly, Cosmos Tower revolved in a sudden blur, and my stomach lurched. I fell onto Ivy, and she steadied me, petting my hair.
The solar system, like I remembered from models in science lessons at High School but enlarged and sizzling, swirling with gases, or ice-cold (I wished now that I’d been paying attention in class), hung around a giant sun whose heat flared across me, even as I cowered against Ivy.
Yep, grownup work. This was more like it.
I gaped at the planets that were under Ivy’s control, until my gaze met Aquilo’s, which was pained but still icy. Aquilo was spread-eagled bare chested across the spinning Earth, which in itself made me dizzy. His skin was purpled with bruises, as he hung like a beaten god over the world.
Amadeus whined, clasping his arms around Emperor.
Lux’s glossy black hair fell across her brother’s white like she was hugging him, but then I noticed the twisted Hermione’s wand that sparked in her hand, if Hermione had been a Dominatrix (and there was my cousin’s kinky fantasy fulfilled), moments before she thrust it against Aquilo’s gut.
Aquilo screamed, juddering against the electric shock that sparked from the end of the wand. Lux slammed her hand across his mouth as she traced the wand up the center of his chest, circling his nipples.
Against me, Ivy flinched as hard as me. Yet she didn’t look away.
“Lux won’t be long now, then today’s lesson will be over,” Ivy announced with a falsely bright smile.
How could she allow her son to be hurt like this?
What I couldn’t figure, was that when we were kids, Lux had treated her twin like a porcelain doll who she needed to protect from even the taunts of other kids in the playground.
What could possibly have changed?
When my jeans were yanked again, I shook my leg, only to stiffen at the muffled growl. When I glanced down, I was surprised that this time it wasn’t Emperor but Moon, dragged out of his daze and glowering at Lux, as she kissed shocks down Aquilo’s sides.
When Moon nudged me with his head, I understood.
Aquilo was pack. He’d saved Moon and taken the blame for our escape, even though he’d known that he’d risked this punishment.
When Aquilo bit his lip hard enough to draw blood to hold back a sob, I couldn’t bear it any longer. My crimson wept in furious eddies. I had to make Lux stop.
But I could only think of one thing to offer Ivy…
“Will you marry me, Aquilo?” I hollered over his wails.
You know, this wasn’t the type of romantic proposal that I’d want to tell the grandkids about.
Lux stumbled away from Aquilo in shock, finally lifting her wand away from him.
Who knew that silence could feel as suffocating as being dowsed in hot blood?
“Yes,” Aquilo breathed. His smile was shier than I’d ever seen on him and it made my skin tingle. “So many times over…yes.”
Well, maybe it was more romantic than I’d first thought.
“A male does not speak in such matters, whether to say yes or no.” Lux’s knuckles were white around her wand, as it crackled with electricity. “Why can’t you just remember to be silent and invisible?”
“Would it have been better if I’d simply never been born, sister?” Aquilo asked with such crushing sadness that even Lux’s mask cracked for the briefest moments.
Her eyes gleamed with tears. “For the shame that you’ve cost us, brother, that would’ve indeed been better.”
When Aquilo turned away his head, screwing closed his eyes, I wished that I could drag him into as close a cuddle as Moon gave and show him what it felt like to be truly loved, but I still had a part to play if all of us were to survive and I was going to catch a killer. So instead, I allowed Ivy to clasp my bloodstained hands between hers.
“My sweet girl, you wish to become engaged to my son? You’ve no idea how many years I’ve dreamed of our two Houses joining in a union like this!” Ivy grinned, looking me up and down as if already imagining me in a wedding dress.
“Honestly, I was checking him out the first time that I saw him again at the Clocktower. You know, you promised that he was trained and knew his place. But I had to know that he could obey because that’s kind of my thing. Being a Wolf Charmer gives you a control complex.”
Ivy stared at me blankly. “You forced Aquilo to let the Omega go? You were testing him?”
“My husband has to obey me before all others. My word is law. Don’t tell me that you were any different with your husband?” When I glanced at Aquilo, his expression was shuttered. I hoped that he knew I didn’t believe a damn thing I was saying.
Ivy dragged me swerving between the sizzling planets towards Aquilo. “My goodness, of course I was the same. What healthy relationship is otherwise?”
I was so not answering that.
“But I haven’t finished training him.” Lux stood in front of Aquilo, as if she was protecting him and hadn’t been in the middle of a torture session.
“Enough of that. He has a fiancée to train him now.” Ivy snapped her fingers, and Aquilo was released from his bonds on the spinning Earth, crumpling into a shaking ball. I had to push my hands into the pockets of my jeans not to shove Lux aside to get to him.
