Toil And Trouble

by H. P. Mallory

  In a blink he was next to me, his long legs swinging us forward and back. His uniquely masculine yet soapy clean scent danced around me as if flirting with the air.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “I’m better—I mean I can move my arms and legs but still can’t walk.”

  Sinjin was about to comment when Rand’s highly perturbed appearance interrupted him. “This is not social hour,” he said, his eyes narrowing on Sinjin. “In case you haven’t noticed, your men are still in battle. Shouldn’t you play the part of leader and join them?”

  Sinjin never appeared to be anything other than amused when it came to Rand. I had to give him props for that.

  “I believe your recruits are in need of a reprieve,” Sinjin said and exhaled as he leaned into the swing, throwing his arm around me. “And your ward is in need of company.”

  “Jolie doesn’t need nor want your company,” Rand spat back and leaned down, scooping his arms underneath me as he hoisted me up. “She needs sleep.”

  I yawned at the mention of sleep, realizing just how exhausted I was. Sinjin stood up instantly and wrapped his cold fingers around my arm.

  “I do hope you sleep well, Love.”

  I smiled and allowed Rand to carry me back into the house. It had to be late, so bedtime brooked no argument with me. Once in my room, Rand turned on my bedside table lamp and laid me down, reaching for the horrible fairy remedy sitting in the tankard on the table. The stuff could be compared to turpentine—having an endless shelf life, no need for refrigeration and probably tasted just as bad.

  “Are you tired?” Rand asked with a small smile, the warm yellow of the lamplight illuminating his dimples until he looked like every woman’s dream come to life.

  “Exhausted.”

  He handed me the tankard and I grasped it with both hands, finding infinite enjoyment in the fact that I was now strong enough to hold it myself. I counted silently to five, closed my eyes and opened my mouth as I chugged the hideous stuff. My gag reflex kicked into gear and I had to keep my head back, lest any of it come back up.

  Once I was in the clear, I handed the tankard back to Rand who placed it on the table and we both watched it refill itself with my next dose—something I wouldn’t have to take until the morning, thank God.

  Rand glanced at me and with a quick nod, the blanket fell off my shoulders, landing in a puddle of fabric around my feet. My jeans and sweatshirt dissolved and in their place, my brown and pink striped pjs appeared. I couldn’t hide the sense of disappointment that coursed through me as I remembered what had transpired the last time I’d needed help getting undressed. But, Rand was extraordinarily busy and I needed my healing sleep, so…

  “Are you comfortable?” Rand asked and I could tell his mind was on other things besides me, the war for example.

  I nodded and pushed myself down into my pillows. “Rand, how much longer until I can start sparring with everyone else?” I asked and picked at a loose thread in the coverlet. “I’m feeling stronger everyday so hopefully it won’t be much longer?”

  Rand’s brows furrowed. “I imagined this would come up.”

  I frowned but didn’t say anything, just watched Rand go to my bedroom window, no doubt playing the role of sentry keeping track of his legion. The moonlight heightened the hard planes of his face and the cleft in his chin. It highlighted the breadth of his shoulders and how they narrowed into an athletic waist and narrow hips. He appeared so strong, so confident and capable.

  “I don’t want you to fight in the war, Jolie.”

  “What?” I asked and tried to sit up which aggravated me when I failed. He faced me and I could see his jaw was stuck in that stubborn clench that usually meant he wasn’t going to bend.

  “It’s too dangerous.”

  I gulped down my anger. “I’m a good witch, Rand, I can help you.”

  “I know you’re a good witch but your power isn’t completely mature yet. You are young.”

  I was getting pissed off which meant my tendency to stutter was about to set in. It was bad enough I couldn’t move but no one was going to tell me what I could and couldn’t do. “Last time I checked, no one else could bring back the dead. Young or not, I’m powerful and you need me.”

  He shook his head and wrapped his hands around the bedposts. “No, Jolie, you aren’t going.”

  Angry tears burned my eyes. This wasn’t fair. I had promised myself I would see Ryder die, that I would kill him myself. When Ryder had kidnapped me months before and chained me to a bed where he’d nearly drained me and came even closer to raping me, the only thought to get me through the whole ordeal was my revenge. And now Rand was going to take that from me?

