The wolf looked my way. Saliva dripped from its teeth. I watched, my heart throbbing painfully in my throat, as the wolf stepped closer, I closed my eyes.
37
W ith my eyes pinched closed, I waited for death to arrive. But nothing happened. I carefully opened one eye and looked at the creature in front of me. A huge shadow had fallen over the werewolf, and the wolf was looking skywards and trembling. I opened my other eye. I could make out the winged shape of the shadow.
Colten’s voice boomed, “Leave! Now!”
The werewolf whimpered, turned around and scampered away.
My knees suddenly buckled, and I collapsed to the ground.
Colten’s wings retracted and his hardened skin returned to normal. “Midnight, are you alright? Did that thing hurt you?”
He pulled me up and I wiped the dirt from my behind and answered, “I’m alright, thank you. You turned up just in time.”
“We need to get out of here, now, then we’re going to have a conversation.”
“Grimm!” I ran over to the bushes and searched for him. “Grimm? Where are you? Please answer me.”
“I’m here,” he croaked out and sat up.
I ran over and threw my arms around him. “Are you all right? When did you change to human form?”
“Mid-flight. I wasn’t sure if I could survive hitting a tree in ferret form,” he answered, rubbing his head.
“Reunion’s over, Midnight.” Colten made a face. “Grimm, get your naked ass on my bike —clean the leather afterwards —and get Midnight back to the academy. Now!”
Grimm stood and cracked his neck, pulling me toward the Harley.
“Wait, what about you, Colten?”
“I can fly. Don’t worry. Just go. Please.”
Grimm fired up the bike and I climbed on. Before we could leave, wolves poured out of the forest and surrounded us.
“Grimm, get the hell out of here. I’ll cover you.” Colten shouted and started transforming back into a gargoyle.
Grimm gunned it. The back wheel slid in the dirt as he turned, heading directly for two of the wolves. I grabbed hold of his waist as we collided. The wolves were thrown back on impact, yelping and whining. I craned my neck to look back at Colten. He’d only time to partially transform and his skin wasn’t stone yet. His one wing flapped furiously as he tried to get away, but a wolf had clamped its jaws on his leg. Another leapt in the air, swiping his razor-sharp claws at his belly, blood dripped from the gashes. A third wolf ran into the fray at full speed and locked his jaws shut on Colten’s throat; the force of the blow and the weight of the wolf drove them both to the ground.
I screamed. This was all my fault. I beat on Grimm’s back, trying to get him to stop. We had to help Colten. I wasn’t sure if it was too late already. Grimm was apparently following orders, trying to get me away. I let go. I knew it was going to hurt when I landed but I didn’t care. I folded up into a ball as I fell, trying to minimize damage to myself. The wolf never let loose his hold on Colten. They landed with the wolf on top, back claws digging into Colten’s gut, shredding and slicing through his skin. Blood covered his torso and dripped into the ground. The wolf let go of his neck for a second. Slavering and growling, he warned the others away.
Colten wasn’t moving. I gathered my magic into my chest, concentrating. The wolf tore at his neck. I screamed at the top of my lungs while picturing a nuclear blast in my mind, and let go. I was ground zero. A percussive wave emanated from me and blew all the wolves about a hundred feet back. They shook their heads and tried to stand, but they couldn’t.
I ran full tilt to Colten. “Colten! Don’t die on me!” I tried to push his guts back inside the gaping wounds in his belly. I yanked my leather jacket off to cover his stomach. I scooted up; his neck was shredded. Dear God, what was I going to do? I wrapped my hands around his neck, trying to stop the blood pumping out. Blood ran between my fingers. I looked in his eyes and he looked back.
He rasped, “I love you.” At least that’s what I think he said. Then he was gone.
“I love you, too,” I wailed. “Don’t leave me. Come back.” I leaned my forehead down to his, still trying to hold him together, and pulled on my magic. I was weak from the blast I’d created but I would not give up. I would die before I let him go. I pictured the waterfall in my mind—it was the other realm I’d been to before when I’d saved the others from death. Grand-mere had warned me that only the dead should be traveling the astral plane but I hadn’t listened then and I wasn’t about to listen now. I pulled internally and felt tendrils of magic stretching toward me. The magic was like a thread and I just needed to get close enough to grab it. I reached out further.
