SWNOVELS Chapter 21
I could feel myself growing w3tter, and it was such a delicious sensation. I knew Mahlan could sense it, too, because his teeth grazed against my l!ps a pinch harder.
But the slightest sensation of pain made everything better, my body responding in kind.
“You’re so beautiful,” Mahlan murmured when we broke apart, his hand sliding between us to cup my bre*ast, his thumb worrying at my n!pple.
“I feel that way when you look at me like that.”
“Then I’m never gonna stop looking.”
“You might need to blink eventually,” I chuckled before the noise shifted into a breathy sigh. God, he felt so good.
I knew it was probably strange to want to bang the hell out of my mate after almost being kidnapped and having dinner with his parents, but I was so overwhelmed by my love for him. If someone had attacked me before, I would have been SOL. But thanks to Mahlan and everyone he’d surrounded me with, I was safe. Protected. Cherished.
And that was a good feeling. A really good feeling. One that bubbled through me like a fizzing soda, filling me so full to bursting that I had to share it with Mahlan.
Besides, I’d liked the first time we’d slept together. When he’d first entered me, there’d been a pinch of pain, and the stretching sensation was so strange. But I had a good time once I was accustomed to it. I was more than eager to repeat the experience.
I ground against him harder, enjoying the pleasure building up within me. It felt good to be in control and set the pace with someone so powerful and masculine below me.
When my satin shorts were properly soaked, I shimmied down his body a little, pulling his boxers down. He was already hard, his c0ck springing forward like it was on a coil.
I swallowed hard, surprised that had all fit inside me, but with a little luck and determination, I was going to do it all over again.
I couldn’t wait.
“Lyssa, are you certain?” Mahlan asked, his hand cupping my cheek in his tender way. His touch made my heart flutter and the more open side of me believe that anything could be possible.
“Absolutely,” I answered, gripping him. I was quickly getting lost in the moment. The skin of his c0ck was so different from everything else, smooth and soft, yet also with a sort of turgid leatheriness to it that I hadn’t experienced anywhere else.
Positioning myself above him, I slid his head along my slick folds, relishing how he hissed.
“Does that feel good?” I murmured, continuing to tease him. Mahlan liked to call me a brat from time to time, and at the moment, I certainly felt that way. Watching how my body affected him and made him g***n was so enjoyable.
“F**k, you’re already so w3t for me.”
“I am,” I agreed, gasping as it brushed over my cl!t. Oh, I liked that.
I kept that up for maybe a minute, Mahlan’s hands all over me. Arousal pooled in my belly and spread to every limb, building an inferno inside me.
Even though I was the one doing the teasing, there was only so much I could take, and I positioned his dripping head at my entrance.
“Just take it slow, okay?” Mahlan urged, his large hands resting on my soft waist. Goodness, when he held me like that, I felt so gorgeous. Like a goddess perched on her place of worship, ready to be served.
“I know,” I murmured before carefully sinking onto him.
Oh…
The slide was so intense, so quick, stealing my breath away. There was that same strange stretching sensation, but instead of being alarming, it was a promise of something so much more.
“That’s it, that’s my baby girl. You take me so well.”
Something within me preened at the compliment, my ego inflating as I slowly, ever so slowly, slid down. I did take him well because we were meant to be together. He and I, no matter what was going on with my inner wolf.
One of Mahlan’s hands left my waist to slide between us, his fingers finding that ever-so-sensitive button above my entrance. The moment he touched that spot, it was like electricity flowed through me, sending jolts of pleasure from my scalp down to my toes.
“Yes,” I mewled in a voice that hardly sounded like my own. “Yes, just like that.”
I could feel my c0re fluttering around him at the added stimuli, and with his help, I managed to sink the rest of the way, taking him fully.
“Fuuuuck, that’s it, baby girl.”
“Oh my God,” I breathed, sitting there and letting myself adjust to him. “You feel so good.”
“You do too,” he rasped, still working away with his fingers. It lit a fire, so I posted my hands on his chest and pushed myself upward.
The friction of it was delicious, sharp, and crisp against my senses. I loved it, pushing myself up as far as I could before meticulously sinking down.
It was a delicious cycle, building with every movement into something incredible. I could feel it multiplying by the second, glowing bright and golden within me.
