Chapter 26
Taryn
I never thought I’d see my grandmother’s house again, much less this old cave.
It’s hard to remember why I used to hide from the world here.
My grandmother’s house is the most amazing place I can remember, but you never truly recognize how amazing something is when you’re living in that moment.
Well, except for this one. I certainly recognize how amazing these moments with Victor are.
He bought my grandmother’s house over the course of a few minutes. Saul helped, but Victor still made that happen. Now I’ve got the keys in my pocket, and I can go there anytime I want. My old home is now mine. The realization causes my chest to squeeze.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised my uncle unloaded the house, memories and all.
He didn’t even take his own pictures down from the wall.
Didn’t he want any of his mom? I don’t have many of mine, but I didn’t throw them away.
I just keep them in the box with everything else from my past that always hurts when I look at it.
All of that pain and misery because our bloodline was fate-blocked.
It feels like a curse, even if it wasn’t truly meant to be one.
My grandmother never found her mate and died in her house with a granddaughter who never truly appreciated her until she was gone.
My mother… who knows? She never found whatever it was she needed to make her strong enough to come back for me.
My future hadn’t look very promising, either. Not until Victor showed up. Now it’s filled with unimaginable craziness, including seven rituals I am expected to perform. Me! And the first one is eternal sunshine. I guess it can’t get any brighter than that.
“Okay, I sent Ingrid our location so she can monitor the area,” Victor’s voice echoes in the enclosed space as he returns to the cavern.
“Then we can get started,” I say, positioning a metal bowl in front of me and spreading out our supplies. Taking a deep breath and glancing up to meet Victor’s gaze for a moment, I open the druid book to the first ritual and begin placing the ingredients in it.
“I’ll light the fire,” he says, moving closer and kneeling. “Use the razor to cut your finger but be careful. Don’t cut yourself too deep.”
“I won’t. I’ve done this before, remember?” I answer, smiling faintly.
This cavern holds a few memories. We found it when we were way too young to be exploring caves and kept it a secret after that. We’d just tell my grandmother we were playing in the woods, which was true; we just left out the part about the cavern.
Victor uses a lighter to set the ingredients on fire and once they’re smoldering, I carefully slice my finger and wait for a drop of blood.
When it finally drips and hits the fire, there’s an explosion of light all around us.
We both have to shield our eyes, but it quickly settles into a soft, faint glow that lingers in the cavern.
“No giant fireballs, that’s good,” I heave a sigh of relief, swallowing hard.
“Just sunlight,” Victor hums, moving his hand through the beams. “Hopefully the rest of the rituals are this simple.”
“The next ritual will be water,” I respond, flipping the page of the magical book. “You sent a list of the ingredients already, right?”
“Yeah, I sent all of them,” his deep voice rumbles in my chest. “It’ll be a few days, but then we have to find something to turn into water.”
“It says that Mother Nature performed the miracle when she created the oceans from tar that surrounded a barren wasteland,” I say, closing the book. I laugh and look at him. “Know any place like that?”
“No,” he says. “But we’ll have a few days to figure it out.”
I thought I might feel different after completing the ritual, but everything still seems to be the same. I just feel radiant. I’m starting to wonder if feeling that way after a bath might be somehow tied to being a druid. I certainly don’t mind it, if that’s the case.
And if we have a few days, that means we get to go back to the penthouse. As much as I’d like to wallow in a few old memories, I’ll come back to my grandmother’s house later. It’s been sitting there this long, so it’s not going anywhere, especially now that Victor bought it.
“Alright, I think that’s everything,” I sigh, closing the backpack. “I kind of feel bad leaving all this trash, though. We weren’t very nice to nature when we were younger.”
“Well, we’re bringing Mother Nature back to life. I think she can forgive some littering.”
Still, I gather up as much of our old trash as I can hold in the hammock I make of my shirt and fold the hem up to contain it.
I use my phone as a flashlight to guide us out of the cave.
Once we’re outside, Victor undresses and shifts.
I feel another twinge of arousal between my thighs.
