Page 9 of Curvy Hostage Mate (Gold Wolves Black Ops #4)

The band around my arm fell to the table.

Cold air brushed against my skin for the first time in years.

I twisted my arm back and forth, staring at it in disbelief and relief.

I gave a short, breathless laugh as a smile crept over my face despite all the insanity that had happened over the last few days.

“The collar next, now, dear,” said the witch, Isadora, not quite the old crone of storybooks but middle-aged with graying hair and decades of wisdom shining in her pale blue eyes.

Her fingernails, long and delicately painted, tapped on the metal of the collar as she studied it.

She muttered an incantation I didn’t recognize.

The back of my neck prickled as if pressed against an ice cube. A moment later, a click reverberated through the small cabin. The witch plucked the collar from my neck.

“There we go,” she said as my hand went to my throat in disbelief. It was the first time in years that I hadn’t had a collar there. The lack of something there felt unnatural, almost foreign.

“Thank you,” I said, my fingers still lingering on bare skin.

“You’re quite welcome. I’m more than happy to get any fellow witch out of those monstrosities.

” Her nostrils flared as she glared down at them.

“Dampening and hindering magic, it’s revolting.

I wish I knew the witch who made them so I could force-feed them a potion that would turn them into a frog. ”

I bit my lip to hold back the laugh that wanted to bubble over. “I’ll help you with that,” I offered, earning an amused smirk.

The other witch flashed me an amused grin.

She took one last glance at the band and the collar, the distaste evident on her face that flickered in the warm light of the fire.

With one last disgusted look at the objects, she chucked them into the fireplace.

The flames turned brilliant green, then a deep cobalt blue.

I watched as the emerald shattered into a million pieces as the gold melted onto the logs.

The flames slowly lost their unnatural hue, eventually changing back to orange and red.

“Thanks, Isadora,” Chris said.

“Of course. I’m always happy to help the Gold Wolves.” Isadora gave me an interested stare. “You come back any time you want to play with magic, dear. I know talent when I see it.”

I blushed and mumbled a thank you before following Chris out of the cabin.

“How does that feel?” he asked.

“Worlds better,” I said, my hands running along my neck for what had to be the hundredth time already. “I hadn’t realized I’d forgotten how it felt to have full access to my magic again.”

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Chris said. “Come on, we should probably get to the safehouse.”

“And I still can’t go see Kendra?” I asked, trying to hide the hope in my voice. Right now, after everything that had happened, all I wanted was to see her, to let her wrap her arms around me as she pulled me into one of her too-tight hugs.

My stomach sank as Chris shook his head. “I’m sorry, but you can’t. It’s too dangerous. The fewer people who know about you and where you are, the safer it is for everyone. You don’t want Cain going after her as well.”

I winced and shook my head, even as disappointment swelled inside me. I had never been good at arguing or sticking up for myself. Never had been.

Chris shifted, and I rode on him back to the cabin, not saying anything when we got there. Instead, I just went into the bedroom, closed the door, and lay on the bed, letting my thoughts roam.

***

Once Chris fell asleep, I opened the door, looking behind me to make sure he wasn’t following before creeping outside.

I wasn’t planning on running. I didn’t know enough about these woods, or even the situation in general, to know where to go, or if Cain’s men would somehow find us here.

If their tracking device hadn’t been in the collar, if it had been something else instead, there was no telling when they might show up.

At least you can defend yourself properly now without those objects on you , a voice in my head reminded me.

The notion felt so foreign that I nearly burst out laughing.

When was the last time I had been able to feel like I could fend for myself?

The fact that I hadn’t thought of it immediately was indicative of how long I hadn’t been able to.

It was the first time in years that my magic was fully unrestricted.

I came to a lake, peaceful, the moon reflecting on its still surface.

Raising my hand, I whispered, and the water responded, rippling along its top as a figure formed in the middle of the water, a woman with no features.

I flicked my hand, and the water split into several spirals that swirled along the surface, water spouts that should not have been possible erupting all over.

I created a fire spirit that soared over the lake, entwined with the water, followed by long tendrils of vines, all spiraling together.

