Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
ARABELLA
“I like your touch,” I admitted, my eyes fluttering shut as I let him continue to press his lips to my skin at a languid, easy pace.
Sure, my skin felt like it was exploding with heat, but the way Amun touched me was like his nickname for me. Like I was precious. His touch was soft and exploring, as if he had never expected to be touching me in the first place.
“What else do you like, Arabella?” His voice grew more accented as his hand moved up my hip to my waist. My breasts tightened as I squirmed against him. I wanted him to touch more of me, but I had a feeling that if I asked, it would give him more reason to tease it out further and torture me.
“With you?” My voice caught. “I am positive we could find more than a few things.”
Amun’s chuckle was soft and dangerous, and in a snap of his fingers, my wrists were tugged above my head with bindings from his magic.
He caged me against the forest floor, my legs spread to either side.
I wouldn’t lie, there was a very large part of me that wanted him to take me just like this, on the ground like an animal…
But I knew he wouldn’t. Somehow I knew that Amun viewed things a bit differently than most nightmares, at least with me. I don’t think he would want to rush it, and that knowledge meant a painful yet pleasurable teasing I was sure to endure.
“Do you like being tied up like this?” he murmured, brushing his nose against mine.
“Unable to move unless I let you? Or…” he drew out, releasing my hands and rolling us so that I was on top of him, making me smile from the exhilarated energy running through me.
“Would you prefer this? I love either fucking view, my little human.”
Despite how hard he was, there was a light playfulness to our interaction, and everything inside of me calmed as I leaned forward and pressed a deep kiss to his lips. The groan that came from his lips was hot as he locked me against him.
Almost instantly, I could feel the pull from his magic, and it was causing me to feel like I had been stabbed with a shot of adrenaline.
My heart began beating loud in my ears, and my skin prickled with awareness.
Despite having a similar type of magic as Saint, they felt very different against my skin.
“Fuck, you are beautiful,” he groaned before nipping my lip and making me moan. “I can hear your pulse; I feel your blood rushing through your veins. I can feel every breath you take, Arabella. I can feel all of you, every single part that you’ve let me into.”
His hand came to my throat, and I felt everything inside of me tighten…
Until a massive roar broke out and shook the barrier free of the jellyfish.
What the hell? The roar sounded again, and Saint’s barrier bubble shrank, nearly throwing me back into the others.
Amun managed to grab me against his chest, the world around us shaking.
A sinking gut instinct told me that this wasn’t good at all.
“It’s her desire, they can scent it.” Saint cursed, “Fuck, I didn’t even consider that. I am dropping the barrier so we can move. Everyone stay on the goddamn path.”
“Where is he?” I demanded, looking around for my wolf.
When had he become my wolf? Better yet, why was there a nagging sensation in my thoughts that told me I was forgetting something in reference to him? I paused momentarily, trying to draw it from my memory, but Cy’s bite still had me feeling a bit dizzy.
Instead of arguing, we hurried down the path as the forest around us grew more chaotic and intense, making my heart rate increase.
“I don’t think it is just her scent!” Damian called out.
“There is something growing, I can feel the power behind it.” Razar’s voice was rough.
When a tree crashed in the way of our path, the wolf darted ahead and suddenly shifted, his massive form making me crane my neck all the way up as he grabbed the large tree and tossed it to the side.
I ran ahead, and he shifted back down to size so he could run next to me.
I could feel my nightmares try to go faster than I could move, and all too soon, Razar literally just lifted me up onto his back.
I closed my eyes because I got a little sick watching the ground disappear so fast underneath me as I held on for dear life.
When the skies cracked above with thunder and rain started to pour down, I buried myself further against Razar’s neck. It wasn’t normal rain. It felt almost like lotion against my skin, but soon it began to burn, and a whimper slipped through my lips as Razar let out a vicious sound.
I couldn’t hear what was going on outside of us, my boys yelling out directions, but I could suddenly feel us going upwards. I jostled as the sound of water crashing in waves around us caused me to look down over Razar’s shoulder.
My mouth opened as I realized that the ground was…flooding. Like, not a little bit. It was turning into a full body of water… And now the name was making way more sense.
