Released Souls (12 page)

Forget my smile! Come back to me!

Instead of returning to me, he hovered above me, grinning. His eyes darkening the longer he took me in. I let out an exasperated huff, and he narrowed his gaze as I continued to arch toward him with a slight amount of desperation.

“Are you messing with me?” I whined.

“Slightly,” he teased.

My brows pulled together
as I digested what he said. I cracked a smile and shot up, throwing him off balance enough to grab and tackle him. Ripping his shirt off, I wrapped my fingers around his hands, anchoring them to the top of the bed, placing gentle kisses along his arm down to his shoulder.

“Well
done,” Logan congratulated me, which meant I was in for something.

“I always get what I want.
” I smiled devilishly.

“So do I,” he replied, whipping his hands from mine, and switching places with me before I even knew what happened.

“N
ow where was I?” he growled softly in my ear, sending chills down my spine as his lips began cascading down me.

I was completely at his mercy as he stripped my sweatshirt over my head, tossing
it to the floor. He began softly kissing my skin once more, and I couldn’t fight him even in our pretend world.

“I thought you were going for rough,” I tease
d, letting my fingers glide along his back. I was completely at his mercy.

“Not now. Not this time,” his voice low
and breathy as his blue eyes met mine. I could feel our souls connecting, and I knew he was my everything and I was his.

“I love you, baby. This is what we
have to fight for, and I always will. I always will fight for you,” he spoke softly, his hot breath dancing along my flesh.

Logan began softly nipping at my lips, but the kisses we shared became harder, hotter with every passing second.
I was flooded with excitement as he clasped me tighter. Pulling one of the many feather comforters around us, I felt the strength of him crash into me as I let my desire for him take over. Each kiss we shared was a crazed expression full of love and need. My hands were digging into him as I let his hands explore me, but his gaze never left mine. As we shared our souls, I understood the hunger we felt for one another, and it was one neither of us ever wanted to end.

“I think the mountain air is good for us,” he laughed.

I let out a long sigh and
smacked him backhandedly with a pillow, while spooning into him completely. He cradled me in his arms as the beating of our hearts slowed, and the chill in the air became noticeable. We had the comforters wrapped around us, but the temperature was dropping too quickly to ignore.

“I think I like imagining that this will be our life so
meday. Just you and me —forever —enjoying each other’s company…” I said softly. “fully.”

I knew he was smiling as he imagined that same life too, and I couldn’t
help but snuggle in deeper.

“I think I l
ike yurts too,” I giggled.

“Now it’s my turn,” he replied, dropping a pillow on top of my head.
He slowly started to edge away from me, and I let out an accidental moan.

“You do think this could happen someday right? That there might be a future where
we weren’t running toward or away from evil?”

“Honestly that’
s a hope I’m holding onto every second of every day,” he replied gruffly. “It’s gotta stop at some point.”

“How about we forget everything and move away, go into hiding. The covens can put themselves back together
, and we can be together somewhere in peace, enjoying more of this.” I wriggled against him and his body stiffened around mine a little more. It was pretty incredible knowing I had this power over him.

“
You bring me to places I never imagined so I’d say a lifetime filled with that kind of excitement and love is complete paradise on earth. To be able to spend the rest of my life with someone as incredible as you is the best gift I could ever have received. And I haven’t even unwrapped you fully.”

I tried so hard not to giggle that my body shuddered.

“Did you just roll your eyes?” he accused.

“Did you just grin wider?” I asked.

“Possibly,” he replied, his mouth entangled in my hair. “I’m sorry, babe. I’ve gotta get the fire going or we’ll be sorry.”

He stood up with only a sheet wrapped around his waist
, and I forced myself to hide my grin. God, he was sexy. I turned on my back and let out a groan.

“What’s up, babe?”
He threw me a lopsided grin, and I pulled the comforter over my head.

“Carry on,” I mumbled from under the covers.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” he grumbled innocently. I could feel his smile wrap around me without ever seeing it surface.

“You know exactly what you’re doing to me,” I said wryly.

“Hmm.”

“Maybe we could stay here forever. I could totally see us growing old here and with only the fairies being able to find us? I’m totally game.”

“Agreed,” his voice softened, but he switched subjects. Apparently neither of us
could pretend for very long.

“It was nice of them to put stacks of wood right
here by the fireplace. It would’ve sucked to go out there and try to find it all.”

“Especially with as little as you’re wearing.”
I sat up, letting the covers fall from my grasp, but quickly gathered them back up, realizing how icy the air was.

“You need to come back over here,” I ordered.

“No complaints from me.” He secured the fireplace door and dusted off his hands.

A sharp pain shot through my hand but then it was gone.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, rushing to my side.

“It’s…
How did you know?” I asked curiously.

“You looked like you were in pain.”

I shook my head. “It was nothing. If it registered on my face that quickly, I must be a real wimp.”

“Or it hurt pretty badly,” he offered, sitting on the bed next to me.

I turned toward him and a huge pressure began forming along my temples. My head was pounding, my vision clouding. Something was clearly wrong. Pressing my fingertips on my head, I took deep steady breaths to try to dismiss the ache.

“The pain’s back. It’s in y
our head now?” Logan asked.

