ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (165 page)

The talk wasn’t going well with my mother. That much I could tell. If there was really much of a threat, the other witches would step in to support her. That was how it worked with a High Priestess. They would sacrifice their lives for her in the blink of an eye. To think that that was my future – men and women that would be willing to die for me, because the alternative would be to die because of me? No thank you.

I still couldn’t see, couldn’t move. I sat on a stool like a flightless bird.

The witches suddenly moved, and I saw Raven. She looked like she was about ready to explode. Colt stood in front of her, and he looked like a force of nature. I’d never seen him like this. His muscles were bulging bigger than ever, and his eyes were bright yellow. I’d never seen him like this. I knew his eyes as black. But something shifted behind them, something wild, and I knew his wolf was straining to get out. Why didn’t he let it?

I felt a wall of magic at the same moment I thought it, and I knew that Goodwyn was holding him down. She was fierce and ugly. Only her magic made her beautiful at all. When she wasn’t focusing on being beautiful, her white hair turned to an ugly, messy gray and she crumpled into a messy old hag. Right now she looked like a fallen angel.

Colt said something to my mother that made her angry. I could feel her rage ripple through the room like a wave. And then her hand shot out and she grabbed Colt around the neck. She lifted him up and he dangled like a rag doll.

“No!” I shouted. My voice was muffled, like I was gagged, too. But Colt had heard me. His eyes flicked to me. His face was red and swollen, and purple veins made a spider web around his eye and down his neck. Raven’s nails were in his skin and it swelled around her fingers, too. The same web fanning out. It was a lot of poison. Colt was strong, but I didn’t know how strong. I didn’t know if he was strong enough.

His eyes turned from yellow to a very intense black, and then they started fading. His mouth moved, forming silent words. I strained to hear what he was staying. He was trying to talk to me.

“You’re mine,” I heard almost like an echo inside my head instead of words that came from him mouth. “When I said I would love you forever I meant it.”

Something inside me snapped.

“That’s my husband!” I tried to yell but it came out hoarse and weak. I closed my eyes. There was no way I was going to let this happen.

When I’d started dabbling in witchcraft as a teenager they’d let me into the coven without thinking twice. I’d thought that was how it worked. I knew better now. They’d let me in because there was something inside of me they wanted. It worked almost like my VIP ticket or a backstage pass. I didn’t know if it was genetic, because Raven was my mother and she was as powerful as living hell, or it was because she’d promised my life to them.

Either way, the power I had inside of me was wild. And I’d been running from it ever since I’d touched it, because it had scared me.

Now I closed my eyes, and focused on my center. It was like a black misty orb was inside of me, and all I had to do was unlock it. It sent shivers down my spine and goose bumps stretched across my whole body. My skin started tingling like I’d touched a current of electricity. I heard a high pitched scream and it reverberated around the room. The candles flared and danced on their wicks and the crystal chandelier rattled dangerously. It took the whole covens staring at me before I realized the scream was coming from me.

And then the bonds around my body snapped. It happened with an audible crack, and I was free and able to move again. Raven’s hand was still around Colt’s neck, but her face was turned to me. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Her face was frozen in surprise, her mouth rounded in a silent ‘O’. But her eyes were full of greed and a sort of satisfaction. I had surprised her. She had known I was strong, but not exactly how strong. And she wanted it. She wanted me and my power.

“Let him go,” I said and my voice sounded different, not like my own voice at all. It was like three of me were speaking at the same time. The witches around me reacted, shaking themselves off like they could feel the sound of my voice on their skin.

Raven hesitated for a moment.

“This is something you should know, mother.” I said, and my confidence surprised even me. But honestly? I’ve had it up to here with the damn witches that wouldn’t leave me alone. They’d pestered me for years and I’d been able to deal. But now they were messing with Colt. That wouldn’t do. “Hesitation can kill you,” I added in a whisper. I flicked my eyes to Colt. He looked just as surprised as most of the witches around us, but where they were terrified, he lacked that fear. Raven slowly put him down and withdrew her nails from his throat. He looked for a moment like he was going to collapse, swaying back and forth, but then he righted himself. I didn’t have the time to check if he was okay beyond that.