“You would ally us with a rogue witch? Give…my brother…to her?” Lux quivered with rage.
Maybe she still had some of the protective juices flowing through her.
Ivy beamed. “Isn�
��t it marvelous? My future daughter-in-law: The Wolf Charmer. We can hold the wedding here in the courtyard.” I shuddered. “I only wish that your mother could see how beautiful you and my son will look together and how perfect your children shall be. We often talked about it.”
I bit my tongue hard but forced on a smile. “A summer wedding in the courtyard is my dream come true. Can I see my fiancé now?”
Lux snarled, throwing up her hands in disgust, before storming away through the planets.
I crouched next to Aquilo, who clasped my hand. His gaze was clearer than I’d expected and more intense. I helped him sit up, resting against me. My shadows quietened inside at the contact, lapping gently. Even though he wasn’t a Charm, this felt right, just like Moon had known, when he’d immediately defended him in the Clocktower as my intended.
Ivy knelt down, cooing. “What sweet lovebirds. All our effort in the boy was worthwhile, after all.” Aquilo flinched, when Ivy kissed his forehead. Then she snatched both our wrists and held our hands together. Blood bubbled out of Aquilo’s wrist, and he howled, as it settled in a band like a bracelet.
“What on a witch’s tit did you just do?” I demanded, yanking back my hand.
Ivy patted both Aquilo and me on the head. “I bound you in a magical engagement contract. That’s a blood bracelet. Don’t worry, it’s only for the male partner. He’s yours now.”
“Woah, like…mine, right now?”
“That’s right, as in: you own him.”
I stared at Aquilo with wide eyes, expecting his anger because magical slavery landed me straight in the dickhead camp.
Instead, he simply murmured, “Thank you.”
When I traced over the blood bracelet on his wrist, his breath hitched and he rested his head back against my shoulder, staring up at me with dilated eyes. If I hadn’t been cold all over from the slavery news, that would have been a pantie meltingly hot look.
“Of course, you don’t need to become so panicked.” Ivy’s lips thinned. “If you choose not to marry him within the month—”
“We call it off and no hard feelings?” I offered.
“Well, no hard feelings.” Ivy’s fingers shook as she stroked Aquilo’s knee. “But my son dies.” I jolted, clasping tighter around Aquilo’s middle; the only thing that gave away he’d heard, was the clenching of his jaw. “Plus, if he displeases you within the month, just touch the bracelet and say out loud that you break the engagement. Then you’ll be free too.”
I paled, swallowing. “And he’ll be dead?”
Aquilo kissed my jaw lightly. “Do you not understand that I too shall be free either way?”
Ivy straightened, sweeping towards my Charms who shrank back. At a click of her fingers, the vine muzzles finally unwound from their heads. When Moon whined, Amadeus and Emperor caught him between them, shielding him from Ivy who studied them with a calculating expression.
“We have a wedding to plan, so there’s no time to waste on the training of your beasts. I’m renowned for my methods; my son has spent many hours in here with me.” Aquilo’s breathing became ragged with fear. Whatever she had planned for my Charms, I had to find a way to save them or discover evidence of the killings, before her so-called training…training, my ass. “But first, I promised a relaxing bath and a scrumptious dinner. My goodness, so much to celebrate.” She clapped her hands in delight. “Did you ever wonder if your aunt wasn’t just a teensy-eensy bit jealous? Your ambrosia delicious power already rivals that of your legendary great-grandmother, if you only understood it.” Who was this mighty ancestor? What had she done that was so legendary anyway? Pulled a sword out of a stone? Slain a couple of dragons? Discovered a magical espresso machine that supplied fresh coffee instantly in the cups of all the covens? “Yet I believe that you hold even greater potential than her. What remarkable acts are you capable of leading the witching world to, under the House of Blood?”
I shivered, whilst all three of my wolf princes growled.
Ivy said remarkable but what if she actually meant terrible?
Were the Wolf Charmers more wicked than even the wickedest wolf, and without even knowing it, could I be destined to become the most wicked who’d ever lived?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
I pressed my ear to the door in Lux’s bedroom (I’d been given her chamber during my stay in the House of Blood), which adjoined with Aquilo’s, whilst my heart thudded with the guilt of eavesdropping on my fiancé. I was meant to be sleeping, but instead, a whistling sound that called to my magic had pulled me to this door. My shadows traced over the ornate silver, shuddering with the unexpected vibrations that shook Aquilo’s room, whilst I listened to the whisper of the wind that wound through the cracks.
