5. Bram
5
brAM
Panting, I stare at the canopy of leaves over my head as my back aches from hitting a stone large enough to be called a rock.
“Are you going to give in yet?” she asks.
“Are you going to tell me who is kicking my arse first?” I rasp, getting to my feet in one fluid motion.
She smiles, slowly and seductively, and lashes out. Her power hits my chest, and again, I find myself flying backwards, this time to hit a tree and slide down it as my lungs struggle to catch up.
She strides over, lifting her long, flowing black dress up and sits on my lap. She grinds down on my cock, rotating her hips. Her hands go into my hair, and she tugs viciously. “Give me back my power, you fucking arrogant dick.”
I grab her wrists, snarling as I try to push her off me. “I don’t have your fucking power, you psychotic bitch.”
She laughs, the sound like broken glass in a blender. “Oh, but you do. I can feel it thrumming under your skin.” Her nails dig into my scalp as she brushes her lips over my temple. “Give it back, and I won’t eat you alive.”
“Even if I did have it, I wouldn’t know how to give it back,” I growl. “Now get the fuck off me before I make you.”
Her eyes flash dangerously. “You think you can take me, little fae? I am Morrigan, the goddess of war, death, and fate. Even with my stolen magick, you are no match for me.”
Well, shit. No wonder she’s kicking my arse. I curse my parents to the ends of the realms and back. That book they gave me, clearly wasn’t just any old fucking book. I summon that power, but it feels different - wilder, harder to control, like it wants to get back to its mistress.
Morrigan’s grip tightens painfully. “Last chance. Give me what’s mine, or I’ll rip it from your corpse.”
“I told you, I don’t know how!” I snarl, bucking my hips to try to throw her off.
She hisses in frustration, her power flaring around us. I feel it probing at me, searching for something. Suddenly, her eyes widen.
“You really don’t know, do you?” she murmurs. “Interesting.”
Before I can respond, she crushes her mouth to mine in a bruising kiss. I struggle like fuck to get away from her, but she is too strong.
“Oh, you fucking cocksucker,” Tate’s voice rings out beside me.
His snarl is enraged as my gaze shoots up to his even while I’m being half-mauled to death by a kiss.
“Gereroffme,” I mumble.
He frowns as he can see, thank fuck, that I’m not in this position willingly. He reaches for Morrigan, but she holds out her hand, stopping him in his tracks, and continues to suck the life out of me. I squirm underneath her, but she clamps her thighs, keeping me still. I close my eyes, knowing she is trying to drain all the magick out of me, mine, hers and whoever else’s might be lurking. I feel the magick coalesce inside my guts, and I brace myself. The snake awakes, coiling in my belly, and it launches up my throat and into her mouth.
Horrified, she scoots back, and I breathe a sigh of relief. Tate is released from her magick and slams her back to the ground with his crackling black magick.
She hisses and glares up at him as the snake rears up, moving slowly from side to side like a cobra ready to strike. Then, in a bizarre turn of events, Morrigan stands down. She keeps her stare on Tate, but he doesn’t let up the hold he has on her.
“You are messing with magick you have no business containing, warlock,” she says.
Scrambling to my feet, I glare down at her. “And you had better keep your fucking hands and tongue to yourself in future.”
She smirks. “Nice serpent, wildling. But this isn’t over. You won’t keep my magick. You are not equipped to deal with such power.”
“Doing okay so far.”
“What did you mean about me?” Tate interrupts.
She flicks her green-eyed gaze back to him. “I didn’t know it was possible. I’ve never seen it before, but you, warlock, have managed to draw on your entire line of magick.”
Tate’s eyes narrow. “What do you mean, my entire line?”
Morrigan smirks. “Every warlock in your bloodline from the past. You’ve somehow tapped into all of their power simultaneously. It’s unprecedented.”
I glance at Tate, seeing the shock on his face. “Is that even possible?”
“Apparently so,” Morrigan purrs. “Though I’ve no idea how he’s managed it. Care to share your secret, little warlock?”