Raven was on top of me. She’s launched at me with a shrill shriek and her claws were out. I stopped her just before she tore into my face. I had my hands around her wrists and her skin was so hot it burned me. I wondered for a moment if it would leave a mark.

Chaos broke loose. When she attacked so did the witches. I reached deep down inside again, and threw everything I had out there. The witches struggled, confusion blinding them. I was strong, and Colt had climbed into someone, too. But he had poison in his system and my strength would only hold them off for so long. I focused on Raven again. If I wanted to do anything, I had to get her out of the way.

I mumbled in my throat, and I sounded a lot like a full-fledged witch. I cast the same spell on her, so she was unable to move, but I knew it wouldn’t hold very long. If she had even half of the power I had she would be out in seconds. I flung myself around and got to Colt just as he fell to the ground.

“Colt, baby, we’ll fix this,” I said, planting kisses on his face where the scratches were. When the swelling started going down, I did it again. Well, that was new.

“We don’t have time,” Colt said. When I looked up the witches were closing in on us. My spell was wearing off.

“Brace yourself,” I said and pushed my hand into his stomach. I felt the current flow through me and into him. He made a loud groaning noise and his body curled around my hand until the current stopped. He fell back onto the floor, gasping.

“What did you do to me?” he asked, looking bewildered.

“I gave you the power of an Alpha,” I said.

“But I’m not part of a pack.”

“Today you are.”

I got up and turned to face the witches. We were out of time. I took on the first witch that launched at me. We didn’t fight physically. Witches conjured creatures to do the dirty work for them, or cast spells. They were vain and they wouldn’t get their hands dirty.

The witch in front of me thrust her hands toward me and her spell came at me like a cold wind. I felt it cloud my mind and I struggled to find it in me to cast my own spell. Smooth move. Somehow I managed to see through the fog, and I found one that I could throw back at her. I couldn’t conjure animals, I’d never learned how, but I could cast a hell of a spell. She flew backwards, slamming with her back against a wall. She sank to the ground, and she didn’t move. She wasn’t dead, but she would need a lot of strength to stay that way.

Suddenly a hurricane broke loose in the room. Gale force winds tore through the hall and the candles all went out. The chandelier swayed wildly back and forth, and the witches struggled to keep their footing. It didn’t affect me, which meant it could only come from one other person.

When my eyes fell on Colt he was seconds away from changing. The wolf was already showing. He looked untamed and vicious, ready to kill. And the wind was coming from him. It had an attractive quality to it, almost magnetic.

And then they started coming. Wolves appeared outside the windows. I could hear their howling and yipping and I got the feeling we were surrounded. A few moments later they’d found their way in, and furry bodies started pouring through the door. A ripple of fear broke out among the witches. When I looked at Colt again he was a wolf.

There wasn’t time to keep staring. Another witch went for me, and I had my hands full. We fought. The sound of screaming and howling, growling and hissing, melted together into the symphony of battle.

Finally it died down. A wolf had tackled the witch away from me, and it was over. The wolves were scattered around bodies. Most of the witches lay motionless on the floor, glazed eyes staring into nothing. Some of them, the ones that had surrendered to save themselves, huddled in the far corner with two wolves growling at them. I let my eyes slide over the carnage. There didn’t seem to be any blood. Just a lot of pain and sorry.

I looked around, looking for her. The woman that had, in her absence, still somehow managed to make my life a living hell. I spotted a body lying in the far corner, with black hair and a white gown. One of the wolves had managed to defeat her. I guessed she was dead but I didn’t want to find out. Maybe it was the spell she claimed she’d put on me that let me live a life without her. Maybe it was the fact that in the end it had been her that had killed my dad.

Either way, I didn’t feel like bursting out in hysterics that my mother was dead. Instead I was just relieved I didn’t have to be the one to do it.

A movement to the left caught my eye, and as I looked Colt’s form took shape from a mass of fur. He stood up and found the pants he’d managed to get rid of before the change. The Spongebob shirt was torn. He walked to me, looking tired.

“Let’s go home, Gem,” he said and held out his hand to me.

We made our way home, and finally the nightmare was over. I could feel it in the air, and I knew Colt could, too. For the first time in my life I was out of danger.

He took my hand and led me to the bedroom. He kissed my cheeks, my mouth, and then my jaw, kissing down my neck. His hands undressed me, getting rid of the horrid dress the witches had put me in, while his mouth searched out every spot of me he’d almost lost. He kissed my collarbone, my breast, my stomach, my hip, my thigh. It was sensual. It was home.

