Chapter 9 - Adalyn
Azure Cove was full of small hideaways, places nobody knew about because they didn’t know to look there. The mountains had a hot spring, a tucked-away garden outside one of the patches of woods, a cluster of cottages around an old bonfire pit said to be the birthplace of the Lindell coven itself.
My favorite place wasn’t exactly a hideaway but a specific location I had only heard about in stories—a place I had not wanted to tamper with. But now safety was being questioned; it was the only place I could think of. I directed Zephyr to the Waterfall Trail and thought of how, in summer, everything had been different when we had all sat together following the demon attack in Harper’s cottage. We had coexisted well—he hadn’t hated me or given into that fear of ancient feuds.
“I’m a shifter,” Zephyr said. “What part of that don’t you get? Me and water? We don’t mix. At least not when I’m… Shifted.” He raised his eyebrows when I directed him to park up at the waterfall. The bridge leading to the pool had a dark outline, and the crashing water was almost eerie at night. The air was still, exactly the way I loved it. Like a held breath, waiting for the night’s events to unfold.
“I’m not asking you to swim,” I told him before striding into the pool. “I’m telling you to look .”
I headed towards the tumbling waterfall. Neither of us mentioned the night he had watched me here through the trees.
“I don’t like being here,” he muttered. I wanted to ask him how he thought I felt. I had been having all the strange, disconcerting dreams about him at this very waterfall, only to end up with him here.
I never ignored omens, but I didn’t like this one at all.
“Adalyn, where are you taking me? We’re laying low, not spending a night out to stargaze.”
Still, I ignored him, wading through the pool. It was shallow enough here that only the hem of my dress got a little wet, but I moved closer to the waterfall, staying in the shallower parts of the pool.
The waterfall crashed down, the spray hitting me pleasantly, shaking off the fear of the demon intruding at the party. The water took away my worries, soothed my chaotic energy, and beckoned me home.
Behind the cliffs of the waterfall was a gap—a cave entrance. My grandmother had always told me to seek refuge here if needed.
“Is this a trick?” Zephyr asked, hovering on the outskirts of the pool.
“No,” I told him. “Come on. You asked me where we should go, that’s safe. Well, this is safe.”
He snorted. “Like I’d ever trust you.”
“Fine,” I snapped. “ I am going somewhere safe, then,” I smirked at him. “Have fun telling Alex why you abandoned me.”
He began to swear at me, but I was already slipping behind the waterfall and entering that cavern antechamber to walk through the stone hallway. It smelled like damp and moss, droplets sliding down the cave walls. It was in total darkness, and I could only feel my way with my hands.
You’ll know when you find it , my grandmother told me.
So, I walked and soon heard the scuffle of boots on stone behind me. Zephyr kept his mouth shut and followed me. We walked for a short time, the temperature dropping the deeper into the cliffs we got.
“If this is a trap, Adalyn—”
“It’s not,” I answered. At least, I don’t think it is , I added. But my grandmother would never put me in harm’s way. Eventually, the temperature was no longer frigid but rose again to a pleasant warmth, almost too hot, making a deep, hot flush rise to my cheeks.
“Where are we?” Zephyr murmured. The cave began to widen until we reached a circular archway. Above it were symbols etched into the stone itself. I waved my hand above the archway, and the symbols lit up into a glowing light, as if lit by candles from inside.
“What does it say?” he asked me. “Is this some ancient language or something?”
“Yes,” I lied. “It says hideaway .” A flimsy lie, but it would get us both inside without him arguing. I couldn’t yet tell him where we really were. If I did, he wouldn’t enter with me, and if I ended up alone, deep in the cliff, with only my thoughts and nightmares to keep me company, I would go insane. No matter how much I hated him, Zephyr would at least fill the silences.
Or he could kill you down here, and nobody would know , I thought.
But I couldn’t focus on that. Instead, I gathered myself, and we walked through the archway into another space where a proper door awaited us. I pushed it open, finding a small, homely room. It had been set up for any wanderers, stray witches, or witches purposefully looking for a place of restoration.
“Well,” he whistled. “This is… Neat.” He strode through the door, taking in the double bed to the right. Elegance and muted golden and burnished colors spread throughout the place. To the far left was another archway, sealed shut only with a shimmering shield. Reflective water glimmered through there, and I knew I had the place my grandmother always talked about.
A witch’s sanctuary.
“I’m home,” I whispered. My hand crossed over the doorway we had just entered through, sealing it closed with a spell to keep us safe.
“Home?” Zephyr asked, turning to me, suspicion in his eyes. “Adalyn.” He came towards me, his anger flaring. I raised my hands in surrender. “Adalyn, where the hell have you brought me?”
I backed up, moving far from him. The room wasn’t very tall, but it was wide enough for him to shift if he really wanted to. Candles scattered around the room. I clicked my fingers, willing them all to light. Magic poured from the walls, the place so close to our healing water properties that I finally felt at peace.
