Chapter Twenty-Two Wilde
The Next Morning
Somewhere Soft and Comfortable
Not Ready to Wake Up
I snuggled deeper into the warm bed. Someone probably needed me—the minions, Delilah, Treasure—but it was so easy to drift back to sleep with the heart under my cheek beating a steady, natural lullaby.
Why can I hear someone’s heartbeat?
My eyes sprang open. Sunlight illuminated the room with a soft orange glow. The first thing I saw was my hand, pale against the deep purple of someone’s jacket. The blanket had been pulled up around us, tucked in on the sides, leaving only that hand exposed.
“I’ll warn you now,” said a deep, sleep rough voice, “if you panic and try to teleport away, we’re handcuffed together, so you’ll take me with you and wear yourself out in the process. Again.”
Slowly, I tilted my head up to look at Trey. He kept his eyes closed, refusing to greet the day. From this close, I could count his freckles and his delicate red-gold eyelashes.
Our joined hands hung above his head, resting on the pillow. A metal band circled each of our wrists and a chain clanked gently between them. I instinctively yanked my hand back.
Trey grunted as his arm was dragged forward. He finally opened his eyes, glaring at me in annoyance. “Stop that.”
Then he wrapped his manacled arm around my waist, trapping my hand behind my back, and pressed me closer to his chest. “The sun’s barely risen and you’re already causing problems.”
I’m causing problems?! You’re the one who handcuffed me while I slept. “Release me,” I ordered.
A small shiver went through him and his eyes darkened. Then he spoke two words that could ruin or save me. “Make me.”
I wanted to steal those words with my tongue.
Before I thought better of it, I’d already pressed my lips against his.
The kiss surprised him, but instead of releasing me like I’d demanded, he tightened his hold.
I no longer cared. He still tasted the same: hot, sweet, and defiant.
I’d barely been in control for two seconds before his tongue plunged into my mouth and devoured me in turn.
Treasure flipped us over to put himself on top. He dragged our joined hands to the headboard while his other hand slipped under my shirt. There was still too much space between us. I arched my back, wanting to feel all of him. Something hot and hard twitched near my thigh and I rubbed against it.
A low, heady groan poured into my mouth. He withdrew his tongue and before I could chase it, he asked, “Fuck, is this your idea of a first kiss?”
My heart plunged into a pit of cold reality. He didn’t remember. Of course he didn’t remember, because I’d made him forget. This wasn’t the Treasure I’d taken to bed. This wasn’t the same Treasure who challenged every one of my orders and said things like ‘make me’ as a prelude to ‘fuck me.’
This couldn’t happen now. Everything was out of order. We hadn’t even argued with each other, but I was kissing him, when he didn’t know me! I had to start over. Reset. Make sure the relationship progressed naturally, slowly, this time—
“Handcuffs,” he reminded me, raising our arms and jangling the chain. “Anywhere you go, I come with you.”
I shifted my gaze to the cuffs, searching for a keyhole. Instead, I found a magical glyph. “What’s the command word?”
“Hmm, let me think.” Trey cocked his head to the side, pretending to consider. “Fuck you?”
There was a small space between the cuff and my wrist. I dug the fingers of my other hand under it, hoping to loosen the metal somehow.
“Stop! You’re just hurting yourself.” Trey grabbed my free wrist and then sat up, pulling me with him. He twisted my cuffed wrist so he could examine it in the natural light. “See? You’ve already scratched yourself.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t keep looking at him like this—red hair mussed from sleep, lips glossy and pink from our kiss, but also exasperated and very much done with my shit. “Let me go.”
“Why? So you can teleport again? This is for your own good, Wilde. You wasted too much energy and knocked yourself out.”
“I didn’t teleport,” I whispered. I’d promised him I wouldn’t.
He was quiet for a moment, then conceded, “Whatever magic you used still exhausted you. I’m staying attached to you until you don’t look like a dead man walking.”
I opened my eyes and stared down at the bed, keeping my gaze away from him. “That’s not practical. What if one of us needs the bathroom?”
“Well, I felt your dick against me, so I’m pretty sure you’ve seen one before, and can handle it for the short time it takes me to piss. Otherwise, you can avert your eyes, and I’ll do the same.”
Heat suffused my cheeks, and my free hand curled into the sheets. “What if we’re attacked by monsters and have to run away?”
“Then we’ll run away together.”
