"It won’t happen again. I didn’t even realize I had my securities down—Vergel must have been reckless, it’s been a long time since I’ve been around another dark alchemist and blood drinker, never mind one who was feeding like that." Finn swallowed as he pursed his lips. "I overloaded on her magic for a few seconds there, and you caught the edge of it. Like I said, it won’t happen again, I promise." He paused. "But I want you to promise me something, too. I need to know that you’re not going to take off on me again like that. You need to stick with me, and if I say something’s dangerous, I need you to believe me. You are safe with me, Janet. I will never harm you. Because we’re in this together. And whether or not you believe in all this, I do. And from my perspective—" he nodded to the ragged hole "—you almost just became plant food. So promise me that you’ll stick with me and let me do my best to keep you safe." "I promise," Janet said immediately, somewhat to his surprise. And then

Janet might have considered it as memories of the princess but she knew it wasn't. Maybe it was hers?She groaned.The voice came back.Let me in, Janet. Let me in.Janet sighed…Okay… you better do something phenomenal, princess. I give you permission. You can use my body, mind and spirit. Just take care of us. Janet then suddenly felt the tingling sensation that merged her inner mind as Pearl took over her body.A sweet warmth against Finn’s lips. Silky heat on his tongue. Familiar. So familiar. It was like it was Pearl.Spice and flowers. Magic, powerful one. The sensations rocketed through Finn. Gone was any hint of reserve or control, leaving him only able to act and react, not think or plan.Growling low in his throat, he crowded her back against the tree until their bodies were aligned, pressed together, touching from knee to chest. He kept his hands on her face, willing them to stay there with the last threads of his control, knowing that if he touched her—really touched her,

Two weeks later.Camp SiteVergel straightened from where he leaned over the engine of the expensive Harley he’d been restoring and braced his hands on the metal frame, peering across the garage to watch Pearl work.He'd been trying not to stare all evening to give her space. Pearl's thinking, according to Finn, wasn't precisely the same, and the human, Janet’s thought, kept reappearing. He couldn't blame the human; after all, Pearl was anchoring to the same dimension as her body.When Finn or Ethan were bored, they would walk into his workshop and talk to him or watch him work. In regards to Ethan, he tracked him down in the human realm and brought him here. The alpha, on the other hand, was not sharing or talking about what happened to him in the mortal world. They respected his decision and gave him space.Though Vergel knew Pearl felt the same way about her tools and forge when she was in the garage. The old Pearl wasn't any better. Of course, everyone in the camp was saddened by

His Pearl wiggled softly on the workbench's rough surface, and her breath paused before her heart began to race. That burst of beats felt like a song informing him he was doing his job correctly.As cruel as it may sound, he desired for her to feel the same way he felt for her. He hadn't had the pleasure of caressing her so intimately in far too long. She's being tested. Vergel wanted to see her face flush with desire, to see her writhe for him, and to watch as she landed on his fingers, tongue, and shaft again and again."Are you trying to seduce me?" Pearl questioned, more breathlessly than he thought she intended to."Does it work?"He grumbled.Pearl moved in closer, her chest almost brushing against his. "That is, but..." she trailed off, her gaze drawn to the half-finished weapons scattered over her desk. "If I keep letting you distract me, I'll never get these orders completed. Customers are waiting for me, yet I don't get paid until I ship them."Ethan had already told her tha

She was convinced that she was about to be sucked fully beneath. As the vile mud came to her breasts, she felt the bottoms of her left feet make contact with the hard surface. Her right, on the other hand, was unable to alter positions. She lacked the willpower to break free from the shackles that held her captive. She screamed for help, completely assuming that no one would hear her.Unexpectedly, a noose was dropped right in front of her face. When an extraordinary male voice called out from the ridge, "Milady, hold on tight. "I'll get you out of there," says the voice.Lucinda grasped the rope and was relieved when it taunted her. Slowly, she felt herself being drawn upward and out of her entrapment as the rope hauled her. Within minutes, she had regained her footing and was able to scramble up the obstacle. She met Osmond, the strange, crooked troll of the forests, while she was there. "Thank the goddess, Osmond, you've tracked me down."However, Osmond was an awful sight to behol