Page 118 of Dark Flame

“How did you know this was here?” I ask before rememberingwhomI’m speaking to.

“Sure you can figure that one out.” He shifts me off his lap and back to the ground before crawling forward, pacing over my parents’ grave. It’s odd, not only to see him crawling around the ground but to have him so close to the family he once took so much from.

The other orange ribbons dancing in the breeze catch my attention. How many of them are in the ground by Alec’s hand?

Alec moves aside stray leaves that fell onto my parents’ grave and is murmuring something I don’t catch to them. It’s low and spoken with sincerity and keeps me relaxed. He returns to my side, sitting cross-legged and pulling me into his lap.

As he plays with my hair and strokes the side of my neck, murmuring small words of encouragement in my ear, I share stories of my life with both my parents and him. To the clouds that uncover the moon above and Hecate, who’s gazing down on the scene.

I’d like to say She’s smiling too.

Forty-Five

ALEC

At some pointduring her storytelling, Harlow passes out in my arms.

People don’t sleep in places they feel unsafe. Which means at some point, she’s decided to trust me enough to relax around me.

Given the night she’s had, I shift until she’s lying down and using my thigh as a pillow. Her hair streams over my lap, and I stroke my fingers through the strands that were once soft but now are mixed with dirt and broken leaves from our time on the ground. I pick out any that I find, even if I kind of like her like this.

Like that, in the cemetery with the souls from witches past—many I’ve put here myself—I hold one of their own, thankful a witch’s magick seems to fade with their death, or else I’d be fighting an invisible army.

Hours pass and, besides the occasional squeak from a squirrel, chirp from a bird, or gust of wind, all is silent. But too soon, the time nears sunrise.

I wake her slowly with a few caresses to her cheek, enthralled by the fact this witch is all mine. She wakes slowly, yawning in a way I find captivating. I haven’t yawned since my human life.

“Hellion, you have to get up. Sun will be rising shortly.”

She yawns again, and I help her sit upright. She stretches, arching her back, her nipples hard through my shirt. More than anything, I want her back in my bed where I can spend every waking minute ravishing her body, especially after the bullshit from the coven last night. She’ll want to return to the High Priestess, I’m sure, but I’d be more than thrilled to carry her away from here.

“Sorry, I fell asleep.” She tries to stand, but her body, laden with sleep, does her no favours.

I duck, lifting her bridal style and tucking her into my chest, her head on my shoulder, exactly how I carried her from the tiny cell when she called for me. After readjusting my shirt so it’s covering her bare ass, I begin walking.

“You didn’t have to carry me. Pretty sure you did your duty long enough being my pillow.”

“Don’t have to, but I want to.”

She hums, her body loosening in my arms, accepting what she needs. “Well…thanks.” Once I’m out of the cemetery and through the small gate, walking in the direction of the High Priestess’s house, she sighs. “I almost don’t want to go back. I still don’t know how to feel about everything.”

“Say the word and I’ll keep walking. You don’t need to have everything figured out.”

I spot the argument even before she speaks, her forehead rippling with last night’s anxieties. “Hecate will turn against me with black magick, if She hasn’t already.”

“This is why vampires don’t have deities. The devil, maybe, would be the closest thing, but we certainly don’t pray to him. If your goddess no longer cares, then she’s missing out on an incredible witch.”

She watches me, those purple eyes of hers sparking with words unsaid. It’s another few feet before she murmurs, “Sometimes you really surprise me, Alec. Last night, for example. You were really nice. I never thought I’d say those words. There’s still so much I don’t know about you, and it’s confusing.”

“Ask whatever you want to. Good or bad, I’ll tell you anything.”

Unfortunately, we reach the High Priestess’s house, and given the sun is less than an hour away, I don’t have the time to wait for her questions.

By the front door, I place Harlow on her feet and readjust my clothing so it covers everything before we enter, immediately being swarmed by three people who rush from the nearby living room.

Morgan’s on her instantly, yanking her in a tight hug while the other two remain back. Carina’s staring at Harlow while the male watches me, distrust in his eyes, like I’m supposed to give a fuck. He’s lucky I’m allowing him so close to my Bride when she’s naked beneath my shirt and still smelling of my cum and marked with dirt.

“Fuck, Harlow,” Morgan exclaims, thrusting Harlow back to examine her. “I spent half the night searching for you before realizing you probably didn’t want to be found. I sensed you were still in Banff, though; your signature was within the town’s lines.”