More, more, more. I wanted everything he could give me, so I pushed myself. And what a reward. His other hand left my waist to toy with one of my n!pples again, and the counterpoints of pleasure were almost too much.
Almost.
I was surprised how fast we could go, but it was like something else had taken over me. My every sense was dialed up to eleven, urging me to push my limits. Mahlan’s solid, muscular form pressed between my th!ghs, his firmness against the parts of my body that were beginning to fill out. His scent, heady with his own arousal, coaxed me further into mine — the sound of his voice, syrupy thick with desire.
F**k, it was all so good. I wished it could go on forever, but I felt my end approaching far too soon.
“Are you close, baby girl? I can feel you gripping me like a vice.”
I nodded, whimpering instead of using actual words, but Mahlan understood what I meant anyway. His hand between us increased in pressure and speed while he pistoned up into me, driving him even deeper, almost into my soul.
“Yes, yes, Mahlan, yes!”
My org@sm hit me like a tidal wave, all-encompassing and utterly delicious. It whited out my vision, leaving me with no recourse other than to hold onto Mahlan and ride it — and him — for dear life.
As terrifying as the attack had been, it paled in comparison to the rush of being with Mahlan. I was safe. I was desired. I was protected, happy, and oh, so very much in love.
“Lyssa!”
I felt it when Mahlan reached his own cl!max, his hands gripping my h!ps with iron strength as he thrust up into me a final time. It was perfect in every single way, and when we both returned to earth, I slumped against him.
“You’re perfect, Lyssa,” Mahlan breathed, k!ssing the top of my head. “In every way.”
“I’m not,” I said, utterly breathless. “But I appreciate that you think so.”
He chuckled, and goodness… it was a sound I could get drunk on, considering how loopy I was from the hormones rushing through me. “Brat.”
“Your brat,” I corrected, snuggling against him.
“Yes, my brat. Forever and always.”
“Forever and always,” I agreed.
And I meant it from the bottom of my heart.
I drummed my fingers against the dash nervously as Mahlan drove us to my meeting with the witch. It was my first time meeting the guy, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it would be anything like the b***d ritual I’d watched before.
I would do it if I had to, but I really didn’t want to drink anyone’s b***d. I realized my opinion on that might change once my ‘inner wolf’ was released — if it ever was — but I certainly wasn’t there now.
Although it would have been nice to have Mahlan’s accelerated healing — sure, I’d always recovered pretty fast from little slips and falls, but I had nothing on him. And considering that the bruise on my chin was beginning to darken into deep purples and blues, I sure could use a little mystical healing power.
“By the way, I don’t know if I mentioned it, but this guy can be a bit prickly. Don’t take it personally.”
What did this guy have to be like for Mahlan to feel the need to mention it to me? Big yikes there.
“Is he a real as*s?”
“Kind of. But mostly just a witch.”
“I… is that an insult?”
“No, but they do tend to be a particular way. I try not to hold it against them considering their plight in life, but it’s hard not to.”
“Noted,” I murmured.
I was still nervous. But I was also still riding high on the night Mahlan and I spent together, so I tried to just enjoy the ride. We were headed to an area of the city that I recognized, as it wasn’t that far from my old stomping grounds.
“Are we going to his house?” I asked.
“No, I don’t think he wants me to know where he lives, which I respect. We’re meeting up at the skate park that’s partially closed down.”
“And it’s safe to practice magic in public like that?”
“He says so.”
“Huh.”
I nodded, looking out the window as I recognized multiple places from when I was first kicked out. They looked a lot more worn than I remembered, but maybe that was because of the years that had passed. Life in the city wasn’t exactly easy, that was for sure.
Maybe five or so minutes later, we pulled into a cracked parking lot, and Mahlan led me down into a concrete area that I assumed was the skating park. I wasn’t clear on why part of the park had been closed, as I usually avoided it anyway. Too many males who were my age or older when I was still very young.
“Ah, there he is,” Mahlan said, pointing to a tunnel up ahead. I didn’t see anything, but he led me forward towards the large skateboarding structure until I saw there was indeed a man standing there.
… a vaguely familiar man.
“Wait a minute,” he said, stepping out of the shadows.
I took in all of his features. His broad nose, the sharp angles of his forehead and full l!ps that I’d always been jealous of.
