My body felt like it had been scrubbed over the washer and beaten against the rocks near the stream where we did laundry in the Village. My stomach heaved as my head throbbed and thrummed. My heart pounded in my ears as my eyes watered. I struggled to pull air in through my nose and push it steadily from my mouth. Over and over. All I could focus on was my breathing. Staying alive. That was it. Once my world righted itself, and my organs felt like they were back in their normal position, I sat up. The living room greeted me. We were back at home. I looked around, counted heads. Nodded. Good. We were all here. "Ari? What the heck did you do? And why?" My tongue felt thick and stupid inside my mouth. Reaching out, I grabbed Thane's hand in one of mine. Drace's hand in the other. "Grab Tove and Grumpy," I said. They each reached out until we made a lopsided circle. "Quod restituo dimittere." The room lit briefly as I called on my magic. My magic. It was so weird to know
I jumped forward as her body crumpled towards the floor like a puppet with cut strings. I hauled her up into my arms and moved behind Ari and Thane and Drace. They'd made a barricade between Brigid and Hols. "Does she still breathe?" Ari asked, not taking her eyes off her sister. I laid my ear to Hols' face. Felt the gentle puff of air against my cheek. "Yes." Saying it relaxed the band of fear around my chest. Allowed my lungs to expand, my heart to beat. "Where is Sidney?" Thane asked. "Where he belongs," Ari said. "In hell.""Good," Thane and I said in unison. "You don't even know what you've just done. You fools!" Brigid roared. "You've given the Villagers exactly what they wanted. You've released Patrick's power."I curled Hols closer to my chest. "Explain. Now."She stuck her nose up in the air. "Answer the man, sister. Or suffer the same fate as the idiotic coward you brought to hurt my granddaughter," Ari said, her voice hard as diamonds. Brigid didn'
I knew I was dreaming, that floaty awful feeling invaded my mind, weighted my limbs. I winced as something whispered in my ear. A familiar whisper. A horrifying whisper. "Hollyn, you've come to see me. What a pleasant surprise." Patrick Walsh said. Hard fingers gripped my arms as I tried to scoot away. "No. No. Get off me. Thane! Tagan! Toven!" I shrieked their names as I tried to pry his fingers from my skin. I called up my magic. I had magic. Lots of it. More than I knew what to do with. He laughed in my face as nothing came to my hands. Not even sparkles or glitters of magic. Just nothing. No. No. No. This couldn't be happening. Not again. Not now. "You took out the one person who was keeping me contained," he whispered in my ear as he slid his disgusting tongue up the side of my neck. "My brother was too concerned with staying bright and light to worry about expanding his magic. He was a fool.""A fool obviously strong enough to contain you," I bit out as I frantic
Sweetcheeks' body jackknifed into an upright position as I was leaning down to pick up her unconscious body. The resounding smack of our heads had my ears ringing and my belly fighting to stay in place. "The fuck, cheeks?" I growled as my eyes watered from the pain. "Grumpy?" "Yeah. Who the fuck'd you think it was?" She flung her arms around me and started shaking like a withered leaf on a stiff winter's breeze. I curled my arms around her. "Hey. Hey. What's wrong?" I pulled her into the shelter of my body. "You've been sleeping for hours now. You're safe. You're in the penthouse." "Oh stars, Grumpy. I pissed him off. I punched him in the face. I'm so screwed. You guys have to let me go. If he comes, he's going to kill us all. I made him mad. He's going to be so angry." She immediately began pulling against my hold. Tried to climb from my arms. I tightened them around her until I felt like our flesh melded together. "Not happening. And you better stop trying to dit
"Like this?" I asked, my eyes pinched shut as I tried to keep the mental image of my magic clothes in the front of my mind. Silence. I cracked open one eye to see my men and Drace looking at me, their mouths all hanging open. Well, that wasn't very encouraging. I looked down at myself. I nodded. That's exactly what I'd pictured. Why were they looking at me like that?"Grumpy cleared his throat. "Sweet fucking stars, Cheeks. What did I tell you about that outfit?"I grinned. "That I could only wear it at home." I looked around the room. "Guess what, Grumpy? We're at home.""I'm going to go for a long walk. Is there a cold river anywhere around here?" Drace shot to her feet, already halfway to the door when she asked. "Never mind. I'll find something." She swung the door open and passed through it so fast, I was surprised her hair didn't get caught in the frame. I looked back at my men. "What? Don't you like it?" The strappy outfit I'd tried on at the store with Grumpy
I gritted my teeth as the raw emotions filtering over the connection from both Tag and Stretch had me reading the same email for the seventh time. I'd never had so many unanswered emails in a twenty-four hour period. Never thought anything could take that top priority in my mind. Hollyn was it. The only thing that could ruin my focus on work. Shift my brain from the puzzles of ruling the telecommunications industry. "Are you getting anything done over there or are you just peeping on your brother and your mate?" Drace asked from the couch. "These moony sighs make me feel like I'm back in high school."I grimaced on a laugh. She wasn't wrong. I felt like a hormonal teenager again. I shut my computer, resigned to the fact that no work was going to be done until after I could sate myself in Stretch's body. I moved back to the couch, flicked my gaze to the TV. Game of Thrones was playing. I winced. Not the best show to take my mind off sex. "Seriously?" I asked her. She smile
My brain was sliding towards sleep as the room started to shake around us. "Tagan, stop. I'm tired." I pushed at him with my shoulders. He chuckled, the sound both lazy and tight. "As much as I want to go another round, cheeks, that wasn't me. Nor do I think it was normal." He hoisted me up into his arms and pushed from the bed. That better be you two, Thane said over the mental connection. Not us. But we're on our way, Grumpy replied. Get some fucking clothes on this time. Real clothes. Sorry, Hols, Tove added. I pouted, but understood. And, joy of joys, we were in Grumpy's room where my clothes were stored. He set me down in front of the dresser. I pulled on the drawers that held my panties (stupid), my bras (torture devices from hell), leggings (palatable), and tanks (if I had to). I got dressed as quickly as possible and joined Grumpy at the door. "Your facial expressions getting dressed..." he trailed off into laughter. I elbowed his belly. "Why can't you a
I rolled my eyes. "Come on. We need to go find Drace." I turned towards the front door. Grumpy's hands around my waist stopped me. "Clothes. Even if they're magical. I'm not sharing your body with anyone else. Even visually." He slapped a hand to my still sensitive butt. I hissed out a breath. "Ouch."He laughed as he rubbed his hand lightly down the abused cheek. "I'll rub some oil on it, make it feel all better."Tove blew a raspberry. "No. We'll rub some oil on it. Our turn." He flicked his finger between himself and Thane. Thane nodded. "Agreed. Out voted."I left them to their game as I focused and tried to pull the magic around me like Drace had shown me. It felt like ages ago instead of a handful of hours that Grumpy and I had disappeared into his room. I got the last thread of magic settled around me as I pulled the front door open. Drace was slumped against the wall. "Drace!" I hurried out and grabbed her around under the arms. "Help me!" I shrieked at my guy