The Carver's Magic (31 page)

Then his black slimy eyes turn my way and in a tone I have never heard before, he asks, "What did you do?" I watch as his beautiful skin fades away and I see thick white scars appear on his skin. They are gnarled, jagged scars crisscrossing as if he had been whipped and sliced to ribbons, and somehow he healed. I stand up and look over every single scar.

They were awful. One scar looked like his head had even been severed. Every joint looks like it has been cut and the man I once knew, the perfect gorgeous man, looked emaciated, frail and sewn together by his scars. His cheeks swallowed and his lips were cracked.

The poison began moving past his eyes once more, but with his skin so translucent I could see the slime moving under his skin.

The black recedes from his eyes and I see the brown eyes I know belong to Dar. He looks stoned as he slowly looks down and observes his arms, "What did you do Beth?" He flips his arms the other way and he swallows in between shallow breaths, “Why can I see these?”

The film takes over his eyes again and it makes my stomach tense, "You shouldn't have done that." His mouth curls up at the side and I can see something coming out of his mouth. It’s greyish black and it is not only coming out of his mouth, but his pours. It floats in the air like vapor slowly wafting in my direction. I tense the closer it gets until it reaches me. I watch disgusted as the cloud surrounds my exposed skin and is sucked down like water would in a desert.

Several sharp pains run up my arms and into my head immediately. But it’s not just a sharp pain, it’s full of all Dar’s old emotional scars. All the bad memories flash in my mind as if I am experiencing them, too. I can see and feel someone sawing into my neck. I can hear the poison telling me that I deserve it. That everyone hates me because I’m mated to a Carver.

My vision is black and all I can see is what the poison is showing me. Then it moves from my eyes and I feel my skin being cut from my body. It’s unbearable and I just scream and scream.

When that memory fades I open my eyes and see Dar’s face start to blur. My eyesight is fading again. I don’t want to see anymore of these memories. I don’t even know why anyone would hurt him like this!

I see his outline fall to his knees and then curl over, pounding the wood floor.

"Beth..." My name sounds weak on his lips. I can see a puddle of blood on the ground but I don’t know if it’s his or mine. The blood is slowly heading my way and I slowly sit on the ground to accept it. I can’t watch the poison come into my skin, so I look away and focus on some odd-shaped black lump shaking violently in the center of the entryway.

The blood has reached my fingertips. AH! It slices into my skin. It feels like glass in my veins again. I try to focus on my fire to help burn his poison. It is not like a potion from Cory. It is hatred, anger, bitterness, and grief. It is enough to make me want to kill everyone and everything.

I take in a breath and let out my fire, letting it wrap around me. The fire is melting the poisonous glass in my veins, but more hate and rage and wrath keeps pouring in by cutting into my skin. I have never felt like this. I have never been this bitter. I have never hated like this. Dar had shaped the poison to his emotions. He fed the poison. Everything in the way he thought was poison. The way he would move, was one more way to hurt someone, to separate himself from others. To stew in his own filthy thoughts. A large glass ripped through my lower back and I screamed.

The fire inside me rages on. It took a while, but the baseball-sized shard of poison finally melted. I can't feel the floor anymore. The heat is intense. I scream again, and I feel something break. My skin. Another rip down my back and I am sure the poison is killing me. My own fire is trying everything to keep me alive. I claw at the air. I can't tell where my skin ends and the fire begins. I can't see anything but white.

My scream morphs. I feel heavy. And then I see my wings. I don’t feel the pain anymore. I take in several clean breaths and search myself for any lingering poison. I slowly move my head because I am kind of cramped being in my dragon form.

Under one of my wings is a black and brown wolf curled up. He has black with brown patches on his feet. He looks at me with his ears flat against his head. I try to reign in my fire but it doesn’t budge.

Can you hear me Dar?
I ask mentally.

Yes
. His voice was scratchy and deep. Not his normal voice. I bowed down my nose. Come here.

He eyed me, hesitantly.

You are going to give me the rest of the poison and my heart.