Suddenly, I was surrounded by lush jungle plants. I needed to find the golden waterfall, that was where the newly crossed over gathered. That was where Colten would be. I called his name over and over, running through the jungle. I could hear the roar of the water and knew I was close. Gathering the magic again, I reached inside myself, but it wasn’t strong enough to reach it.
I wasn’t sure how I’d done it but I straddled both worlds for a few seconds and called to Grimm.
“I’m here, Evie.”
“Help me, Grimm. I don’t have enough magic left to bring Colten back.”
I entered the jungle realm again. It seemed overgrown, now. I could see the rainbow mist rising through the air and hear the roar of the water. I was closer. I imagined a machete and it appeared in my hand. On second thought, I didn’t think it would be a good idea to harm this jungle, so I pictured a long branch instead. I swung from left to right, back and forth, trying to get closer to the waterfall.
I called for Colten over and over as I made my way to the source. Walking under a giant leafed elephant plant, I saw it. The golden waterfall. I couldn’t quite reach it. I pulled out for a moment.
“I need help, Grimm. Give me your hand.” We linked hands in the earthly plane and I was back at the waterfall. I jumped in the pool formed by the waterfall and waded through the water, expecting Colten to be on the other side of it. He wasn’t there. I screamed his name as I climbed out on the other side. I heard a grunting noise and followed it through the thick foliage. There was Colten, covered in blood. He was up to his waist in quicksand, holding onto a vine, trying to pull himself out.
I ran over and tried to help, pulling him by his wrists. “Come on, Colten.” He kept grunting and struggling like he couldn’t see me. Oh shit, was he too far away? No! I would not lose him. I could still feel Grimm’s hand if I leaned back to my realm. I reached in my mind and pulled on his magic, almost like a magical tug-of-war. Grimm wasn’t happy that I was pulling so much magic. I felt that. I continued until I started to fill my well again—borrowing Grimm’s magic to replace my own. Stronger and stronger, the magic grew. Exponentially. I reached for Colten again. He jerked like I’d hit him with defibrillation paddles. Huh. I let go and grabbed again. He lurched and shuddered but made eye contact. I had him, he climbed out, now I just needed to bring him through the waterfall back to the earthly plane.
I pulled with all my might until he climbed out, although he staggered against me.
“Midnight,” he whispered.
I slung his arm over my shoulders and wrapped mine around his waist. I dragged him through the waterfall, and he regained a bit of strength.
The stench of brimstone hit my nose. The hellhound. we had to hurry.
Leaning my head back into my realm. “Help, Grimm.”
Grimm’s grip was strong, he pulled hard and we popped back. Colten was still on the ground, bloody, but coughing.
“You need to bind him now, Evie,” Grimm shouted, as the wind and the trees began to sway. The hellhound was coming.
I reached into my purse and grabbed for my special tattoo pen—a combination of a knife and tattoo ink that was mixed with my blood. It wasn’t there. Panic radiated throughout my body. I’d evaded the hellhound before but this was practically suicide.
The wolves had all scattered.
Most likely terrified of the hellhound too. Every supernatural creature was.
“Hurry!” Grimm whispered through clenched teeth.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” The pen was gone. I pulled out an eyeliner instead. This would just have to do. As fast as I could, I scribbled a sigil, including a raven carrying a pocket watch, onto Colten’s skin. It should have been a beautiful symbol that would bind Colten’s soul to mine now and forever. Instead, it was done hurriedly and looked more Salvador Dali than Michelangelo. Oh well, it would do the trick.
Nothing happened. I tried mixing his blood into it. Still nothing.
“It’s too late, Evie. The hound is coming for him,” Grimm whispered.
“No, I won’t give up.”
I pushed my sleeve up, remembering the tattooed penknife I’d given myself once. I outlined it with my nail to activate it and it materialized in my hand. Thank god for the back up!
As quick as I could, I traced the blade over the image I’d drawn onto Colten’s ribs. He moaned but let me. Then I slashed at my own palm. A bead of blood welled and it dripped onto his tattoo.