  “So, I’m supposed to stay here, knowing you or Sinjin could be killed any moment?” I had to marvel at the fact that it seemed my stuttering was on vacation. Hopefully a permanent one.

  His eyes narrowed at the mention of Sinjin and he folded his arms against his chest. “You should have more faith in us. We are not easily defeated.”

  “But you are also not without your weaknesses!”

  Rand’s eyes dropped. “Be that as it may, it does not change the fact that you aren’t going.”

  I suddenly remembered that prior to Ryder kidnapping me, he’d been training me in the art of self defense, for what I thought had been training for this war. “Then why was Ryder training me, if not to fight in the war?”

  Rand’s eyes narrowed at the mention of Ryder. “That was for self defense when I thought Bella might come after you.”

  “That’s bullshit!” I railed, attempting to sit up again which proved useless and I just plopped back down. A hint of numbness climbed up my legs, starting at my toes. A few seconds later, it worked its way up to my waist and inched further upward into my arms and hands.

  Rand shook his head and brought his hand to his forehead, looking as if he was exhausted and couldn’t be bothered talking to me anymore.

  “Jolie, I won’t be able to focus on fighting if I know you’re out there somewhere, possibly dying. I won’t have a level head. You need to stay here if I’m going to be able to focus entirely on fighting Bella.”

  The weight of the fairy potion I’d drunk was now making itself known in the numbness which had overtaken my body. The heat of exhaustion was gently defeating me. My eyes started feeling heavier and I knew it was just a matter of time before I’d be asleep.

  Rand grasped my hand and smiled gently. “Please just heal, Jolie. That’s all you need to focus on.”

  He leaned down and kissed my forehead before opening the door and closing it behind him.

  #

  I opened my eyes, and blinked a few times against the darkness of the room. Reaching over, I grabbed the corner of the curtain and pulled on it. A sliver of moonlight pierced the window and spotlighted the room in a Dali-esque array of shadows and exaggerated angles. Was I dreaming? Everything felt odd, muted, my mind buzzing. Maybe it was the after-effects of the fairy potion…

  I turned toward the window, listening for the sounds of battling soldiers. Yep, they were still at it. Did they ever take a rest?

  I turned to find my alarm clock and the eerily green fluorescent light stated it was 3:32 am. God, I knew the creatures of the Underworld rarely slept but this was getting ridiculous. For the last four days, they’d battled all night. Some had slept during the day but only the vampires and that was out of necessity more than anything else.

  Suddenly, a shiver raised the fine hairs on my neck. Illogical fear began bubbling in my stomach and I pushed my palms into my down comforter and attempted to sit up. My muscles strained, but nothing happened. I collapsed into the mattress, holding my breath as my heart hammered madly. Something was wrong. Something was off. I just didn’t know what…

  I turned back toward the window and out of the corner of my eye, I caught the image of two glowing eyes. Before I could scream, a brown wolf leapt through the door and landed on me. As he stared down at me, his eyes ref
lected the moonlight. His snarling snout revealed a great show of teeth as a line of drool escaped from his mouth and fell onto the coverlet.

  I tried to scream but the sound stifled in my throat and refused to come out. The wolf growled and moved inch by inch up my bed. I tried to grab one side of the bed to haul myself over the edge, thinking the floor might offer me better traction. But, moving still wasn’t an option--my traitorous body failed. The wolf growled again and lowered himself to his haunches, approaching even slower, like he was taunting me, daring me to defend myself.

  Rand!

  I thought his name, hoping he wasn’t so far away that our mental telepathy connection wouldn’t work.

  I brought my attention back to the wolf and in a split second, he leapt. His furry body was heavy against mine as his open snout buttressed my pillow. My first instinct was to reach for my alarm clock. I grasped it and bashed it into his eye.

  He howled in pain and ripped the clock from my hand with his teeth, crunching and mashing it into a plastic mess before spitting it at me. He fastened his murderous gaze back on me and that was when I realized I was done. I was as ineffectual as a pancake and this wolf was going to kill me, no questions asked.