He said it so easily. Like I wouldn’t slow him down at all.
Part of me—most of me—wanted to remain bound like this forever.
I could never lose him if he was always a short chain length away.
The rest of me knew that if we wanted to survive this quest all the champions were determined to complete, he’d need to have both his hands free.
Trey was the fighter; I was just the mage who offered support.
The only way to be free of him would be to discover the command word controlling the cuffs.
“I need something to eat,” I said, glancing up at him through my lashes.
He grinned. “Now that request I am happy to grant.”
Eating was a challenge with our hands tied together. Trey had attached his right hand to my left, essentially putting his dominant hand out of commission. He sat at the counter, free hand holding up his chin, grinning like an imp watching an argument. “Guess you’ll have to feed me.”
I shoved an apple into his mouth.
Juice dribbled down his chin as he bit it. He did nothing to stop the trickle, allowing it to create a glistening trail down his throat. My tongue ached to lick it off and I had to clamp down hard on it to resist the urge.
One of the bedroom doors opened with a bang. “Good morning!”
I dropped the apple. It tumbled over the side of the table straight into my lap. When I tried to catch it, I accidentally shifted my legs, and it fell to the floor. The cheeky little fruit rolled all the way across the room, only stopping when it collided with Kit’s boot.
Kit’s head shifted back and forth as they looked between Trey and me. “Have I interrupted something?” Then their eyes fell to the cuffs connecting us. “Does your dad know you stole those?”
So Rick was the owner of the handcuffs. Since he’d made Delilah’s collar, he’d probably designed the magical cuffs as well. Which meant he would know the command word.
“He’ll figure it out,” Trey said, reaching around me to grab a grape from a cluster. He popped it into his mouth, rolling his tongue around the fruit teasingly, then winked at me. “Bit hard to miss.”
Kit held up their hands. “I don’t need any details. Is Delilah awake?”
As they asked the question, the last bedroom door opened. Delilah’s jaw stretched into a wide yawn as she shuffled out of the room. As soon as it settled back into place, she mumbled, “Did someone say my name?”
Kit greeted their daughter with a hug, a kiss on the head, and some whispered words I couldn’t hear.
Delilah peeked over their parent’s shoulder, her eyes sparkling with delight.
She squeezed Kit affectionately once, then skipped over to us.
“Wilde, I’m pleased to inform you that my uncle will be making me a new collar.
” She leaned forward and cupped her hand around her mouth as she whispered, “Which means you can start improving it.”
Dammit, I’d completely forgotten about my end of the bargain. I nodded curtly, though I still had no idea how to turn her into a cat.
Trey narrowed his eyes at his cousin. “We’re supposed to prevent him from using magic, not come up with new projects.”
“He doesn’t have to do it now. I can wait until he’s better. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to check on Uncle Rick’s progress.” She dropped into a quick, mocking curtsey, then scampered out of the room.
Trey watched her, lips pressed into a grim line. He glanced back at me and said, “Don’t let her pressure you into performing magic.”
I ignored him and focused on eating. There was no point in making promises I didn’t intend to keep.
“Last to arrive again, I see,” Fitz called as we entered his sitting room.
When he spotted the magical cuffs, emotions flickered over his face one after another, contorting the lines into shock, hurt, and finally, resignation.
He adjusted his glasses, using the motion to hide his face for a moment, and muttered into his arm, “Well, that’s, hmm. ”
“Wilde is like a little rabbit,” Delilah explained. “Likely to run when the big scary wolves start howling.”
I glared at her, but she didn’t even notice, her gaze locked on someone else. I looked in the same direction and tensed, exactly like the frightened animal she’d compared me to.
Maximus stared intently at the magical cuffs, like he could pick their lock with only his hazel eyes.
Maybe he could. Some people could break wards with a simple touch.
What would he do if he successfully tore me away from Treasure?
Drag me off into another dark alley to finish what he’d started?
Did I even have the strength to reset time again if he tried?
My bones felt heavy, my muscles tired and swollen, everything weighing me down.
Trey’s hand captured mine, intertwining our fingers so that even if the shackles snapped open, he’d hold on to me. He leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “You’re not a rabbit who runs from the wolves. You’re the mage who fights them.”
No, I was the mage who had spent a year laying wards around the evil lair to keep them out. And had he already forgotten he’d told me to stop wasting magic?