Chapter 2
MIA
Secrets are like poison. They rot and fester in your veins.
The more you keep, the more you lie. And it gets easier to believe the lies you tell yourself.
It’s been seven months since I freed Nox.
Since the day we frolicked in the grass, ignoring our fear and burying our concerns.
And it feels like I have just as many secrets as days that have passed.
Either they’ll eat me alive, or the monster will. So I’m fucked regardless.
I bolt upright, drenched in sweat. My heart races. A quick glance around confirms I’m awake and in the safety of my own room. But the chill on the back of my neck remains. A new monster haunts my dreams. A new nightmare. Except he’s still with me when I wake. I feel him next to me… in me.
“Fuck,” I say on a dramatic exhale. It’s not like it was with Nox. This entity is different. Darker. I feel his hatred in my veins. I wrench open the drawer of my bedside table and rummage around until I find what I need. I release another deep breath when I wrap my hand around the vial.
Just a few sips is all I need. It’s the only thing that drowns out the whispers. The Skelker. Fuck. I shiver and quickly down the vial. My throat burns, but as soon as the toxin hits my bloodstream, his voice grows fainter.
The door barges open without warning. I shriek and shove my hand underneath the covers. “What the fuck—oh, Aries… You scared the shit out of me.” My heart pounds as I lift my hand and set the empty poison vial down next to me.
He winks, his blue-green eyes sparkling. “Relax, my love. I would’ve knocked, but I was hoping to catch you doing something indecent.”
“Always such a gentleman,” I tease. “What is so urgent that you couldn’t wait until I’ve had my coffee?”
He feigns shock. “Have you forgotten already? This is your first Wild Hunt. We have festivities planned all week. Now get your fine ass out of bed so we can get you prepped.”
I roll my eyes. I’ve never cared much about holidays or traditions. Growing up without a family kind of takes the joy out of it all. But it’s important to him and Bones and Draven. “Ugh, fine. All right. Give me thirty minutes to shower, and I’ll meet you downstairs.”
Aries stalks over and throws the covers off me.
His lip quivers when he runs his gaze along the length of my half-naked body.
“I know you just downed a vial of baneberry, my love. I can see the light swirling around your pupils. You need a release first. Go on. I’ll wait, and then I will personally make sure you get your sexy ass in the shower. ”
My body flushes with heat at the surge of my thudding pulse. “Aries… it’s okay. I don’t want to be late.” The poison stirs up my adrenaline and my libido. It’s like having the physical effects of being drunk while still being mentally in control and cognizant.
“Shhh. Don’t waste the high.” He hooks his fingers inside my panties and pulls them down to my ankles.
My breath hitches as I press my thighs back against the mattress. I dip my middle finger inside my pussy while I gaze up at him. Sweat drips down my limbs. I bite my lip and arch my back, enthralled with my own pleasure.
Aries towers over me, his fingers still curled around my panties. “Thatta girl. Treat yourself.”
He told me once that the toxins heighten everything. Depending on whether you’re fucking or fighting, or even if you’re sad and your heart is breaking, the poison will amplify whatever you’re feeling. And the baneberry specifically is an aphrodisiac, ideal for pleasure.
I thrust two fingers inside and rock my hips back and forth. Aries watches me, calm and quiet. He will file this memory away for later, and I or Bones will bear the brunt of his deviousness. We will pay for this. Aries is the king of delayed gratification.
Another rush of heat floods me, shattering my restraint. I convulse and clench around my own fingers, pumping them hard as I soak them.
“Good girl,” Aries growls.
My pussy throbs so hard I can feel my own heartbeat inside it. “Fuckkkk,” I whine.
Aries drags my panties back up my legs, swatting my hand away before securing them around my ass again. He wraps his mouth around my fingers and sucks, moaning softly to himself.
My legs won’t stop shaking, my heart racing as he flicks his tongue in between my fingers. “Fucking hell, Aries…”
He releases them with a pop. “Delicious. Now go get cleaned up so we can torture you with Ever Graves historical lore all day.”
I giggle and throw a pillow at him. “Not fair. You can’t just weaponize my orgasms for your own agenda.”
He gives my pussy a playful slap, a sloppy wet grin on his face. “Have you only just met me? Manipulation under the guise of a rewards system is my specialty.”
