Page 15

15

EMBERLYNN

B y the time we return to the house, we have so many bags that my arms are aching from having to carry them. As we enter the living room, I groan as a few fall from my hands.

Nico, Kaiden, Wylder, and Phoenix are lounging on the sofas, eating chips and drinking some sort of glittery gold liquid. When the bags hit the floor, the thud captures all of their attention.

Nico is the first on his feet. “You look exhausted,” he notes.

“Shopping is exhausting.” I flop down into a chair and drape my arms over the armrests. “The bag handles were digging into my fingers and cutting off the circulation.”

“She’s an amateur,” Lila tells them as she dumps the bags she’s carrying onto the counter. She flashes me a grin to let me know she’s kidding but then grows solemn. “ You should also know that we ran into Holden in the shoe store, and he took way too much interest in her.”

“How much interest?” Wylder asks, frowning.

“He talked to her and then spent like twenty minutes staring at her from the corner of the store.” She tosses her purse onto the counter. “The only reason he left us alone is that I threatened to call Kaiden.”

Kaiden’s fingers wrap around a glass that’s on the coffee table. “I’ll take care of the problem.”

I dubiously eye him over as he takes a drink then returns the cup to the coaster. Then he licks a droplet of the liquid off his lips.

“How are you going to do that?” I ask.

His fingers curl around the armrests as he props his boot-clad foot onto his knee. “Talk to him.”

Nico snorts as he attempts to restrain a laugh. “Talk to him. That’s funny.”

What else would he do?

My gaze roams across the four of them as I attempt to decipher what “talk to him,” in Kaiden code means. Wylder’s brows are arched toward his hairline, his gaze fixed on the bowl of chips as he grabs a handful. Phoenix is staring at the carpet, dazing off to who knows where, and Nico’s staring at me.

I squirm under his gaze, “What?”

“Nothing. It’s just amusing trying to watch you decipher what we’re all thinking.” He stretches his arms above his head, causing his shirt to ride up and revealing that his stomach is carved with lean muscle. A trace of ink is visible on his side, but I can’t see all of the tattoos.

I wonder how far up it goes …

His arms lower and coverup my view. When I elevate my gaze to his face, the painful awareness that he busted my gawking washes over me in a white-hot wave of embarrassment.

The look on his face can only be described as half-amusement and half-cockiness. I’m not surprised he likes the attention, but I loathe that he knows I was checking out his abs.

I brace myself for some teasing remark, but it never comes. Instead, he wanders past me and heads toward the bags I dropped on the floor.

“So, what did you get?” He squats down and begins peering into the bags. “Anything good?”

I lean over the armrest to watch him. “Just clothes, and shoes, and stuff.”

He fishes out a leather jacket. “Nice.”

“Lila thought I needed that,” I say. “I’ve never had a leather jacket before.”

“She seems like a leather jacket sort of girl,” Lila chimes in from the kitchen as she opens the fridge.

“Yeah, you said that in the store, but I still don’t get why you think that,” I tell her as she bumps the fridge door shut.

She sets a bottle of the same glittery golden liquid down on the counter. “Phoenix almost always wears a leather jacket. Kaiden sometimes does. They’re both brooding and kind of emo, and—please don’t take this the wrong way— but you kind of are, too.” She unscrews the cap of the bottle.

That’s how she sees me? I have zero clue how to take this.

“She can only meet Kaiden’s and Phoenix’s brooding, emo level if she’s punched someone in the face,” Nico comments as he reaches into a pink bag that has the bras and panties I purchased. “Which she has.”

I nearly topple out of my chair to stop him. “Not that one.” I snatch the bag from him.

“Sorry.” The suppressed laughter in his tone makes me question if he saw what was in it.

Shaking my head, I place the bag far aside from the others.

He straightens, standing upright. “Have you ever punched someone in the face?”

“Um …” I pretend to have a deep fascination with my fingernails that are chipped and not painted. “Just once.”

“Seriously?” he asks, and I nod. “Dude, I really didn’t think you were going to say yes. That’s pretty badass.”

“It wasn’t badass,” I assure him as I sit down on the sofa and try to slip off my shoes without leaning over to untie them. “I broke my hand when I did it.” I stare down at the hand. “I had to wear a cast for like six weeks.”

“Does it still hurt?” Wylder asks as he collects a glass of glittery gold liquid from off the table.

“Only when it rains.” I work on slipping my shoes off, to no avail. I could lean over and untie them, but I’m tired and being lazy .

“I could fix that for you,” Wylder offers after he’s taken a sip of his drink. The remnants of the liquid make his full lips look all shimmery.

“It’s really not that bad, but if you want to, you can.” I open and flex my hand.

“I want to,” he promises intensely.

Lila snickers. “I’m sure you do.”

Wylder pierces her a simmering look, and Lila smooshes her lips together.

Nico drops down on the floor in front of me and grabs my foot.

I gape at him. “What’re you doing?”

“Taking off your shoes.” He undoes the lace of one of my sneakers. “I can tell you’re struggling to get them off, and you’re too tired to lean over and unlace them.”

Is this normal warlock behavior?

