Brazen: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Sephlem Trials Book 2)

by Felisha Antonette

  Looking past his shoulder, he glances at me and nods.

  I crawl to him and find the kiss I left on his lips earlier today. He’s distant, hardly returning my kiss. Holding me back, he says, “Your mom wants to meet my family,” as if the thought just occurred to him.

  Averting to kiss his neck, I hum, “Un-hum.” pressing my lips against the column of muscles. He’s showered, his soap coating his skin heavily. It goes well with his aura, making his scent explode in my nose. I inhale, taking in the inebriating aroma.

  “What do we do?” he drawls.

  “We can talk about it later,” I mumble, my lips otherwise occupied.

  “Your dad too.”

  I lean back, impatiently glaring at him.

  His thick eyebrows slowly lift, and he fixes me with calm, yet intense eyes. It’s a jaw-dropping expression, but his look says I’m being pushy. So, I back off, biting back the hunger for more. “Are you nervous?” I ask, seeing this worries him.

  “Not nervous. It’s just something I wasn’t expecting. Your mom’s cool, but your dad on the other hand . . . I thought it’d be something that I’d have to initiate or ask of them. Not the other way around.”

  I shrug, nodding. “Me too. But it’s a good thing. I’m glad they’re past this you being too advanced for me,” I mock dad’s heavy voice.

  “Yeah. . .” I watch his eyes zone out as he thinks about something, but he doesn’t follow up with more.

  I lean back in to kiss him, but he moves out of my reach, making me fall short. “Crap. . .” I mutter quieter than I can hear.

  “I get a two-sentence conversation and you’re back at it, huh?” he says with amusement in his tone, but a ‘really, Sparky’ look in his squinted eyes.

  “Sorry. I’m sorry.” I lean back in, trying to hold back, but can’t. He doesn’t move away. I lighten my eager kisses, trying to restrain my aggression. I’m far too forward, I can tell, but it’s uncontrollable.

  He breaks away again. “You think so?”

  “Ugh, Nathan. I’m sorry. It’s getting worse, not better. Just. . . You know. . .” I flick my gaze to his lap then back to his eyes. “And then it’ll settle down. Maybe it will settle down.” I hope. “If we do it mentally and physically.”

  “I told you you’d be like this. Completely erratic over me. But no,” he sings. “Somebody just needed to bind,” he teases, pulling me onto his lap. “And now, here it is, you’re craving me like Twinkies.”

  “In the worst way possible,” I add pleadingly. “I love Twinkies.”

  “Tisk, tisk, tisk.” He smirks, washing me in his seducing, ocean-blue eyes.

  Shut up, I jest, kissing him more intimately.

  “Miss Bossy,” he says, adjusting us to lie down.

  I crinkle my nose. “Sorry-not-sorry.”

  “Hum um.” Stripping off my shirt, Nathan trickles kisses over my chest, his tongue slices down between my breasts and subtly, oh so delicately, he takes the peak of my left breast in his mouth.

  Dipped in a pond of pure impulse, my body hums, demanding I do something about this heightening urge. I reach for his shorts. Their waistband slips between my index and middle finger, and I ease them down, but Nathan leans back on his knees, out of my reach. He looks behind him, at the window, eyes swirling chocolate. They zone, concentrating on something as he adjusts my bra to its appropriate position.

  “What?” I ask, trying to figure out why the sudden change.

  “Olar. He’s outside,” he drawls, occupied and unfocused.

  “Why?” I push a finger against his jawline, trying to turn his head to face me.

  He flicks his gaze to me but doesn’t turn. “He needs to talk to me about something.”

  “It can’t wait until tomorrow?” I ask, somewhat concerned about why Olar would be stopping by so late. “Why didn’t he just call you?”

  Taking my wrist in his hand, he moves mine from the hold I have on his shoulder and leaves me to the chill. “Apparently it can’t,” he drones, pulling on his jeans. “I left my phone at home.”

  I sit up on my knees, catching my shirt he throws at me. “Nathan, you cannot be serious. You’re leaving?” Olar is taking Scott’s interrupter hat for sure. “This seriously can’t wait until tomorrow?”

  “It’s something important.”

  I grumble. Obviously, it’s more important than this, what we were possibly getting ready to do.

  “I’ll be back, Sparks. Relax.”

