Found and Forged

by Ivy Asher

  He squees like an Avengers nerd who just walked into a restaurant filled with the whole cast, and I completely lose my shit. The high-pitched tickle-scream he just released is about as far from manly and wolf shifter as one can get. Torrez succeeds in pinning me to the ground, which can’t be helped in my laugh-weakened state. I’m laughing so hard it sounds like I’m honking like a goose, which just makes me laugh even harder.

  “Fuck, you’re beautiful when you’re laughing and happy and lying underneath me,” Torrez observes.

  Heat pools low in my stomach, and I try to tame my giggles. “Only then?” I jibe, fishing shamelessly for more compliments.

  Torrez leans down and nips at my exposed neck, his wolf growling deeply with approval. The growl vibrates through his chest, and I revel in the feel of it against my breasts. I deactivate all of my runes, making Torrez and the surrounding forest brighten with color.

  “Fine, gorgeous all the time. Stunning when you’re laughing, and radiant when you’re screaming my name.”

  He grinds into me, and I giggle and then flip him onto his back. “Pretty sure I won the race and therefore get to be on top.”

  Torrez muscles me on to my back again. “Pretty sure you cheated and therefore were disqualified from winning.”

  “Now, now, Wolf, it wasn’t my fault you couldn’t get your shoes off. You did invite me to come.”

  He gives an amused huff. “Only if you played your cards right, remember?”

  “Well then, royal flush,” I shout out, naming the highest hand I can think of in poker. “Does that count?” I ask, leaning forward and sucking Torrez’s bottom lip into my mouth.

  He claims my mouth in return and deepens the kiss. “Yeah, that’ll do,” he pants between kisses as he hurries to undress me. I reach down and stroke his length, pumping him slowly up and down as I kick off my other shoe and hope it rolls off to join its sole-mate. My clothes are wet and somewhat muddy from our wrestling, but I don’t even feel the cold as Torrez peels them off of me. He wedges the fabric underneath me and presses against my now naked body.

  He really is like a walking, talking space heater, and I cling to him as he kisses down my neck and focuses on my breasts.

  “Mmmmm, Go Fish,” I call out as he sucks on my nipple and plays with the other one between his thumb and forefinger. Torrez pulls away and locks eyes with me, his gaze filled with laughter.

  “Um...I beg your pardon?”

  “Oh, I thought I’d call out card game wins, just in case I still needed to play my cards right,” I say, a cheeky smile on my face.

  My lips spread wide over a smile, but my mouth O's as he chuckles and then quickly moves down my body to suck on my clit. He wastes no time owning my pussy, licking, sucking and teasing until I’m a mewling mess. The turned on growl he gives every time he spreads me wide and licks me sends delicious vibrations through me, and I’m on the verge of orgasming in no time. Like the sexiest fucking rollercoaster ever, Torrez takes me right up to the peak, pauses to build anticipation and then hurtles me over the edge, breathless, panting, and screaming out.

  “Old Maid!” I shout out as I float languidly through my orgasm, and I can feel the laugh that’s vibrating through him as Old Maid becomes a fervent prayer of appreciation on my lips.

  Torrez moves back up my body, worshipping with his kisses as he goes. He locks eyes with me and nuzzles my nose with his own.

  “Winner, winner, chicken dinner,” he calls out, and then he lines himself up and thrusts deeply inside of me.

  I’m caught in between a laugh and a moan as Torrez starts to work rhythmically in and out of me. The sound of our bodies separating and slamming back together dances in the air all around us. A snowflake lands on the tip of my nose, and I open my eyes to find that it’s started snowing again. The big fat flakes drop down to the ground lazily like they have all the time in the world. They take the slow scenic route as they fall from the sky and twirl and sway until they rest on the forest floor all around us.

  “Gin!” I shout out when Torrez hits that specific sweet spot inside of me. We both crack up and once again easily get lost in the feel of each other.

  “You were made for me, you cheeky Witch,” he declares, punctuating each word with deep thrusts.

  “Well duh, Lobo Gris.”