I glance at Lila for some sort of confirmation. She simply smiles, scoops up another bottle of glittery gold liquid, and turns for the hallway. “Have fun with this lot, bestie. When they start to smother you too much, come find me, and I’ll help you make your escape.” She waggles her fingers at me before ambling down the hallway.

Wylder pinches the brim of his nose. “She’s on one today.”

“I heard Trystan isn’t coming back for a few months.” Nico slips off my shoe then moves to the other one. “She’s probably struggling with that.”

“Who’s Trystan?” I ask, hoping my feet don’t stink .

“A warlock in her coven,” Wylder explains. “He got sent out on a mission and has been gone for months.”

“Oh.” I’m still so confused about how these covens work. “Do witches and warlocks in covens have to remain close or else they get grumpy?”

Wylder sneaks a glance at Kaiden. “More or less.”

“Or more,” Phoenix mumbles under his breath, his gaze traveling to me.

I recall what Lila told me about how broken the guys were when they believed I was dead.

“I feel really confused right,” I divulge as Nico removes my other shoe. “About all of this.”

“We’ll get you caught up.” Nico pushes to his feet and extends his hand to me. “And we’ll start right now by figuring out a little more about you and your powers.”

I grimace but place my palm in his. “Are we doing that historia legere thing?”

He nods, effortlessly pulling me to my feet. “You don’t need to worry. It won’t hurt at all.”

I’m not worried about it hurting. I worry what they’ll learn about me.

Should I run away right now and save them the trouble of kicking me out? Where would I go, though? I have nothing and no one in my life.

That thought sends me to Depression Land.

Maybe Lila was right about me. I may be a leather jacket kind of girl.

Once Nico has me to my feet, he steers me around the coffee table and has me take a seat on the sofa between Wylder and Phoenix. The space is small, and I end up pressed against both of them, their scents engulfing my nostrils. Wylder has a sugary-sweet smell to him, like cotton candy and apples. Phoenix smells like rain and forests. It’s an oddly lovely combination.

Nico drops down on the coffee table in front of me, so I’m stuck in like the Bermuda Triangle of hot guys.

“What exactly do we have to do to do this?” I ask, attempting not to squirm.

“You just need to sit there.” Nico picks up one of the glasses and hands it to me. “And drink this. Kaiden will do the rest.”

I take the glass from him and stare at the glittery golden liquid. “What is this?”

“This is called Liquid Lull.” Nico taps the glass with his fingertip. “It’ll help you relax.”

I don’t take a sip. “It sounds like I’m about to get high. And since you guys have all been drinking this, doesn’t it mean you all are?”

Nico shakes his head while biting his lip. “So damn cute,” he utters before reaching out to run his fingers through a lock of my hair framing my face. “You need to be extremely relaxed while Kaiden does this, but I promise you, nothing bad will happen.”

“You’ll always be safe with us,” Wylder adds, stretching his arm behind me. “That’s the one thing you can trust.”

Trust? Do I even know how to do that ?

I’m about to take a sip when Kaiden does this strange wrist flick thing and about fifty or so lit candles materialize out of thin air. Orbs of light illuminate the room and cast an eerie glow across everyone’s faces.

I clutch the glass. “Okay, now it feels like we’re doing an exorcism.”

Nico angles his head to the side. “What’s an exorcism?”

“It’s … never mind.” I raise the glass to my mouth. “Bottoms up, I guess.” I tip my head back and glug down as much as I can.

I’m unsure what I was anticipating, but something pretty vile tasting. But nope. I was so wrong. It’s wonderful, like warmth and honey and sugar.

“Mm …” I murmur, licking my lips. “That lully stuff tastes good.”

A bit of soft laughter then Nico takes the glass from my hand. “Lean back, pretty eyes.”

I do as instructed and tip my head back, leaning against the crook of Wylder’s arm. Kaiden comes to stand behind the sofa right behind me, so his face is right in my line of sight. Against the candlelight, his aura emits a hint of cascading glimmer.

“Your auras are all glimmery.” In the back of my mind, I know I’m stone and rambling. But I don’t care. I reach out and touch it, causing Kaiden to jolt.

Smashing his lips together, he summons a breath before saying, “We’ll talk about the aura thing later. Right now, I just need you to focus on relaxing. ”

I lazily bob my head up and down. “Okay. I’ll try to put myself in sleep mode, like a computer.”

He misses a beat. “Sounds good.”

I think he might be trying not to laugh at me. People used to laugh at me all the time. It was never a good thing. But when these guys laugh at me, it doesn’t feel like they’re mocking me.

He leans closer, all dark eyes and shadows. He’s so pretty . “I’m going to touch your head now, okay?” he asks, and I nod. “And I’ll try to see some of your past that’s maybe locked away in your mind.”

I exhale. “What if you see stuff you don’t like? Like bad things I’ve done?”

He doesn’t even pause when he tells me, “Emberlynn, no one here will ever judge you. I promise.”

Another sleepy sigh from me—this lull drink is making me tired. “I hope so, but it’s really hard to believe when, all my life, everyone has always just seen bad …”

It’s the last thought I have before Kaiden touches my head and my mind is swept away.