Second of the Winterset Coven (8 page)

Could she come against his pants right now? Hell yes. Did she want to finish without him buried deep inside of her. Not a chance. Reaching between them she popped open the fly of his jeans and pulled his thick erection out of his briefs. Already, he was hard as stone and engorged for her.

She pulled a long stroke of his dick and immediately felt his teeth on her breast. For a moment, she considered asking him to feed there, just to see what it would be like, but Garret had other plans. He flipped her over on the bed so fast her stomach dipped. He dragged her roughly to the edge of the mattress and rested her knees over his shoulders. When she realized what he meant to do, she instinctively sat up to deny him. Garret’s hand was there, soothing, firm against her belly as he dragged his tongue up her slit, then sucked gently on her sensitive nub.

Fuuuuuuck, okay this was happening. Dawn flopped back on the mattress as if she had no muscles at all. Already with three, four, five licks, Garret had the lower two-thirds of her body engulfed in pleasure. He was creating a ball of erotic heat that was expanding by the moment and taking her over completely. He worked her clit like he knew exactly what her body craved, eased off, grazed a fanged kiss against her inner thigh, and then moved back to eating her.

Ooooh, he was preparing her for what was coming, but for the life of her she couldn’t tell whether she was supposed to be scared or turned the hell on. Right now, this was the sexiest thing she’d ever been a part of. There was no fear, only growing excitement about the oncoming orgasm and the sting of fangs she would feel. She couldn’t even imagine the endorphins he would pump into her system, but she was desperate to find out.

Her hands in his hair, she grabbed the back of his head and rocked her hips the next time he sucked on her clit. Garret reacted by plunging his tongue deep inside of her. She was floating on a high of absolute ecstasy, writhing against him, chanting out his name. Orgasm exploded through her in deep pulses, gripping at his tongue. He eased back and sank his teeth into her inner thigh as he worked her clit with his thumb, dragging aftershocks from her as he pierced her skin. The transition was so fast she didn’t register the pain until the numbing sensation Garret gave her with his tongue was already working. She was still panting and twitching as he drank, so she reminded herself to relax. Clenching up would hinder blood flow and make Garret desperate. Already he clung possessively to her leg, and his black eyes flashed intensely at her.

When the last of her aftershocks pulsed softly, Garret released her and licked the puncture wounds until they stopped seeping and closed up.

He stood up, tall and powerful, muscles rigid. His pants were open and hanging low on his thighs as if he’d been getting off while he’d eaten her. His face was twisted and fearsome, and his chest heaved with each breath. His lips glistened with red, but her man wasn’t sated yet—not after such a short feed. Not after he’d gone so long without eating.

Garret shoved her farther up the bed and climbed over her, spread her legs with his knees. Relief washed through her as she lifted up and kissed him. His fangs had grown so sharp, and she offered him her neck as he rocked against her body, pushing the head of his cock into her by inches. Fuck, he was perfect. Perfect width, perfect length, big, but he didn’t hurt her.

Garret gripped the back of her neck and plunged his tongue into her mouth, ignoring her offered neck, forcing the copper flavor onto her taste buds. God, she loved this. Loved that Garret the Gentle was giving way to the destroyer.

Fearsome creature devoted to her.

Protective creature offering her all of him.

Mine, mine, mine…

Dawn closed her eyes to the room to give her body completely to sensation and clamped her teeth onto his neck. There was warmth against her chest—something burning like an ember. The talisman was on fire. Garret pressed harder into her, stretching her and stealing her attention.

“Oh!” she cried as he hit her sensitive clit. She was going to come again. “Garret!”

His body was water against hers. Stone hard and powerful, but with the grace of ocean waves as he slid deeply into her, then pulled out, never stopping the rhythm, never slowing.

When she bit down harder on his throat, he snarled a feral sound and gripped her neck tighter. He reared back and slammed into her. She was close. Too close. It shouldn’t have happened again so fast, but Garret was so fucking good at this. He knew exactly how to draw pleasure from her body.

“I’m coming again,” she gasped out to warn him.

