Chapter 8
Taryn
Joe isn’t just dead; he was ripped apart by some sort of wild animal.
Not just him, but multiple men were savagely murdered in Joe’s trailer park.
Frank and Melinda are both shaken. I’m shaken too, but in a different way, and for a different reason. I hate to admit that I’m actually kind of relieved Joe’s gone. After what happened in the alley, I googled him and didn’t like what I found.
I’m angry that Frank would hire someone like that, much less try to set me up with him, but I have nowhere to put that anger.
Frank is acting like his brother was murdered.
Melinda is acting like this is the true crime case of the century, and she wants to be involved, even though she’s a corporate attorney.
And weirdly, they’re both being extremely nice to me.
I actually feel like one of Shana’s best friends again, instead of a mostly forgotten basement gremlin.
They’ve had me upstairs for dinner every night.
Usually, I buy my own groceries and cook after they’re done.
Sometimes they’ll leave their leftovers out for me, if they don’t plan on saving them.
That’s always better than ramen noodles and sandwiches.
I’ve eaten so many sandwiches I have a hard time eating one now.
Last night, they even let me stay upstairs for a movie. I say stay, but I guess I should say invited. We usually just kind of ignore each other until it’s time to leave for the diner.
But tonight they’re not home. Melinda had a work event, and Frank had to swallow his grief to be her plus one. I spent some time upstairs, but now I’m returning to the basement. I’m sure they’ll be out a while longer, but I don’t want to fall asleep on their couch.
The hair on my neck prickles when I walk down the stairs. The air has a different scent. Like the forest and some sort of musk. It’s faintly familiar, but I can’t place it until I get to the bottom of the stairs and see him.
Victor. He’s sitting on the couch. Way too casually for someone who doesn’t live here. I want to turn and run, but once again I’m frozen in front of him, caught in his dark gaze. My legs tremble, but they don’t move. I struggle to draw my breath.
“Taryn Good,” he growls, pointing at the chairs by the table. “Why don’t you have a seat, little girl?”
My stomach clenches first, and then my core tightens until I whimper.
It feels like I don’t know how to disobey him.
Like turning and running would defy everything law of nature.
What is happening to me? Well, what is currently happening is I’m walking to the table.
I’m pulling out a chair. I’m turning toward him. I swallow a gulp and sit down.
“W-why are you here?” I stammer.
He grunts and folds his arms across his chest, his expression darkening like he’s disappointed. I’ve seen him angry. This is something different. It feels like I’m in trouble. And for some reason, that just makes my core burn hotter.
“Because a foolish little girl cast a spell,” he scolds. “Taryn, do you know any foolish little girls who cast spells they can’t even read?”
My eyes widen and I look at the box, then nervously meet his dark gaze. Then I realize the book is on the couch. I was so surprised by him I didn’t even notice it.
“Oh my god!” I gasp.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he mocks. “You created a mating bond. With me.”
I should laugh. I should scream. I should ask how he even knows about the spell, or how he got into the basement, or why the book is sitting beside him like he owns it. But my body doesn’t care about any of those questions.
“I-I made you fall in love with me?” I squeak, my heart skipping several beats.
“No. Love has nothing to do with it. Right now, I’m not even sure I like you,” his voice is filled with derision, and I feel the heat of embarrassment rise on my cheeks.
“But the reason you sat down like a good girl instead of running up those stairs is because you feel it too. You just don’t know what it is. ”
I try to say something, but my brain is clicking things together. The hangover that lasted for days. Throwing up in the bathroom at the diner. My senses getting all confused, to the point I was always overstimulated.
Then came the arousal.
“That’s why I’ve been feeling the way I have?” I groan, still trembling with a mixture of fear and an unnatural ache between my legs.
“It hasn’t been a picnic for me either,” he says flatly. “And it will get worse. So much worse.”
My entire body clenches from fear and… anticipation.
“Then what happens?” I whisper, already regretting the question enough to gulp.
“When the mating frenzy starts? When you become so fucking irresistible that I can’t stop myself?
” he asks, leaning closer, a flicker of gold in his dark gaze that looks more unnatural than the throbbing ache in my core.
“When that happens, you stop being a bad little girl who plays with magic and get down on all fours to submit to being rutted until you scream.”
Something ripples through my core that feels like a tiny orgasm, and I squirm in my chair. I imagine it immediately but shake my head. I whimper pitifully, my body betraying every rational thought that tries to go through my head.
“You already know that you’ll do it, too. Don’t you?” he teases, grunting out a chuckle. “Go ahead, you’ll feel better if you just admit it.”
My lips twitch a few times, and a tear runs down my cheek.
“Yes,” I whisper.
“My kind mates for life,” he declares. “You’ll be all fucking mine. I don’t just take; I consume. I’ll devour you, little girl. I’ll do things to you that you’ll wish you could forget but be so fucking glad you can’t.”
“I-I didn’t realize the spell would work,” I tremble as I force the words to leave my mouth. “I… I’m sorry.”
The gold flickers in his eyes again, like a tiny flame. What the hell did I bring to my door by playing with magic I didn’t understand? I think… there’s something else going on. He’s not just a man, and whatever else is in there may be a lot scarier.
“Lucky for you, we can break the spell. You’re no witch, just a foolish little girl,” he sighs, reaching into his pocket and removing a small burlap bag. “We just have to burn this, take a deep breath, and your fucking curse is broken.”
“Curse?” I ask, blinking a few times.
“This book is druid magic,” he asserts, motioning to it. “You didn’t have enough power to cast the spell properly, so it turned into a curse. It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that this will fix it.”
