Crucible and the Crown (Misfits of Magic Book 3)

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Jackie woke to the sound of the frantic beating of Micah’s heart as he rocked her against him. She had that floaty, lightheaded feeling that always came with a major healing, but that was far better than the agony she had been in before she’d passed out.

Being stuck in that glass coffin, in pain and unable to move, had been bad, but the moment she’d realized that Micah had been fighting the goddess had been so much worse. Terror the likes of which she’d never felt before had shot through her. Her mate had been fighting one of the gods, and Jackie hadn’t been able to help him.

Shock had reverberated through her when he’d broken through whatever magical block had been keeping them from one another. He’d felt the same, yet so different. Stronger. Far more powerful than he should have been. And when he’d sent her magic through their bond, it had been enough to destroy the joining the goddess had formed with her.

Once she’d been free, she had teleported straight to Micah. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d said she was fine with the way the goddess had met her end. She might have been wearing her mother’s face at the time, but Jackie was well aware that she wasn’t the real queen. The Goddess of Illusions could no longer hurt anyone, and that was worth all of the pain Jackie had suffered.

With that new magic still bouncing around inside of her, she felt unsettled and slightly uncomfortable. It was as if her body was trying to absorb the dark god magic, but she was having trouble processing it.

She shifted on Micah’s lap and felt the thick, hard length of his erection beneath her ass. Lust flared to life inside of her, surprising her with its ferocity.

She needed him.

Needed to reaffirm their bond and to prove that they were both alive and well.

That they had survived the impossible and had come out victorious.

She moved against him again and felt his arms tighten around her, trying to hold her still. Forget that, she thought giddily. Lust drunk, she rubbed her cheeks against his bare chest, barely aware that she had used her magic to remove their clothing.

“Stop that,” he bit out. “You still need more time to heal properly.”

“I need you,” she whispered. “I need to bond with you again to absorb the new magic inside of me.”

He muttered a curse under his breath, then said, “I can try to remove it until you are ready to—”

“It’s mine,” she growled. “You’re mine, too.”

“I am,” he said, not bothering to deny it.

She shoved him down on the ground and crawled on top of him, rubbing herself against him like a feline in heat. It was as if her brain had been shut off, and she was reacting on pure instinct now.

She pressed hot kisses up his chest to his neck, then crushed her lips against his in a searing kiss. As she continued to kiss him with a voracity that stunned them both, he rolled them across the forest floor. The grass was soft beneath her back as he took her under him, and white-hot need surged through her as he used his own legs to part hers.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she took the kiss deeper. She tried to take him inside of her, but he shifted so the thick length of his shaft rubbed against her throbbing clit instead. He moved against her, pushing her closer and closer to the edge.

“You almost died,” he growled through their bond, his big body shaking from the very thought of that. “Fucking hell, I almost lost you, Jackie.”

“I’m fine. You’re fine,” she assured him, stroking her hands over his back in a soothing motion. Reaching up to cup his face in her hands, she broke the kiss and stared up into his glowing blue eyes. They burned bright like twin stars, and she was mesmerized by the sight of him. “I need you, Micah. Please…”

Micah heard the desperate need in her voice and let go. Giving into his own frantic need for her, he leaned down and claimed her mouth with his again. He stroked his tongue against hers in an erotic dance that had them both gasping for more.

He growled with approval when he felt the slick proof of her desire for him coating his hard shaft as he continued to rub against her. He wanted to continue to tease them both, but he couldn’t do it. The frantic need that she’d been feeling to reaffirm their bond had taken over him as well.

Done waiting, he shoved her legs wider and drove himself into her. Her back arched off the ground as she cried out, but she didn’t let him stop to get used to the sudden intrusion. Instead, she pumped her hips against him, urging him to move.

Micah began thrusting his cock inside her tight pussy, no longer holding back. She was so hot and wet, and the feeling of her wrapped around him was almost too damn good to be real. Leaning down, he kissed her deeply, his tongue mimicking the motions of his driving cock.

He wanted to fill every part of her. To merge himself with her so completely that she would never be free of him. He surged deeper, filling her over and over again with his aching cock until he felt the tight muscles of her pussy fluttering around him.

When she cried out his name, he snarled, “Bond with me, mate. Claim me again.”

Instead of using the mating mark that was already on his chest, she surprised him by slapping her palm against the side of his neck. It was a blatant display of ownership, one that he fucking loved. He grabbed her other wrist and slammed it down on the forest floor, branding his new mating mark right there on her arm where everyone would see it. He pushed his new magic into her, sharing the dark gift he had been given until they were fully merged again.

Her body shook as she was thrown into another hard climax before the first had even abated. Growling low, he fucked her through her release even as he pushed her toward the next. The white-hot need he felt for her burned brighter with each and every thrust, driving him crazy with the madness of loving her.

He continued to pound himself into her over and over again, making sure to rub against the hard nub of her clit with each thrust. When she came again, he felt her muscles clamp down on him. He let out a wild roar as he finally exploded with his own climax, and his body shook as he filled her with pulse after pulse of his hot seed.

They both gasped when his wings burst free from his back, wrapping them in a cocoon of protection. Black spots danced across his vision. It felt like his body had shattered into a million tiny pieces only to be remade into something better. Something stronger.

Something that completely belonged to her.

“I love you, Micah,” she whispered a second before he felt her go limp underneath him.

Staring down at her, he saw that she had passed out again. Fear froze him for a brief moment, then he relaxed again when he realized that her body needed time to properly process the new magic that was now inside of her.

