Finally, the pulsing black magic of Ransom's spirit was encased in my own. All around me, the brilliant flashes of pain died down to the normal bland stillness of the magical landscape. The myriad of colors faded as if bleached by the sun. I felt my magical essence shudder and waver as if a spectral hand had shifted through my physical form. I stilled. That had never happened to me either. Everything about this stupid ritual was fucked: upward, backward, and sideways. The fading colors flared to life once more. Like the blinding sun had slipped behind a cloud, the colors seeped back into Ransom's spirit. Just as quickly as it started, the colors died away again. The vast field of gray filled my vision once more. If I'd had shoulders in this form, they would've settled down into their normal position. If my heart still beat in this form, it would have slowed. This was familiar. This I could do while sleeping.I inspected the rest of Ransom's body. The same slightly sick
I raced after the woman who'd settled the torture of my body with one touch. My shoes slammed against the floor in a sharp drum beat that matched my pounding heart. "Kiema! Wait!" I almost shot past the door she'd escaped through. The sounds of violent retching reached my ears, pulled me to an abrupt halt. She was hunched over the toilet. Her hair had fallen from her messy topknot. Now it hung around her head, a dark curtain shielding her face. I winced in sympathy as her rib cage expanded and contracted heavily. Heavy splattering followed the guttural groans. Let it out, sweetheart. Stepping around her bowed form, I pulled open drawers. One after the other until they all stood open like the gaping mouths of dazzled spectators. On the wall, a rack held a huge collection of matching towels. Sitting on the top of the mound, I found the smallest washrag known to mankind. Shaking my head, I turned on the faucet, and shoved the rag under the cold water. Barely wringing
My heart in my throat, I watched Kiema's chest for the longest minutes of my life. Completely ignoring the shape of her breasts, I just needed to know if she was even fucking breathing."Kiema?" I called softly. I didn't recognize the soft tone that came from my own mouth. Women had never been anything more than convenience and novelty to me before this one. But damned if she hadn't made a big impression on me in a short amount of time.Her chest rose and fell in an even, if slow, tempo. Out cold.Her petrified warning not to touch her filled my mind again. I couldn't fucking leave her like this. Not after she'd saved me. Left with nothing else in the small room, I finally ripped the shower curtain down. Rod and all. Throwing the rod into the bathtub, I kept one eye on the unconscious woman. Not even a twitch to indicate she'd heard the crash.I was out of patience; I had to get her off the floor. My entire being was screaming at me to get her moved.I shook the curt
I was stuck. My body was full of cement, and I was stuck at the bottom of a well. Opening my eyes, I could see a wavery slice of light, but it was so far away. My mind reeled as I tried to make sense of what was happening to me. I remembered the ritual. That was normal.Wait. Something about the ritual had gone wrong. Horribly wrong. A zing of electricity flashed through my tired and aching body. Tasting the coppery flavor of fear, my mind cleared in an instant.I'd touched him. Without precaution. Without ritual. Without safeguards in place. And the biggest issue of all: the fucker had magic of his own.I was so screwed. So freaking screwed.Damn it! I'd known this was going to be a big, fat failure. From the changed duration of the ritual, to him not playing by the rules. Hell, he hadn't even known what was going to happen. How the fuck did Mother and Father think this was going to be okay?They might have broken their golden goose. A harsh bark of laug
Wiping my lips with the back of my hand, I stood up. An embarrassed smile pulled at my mouth. Good thing the guys weren't here to see that one. I turned on the faucet, leaned down and took a drink from the stream. Swishing the water around in my mouth, I spit it out. Repeating the process until my mouth no longer tasted like vomit. Getting a good grip on my stomach, I turned and examined what was in the toilet again. I covered my mouth and nose with one hand as I leaned over the edge of the sink.My brain couldn't figure out what my eyes were trying to tell me. Whatever Kiema had thrown up was actually pulsing in the water. Like a sluggish heart, it beat and throbbed, causing ripples in the shallow bowl of dirty, chunk-filled water. There's no way she could still be alive after throwing up an organ, right? I took my phone from my pocket, switched it to video and took a short shot of...whatever that thing was. I would send the video to Atlas later.Right now, I needed to
I woke up on the couch again. Damn man moved me around like I was a mannequin. Dusk had fallen, the looming shapes of the trees just on the border of the yard stiff fingers spearing into the sky. When I was a kid, I'd been afraid of them. I thought something was trying to rise up from under the ground to come capture me.As an adult, I wished a mythical beast would come capture me, spiriting me away from the hell of my life. Those monsters had to have been better than the ones I called Mother and Father. "Shit!" Ransom said from somewhere behind me. I pushed myself up on one arm, looked over the back of the couch. "What are you doing?""You're awake!""No, I'm not. You're hallucinating." I laid back down. "Wait, wait, wait. Are you feeling better? Does the house still stink like sweaty man-ass?" He leaned over the back of the couch into my line of view."Yes, I'm feeling better. Yes, the house still stinks," I said, my tone flat.He snorted. "I think I am hallu
I pushed through the doors to my suite. I hadn't been lying to Kiema. There was something going on in my body, but it wasn't something I was familiar with. Crossing the few steps to the oversized bed, I fell face down, my feet hanging off the end. The whole day ran through my mind again. If Kiema reacted to every healing like she did today, I don't know that I would want her magic. The cost/benefits didn't really add up in my mind. But then again, I'd been called a cold-hearted bastard by more than a few exes. I laughed and curled up on my side. My legs and chest felt like they were growing, almost like the growing pains I got when I was younger. I looked at my legs and arms. Nothing looks different.I pushed the weirdness from my mind. I'd deal with whatever happened in the morning. Other than the weirdness, I honestly haven't felt this good in my entire life. I wanted to tell the guys but didn't want to raise their hopes in case this was just a false positive. They d
I heard a yell. A couple seconds later, there was a pounding at my door the next morning."Give me a second." I pulled my shirt over my head as I yelled through the closed door to my suite of rooms. Tugging my long hair out from under the shirt, I stomped to the door. Yanking it open, I stared in shock at the mostly naked Ransom. From the ridged abs and bunched thighs, he looked good enough to eat. He also looked like he'd gained about thirty pounds of muscle since I saw him last night. Narrowing my eyes, "Why are you in your underwear in the living room?"He chuckled, the sound tugging at the feminine part of me. "I told you. I think something is happening to me."As I watched, he ran his hand over his abs. The muscles twitched and rippled with every lazy swipe of his hand. I had the almost overwhelming urge to trace my tongue in the wake of his hand.I shook my head. Touching him the last time had almost killed me. I didn't care how lickable his skin looked, or how good