“O-okay,” I stammer nervously. “But there were three of us.”
“You’re the one who bled. That’s where the power comes from for spells like this.”
I feel conflicted in so many ways, but I force myself to be rational. Neither of us truly want this. Whatever I did, if we can undo it, we should. As quickly as possible.
“Um, I have matches…” I mutter, glancing at the box.
“No, not so fast. We’re not going to burn it yet.” He leans back with a smug expression and puts it in his pocket. His look turns darker. “First, I’m going to punish you for being so foolish. Then we’re going to fix this.”
My entire body tightens again. I look at him, and a shiver going down my spine. He’s going to punish me? That should terrify me enough to run out of this basement screaming, but for some reason, I can’t make myself move.
“W-what are you going to do?” I whisper.
“I was originally thinking something severe,” he grumbles threateningly, then his tone softens. “But after seeing how fucking awful everyone around you is, I kind of understand why you wanted… anything else.”
“I mean, I…I really didn’t think it would work,” I mumble.
“It did. You fucked around and the consequences are here,” he says, gesturing to himself. “Now get your ass over here, because you’re going over my knee. Be grateful you’re not getting something a lot worse than my hand.”
He shifts on the couch, his thick legs coming together to form a lap. He unfolds his arms and pats it, making sure I get the message. That’s where he wants me.
“You’re going to spank me?” I whimper, already standing up, even as I protest. “Please, I’m really sorry. I didn’t…”
I take a step closer, my body obeying though my brain is screaming at me to run.
He doesn’t wait for me to walk any closer.
He reaches out and takes my arm, pulling me down across his muscular thighs.
I can feel the heat through my pajamas, and after he positions me, I feel something hard against my hip.
“Oh god!” I gasp.
“Like your panties aren’t drenched, little girl,” he growls, his hand grabbing the waistband of my pajamas and panties.
“Wait!” I squeal, but they’re around my knees before I have a chance to reach for them.
My face turns red with shame. I try to squirm off his lap, but his heavy hand wraps around my hip, holding me in position until I can barely wiggle. I can feel how wet I am. There’s enough slick between my thighs that I’m sure some of it is already dripping on his pants.
“See? The bond goes both ways,” he snaps, slapping my bare ass with a hand so big it nearly covers my whole butt.
“Ow!” I yell, kicking my feet, but I’m helpless. I throw a hand back to block him, but he catches it and pins it to my lower back.
“I could have just let the frenzy take hold, fucked you until you were dripping with my seed, and rejected you when the need burned out,” he snarls, peppering my ass with hard spanks. “But I don’t want that fucking burden and I think you’ve already got enough of them.”
The smacks keep coming and no amount of thrashing or hollering can stop them.
I can’t keep my thighs closed because my legs are flailing, but my modesty is the least of my concerns.
I’ve got a hard cock throbbing against me and there’s only one place I want it.
I just can’t focus on that because his hand is lighting a fire on my ass.
“I’ll never play with magic again! I didn’t know! I’m sorry!” I wail.
“There was a time when you would have been arrested for even having a book like that in your possession,” he lectures, punishing my sit spots over and over, making me burn while I cry.
“Now, apparently you can keep it long enough to fuck up. You’re lucky your spell wasn’t strong enough for a Witch Hunter to notice.
Then it wouldn’t just be your ass that’s burning. ”
He delivers a few more scorching swats before stopping. My thrashing settles and I just sob softly, feeling a cascade of emotions flooding through me. But the arousal has never been stronger, and after a few seconds, I begin grinding against his length, my core fluttering desperately.
“Pull your pants up,” he growls, nudging me off his lap.
Drowning in a confusing soup of humiliation and desire, I catch myself and stand, grimacing when I pull my panties and pajama bottoms up.
I’ll definitely be feeling that tomorrow, but if that’s my only penance for this monumental fuck-up, then I will not complain.
I’m glad we never got any of those spells to work during our goth phase. We were in way over our heads.
He pulls the burlap bag out of his pocket, along with a lighter. Once the lighter is ignited, he looks at me across the flame. Everything inside me wants to beg him not to light it. To give in to whatever this is.
But the lighter moves to the burlap bag and it sparks into flames. Pungent black smoke rises from it.
“Breathe it in,” he orders sternly.
He leans in and takes some of the smoke into his lungs. I don’t want to, but after this, I won’t care. The arousal will be gone. I’ll be back to normal, and so will he. Whatever normal is for him.
“Okay,” I acquiesce, leaning closer.
Smoke curls my way and I inhale, my head spinning from the fumes. I can’t hold it more than a second. It feels and tastes like death. I cough it out while he blows it out in a steady stream. Apparently, he doesn’t mind the taste of death.
Then my whole being suddenly shatters. It feels like my body goes in every direction at the same time and I begin shaking uncontrollably. He jumps up, concern in his dark gaze.
Lights flash around me, and something inside me that feels ancient breaks open. I collapse, but he catches me before I can hit the ground, his strong arms lifting me, cradling me to his chest. I think his legs give out too because he is suddenly sitting on the couch again with me in his lap.
“Fuck,” he snarls. “I don’t know what the hell that was, but it definitely didn’t break the curse.”
“No,” I cry out, my lips trembling. I want him. Every cell in my body wants him. “It didn’t work at all.”
His lips are on mine in an instant and I moan into his mouth. Something’s different, but I don’t know what it is. I don’t feel sick or exhausted. I feel almost radiant. It’s like every burden is gone, yet I know they’re still there. They just don’t matter.
He is the only thing that matters.