Page 16 of Deadly Reckoning (Broken Ashes #7)

Neith

“A re you sure that you wouldn’t like to stay?” Calia asks, and I’m guessing that I missed the conversation where she asked Van if we wanted to stay here tonight instead of making our way home.

Van smiles, but shakes his head, “Thanks, but we’ll be okay. We’ve spent so long away from home that we would rather be there.”

“That’s understandable,” Eamon nods.

“It would probably be a good idea to still keep an eye out for anything suspicious. The Blue Fucker seems to be able to convince people to do what he wants them to,” Griff suggests.

“Good shout,” River agrees. “It also might be a good idea to speak to the wolves and warn them as well. I’m pretty sure that they’re going to be extra vigilant anyway, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

They should be able to smell him. Like Neith said earlier, Logan said that he smelled like he was rotting. ”

Calia nods seriously, “Will do. We don’t want him anywhere near here, and the wolves have been through enough.”

“Agreed, I’ll do the wards anyway, and that should stop him from being able to sneak in anywhere,” Ransom reassures them both.

“Sounds good,” Eamon agrees. “Thank you.”

With that decided, we all help to clear the table, and Calia loads us each up with leftovers, and of course, the binder full of recipes. We all say goodbye, promising to come back soon to visit. Calia also made sure to tell me that she would keep an eye on Rana, Merrikh, Logan, and Dare as well.

“I am suddenly extremely tired,” Ransom says, suppressing a yawn as we head through the twisting roads and back to the entrance that we came through earlier.

“Are you going to be able to do the wards?” Raiden asks. “You’ve used a lot of magic today, and you said earlier that you were running low.”

Ransom nods, “Apparently, my magic replenishes itself a lot quicker than it used to. It’s not back to where it should be yet. I imagine a good night's sleep will do that, but I definitely have enough to do the wards.”

“That’s an interesting development, although at this point, I don’t think any of us are really surprised,” Griff says with a smile.

Ransom

I shake my head and smile, “Nope. Our magic was playing up before the Choosing, and the Choosing has just added to it.”

“It’s pretty crazy to think that the Choosing was only a few days ago, isn’t it?” Neith asks. “I mean, so much has happened already.”

River grins, “It’s a good job that I don’t like being bored.”

“Me neither,” Coen grimaces. “I hate having nothing to do.”

“We know,” Raiden teases with a smile.

I love that Coen has just fit back in with us like he never left, and I’m sure that it’s only a matter of time until River and he are causing trouble again.

“We’re here,” Van says as he stops just before going through the gates.

“This shouldn’t take me too long,” I say as I stand up, and everyone follows me out of the van. “I’m just going to do a quick sweep to make sure that we’re not being watched and that no one is preparing to ambush us. Just in case the Blue Fucker had someone other than the wolves watching for us.”

“Good idea,” Reed says as he stretches, and Neith’s eyes immediately go to the strip of stomach his stretching exposed.

My smirk widens into a smile as she catches me watching her and winks at me while shrugging. All the while, Reed is completely oblivious.

“Do you need us to do anything?” Coen asks, and I remember that he wasn’t with us last time when I did the wards at the house.

That reminds me, I need to add his magic to those.

“That’s up to you. You can help strengthen the wards by adding a small amount of your magic to them, but honestly, they should be strong enough without it,” I explain.

“Like we did with the wards at home?” Neith asks.

I nod, “Yeah, like that, but this time, preferably without you falling into them and sending a boom of power through it.”

She narrows her eyes playfully at me, “I was pushed.”

“Sure you were,” I tease, and she laughs, sticking her middle finger up at me.

I look back to a grinning Coen, “If you’re comfortable with it, I need to put your magic into the wards at home.”

Coen nods and replies with absolutely no hesitation, “Yeah, of course.”

“I want to help strengthen these ones, I don’t want the compound to be under threat just because a psycho is looking for me,” Neith says seriously, her eyebrows dipping down slightly.

How is it that absolutely everything that this woman does, I’m enchanted by?

It makes no sense.

Now is not the time, Ransom, I tell myself firmly. I need to do the wards so we can go home.

All of the others quickly chime in that they all want to help strengthen the wards as well, and to be honest, I’m not surprised at all. We all care about Calia, Eamon, and the people who call the compound home.

“Okay, let me just check that there isn’t anyone nearby,” I tell them.