Safe .
Except for the shifter in front of me.
“We’re in a sanctuary,” I told him. “A witch’s sanctuary.”
“You tricked me,” he accused. “I told you this was a trick, and you deceived me.”
“I did what I had to do to get us to safety,” I argued.
“Oh my God,” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Adalyn. Adalyn .”
“What?” I cried. “If you wanted to pick the place, then you should have!”
His green eyes flashed. “I’m going to kill you. How dare you bring me here.”
His voice rose to a yell, and I flinched, but instinctively threw my hands up, my palms facing him. Zephyr reeled back as if burnt. Good , I thought. Know that I am more powerful down here than ever.
He backed up a step.
“Just let me back out,” he said, his voice quieter. “That’s all. You can stay here if you want to if you’re safe. I’ll tell Alex we got separated. Just let me go somewhere else.”
His hands twitched, his jaw clenched. He was giving me a chance to let him out so my life would be spared. I laughed.
“You really can’t hold onto honor, Zephyr?” I taunted. “You need to get rid of me that much, you can’t resist killing me?”
The power was going to my head—I needed to stop, needed to not taunt him. We were all alone down there. Fear buried in my veins, and courage won out but it was a foolish sort of bravery.
I could disarm him and protect myself, but he could shift. One swipe of those claws, one gnash of his teeth, and I would be dead.
And yet… There was something about that goaded anger in his eyes that I craved more of.
“It must kill you,” I whispered. “To have to stay here. Forced to find safety in your enemy’s territory.”
“Shut up,” he warned.
“But then again,” I continued, “We did kiss, after all. You kissed me , so maybe you hate that you want me, that you want your enemy more than you want to kill.”
“Adalyn.” His voice was a growl.
“How does that feel, Zephyr?” My eyes met his. His body trembled with holding himself back—with restraining such might and a need to end my life right then and there.
“Traitor,” he spat. “ Bitch .”
“Get some new insults,” I purred.
Zephyr lunged for me. I fired up an invisible wall of protection in front of me, but it wasn’t a wolf who leaped for me. It was still Zephyr, and he was up in my face, his hands slamming either side of my head.
His face ducked until he was inches away. Every hard line of his face, every handsome detail, was painfully close, and I couldn’t help noticing.
“How did it feel?” I asked again. “To know you wanted me more than you wanted to kill me?”
“Watch your mouth,” he warned.
“Or what?”
“You don’t want to cross those lines with me, Adalyn.”
“Maybe I do,” I murmured. “Maybe I want to see what happens when you snap.”
“You saw what happened,” he told me, his voice dropping dangerously low. “And from what I remember, you pleaded for your life.”
I recalled the feeling of his hands on my throat—but, horrifically, it wasn’t fear that rose in me now. It was arousal. A pure, deep pit of arousal that yearned for those fingers on my neck again, all of Zephyr’s intense, burning attention narrowed onto me.
“Are you really so scared to let go?” I asked.
“No, but you should be scared of me unleashing myself onto you.”
I forced myself to smile, to not show fear. Because that was there, but it was getting harder and harder to keep a grip on my fear with every word he said.
“What is it like?” I asked. “Desiring your enemy?”
His gaze roved over my face. He swallowed. “You tell me.”
I laughed. “Is it really so hard for you to say you wanted me, even for just a moment, in that hallway?”
A growl rippled from his throat. “I have no problem accepting what I desire.”
“Really?” I purred. “It doesn’t look that way.”
“Yeah? How does it look, then?”
I stepped closer to him, this man who had wanted to take my life, and drew a long nail down the column of his neck. “It looks like you want me, but hate yourself for it. It looks like the anger and desire twist inside of you, and you don’t know which feeling to follow.” A line of pink followed where my nail dragged. “It looks, Zephyr, like you’re holding yourself back from wrapping those hands around my throat once again.” I cocked my head. “But in what way this time?”
His body pressed into mine, his hands fisting either side of my head. “God, your mouth,” he muttered. His thumb pressed into it, and his eyes closed briefly as if unable to think about the fact that he was touching me at all. The pressure grew heavier. His head tipped back, and I puckered my mouth around his thumb, sucking lightly. Zephyr snarled, more of a groan than anything, and his eyes snapped back to mine.
“Don’t push me to do something you’ll regret later,” he warned.
“I’m not pushing you to do anything,” I whispered. “It’s all you. What do you want, Zephyr?”
He gazed at me for a few long moments. I thought he would walk away, retreat to the other side of the room. But he didn’t. He crowded close, nudging me so I was no longer pressed to the wall but backing up against his advancements. He walked on, pushing me back towards the bed. My legs hit the frame. Zephyr gained on me.
“What do you want?” I asked again, taunting him.
“You,” he said, and then his mouth was on mine.