My face hurt. At some point, a wide grin had spread across it.

This was what I had been missing. This freedom, this ability to be myself and create this type of magic.

My power had been dampened and restricted for so long that I had almost forgotten I could do things on this scale.

Eventually, I let the magic fade, and the water became still again.

I sat down on a patch of soft grass and simply stared, giving myself time to process everything that had happened in the last couple of days.

I listened to the wind through the grass and the animals rustling through the trees.

I let myself breathe and have a peaceful few minutes.

“You should be inside.”

Chris’s voice startled me out of my reverie. I jumped slightly, then craned my neck to look up at him as he walked over to stand next to me, a faint crease of annoyance and concern between his brows.

“Can you save the lecture this time?” I asked, taking a deep breath. “If you’re that worried, then sit next to me. But at least let me enjoy the fresh air.”

He blinked, then smirked. “Guess you are Kendra’s sister,” he teased. To my surprise, he sat down next to me, one leg splayed out in the grass, the other drawn up next to his chest. “Are you okay?”

Not entirely, but not as bad as I had been. I didn’t really want to talk about it, though. It made all the problems feel too real. So I went with the simplest answer.

“Just enjoying the night sky,” I said, staring up at the stars spilling across the inky black overhead.

Out here, with no light pollution, stars came out in droves, telling stories as they moved overhead.

I took a deep breath, reveling in the fresh air.

“It’s… been a while since I’ve gotten to see it. ”

I could feel Chris staring at me, could sense his surprise. “I guess it would be,” he murmured, his voice uncharacteristically soft. “The Underside doesn’t exactly have stars, does it?”

Snorting, I shook my head. “Even if there were, all I would be able to see was a sliver of them from Cain’s palace. I wasn’t exactly allowed to go wandering around outside.” I shot him a pointed look, and was surprised when I saw him wince.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m not trying to dictate what you do. I just don’t want to see you back under Cain’s thumb. I can be more than a little paranoid at times.”

It was my turn for my lips to quirk upward. “You don’t say.”

He flashed an amused grin in response. To my surprise, my stomach jolted as if someone had jerked a string attached to the back of my navel. That overwhelming need to touch him slammed into me once again. All I could think about was what it would feel like to run my fingers through his hair.

I shoved the thought out of my mind, forcing myself to focus on the discussion. “Being paranoid doesn’t give you the right to decide what happens to me, though.”

“I know. I can be controlling,” he said, shrugging nonchalantly. His cavalier attitude rankled me, and I frowned as I stared at him.

“It’s not a trait you should be proud of,” I said, almost without thinking.

He turned to look at me, one eyebrow raised. “I do it to help people,” he argued. “There are times when, if you let that control slip away for more than a few seconds, people will get hurt.”

I tilted my head. “You sound as if you’ve had experience.”

He frowned. “Yeah, I do,” he confessed. “A few years ago, I was on a mission. I was trying to protect a town, and that included keeping everyone in line and confining them for a few days while we took care of the threat. Some of the town wasn’t happy.

I tried to keep a grip on things, but I ended up slipping and losing control of the situation for all of a minute because some guy started challenging me.

Before I could get it sorted, a whole riot broke out.

People died.” He took a deep breath. “So, yeah, I can be controlling.”

I closed my eyes, picturing what he’d just told me. “I’m sorry,” I said.

He looked at me, his expression inscrutable, but something like want lurked in his eyes. “Thanks,” he murmured.

His hand brushed against mine, fingers gliding over until his large, calloused hand covered my smaller one.

I blinked, staring down at it, then up at him, surprised at how close he suddenly was, surprised at how much I wanted him closer.

His head moved down to mine. The air seemed to have escaped my lungs. For the moment, nothing mattered. All I wanted was him. His mouth brushed against mine, lingering for a moment before pulling back and searching my face. When I didn’t recoil or pull away, he bent down again.

The instant our lips pressed against one another, any sort of restraint Chris had been holding onto seemed to burst like a dam. His hand went to the back of my head, holding me in place as his mouth claimed mine.