“You’re insufferable,” I tease as I bounce to my feet. The poison is finally simmering, allowing me to function without the urge to fuck every devious thing that moves past me.
He catches me with an arm around my waist. “Liar. You love it when I make you suffer.”
I’ve let him do so many dark and twisted things to my body… “Guilty as sin,” I whisper into his ear before I bite down on it.
“Baby girl, you better watch yourself,” he warns as he tightens his grip around my waist. “You underestimate my self-control.”
I suck on his lobe. “Maybe we should just stay in bed all day then.”
He moans, considering it, but then leaps back. “Nope. Nice try, Mia. You’re not getting out of the Wild Hunt festivities today. Draven will have my head.”
I giggle and shrug. “It was worth a shot. See ya downstairs in thirty.”
The double walk-in shower is lined with stone, creating a cool contrast to the piping-hot water.
It’s one of my favorite things about this house.
It’s the kind of luxury that most people take for granted when they are used to it every day.
I hope I never forget how precious this is…
My own bathroom. When you grow up sharing a communal room full of showerheads, privacy becomes a distant dream.
I take my time, exploring every amenity, from the jasmine-scented soaps I’ve come to love to the luxurious shampoo and conditioner I never could have afforded before my inheritance, and the massage function on the sprayer that serves many purposes.
I giggle to myself but don’t indulge. Draven will have my head too if I make them wait any longer. Especially if it’s because I’ve made myself cum again without giving them the opportunity to watch.
A shiver crawls down my spine, slow like the droplets of water that linger on my skin. The poison is wearing off, which means I can feel him. He’s so fucking close.
I’m coming for you.
I jerk my head around the room, searching for the source. But deep down, I know it’s inside me.
Soon.
“Leave me alone,” I mutter. Am I losing my mind?
The thought of him not being real scares me even more.
Because if I am hearing a voice that doesn’t exist, then I’m going to need to check myself into Absentia Asylum.
It’s a good thing Aries’s twin sister took it over and turned it into a bougie wellness spa. I might need to reserve a room soon.
I hurriedly throw on a pair of stretchy jeans, combat boots, and a black fuzzy sweater that crops just above my belly button. I give myself a once-over in the mirror and try not to cringe at the dark circles under my eyes. I thought those would go away after I severed ties to the nightmare world.
I sponge on some extra concealer and let out a dramatic sigh. My head is a fucked-up place. No matter what I do, it doesn’t seem to matter. I traded one nightmare for another. In freeing Nox, I’ve managed to tie myself to a much darker entity.
And now I have to put on a happy face and pretend to care about the stupid traditions of this fucked-up town. When all I really want to do is get high and forget who I am. To forget about the oaths that will likely kill me or drive me mad.
“Where’s Bones?” I ask. If I’m going to get through this day without any poison, I will need his playfulness to distract me.
Draven cocks his head to the side, his expression soft but worried.
He always takes my breath away. He’s so fucking beautiful.
With his black hair and golden amber eyes, long fluttery lashes, full kissable lips, and sculpted muscles that stretch his black cashmere sweater so taut it fits like a glove.
“At the garage. He’ll join us later. You okay?” His gaze travels the length of me.
I nod and swallow down my anxiety. “Yeah. Sorry. I just want us all to be together.”
Sssss…
An aggressive shudder invades my body, fluttering through me from my head to my toes. I give Aries a look, wishing he could read my mind and miraculously slip another vial of baneberry into my hand.
He winks, oblivious. “Let’s go, little lamb. The seamstress is waiting on us. I can’t wait to see you in your gown.”
“My what?” That’s not a word I thought I’d hear him say in this century.
Draven cracks a rare smile. “The Wild Hunt is also for playing dress up. We each get a custom outfit to wear for the festivities.”
“Shall I go as myself then?” Nox appears from around the corner, his tail slithering around his thick thighs.
It’s hard not to lose my breath when he enters a room. I still can’t believe he’s real. It was only less than a year ago that he was trapped in my nightmares, locked in my brain since I was a child.
And now he’s here in the flesh, giving me everything I could ever want and more.
I’m almost shy around him, smitten by the way he towers over all of us.
With his long black hair, smooth luscious horns, and all the naughty bits that I know are hiding underneath his mundane clothing…
I fight the urge to rip them all off and drag him back to bed.