Garret reacted by slamming into her faster and gritting his teeth, closing his dark eyes to the world, and now he was the one yelling out her name mindlessly. He sank his teeth into her neck without hesitation like their normal feedings. He bucked deeply into her again, and then he was coming with her, shooting heat inside her, filling her while he took from her. This was the trade, and she loved it. He came so much that it spilled out of her and made a warm puddle on the mattress under her, but still he didn’t stop. With a grunt, he pushed her farther up the bed with his powerful thrusts as her body shattered around him. Dawn dug her nails into his back and raked downward as she cried out.

Garret buried himself and froze as he fed. A few long, hard sucks, and his thrusts went shallow, stayed buried deep, hit her clit in short bursts as she twitched against him. As the pulsing between her legs faded at last, Garret released her neck and licked the marks there until there was no trickle of warmth, no pain.

She ran her fingertip across his cheek and smiled at the vivid green color that was there now. His pupils were still blown out, but the color meant he was sated and back to himself.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered. It wasn’t enough. She should’ve told him what she meant. She should’ve explained she had missed the green color in his eyes and the way his shoulders stayed relaxed when he was well-fed.

But Garret smiled like he understood.

And then he kissed her gently and murmured something in a language she didn’t understand. She could guess at his sentiments though.

“I’ve missed you, too.”

Garret pressed the heels of his hands over his eyes and grimaced at the monster headache pounding behind his eyes. What the fuck had happened?

He remembered biting Dawn, but then his bedroom had faded away to leave his old house in Norway in its place. Every detail was the same, from Torunn’s herbs hanging on the rafters above and the stack of metal plates near the wash bin to the scratched wood floors he’d carried in and secured one-by-one and the table he’d made with his own two hands. It had been midday, and dust was swirling in little tornados in the rays of sunlight filtering through the window. The cabin had been bathed in shades of blue, and under him had been Torunn. He’d just spilled his seed inside of her. They’d been trying for a baby.

“I missed you,” she’d murmured.

And he got it. It was autumn, and he’d been away conquering lands at his king’s side. He’d missed her, too. Missed this. Missed fucking and having moments of normal after all of the fights and bloodshed of the raids.

But the second he told her that, the cabin had faded away, and he was covering Dawn in his bedroom. She was looking up at him, the pain of betrayal a deep well in her pretty blue eyes.

How had that happened? He hadn’t ever lost his mind like that before, and now this headache? Something was wrong. Something was happening that he didn’t understand.

Garret swallowed hard and rested his elbows on his knees as he stared at the bathroom door. Dawn had gone in there and hadn’t come out yet. He could see her shadow move in the light that leaked from underneath the door, but he didn’t want to rush her.

She was hurt. She’d known he was talking to Torunn and not to her. He’d basically called her by another woman’s name. His regret was infinite. It had been a mistake. He didn’t see Torunn in her. They looked similar, but they weren’t the same, and now he was fucking panicking. He didn’t want her to leave because of a mistake.

And why the fuck did his head hurt so bad? It pounded like someone was taking an ax to his skull over and over again. He winced away from the line of yellow light under the bathroom door. Aric had acted strange, Sadey, too, and if he opened up the door to his mind, he could feel Asmund there, so close, watching and waiting.

Watching him. Watching the coven. Watching Dawn.

Asmund had done this. He’d manipulated his mind and hurt his Dawn, and that was where the headache had come from. This wasn’t the first time Asmund had filled his head, and the residual pounding ache felt just the same as before.

Garret needed to talk to Aric. He needed to tell him that Asmund had power in the coven house and ask him to send out search parties tonight. Garret had been going out every chance he got to search the dark crevices all around Winterset, hoping to find the monster’s temporary lair. Asmund had been smart, moving every night. Already Garret had found two of his sleeping places by opening his mind just a little to the bond his maker had forged between them the day he created him. Garret had learned over the centuries to block him out, to shut down the bond between son and origin, and it was dangerous opening up to Asmund, but he would do anything to keep Dawn safe. He could close in on his maker tonight with help from the coven. If they covered enough ground, they could find him, and end him.

Garret wasn’t prey.

It wasn’t in him to sit around and see what treachery Asmund was planning.

He was the hunter instead.

Garret stood and leaned on the bathroom doorway, frowned at the closed door. What could he say through this barrier that would make her pain go away? He’d never been good with tears, and Dawn was a tender soul.

