Darkness Bound: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Witch's Rebels Book 2)

by Sarah Piper

  I flinched at the sound of Emilio’s words, so gentle and kind in his voice, so twisted in Jonathan’s.

  “And the crossroads demon?” he went on. “He wanted you to know how much he loved you, of course. But if that were true, he would’ve found a way to save you instead of getting himself and his friends killed on your behalf, right? No matter. He’s back in hell where he belongs. I’m sure they were very happy to get him back.”

  He’s lying, he’s lying, he’s lying…

  “By the time I got to your vampire, I was kind of out of ideas, honestly. So I harvested his blood, then I set him on fire. Efficient. I have to respect a man like that, though. He didn’t even scream until I lit that match.”

  He planted those images inside my mind, and now they spread like a poison, filling me with rage.

  “What do you want from me?” I screamed.

  “I’ve already told you. I want your power. I want you to teach me how to do what you do. The system would be much more efficient, if you think about it. I wouldn’t need to recruit new soldiers if I could simply resurrect them. It’s the ultimate form of recycling.”

  “I don’t know how to teach you,” I said, and that was the honest truth. “I’m still learning the power myself.”

  “Then you need to figure out a way to give me that power altogether, Gray. It never should’ve been yours in the first place. It’s wasted on you. All of you.”

  I’d heard of certain witches being able to “borrow” power from others, or channel certain powers from supernaturals—like vampire influence, for example—but that was usually temporary. I had no idea how to give Jonathan what he wanted.

  “I don’t know how,” I said.

  “Not even to save your friends? Damn. I thought I was a cold-hearted bastard. But you? You’ve got ice in your veins, Sunshine.” He pressed his lips together, biting back his obvious frustration. “Well, you got him out of one devil’s trap. Can’t hurt to try again. Maybe we’ll all learn something new today.”

  He shoved me into the cell, slamming the gate and locking it shut behind me.

  I went down hard on my hands and knees, grunting with the impact. Tiny green sparks skittered across my hands, but Jonathan hadn’t seen them.

  “Well,” Jonathan prodded. “Get to it, witch.”

  “You’re just going to stand there and watch?”

  “I prefer the term observe, and yes, I am going to do just that. Observation is a crucial part of any experiment, and I’ll continue to do just that until I can devise a way to transfer your power.”

  Great.

  Getting to my feet, I dusted myself off and slowly circled Asher, my eyes locked on his as I pretended to analyze the situation.

  In reality, I just needed a little more time. The magics were still fusing inside me, filling me with immeasurable power.

  I leaned in close to Asher’s face, breathing in his fiery demon scent.

  “Careful, witch,” Jonathan called out. “I need to see what you’re doing.”

  “I need to see his eyes,” I said.

  “Explain.”

  “The soul is the root of my magic,” I said, which was at least partially true, but Jonathan didn’t need to know the details. I just had to feed him enough bullshit to keep him distracted long enough to figure out how the hell I was going to fix Asher. Magic or not, if I didn’t neutralize that devil’s trap, he’d die. “Eyes are the window to the soul. Ergo, I need to see his eyes.”

  Jonathan seemed satisfied, at least for the moment. “Carry on, then. But no tricks, Sunshine. I’m serious.”

  Turning my attention back to Asher, I studied his ocean-blue eyes. Despite his obvious pain, they were still sharp and clear.

  “You okay?” I mouthed.

  “Been better,” he whispered. “Are you here to kiss me again?”

  I smiled. “In your dreams, buddy.”

  “Every single one.”

  Relief rushed through me. Asher was still Asher. That meant he was still okay. That he still had a chance. That we still had a chance.

  “Hell of a mess, huh?” he whispered. “Any ideas?”

  “One. But it’s kind of crazy.”

  “I like crazy.”

  I gave him a quick wink. Then, before I could change my mind, I spun on my heel and charged toward the gate, slamming a burst of magic into Jonathan’s chest.

