Chapter 22
MIA
Your bones are my bones. Your blood is my blood. And I will be inside you very soon…
His whispers are light as a feather, soft against my skin.
So faint I almost don’t make out the words.
I have to hold my own breath to focus. But he repeats it.
He coos it into my ear like a lullaby. Though there’s nothing tender or sweet about it.
It’s a promise of pain and carnal deviancy.
The exact kind that stirs a yearning between my legs.
Because we hunt each other tonight. And whoever claims who first will have all the control.
We are deep in these woods, close to the Wishing Tree, but far past the Circle. The Skelker chants low in my ears, his voice humming with need and thirst. It thrums in my veins, in my head, on repeat. It follows me, reverberating through me with each step I take.
The plan is to draw him out, using me as bait, then take him back from the devil. But there’s a chill in my bones that the flames dancing in front of me can’t cure. I haven’t felt this uneasy since I was sleeping on the streets of Raven’s Gate, wondering if I would make it through the night.
But it’s still a celebration. An offering to the Wild Hunt. At least that’s what Aries claims. For a moment, they look happy, unbothered by anything. Bones laughs genuinely with Aries and Draven, even while the weight of what’s to come hangs over us like a dark cloud.
I nestle in between them, laughing at their banter and the stories from their youth.
Around us, dozens of other bonfires blaze.
It would seem that the entire town is out here with us.
Ever Graves takes their pagan holidays very seriously.
All the shops closed early today, so anyone who wanted to partake had plenty of time to get into costume and make it out here before sunset.
I first felt silly trying on dresses. I usually prefer the comfort of my favorite pair of ripped jeans and the black leather jacket that I’ve had since I was nineteen.
I found it in a dumpster behind a dive bar in Raven’s Gate called Angels Trumpet.
That place was great for finding jewelry, drugs, and club clothes.
Anything left behind on a Friday night went straight into the trash.
I can now afford as many leather jackets as I want, but I still prefer the feel of that one. That one I earned. It’s no easy feat to hoist yourself up into a dumpster when you’re only five foot four. And to not get caught at that. The way the bouncers police the perimeter, it was a fucking miracle.
But there’s something to be said for pretty, delicate things too. I’m getting used to the gifts my guys bestow upon me. My cherry-red vintage car from Bones is still my favorite. Though I won’t ever admit that to Aries or Draven. I’m sure they suspect it. They know me well.
And even though we are all way too overdressed for the woods right now, I’m appreciating the fact that it’s for a sacred holiday.
Besides, it’s not like we’re the only ones.
All the other mini camps spread out around us are also full of luxuriously clad Ever Gravians decked out in full head-to-toe, seventeenth-century garb.
I make myself giggle as I doubt that Gravian is an actual word, but it sounds good in my head.
I will not be repeating it out loud, however.
Draven smokes a cigarette, blowing his smoke across the fire as his gaze remains locked on mine. “Penny for your thoughts, Trouble?”
I smile back, the scent of smoke and gin and cedar wood hangs between all of us. It smells like autumn and winter combined, and I’m overcome with a feeling of nostalgia for a time I’ve never had. Like déjà vu or a dream that I swear is real until I wake up.
I shrug sheepishly. “Just taking stock of the night and everything that has led me here.”
Aries bumps my shoulder with his as he plops down beside me. I think he tired Bones out from dancing in circles around him for the last hour. He offers me his flask of gin, a silver beauty embossed with rose gold and his Thorn namesake etched into it in obsidian.
I take a long pull from it and am pleasantly surprised that it’s not straight liquor but mixed with something sweet and tangy. I couldn’t place it if my life depended on it, but I take another pull just to see if I can come up with an educated guess. “Lemon drop?”
Aries winks. “Not quite. It’s called a French 75. You like?”
I nod and lick my lips.
“Finish it. We have more in Draven’s secret stash of desserts and oddities.” He leans back and puffs on a joint. It’s the most relaxed I’ve seen him in a while. Which is strange, considering the circumstances of what we’re supposed to be doing tonight. In fact, they all seem way too calm.