He’d waited so long to finally touch her and tell her how he felt, but their relationship had been born during the chaos of Asmund, and until the monster was dead, she wouldn’t be safe from pain. Until he was ashes, she wouldn’t be safe from the tears.

Garret shoved off the frame and strode for the bedroom door.

Words couldn’t fix this.

The best thing he could do for Dawn was drive a stake through his maker’s heart.

What the hell was that? Dawn traced the burn on her chest with a light touch. It hurt so badly. Desperate to see it better, she leaned forward against the sink in the bathroom, but she didn’t have a reflection. Shit, it was flipped to vamp mode. She jammed the button on the side, and the lighting in the bathroom changed, the purple tone fading from the mirror to reveal her image. She hadn’t any guess how vampires had fixed their hair before these mirrors were invented.

Squinting, she leaned forward and stared at the burn on her chest. The talisman had singed a perfect cat shape at the top of her cleavage. Mother fucker. She lifted the necklace and studied the small hunk of metal, but it was cool to the touch and harmless looking.

Clearly, Garret had given her some magic orgasm that made everything in a five-foot radius go crazy. Including Garret himself because that man had definitely thought he was talking to Torunn for a moment. “I thought you said I didn’t have any competition,” she muttered.

He felt bad, she knew he did, since he’d immediately switched back to English and apologized, but she’d been mortified, confused, and burned by the dang necklace so she had bolted for the bathroom to escape the hurricane of emotions until she could settle on one. Anger, confusion, relief, happiness, more confusion, wanting to murder Torunn’s ghost, realizing that was silly, possessiveness, extreme euphoria from mind-blowing diddles, and finally hurt that he’d ended their coupling on such a disappointing note.

Nothing would get solved if she hid in the bathroom all night, though, so she flipped off the light and made her way into his bedroom, which was dark as a damn starless sky and only irritated her more.

“Garret?”

No answer came, but she could feel something there. Something terrifying. Something that froze her in place and sat heavy on her shoulders. The air was thicker, like creeping fog, and her breath came in tiny, mortified pants.

For bravery, she clutched tight to the talisman. Forcing her legs to move, she crept along the wall with her eyes squeezed closed, her hand outstretched in search of the light switch. Her body was covered in gooseflesh, and her heart pounded hard. She could just imagine something monstrous standing right in front of her, coming for her, reaching out it’s claws for her neck.

When her fingers brushed the cold plastic of the light switch, she yelped and turned it on in a rush. She was alone in the room, but the air still felt heavy. She scanned every corner, every shadow, but it had all been a figment of her imagination, likely caused by the trauma of Asmund ripping up her neck less than a week ago.

She huffed an explosive sigh of relief and forced her body to relax. She needed to get a grip and find Garret. Even if she was a little miffed at him for talking to her in another, albeit sexy, language as if she was someone else, one hug from him would make her feel all safe and warm and happy again. And no, she didn’t care what that said about her.

When she threw open the bedroom door, she was startled by Sadey sprinting by. The king’s mate skidded to a stop, her blue eyes wide and scared, her light hair whipping around her shoulders with her movement. “Shit! Dawn, you’re still here?”

“What’s wrong?”

“No time, we have to hurry. I’ll give you a ride.”

“A ride where?” Dawn asked as she followed Sadey up the stairs. The lights were flickering badly.

“We have to get out of here. The coven house has been compromised. The meeting has been called off, and the boys are out hunting Asmund. Aric just called me and told me to get out of the coven house and go somewhere safe. Somewhere Asmund can’t get in without an invite.”

In horror, Dawn whispered, “Oh my gosh. Garret left, too?”

“Yeah, they are going hard after Asmund tonight!”

“But…” Dawn’s mind was racing in circles. “Why are we leaving the coven house? He can’t get in here.”

“Dawn,” Sadey said, casting her a wide-eyed glance over her shoulder, “he already has.”

Crap! Dawn looked back down the hallway with the flickering lights. “Sadey, I have to go back and get my purse. It has a stake in it. I promised Garret I would keep it with me.”

“Girl, you’re gonna have to break that promise tonight. There’s no time. I have to keep you safe.”