  “Lobo Gris? Really?”

  “I’ve run out of good wolf slurs,” I admit and then reach up to pinch my nipples as he speeds up. “Two Socks and Spanish were my Hail Marys.”

  “Who the fuck is Two Socks?” Torrez grunts out, close but holding back his orgasm.

  “You know, Dances with Wolves,” I encourage, but he just looks confused. “Google said it was a movie.”

  “Sounds fake,” he teases, batting my hand away so he can suck a nipple into his mouth.

  I moan and run my fingers through his damp black hair. He starts to fuck me even harder. “I guess I could call you, like, derogatory pet names now that I’ve used up all the wolf ones. How would you feel about Fifi?”

  Torrez growls and looks up at me, never missing a beat as he pumps in and out of my pussy. “I feel about the same as you would feel if I stopped fucking you right now. I can feel you already starting to pulse around me. Call me Fifi and watch that orgasm float away,” he threatens playfully, and I glare at him.

  I keep my mouth shut and throw my head back so I can get lost in the sensations of his body on top of mine. Moving in me, feeling so right and sooo fucking good. Another orgasm sweeps over me like a blizzard, and I scream out, “Uno!”

  Torrez presses in even deeper and goes still, his orgasm a mix of my name and laughter.

  “I love you, Fifi,” I tease as we both just lie there in orgasmic bliss.

  I crack up when he pulls out and then flips me on all fours.

  “Oh, I’ll show you Fifi,” he declares, and then he thrusts back inside and fucks the Fifi right out of me.

  8

  I’m buzzing with restlessness which, at this point in our adventure, is my new normal. We’re close, and we can all feel it. We’ve been hiking for just a couple hours, and it’s lacked the joking and ragging that normally goes on. We’re all quiet. Observant. Anticipation sits heavy on each of our backs as we get closer to our destination with each step.

  None of us are sure what will happen. Sorik said he turned back when he saw the barrier the first time he traveled this path. He wasn’t stopped by anyone or followed. His discovery seemed to go unnoticed. I keep thinking Sentinels are going to pop out at any moment with a “halt who goes there,” but as we close the distance, nothing happens.

  That should make me feel relieved or help calm my nerves, but it’s setting me on edge instead. We crest yet another hill in what seems to be a hike of never-ending hills and mountains, and then there it is. A luminescent barrier that stretches as far as I can see to the left and right. It’s bookended by large mountains on each side, and from what Sorik said, Sentinel City sits somewhere in the middle of a valley. We all knew we’d been getting closer to our destination, but from the way everyone sort of freezes, I don’t think any of us expected that today would be the day.

  I feel the pull of the barrier like a siren’s song. I don’t know what the fuck it means, but there’s an undeniable call to do something. I take in the faces of my Chosen, my Shields, and Sorik. I can tell that the call is singing in each of them as well. Slowly, we start down the hill toward the barrier, and I trace the familiar features of my dad’s face as we go. I once again find myself wondering if he’s in there. If this barrier tempts him to some unknown action too.

  I scan our surroundings for any movement, while also taking in the barrier. We stop about ten feet away, and all anyone can do is just stare.

  “Everyone feeling—” Valen voices.

  The resounding yeses cut him off before he can even finish the question.

  “Anyone else just want to touch it?” Becket asks, and the confusion and fascination in his tone makes me want to laugh.

&nb
sp; “I’ve never been so attracted to a magical phenomenon...well, aside from Vinna, that is,” Siah utters with awe, and I simultaneously swoon and agree with his assessment of the barrier.

  I too feel like Dory when she finds a squishy and declares that it’s hers. I just want to rub myself all over this shimmering barrier, call it my shiny, and announce that it’s now mine for forever.

  “I wonder what it is about it that has that pull?” Ryker queries, and we all grow silent again as we stare at the myriad of colors that are shimmering in front of us.

  “It almost feels like it’s...I don’t know...missing something maybe,” Bastien observes.

  “What do you mean?” Valen asks.

