Agony ate at my brain. As if every single nerve in my body was singed, my body couldn't figure out which pain to listen to first. Even my eyelashes hurt. How do eyelashes hurt?Oh. Right. Get sucked through a magical vacuum thingy attached to a human stain and pulled through dimensional rifts. Or whatever the heck had happened. A familiar sigh sounded. "Hollyn, I know you're awake. Stop moaning and groaning," Lucinda, head bitch priestess said. I shuddered. Felt my soul crumple inside me. I was back. In the middle of my nightmare that never allowed escape. The Village. Easing my eyes open, I saw that I was back within the four walls that had been my physical cage for so many years. The only place in the room long enough for me to stretch out fully was laying at a diagonal from corner to corner. No windows. But the leaky roof did provide some measure of light and breeze. And rain when the gods blessed us with it. My grandmother's voice rang through my mind again. Do not li
Tove and I slid off Finn's back moments before he shifted back into a human. His long body was soon covered in combat black from head to toe. The fact that he and Drace had the ability to magic themselves clothes still blew my mind. If we could figure out how to do that, then we'd be able to take Stretch on rides all the time and not have to worry about being buck ass naked when we landed. They'd said it was fairly easy to master, it just took time and concentration. Since we were hooked to a Star Mistress, then it should be even easier. We just needed to take time to practice.Tagan pushed up behind me, low snarls pushing from his chest with every exhale. We didn't have time. Right now, we were focused on more than magical clothing or mastering our inherent magic. We needed to get Stretch back. Before we lost Tag as well as our mate. Tove clapped a hand to Tag's shoulder. "She's still here. We'll get what we need, man."Tag nodded, his eyes pinched at the corners, his lip
Clapping my hands over my ears, I shuffled backwards from the barrier. Glaring at the sky for no particular reason, I tried to think over the shrill shrieking of the magical alarm. I pictured Thane's handsome face. His fiery orange eyes. His full lips. As I pictured him, his brothers came to mind as well. For others, only their expressions and eye color separated them. But I knew each of them by scent. By touch. By taste. My mind cleared and I saw that bright constellation in my mind. Our constellation. The grouping of stars that drifted across the sky of my mind no matter the time of day. I backed up a couple more steps. The alarm cut off mid shriek. I sighed at the blessed silence. If Merlin, Ari, and the rest of everyone else thought I was strong enough to harness the energy of the sun, then there must be something to the idea. Hell, even Merlin had said I could escape from here. That Patrick wouldn't be able to hold me. If there was even a smidgen of truth to that, then
We rushed down the stairs. Twice now, I'd almost taken a header and splattered myself on the steps. My brain was spinning with all the tight turns as my belly threatened to exit my body through my mouth. "What's happened?" I asked again. Maybe if I stayed focused on something other than my churning stomach, I could make it to the bottom of the stairwell in one piece."Drace texted that dragons were arriving en masse," Thane replied as he jumped the last few steps to the next landing. My brow wrinkled. "Why? What's up their butts that we don't know about?"Thane didn't answer, just vaulted down another landing. I looked up at Harry. "What do you think is happening?"He smiled as he jumped from stair to stair like a kid jumping in rain puddles. He shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm certainly keen to find out." He hopped down three steps at a time. His smile of joy was huge as he looked up at me. "Jumping is much more fun. You should try it." He began hopping like a fucking k
I pulled the power to me. As easy as taking a breath, it rushed forward. Eager to be used. Waiting. A smile pulled at my lips as I moved up behind the whining druid. I felt no panic, no alarm, no frenzy of need for it to work. I simply thought it, willed it, and the magic leapt to do my bidding. Something had changed, but I didn't know what. Right now, I simply didn't care.Starshine settled in my palms as if I'd placed the stars themselves in the sky. No strain, no pain. Nothing but the joy of power and magic. I laid my palms against his head, cradled it to my belly. "Translatio postestatis," I said softly. He bucked against me. His legs went out from under him. A limp doll. A haunting chuckle that might or might not have been mine filled my mind. I followed him to the ground, rode his body like it was a horse. I kept my grip on his head, stretched his neck back all the way. Snugging it against my abdomen, I sucked his power down as if it were a milkshake and my hands
I gritted my teeth. Fought not to crush the woman in my grasp. She'd done this. As a fucking game with her siblings. Put us all in danger. Threatened my woman. My mate. Kill her, my dragon said. No one gets to hurt our mate. Not and remain among the living.I agreed. More than one hundred percent. But I couldn't allow my emotions to make a bad situation worse. That's how people got killed. And I wasn't willing to risk one of those people being my mate or my brothers. "What do we do with her now?" I asked through gritted teeth. The muscles in my hands were spasming to keep from crushing her arms between my fingers. Ari sighed. "Nothing for now. I can ask for one of the Originals to watch over her for us. We have a good case."Brigid jerked in my grip. Her entire frame started trembling. A hard smile pulled at my mouth. "I think that sounds like a great idea. Let's do that."Brigid began her escape attempts again. In earnest this time. She might be a tiny woman, but she
The darkness was comforting, in its own way. Not that I would like to remain in perpetual night, but it was nice. Lots of good things had happened to me in the dark. Crashing into Thane. Meeting Grumpy and Tove. Making love. Although, we did that in the light, too. Making love was my favorite. I sighed. I'd like to make love with them again. Maybe even get dirty and ask them to fuck me. I giggled. Grumpy would probably like that. Throw me over his shoulder, slap my butt, and carry me away. If I could figure out how to get out of this void of midnight nothingness, then I was going to do just that. Stomp up to them and demand they fuck me with their cocks. I nodded. Made the vow into the ether. If I get out of here and back to them, that was the first thing I was going to do. Could a person fall if there was no gravity? I wondered after a moment. I didn't get that deep yucky slide in my belly that felt like I was falling. But I also didn't feel like I was zooming upwards e
I squeezed my eyes shut. Afraid my mind was playing tricks on me. When something connected with my shin though...I opened my eyes. I fell to my knees, wrapped her in my arms. Held her close. "You're here," I said against her hair. Tag and Tove dropped next to us. Their hands were running over every available inch of our girl.She nodded, her hair catching in the stubble that covered my chin. "I'm here. Where have you guys been?" She leaned back, her gaze catching on my mouth. She shook her head. "Tell me later. I really need to feel all of you against me. Now.""They haven't the time to settle between your legs, you dirty trollop. Get to your feet and get back to your battle!" Brigid screeched at Stretch. Tag leapt over us and slammed his fist into the goddess' face. "Speak like that to her again, and I'll rip you limb from limb.""Garinion?" Ari asked as she came back out to the balcony. She crumpled to the ground and yanked Stretch from my arms. "You're here. You did it."