Suddenly, the wind changed and the cold made me shiver. I prayed the raven—the symbol for lost souls—would do the trick.
As our blood mixed into the sigil, it glowed as if it were on fire and then my fingerprint appeared as a pattern within the raven’s wing—permanently etching itself into his left rib and tying Colten’s life to mine. That was the price of necromancy, Colten’s soul was forever tied to mine.
The hellhound disappeared almost as fast as it leapt into existence and I fell onto Colten in a moment of relief.
While Colten healed and I caught my breath, Grimm found a truck with a camper top not far away and, twenty minutes later, we’d loaded Colten into the back of it. With his wounds bandaged, and my tattoo in place, he seemed stable.
“I’ll take the bike back,” Grimm said.
“Thank you so much, Grimm, for everything. I wouldn’t have been able to handle losing him.” A sob escaped. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
He nodded. “I’ll check in on you later.”
“What do you mean? Aren’t you coming back with us?”
“No, I know you’ll need time together first,” Grimm said.
I hugged him before he turned and walked away.
***
An hour later, I pulled onto campus and shot Giselle a text. She helped me sneak Colten inside. It was nice to have a friend again. Making our way up the stairs was a slow process but we had to be quiet. In my room, I sat Colten down on the edge of the bed and Giselle left.
His strength had increased during the trip back, but his wounds were severe. I shook my head, wiping the blood from my leather jacket. It would never be the same. My shirt, too, had been soaked in Colten’s blood, so I stripped it off along with my boots and jeans and pulled on one of Bodhi’s old concert t-shirts.
“C’mere,” Colten said, his voice roughened.
I walked to him and he pulled me down on the bed.
“I’m so sorry, Colten. I should have listened to you. You almost didn’t come back to me and it was my fault.” Tears started rolling down my cheeks.
“Shh. It’s okay.” I felt him tug my shirt up and laughed.
“You’re only taking that off because it’s Bodhi’s.”
Colten smiled. “Bingo, and I don’t want to think about him right now.”
I tried to help him yank my arms out of the sleeves, but Colten had other ideas. He slid the shirt to my wrists and twisted it before tying the ends to the headboard. I’d only been half aware of what he was doing because his hot breath and wet kisses seared a path along my jaw, to my ear and down my neck. A fire blazed a trail from my breasts to my core. I moaned while my hips moved, reaching for more.
“Is this what you picked up in that club of yours? You better not have done this with anyone else.”
“Shhh, Evie, or I’ll have to stop.”
“If you want me to be quiet, I suggest you untie my hands so I can stifle myself or keep my mouth busy.”
“Hands are staying where they are. I want control. I have to have it,” Colten whispered. “You disobeyed me.”
“I also saved you.”
“Because you disobeyed me.”
I was about to protest when he clamped his free hand over my mouth and attacked my breasts with renewed fervor. I just hoped he remembered paybacks were a bitch. Although, it was kind of hot being in this situation. In two minutes flat, he had me worked up to Defcon three. That’s when his hand slid lower, his fingers digging into my skin, sliding into my panties. I could feel him brushing my leg on occasion. It wasn’t fair that I couldn’t touch him. I wanted to wrap my hand around him and give as much as I took. My hips pushed against his hand. I struggled because I had no control. Or so I thought. I opened my mouth wide under his hand and licked. No reaction at first, I kept at it until I felt his grip slacken. I stretched my tongue between two fingers. I had him now. Looping my tongue around his middle finger, I drew it into my mouth and sucked and laved it with my tongue. Colten froze, then kicked off his boots, unbuttoned his jeans and slid his zipper down. Commando. I whimpered as he knelt on the bed. He ripped my panties off in a growl of frustration and ran two fingers up and down my entrance, swirling and circling. I felt pressure building. I squirmed on the bed. I didn’t know how much more I could take. I’d ramped zero to sixty in about thirty seconds. Colten curved his fingers then, still pushing and pulling and I felt close. I panted and he stopped. I wanted to kill him. He sat back on his heels and looked at me. He raised his hand when I opened my mouth.