  “I don’t know how to explain it, but it feels like it’s reaching out for something, and it desperately wants whatever that something is. Like it’s crying out for it.”

  “Like it’s the lock in search of a key,” I whisper.

  Bastien’s words take a moment to soak in, but as they do, I can pick out exactly what he means. The barrier isn’t calling out in this cheerful “let’s all frolic together in happiness and bliss.” It feels more like something that’s wounded and is begging for relief.

  “It’s giving me the fucking heebie jeebies the more I stare at it. So whatever we’re going to do to get through this thing, let’s do it already,” Enoch declares.

  I blink a couple times and then pull my focus from the call of the barrier. I don’t see anyone on the other side of it or sense any kind of threat.

  “So, anyone feeling like we should stray from the plan?” I ask.

  No one answers right away as they study the barrier, each other, and then me.

  “You’re the strongest individual source of magic, so that still makes the most sense to me,” Sabin offers, finally breaking the silence.

  “I still think it’s risky,” Knox starts. “But we’ll all be ready to lend a hand if you need it,” he adds, and the trusting smile he gives me warms me to the core.

  I take a deep breath and turn to the barrier again. I can’t lie, there’s a part of me that worries this thing might act like a giant bug zapper and just fry my ass on contact. But I argued that I was the best option for figuring out how to get through it, and now I have to Sentinel the fuck up and hope it doesn’t cook me until I’m golden brown and crispy.

  I slowly release the air I just pulled into my lungs and give myself a solid pep talk of here goes fucking nothing. I reach out and do my best to keep my poker face intact, which exudes an air of I got this and thoroughly hides the face people make when they’re about to touch something super icky. I walk the ten feet that separate the group from the barrier and then just stare at it.

  I suddenly feel so unprepared, which makes no sense.

  We’ve been hiking for weeks, knowing this was the destination. We’ve gone over plans upon plans for what to do when we get here. We’re finally here, and yet this all feels surreal, like a dream I’m going to wake up from at any moment. I pull in a deep breath and shake the uncertainty from my limbs. I lift my hand and pause.

  What the fuck is my problem?

  I roll my shoulders twice and banish any hesitation from my body. I touch the barrier with a tip of my finger and then quickly pull my hand away with a squeak of terror and excitement. I wait for my body to spontaneously combust, but when it doesn’t, I turn to the others and give them a wide smile.

  “Yay for not dying!” I shout out, unable to help myself.

  Bastien and Torrez both shake their heads at me, but I don’t miss the smile in their eyes. I wasn’t just incinerated, which means I’m walking on cloud nine. I blame that for why I don’t stick with the test the barrier with magic plan that we all agreed to, but instead step into the shimmering rainbow coated magic instead.

  Shouted protests bounce off my back as I’m suddenly enveloped by the Defensive magic of the barrier. I know that my Chosen are going to rip me a new one, but I’ll have to deal with that on the other side. I continue to walk through the barrier, and it feels like I’m surrounded by jello. I’m engulfed by a cool dense sensation, and I move like I’m making my way underwater. I look over my shoulder to see that the guys are all arguing, but the sound is lost to me.

  I see Knox mouth the words fuck it before he also steps into the barrier. I watch him cringe, like he wasn’t sure what to expect when he touched the magic, but just like with me, there’s no issue. The other guys all enter the magic forcefield one by one, and we all start making our way through to the inside of what the barrier is protecting.

  We’ve all had different theories about the barrier and how to navigate it. The original plan was to make contact and then go from there. We figured contact would help determine if the barrier was hostile and defensive. Was it simple protection or something else entirely? Looks like Sorik’s theory won. He thought that maybe the barrier could recognize Sentinel magic and would respond accordingly. He figured that would be the only way other Sentinels could go in and out. I wondered if they did come and go though, since supposedly everyone thought they died off.

  Maybe my mom ran away?

  I come out on the inside of the barrier and step into the shadow of a mountain that’s directly in front of us. I pause for a moment, disoriented because when I was on the outside of the barrier, it looked like this was sparse trees and flat land.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Torrez rages at me when he makes it through the barrier too. I turn, ready to reassure him that it’s all fine, but the angry look on everyone’s faces has me shutting the fuck up.