I had that reaction the first time I saw his wolf, after I got over a tiny bit of shock.
I’ve known he’s a wolf but seeing it is a little different.
I climb on his back, and he carries me through the forest like I’m riding the wind instead of a massive wolf.
But that’s what my clit is throbbing against. Fur, raw power, and a growl that vibrates me in a way that just makes me wetter.
I’m a bit flustered when we finally make it to the end of the trail and I have to get off his back.
When Victor shifts, the half-grin on his face tells me he can smell what his wolf stirred up in my core. What can I say? My mate is a sexy beast!
“Yeah, I know. You’ve got my scent,” I sigh, not looking away while he dresses, which only makes me more aroused. “I can’t help it.”
“Just means you’ve recovered enough from the frenzy for me to claim you again,” he growls, his dark gaze lingering. “Maybe tonight, you can model some panties for me.”
“That didn’t go so well last time,” I laugh.
“I doubt it’ll be that bad now,” he grins. “But if it is, then it’ll be a short fashion show.”
“We’ll see how it goes,” I say, taking his hand as we walk back toward my grandmother’s house.
I’m curious and a little nervous to find out how sex will be without the mating bond or the frenzy turning my brain to mush and my body into a constant puddle of arousal.
I’m also curious and a little nervous to find out how Victor normally is in the bedroom.
I hope I don’t need my safe words to protect me from a hungry wolf tonight.
When we get back to the house, he takes the keys and sends me to the Land Rover so he can make sure everything is locked up. When he returns, he puts something in the back of the Land Rover, but I can’t see what it is.
“What was that?” I ask when he opens the door.
“Something for later,” he says, getting in and slamming his door.
“Something from my grandmother’s house?” I ask, raising a brow.
“You’ll see. It’s a surprise,” he chuckles, starting the engine.
I decide not to keep grilling him and instead work on convincing him to stop for lunch at a local restaurant I used to go to with my grandmother. It doesn’t take much convincing, but when we get there, I realize it’s kind of a dive. It seemed more upscale in my memories.
Despite the appearance, the food is as good as I remember.
Victor seems to enjoy it, too. After lunch, we make the drive back to the penthouse.
It’s strange knowing that I can not only return to my grandmother’s house anytime I want but also drive myself there.
In my Land Rover. Whose life am I suddenly living?
The spark in my chest for the man who made that happen is becoming more than a fondness.
I can’t deny that. He’s changed my life for the better in every way imaginable.
I even have a purpose now—an important one.
I’ve completed one ritual, and there are six more to go before my role in reincarnating Mother Nature is complete. Holy shit!
“Are you going to take a bath when we get back?” Victor asks, looking over at me as he pulls into the hotel parking lot.
“Probably,” I groan, stretching my arms and shoulders, which is easy to do in this luxurious vehicle. “Why?”
“You can go on up,” he says, reaching into his pocket and handing me a keycard. “I have a surprise for you, remember?”
“Oh, I don’t even get to see it?” I ask.
“You will. But not yet,” he replies.
He parks the Land Rover and we get out. Holding the keycard to my chest, I head into the hotel.
It’s the first time I’ve walked through here alone.
I actually look like I belong here now. Well, maybe only because I’m holding the keycard like it’s armor.
My clothes are a little dirty from our excursion. Expensive, but dirty.
I start a bath as soon as I get to the suite.
I’m soaking in the scented water when Victor returns a while later.
I’m not sure what he has planned for me.
I’m a little nervous, but in a good way.
A little scared, but the kind of scared where you can’t be terrified because you know you’re safe.
I trust Victor, so I believe he’ll take care of me.
Hopefully this won’t be as intense as the frenzy.
After I soak long enough to feel rejuvenated and radiant, I get out of the tub and dry off.
I’m not going to question it. Druid power?
The sudden miracle of luxury? I don’t know, but I like it.
Almost as much as I like the sight of Victor sitting on the bed in his boxers when I step out of the bathroom in a towel.
“Is this my surprise? You in your boxers?” I ask coyly, biting my bottom lip. “If it is, I like it.”