I peeled the clothes he’d stolen off him. His muscles oozed raw power in the semi-dark of the room, and I ran my fingers over the lines of his muscle. When we were both undressed, naked, vulnerable, he took me to the bed and laid me down, climbing on top of me. I gasped when he pushed into me, and feeling my body drink him in. With his body he showed me everything he had never had the words to tell me. He showed me how much I meant to him, how much he loved me and how he would never let me go.

When an orgasm rocked through him it pulled me down with it, and we rode it out together, the same way we’d won back or lives together.

In the black of night we lay together, our bodies molding into one so that I didn’t know where my body ended and his started, and we made love until we weren’t strangers anymore. 

I didn’t like the witches, and I didn’t want to be one. But I had the power and if it came down to looking after Colt again, I would use it. The wolf pack he had borrowed for the day with the power I’d given him had cleared out the witches. Only afterwards did Colt tell me how much they hated each other, that witches and werewolves would always be arch enemies. The irony wasn’t lost on me.

I didn’t care who hated who. All I knew was that I had Colt, and I would never let go of him again. I’d hired him to protect me, and he’d ended up saving my life by believing in who I was. And I’d saved his life by taking on the role of his guard. But that was what marriage was about, wasn’t it? Taking one step after the other and fighting the evil that came with separation, holding tightly onto the one you loved all the way.

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BONUS

UNBOUND WOLF MATE

By Sicily Duval

Chapter One

The tension in the room was increasing at a faster rate than it could be diffused and as husband stared at wife neither was willing to be the first to break. It was a stand-off like no other and all over a few written words on a laptop. The laptop sat between them, taking up center stage on the bed but in the last five minutes not one of them had dared to look at it. It was almost a toxic presence, the elephant in the room that neither wanted. In all the hassle both had forgotten which one of them had brought up the idea and neither would admit that it was them.

“It won’t be too bad Jared,” Rachel said quietly, finally having had enough of the awkward silence.

Her husband turned to her, a skeptical look on his face. His eyes darted between his wife and the buzzing laptop between them; unsure which one of the two would be a safer option. “Chris from work said that it was good,” he admitted after a second, it was visibly clear to Rachel that he hated to come out and say that he had actually spoken about it to someone else.

“So did Karen, she said it worked wonders,” Rachel whispered, her own eyes switching between the laptop and her husband.

“But…” Jared said slowly, finally deciding his wife was the safer of the two options.

“Neither is married,” Rachel finished his sentence for him, “and…” she continued, looking at her incredibly uncomfortable husband.

“Neither are werewolves,” he sighed deeply as he played with the bed sheets hoping that it would at least help to ease his own tension

“Both have bad taste in books as well,” Rachel said with a shrug, she was clearly trying to make excuses, they both knew that.

“And bad tastes in movies,” Jared chipped in, playing along with the excuses.

“They would make a good couple,” Rachel said causally.

Jared smiled and the thought of their friends together as a couple, “If they didn’t hate each other,” he laughed.

“We should set them up,” Rachel smiled; she could readily imagine just how funny that would be.

“You know we have gone way off topic right?” Jared said. He realized too late that he had effectively brought the tension crashing back down on their shoulders with just a few words.

“But Jared…” Rachel half whined and half pleaded.

Jared’s face dropped a little and a rare blush started to form on his bronzed cheeks. “It’s...” he began, unable to actually finish the sentence himself.

“It’s erotica!” Rachel exclaimed, finally taking pity on her husband and actually speaking the newly tabooed word.

“You didn’t have to say it out loud,” Jared muttered as he continued his awkward examination of the silk bed sheets.

“And who exactly is going to hear us?” Rachel demanded already sick of being stuck in the seemingly endless loop of excuses and indecision.

“The neighbors,” Jared said slowly speaking the first words to pop into his head.

“We don’t have any,” Rachel deadpanned.

“The pack?” Jared said, a little too hopefully.

“Across the state line, I’m sorry to say it but there is no way we’re getting out of it,” Rachel sighed with a slight laugh that held little humor.

“Can’t we just say we read it but not?” Jared asked hopefully.