Tate shakes his head. “I didn’t do anything. It must have happened when we reversed time.”
Her eyes gleam with interest. “Ah, so you’re the ones responsible for this delightful chaos. How fascinating.”
“Fascinating isn’t the word I’d use,” I growl. “Now, what the fuck do we do about this mess?”
Morrigan laughs. “Do? Oh, darling. There’s nothing to be done. You’ve unleashed forces beyond your comprehension. The only thing to do now is survive the fallout.”
“Not good enough,” Tate snaps. “There has to be a way to fix this.”
“What exactly are you after?” I growl, ignoring Tate’s desperation.
Morrigan’s gaze bores into mine, hungry and predatory. “I want what’s mine, wildling. The power you stole. But it seems you’ve bonded with it in ways I didn’t anticipate. This complicates things.”
“Yeah, well, tough shit,” I snarl. “Find another way to get your jollies.”
She laughs again. “Oh, I do like you. Such fire. But make no mistake - I will have my power back. One way or another.”
“The snake is yours?” Tate asks, giving the serpent the evil side-eye.
“It is. Or was. It is his now,” she hisses. “You and I are closer than either one of us expected.”
“Fuck you,” I snarl. “We are not close at all.”
She smirks and pushes Tate’s power away from her to rise from prone to standing as only a goddess can. She brushes off her dress. “We are intimate, dear wildling. You hold my power in your soul. It’s more intense than if we fucked under the full moon. Don’t you feel it?”
Before I can do any kind of soul-searching, purple magick blasts through the trees and hits Morrigan in the side. She is knocked off her feet, stumbling into a tree a few feet away. “If you even mention fucking my man again in any capacity, I will rip your hair out one by one, followed by your eyes and then your heart which I will burn. Are we clear, bitch?” Ivy moves into the forest with Torin by her side, looking vengeful and beautiful.
Morrigan straightens, eyes flashing dangerously as she faces Ivy. “Well, well. Jealousy in the form of Death. How delightful.”
“Back off,” Ivy snarls. “I’ve already dealt with one ancient bitch today. Don’t make me add you to the list.”
Morrigan laughs. “Oh, sweetness. You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
“Actually, I do,” Ivy retorts. “Morrigan, goddess of war and fate. And right now, you’re seriously pissing me off.”
“You forgot death,” Morrigan says, eyes narrowed.
“No, you forgot I am Death. Do you really want to find out what I’m capable of?”
Morrigan smiles sinisterly. I coil my magick, ready to protect Ivy from Morrigan’s attack, when the snake slithers over to Ivy and wraps its body around her leg before curling all the way up her body.
Morrigan lets out a noise that could shatter your soul if you were human and less than morally corrupt. “You dare take my power, little girl. I will eat you alive.”
“I’m not taking anything. It must like me more than you,” Ivy says with a slow smile. “But Bram? Be a love and take it back now?”
“No fucking chance,” I growl. I can’t. I simply cannot do this snake thing again.
Ivy shoots me a stare that withers the trees around us. They moan as Death is here and sucking the life out of all living things.
Except us.
“So you want her to keep trying to fuck her magick out of you? Is that it?”
“Don’t be fucking ridiculous,” I growl. “And don’t you ever insinuate anything like that ever again. Do you hear me?”
“Ooh, lover’s spat. How cute. Hand my magick over and it’s all done with.”
“No,” I grit out, dragging my gaze from Ivy’s. “I don’t know where you came from, but that power was not yours. At least, when I used it, it wasn’t yours. It wasn’t anyone’s. It was in a grimoire?—”
“My grimoire,” Morrigan cuts me off.
“Of course it was,” Tate mutters.
“Where is it?” Her green eyes fix on Tate, and he clears his throat, moving back a few steps.
“Don’t ask me. Nothing to do with me.”
Her gaze flicks back to me, and she glares at Tate for being a dick. Looks like I’m on my own here, but I know for a fact that I’m not giving up this magick. Not when I know we are going to need it to fix whatever the fuck mess we made in the first place.