  But, I wouldn’t go down without a fight.

  Rand! I need you now!

  I re-thought the words over and over again before attempting to tear at the wolf‘s throat but my fingers just freed up some of his fur. My defensive measures were so useless, I might as well have been grooming the damn thing. The wolf’s eyes settled on my carotid and my heart thundered in my chest.

  I pushed him away and screamed as his teeth sank into the flesh just above my collarbone. He ripped the skin away from me as I cried out against the agony. I forced my eyes open to find blood staining his muzzle and dripping down his chest, matting his fur. I closed my eyes against the incredible burning pain and winced at the thought of being eaten alive.

  The sound of the door crashing against the wall forced my eyes open. A black blur flew from the door and catapulted itself into the wolf, pushing it off me and sending it careening into the wall. The wolf howled against whatever had attacked it. I tried to get a clearer look at what in the hell was going on, but like before, I was unable move. I could only rely on my hearing. The struggling pair made intermittent gasps and groans then I couldn’t hear anything besides an incredible roaring, as if I’d been sucked under a wave.

  Heat radiated from the wound on my collarbone. It morphed into an all out burning until I felt like a volcano was erupting from inside it. I screamed, clenching my eyes tight, hoping the pain would abate but it continued to grow in intensity.

  Suddenly, I felt cold fingers probing the wound and thought the pain would kill me then and there. I pried my eyes open to find Sinjin before me, spattered with blood. He’d killed the wolf—that much was obvious.

  “Sinjin, it bit me!”

  “Jolie.” It was all Sinjin could utter before Rand bowled him over.

  “Get the fuck away from her!” Rand screamed as Sinjin sidestepped him as fast as lightning.

  “She has been bitten by a wolf!” Sinjin roared. “She will turn!”

  “What?!” I demanded, realizing the weight of Sinjin’s statement—I was about to get hairy. A scream sounded from the depths of my body as I attempted to face the facts.

  When Rand came into sight, his concerned expression didn’t fill me with much hope.

  “Christ,” he whispered as he inspected my wound. He touched it and all the burning within me seemed concentrated directly beneath his fingertips.

  “Rand, it hurts!” I pleaded as the fire rained within me. Whatever was happening was happening fast. Rand’s eyes were wide as he placed his hand on my forehead as if checking my temperature. Then he turned to Sinjin.

  “She’s turning,” he said, his voice belying the fact that he was nervous.

  “Stop it from happening!” I squealed before another spasm of pain racked my insides and I bit down hard, tasting the blood of my own lip.

  “I can suck out the toxins,” Sinjin said in a calm voice, his eyes glowing eerily in the moonlight as he took a step closer to my bed.

  “No,” Rand said, shaking his head. “I can heal her myself.”

  “You do not have time,” Sinjin said as he glanced at me. “She is turning too rapidly.”

  At the hideous prospect of becoming a wolf, I gripped Rand’s hand. If Sinjin could stop it, I needed his help. “Please, Rand.”

  Rand gulped hard and told Sinjin. “Do it quickly.”

  Sinjin’s smile was wickedly purposeful. “You must charm her so she will not feel it.”

  Although vampires can bewitch their prey, rendering the victim an unwitting accomplice in the theft of their blood, vampires can’t bewitch witches. That is, of course, unless Rand used his magic to make me susceptible to Sinjin’s power.

  Rand gritted his teeth, the emotions of whether or not to allow Sinjin to seduce me playing across his face. “No, I can’t allow her to succumb to you,” Rand said, tightlipped. “My magic will…”

  “Very well but this will be incredibly painful,” Sinjin interrupted with a shrug and sat down beside me, leaning over as he inspected the wolf’s bite. As he looked at me, his fangs lengthened. I closed my eyes as another eruption of molten pain flowed through me.

  “Please, Rand, please do what he’s asking!”

  Rand paused a moment more before kneeling down, placing my head between his large hands, riveting my attention. “Look at me, Jolie, and don’t break eye contact.”

  I nodded and although another spasm seized me, I forced my eyes open. Rand didn’t say anything as he gazed at me, almost like he was seeing through me. I could only gasp at the incredible pain that was now spreading into my stomach, feeling like my body was eating itself.