  He went down hard, flat on his back on the cold stone.

  “Over and out, asshole.”

  “Holy shit!” Asher said. “I knew you had it in you! Is he dead?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t have the juice to kill him. That’s just a variation on a hold spell. He’s unconscious for now, but we don’t have much time.”

  And with any luck, he’d be confused and groggy when he came out of it, not remembering that I was the one who put him down.

  I was counting on it.

  I had other plans for Jonathan. But first…

  “Speaking of quickies,” I said, turning back to Asher and taking his face into my hands. I brushed the hair from his eyes, offering him a gentle smile. “Let’s see what we can do about this nanotech predicament.”

  Thirty-Five

  ASHER

  Gray’s smile was a light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

  “Still determined to win me over with your outlandish stunts, incubus?”

  I coughed out a weak laugh. “Yeah, well, I couldn’t remember what flowers you liked, so I figured this was the next best thing.”

  “Hmm.” She stroked my cheeks with her thumbs, making me shiver. “And here I though Emilio was the softy of the bunch.”

  I reached for her hands, covering them with mine. Her touch was so warm and soft, I didn’t want her to stop.

  But she needed to get out of here before that fuckstick woke up.

  “Gray, you have to—”

  “I have to help you. That’s what I’m doing right now.” She pressed a kiss to my left eyebrow. Then to the other. Each caress, each kiss, sent a burst of warmth to my chest. “So stop fighting me.”

  I closed my eyes, letting her cover my face with her soft, perfect kisses. Letting her strengthen me, just a little.

  “This isn’t how I wanted things to happen between us,” I said.

  Gray laughed softly. “Well, maybe you should’ve thought of that before you decided to get locked up in here and pumped full of nano-soldiers, because now you don’t have a choice.”

  “No, but you do.” I turned my head away from her and coughed.

  Gray stood up, taking a step back. I didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

  But I should’ve known better. She wasn’t going anywhere.

  Keeping her blue eyes locked on mine, she slid out of her pants and underwear. I hadn’t even fully processed this when she straddled me on the chair.

  Oh, fuck. The wet heat of her core radiated through my pants, kicking my heart rate up a few notches.

  I clenched my teeth, fighting off a rush of pleasure. I appreciated the temporary energy boost, but this was fucking dangerous.

  “What are you doing, Gray?”

  She rocked her hips forward, brushing against the fabric of my pants and the firm ridge of my cock beneath. Another wave of warm, healing energy pulsed through my chest, keeping the devil’s trap particles at bay and filling me with a burst of new energy.

  Also, a hard-on.

  Fucking hell.

  “We’ve been dodging this since we met, Ash,” she said. “So unless you can look me in the eyes and swear to me this isn’t what you want, I’m not stopping.”

  I cradled her angel face in my hands, my thumbs stroking her silky-soft cheeks. Goddamn, she was breaking my heart. “You know I can’t, Cupcake.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  I laughed. “You mean, aside from the fact that we’re locked in an underground cave prison by your totally unhinged ex-boyfriend—excellent life choice there, by the way—and no one knows where we are
or how to get to us, and I’m dying a slow death by some kind of devil’s trap blood transfusion, and he might be back at any second to force you to transfer your power so he can unleash his crazy on the world?” I fingered a lock of her hair and took a breath. Chances are I wouldn’t live to see tomorrow, so what was the point of holding back this last bit? I could only manage a whisper, but I had to say it. Now or never. “I’m, uh… I’m pretty sure I’m falling in love with you, too. So… there’s that.”

  Her eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything right away. Her silence felt like a punch in the gut.

  For a minute, I worried I’d ruined everything. That telling her was an even bigger mistake than falling for her in the first place.

  But then she leaned in close, her lips brushing mine in the dark, squalid damp of that room, giving me just enough hope to hang on a little longer.

