Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
brEXLEY
“I told you not to put that in your mouth.”
Chirp!
“It might be feral!” Voices stirred me from a deep sleep. still too weak to move, I nestled back in the solid warmth wrapped around me, trying to ignore them. “You could get rabies! Gangrene. Foot-n-mouth disease!”
Chirp! Chirp!
“I’m sure plenty of dirty feet have been on that, and now you’re putting it in your mouth.” Opie’s pitch fluttered my lids, causing a disgruntled groan from my mouth. I dug my head into Warwick’s arm, trying to block out reality, my eyes burning from exhaustion.
We probably got an hour of sleep, and that was because I actually passed out. Warwick was not even close to being done punishing me, spending all night going between tortuous and slow to hard and brutal . . . and every second, I begged for more.
Especially when his shadow joined in.
Fuck. What he did to my body last night.
I could hardly move, though I felt like I could run across the country with the magic pumping in my veins.
There probably wasn’t a town in a fifty-mile radius that didn’t feel the ground shudder every time we climaxed.
The ghosts hissed in my ears, lightning zapping overhead, rumbling the earth.
Every time he thrust inside me, our bond latched on tighter, twining and knotting to the point I couldn’t tell them apart much at the end. He felt as solid when I rode his face at the same time he fucked me from behind.
I stirred against him, feeling the need for him to enter me again, leaving me gasping and panting.
“Master Fishy, you’re awake.” Opie trotted up my arm.
I frowned. Well, that kind of killed the mood.
Though deep down, I smiled with glee. I had missed this so much.
Walking up to them. I didn’t realize how much they were part of me until I didn’t have them.
“We were getting really bored waiting . . . it seemed like forever.”
Bored. Nothing good ever came of them being bored. My head jerked up, my eyes opening to see what damage they did.
Opie was only inches from my face, a beaming smile taking over his normally grumpy features. “Fishy!” he sang out. “Do you like it?” He stepped back, twirling his latest outfit, full of bobbles and tassels.
Oh fuck.
I recognized Zelda’s costume material instantly.
Cut into a turban headdress, towering high on Opie’s head, the gold coin tassels clinked every time he moved.
He wore white feathers the horse riders wore in their hair on his frame.
He fanned them out into an almost see-through short dress, laced together in front and back with sequins and coin tassels.
Bitzy was still on the ground, staring into space, draped in tassels and sequins like a Christmas tree.
More of Zelda’s wrap made her booty shorts.
“Shit.” A laugh gurgled up my throat. The woman already hated me.
“You don’t like it? It’s shit?” Opie’s face fell.
“No!” I shook my head. “I love it. It’s one of your best.”
“Right?” He swung around again.
Chirppppp. Bitzy tried to hold up her middle finger but couldn’t.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“Oh, she went mushroom picking this morning.”
“Mushroom picking?” I peered at her, seeing her sway. “You know some are poisonous, right?”
“She’ll be fine.” Opie waved her off while she fell onto her back, blinking up at the sky with a strange giggle.
A groan vibrated into the back of my neck. “This was why I tracked you down,” Warwick muttered against my spine. “To give you back your pets. They’re all yours again, Kovacs.”
“Pets?” Opie huffed, stomping his foot. “You weren’t calling us that when we led you right to her.
When we were getting important information for you about Halálház, with that zombie farm, and that blonde woman .
. . though can I say she may be evil, but her style .
. . Oh, I could roll naked in her shoe closet all day. ” He sighed.
“Zombie farm? Halálház?” I curved to look at Warwick, trying to keep his jacket covering me. We passed out right next to the Ferris wheel, which was used for more than just tying me to. We laid on our discarded clothes as bedding, his jacket and heated body as my blanket.
His eyes closed, his head resting on his arm, he took a breath, finally lifting his lids. His sharp aqua eyes stumbled my breath. The man sometimes felt too much for this earth. Like he couldn’t be real.
The soreness of every muscle in my body told me he was not only real, but mine.
“You have a lot to catch up on.” He watched me, a serious tone knotting my stomach.
We only cleared the air between us last night, which I still think he wasn’t completely done with.
We didn’t venture much into what was happening, besides my uncle and others being safe and in hiding.
Something told me it was worse than I was imagining.
“Before you start yelling, know there is nothing any of us could do about it right now.”
Inhaling, I sat up more, already feeling triggered. “Tell me.”
He sighed, running his hand over his face.
“Hanna is gone.”
“What?” My head jerked in confusion. “What do you mean, gone?” I flushed with shame after suddenly realizing that in the commotion last night, I hadn’t thought about why she wasn’t there, figuring she must have stayed back. “Where is she?”