  Seconds later, Rand released my head and stood up. “It’s done,” he said in a small voice.

  Sinjin nodded and grasped my hand. “Look at me, Poppet. This will not cause you pain, do you understand?”

  I nodded dumbly and lost myself in the crystal blue of Sinjin’s eyes. His pupils dilated until the black swallowed the ice blue only to immediately return to normal. Like a light switch turning off, the pain that had been coursing through me suddenly vanished.

  And all there was was Sinjin.

  Sinjin smiled as his fangs sparkled in the moonlight. He grasped my neck with incredibly cold fingers and maneuvered my head to an angle that pleased him. He leaned over me and I could feel his fangs sink into my already torn flesh. There was only a moment of slight pain—like the pinch of a vaccination but it was over almost immediately.

  Sinjin squeezed my shoulders as his fangs sank deeper and I could feel the warm viscous blood seeping down my neck. His hands palpated my arms, plying my flesh as he continued drinking me. A moan escaped his lips and all I could think about was how good he felt, how his drinking me was the most erotic feeling I’d ever experienced.

  I groaned when he withdrew from my neck and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly, needing to be as close to him as possible.

  “Jolie,” Rand said but I wouldn’t look at him.

  I ran my fingers through Sinjin’s thick, black hair and pushed his head back onto my neck. He pulled up from me and his eyes were bright with an unnatural light. He licked his lips which were covered in my blood and sunk his fangs into me again. I screamed with surprised pleasure, feeling the throes of an orgasm.

  “Stop, goddamit!” Rand yelled. “What the bloody hell are you doing to her?!”

  Sinjin didn’t respond but merely withdrew his fangs again. Blood dripped from his mouth onto my face and he licked it off. “Do you want her to turn?!” he asked breathlessly.

  Rand made no motion to back away. “No.”

  “Then let me finish.”

  Sinjin turned back to me and his eyes dilated again, weaving bliss in my stomach. I tilted my neck to the side and closed my eyes. “Please, Sinjin, please,” I begged, needing
to feel him, wanting to feel him.

  He threw himself on me and bit me with renewed zest, sucking my blood feverishly. I was suddenly able to move my legs and I wrapped them around him, my body writhing with pleasure beneath his. He groaned slightly as I screamed out another orgasm.

  “I want you, Sinjin, please,” I moaned.

  Rand smashed his fist into the wall. “Enough,” he yelled.

  Sinjin pulled away from me and his body heaved as he licked the blood off his lips and closed his eyes, panting ecstatically. When he opened his eyes, he glanced at my neck and examined the wound. His fangs retracted and I protested at the thought of him leaving me. I grasped his head, trying to bring his face back down.

  He chuckled. “No, Pet, you must keep the rest.”

  “Get away from her,” Rand said in an exhausted voice, pushing Sinjin off me.

  “I want more,” I whimpered.

  “No, Jolie, you’re going to be alright now,” Rand crooned in my ear. “These feelings are just temporary.”

  I heard Sinjin’s chuckle from the door. “Randall, do not outstay your welcome. It is clear whom she prefers.”

  “I don’t have the patience to deal with you now, Sinjin,” Rand hissed.

  I wasn’t sure if it was sexual frustration or the werewolf in me but the heat suddenly began spiraling inside me again and I writhed against it. Rand grabbed hold of my flailing arms.

  “Did you get all the toxins out of her?” Rand demanded.

  “Yes,” Sinjin responded. “She will heal.”

  I opened my eyes and grabbed hold of Rand, trying to pull him toward me. “I need you, Rand, right now!”

  He held me and turned to face Sinjin. “When will this wear off?”

  Sinjin smiled. “Another ten minutes or so. I had to charm her twice to ensure she would not feel pain.”

  Rand grumbled something unintelligible but I didn’t care. I needed male attention and I needed it now.

  “Rand, please.”

  Sinjin’s chortle was deep. “Apparently I awakened some dormant feelings in her. If you are not up to the challenge, I can satiate her.”

  Sinjin took a step toward us and Rand stood up, facing him. “I’ve had enough of you and your ulterior motives.”