  I’ll be back, Sparks, relax, I mock in my head. He throws the covers over me and heads to the window.

  “Put on a shirt before you go outside,” I grump, watching the muscles in his back react as he crosses the room to my window.

  He looks over his shoulder, angering me with his ‘kill me softly’ smirk. “You worried about someone else looking at me?”

  Rolling my eyes, I quip, “Don’t, Nathan.”

  Snatching his shirt from the chaise, he comes to the bedside and bends over to kiss me. I turn over, avoiding it.

  He groans. “Seriously, Sparks, it’s not that serious for you to act like this. I’ll be back.”

  “I’m sure I won’t see you until the morning,” I snap. But realism soon settles in. Grumbling, I surrender. “I know, Nate. I’m sorry. Just this . . .” I gesture to him and the window. “Seeing you leave all the time is killing me. I don’t mean to come off bossy or a pain, but our days are sucked up by my being at school and our nights always belong to someone else with you being gone so often. I thought I wasn’t getting you tonight and was crazy happy that I did, and now you’re leaving again.”

  Nathan frowns and a crease forms between his brows. “You’re not a pain. I get it. But you wanted to bond with a Burdened Sephlem whose life you know isn’t simple.” The muscles in his face relax as he adds, “You promised to be understanding and willing to risk your time, which is always going to have some interference. I’m not trying to be a dick, but I warned you. And you said okay.” He pulls back the comforter and leans over to kiss my navel, working his way up to my lips. “I’ll make it up to you.” He pecks my mouth. “Okay?”

  “Yeah, okay. Hope everything is fine,” I say as he leaves.

  I pull the covers up to my neck as Roehl floats his menacing way into my mind. I hate him and the way I can’t avoid the thoughts. It’s one of the reasons I want Nathan to put me to sleep. When I’m finally settled down, and I close my eyes, Roehl smiles at me from the darkness behind my lids and his touch grazes my skin without shock. What scares me the most is that I enjoy it. Turning onto my side, I try to remove him from my mind.

  The repeated whisper of my name accommodated by a warm caress wakes me no sooner than I fall asleep.

  “Good morning,” I gurgle, feeling the gloom of a rainy dawn.

  “Sparks, get up so you can go to school.” Nathan kisses my cheek, hand resting on my back.

  “No,” I sing.

  “I’ll be back in forty-five minutes. Be ready to go.”

  I jump up when he moves to leave, grabbing him faster than I intend. Looking up at him through tired eyes, I mumble, “Fine. You got it.”

  “You didn’t rest well last night. Take a hot shower to wake yourself up. I’ve got something to tell you on your way to school. I’ll be back.”

  bind separation

  I lean my head against the headrest and squeeze my eyes shut. Nathan reveals Olar has been enrolled at my school to attend classes through the end of the week, and Olar’s not at all happy about it. Nathan and Scott are going out of the country for a few days. Nathan waited until everyone was in the car to tell me because he knows how bad of an idea this is and knows that with everyone around, I won’t fuss. But I want to object to this absurd change of plans. Something’s happened with his family in Norway and everyone’s needed. Scott’s leaving with him. This is what Olar stopped by to tell Nathan last night. It’s irritating they always want the Burdened around when the shit hits the fan. And Nathan never gets to sit out. He always has to
be available to help save, rescue, or talk sense into someone. Mr. Number One . . .

  I knew what I was getting into when I got into it, I remind myself. The trees and houses pass in a blur as I stare out the window and listen to Nathan continue. They’re supposed to be back on Saturday, and that evening, we will have this grand, meet and greet dinner he and Mom discussed last night. While he’s gone, Taylor and Glen will sleep over at my house. He’s adamant about me not being left alone. Roehl’s a bigger issue than he’s let on, but he hasn’t admitted to that. Honestly, he doesn’t have to. Taylor’s the last person he wants around, but considering his other sister, Rose, is deceased, he’s out of options. I’m feeling like the president’s daughter with all the secret Burdened service around me.

  Pulling into an available spot near the rear doors of my school, Nathan shifts the car in park, and continues, “Olar’s going to drive you two to and from school. Tracey, Glen, please don’t give him a hard time.”

  “Oh my gosh, Nathan, you sound like our father,” Glen sasses from the backseat. She whooped on Scott so bad this morning, he had to wrestle her into the backseat of the car and force her to go to school. He stayed back at Nathan’s house to get things ready for their departure later this morning.