“Care to tell me why I’m the only one who has knots in their stomach? Or are you all just that good at pretending you don’t feel nerves?” I wave the joint away when he offers it, happy with just the sweet cocktail for now.
Aries shrugs. “We like this kind of shit, Mia. You should know that by now.”
“Remember how much fun we had killing that fucker who spiked your drink last year?” Bones chimes in.
Draven presses the joint to my lips, refusing to accept that I won’t get high with them. “Murder, torture, and mind-altering drugs… fucking you raw… all our favorite things, love. Now, suck.”
I chuckle and give in, taking a long drag off the sticky, purple Kush-filled joint. The potent smoke singes my throat, and I cough hard. “Fuck. I forgot rich people have the best drugs.”
Aries pulls me back against him as my head dizzies. He caresses my chest, dipping his fingers demurely into my cleavage. “You see, love, we will always have the best of everything.”
Draven pulls me to my feet, catching me by my elbows as I stagger a bit. “And we will always chase and hunt and embrace the darkness. Now it’s time for you to wander off, little lamb.”
Bones’s eyes darken, his lazy grin gone. “Just stay in our sights, mi amor. We want to lure him out but not lose you in the process.”
Now I know why Draven made me smoke weed. I’m not as terrified as I was earlier. The knots in my belly have eased, and my palms are no longer sweating. I nod and almost burst into laughter as I again remember that I’m wearing a corseted gown and high-heeled boots in the dirt.
Wow. I’m really fucking high actually. “I haven’t heard him in a while… what if he doesn’t come?”
“He’ll come. He’s probably already close by.” Draven looks around, his gaze flitting between the various groups of people.
I shudder as the wind changes direction, blowing colder. It snakes up the back of my neck, prickling my flesh with goose pimples. “Come dance with me first.”
As the weed and alcohol course through my veins, I feel even lighter. The fire of an ancient time provokes me. The sky is pitch-black and full of incense smoke. People sing and dance and chant around us. It’s seductive and dreamy and easy to get caught up in the intoxication of it all.
I twirl around each of them, spinning and swaying my hips back and forth.
I glide my tongue inside each of their mouths, kissing them hard and ravenous.
I savor the taste but wish that Nox was here too.
He would look so fucking hot under the silvery moon with the reflection of firelight flickering in his onyx eyes.
There are drums nearby, beating fast and hard.
They pound in my ears, matching my heart rate.
I feel it in my head all the way down to the soles of my feet.
It’s electrifying. I imagine my ancestor Willa feeling the same way I do as I tip the flask back and drink down the rest of my liquid courage.
Did she stand here in this same spot? Did she resist the devil for as long as she could? Or did she give in right away?
I sway from side to side, sandwiched between the three of them as they grind against me. Their hands roam my body—caressing my breasts, squeezing my ass, fondling the backs of my thighs through the folds of my dress. I throw my head back against Aries’s hard chest and surrender to the frenzy.
You belong to the Wishing Tree, and the Wishing Tree belongs to me.
He calls to me, the devil’s siren, beckoning me from between the trees. His voice crackles like branches swinging in this unforgiving wind. My heart skips. It races. I moan into Bones’s mouth, opening up to him like a flower. He explores with his tongue, ravenous.
“He’s close,” I murmur.
Draven twists me away from Aries and pulls me flush against him. “I changed my mind. I’m taking you home so we can ravage you instead.”
Invisible threads tighten around my neck. You can’t escape me, dark one. Don’t make me rip you out from under their sleeping limbs.
I push Draven back and spin away from all three of them. “No. He can get to me anywhere. Tonight, I go to him. It gives me the control.”
Bones purses his lips, the vein in his neck bulging. “She’s right. You two didn’t see what he did to her that night I found her at the garage…” He nods his head toward the trees. “Go. Find him, then.”
Aries throws up his hands in protest. “Even more reason to lock her in my apothecary. He’s fully out from behind the veil now. But that motherfucker can’t walk through walls.”
Bones snarls, baring his teeth. “Careful, Ries. Don’t be saying motherfucker in the same sentence about my brother.”
