Elly When Elly opened her eyes again the bright morning sky had shifted to total darkness. She peeled herself from her damp sheets. The heat that tormented her as she was falling asleep was still roasting her from within. She stumbled toward the door and tried to call out for her aunt. The words stuck in her dry throat, each syllable felt like it left a cut as she tried to force it out. She fell to her knees in a coughing fit. Water, that’s what she needed. She pushed herself to her feet and used the wall to keep her balance as she made her way to the kitchen. It was the first time she had seen the place quiet. They said they were having celebrations every night until the full moon. Guilt gnawed at her. This moon was a big deal and she ruined their ritual. Because of her, they were attacked. Her cousin was injured. She looked out the window and saw there were no torches, no bonfire, no party. There was no one out and about. Just a somber moonless night. She turned the cold tap on and
Rowan There was a lot to think about and not enough time in the day for his brain to process it all. Rowan had been running on the bare minimum amount of sleep for weeks. Ever since the wolves of his pack started losing control and becoming violent. An out-of-control pack was a sign of an incompetent alpha. There was no way Rowan could sleep. The witches of Eternal Flame were very attentive. They checked on the progress of the injured wolves frequently while still giving them privacy to discuss pack matters. At one point they even checked on Rowan, Luke, and Fox. Since Rowan was an alpha they showed him back to the room they reserved for special guests in the main cabin. He wondered if that was their covenstead or if it was just Cecily and Austin’s house. The way it was located centrally to the coven and the way everyone came and went as they pleased showed it was the heart of the village. Yet it was nothing like the covenstead at Silver Moon. Theirs had a cold and unwelcoming envir
Rowan Whatever those kids gave him might not have been magic but it worked like it was. Rowan was thrust into a deep and dreamless sleep. It felt like hours past when his consciousness was yanked out of the void by screaming. He tried to pull his heavy lids apart with minimum success. The screaming continued. If someone wasn’t being murdered they were about to be. He slid out of bed and the room swayed around him. It took a few tries to get the door opened. When he finally managed to step foot into the hallway it seemed to stretch forever twisting into the distance. Rowan took one look at the spiraling hallway and turned to go back to bed. The screams started anew and he groaned. Stumbling toward the source he promised himself he would never let himself need a sleep aid again. “Selene, I swear if you get me through this without falling or puking I will do better. I dunno at what I’ll do better at but dammit I’ll try.” He mumbled a prayer to the moon goddess. It must have worked beca
Elly A moment of coolness settled Elly from her nightmare into a dreamless sleep. In an instant, that coolness evaporated and a rush of heat snapped her out of sleep. She sat up in her bed gasping as the heat threatened to overwhelm her. To Elly’s surprise, Cecily was sitting on the bed beside her trying to soothe her as Abby and another healer prepared a new set of bandages for her. “My mom wants me dead! I disappointed her and dad.” Elly sobbed uncontrollably into Cecily’s shoulder. “It’s okay. You’re okay now,” Cecily said over and over again. She helped her out of bed and into the shower. “We just need to lower your temperature a little. You’re running way too hot.” The lukewarm water helped calm her enough to get back in bed. She was surprised when she got back to the bed and saw them drawing a symbol at the center. As Elly approached the symbol dissolved into the sheets and wave a of cool blew against her. “This way hon, the sigil will keep your sheets cool and keep your tem
Elly Every touch brought more relief. Elly allowed her head to roll back onto Darren’s shoulder as his lips claimed one side of her neck and Dane’s claimed the other. As far as fever dreams went this was way better than her dead mother telling her she shouldn’t be alive. The fact that feeling Darren’s fingers against her skin didn’t make her want to vomit was all the proof she needed that none of it was real. Dane’s hands slid down and grabbed the backs of her thighs and lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his waist as his lips returned to hers. Darren put his hands up her t-shirt and let them roam over every bit of skin he could reach. It didn’t take long before her shirt was yanked over her head and forgotten on the floor. A moan escaped her. She needed to feel more of them. They needed to be closer. It was the only thing driving her fever away. They pressed against her harder as though they could tell exactly what she needed. As quickly as it escalated it was over. Elly open
Elly The longer the night wore on the more exhausted Elly was. Her fever was back full force and she was chugging anything with ice to keep herself cool. Everyone fussed enough over her. She was tired of making them worry. That didn’t mean she wasn’t worried for herself. There were about three days left until her birthday. On some level, she was still resigned to believing that it would be her last day. It was almost devastating, sure. If anyone asked her a couple of days ago how she would feel about dying on her birthday she would have said it would be a relief. There wasn’t a single day of her life that she could remember feeling anything other than exhaustion and pain. They didn’t need to beat her. Instead, they drained her of just about every drop of energy she had and trapped her in that god awful glamour. Elly’s hand wandered to her face. It took nearly twenty years for her to find out what she looked like. Every time she looked in the mirror she had a hard time recognizing h
Elly “Happy to see me?” Dane’s hand grabbed Elly’s chin and brought her mouth to his. She shook her head in an attempt to clear the fog in her brain. His touch cured her fever but made it impossible to think. “I need to wake up.” She mumbled. He turned her toward him and started kissing her neck. It sent a shock through her body that made her jerk away, her hand cupped to the bandage on her neck. Dane grabbed her wrist. “Let me help you with that.” He pulled at the bandage and the blacked cloth fell to the ground. Just his skin touching near it made her entire body relax. As she melted against him another set of hands wrapped around her further dousing the flames of her fever. They led her over to a large blanket they had laid out on the ground. The velvety texture was a relief to the cold wet ground since she was barefooted. Darren’s hands reached under her dress and wandered across her skin. She had to give it to herself, Dream Darren was exactly how she imagined real Darren wou
Rowan Watching her run off made Rowan fight the urge to go after her. He was at his limit with problems but was short on resolutions. His mind was tired and his body was restless. He sat staring into the first and bouncing his leg. Eris has been eerily quiet and it wasn’t helping. They were two sides of one coin. For whatever reason, he was being iced out by his other half. Despite not talking, Eris was close to the surface. It felt like he could take over with one solid push. He didn’t know what he expected from Elly. Just looking at her weakened state it was clear she wouldn’t be any help. Out of everyone around him he felt a pull to her. Like maybe she had the answers he was looking for. Wishful thinking. As the night grew darker and the fire grew brighter he couldn’t handle sitting any longer. He got up and started walking. In the blink of an eye, he realized he was about to knock on Elly’s door. Rowan’s long fingers wrapped around the doorknob and started to twist. He shook h