“I think this is the only way.”
He seemed to be muttering to himself, then he grabbed my hips and flipped me over. What. The. Hell. I’m not into that! I must have put out a distress signal of some kind because he told me as he lay over my body.
“Relax.”
Finally, I felt him. It felt like a steel pike against the softness of my leg. I loved his weight on me, then he wrapped one arm around me, grasped my breast and pulled me up on my knees. I wrapped my hands around the headboard spindles for leverage. I had to admit this whole thing had ratcheted my desire to new heights. He pulled my knees back and then moved his on the inside of mine, pushing them wider. He’d been pinching my nipple off and on, then wrapped his other arm around me before he slid his hand between my legs. A slow slide up and down, up and down. He leaned his body over my back and licked a hot trail from my shoulder to my neck and back. I was so turned on.
There was something to say about delayed pleasure. He slid two fingers inside me again, in and out, then added a third. He bent forward, which forced me forward too. I couldn’t hold it in anymore. The moan started low, but he quickly released my breast, pulled my head to the side and covered my mouth again. His fingers left me to guide himself to my opening, pushing just the head in; then he locked me to him, my back to his front, with his arm. He pushed further in a slow glide until I sheathed him to the root. Jesus. I’d never had anyone so deep. He pulled out almost all the way and slammed into me again. That’s when the assault of my first orgasm hit me. I don’t know how he kept moving through it, I clamped so tight. I spun into the stars, never to return, while he pumped in and out of me causing shockwave after shockwave. He slowed but kept thrusting in and out.
He breathed harshly in my ear. I fell back to earth and was limp. My head dropped forward. His arm the only thing that held me up. He still moved, still slow. I opened my eyes, that’s when I realized I could see him disappearing inside me and my breasts bouncing with every slap of flesh. Just when I thought I was done I felt the throb build again. I had no idea watching turned me on. Colten figured out what I was up to. Suddenly, he pulled all the way out to give me a slow-motion view before he rammed me again, in and out like a jackhammer. Over and over, until I came so hard that I quit breathing. Locked in ecstasy. He gripped my hip so hard it hurt, and I knew he’d hit his limit. He pulled me up with the hand ov
er my mouth, so I was nearly upright, I looked to the side as he bit his arm as he came, sliding in and out like he couldn’t stop. He collapsed on me, thank goodness my t-shirt slid down the spindle with us. Colten was still inside me. He grunted with each shallow thrust.
I started snickering, which turned to laughter. I think I was delirious.
“Are you laughing at me? Immediately after the best sex of my life?” Colten sounded outraged and exhausted.
“It’s La Petite Mort,”
“Excuse me?”
“La Petite Mort. You know, the little death. It’s what the French call an orgasm. Although it was more of a Le Grande Mort times two. I’m just so grateful we’re alive and also that you’re still inside me.”
“It has a mind of its own and won’t stop. I have no control over it anymore. It wants more!”
I snickered. “Well, who am I to deny its needs? But can you untie my hands first? I’m seizing up.”
“Wait! As in there will be more if I untie your hands?”
I shrugged. “We do need to make sure that you’re fully healed, and I need my energy replenished.”
Not wasting any time, Colten pulled out, climbed up my body and untied me.
“Whoa, there big fella! I assumed we’d at least have a glass of water first. I can feel you getting hard against my back. How’s that possible?”
“What can I say? Hard as stone is sort of my trademark thing. You realize it’s been months since the two of us were together, right?”
“We had sex the other day.”
“Semantics!”
“Oww. I forgot you didn’t take your clothes off. You’re imprinting your zipper into the delicate skin of my back.”
“Sorry!”
I felt him spread his knees and push off me. He turned my torso, but my hips didn’t move so he climbed off the bed. I had turned back face down, so he grabbed one shoulder and one knee and flipped me like a damn blanket. I was still bouncing when he climbed back on. I couldn’t believe it, he was serious. There he was sitting on his heels again with a red-hot poker aimed at me. At least he’d stripped off his jeans.
Sticks & Stones Spell Werewolf Bones: A Why Choose Academy Romance Page 20