“You’re right. Sorry. Forgot the connection for a second.” Aries shrinks back, not something he does often. But when it comes to Bones, he will put his ego aside if it spares his feelings.
Draven wraps his hand around my already-constricted throat. “This is too dangerous.”
I clasp his fingers in mine. “No. He won’t hurt me. I mean… not like that.”
Draven’s nostrils flare. “Maybe not, but the devil enjoys making your bloodline suffer.”
“Which is why I have to go to him on my own. The same way Willa Harker did. I have to fix what she broke. You have to let me go, Slick.” I bite my lip and choke back my tears before they fall.
Aries and Bones each rest a hand on his shoulders. And he lets go. “Don’t you dare fucking die on me, Trouble. You’re not allowed to.”
I smile and place a gentle peck against his trembling lips. “I promise.”
He nods and pulls me in for a last embrace. “Check your dress when you’re out of Bones’s sight. I left you something to help you if you need it.”
I do my best to stifle a gasp. My dress has pockets. Fuck, yeah. I’m so excited I almost forget about my potential impending doom. It’s the little things that can make a girl happy.
I give each of them a nod before I spin on my heel and stalk toward the tree line where the marsh is the thickest. A familiar path. Back to the Wishing Tree…
Armed with nothing but a gin-filled flask and pockets full of poison, I follow the sound of his voice. He hums low, an ancient chant. A sacred calling that thrums through my blood in remembrance.
The connection strengthens as I cross through the Circle, remembering Bones’s fight that I watched here.
The sweat and blood and adrenaline energized the space like spell work.
It was the first night I realized how badly I wanted each of them.
That was also the night that they chased me through the woods and defiled me.
As I near the Wishing Tree, I remember Aries’s warning to me that night. Don’t get lost in the woods again, little lamb. We’re not the only wolves out here…
I, of course, thought they were the most dangerous things I’d ever encounter.
Even after knowing Nox. But there’s far deadlier things that lurk in these woods.
Of course, it had to be my bloodline that pissed off the devil.
That pretty much tracks for my life. I roll my eyes, annoyed with myself and my family’s shitty luck.
“Hello, dark one.”
My breath hitches when I hear his voice.
Fuck.
That was definitely not in my head.
I turn around slowly. His eyes glow like embers, peering out from behind the deer skull, like two fireflies.
He wears a pair of low-slung leather pants over his perfect fucking abs.
No shirt, just a hooded brown cloak around his shoulders, tied to his neck with a blue satin ribbon.
Like the ribbon I found in the cabin in the woods.
“It’s… you,” I murmur.
His brown skin is so smooth. So fucking pretty to look at it. He’s carved like a bronze statue. Like a god. I swallow hard as he stalks forward until we are inches apart. He towers over me, at least six foot four. And that’s before the antlers, which extend up another four inches above his head.
“Are you afraid?” he asks, his tone taunting.
For the first time, I’m seeing him without a cloudy haze blurring my vision.
I notice that his hair is black and shiny like obsidian.
It’s thick and wavy, similar to their other brother, Felix.
I don’t know why I never noticed it before.
Although, most of my encounters with him have been mostly in my head.
He only shows me what he wants me to see, revealing pieces of himself as he sees fit. Always in control.
“Y-yes,” I stammer. I’m afraid of what I’m going to let you do to me. I shove my hands into my pockets—a reflex. An act of contrition. I want to hide so that his gaze can’t feast upon the parts of me that ache to touch him.
“Then we are off to a good start. You have wasted precious time with your silly bonfire and your false gods.” He pulls the cloak up over his antlers, hiding his shiny black locks from me again.
“Now you will know what it truly means to join the Wild Hunt. To be a part of something old and sacred. And then I will see if you’re truly worthy of your blood. ”
My stomach knots. The look in his eyes is feral, hungry. I take a few hurried steps back. Every cell in my body prickles in alarm. “Wait. I don’t understand. What are you going to do?”
His lips curl into a smirk. “I’m going to hunt.”
My knees wobble as I take another step back.
Fuck.
I glance around, confused. “What… What do you want me to do?”
He snarls, baring his teeth. “Run.”