My magic comes even quicker than usual, just like it has been doing since we got back. I send a wave of it out through the ward and into the surrounding area, sending it pretty far out to make sure that I don’t miss anything.

All I manage to find is animals, nothing worrying, and nothing magical, or even human, so we should be good to go.

“All good?” Van asks.

I nod, “Yep, there’s nothing out there that shouldn’t be.”

“Thank fuck for that,” Griff says, “I don’t think I want another fight right now. I just want my bed.”

“Me too,” Raiden agrees wholeheartedly.

I smile. I could always go for another fight, but I do see what they mean, and I do want to get home.

“Alright, you know the drill,” I start to say, then change my mind. “Actually, let’s switch it up so that we can get home quicker. I’m going to put my hand on the ward, and then I need you all to touch me. I’ll funnel a small portion of your magic into the ward.”

“Are you sure you want to do it with all of us at the same time?” Doc asks.

I nod, and since I know that he’s worrying, I add with a smile, “You can monitor my vitals at the same time, and if it looks like something is going wrong, you can stop me.”

Doc nods, my suggestion offering him the reassurance that I intended it too, “Deal.”

“Alright, come on then.”

I move forward, feeling with my magic until my hand comes in contact with the ward, and it shimmers as I make contact with it.

Reaching my hand out to Neith first, she takes it, smiling up at me and making my heart skip a beat.

Seriously, what is this woman doing to me? I have never reacted this way to someone else, and up until recently, I had thought that I had been in love before.

Clearly, I was very wrong about that.

Not able to help myself, I lean down and kiss her softly. When I pull back, the smile that she gives me is so fucking beautiful that I almost bend down to kiss her again, completely forgetting that I’m supposed to be doing something else that is actually pretty important.

Unfortunately, I remember at the last moment, and look up at the guys who are all smiling at me knowingly.

I smirk.

They all get it. It’s Neith. She has a way of consuming you completely as soon as her attention is fully on you. Hell, even when it isn’t.

I’m so fucking far gone for her.

We all are.

Strangely, it's actually kind of reassuring that they’re all in the same boat that I am and feel the same way that I do. At least I know that if I’m crazy for feeling the way that I do about her, they are too.

The guys all put a hand on me, and I concentrate on asking my magic to pull small amounts from each of them to strengthen the ward.

I shouldn’t be able to do this all at once, I shouldn’t be able to do this without using any words to help strengthen my magic, and I definitely shouldn’t be able to do it when I’m not at full strength.

Yet, with an ease like I’ve been doing it my whole life, that’s exactly what I do.

It only takes a few moments to strengthen the ward, and I’m once again surprised by how strong it is once I’m done.

Before I pull away from it though, something new stirs within my magic.

It’s different from what I’m used to, and yet, it feels like it belongs to me.

It's curious, but it’s not something that I can explore right now. I don’t have the mental capacity to do it. It’s not a threat, it's mine, and I’m assuming that it has something to do with the extra magic that we were gifted at the Choosing.

“It’s done already?” Raiden asks with surprise.

I nod, “Yep. All done. These wards aren’t quite as strong as the ones at the house since Neith didn’t let off a power boom into it, but they’re almost as strong.”

“They’re stronger than the wards at the Training Academy and SID headquarters,” Neith says with a smile as she studies them closely.

She shouldn’t be able to see the magic. It should remain completely invisible to her, but it's clear from the way that she’s looking at the ward that she can see it in some capacity.

“Can you see the ward?” Raiden asks curiously, following my train of thought and noticing what I have.

Neith nods, “Kind of. If I focus hard enough, I can see this sort of shimmer in the air. It’s not easy to do though, and I have to concentrate.”

“You shouldn’t be able to, but we already know that you can see through glamours, so it would make sense that you can see wards too,” Griff replies. He adds, “You might find that it gets easier the more you practice with it.”

“He’s right,” Coen nods. “You are, after all, a brand new supe. Technically speaking.”

She grins, “Cool. I like the idea of being able to see wards, and if I can strengthen the gift, then hopefully I will be able to see through the glamour that the Blue Fucker wears.”

“Shit, that hadn’t even occurred to me,” Van says with surprise. “If your gift is strong enough, then you should be able to identify him.”

I grin, “Exactly.”

“Finally, something that should work in our favor,” Reed says. Looking at me, he asks, “Are we all done? My bed is calling to me.”