“Sam?” I blurted, completely gobsmacked.
“Holy hell, Lyssa, is that you?”
We ran towards each other, arms open, and I couldn’t help but laugh borderline hysterically.
“You know each other?” Mahlan asked with obvious shock, walking a few steps closer to us.
“Yeah, we know each other,” I said, letting go of my long-lost friend to face my mate. “This is Sam, he’s the guy who taught me how to pickpocket.”
“What?”
“I met Lyssa here when she was a tiny little bean just coming to the shelter. Totally unprepared for street life.”
“Hey, you’re only a year older than me. Why don’t you little bean yourself?”
I couldn’t believe it. I’d always wondered what happened to Samson since neither of us had phones, and we’d both split from the shelter. I had figured we’d eventually run into each other again, but we never had.
Until now, I supposed.
“Wait, you pickpocket?” Mahlan asked, addressing Samson.
“I am a man of many talents.”
“Why not just use magic?”
“Because magic can draw attention, and I was a teenager. It’s not like I was born out of the womb with meticulous skills.”
“… Right.”
“Anyway, how are you, Lyssa? Look at you, all grown up. I tried looking for you, but was sure you had gotten snatched up off the street when I couldn’t find you.”
“I changed schools so they wouldn’t find out I was homeless,” I answered honestly. “Which put me on the complete opposite side of the city. And then I found this amazing place to squat in, so I didn’t stray far.”
“You stuck with school? Amazing. I’m proud of you, friend.”
“I graduated this past month.”
“Incredible.”
We hugged again until I felt a strange tension from Mahlan behind me. Was he jealous? No, that would be utterly silly.
“Can you break the curse or whatever’s cutting off her wolf?”
“Wow, chill, man. It’s not that quick. Now that she’s here, I need to have her soak in my magic for a bit.”
“Think you could get on with it? Someone attacked Lyssa yesterday.”
“What?” Samson said, head snapping to my mate. “Who would’ve?”
“We’re still working on that.”
“All right, so the situation is even more dire than I would like. But if we go a bit towards the west side of the park, these mulberry trees form a sort of fairy circle. We should head there so I can get started.”
“By all means, lead the way,” I said, gesturing in a direction I hoped was vaguely west.
I ended up being somewhat right. Samson walked in that direction before taking a left turn around what I was pretty sure was called a halfpipe. A few moments later, I saw the very circle of trees that he was talking about.
Strangely enough, a ripple went across my skin, like invisible spiderwebs brushing over me, and I stopped dead in my tracks.
“You feel it, don’t you?” Samson asked with a cheeky grin. “The power of it?”
“Yeah, I do. But it doesn’t feel safe.”
“Fae are never safe. You wolves think we witches are slippery, but —” he interrupted himself to let out a whistle. “— we’ve got nothing on the multitude of fairy folk.”
Nodding, I followed him into the circle, trying not to let the heebie-jeebies get to me. Once we were in, he sat down cross-legged, and I followed suit, Mahlan standing just outside the circle.
“Okay, so I’m not gonna lie to you, Missy Lyssie,” Samson said, using a childhood nickname. “This is probably gonna feel uncomfortable to you.”
“That’s good to know,” I answered wryly.
“No, I’m serious for a moment. I’m a green witch for the most part, so my magic specializes in plants. I can do plenty of other stuff without problem, but you’re, uh, very much not a plant.”
“Glad you picked up on that.”
He huffed. “As cheeky as ever. That’s why I liked you. I promise I won’t hurt you, but I want you to be prepared for some weird uncomfiness.”
“If you can break whatever hold is on me, it’ll be worth it.”
“I’m gonna be honest… that’s not happening tonight.” My spirit fell at that, but Samson continued. “Tonight is me magically scouring you and trying to find out everything I can. Even if I find your curse and everything, I’ll need at least overnight, possibly more, to figure out how to break it.”
Oh, that made sense. It was like scientists studying a sickness and then needing time to make an antidote.
“Okay.”
“Good. Now that we’re on the same page, give me your hands and close your eyes.”
I did so, trying to focus on my breathing and exude calm. Samson’s voice continued. “I want you to reach into yourself, the deepest places you can find, and just stay there as best as you can.”