“I love you too, mate,” he said softly.

Even though she couldn’t hear him, he knew she could feel it.

He wanted to remain buried deep inside her, but slowly pulled his cock out to make sure she was comfortable while her body continued to heal. He retracted his wings again, unsure why they had burst free. Perhaps his protective instincts were on overdrive at the moment considering how close he’d come to losing her.

Never again, he vowed.

Using his magic, he thoroughly cleaned Jackie, taking extra time to double-check the wound on her chest. While there was no visible sign that she’d been struck with a god bolt, he’d felt the pain she had suffered when it had happened from reviewing her memories while he’d healed her the first time.

He dressed them both in comfortable attire, then he created a mattress and bedding that was as soft as a cloud for her to rest on. After tucking her in under the canopy of rainbow blossoms of one of the strange trees, he added a bubble of protection to surround her while she slept. He knew it was overkill, but after everything that had happened, he couldn’t be too careful.

Walking a few feet away, he used his magic to teleport Kellen and Lia to the forest. Both shifters gasped as they glanced around at their new surroundings.

“Is it done?” Kellen asked. “Is that bitch dead?”

Lia rolled her eyes. “Of course she is, or we wouldn’t be here now.” She gasped when she saw Jackie and rushed over to stand right outside of the shimmering protection bubble. “Is she okay?”

“She is now. Her body needs time to process the new magic I shared with her. I had to give her some to break the connection between her and the goddess.”

Micah told them what had happened while they were separated and during his fight with the Goddess of Illusions. Both shifters nodded in satisfaction after hearing about her demise.

“She was wearing Jackie’s face? That’s fucking wild,” Kellen said.

“I’m glad she’s dead. Now she can’t hurt anyone ever again.” Lia huffed out a breath “What are we going to do with Jackie’s real mom?”

“Take her back with us.” Micah sighed. “I’m not sure she will ever really recover, but we have to try. I want to remove her from the coffin, but she’s been in there so long that I’m not sure it’s safe just to yank her out of there without some precautions in place first.”

“So, we can bring her and the coffin back.” Lia cringed. “Is that going to traumatize Kami and Crispin?”

“And the king,” Kellen added. “If I were him, I’m not sure I would ever recover from finding out my real mate was suffering while I was living with an evil doppelganger.”

“Yeah, it’s going to be rough on all of them,” Micah said. “Especially Kami when she finds out that the goddess was actually her real mother and not the queen.”

“Oh, shit,” Lia gasped. “She’s not going to take that news well. Wait a damn minute…doesn’t that mean she’s a demigod? How did she not know that?”

“Jackie got to see some bits and pieces of the goddess’ memories when they were connected,” Micah told them. “I’m not sure about the demigod thing, but from what I’ve seen so far, she did something to Crispin so he couldn’t talk to his sisters about his suspicions. Maybe she did something similar to Kami.”

“Maybe.” Lia thought about that for a moment. “Actually, that would make a lot of sense. Kami hates her mother with a fucking passion, so there must be a reason for it. Something she hasn’t told anyone.”

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s justified,” Micah surmised.

Lia glanced around. “Shouldn’t we be trying to get the fuck out of here? This realm isn’t going to collapse or something now that the goddess is dead, is it?”

“I don’t think so.” Micah couldn’t stop staring at his mate. “This realm has been in existence for a long time, so it’s not something she just created on a whim. And I don’t want to move Jackie while she is healing.”

“Once we take the queen out of here, this place will no longer have a battery charging it, though,” Kellen pointed out.

“I believe the goddess was using the queen’s magic to keep the Realm of Illusions hidden from everyone. And Merlin’s magic was keeping the reapers hidden and protected from the goddess.”

“Two factions at work,” Lia murmured.

Micah nodded. “That sounds about right. She was also replenishing her own magic since she had—”

His words were cut off when Kami suddenly appeared in the forest with them wearing a pair of lounge pants and a shirt splattered with paint. She gasped for breath as she fell to her knees. When her hands touched the ground, the entire area lit up with a warm glow. Then, that light spread to encompass the entire forest. Her body also started glowing, and she glanced down at her arms and her eyes widened in shock.

“What the fuck is this place?” Kami wheezed out. “Why the fuck am I glowing? What the fuck is going on?”

“That’s a lot of fucks,” Kellen commented. “Are you feeling okay?”

Kami spun around and the relief on her face when she saw them was clearly visible. “There you are! Are you done with the Crucible shit? We’ve got a little crisis going on back home. My mother is missing and my father suddenly fell into a coma. Oh, and my cousins tried to stage a coup, but Braxton and Raiden ended that pretty damn quick. They put the bastards in the dungeon under the palace until we determine what to do with them. Everyone decided to hang out at the palace until you guys get back.”

“We’ve been dealing with a little crisis here, too,” Micah said carefully.

“How did you find us, Kam?” Lia asked.

“I’m not really sure,” Kami said, looking confused. “I wasn’t feeling well so I was trying to take a nap and thought about how you guys were doing. Then, poof, here I was. Where exactly are we?”

“The Realm of Illusions,” Kellen said.

“The what?”

“The Realm of Illusions,” Lia repeated. “I, umm, think this place might actually belong to you now.”

“Have you lost your mind? Whoa, what is up with your eyes, Micah? Why are they glowing?” Kami asked with a frown. “And why is my sister doing the Sleeping Beauty thing? Is she okay?”

“That is a long story.” Micah sighed. “Take a seat, little sister. I think this is going to take a while to explain everything to you…”