Page 54 of Druid Dreams

“Don’t “Sloane” me.” I snapped. “Just. Don’t.”

“Sweetheart,” the Druid tried once more, his Australian accent thick in that one word.

“I swear, York Briar, if you don’t stop now I will push you over the roof’s edge and not think twice about it,” I warned him and stood to put more distance between us.

“You would though,” he mused. “You’d feel it too, and then be mad at yourself for hurting me.” He approached me with long strides, stopping three steps away.

“Don’t,” I repeated, holding my hands up and begging him with my eyes to walk away.

“Sloane, we need to talk about this. You can’t keep ignoring me.” He chided.

“It’s only been a few hours, York. Try again in a couple days.” I informed him with narrowed eyes. Rage seeped into my pores as he continued to push me.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay?” He tossed the insincere apology out like it should mean something. “I get that I hurt you. I know you’re angry with me.” His nostrils flared with his admission.

“Angry with you?” I spat out. “No, I’m fucking incensed.” My voice rose an octave and I took a deep breath to calm myself. “If you would’ve been honest with me from the beginning then things would have been so very fucking different,” I surmised. “But, no. You lied to me, York. Not just once or twice. The whole godsdamn time. When were you going to tell me?” I dared him to answer with a raised brow. “Or, were you just hoping I’d notice? I overheard the shit you said to Stone. You’ve forgotten how much I can hear when I want to, or maybe you didn’t.” He closed his eyes and I kept going. “When did we seal the bond? Why didn’t you mention it when you noticed?”

“I thought you would feel it too. I didn’t realize how much power you had until I felt it through the bond,” he grumbled.

“So, you what? Thought you’d be mad at me for not knowing that I had earth magic coursing through me? With all the magic I have already? You only feel a tiny portion of it, York.” I informed him. “I have every right to be “angry” with you right now,” I air quoted.

I took a ragged inhale as I prepared to let all my frustration out. “If you hadn’t had my memories locked away the first day we met then I would’ve finished my job. We both could have walked out of there. Together. Those hidden memories didn’t just keep me from stopping all this shit sooner, they kept me from remembering what that bond felt like. Every time I thought about it too hard my mind would clamp down.” I squeezed my hand shut in a tight fist to make my point a little more clear for him. I whispered the following words with more emotion than I wanted to show. “The Fae King didn’t just lock those memories down, York, he kept me from thinking about anything that related to them, even in his death.”

I swallowed hard and tilted my head to the left. I hoped he understood how deep that mindfuck went. “Until I met Vaughn on Friday. Then, those words and phrases that triggered the memory magic didn’t freeze my mind in agony anymore. When Vaughn and Novak unlocked them everything came hurtling to the forefront. I wanted to kill you for keeping that from me.

“For years you hid the truth from me, York. You weren’t thinking about what was best for both of us. You were being selfish. Thinking only of you. No matter how you try to spin it.” I pointed my index finger at him, wanting so badly to poke him in the chest. “So, forgive me if I’m not quite ready to hear about how you felt, or how you feel about any of this shit,” I ranted in a stern voice. I heard footsteps approaching from behind me and knew we now had an audience. Great. Let’s give a big round of applause for Sloane’s temper and York’s inability to keep his mouth shut.

“I had to, Sloane.” He shook his head at me like I wasn’t understanding. “I couldn’t tell you. Charles told me it wasn’t time for you to know. I didn’t understand but I promised to keep my word.” He looked up to the brilliance of the night sky above us and sighed. “If you had known then you would’ve done something stupid, like try to rescue me by yourself when they took me. I couldn’t let that happen,” he argued. “ They want you!” York bellowed before calming himself. “If they had you then they would’ve drained you and never reached an end. There is no death for you that way, because there is no end to your fucking power. Don’t you see that?” He asked, astounded at what he thought was ignorance. “I wasn’t being selfish. I was being selfless. Sacrificing myself to make sure they didn’t get to you,” he shrieked.

