Page 48 of Blood and Trouble

His soft caresses echoed down my neck into my spine, coating my nerves with his tenderness. The bit of his magic still in my body sang, vibrating with adoration and splendor. I reveled in this connection, and with one great sigh, all of my muscles relaxed.

I didn’t know how long I stayed like that. Hours, maybe. Long enough for my legs to go numb. I didn’t care. For the first time in my entire life, the voice in my head went silent. That inner critic, that one who lived to call me stupid and criticize everything I did, had nothing to say. I’d taken power away from her and given it to Lycan, and in doing so, regained it for myself.

“Pet,” came a deep, raspy voice. “Open your eyes for me, Trouble.”

My throat tickled as I groaned and smashed my face into his leg, unwilling to resurface to whatever horrible reality waited for me. I didn’t want that critic to come up for air. I didn’t want to face her ridicule and deal with the fallout of Poe and Evelyn and everything else.

“C’mon,” Lycan said, running the back of his finger down the side of my face. “Open your eyes.”

I blinked and squinted up at him, doing my best to convey my overall grumpiness at having been brought back so soon.

“There she is,” he said with a laugh. “Stand up for me.” He grabbed my hands to help me up, but all the blood suddenly rushed into my tingling thighs and calves, shooting down to my feet. I swayed as my legs almost gave out on me. “Careful. Slowly now.”

He rubbed my thighs and calves, scrubbing up and down, massaging life back into them. “You’re alright. There you go. You did so well. Such a good girl.”

Pleasing him sent heat dripping down my sternum into my gut, coiling lower until I had to squeeze my cunt in a desperate attempt to alleviate the pressure. “I did?”

He hummed and pulled me sideways into his lap so my feet hung down by one of his calves, his arm wrapped around my lower back, his fingers curled against my waist. He leaned me against his chest, tucking my head under his chin.

“You did,” he said. “So wonderful. Such a beautiful pet. How do you feel?”

“Amazing,” I murmured. My limbs tingled, and my head floated like I had the best high in the world. The constant chatter in my mind was gone, leaving behind only blissful peace. “I didn’t know it could happen so quickly.”

“Sometimes, it doesn’t,” he said, pressing his lips to my forehead. “Here, drink some water for me.”

He held a cup to my mouth, and I swallowed the lukewarm liquid, settling even more as it hit my stomach.

“You had clear expectations for the scene,” he said. “You knew what you wanted. That makes it easier to get it.”

I nuzzled into him and rubbed my face against his neck, inhaling his masculine, woodsy scent. The animal inside me howled with contentment, wanting to roll around in the delicious perfume.

“Can we do that again sometime?” I asked, tilting my head up to meet his gaze.

He licked his lips and kissed my forehead. “Okay, Trouble.”

Something loosened in my chest as he leaned down and pressed his mouth gently to mine. It wasn’t the ravenous gluttony of a few nights ago, nor was it the overstimulated rampage of my transition. This was sweet and chaste, something one might do at their wedding, but nonetheless a clear indication of his devotion.

“Relax,” he said. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

I snuggled against him as any remaining tension eased away. My eyes drifted shut, and unconsciousness dragged me under.

Perhaps it was this blissed-out, unguarded state that allowed my subconscious to run rampant. In my dream, I stared out the window at the Vanderbilt Ranch, my heart racing with the quiet fury of knowing I’d been caught in a trap. Snow blanketed the earth, and somewhere beyond our family’s territory, an old lover turned enemy lusted for my blood. I had to protect my family. I would do anything to save them.

I took off in the middle of the night, leaving it all behind. My bare feet froze in the snow, but I hardly felt it. My shifter side surged to the front of my mind, instinctively seeking out a witch I’d known from before all of this, before my life went to hell.

“Help me,” I sobbed, throwing myself at her feet. “Please. Help me.”

“There is a cost,” she whispered. “Magic like this never comes free.”

I knew what she meant, and even though it gutted me alive, I also knew I’d pay it.

Images raced by like a movie on fast forward. Fresh frost twinkling in the moonlight. A bloody patch of skin and clothes. The ecstatic fury of the change.

Then I woke up, gasping for air, sweating and freezing, terror lining my veins.

“Trouble,” Lycan murmured next to me. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Just a bad dream.”