“You know you can’t actually lie to yourself like that?” Rachel said sarcastically, amused now at how the conversation had really taken a turn.

“We could try,” Jared said and as Rachel looked up she could see a pout on his face.

“You’re pouting?” she exclaimed, amazed at just how ridiculous her bear of a husband looked pouting.

“I’m not allowed to pout now?” he questioned with his eyebrow raised. The new look only made the laughter Rachel had been trying to suppress come bubbling to the surface.

“You are impossible,” Rachel gasped between bursts of laughter.

With a sigh Jared dragged himself across the bed and pulled the laughing Rachel into his lap, careful all the while not to actually look at the laptop screen. Once she had finally calmed down enough to actually breath again she rested her head back against his chest letting him sooth her with his own calming heartbeat. “Impossible is pretty good in my books,” Jared said softly while his hand trailed across Rachel’s chest.

Rachel breathed deeply, savoring the sensual touch of her husband. “If we can conquer the impossible then we can definitely conquer this,” she said quietly, her eyes flickering to the laptop for just a second.

“Isn’t this good enough as it is?” Jared questioned in a low whisper. His hand traveled lower down Rachel’s chest caressing her familiar body with his experienced touch. She pushed into his hand, feeling his fingers travel lower, teasing the sensitive parts of her body.

She could feel herself succumbing to the sensual shivers that shuddered through her, almost allowing her husband to claim her, but only almost. She caught his hand in her own, guiding it back up over her chest until it rested firmly against her cheek. She leant into the soothing warmth of the werewolf that held her and let out the smallest of sighs. “It’s always good enough,” she answered gently, the pride of a werewolf was a dangerous thing to toy with and they were both on egg shells.

Jared’s finger traced the soft lines of his wife’s face, just gently enough so she wouldn’t stop him but hard enough to know he would still get another response. “But we should try for more,” he whispered, allowing his wife to nestle further into him.

Rachel paused for a moment, considering the heavy words of her husband. “More sounds great,” she said with a smile.

“Who knows, we may actually like it,” Jared said with a slight laugh that erased the tension that had formed completely.

Both looked at the other and the small laugher was shared equally between the two. “You know what, I think we actually might,” Rachel admitted as she pulled the laptop into their laps and opened the first page of the erotic novel.

Chapter Two

The secretary watched on intently as her boss moved about the office, dressed exquisitely in his best suit, the one he knew she liked the best. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes, knowing she wanted him, knowing that he could give her everything see needed; all she had to do was ask.

“I’m done,” Jared stated, tossing the laptop across the room in one swift heavy-handed movement.

Rachel stared at her husband and then at the broken remains of the laptop before looking back at him. “That was the first paragraph!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air in a motion that before now she thought was reserved only for corny films, it turned out it wasn’t.

Jared stared back at her, his dark brown eyes meeting her green ones with a look that he hoped displayed just how amused he was. “It was enough,” he said bluntly.

“You didn’t even give it a chance,” she sighed; she knew though that she was just about to do the same thing he had, he had just beaten her to it.

“I didn’t need to, one paragraph in and I’m super aroused; we now have spice in our relationship,” Jared said in his best ‘convincing’ voice.

Rachel stared at him, not exactly sure how to respond to his little outburst, the only thing she could think of doing was to laugh. The laugher came thick and fast, every time she caught a glance at her pouting husband it started up again until she was left panting and either annoyed or incredibly amused, she really wasn’t sure. “I’ve seen you aroused, that is definitely not aroused,” she choked out through struggled breaths as the laugher threatened to come out again.

“We need to read more don’t we?” Jared asked cautiously when he was sure Rachel wouldn’t break out into another fit of laughter, this hadn’t quite been how he had expected the night to go.

Rachel sobered up and nodded. “I think so, it could be worth it,” she said as she climbed off her husband.

“I’ll take your word for that,” Jared said with a chuckle, they had been attempting to start the novel now for a couple of hours and he really wasn’t convinced they would get much further.

Picking up the laptop from the floor Rachel surveyed the damage with a frown, thankfully, or not so much, the screen was still brightly illuminated and the rest of chapter one was sprawled across the screen. “You might want to throw it harder next time, either that or your strength isn’t quite what it used to be” Rachel laughed. While the keyboard was very much hanging off the laptop the rest was mostly intact, this time at least they wouldn’t have to buy a new one.