I nodded slowly, worried the movement would make the pounding worse
, but it managed to intensify on its own.

“Trevor.”

“What?” Logan asked, pulling back.

“He’s in danger.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Logan whispered under his breath. I threw him a cutting glance and he immediately came to.

“What are you seeing?”

“The
Venators
are after him too. But they managed to get him. We’ve gotta go help.” I started sliding off the bed when Logan’s hand slapped onto mine.

“We ar
en’t going anywhere,” he replied ominously.

I snapped my eyes open, glaring at him. “I thought you’d gotten over everything with hi
m.”

“It has nothing to do with that. It could be a trap
, and we have to stay here until the time is right. You’re skills aren’t where they need to be. We’d get destroyed in a heartbeat.” His expression hardened, shooting me a warning look.

“I don’t care what you say, I’m going. It’s Lara who’s after him. I’m not going to let her put her claws in any of my friends or family.”

“Do you realize what you’re saying? It’s Lara. It’s Lara!” he raised his voice and tightened his grip on my hand. “They’ve made their decision to go after him. You’ve seen it. I get it. But we don’t know when they plan on going after him. It could be days, weeks, months even. You need this time to prepare. If it’s Lara, you need to be able to win under any circumstance.” His voice softened, as did his expression.

“You’re right,” I replied, feeling the pressure in my temples begin to dissipate. “I saw some choices it looks like he must’ve made in the last week or so. Maybe we can trust —”

“What?” Logan interrupted me, his eyes brooding. He released his hand from mine and if I didn’t know better, I’d say his hand was trembling.

“I
said
that I saw that he had most recently made some choices that were clearly for our benefit. What’s the big deal?”

“It doesn’t strike you od
d that you just told me you saw some choices he made in the past?” Logan kept his eyes toward the floor. “Has that ever happened before?”

“I…hmm. I don’t think so. I guess t
hat is weird. I just...I don’t know. I didn’t even think about it. Kind of went with the whole seeing into the future thing.”

Logan was shaking his
head. “But it doesn’t. It
doesn’t
go with the whole seeing into the future thing. That’s the problem. You saw into the past,” he whispered the last word.

Logan stood up and walked to the
other side of the yurt, throwing his hand at the wall in anger. The fabric rippled from the force of his palm slamming into it. I’d never seen this side of him. I didn’t understand what was going on. He couldn’t possibly be this angry with me for mentioning Trevor. Could he?

He turned away from me
, grabbing his shirt and jeans, and pulled them on. He walked to the sitting area and collapsed into the chair, and I couldn’t fathom what just happened.

He was silent. I couldn’t even hear his breathing.

What was going on? Shoot! If I saw images of Caitlin possibly being injured or killed, I’m sure I’d try to stop it. Well, maybe not that quickly, but I certainly would put it on a to-do list at some point.

I got up and wandered over to Logan to try to calm him down
, but I wasn’t sure I could. I had no idea what had just transpired, but maybe I could bring back the lightness we shared only minutes ago. God, how I longed for that feeling again.

“Babe, what’s wrong?” I asked,
sliding my hand along his shoulder. His body was shaking, and I suddenly knew whatever was going on had nothing to do with Trevor.

Several moments passed
before he turned to me. His eyes were rimmed with a hint of pink.

“Your father
… actually I guess it would really be your grandfather, thought he was the key to something bigger, except he was missing some vital abilities. But he refused to see it.”

I slowly let out my breath.

“A prophet is someone who can see the past, present and future,” he stated.

“What? He thinks he’s a prophet?”
I spurted out. “That’s ridiculous. There’s no such thing.”

He ignored me and continued,
“Triss, you’re as close as they come. You can see the past, the present, and the future. You’re more than I thought possible. You’re everything every black sorcerer craves. It’s what drives them to continue their craft. You’re everything they want to be, all bundled into one. I know that’s what I envisioned when I was practicing.”

“You’re kinda losing me here. I don’t understand why you’re so
upset.”

“You have the abilities that prophets claim to possess
. You’re a
Divinus
Witch too,” his voice cracked slightly. “Or maybe I should say that’s what you’ve been all along.”

“I thought I was a
Trifecta
,” I said perplexed.

“You’re beyond anything I’ve even heard of.” He
pushed his fingers through his dark hair and let out a deep breath. “I don’t even think there’s a name for it.”

“Good!” I crossed my arms in front of me, giving him a sloppy smile as I rolled my eyes. “I was really getting tired of all these labels. But the diviner thing isn’t really me. That’s just with the help of the fairies.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s
not
with the help of the fairies. That was just their way of getting you used to the idea.” He wouldn’t look at me. “A Divinus witch’s powers are to be hidden from the world and yours clearly aren’t. That’s why they took the credit for your skills once they realized you were who you were. You are what they’ve been looking for since the beginning of time.”

He rested his head in his palms, still not looking at me. “I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming.”

The anger was back
in his voice, lacing through every word, breath, and shrug.

“What’s
the problem then? Isn’t this kind of more good news? Like yeah good guys and all that? The more power the better for us?”

Finally looking up at me
, he took a deep breath in and grabbed my hands, clasping them tightly in his own.

“A
Divinus
witch never lives past their twentieth birthday.” His eyes glistened with the tears I wanted to cry, but none would come.