2. FIVE YEARS LATER
2
FIVE YEARS LATER
Nelle
S ticky, sweat-damp hair irritated the nape of my neck as I stumbled out of the woods, struggling to catch my breath. My legs shook with every faltering step and I collapsed with utter exhaustion into a messy heap at the edge of the lawn.
Thankfully, the thing that lived inside me had curled up into a tight knot, sated and spent.
I sighed in bliss as a welcome breeze rustled through the tall, wild grass and caressed my hot skin. The burning in my lungs eased as I dragged cool air through my throat. Dredging up the energy to change my position, I rolled over to lie on my back and rest within the lengthening shadows of the woodland tree line that hugged our estate.
I’d burned myself out, needing to since House Pellan was about to arrive at our home any minute now. This coming weekend was going to be a grueling task, keeping that strange power prowling inside me tamed and unseen from our guests. Tamed, that was a joke. The creature lurking beneath my flesh ran wild and unchecked. All I could do was unleash it and burn it out daily. And now I was older—it maturing with me—the creature needed to be let loose twice a day.
Aware I’d received a few texts while finishing up in the woodland, I slid my phone from my skirt’s pocket.
At the foot of a gnarled oak, Sage—my wraith-wolf—padded forward, glaring toward the grand mansion beyond the long stretch of lawn. A ridge of mist-wisped fur hackled along Sage’s spine as he shimmered in and out of existence, drawing my attention from my phone to him. He’d been my constant companion these past few years and my best friend. The wraith-wolf’s massive paws dug into the earth as he bared vicious teeth and snarled. Every muscle in his powerful body tensed.
My stomach sank, and I bit back a groan. There was only one person who drew that kind of savage reaction from Sage— Graysen Crowther.
With a tap of my finger, two messages appeared on my phone’s screen. Sure enough, both from the same jerk. I had saved Graysen under a more appropriate name in my contact list than the one given to him at birth.
LordofDarkness: Meet me at six sharp at your front door. And for fuck’s sake, remember to wear shoes this time.
And here I thought I could spend my evening without his miserable company. Godsdammit.
At 6:02 p.m. he’d sent another message.
LordofDarkness: Typical. Simple instructions, Wychthorn. Get. Your. Ass. Here. Now.
Sage shifted closer, placing his ghostly body in front of me. Obviously, Graysen was making his way here since I hadn’t met him on time at the front door, as so courteously requested.
Sage had been my protector for the last few years, and his presence eased back security on the family estate. No one had to shadow me after my wraith-wolf’s arrival. The Crowthers gifted Sage to me after I signed the farce of a marriage contract all those years ago. It was the nicest thing Graysen had ever done for me and, funnily enough, Sage hated Graysen. My wraith-wolf was an excellent judge of character.
Sage erupted into motion, dancing on the spot, snapping and snarling.
Expensive leather shoes stepped into view. A low rumbling voice, like sliding rock, gritted out, “Call off your fucking dog before I kick it.”
My smile faded into a thin line. Graysen always issued the same threat. But he never had kicked my wraith-wolf. Though I suspected that this time would be no different from all the others, I whispered, “Sage,” and snapped my fingers.
Sage gave Graysen a threatening growl, but the wraith-wolf listened to my command and backed away.
Graysen leaned over me, squinting. “Gods, you’re a mess.”
“Charmed,” I puffed out, glaring up at him.
The intoxicating masculine scent of him, a woodsy cedar with a faint nuance of leather and smoke, drifted over me. Burning out the creature dulled my enhanced senses, but not to where I couldn’t feel his strange essence that sang to me every time we were in each other’s company. He was a contradiction—darkness wrapped in light.
I was also hyperaware of him, and I hated it.
It didn’t help that the creature inside me was intrigued. As always, it stirred, its power stretching out to twine around him much in the same way a cat rubbed against a wooden post, before it reluctantly withdrew.
Graysen’s shoulder twitched as if he felt the interest like a tangible caress. The angle of where he stood obscured his black eyes, but I couldn’t mistake the dislike for me rolling off him in heavy waves.
The gangly boy he’d been when we’d signed the marriage contract five years ago had been shredded away. He was tall and muscular, broad but in a more streamlined way. His voice was deeper, dark, and always bored-as-fuck.
“Looking sharp,” I said, taking in the elegant black suit hugging his body. He wore no tie tonight. This evening was a casual get-together, but I knew everyone attending would be dressed in fine custom suits. The top buttons of Graysen’s shirt were undone, and it allowed me a peek at the tattoos that coiled up from his chest and along one side of his neck, grazing just beneath his jawline. His tousled hair needed a trim, and a wayward hank dipped in front of his right eye. I’d never admit it, but I liked his hair slightly ruffled. It suited him.
Graysen’s irritated gaze slithered over me. “You sure as fuck don’t.”
