Gypsy Rising (All The Pretty Monsters Book 5)

by Kristy Cunning

  She knows better than to force my intrigue. It only adds to my numerous twitches, and that royally pisses me off.

  When my left eye suffers a timed sequences of blinks, I cut my gaze to Arion, unable to stop myself.

  A muscle jumps along his jaw, as Damien pretends to be disinterested, but I notice how his fingers have now twined with Violet’s.

  How does Idun know something we’ve never been able to uncover? When Arion came out of the ground, he forced Violet into silence about a secret only the two of them have since shared.

  Arion keeps his glare now trained on Idun, as the blacks of his eyes return.

  “Why don’t you tell them, pet? It’d be better coming from you. Secrets like these only fester and cause more unnecessary resentment,” Idun says to him, her voice changing to an old, familiar one.

  The woman Arion thought her to be when he fell in love. Victoria’s voice.

  Arion’s gaze flicks to me, and in a flat tone, he says, “If you let her tear us apart over this, she wins. I’ll still be at Violet’s side, so you’ll have to deal with me, regardless. I’ll release her from her gypsy’s pride promise, and she can tell you all about it herself.”

  Simply because I know it’s going to eat Idun alive if I go along with this, I cut my gaze back toward her, pretending to restrain a smile.

  She doesn’t react.

  She doesn’t acknowledge his response.

  She simply dusts some lint from her very revealing dress and shrugs a shoulder. “Arion watched you all for decades as an astral projection of himself, after you made the terrible mistake of locking him away in a coffin,” Idun states as she feigns examination of her nails.

  With all the power in me, I resist jerking my gaze to him. That son of a bitch…

  “Deny it, gypsy Vampyre. You’ll see who they still believe more,” Idun goes on.

  “I have no reason to deny it. Violet already knows the truth,” Arion says, as the tension in the room slowly starts to shift.

  I glance at Damien, who is smirking down at Violet. “If our sweet monster knows, then I’m sure she won’t have any problem explaining,” Damien states, not an ounce of anger in his voice.

  “He knows you begged for death and was denied,” Idun cuts in.

  Damien’s smile slips, and Arion looks away, scrubbing a hand over his jaw.

  The vampire finally cuts his gaze to me, but before he can speak, a howl erupts through the air so bone-jarringly loud that it rattles all the pictures off every single wall in my room.

  Idun startles, whirling around with a hiss, as her eyes go black and her pupils shrink. Her claws have extended, and her back hunches as it creaks and pops, her height quickly lifting up four inches, as her skin turns an ashen gray.

  Trigger happy with her monster, it seems.

  That’s good.

  That means four predators have successfully put her on edge, and now the three of us know we’re getting to her.

  Emit’s howl bowls through my house once again, and this time I’m not paying attention to Idun’s reaction.

  Arion’s eyes have gone solid red, and Damien’s have whited out. They both dive for Idun, just as Emit’s wolf crashes through the wall of the room.

  “What the fucking hell?!” I shout, knocked to the ground.

  I’m forced to cover my head, as my entire roof is ripped, since Arion slings Idun through it.

  She shrieks, just as several buzzing bats quickly shift, a full fleet of shapeshifters hitting the ground in two-footed form, as they hiss and arch their backs at us, surrounding their alpha.

  Idun cracks her neck, her large canines protruding and overlapping, as she snarls at us from the ground. I can only see through my wall of windows, as I look over just in time to see Emit’s wolf surrounding Violet, standing over her body like he’s ready to kill the next shifter in this house.

  His mouth is bloodied, but it’s his blood and no one else’s I scent. His claws look just as bloody. This mate-fevered hellhound just somehow managed to dig through my silver cage.

  That’s not good.

  He damn well may attack Idun, and then we’re all fucked.

  Arion and Damien both hiss at the wolf, who growls at them, but the growl tapers off into nothing when Violet makes a whimpered sound in her sleep.

  Emit turns quickly, shoving his nose into her stitches. Please, for fuck’s sake, don’t let Caroline’s smell still be on her.

  He lets out a low groan, nudging her cheek with his muzzle, when she doesn’t notice him.