  Shit.

  “My bad,” I offer weakly, knowing if one of them had gone off script like I just did, I’d be just as pissed.

  “I’m going to try really hard to not sound like some fucking caveman right now, but, Vinna, you can’t just pull shit like that!” Torrez growls at me. “Your actions and choices don’t just affect you anymore, and the lack of consideration you just showed all of us is not fucking cool.”

  “Fuck, I know. I went all raccoon, I saw the shiny and just went for it. I’m fucking sorry,” I offer, looking each of them in turn.

  Torrez pauses, suddenly not sure what to say. “You should be sorry,” he adds, floundering.

  “I am. Seriously, I get it. I won’t pull that shit again,” I vow, and more than one of them gives me a questioning look.

  Torrez runs his fingers through his hair and huffs out a frustrated breath. “Real talk, I thought she was going to defend herself. I’m not sure what to do now,” he leans over and mumbles out of the side of his mouth to Sabin.

  I chuckle, as do a couple of the other guys.

  “You can punish her in all the best ways later,” Sabin tells Torrez conspiratorially, and my vagina makes it known that she really likes the sound of that.

  Torrez releases an amused snort and shakes his head at me. “No more solo vigilante shit, Witch,” he scolds again.

  I run a finger over my heart in the shape of an X. “No more solo vigilante shit,” I agree.

  Everyone seems appeased by my declaration, and the focus goes quickly from me to our surroundings.

  “Looks like we have more hiking in our near future,” Ryker observes, his head tilted back to take in the big mountain eclipsing our presence on this side of the barrier.

  “Yeah, I kind of thought there’d just be a big city waiting here for us, and maybe we’d get, like, a parade and shit,” Becket voices, and I shake my head at him while fighting an amused smile.

  “What if there isn’t anyone here?” Knox asks, the question promptly wiping the amusement from my face. “I mean, we all just thought there’d be others on this side of the barrier, but what if there isn’t? What if the barrier protects nothing now and just...is?”

  That thought flaps around the group like a pest no one wants to land on them. I run my gaze over the shadowed trees, grass and shrubs surrounding us.

  “Yeah, that thought never really crossed my mind,” I confess.

  “
Me neither,” Bastien and Valen both say at the same time.

  “Well, the only way we’re going to find out is to either go up this mountain or around it,” Enoch observes, and we all tilt our heads back to take in the high peak above us.

  We all let out groans and growls of annoyance. None of us had any idea what kind of welcome we would receive, but we were all thinking that getting to the other side of the barrier would mean no more walking.

  “All those in favor of going around?” Sorik asks, raising his hand to cast his vote.

  Everyone else follows suit. Without another word, he heads off to the right, and we begin our trek to skirt around the base of the rocky mound that’s now in our way.

  “If there is anyone here, how long do you think it will take before we’re on their radar?” Kallan asks.

  And it’s right at that moment that heat runs through me. It’s like Kallan’s question alone has activated my runes in some way. They start to glow, and I heat up. At first I’m confused by the sensation, because there’s something oddly familiar about it, which makes it even more strange.

  “Um...something’s happening,” I voice at the same time that several of them ask, “Do you feel that?”

  It’s that question that triggers the memory of the last time this happened. Magic builds inside of me like I’m a pressure cooker, and I know that any second now, it’s going to explode out of me and do something to the barrier we just walked through. The last time this happened was when I first crossed the magical barrier onto Lachlan’s property. My magic sort of just… highjacked it. I suspect that the same thing is about to happen, but the magic that’s rushing into me now is a hell of a lot more intense than anything I experienced the last time.

  I wince at the force of magic building in me, and my eyes land on Siah’s worried gaze. He opens his mouth to say something to me, but my head fills with a rushing sound, and I can’t make out what he’s trying to communicate. All of sudden, his runes light up, and it’s as if someone just flipped the on switch for all of my Chosen.