  “Right,” Nathan drags, annoyed. Meeting my gaze, his dominant expression morphs to a brooding one. “Be good. Don’t blow shit up or set shit on fire.”

  I look away from him, feeling like a child withholding a tantrum. Crossing my arms, I stare at the dash, wanting to ram my foot into it. Instead, I stifle my anger and grab my bag from the floor.

  Glen gets out, slamming the door, mumbling her obscenities as she stalks toward the school.

  I settle my bag on my lap. Nathan stares. I won’t leave him without saying bye; doing so would only be killing myself. The clingy me is trying to break through, and I stay turned away from him so he can’t see the plea in my eyes for him to stay. I don’t want to be clingy; I want to be independent, and the more I try to convince myself of that, the more this freaking bond forces me to require him.

  “You’ll look out for her, right?” Nathan asks Olar, never looking away from me.

  Olar’s upset about not accompanying them on their trip, but he doesn’t let it show. “Yeah, of course. She’s family. Plus. . . I don’t want you to kill me,” he affirms with a pat against Nathan’s shoulder before getting out of the car.

  I smirk, shaking my head at his response.

  “You aren’t going to talk to me?” Nathan asks, unbuckling my seatbelt. I maneuver out of it and must have the saddest eyes when I meet his. “Sparks, don’t look at me like that. Cut me some slack.”

  “It’s not about you coming back, Nathan. It’s about you leaving.”

  He drags in a breath and releases it, saying, “You know what you signed up for.”

  “Yeah. I signed up for you not leaving me.” I have an attitude and considering couples leave each other all the time; it’s a little exaggerated. I’m better than this and can suck up this need for him the bonding requires. It’s just. . . I know how aggressive this Roehl stuff gets when he’s not around, and I fear doing something I’m going to regret later.

  Nathan moves his seat all the way back and pulls me over the console as if I weigh less than a feather. “You’re right. I’m sorry I have to go away for a few days.”

  “It’s okay. I understand. It just doesn’t feel good. This is definitely the bond responding. If I were in control of my feelings, I wouldn’t be so insecure.” The school bell rings, cutting into my sentence.

  “Come on. So I can walk you to the door.”

  “No, that’s okay.” I wave him off. “I’ll walk with Olar.”

  He’s reluctant, flicking his gaze away from me to the window. “If you insist.” Meeting my eyes, he follows, “Can I, at least, kiss you? Or would you prefer Olar do that too?”

  I purse my lips and glare at him through my lashes. “Don’t be cute.” I lean over and peck his lips.

  “Uh-un.” He shakes his head. Wrapping his hand around the back of my neck, he brings me into a kiss that’ll tide me over for the next three days. I fisting his shirt, hearing the tardy bell ring. He breaks away, and I go back in, not allowing him any distance. Brushing my lips over his, they part to our tiding kiss. Twisting tongues and tingling palates makes parting from him as easy as it is hard.

  I gently tug on the back of his neck, keeping him close as I’m leaning away. “I’m going to miss you,” I mumble, staring into fascinating orange-brown eyes. Their brightness shines against my face. “Your eyes are so beautiful. They remind me of a setting sun.” I pause, searching them for the mood that matches the color. “Steady contentment.”

  “Maybe,” he utters. “Even though I can hear your voice in my head, sense your breath in my lungs, and feel your heart in my chest, there’s always something more I need. You seal holes in me I didn’t know were empty, and you build peace in me I never believed existed. So I’m content yet complaisant.”

  I frown. “What is the more you need?”

  “It’s nothing.” He kisses me. “Call me if you need me. Don’t get into anything and stay with Olar if you go somewhere. Let him know if anything is wrong.” He takes a pause, and his eyes swirl in coffee-colored warning. “Olar isn’t as controlled as Scott and me. Don’t let Glen piss him off. No. Better yet, don’t let anybody piss him off.” He nods to himself, satisfied with that conclusion. “With him being more comfortable with you, a friendly pull of his arm or a stern call of his name will snap him out of it. As long as he isn’t too riled up. But just as I’m requesting he keeps an eye on you. Please keep an eye on him too.”

  “Okay,” I promise, moving back to my seat, but he holds me still. “I thought you were leaving.”