“No, this is your surprise,” he says, picking up something beside him. I realize it’s a switch when he holds it up, then lays it across his lap. “I saw a few good switches when I went back to lock up your grandmother’s house.”
“Uh, that’s not the kind of surprise I was expecting,” I squeak, my ass clenching nervously.
“You mentioned running off to that cave to avoid the switch a few times, so it sounded to me like you were overdue,” he chuckles, grinning as he stands up, his boxers tented with an erection.
“That’s going to hurt,” I complain, but I feel a flutter in my core and some arousal between my legs. “And the frenzy is over, so I’ll have marks.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have been such a naughty girl,” he says, winking at me and tapping the switch against his palm. He then points it at the bed. “Lose the towel and bend over.”
I whine a little, but I let the towel hit the floor. He groans when he sees my naked body, and I hope that means he won’t be able to resist me very long, because that means fewer marks from the switch. I sidle to the bed and bend over, raising my ass like a good girl instead of a naughty one.
“Damn, you’re so fucking gorgeous,” he growls, tapping my ass with the switch a few times before it whistles through the air and lands with a deceptive little thwip.
“Ahhh, owwww!” I squeal, dancing on my toes a couple of seconds before sinking back down to the floor. The switch lands again immediately, which causes me to cry out. “Ouch!”
But despite the pain and the two lines that feel like streaks of fire across my rear end, I’m getting wetter. I don’t even have to ask if he notices. It’s the one thing he never misses. The scent of my arousal when I’m practically dying to be touched, tasted, or fucked.
“I bet you were hiding from chores in that cave. Hiding from homework,” he teases playfully, lashing the switch across my ass a few times.
“Ah! Yeah, sometimes,” I whine, twisting my hips, squeezing the quilt between my fingers.
“And smoking cigarettes, too, it looked like,” he says, delivering a few more fiery lashes.
“Ow-fuck-ow, yes!” I cry out. “That was mostly Madison.”
“My mate has a dirty mouth now that frenzy has had a turn with her,” he says, some amusement in his voice. “I won’t punish you for that, because I like it.”
“I always had a dirty mouth,” I mutter. “I just usually don’t go around dropping f-bombs like confetti.”
“Let’s see if I can get you to drop a few more,” he rumbles, tapping the switch against my ass. “One for every trickle of you down your thigh that’s already driving me crazy.”
He raises the switch and brings it down, again and again without pausing. I was grateful for the pauses. I was hoping this wasn’t going to be one of those kinds of switchings. I fist the blanket harder, grit my teeth, and squeal as the thin streaks of fire are seared across my ass.
I can’t keep my feet on the floor. They’re kicking wildly.
My hips are moving. I’m chanting fuck, fuck, fuck like it’s my new mantra.
None of that keeps Victor from swinging the switch.
I come close to yelling yellow when the tears blur my vision, but then I realize it’s over.
The fire is still burning, but he’s no longer spanking me.
I blink away my tears, but before I can look back, his hand is around my throat.
His other hand grabs my hip and moves me up on the bed.
I feel the blunt head of his cock against my entrance and gasp when he pushes in.
There’s an aching burn when he stretches me that’s different from before, but it still feels incredible.
“Fuck, fuck, fuuuuuck, yesssss,” I moan.
“I said I like it. It doesn’t have to become your favorite word,” he growls, driving inside me until he’s buried to his balls.
“I just need you that fucking bad,” I groan, pushing back against him as he starts to thrust.
“Yes, you do,” he snarls, thrusting into me harder.
It’s not as easy or painless as the frenzy, but the roughness is exactly what I need. His hand around my neck, squeezing my throat. His hard cock deep inside me, hitting my g-spot perfectly every time his hips slap against my whipped ass.
I may have bruises tomorrow, but I don’t care. I hope I have a few marks, just to remind me of it. It’s fucking incredible. It’s fucking everything. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Maybe it will become my favorite word.
Maybe I don’t have to be so fucking good all the time. I’m allowed to be… naughty. I’m a druid, after all.
I do rituals in caves and my mate is a wolf shifter. Fuck.