“Gods,” I snapped. “I don’t know why I bother.”
“Me neither, Wychthorn. ”
I tore blades of grass from the earth and ground the handful angrily until it was a sticky, green clump in my fist.
Graysen spun away and retreated to lean against an ash tree. He bent a knee and rested a foot against the tree trunk before shoving a hand into the pocket of his pants. Both of his wrists were thick with leather straps and thin silver chains. He dug his free hand into the inside pocket of his jacket and fished out a blunt and zippo. Clamping the blunt between his teeth, he lit it, dragging in a breath, and expelled it a few seconds later. The sweetly rancid smoke swirled from his mouth.
I’d always thought it was deceptively casual, the threat Graysen carried with him. His size, the glimpse of tattoos coiling up his throat, and the sharp intelligence in his eyes gave him away. He practically hummed with dark intent, promising violence he could deliver. An arrogant self-assurance that no one could touch him.
He was a thief and killer with devastating good looks.
And I was going to marry him .
Marry? I almost snorted in derision.
Not if either of us had our way.
Silence settled between us like a scratchy, threadbare blanket.
I stared up at the sky and the clouds stained ocher with the sun’s descent while I regained my strength. I just needed a little more time for the shaking in my limbs to abate. Thankfully, Graysen wasn’t in any hurry to join the family gathering.
In the periphery of my vision, Graysen’s movement caught my attention. He pocketed the zippo and turned his head toward the mansion, lost in thought. Good. If he was ignoring me, he wasn’t suspicious. He ran his thumb over his bottom lip with the hand holding the blunt, a frown creasing his forehead.
He’d only smoked a handful of times in front of me.
Part of me was curious. What was it like? Why did he smoke weed? Did he need it or merely desire its effects? The other part didn’t want to ask him anything, even if it allowed me to poke into his mind and find out a bit more about the man to whom I was promised.
Ever since I’d turned nineteen, we’d been forced to spend the last day of every month together. On the very first occasion, I tried to talk to him just to be polite. He’d arched an arrogant brow and went back to messing on his phone, ignoring me. And that was how we’d pass those obligatory days in each other’s company. Strangely, it had settled into something comfortable. There was the odd time we’d talked, or rather, snarked at one another. But more often, he’d join me wherever he found me, sit down, and use his phone to check and reply to his emails or make business calls. Sometimes he used the time to sharpen his blades or pretend to read while he kept an eye on the comings and goings of our household. Once I’d caught on to that fact, I confined him to places that denied him of intel on my family—much to his annoyance—like the library or the aviary or woodland. One time, I forced him to spend the entire day in the kitchen while I baked endless batches of cookies. I’d even boxed a special batch for him to take home. He’d strode to the rubbish bin, his narrowed gaze fixed on me as he dumped the box in the trash, growling— I never eat sugary crap.
Pity, because those cookies, I’d purposely replaced the sugar with salt.
Graysen tipped his head back and heaved a weary sigh.
I blinked. Astonished. He rarely showed anything but barely concealed contempt. I levered myself up by my elbows. “Bad day at the office?”
He usually didn’t answer me, so it came as another surprise when those dark eyes slid my way. “The worst.”
Snorting, I poured distaste into my words. “People not die easily enough for your liking, Crowther?”
Some dark feeling washed over his features, and then he shuttered it away.
I stilled, my brows nudging together with intrigue. Something had unsettled him. Pushing up, I sat with my knees bent, genuinely interested in what was bothering him. “What happened?”
He glowered, shaking his head and pressing his mouth into a firm line.
Ah, of course, he’d never explain—
Although tonight was an exception. After a lengthy pause, he answered, “People did die. Not by me.” And before I could ask, his hand cut through the air. Thin threads of smoke curled from the blunt clamped between his fingers. “You don’t want to know, little bird.”
Chills spider-walked down my spine. He was right. I didn’t want to know. Yet…my mind imagined terrible things. This world of ours skulked in the shadows. And what we were, what we did serving the Horned Gods… I’d never felt comfortable with it.
I glanced around the endless lawn, at my family mansion shining brightly like a doll’s house while chewing on my bottom lip. Whatever happened today disturbed even him, a seasoned enforcer.
Maybe that’s why he’d lit his blunt?
Movement drew me back to Graysen. He pushed off the tree. Jerking his chin toward my home, he asked, “You ready?”
I smiled, not for him, but for my sister, Evvie. Her fiancé was due to arrive with his family—the Pellans. This weekend, their engagement party was to be held at our estate, which was the reason Graysen was here. As my intended, his presence was mandatory at family gatherings.
My elder sister, Annalise, would fly in tomorrow with her husband, Aldan.
And my friend, Danne Pellan, might even be here right now.
My smile bloomed into a grin.