“You can go as anything you wish,” Draven chirps. The long, lingering look they share doesn’t help the fluttering between my legs.
Nox’s tail slithers around my waist and coaxes me close. “I prefer not to partake if that’s all right? These festivities are a far cry from their original nature.”
There are still so many unanswered questions between us. I don’t know what it is he has seen or fully remembers. I can’t imagine how difficult it might be for him. “Of course, it’s all right,” I declare. “I would never ask you to do something that makes you uneasy.”
His tail constricts as he holds me in place. A thin swirl of light circles his black irises. “The Wild Hunt was never meant to be celebrated. Not how it was. There are many horrors attached to it.”
Aries claps him on the back. “The same could be said for this town and for all of us. Some think that we are the horrors.”
“It’s how we deal with it that matters,” Draven adds. He holds out his hand to me and gives Nox a look that seems to say, Enough. “We’re going to be late, Mia. Come.”
The power play between these men has only intensified since we all committed to each other. I thought it might ease the tension, and sexually it has, but the need for dominance has grown.
I give Nox a gentle peck on the cheek, and he releases me from his grip. “I won’t have any fun. I promise.”
He lets out an exasperated sigh. “Forgive me, dark one. I don’t mean to dampen the mood. All I ask is that you’re careful. The past is never gone.”
Draven nods. “No, you’re right. Aries and I plan on talking Mia’s ear off all day. She’ll know more about the Wild Hunt and the origins of Ever Graves than the devil himself.”
A shiver snakes up my spine. Skelker. Their voices swell and shrink as if we’re underwater. I stagger forward as the floor tilts. Firm hands catch me before I sputter out and hit the ground.
“Mia? Are you all right?” Nox asks.
“What the fuck just happened? Are you sick?” Draven wraps a protective arm around my shoulders as I lean against him.
Oh, I have a sickness alright. There’s no doubt about that.
I am festering like rot from this disease to which there’s no cure.
An illness that will never leave me. Not even when I’m dead.
For the oath I made will ensure that his filth and depravity will follow my corporeal form around like particles of light does to dust.
“I-I’m fine. I just need a snack or something,” I lie. I’ve gotten good at lying these past months.
Aries side-eyes me.
“We’ll grab a bite to eat before the fitting then. I will call the shop and let them know.” Draven barrels out the front door. He already has them on the phone by the time Rodrick opens the car door for him.
I give Nox some more assurances along with another kiss on the cheek before I slip my arm through Aries’s and let him lead me to the car.
He squeezes my hand. “You need to take it easy on the poison, Mia.”
A twinge of panic creeps into my veins. “No. I’m fine. I told you, my blood sugar dropped. I just forgot to eat breakfast. That’s all.”
He nods but stops me from getting into the car. “Fine. But I already feel like shit for hiding this from the others. If I think for one second you can’t handle it, I will pull the plug. And then no more poison for Mia.”
“I swear, Aries. I promise.” The thought of not having anything to drown out the noise is debilitating.
When the whiskey stopped working, I didn’t know what else to do.
It was Aries who offered to boost my immunity.
He began microdosing me on baneberry first, then nightshade, and not long after, I was exposed to just about every poisonous plant in the whole of Melancholia.
And I’ve been increasing my intake ever since.
The only problem is I’m building up a tolerance.
I’m needing more and more to drown out the devil in my head.
Not even Aries knows the real reason I need the poison.
He’s in the dark as much as the others. I don’t have the balls to tell them.
They will freak out and want to fix it. And I don’t think they can.
I’m damaged goods now. Broken. Bonded to the Wishing Tree. To the devil himself. All I want to do is shut him out. When I get the right dose… it does exactly that. And for a very short but glorious time, I don’t belong to anyone but myself. My head is quiet. Calm. Mine.
I slide in next to Draven, sandwiched between him and Aries in the back seat of the Blackwells’ vintage luxury car.
Rodrick, Draven’s trusted driver and only real father figure to him, gives me a wink in the rearview mirror.
I became fond of him the second I met him.
He cares about Draven. About all of us. In this world, people like him are few and far between.
“Take us to Duff’s first. Our little lamb has forgotten to feed her wolf.” Draven arches an eyebrow at me while Rodrick laughs and nods.
Fuck. He’s really going to make me eat. But all I want is the baneberry that’s burning a hole in my pocket.