Jared jumped up from the bed and gripped his wife tightly around the waist, lifting her into the air and swinging her around before pressing her firmly against his chest. Without giving her time to respond he crushed his lips down on hers, capturing her and causing a moan to slip free from her lips. Her free hand ran quickly through his short brown hair dragging him forwards with her fingers. He groaned at the touch as she wrapped her legs tightly around his toned torso freeing his hands to travel the length of her body and hastily undo the first few buttons of her shirt. 

“Jared,” she moaned deeply against his lips, feeling the welcome response of his teasing hands at the sound of his name.

“Rachel,” he whispered against her lips, brushing the spot that was now sore with the roughness of his kiss.

Rachel placed a soft kiss against Jared’s waiting lips before letting her legs drop back down to the floor. “Maybe you haven’t lost your strength after all,” she breathed, still shaken by the arousal that now pulsed so readily through her shaken body.

“Indeed not,” Jared chuckled, a goofy grin stretched across his tanned jaw.

Letting her finger trail across his jaw and the day’s stubble that had gathered Rachel urged her husband back to the bed, the laptop still dangling in her hands. “Perhaps it worked after all,” she mused, more to herself than too her husband.

“You’re just irresistible,” Jared whispered, placing his hands on his wife’s hips and hurrying their trip back to the large bed that awaited them.

“Do you want to try again?” Rachel asked warily, arousal still raking through her body.

“I’m not against the idea,” Jared teased but despite his outer sarcasm he pulled Rachel onto his lap once more and settled the now slightly worse for wear laptop on their laps. 

His hand cupped her cheek, so soft, so deliciously tempting that his other hand lay twitching at his side. He could reach out to her, her body was so close he could smell the sensual aroma of her perfume and hear the rapid beat of her heart. But no, he kept his hand by his side, denying the desire that so easily consumed his body at the sight of her. She watched him, all the lust and need so clearly written in her soft blue eyes, so open, so very welcoming to his passion laden touch.

“Rachel,” Jared whispered. 

“Shh, I’m reading,”

She moved closer, allowing herself to feel the intense heat that radiated off his body. He was so rarely hers to enjoy and in this moment, when she finally had him, she feared to let him go even for a second.

“Rachel,” Jared urged.

He brought her closer, aching to feel her body pressed against him, his restraint was wearing thin and the careful walls constructed to keep her out were slowly crumbling.

“Rachel!” Jared shouted.

“What?” Rachel shot back, taking her eyes off the screen for the first time in hours. Heat pounded her body, arousal so deep that it hurt claimed each and every part of her for its own.

“The alarm is about to go off,” Jared said with a frown.

His finger traveled aimlessly down her cheek, cupping her chin, stroking the subtle contours of her jaw. She moaned at his touch, always so response, so accepting of his caresses.

“What alarm?” Rachel murmured only half paying attention to her husband.

Jared sighed but a grin played at his lips, he could feel the soft shivers that ran so steadily through his wife’s body and his own in turn was responding. “The only alarm we have,” he said sarcastically.

On cue the alarm clock sounded, the piercing screech filling the room eliminating the building heat that had filled it only moments before. Rachel groaned, diverting her eyes completely from the book that she needed with all of her body to finish. “You’re kidding me?” she sighed, staring at her husband.

“Sadly no,” he muttered under his breath.

“Sadly?” Rachel questioned with a smile.

“Yeah well, it turned out pretty good,” he groaned, clearly not happy to admit the fact.

Rachel smiled despite herself, she had of course felt her husband’s arousal but for him to admit it, that was something else entirely. “Can’t we just stay and finish it? They haven’t, well you know,” she finished with a slight blush that burnt her deeply tanned cheeks.

“Tonight,” Jared said decisively and he definitely planned to see the story through.

Chapter Three

It was impossible Jared had decided, he had been at work all of fifteen minutes and had quickly come to the conclusion that there was no way he was going to be able to wait until he got home to finish the story. He was a werewolf with a nine to five job who wanted to read erotica, he could see the humor in it but after the long night and tiresome first fifteen minutes at work he didn’t care anymore. The come down from the story had already been hard enough and now as he found himself in a crowded office he was finding it even harder.