Those were some strange instructions, but I did my best, trying to sink into a part of myself I usually tried to avoid.
I felt what had to be Samson’s magic flow into me. It started at my fingertips and spread up my arms, going into my chest. It was a strange sensation, bordering between something out of a horror movie and a kind of a massage. The green witch part made sense as glowing vines appeared in my mind’s eye, gently spreading through me.
Flashes of my childhood appeared, hazy and pale, but most definitely there. I guessed that was Samson searching through the ‘before times,’ as I occasionally thought of them. I wasn’t looking forward to-
“What are you doing?”
“We’re leaving, Lyssa.”
“Leaving? Where are we going?”
Suddenly, the woman who I’d always called my mother whirled on me. “No, Lyssa, we are leaving. Not you!”
Yeah, there it was. I knew from the moment we’d sat down that I’d probably have to relive that night, but that didn’t make it any easier.
The vines spread further, searching, searching, searching, and I found myself being pulled along with them. Past my insecurities, past my fear, down into places in me that was so shadowed I could hardly see anything.
But there, in the center, I could feel something. Something… powerful. Angry. And with a whole lot of teeth.
Was that my inner wolf?
Mentally, I reached for the vague impression of a shape, only for my hand to hit something solid. Something that was not supposed to be there.
I tried to press harder into it, to force my way through, but the more I tried, the firmer it got, until sharp, prickly bits of glowing purple began to extend from it.
What is this? I couldn’t help but marvel. But then Samson verbally answered me, nearly knocking me out of the meditative state he’d led me into.
“That’s the magic that’s cursing you.”
It looked kind of pretty for being somewhat insidious. How strange to think that was always inside of me. How long had it been like that? Since I was sixteen? Before then?
“Wait, do you see that?”
The vines pointed above me, and I looked up to see a sort of… purple mist pouring from an upper corner of the shield. It curled in on itself, seemingly hanging ominously, but when I mentally stepped back, I saw it was leading somewhere else. I studied it, curious… until Samson suddenly yanked me out of my depths and into the regular world.
“Ow!” I hissed. “What’s with the whiplash, dude?”
But I quickly cut my complaints off when I saw Samson’s ashen face, his eyes wider than I’d ever seen them.
“What is it?” I asked, heart thundering.
“You’re not the only one.”
“Is this the place?”I asked breathlessly, dubiously studying the decrepit-looking cabin in the middle of the woods.
I had a feeling Mahlan would have preferred if I hadn’t tagged along, but once Samson had a vision of another shifter who’d been cursed in the same way I had, there was no way I wasn’t.
We hopped in the car and raced along, Samson giving Mahlan directions in an eerily flat voice. I figured it was just how he spoke while gripped with a vision, but it gave me chills if I listened too hard.
But I couldn’t believe it. Someone else was out there who had been locked away from their inner wolf just like me? I wasn’t nearly as alone as I thought, which filled me with hope.
And a terrible kind of fear. Where was this shifter? Were they okay? Samson’s vision seemed to imply otherwise. Had they been taken by a man like the one who attacked me?
Well, if that was the case, the three of us were about to bust their door down and show them who was who. I wasn’t leaving until we found the other shifter and broke their curse too.
“As far as I can tell,” Samson said, sounding like himself, “it stinks of tragedy.”
“Yeah, you don’t need magical powers to tell that one,” Mahlan murmured, scenting the air. “I only hear a single heartbeat, but I smell… a lot of different scents.”
“You think there are other people in there hiding?”
“No, I would most likely be able to hear them. What I think is that a lot of people have passed through here.” He took another deep breath. “Including some of our missing wolves.”
“Well, I do not like that. If we’re lucky enough to have gotten here while the bad guys are out, maybe we should take advantage of our luck and find whoever the other cursed shifter is.”
Mahlan nodded, fur already rippling along his skin. “Let me go first.”
A moment later, he was fully shifted, launching forward and racing towards the cabin. I wondered how he would get in the door, considering the lack of opposable thumbs, but he just barreled through it like it was tissue paper.
Oh.
I supposed that was one way to do it. It must run in the family or something.
“Come on,” Sam said, hurrying after him.
“But Mahlan said to let him go first.”
“And we did. But I don’t want to be out here without him, so let’s hurry it up now.”
“I see your logic there.”