  All wolf. He’s all fucking wolf right now. It’s not even time for a full moon. It wasn’t the same when he mated Idun. This is different.

  Apparently, he denied it for too long, and the wolf has taken things into his own hands.

  Arion starts to move toward him, but Emit growls low in his throat again, warning the vampire to keep a distance.

  “She’s not just yours,” the stupid vampire says, even though I’m thankful his eyes have dulled back down to only black.

  “You’ll be on your way then, right?” Damien calls out the window, waving like a loon. “Been great catching up. Our girlfriend’s unconscious and Emit’s wolf has decided now’s the perfect time to mate. Ta ta for now.”

  He shuts the window and glares over at me, as if I’m somehow responsible for this entire messy situation.

  Emit makes a low rumble of appreciation in his throat, and I really regret getting out of bed this morning. Her body has certainly healed quickly, but not fast enough for her to go through this.

  “Get in her head and find out what the hell she wants to do about this before we make a mess she’ll be pissed about later. I’ll make the dick turn into a man,” I say to him. “Arion, ensure that Idun doesn’t step foot back in this room,” I tell the vampire, as I lift my silver sword, watching as Emit starts ripping the shirt from Violet’s body with his teeth.

  “And if she decides she doesn’t want to be ravaged by him and mated for fucking who knows how long?” Arion drawls.

  Emit snaps his jaws, slobber flying as his wild eyes collide with mine. Claws slash across my chest, and pain sears through me, as I stumble back, finding his full wolf’s speed much faster than I remember.

  I dab the blood with my fingertips, as he snarls low in his throat, baring his teeth at me like he’s daring me to step closer. But it’s clear he’s not leaving her for even a second.

  “Then I’ll need some help with getting Violet out from under him,” I say in response.

  “Fucking hell. She already thinks we’re too much work,” Damien groans, as the whites of his eyes return to take over his sight. “I’m starting to see her point.”

  CHAPTER 16

  VIOLET

  “Violet,” the smooth voice says so close to my ear as my eyes flutter open.

  Lush, beautiful violets are making a plush bed for me, and the sun is perfectly hidden through a thick canopy of clouds that only allows tendrils of the light to shine through.

  Where the freaking hell am I? Clearly someone is screwing with my head.

  “Damien?” I guess when I sit up, seeing small squirrels having sex across the way.

  Ew.

  “Sorry to barge in on your dreams this way, but I’m afraid your wolf needs your help,” his voice says, echoing all around me, even though I don’t see him. “You’re still healing from the Simpleton bashing you took earlier. It’s fine if you say no to the unprovoked mating. Arion and Vance can presumably handle him.”

  I blink, wondering if this is just some really crazy dream.

  A waterfall starts suddenly beside me, but it’s on mute or something, because it’s pretty without all the excess spray and obnoxious racket.

  “Your omegas knew you’d be Emit’s mate eventually. They told you as much and treated you as if you already were. Surely you saw this coming,” Damien drones on.

  “Damien, catch me up, please. I can’t seem to keep up with all the random shit you guys are doing since I broke up
with you.”

  I hear his amused chuckle permeate my thoughts, and suddenly he’s over me, crowding me, pressing me to the ground.

  His eyes lock on mine, and my breath comes out shaky, when I feel him touching every single inch of me, igniting all those nerves. He brushes my hair away from my face with a touch I can also feel, though it seems to carry electricity with it.

  That only causes me to shudder harder, as my thighs press together against his hips.

  He smirks, because he enjoys the power he’s always had over me.

  “Long story short, Idun has broken free of her punishment—”

  “You can get out of my head right now if you’re really interrupting my healing faint to talk about Idun,” I interrupt, crossing my arms over my chest as I glare at him.

  The dick brushes his lips over mine in a gentle caress, fingering a lock of my hair, as his lips curve in a grin against mine. “Emit’s wolf has chosen you for his mate, and his most hated enemy was too close for too long, while he still waited to put his mark on you. He broke out of the Van Helsing cage, Violet. He’s seconds away from claiming you and leaving his mark. Unless Arion and Vance put him down for twenty-eight years. You tell me what to tell them.”