“She’s with Tracker.”
“What?” I fully sat up. “She was taken? Why didn’t you tell me? Why aren’t we going after her?”
“Because.” He drew himself up, his mouth flat. “It was her choice.”
“Her choice?” I sputtered. “What do you mean by that?” I bounded up, taking his jacket with me.
Ire furrowed his brow as he followed me to his feet.
“You haven’t been around, Kovacs. You don’t know what she’s been going through. She is not the same. The pills are changing her . . . she’s becoming one of them.”
Horror. Fear.
“No, she’s not!” I batted back, hearing the anger at myself because I hadn’t been there for her. I hadn’t known this. She was one of my oldest friends, and Warwick knew more about her than I did.
“We’ll go after her . . . believe me, Scorpion won’t rest until we get her back.” Warwick scoured at his face, waking up.
“Scorpion?” The bond that had been fusing back to him during the night tightened like a rope, linking me to him in a blink. I suddenly stood in front of him across the campsite from where I actually was. He sat on his own, staring at the fire with vacant eyes, as if he had lost everything.
“Scorpion?”
His mouth pressed together but gave me no other response. He was mad at me. Mad at the world. It was more than that—overwhelming grief and helplessness which had nothing to do with me.
“Oh. Wow.” My eyebrows popped up, a notion hitting me over the head. I could feel it coming off him; he couldn’t hide it from me. “You really care about her.”
He jerked his head to the side, lines denting his forehead, not looking at me.
“Fuck,” I breathed out. “You love her.”
His jaw clenched, his hand running over his face, head slightly shaking as if he was trying to deny it.
To himself.
“We’ll find her.”
His gaze finally met mine.
“We won’t lose her.”
“Might be too late,” he muttered.
“We will get her back.” I crouched down, forcing him to look at me. “Whatever it takes.”
He huffed through his nose, his shoulders easing a bit. He snorted, his head shaking. “You know you’re naked here too, right?”
Sharp yells and commotion nearby snapped my link to him, my head swinging to Warwick as two men’s voices grew louder from camp. I couldn’t make out their words, but one was angry. Challenging. The other was threatening and defiant.
“That sounds like Killian,” I commented.
“Fuck,” Warwick grumbled, grabbing his pants, his tone telling me he knew what might be happening.
“Who’s he fighting?”
“Probably Wesley.”
“Wesley? Why?”
“You’ve missed a lot, princess.” He hurriedly shucked on his pants.
I dropped his jacket, scrambling for my clothes, reacting to Warwick’s response. I could only find my trousers and sweater.
“Cover your eyes, Bitzy. We got massive eels and blowholes out free in the wild.” Opie pretended to cover his eyes but peeked through his fingers. “I was wrong. That’s a sperm whale.”
Chirppppp!
Shoving my feet in my boots, I ran after Warwick toward the uproar, my gaze landing on Wesley and Killian toe-to-toe, Rosie only feet away, slightly behind Killian.
“Kurva anyád!” Wesley shoved at Killian’s chest, forcing me to suck in, shocked to see him assault the fae lord. “You are a fucking piece of shit!”
Killian’s chest expanded, a nerve in his cheek twitching, but he didn’t engage.
“You didn’t want her when she was human.” Wesley rammed at him again. “But she’s okay to fuck now that’s she’s fae?”
What? My mouth parted, my gaze darting to Rosie.
Killian and Rosie?
A strangled noise came from Killian as he lurched for his assailant, fists and arms tangling as they both struck out, punching and kicking like two kids on a playground.
“Whoa!” Ash tried to jump in, able to grab Wesley, while Warwick pulled Killian back, blood leaking from their lips and noses. “Both of you calm down.”
“Tell him to stay the fuck away from her.” Wesley pointed at Rosie, trying to wiggle free of Ash’s hold.
“No,” Killian snarled. “And she came to me.”
“You are using her. The moment you’re done, you’ll throw her away like trash.” Wesley spat at him. “You don’t care about her. It was all for your own ego. You saw me last night. Purposely made sure I knew you got her first. Put on a little show for me, didn’t you?”
“What?” Rosie’s attention snapped from Wesley to Killian.
Killian’s jaw strained, his glower set on Wes.
“You were there?” she asked Wesley, but I knew it wasn’t really a question. Her cheeks flaming with heat, she turned to Killian. “And you knew?”
Killian’s gaze dropped to the ground for a moment, his feet shifting.
“Oh.” Devastation flickered over her features, taking a step back. “I see . . . So I was a game. See if you could take me from someone else if you just snapped your fingers?”