Hexes and hocus pocus, what was happening in his room?
Was Aquilo like some damsel in a fairy tale, bound in a turret without walls and open to the cruel night winds?
I glanced around at Lux’s opulent bedroom. The walls were hung with enough white fur pelts to have made up a whole class of murdered Omegas. I grimaced, even as my toes wriggled into the warmth of a wolf fur rug. I couldn’t help the smirk that Lux had been kicked out for me: Her replacement. Yet how close had she once been to her twin that they’d had adjoining rooms? I wandered over to the bed, brushing my hand over the silk sheets and grinning at the doll that lay abandoned at its base.
I could never have enough blackmail material, right?
Okami nosed out of my pocket, sniffing at the doll’s broken eye, before biting at the few remaining tufts of black hair on her cracked head.
“Aw, I think that you’ve won the battle, wolfie,” I laughed.
Okami stuck his nose up in the air proudly, before flying around the doll in a victory dance.
Yet it settled uncomfortably in my gut that an asshole like Lux had once loved that doll, enough to break it with her love, although it’d been relegated to the bottom of the bed now. Maybe that’s what had happened to Aquilo?
I peered around at Lux’s private life: black nail varnish, jewelery box, and iPod. Why did she have to seem human, rather than simply the bully and killer?
In frustration, I dragged my fingers through my hair that had frizzed to curls after my earlier bath. At least Ivy had kept her promises.
First, I’d had a hot bath in the en suite, but with no singing of “I Touch Myself” or wash cloths wandering to intimate places, even though I’d imagined Moon slouched with half-lidded eyes in the doorway… Except, it was kind of hard to keep the sexy fantasy going, when I’d known that he and the other Charms had been hosed down with freezing water in the courtyard and then slammed into cages in the kitchen. All that equipment in the Discipline Cellar had only seemed theoretical before.
Oh boy, did it feel real now.
I’d felt even more of a traitor to my pack, whilst I’d acted the excited daughter-in-law (and I’d seen enough of those marrying into money in the Hamptons to know the look), laughing and chatting over dinner with the Bloods, eating delicious food off silver platters, whilst holding Aquilo’s wrist possessively over his blood bracelet, all the time knowing that my Charms were caged beneath us eating scraps off the floor. Although, I’d insisted that the blinds not be pulled over the windows, so at least they’d also feed off the moonlight.
Point to the Wolf Charmer.
I patted my jeans, and Okami darted back, flattening himself into my pocket. I settled comfortably on the end of the bed. I was warm, full, and about to have my first proper night’s sleep since I’d arrived back from America. My beautiful fiancé lay in the room next to mine.
I bit my lip at the thought that if I only trained under the Bloods and accepted their guidance, this was what I could have. Ivy was offering a husband, as well as my three Charms. She considered me worthy, and I’d never had anyone accept my magical side or show pride in it.
Why on earth was Ivy making it so hard for me to reject this perfect life in Oxford? A mansion, hot harem of guys, unlimited power?
&nb
sp; Come on, who wouldn’t crave to become the greatest Wolf Charmer?
But Moon and Mischief had both warned me that it didn’t matter what anyone else thought, I had to feel worthy or none of it counted and they — a wolf and a mage — were right, go figure.
Stella and Ivy had created a false perfect life for me with the House of Silver, Zetta as my surrogate mom, pretty wolf princes and an obedient witch husband, and Wolf Charmer training.
Unlucky for them that I was a rebel.
Suddenly, the whooshing sound from behind Aquilo’s bedroom door rose in a whining crescendo.
Was there a whirlwind in his freaking bedroom?
I rushed to the door, wrenching it open with a snapping burst of shadows. An icy crack of wind blew me backwards. I gasped, screwing shut my eyes against the blast. Then my shadows whirred protectively around me, propelling me forward. Instantly, the wind died, and I found myself standing before Aquilo, who shrank back against the headboard of his bed in only his jeans. His eyes were wide and frightened.
He licked his lips with an anxious swipe of his tongue. “What an unexpected delight. Did you wish to begin relations so early in our engagement?”
He forced himself to sprawl lower on the bed, which was as spartan as the rest of the tiny room. The sheets were white like his hair, and there were no toys for blackmail material, in fact nothing but a wardrobe that reminded me of the one in my parents’ bedroom and a desk and chair for studying. He’d piled as many books as Ramiel always tried to read against the walls.
Although Aquilo was going for seductive, his shoulders were stiff and his fingers dug tightly into his own thighs with fear.
Only Perfect Omegas: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance Series (Rebel Werewolves Book 1) Page 25