  He nods convincingly. “I am, and you need to get to class.”

  “I’m not the one holding me in the car.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  Chuckling, I reach for his door handle, flip it, and push open the door. “Come on, Nate.” He follows me out. I curl my arms around his neck as he leans down, wrapping his around me. He hugs me tightly. He’s worried, but he won’t stay. Breaking away, I say, “Be safe. I love you. And come back.”

  “I will. Love you. And always.” His hands fall to his sides. “Go ahead. I’m leaving the car here for Olar. I’ll run to the house and spaz out over needing to deal with this shit right now. It’ll allow me to relieve some of it.” He reaches into the car and grabs my bag. “After the ass whoopin’ Glen gave Scott this morning, he may need a little more time alone.”

  I take my bag from him. “Okay. Does your being gone mean I won’t hear from you at all?”

  His brows knit. “Nah. Reach out to me anytime. We’ll talk later tonight.” Trailing a finger along my jawline, he takes my chin between his thumb and index finger. I close my eyes, still enamored by his touch. But thankfully, I’ve stopped fainting.

  He tilts my head back, and the breeze blowing past my lips is replaced by his. Though his kiss is soft, it’s reassuring—easing.

  Peeling my eyes open to the frigid, overcast day, I turn away and meet Olar waiting for me halfway to the school building.

  “Hey. You good?” he asks at my approach.

  “Yeah, I will be,” I answer. He nods at Nathan. “You ready for high school?” I tease, forcing a smile.

  “Not. At. All,” he mutters with a laugh.

  I snort. “Too bad.”

  He pulls the door, and before I head in, I can’t resist stealing one more glance of my mate. The strings of his hoodie sway in the wind with a gust blowing in the swollen clouds. He stuffs his hands in his pockets, and the arms of his gray hoodie hug his biceps and forearms. As a chill counters his warmth, his frame expands making him bigger. A sobered expression takes his face as he squints, but before I can consider what he’s thinking, he smirks, and I realize he’s listening to my thoughts.

  Blushing, I think to him. I’ll see you later. Be safe. Love you.


  Me too. Be good.

  found missing

  Principal Hollander remembers nothing from what happened yesterday. Scott’s likely to blame for that. Olar and I leave his office for the clerk’s desk. Introducing him as the new student, Mrs. Carline all but turns her nose up at him. She murmurs under her breath about how ridiculous it is for him to start so late in the year as she clicks her keyboard and soon hands over his class schedule and our late passes. We leave from the office with her staring burning holes through us as if she knows we’re up to know good.

  Olar looks very different in his younger skin. His dark hair messily waves around his head, length falling past his ears. He only left in his earrings, one eyebrow ring, and his snakebite on the left side of his bottom lip. It’s a hoop he plays with as we stroll down the hall. Puffs of smoke that could pass for well-designed tattoos cover his ears. They’re his vanishing ability marks that I’ve never seen until just now, when he pulls his hair back.

  We walk into our first-period class, and I roll my eyes at the girls swooning over my cousin. “Why are you two late?” Mr. McLaughlin asks.

  “This is my cousin, Olar.” He steps to my side. “We had to finish up some things for him in the office. Here are our passes.” I wave them.

  “Fine, have a seat.” Mr. McLaughlin snatches the passes. “Late start for you isn’t it, Mister . . .” He searches the pass for his name. “Newcomb?”

  “Yeah,” Olar answers coolly and follows me up the aisle. Snagging the empty seat two rows away from me, he sits, and no sooner than he does some chick’s in his face.

  Classes creep by and the only thing buzzing is the hot guy who walked in with Tracey. Olar isn’t that hot, at least, not as hot as everyone makes him seem. His disguised eye color is denim blue, and his bad boy look with his piercings and black nails is the total opposite of his curly locks that loosely wave around his head. His hair makes him look like he should be a pretty boy who wears long sleeve button downs and is captain of the lacrosse team, instead of black t-shirts and a Burdened who enjoys playing torture games with his enemies. Olar has grown on me, and I love his dual-sided personality and how he loves to joke around. He’s the most free-spirited Newcomb I’ve met so far. But mostly, he doesn’t let his guard down. So, I guess with Olar being new and his ‘I don’t give a shit about you’ attitude, he would seem attractive and exciting.