Graysen caught me beaming and scowled. “What the hells are you grinning at?”
My grin faltered. None of your business— sat on the tip of my tongue. But not even Graysen Crowther was going to spoil my good mood. Ignoring him, I drew in a deep breath, gathering my strength and steeling myself for what I had to do—get back on my feet.
Pushing upright, I took a moment to brush the sticky locks from my forehead and peel the sweat-damp fabric of my dress from my legs. The dress needed to be thrown away. It was torn in several places and filthy with splatters of mud. The sooty hem of the skirt had been singed. I wasn’t sure how to explain the soot and scorch marks if Graysen noticed. Which he didn’t. He never noticed.
I began looking for my bag. I’d dropped it here in my haste this afternoon. Sage padded up to my side and nuzzled my hip with his nose as I poked about the long grass.
Graysen raked his gaze over my messy state. As far as he knew, I rambled the woods on daily runs. “Ever hear of activewear?”
“I don’t like activewear,” I tossed back as I crouched down to search the dim depth of the woodlands for my canvas messenger bag. Activewear was too tight. I didn’t like tight clothing. It felt constrictive, smothering. Loose-fitting dresses of natural material that didn’t cling, that’s what I preferred.
I unfurled, turning to find Graysen taking a long drag on his blunt as he considered me with half-hooded eyes. “You’re always in those too-big dresses. As if being bound in material is…suffocating.” A silvery haze wisped from his lips and nostrils like dragon smoke. His glance became calculating. As much as I liked to push him, he did the same. He shot me a smug smirk. “Don’t like clothes that are too tight, little bird?” He ducked under a low-hanging tree branch as he prowled closer, swiping his gaze all over my body, becoming intensely interested. For once, he dropped his bored tone and his voice changed into a rough purr. “Please tell me you’re wearing underwear.”
I almost rolled my eyes. Of course I was. Instead, I gifted a sly smile. “Maybe… maybe not.” I regretted teasing him the moment something sensual and predatory glinted in the depths of his gaze.
I made a disgusted noise at the back of my throat. Gods, he was a pig —and whirled away to return to my search.
Ah, there. My bag.
I’d tossed it into the tussock that feathered the roots of a willow. I spent so much time out in the woodlands that I always packed a supply of snacks, bottled water, a book, and a cozy blanket. Scooping out the water, I drank deeply, relishing the cool liquid that soothed my parched throat. Capping the bottle, I spoke to Graysen. “I’m good now if you want to go.”
His head swiveled my way, staring at me as if I was stupid. You know what—he was right. I was stupid in actually talking to him like he was a nice guy. Because Graysen Crowther was not a nice guy. At all.
He flicked his finished blunt at me. It fell short, smoldering in the wild grass beside my left foot. “I’m not going anywhere with you looking like that.”
What could I say to that? Seriously? “Gods, you’re an asshole. ”
He ran a hand through his thick hair, shrugging as if to reply— yeah, so?
I slung my messenger bag over my shoulder and walked away. I would have liked to have stalked across the lawn as fast as possible, but that wasn’t my reality right now, so my steps were slow and measured. Sage kept pace beside me while I heard Graysen grumbling something so low even I couldn’t make out what he’d said, but he caught up and the three of us headed toward my family mansion.
Tonight, Graysen was full of surprises.
He was waiting for me outside my bedroom. Leaning his back against the hallway wall, a deep scowl creased his features as his thumbs stabbed a message on his phone.
My mouth gaped a little, stunned to find him there. “You waited for me?”
I’d showered and slipped into a dress of ivory, excited and skitterish with anticipation to be seeing my new friend—Danne Pellan. I’d slicked on lip-gloss and mascara and tamed my hair into a fishtail braid. Pretty, I hoped.
Graysen glanced up, squinting as if something was different about me, but he couldn’t work out what. His gaze lowered back to his phone and his thumbs recommenced moving. “I’m in no rush to meet those wanker Pellans.”
I hissed through my teeth. Of course, it was about the Pellans and nothing whatsoever to do with me. I strode past with Sage at my heels.
Behind me, I heard a low, irritated growl that didn’t come from my wraith-wolf.
I spun back. Graysen was still leaning against the wall, but his head was tipped toward the ceiling as he stared upward with a black glare. “Shoes. For fuck’s sake— shoes. ”
Glancing down at my bare feet, I burst into laughter that bounced down the hallway. Traipsing to my rooms, I rummaged around in my walk-in closet and found a pair of high heels. Right before I left my quarters, I snatched up an old dusty tome I’d unearthed recently in my family library.
When I rejoined Graysen, my smile was gone and my jaw clenched tighter with every annoyed step as I fell in beside him. I shot him a dark look—one he returned.
I really hated shoes.
Perhaps I hated Graysen more, which was certainly saying something.
Liar —the creature chuckled.