The wolf put his head down but backed up from under my wing. When he was by the door he morphed back to a human. He stood naked for a moment before holding out his hand and I hear him tell me telepathically,
Take your heart. But leave the poison. The poison is my punishment, not yours.

I nudge his hand with my nose and use the rest of my magic to take the poison. It is in small pieces, but I take it all. It must be just as painful to him as it is for me because his whole body is shaking and his jaw is hard as steel.

He drops his hand from my nose and rubs his eyes.
I told you not to take the poison.
He looks up and waits for me to say something.

I didn’t know the answer myself. I guess he didn’t mean it because I didn’t feel compelled to leave the poison inside him. I’m not going to think of why right now.

Now I need the last piece of what belongs to me, so I can finally be free of him. I let my memory fall back to when he was young. I picture him in the hospital. He chest and neck are almost all wrapped in gauze. I remember grabbing his hand-

I love you Beth
. He says the words as if they are sacred. I feel my fire recede a little. I shake my head and force my fire to listen to me and not my emotions. I’m not going to let my feelings get the best of me. I push on my fire, but it recedes even more until I am naked and human again.

I stand up, unashamed and shake my head, not letting him stop what needs to be done. He is the one who keeps saying I bonded to him without asking. Well I am going to give him what he wants. And I know he doesn’t want my heart, so I am allowed to take it back without the fear of dying.

Dar’s eyes are downcast but I hear him in my head.
I was already broken before you met me. I couldn't heal myself from the hatred. I didn't know how. And whatever it was that was inside of me didn’t let me rest for a long time before I was swirling out of control, even back then.

I went looking for a way out that day I attacked the bear. I hoped it would kill me. But I was lying alone in the forest, I was even more angry that I let that thing get the better of me. So I yelled for help, unable to turn into my wolf because I was so weak.

I woke up in the hospital knowing I was going to have to work harder against the thing inside of me, until you came to me in the hospital. I couldn’t see you but my wolf knew you the sensed he smelled you. I prayed every day hoping that you would know what to do. I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you Beth. I swear. But I was so broken. And the only thing keeping me together was my pain, and the only thing giving me hope was your beautiful heart.

“No! Don't mess with me Dar! Don't mess with my head!” I have a feeling that I’m crying but the tears, thankfully, are evaporating.

Dar steps to me, and in one quick swipe he wraps his hand around the back of my neck and pulls me to him. Our foreheads touch and his eyes are still closed. "I lied Beth," he said haggardly, "if you take your heart you die, not me."

I know.

My fire is circling both of us, but the intensity is changing. It is fading, slowly. Dar is still holding me close enough to feel his breath brush over me. I can feel the anxiety in him and it’s the first time I can feel anything from him other than his anger. What surprises me the most is his scent is still so incredibly addicting. I still want him. I guess that is something to be expected when you give your heart to someone.

He leans in the last few inches and kisses my lips. I am hesitant at first. If he was broken when I met him, then who is the real Dar? I put my hand against his chest to push him away, but I never find the strength. I love the way his body feels against mine. A new fire is awakening.

I feel his mouth open and his tongue run across my lips. He is putting his whole heart into this moment. This is my moment to decide. I could finish this. I could. I could leave him with his disoriented brokenness. But if I stay and accept him, I am going to have to accept the person he really is underneath all that poison. The person I don’t know.

His chest vibrates and I can feel an ache coming from him. A pleading in the form of his kisses. His emotion is exposed to me and I feel that the words he said about me are true. He needs me and he is willing to take me however he can get me, even if he looses me now, he will follow me forever. He didn’t say the words, but the flood of emotions coming from him verify it’s true.

It isn’t a hard choice. I open for him. I let my chest fall against him to feel his skin. I need to feel him. His kiss is ragged and desperate. I bite his lip and grab him, letting my nails dig into his neck.

Dar kneels, bringing me with him. I can feel his nails scratching down my thighs, and then a moment later I can feel him cupping my sex. There is nothing separating his skin from mine this time. He runs his mouth down my neck and I can feel tingles all over. He nips my skin and the tingles shoot right to where his hand is.

"Don't hold back this time," I beg, because I need all of him this time.