Suddenly we landed on a flat surface, and I realized we were up in a giant tree. Razar let me down and urged me forward through a set of doors that were glowing with light. I was trying to remove the burning water off my skin when the door slammed shut.
My eyes went wide as I took in the treehouse we’d stepped into… A gorgeous, perfect treehouse.
From what I could see, it was nearly three floors in height with a winding staircase along the sides and different shelves full of trinkets. The floors were covered in furs, and there was a crackling fireplace that nearly blocked out the sound of the wind and rain.
Our wolf friend shook himself off and came up to me, using his nose to urge me towards the fire. Already the others were squeezing off their clothes, the water splashing onto the floor before disappearing.
“Guys,” I said, scrubbing my hand on my skin, “does the water burn anyone else?”
The wolf came to a hard stop and licked some water off my skin, tilting his head at me in what seemed to be confusion.
“Do you have a bath or something?” Cy was there suddenly, looking over the red welts on my skin, irritated like I had come in contact with a chemical.
The wolf nodded towards the stairs, and Cy literally whisked me away.
I barely saw where we were before I was placed down in a large, beautiful bathroom.
The floors were made of a dark green wood, and the large showerhead seemed like something out of an expensive hotel.
Cy didn’t hesitate to turn on the water and strip me out of my clothes.
I should have been embarrassed, but the concern there had me just watching him with surprise.
I was even more surprised when he joined me in the shower, keeping his clothes on but running soap over every inch of my skin and hair.
I had a feeling he was turned on, but it was clear that his mind was anywhere but there as he made sure all of the harmful water was washed off, and my skin began to buzz with a soothing energy that no longer burned.
When I was finally done, he turned off the shower and wrapped me up in a robe. I was silent through the entire process of him brushing out my hair and then braiding it, his eyes tracking the movement before he pressed a kiss to the mark on my neck before…disappearing. What the heck?
After waiting for a moment, I peeked out of the bathroom and realized it was part of a sizable bedroom suite.
The domed ceiling, lined in large wooden beams, had to be nearly fifteen feet in height.
It was a simple room with a large bed and lots of comfortable rugs.
Once again, there were no windows to hear or see the outside world, so you were left with a cozy, insulated feeling.
There were candles everywhere to make up for the lack of light in the room, and it made me wonder how someone managed to have this many candles in a wooden tree and not start a fire…
Whose place were we at, anyway?
Realization hit me as Saint came to the door, scowling at my wolf friend who had trotted in right before him.
The nightmare offered me a small bump to my leg from his nose before disappearing into a closet.
Saint remained silent, and when the wolf came out, he had clothes between his teeth. Was this…was this his home?
“Do you live here?” I asked. “It’s beautiful.”
The wolf barked happily before disappearing again, leaving me with Saint.
“This is super weird,” I murmured.
“Get dressed, and then we can find something to eat. Apparently these floods are spontaneous and they go up to the tops of the trees, but we are safe here. I have no idea why it doesn’t spill out of the forest, but I am going to leave that for the weird forest nightmares to figure out.
At least it will give us a chance to rest.”
I blinked at his words before frowning. “Do we have my satchel with the files?”
“We kept it safe.” Saint preened proudly before frowning. “Although I didn’t realize we would be here overnight. We have no way to contact your father.”
I nodded. “We will figure it out in the morning.”
Saint stepped out to leave me to change, and despite his words about food, the minute I was dressed in a pair of oversized sweats and a shirt, I crawled onto the soft bed and deflated.
I was tired, but more than that, I loved the texture of the soft sheets under my face.
I found myself completely sinking into them.
Honestly, I couldn’t tell you when I fell asleep, because I hadn’t meant to.
One minute I was appreciating the thread count of a weird treehouse bedroom, and the next I was blinking my eyes open, wrapped up in a pile of blankets and pillows.
When I sat up, though, the room spun slightly and I frowned, feeling weird that I hadn’t had to put my glasses back on. I missed them, honestly.
I liked the idea of seeing better, but I had been wearing them for so long, they were familiar and comfortable.