  My mouth opens and closes, as several rapid blinks accompany my fish-face reaction.

  “Can’t a girl just have a normal faint and deal with this crazy shit when she wakes up?” I ask…admittedly using a slightly hysterical tone.

  Damien grins. Of course he does.

  “I’m happy to stay in here with you, but a decision has to be made. Dead wolf or new wolf mate,” he says with a shrug.

  “Are those really my only two options?” I ask him, too tired to even try to figure out which overwhelming emotion to tackle first.

  I’ll have my breakdown later. It’s going to be massive by the time this one hits.

  “Afraid so. For the record, his wolf demanded the same of Idun. She worked hard to have that mark removed, and it’s left his wolf restless and lonely these past many centuries,” he adds, playing me at this point.

  I pause, noticing how he’s purposely making Emit sound pathetic, while also pretending to be nonchalant.

  “She really did bring the four of you closer again,” I say quietly, my body sinking farther into the violets, as my head drops back.

  Damien’s head is immediately blocking my view of the waterfall, and he’s giving me a stern glare.

  “You only think you know what’s going on, because you’re too young to understand the four very complicated individuals who’ve grown obsessed with you. We’re not closer because of Idun. If anything, she’s threatening to tear it all down. Please trust me right now. I hate to rush your decision-making process, but time is of the essence. Vance and Arion are struggling to get close without taking a claw to the gut, and the second Emit shifts, he’ll be taking what he believes is his.”

  “So he’ll be a man and not on four legs?” I ask…since this is really crucial information.

  “Yes,” Damien says, working hard to resist a smile when I go lax with relief. “I’ll even prime you, because he’ll be quite savage and rough with you.”

  His smile falls after he adds that last bit.

  “And I’ll make the pain feel really good, because you’re already too battered to endure him as it is,” he adds.

  I bat a dismissive hand. “If I withstood Caroline’s rage, I can handle Emit’s wolf.”

  “You can’t compare Emit’s wolf to Caroline. It’s like comparing a shark to a stingray,” he tells me as he clicks his tongue.

  “You all underestimate the fury locked inside the tormented who’ve lost their voice,” I volley.

  His eyes stay locked on mine.

  “Will you let me allow you to enjoy this? Consent is sort of a must in this situation. I don’t want to upset my relationship with you to help him forge his,” he dutifully points out. “I need to feed, and I want to feed on you and you alone. Clearly, I need to be in good standing to reach that point in the foreseeable future.”

  Only Damien can be this obnoxious and endearing.

  Unsteadily, he suddenly sways to the right, and I grab his shoulders, my brow furrowing, as he blinks several times.

  “This is why I need to feed,” he goes on, clutching his head. “I can’t even form a psychic link to your dreams without getting dizzy. I’m struggling to keep the link active.”

  “You’ve successfully made you both look pathetic. How do I do this? I don’t want him dead. I’d rather be his mate and deal with all that when I have to,” I tell him, slapping at his arm. “Hurry up and get started before he hurts Arion or Vanc—”

  His lips are on mine in the next instant, and the violets swallow us, as he presses down on me. Our clothes seem to vanish, and I have to remind myself this isn’t real…even though it feels really, really real.

  My breath catches and my toes curl, when his mouth starts a slow descent. Each kiss to some innocent patch of skin seems to have a live wire connected right between my thighs.

  A startled cry escapes me when I damn near have an orgasm, and the only thing he’s doing is kissing my shoulder. I also feel the asshole grinning against my skin, because he knows he’s incredible and proud of it.

  “One would think you’re too innocent, Violet,” he murmurs, as he begins kissing his way down the valley of my breasts…working me to that edge he’s just taken from me.

  “Or incredibly starved for affection, in spite of having four very complicated relationships, where sex was most definitely on the table,” I say through clenched teeth, trying not to make any sounds of approval while he’s being an ass.

  I fail miserably when his mouth finally reaches the spot I want him most.

  He winds my body tighter and tighter, keeping me on that sharp razor’s edge, leaving me to teeter on it. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to fall over it.