  “Then let me do this for you,” she whispered, and I was gone, melting beneath the hot press of her mouth on my neck. Her kisses were like the best kind of fire, burning a path across my skin, lighting me up inside and out.

  With one hand, she reached down the front of my pants, fisting my cock in a tight, perfect grip that made me moan.

  It took everything in me to grab her hand and stop her.

  Gray growled in frustration. “Damn it, Ash, we don’t have time. What is your problem?”

  “If I hurt you—”

  “You won’t.”

  “You can’t know that.”

  She stilled, finally considering my words. After a beat, she blew out a breath and said softly, “I remind you of her, right?”

  Every muscle in my body stilled.

  I didn’t have to ask her who she meant.

  “No, you don’t.” I reached for her face again, not bothering to hide the ghosts in my eyes. She knew them. She’d always known them. “She’s…”

  “She’s what?” Gray whispered.

  “She’s… not a story for nice girls.” I dropped my hand, hoping she’d let it go. Hoping that I could let it go. Leave it in the past where it belonged before that memory finally did me in for good.

  Gray slid her hands into the back of my hair, stroking my skin.

  “I don’t know what happened to you before,” she said softly, even though I knew she’d seen it. She might not understand the details, but the night she’d tried my soul on for size, she’d witnessed me killing the first woman I’d ever really loved—witnessed it through my eyes. My memories. Much as I thought I could spare her by not taking about it, it’d probably haunted her dreams as often as it haunted mine.

  “Gray—”

  “It’s different with us,” she said.

  “You want it to be different,” I said. “Believe me, Cupcake, so do I. But that’s doesn’t make it so.”

  “Maybe it does.” She shrugged, the corner of her mouth lifting in a smile. “Intention, right? That’s what magic is.”

  “But—”

  “Listen. I’ve healed you before. That night in the woods, with the cougar? My magic, coupled with the earth magic, was enough to heal you with one kiss. Well, I’m even stronger now, and if you’d stop being such a stubborn dick about things, you’d be getting a hell of a lot more than one kiss.”

  It sounded logical, but it was still a risk.

  “Look,” she said, finally getting pissed. “It’s the only thing I can think of to try. If my magic can heal you, maybe it’s enough to strengthen your blood and your immune system to destroy those damn nano-bots.”

  “Maybe it is,” I said. “But at what cost?”

  “What if there are no costs with us? What if there are only benefits?”

  “I want a guarantee.”

  “You don’t get one. Not in this life. Not for anything. You get hope. And when you do, you fucking take it, because hope is as precious a gift as anyone can offer.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off with a kiss, and that was the end of my protests.

  No more talking. Fearing. Guessing.

  She let out a soft moan, her energy already seeping into me, filling me once again.

  I broke our kiss, pulling back to check her for any signs of distress. “You good?”

  “No. You stopped kissing me. That’s not good. That’s the exact opposite of good.”

  She reached for my cock again, already rock-hard for her. Hell, ever since I’d met her I’d been walking around half-hard every fucking day, so this wasn’t all that much of a stretch.

  But her touch? Her touch was fucking incredible.

  Gray arched her hips, positioning herself right up against me. Her liquid heat was a siren song I couldn’t resist.

  It also felt like a last hurrah, even though we hadn’t even had our first.

  “Why do I get the feeling you’re about to do something really stupid?” I asked.

  “You mean, have sex with you?”

  “Stupider.”

  “Asher?”

  “Yeah, Cupcake?”

  “Shut up and fuck me before you die and ruin my whole day.”

  I laughed, tugging my pants down and freeing my cock. “You win, Gray.”

  She lifted her hips, then lowered herself down over my length, inch by mind-blowing inch until I was buried to the fucking hilt.

  “Asher,” she breathed, rocking her hips in a gentle rhythm. The sound of my name on her lips sent chills racing down my spine, and I matched her movement, thrusting inside her.

  Hot. Fucking. Damn.