Dawn didn’t have her heels or her purse. She had no weapons but the fiery necklace that was bouncing painfully off the burn on her chest with every frantic step she took. Sadey waited for her to catch up in the sprawling entryway, and Dawn threw the door open. Sadey always parked right in front so it wouldn’t be a long run to reach safety.

When she turned to make sure Sadey was following, her friend wasn’t there anymore. All that remained was a plume of thick, black smoke. What the hell? The sharp pang of an oncoming headache unfurled behind her eyes, and she shook her head hard, trying to figure out what was real and what was in her mind.

Dawn stepped out onto the creaking front porch and gasped at what she saw. Sadey was kneeling by Amanda’s limp body that was strewn on the porch stairs. Amanda’s eyes were staring at Dawn vacantly, and her neck had been torn out. Sadey was crying and trying to staunch the blood flow, but even Dawn—dull-sensed, human Dawn—could tell the woman was dead. Erin lay face down and unmoving in the yard.

“Dawn!” Sadey yelled. “What the hell are you doing outside of the house?” Tears stained both of her fair cheeks, and her eyes blazed the gold of her inner snow leopard.

“You brought me out here. You said we have to drive somewhere safe, remember?”

The door slammed closed behind Dawn, and everything slowed. Sadey stood in a rush, and red dripped from her stained hands. Black fog appeared out of her peripheral vision, but Dawn was too slow, too human, to move fast enough to save herself. The squeak of bats turned deafening, and Sadey’s eyes were big as she screamed, “Nooo!”

Dawn bunched her muscles as Sadey reached for her, outstretched her arms, and clamped onto her wrists as something immoveable ripped her backward and through the porch ceiling. Wood and shingles shattered everywhere and fell to the ground below them as she and Sadey screamed and clung to each other’s arms.

The pain was blinding, but Sadey was still there as they were cast into the night sky. “Dawn, stay awake, do you hear me? Hold onto me. Tighter! Don’t let me go. Stay awake.”

Sadey looked scared, so Dawn gripped onto her tighter, wrapped her legs around Sadey’s waist as clawing hands tried to rip them apart. Dawn closed her eyes against the pain scratching at her body as she and Sadey dug their nails in and clung to each other for dear life.
Don’t pass out!

After a breathless few seconds, they were cast back down to earth like fallen angels, straight for an old abandoned barn in the middle of a field. Asmund’s black smoke and bats that surrounded them thinned, and Dawn could clearly see their deaths coming.  This was it. Sadey had tried to help her, had tried to save her, but she had a future with Aric. She could have babies and take care of the coven in ways Dawn never could.

“I’m sorry,” Dawn whispered against Sadey’s ear, and then she twisted so her back would hit the barn roof first.

The roof exploded inward and the bats cushioned their fall right before she and Sadey slammed onto the dirt floor. When they dropped the last few feet, the dust on the barn floor clouded around them.

It felt like cold, dead corpse hands on her skin, but Dawn couldn’t see anything. With a whimper, she bolted upright, grabbed Sadey’s hand, and dragged her until Dawn’s back hit the barn wall. Sadey yanked her hand out of Dawn’s and placed herself in front of her. She snarled a beastly noise as she knelt in front of Dawn and, together, they watched the dust, smoke, and bats collapse inward until they formed the outline of a man. No…the outline of a monster. Asmund stood there slowly clapping and wearing an empty smile. The sound of his applause echoed through the empty barn.

“Bravo. I should’ve known Geir had a trick up his sleeve, but I hadn’t expected a shifter guardian for his precious Torunn.”

“I’m not Torunn,” Dawn gritted out. Her voice shook but it was steely enough. “I’m Dawn Leanne Reed.”

“Aaah, but you see, a name is a word, and a word is nothing. It’s air. You are who you are so call yourself what you like. I’ve waited a long time for you,
Torunn
.” The hissed word bounced around her head, echoing and repeating until she grabbed her ears in desperation.

Lanterns hung from nails on the walls, but in the darkest corner flickered movement. Just the outline of a person before it disappeared again. Asmund cast a narrow-eyed glance back at the corner, but he had missed that flicker of life.

“Sons,” he snarled.