  “Sorry, Violet,” he groans, swaying up to his knees when my eyes snap open to glare at him. “I’m simply not strong enough to hold this illusion any longer and relieve the pain. I choose to maintain the latter.”

  My breath leaves in a rush as the waterfall, violets, and everything else leaves in a blurry rush. I almost feel like my soul leaps out of the frame and gets dragged back down to my body.

  A painful burst of air flares in my lungs, and my eyes truly snap open, just as the mother of all orgasms rips through me.

  My nails bite into slick, firm flesh, as long, silky hair slides over my cheek.

  My eyes land on a set of feral brown ones that are dancing with fire-like embers, as the skin sliding against mine rages uncontrollably hot.

  I hiss out a breath when my entire body vibrates with the spasms of my never-ending orgasm, as Emit’s mouth collides with mine, feral growls rumbling his chest against mine.

  Apparently this party got started before I was even fully awake.

  Another painfully explosive orgasm crashes through me so hard that I end up biting his lip and breaking two nails on his steel-like skin.

  A sharp cry tears out of me when the bed crashes to the ground under us, Emit still fucking me with abandon. There’s no pain, in spite of my bruises and barely-healed wounds.

  Only untethered pleasure burns through every single inch of me, wringing every ounce of euphoria from the brutal force Emit is using on me.

  His teeth are clenched, canines fully extended, as those wild eyes stay focused on me. His claws are stabbed into my thighs, anchoring me in place.

  Even that feels good.

  I notice Damien in the corner, as he sways to a seat, even as another crackle of bliss rocks through my body so hard I arch into Emit. The vicious, rough wolf flips me abruptly, claws circling my neck as he shoves himself inside me again.

  I don’t know why I’m enjoying this so much. I don’t know if it’s because it’s been forever since I’ve had good sex. Or if it’s because Damien is doing whatever it is he’s doing to me. Or if it’s because Emit’s so ou
t of control, due to how desperately his wolf needs to claim me.

  A thought occurs to me too late.

  This is his wolf. This isn’t Emit.

  Emit told me to run.

  Emit’s wolf is who sought to claim me.

  I never thought to ask what Emit wants…

  A startled cry is wrenched out of me when pain slices through the blanket of pleasure, burning up my back, as blood splatters the wall next to me.

  Emit’s bloodied claws stab the broken bedding beside me, as his body grows still, and I go rigid, even though he’s still inside me.

  “Fucking hell,” I hear Arion whisper on a harsh breath.

  Why is the vampire in here when the wolf is off a leash? Isn’t that bad?

  Another pained sound escapes me when Emit probes the tender flesh on my back.

  Those are the only words spoken, so I have no idea what’s going on.

  Pleasure replaces the burn, and I notice Damien sag to the floor on his knees, sweat beading his brow like this is hard work for him.

  I almost want to reach out to him, to let him join in so he can feed…but this isn’t just sex, apparently. I don’t know the rules.

  Emit lifts my hips, his intense, punishing rhythm starting once again. His breath parts a section of my hair as he leans over, breathing me in and exhaling on my neck, surrounding me with his body and his scent.

  Why can I smell him? I smell the forest after a rain with a hint of musk.

  The scents keep pouring in as his rhythm staggers, the growls getting more aggressive and desperate.

  Oranges. I smell my oranges everywhere. Then I smell something acutely desirable—as though all my favorite smells are in one place. My gaze swings to Damien, finding that all-time-favorites-list scent to be coming from him.

  His eyes narrow on me, as I sniff the air again, catching a hint of iron wrapped in something that smells strangely like chocolate. It’s coming from the direction I heard Arion’s voice.

  As Emit releases a guttural, frustrated growl, my toes curl with an impending orgasm that I’m almost scared to chase. It could shatter me.

  I have no idea what’s going on or why my head lulls to the side, exposing my neck to him when I smell something that can only be referred to as smoked cherries masked by subtle, enticing cologne. I have no idea why that scent makes my mouth water, or why I can’t help but weirdly wonder if it’s Vance.