  I’d never felt anything like her before. Her skin. Her heat. Her magic. It flowed into me, singing through my veins, energizing and strengthening me until I felt like I could tear this whole place to the ground with my bare hands.

  It was beautiful and perfect and crazy and hot as hell, and I never wanted it to end.

  But this wasn’t a fairy tale. This was our reality. Time was not on our side, and despite our banter and teasing and all the back-and-forth, we couldn’t drag this out another minute.

  She seemed to sense the direction of my thoughts, and without a word, she sped up her movements, riding me harder and faster, losing herself in the hot slide of our bodies coming together, closer and closer and closer until I couldn’t hold out another second.

  Neither could she.

  “Ash!” She fisted my hair, tugging hard as her body clenched around me, her hips bucking wildly as she threw her head back, gasping in pleasure. I felt the pulse of her orgasm at it overtook her, pumping me into a frenzy as we both tumbled hard and fast over the edge.

  Biting her shoulder to keep from screaming out her name, I dug my fingers into her hips and slammed inside her, coming in a white-hot burst that left me dizzy and seeing stars.

  We gave ourselves about a minute to come back to reality.

  “Gray, I—”

  She pressed her finger to my lips, following up with another kiss I felt all the way down to my damn toes.

  “Save your energy,” she said, sliding down off my lap. Her bare thighs glistened with sweat. “You’re going to need it.”

  “Yeah, I kind of figured.” I watched as she slipped her pants back on, wishing all of this had happened under different circumstances. Wishing I could take my time, kissing those bare thighs all the way up to the top. “Care to elaborate?”

  “I’m working on a plan to get Jonathan out of here. Once that happens, I need you to promise me something.”

  I pulled up my pants, readjusting myself inside. “Anything, Cupcake.”

  “Find the witches—he’s keeping them in here somewhere. You have to get them out. Fiona, too.” Gray looked at me, her blue eyes so fierce and beautiful there was nothing I wouldn’t have promised her just then. “The guys… The guys are okay. I can feel it.”

  “They’re fine. They’re great. They’re already out looking for us. That motherfucker is just trying to get under your skin.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s not happening. Not anymore.”

  “That hold spell won’t last foreve
r,” I said, nodding at the lump of him outside the gate. He was already starting to show signs of life again, groaning softly, his leg twitching.

  “You take care of everyone else,” she said. “I’ll deal with Jonathan.”

  “I want to help you end this, Gray.”

  “I know, and… and I love you for that.” She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, and then she leaned in and kissed me again, a slow and lingering kiss that absolutely melted me. When she pulled back, her eyes were glassy with tears, but she didn’t let them fall, determined to tough it out till the bitter end. “But I’m afraid my fight with Jonathan is just beginning.”

  Thirty-Six

  GRAY

  Sophie had always been an all-in, ride-or-die kind of girl.

  If she ordered ice cream, it was a banana split with extra hot fudge and two cherries instead of one. She once worked double shifts at Illuminae for an month in exchange for borrowing another bartender’s car, just so we could drive to the coast for a few hours to watch the sun set over the Pacific. She laughed hard and often, and if you didn’t, she made it her mission in life to change that.

  And when it came to tarot, while most people favored the gentle guiding energy of The Star, or the inner-child exuberance of The Sun, or even the charming naiveté of The Fool, her favorite card had been the one that sent nausea-inducing waves of fear through the rest of us: The Tower.

  In it, a sinister beam of moonlight—or in some decks, lightning—struck a massive brick tower, blasting the top to bits. Desperate to avoid the destruction, several people threw themselves from the tower’s highest windows, some of them dashing themselves on the rocks below.

  It represented shocking, sudden change or destruction, and the personal transformation that often followed. Sophie was all about sifting through the rubble for the gems that life’s most painful lessons often provided, and she believed that the Tower card heralded great opportunities for us, as long as we were open to receiving them.

  “Don’t fear the storm, Gray. Be ready for it.”