“Selfishly selfless, how noble of you,” I sarcastically quipped. “Did you ever stop to think that I could’ve handled myself better in that kind of situation because they couldn’t weaken me to the brink of death?” I proposed mockingly. Too many emotions were bouncing around inside of me so I resorted to being a smartass. My hands were shaking with unrepressed rage as I filtered through my feelings, noticing some of them weren’t my own. If he yells at me one more time this is going to turn into a knock-down drag-out and I’m going to throw him right over the edge of the roof. Into the pool.

“No!” He shouted, and I fucking lost it. “They caught you once and-”

“Because I fucking let them!” I interrupted, seething and seeing red as I stepped closer to him. “I had a plan, and it all flew out the fucking window when you had my memory tampered with!” I screamed and swung my left hand hard, connecting with York’s nose. The soft crunch it gave was a satisfying sound, but it made my hand hurt.

“I deserved that,” York told our audience as he wiped at the blood running down his lips. He was harder than I remembered. Fucking mate bond. He opened it up. That’s where all these extra feelings are coming from.

“If you hadn’t overstepped in the very fucking beginning none of that bullshit would have happened to you!” I continued raging, unable to stop myself at this point. “Those assholes would have been gone. Dead, York, they would’ve been dead! But, noooo. You had to take matters into your own hands. Matters that had nothing to fucking do with you! They were my godsdamn matters to deal with and you took that choice away from me.” I shoved him, but he didn’t move very much. What a great time for him to show me that he gained my strength.

“I deserve that too,” he said to the males behind me as I finished screaming at him. It just made me swing on him again. He’s being too calm now. I didn’t like it. This isn’t how York acted when we argued.

“Fuck. off.” I spat the words at him.

“Well, I don’t deserve that,” he assured us all.

I heaved oxygen into my lungs until I couldn’t hold anymore, and then I swung harder than before. The Fae caught my hand before it connected with York’s nose again and, I cursed under my breath. “You guys need to calm down.” He spoke to us like children and I almost decided to act like one. Instead I snatched my hand away and stomped across the roof ignoring everyone. I’ll throw my tantrum when I get to my room. I made it to the top of the stairs before Palmer grabbed my hand gently and tugged me down the first flight, leading me to my bedroom.

With a flick of his magic fingers the doors opened and the lights turned on for us. He scooped me up and carried me to my bedroom, tossing me on the bed as he shut the door with his foot. “Vaughn’s right. Ya need ta settle yerself, an I know just how ta help with dat.” I watched him wearily. Not because I was worried about what he had in mind, but because I wasn’t sure if he was going to calm me down or get me more worked up. Gods. If this doesn’t end with orgasms I’m going to blow a fucking gasket.

Palmer didn’t ask me to strip, or even bother with my clothes. He moved his right index finger in a swirling motion in the air and cuffs tightened around my wrists and ankles. I went from sitting up in the center of my bed to stretched out like I was on a horizontal St. Andrews Cross, naked and stunned. I tested what I thought were straps, hearing them rattle. Not straps, chains. He smirked at me while he unbuttoned his shirt. I raked my eyes greedily over his exposed chest and licked my lips. My brain did a happy little hip shake, tossing all my thoughts astray like a deck of cards catching in the wind.

He pulled a crop out of… where? Where did that crop come from!? “Now dat I have yer attention,” he murmured, inching the head of the crop across my calf. The cold leather was a stark reminder that I’d just been bested by the Mage. I can’t budge these fucking chains. The more I pulled on them the tighter they got, until I reached a point where I could no longer move anything but my head. His smirk held firmly in place as his attention centered on my bared position. “Ya have to let go of dat rage, Love.” A swift blow to the top of my right thigh had my breath hissing in with my inhale.

“Ya can’t stay angry with the Druid forever.” The smooth fingers of his left hand rubbed circles on the small tender spot he’d left.

“I can try,” I mumbled, knowing that I sounded like a petulant child.

“Did I say ye could speak?” The Mage ran his glowing, orange-tipped, index finger over my lips. When I tried to reply nothing came out. My lips moved, but there was no sound. This motherfucker just muted me! “There. Dat’s better,” he whispered in my ear before leisurely gliding around my bed. My eyes stalked his back and forth movement, waiting for the next strike to land.