In through the door walked three men, all pale-skinned and dark-eyed. All similar height and build, all dark-headed, all fanged. And all of them, every single one, resembled Garret.

The smattering of breaking bones echoed through the barn, and Sadey roared through her Change. Snarling, she struggled from her clothes, shredding them on the way out. Dawn had never seen her snow leopard, and for a moment, she was awed. Sadey had cream-colored fur with perfect dark spots, and a tail that was long and thickly furred. It was twitching with fury, and her ears were laid flat as she hissed and paced in front of Dawn.

Asmund’s sons flanked him.

“Out-numbered, out-manned, out-gunned, and out-skilled, I’m afraid,” Asmund said in that strange accent of his.

“Let Sadey go,” Dawn negotiated. “She had nothing to do with this. It’s me you want.”

“Wrong!” Asmund yelled, the power of his voice booming through the cavernous room. “I don’t give a shit about you, you self-righteous little human. I want Geir. I want him to see how badly he has failed me. Look around me,
Torunn
.”

Something flickered in the corner again—the outline of a woman. The outline of Dawn. No…the outline of Torunn. She wore furs and a cloak, and her hair was braided with feathers down to her waist. Her eyes were full of fury and aimed at Asmund’s back. He was conjuring Torunn’s ghost every time he uttered her name.

Terror seized Dawn as Asmund and his sons approached slowly.

“Garret!” she screamed.

“Garret,” one of his sons repeated in a high-pitched, whiny voice.

“Garret, Garret,” the others chanted, taunting her.

“Garret can hear you fine,” Asmund murmured through a wicked smile. “His entire coven can. You made sure of that little kitty, didn’t you?” He hissed at Sadey and clawed up his fingers. “You called out to your mate. To your king. The mind control in that one. The power. He’s the first I’ve found who is like me, but he is still no match. He’s young, and I’ve had a millennia to learn to control my powers. I must admit, though, you almost broke my hold over him. He is very powerful for his age, and perhaps in time, he would be able to block me out like Geir used to. I would respect the King of the Winterset Coven if I didn’t hate him for fighting me. Even now I can feel him and Garret fighting me. Your men are on their knees in the woods, watching through my eyes the terror in yours. It’s beautifully orchestrated, no? Geir will watch me Turn you as I Turned Torunn, and then he will watch me slowly drive a stake through your heart. I killed Torunn too quietly. I made that mistake only once. No one heard her screams. No one saw the blood. No one watched her rise from the dead the monster Geir so despised. No one watched me slide the stake through her ribcage or witnessed the tears streaming out of her eyes as she murmured his name one last time. I was alone in my victory, but not with you. This time I’ll do it right. I’ll let Geir watch before I give him the final death he’s always wished so hard for.”

“Why are you doing this?” she asked, pressing her back harder against the wall.

“Because he betrayed me! He was my first son. He was supposed to be by my side for eternity. He was supposed to banish the loneliness, and what did he do? He pined for sunlight and goodness like a weakling, and I knew I had failed with him. I gave him everything. I gifted him eternal youth, eternal power. I gifted him the darkness, and he turned his back on me!”

Stall!
“So you Turned them to replace him?” Dawn asked, gesturing to his sons.

Sadey was close to her legs, pressing her against the wall, but crouching as though she was going to attack.
Hold on!

Asmund let off a single laugh, and his platinum blond brows raised in surprise. He laughed louder and harder and then looked at his sons as if they were nothing. “There is no replacing Geir,
Torunn
. You stole his heart away from me. It was fate that you would be re-born so I could torture you again, as you have tortured me all this time. He was mine! I built a coven to help me hunt you, nothing more. They are a means to an end. They are not Geir.”

His sons didn’t even react, as if he’d given them this lesson before. As if he’d explained in the beginning they were nothing to him. Or perhaps he was controlling their minds, too, like he was controlling the Winterset Coven in the woods somewhere.

Torunn was here now, translucent, but as real as Dawn and Sadey, and she was pointing to Dawn’s chest. No, to her necklace.

The necklace. The burn. As her terrified glance bounced from Sadey’s massive form to the necklace, she recognized the cat. She’d thought the spots on it were nothing more than imperfections, but they were intentional. It was a snow leopard.
You’ll know what to do with it when the time comes.