I chuckle, “Yeah, I’m done. We can go home now.”

“Good,” Evander smiles. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

“Ransom, is there anyone nearby right now that can see us?” Doc asks.

I know what he’s thinking, and I say, “No, but there are still cameras, and it wouldn’t be a good idea to mess with them and risk the compound thinking that there was something wrong and going on high alert again.

Especially since we just warned Calia and Eamon to be on the lookout for anything suspicious. ”

Doc pulls a face, “Shit, I know that. I’m clearly tired if I forgot that’s the reason why we don’t just teleport inside the wards.”

River grins, “Don’t worry, man, we’re all tired.”

We all get back in the van, and Evander puts in the code for the gate as we head out and back to the same spot that we transported into. As soon as we’re there, Doc looks at me, and I nod that there’s no one around.

Within moments, we’re back at the house, and we all practically stumble out of the van and into the house.

I was really hoping that I would be able to head back to my workroom and carry on working on the wards, but I am definitely too tired to do that right now, and I will end up making mistakes if I try to.

It’s not worth the risk.

I wait for Neith to say goodnight to everyone before I pull her into my arms and kiss her softly.

“Night, beautiful,” I mutter as I pull away.

She grins, “Night.”

Neith

E veryone splits up at the top of the stairs and goes off to their separate rooms, but I grab River’s hand before he can make it to his room.

He raises his eyebrows at me curiously.

I smirk and shrug, “Well, you can sleep in your room if you want.”

He does a fake growl and scoops me up into his arms.

“Absolutely not,” he says, as he kisses me and carries on walking down the hallway to my room.

I have no idea how he hasn’t crashed into anything yet, but I’m enjoying his kisses far too much to actually check that we’re not going to trip over anything.

I hear the door slam closed behind us, and he pulls back slightly.

“How tired are you?” River asks me, his eyes studying my expression closely.

I grin, “I’m not tired at all anymore.”

He growls, his chest rumbling. “Good.”

Leaning forward to kiss him again, I pause, “Actually, I do really need a shower. We’ve been fighting and running through the woods for most of the day, and I’m covered in all sorts of things that I need to wash off.”

River grimaces slightly, “Yeah, that’s a good point.”

Wriggling, River puts me down, and I start to head to my bathroom. Looking over my shoulder, I smile when I see him heading back toward the bedroom door.

“Aren’t you coming?” I ask.

He whips back around so fast that he almost falls over, and I burst out laughing.

He straightens himself, clears his throat, and with amusement in his eyes says, “I meant to do that.”

“It was super sexy,” I tease.

He smirks, “Why, thank you, Little Mate.”

I grin, “I like it when you call me that.”

Heading into the bathroom, I take my dress off and throw it back at him, so it hits him in the face, and he once again almost falls over trying to fight the fabric on his face.

By the time that he walks into the bathroom, I’m already in the shower, and his eyes stay glued to me as he quickly strips out of his clothes, and this time it’s my turn to stare.

Fucking hell, he is gorgeous.

All taut muscles, defined lines, and quite frankly, absolutely lickable.

He steps into the shower, reaching for me and pulling me into his arms, my nipples pebble as they rub against his chest, and my clit pulses as my hands slide up over his chest, the water sluicing over on both of us.

He kisses me, like I’m his air. His hands move to grip my ass and pull me even tighter against him, my nerve endings fizz with the contact, and a feeling of pure happiness washes over me, making me smile.

Pulling back, he says, his voice a growl, “Turn around, I want to see my mark.”

I grin and do as he asks.

He kneels behind me, his huge hands palming my ass, as his lips kiss the mark. He nips the spot and makes me squeak in shock as a ripple of pure pleasure makes my pussy clench with need, and he chuckles.

Spinning around, I start to pull him up as his hands grab my ass tightly, and he pauses on his way up to my lips as his mouth closes around one of my nipples, and I throw my head back as a moan parts my lips.

One of my hands is still tangled in his hair, and I pull his head up, his lips meet mine in a heated kiss as my hand wraps around his hard length.

A rumble builds in his chest as I begin to move my hand.

One of his hands moves from my ass, caressing my hip as he deepens the kiss, and his fingers find my clit, and begin to circle slowly.

My grip tightens on his dick, and he bites my lip, making my hips buck. His fingers pump into my heat as his thumb continues to circle my clit, and my hand slides along his dick more firmly.