"Shhh,” he continues to explore my skin with his mouth. When he is just above my breast he bites his lip. “I promise not to hold back," he says with a tone I swear is more wolf than man.

I feel triumphant. He wants me. I arch my back into him wanting him to take what I am offering.

I heard him growl. He covers my nipple and his tongue is doing something I have always dreamed about. I moan because that’s all I can do to encourage him to keep going.

He stops long enough to walk me into the bedroom.

"Hurry..." I whisper.

"Shhh," he says again, a little firmly.

He pushes me on the bed. I am fully aware that his eyes are starting to lighten and I am even more excited now that he’s letting loose for me. He moves over me, roughly moving his hands up my hips and gripping them hard. Taking in an incredible view of Dar, I hear him say, "I’m barely holding on." I had dreamed about this a thousand times and this is so much better than I imagined. He was so much more intense.

So m u c h… (exhale).

His eyes are a little wild and I feel him thrust into me forcefully. He grabs the back of my hair and flips me over on my stomach, and takes me with a hand around my hip and his mouth my by jaw, he says, "MINE." His rhythm is hypnotic and I feel my body melt into his. Tingles tease me all over until I start to feel my need to build again. I am going to finish again if he keeps this pace. Before I am about to climax he sinks his teeth into my neck and ups his tempo, and I came a second time.

The bite is intoxicating. It was liquid gold – the feeling running and lingering in my womb. Dar bites down again, where my neck and shoulder meet and this time he growled, finishing with long serrated beats. I was in a haze of ecstasy combined with euphoria sprinkled with muscle spasms from my long-lasting release.

Dar flips me over, landing hard on the bed. It is perfect.

That… was intense.
I think to myself.

"That's how wolves claim their mate," He whispers, with a smug smile.

* * *

"Beth, we need to go to the hall," his tone is light. Much lighter than before. I nod to him. I try not to think about it but I can't stop my mind from wondering what is going to happen now? Now that all his poison is gone, what exactly is he going to be like?

Dar starts laughing.

I cast my eyes to the bedroom where he’s finishing getting dressed. “I hate that you can hear everything,” I say.

"I know. I try to give you as much privacy as I can, but you’re always just in my head."

"No you don’t," I run my fingers through my wet hair, and then shake it. Dar walks out of the room and lifts me up to kiss the top of my head.

I look over his clothes, it pained me to have to cover it up. Once the poison was gone his skin looked beautiful once more. All his scars were gone and his fullness was back. He was enchanting as always. With a black nylon shirt and dark blue jeans, he looks so good I want to go another round. Damn he is sexy. I feel the core of me squeeze with a hopeful anticipation.

"Don't tempt me," his tone is light and playful, but the look in his eyes says he would go another round with pleasure.

I try to think of anything else to keep my mind off taking his clothes off. Then a picture jumps in my mind. A boy with shiny black hair. He was skinny and he had a smile almost the size of his face.

I watch Dar flinch.

Not sure what to do, I tried to think of something else. I thought about anything, letting new pictures enter into my mind as if I am flipping through a picture rolodex. Dar is looking at me with curiosity, while guiding me to the door.
What are you trying to hide from me, my little dragon?

I shrug and change my pants and red shirt into a light peach sundress. Dar’s eyes have a look in them, and I then I feel him reach under my skirt and rip my panties off. “You should know that any dress you wear will be handled just like this.” I am pushed into the door, effectively closing it once again. And then I feel him inside me for the second time.

* * *

After another shower, I look in the mirror touching the several marks he left there.

"You’ve been marked well. And I have to admit, that you wear my mark nicely." He has his palm against my neck, taking in his handy work.

I slap his hand away with a roll of my eyes, but I’m not upset. I like this side of him. It’s the side that always made me feel weak to him. A good weakness I think. "Are you afraid anyone won’t notice?" I ask, mockingly.

He laughs and shakes his head. "They will be able to smell you before they see you. You smell like me. And with my mark they will know how I feel about you." He grabs my waist and pulls me in. "You are mine and no one will mistake that," he is firm and possessive. I love it.