With plenty of pep in our step, we both rushed in. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting in the dilapidated cabin, maybe just a lot of dirt and cobwebs, but it certainly wasn’t the practically medieval torture chamber that we erupted into.
“What the hell?”
I looked around, a bit in disbelief about whether I was in reality or not. The walls were dirty, covered in moss and who knew what other filth while a single lightbulb hung from the ceiling. But the real clincher was the large metal cages. If I didn’t know better, I would think they were kennels. Unfortunately, I got the idea they were for someone else entirely. Maybe that was just my macabre imagination, or perhaps the manacles hanging from the walls in several spots helped urge that impression along.
Maybe.
“There’s no way anything good is coming out of this place,” Samson murmured, calling a little ball of light to his hand. Once things were less terrifying and awful, I would need to take a moment and think about how one of the first friends I’d ever made after being kicked out was secretly a witch. Sh!t was wild.
“Hello?” A small, quivering voice had all our attention, our heads jerking in unison to a crumbling bookcase that held less pages and more of a voracious termite infestation. “Is anybody there? I need help!”
It could have been a trap. Hell, it probably was a trap! But I didn’t care. At that moment, something came over me, and I rushed to that bookcase, ripping it away from the wall.
It didn’t so much fall as it crumbled into a lump of mushy grossness, but I paid it no mind. “We’re coming!” I called to the voice, my heart thundering in my ears. “Just keep making noise, okay?”
Whoever it was, they sounded young and scared, which fueled me even further. I kicked at the wall, only for it to give way like w3t cardboard. For the briefest of seconds, I was worried that I’d just stuck my foot through decomposing wood goo, but I quickly realized, no, it was w3t cardboard.
“A false wall,” Samson murmured, looking over my shoulder.
The weak voice echoed again, sounding less muffled with the bookcase and fake wall gone. “Please, no one’s been here in several days. I’m so hungry and thirsty.”
Mahlan rushed past me in his wolf form, making sure I wasn’t at the front in case something tricky was going on, but all I could think about was that there was someone we could save.
Not just from being locked away from her wolf but also locked away in the literal sense. I didn’t know who was behind the disappearances, but as far as I was concerned, I would be happy to take a baseball bat to their heads.
I rushed down the dark, damp-smelling hall after him, wondering if it would be better to smell the grotty mildew through my nose or possibly inhale whatever mold spores were undoubtedly in the air through my mouth. It sounded like a lose-lose situation, so I just focused on making sure my feet didn’t slip out from under me.
Finally, we erupted from the hall into what looked like a very old root cellar, but one that hadn’t been used in ages. At least not for food storage, as more chains were attached to the wall, dangling ominously. Except for one chain, that was, which was attached to a thick, metal collar around an absolutely filthy girl’s neck.
“Oh my God,” I gasped, hands going to my mouth. She was barely a teenager, so small and slight that I was amazed they had a collar her size. But at the same time, my stomach rolled, knowing that someone had purposefully put her down into the earth to rot in her bonds.
“You’re… you’re not with them, are you?” she asked, her voice cracking like she was afraid to hope.
I didn’t know my body could move that fast, but one moment I was standing there, shocked, the next I was kneeling in front of her, pulling her into the tightest hug I dared to with her slight form.
“No, we’re not. We’re here to get you out, okay?”
The girl nodded before her eyes slid behind me to Mahlan, recoiling at the sight. “W-wolf!”
“Don’t worry, he’s with me. He’s gonna get you out of these, okay?”
She nodded uncertainly, unable to pull her gaze away from Mahlan. Not that I could blame her. He was quite the sight in his wolf form.
“They brought other people like him here. Hurt them.”
F**k, my heart. The urge to cry quickly built inside me, but I gently shoved it down. It wasn’t the time.
“Mahlan, would you get her collar?”
His giant wolf head nodded, and he strode forward, his teeth hooking into the chain just behind her. With an obscenely loud crunch, the girl was freed.
“Here,” I said, pulling her into my arms as we stood. “We’ll get you to safety. You don’t have to worry anymore.”
The girl nodded solemnly, and I tried not to think about how light she was. Had they been feeding her? Was she a street kid like me?
I didn’t know. But I knew that I was never letting anyone hurt her again. Not if I could help it.