Sleeping with Monsters Read online

  Once the van rolled to a stop, I glanced at Kat nervously as our eyes met briefly before I exited the van as Dexter once again struggled with the door. Once my feet hit the ground, my heart leapt to my throat. The cabin was dark, vacant, and staged for the spells I was going to use to draw the truth out of Lucian. I reached back into the van and withdrew my heavy pack as Dexter struggled awkwardly with Lucian’s height and bulk as he tried to maneuver him. Luckily the spell of weightlessness was holding up, or I’d probably end up doing the spells right here.

  Inside, I flicked my wrist and candles leapt to life, flooding the room with a warm glow and shadows as they swayed with the wind that entered with us. Rain started pelting the tin roof, and a clap of thunder rumbled in the distance.

  “I need to remove his shirt before we lock him down,” I commented as Dexter nodded and turned to look at me as he scratched the back of his neck. He wasn’t a fan of this plan any more than Kat was, but neither of them were having my dreams. Dreams so real that, hours after they’d faded, I ached. Despite their misgivings about what I was about to do, they were here and helping me. Dexter sat Lucian down on the bed and held his heavy upper body up for me.

  My hands trembled as I undid the buttons of his jacket and slipped it off his thickly muscled shoulders. I folded it and set it on the chair beside us as I went to work on the buttons of his crisp dress shirt. Once I’d pulled it away from his chest and down his shoulders, my breath caught in my throat. My eyes slid over his tattoos and paused on the piercing. I’d never seen him without a shirt, and yet I knew them as if my tongue had traced every one of them, every tiny detail of them, intimately.

  I clasped my hands together to stop the trembling as Dexter lay Lucian down on the bed and snapped one end of a pair of handcuffs around each wrist before snapping the other end around the iron bars of the old bed. I frowned; the idea of being in the middle of a massive storm in an old decrepit cabin with Lucian and a bed was mildly disturbing.

  “That’s it; he’s secure,” Dexter said as he wiped his hands on his pants and turned to look at me. “You don’t have to do this alone, Kendra.”

  “Yes, I do. I just kidnapped Lucian Blackstone, and if anything happened to either one of you because of it, I’d never forgive myself. Now go, I have about twenty minutes before the sand wears off, and I have to get the first spell ready,” I said as I reached up and hugged Dexter tightly. “Keep Kat safe, and don’t come back for at least two hours.”

  Once he was outside and the door was closed, I turned to look at the sleeping man. I scrubbed my hands down my face and shook my head.

  “What the fuck did you do? This was a bad idea,” I babbled nervously. I’d just kidnapped Lucian, and I was pretty sure he wasn’t the kind of man who pressed charges; no, he’d carry out retribution himself. I was so screwed if this didn’t work, or if I wasn’t powerful enough to remove the memories of tonight from his mind.

  I swallowed and turned to my bag, wondering what he’d do to me. Would he return the favor? Leave me somewhere no one could find me, maybe a spelled cabin deep in the Colville National Forest? Would he handcuff me to a bed and torture me? Probably.

  Fan-fricking-tastic!

  Chapter 2

  I knelt in front of the stones that circled the cauldron, and reached into my bag, pulling out a pouch of glass vials. I dribbled a little of the liquid from each vial on alternating stones, then quickly sealed the rubber stoppers on the vials before pushing them, one by one, back into the bag. I lowered my head and whispered the words that would ignite the flames beneath the cauldron.

  The room filled with magic as the rich scent of lavender and herbs boiled in the cauldron. It took seconds for it to reach a boiling point—one of the perks of having magic. I stood up, moving to the bed as I retrieved the other bag I’d left here last night. Inside, I had the gown I’d chosen for purity, washed and cleansed in a mix of lemongrass and flowers from the garden.

  I kicked off my tennis shoes and pulled my dress up and over my head, exhaling as the soothing scents lingered and danced with my senses as I folded the dress and laid it next to Lucian’s clothes. Unclasping my bra, I tossing it on to the chair, enjoying the freedom it offered. I hooked my thumbs through my panties and pulled the fabric down, stepping out of them. I pulled out the purity gown as my neck began tingling and I turned, still halfway bent over, to find midnight eyes watching me.

  I stood up, turning to face him as I held the dress in front of me like a shield. My heart quickened, beating against my ribs as my nipples perked up and goosebumps spread across my flesh.

  “Release me,” he growled.

  “No,” I whispered through suddenly parched lips. “I can’t do that,” I amended as I struggled to sound halfway in charge, but failed.

  “Fitzgerald, if you don’t release me, I will destroy you,” he snapped angrily, his eyes sliding down my body—and I wasn’t so sure he meant ‘destroy’ as in kill me and leave my corpse in the woods for the wolves. “Uncuff me, now.”

  “I said no,” I fumed. “You’re not in charge, I am. I have control here.” I crossed my arms over my chest before I remembered I wasn’t even dressed for this argument, let alone prepared. “You shouldn’t even be awake yet!”

  “I am awake, and the longer you keep me cuffed, the angrier I’m going to get. I’m also going to guess you don’t have the coven’s permission or support in this plan of yours. Which means we’re alone, and you have no one here to help you?”

  I dropped my gaze to his naked chest with a guilty shrug. I turned, pulling the gown on over my head. It barely covered my ass, but it was the only white thing I owned. I tugged at it, trying to pull it down a little further before I turned back to face him. The gown was drenched in magic, and would only be on long enough to protect me from dark magic that might be released at the beginning of the spell that I intended to cast.

  “Don’t worry; you’ll be free soon enough. I have no intention of harming you,” I said softly as I moved closer until I was near enough to run my hands down his chest as they itched to do. I met his stare and smirked, leaning in a little closer so that I could appear to have control. “Scared?” I laughed.

  “No, but you should be,” he growled and suddenly, magic filled the room, thick and powerful, and I felt strong hands grab my arms before I was pulled to him.

  I didn’t have time to react; one minute I was beside the bed and the next, my body slammed against his and I cried out as my face was smashed against his heated body. A strong arm wrapped around me while a hand gripped my hair and yanked my head back, forcing me to look into those devilish midnight depths. Panicked, I looked up at his wrists, which were still secured in the handcuffs that strained against the iron bars of the bedstead.

  “Un-fucking-cuff me,” he demanded. His mouth was inches from mine, and I couldn’t stop myself from running my tongue over my lips with hungry anticipation.

  “No,” I whimpered huskily, wondering if the Siren’s essence had yet to leave my system.

  “Release me.” He smirked and the grip on my hair tightened as his mouth lowered as if he intended to kiss me. “Even handcuffed, I can still kill you, Fitzgerald,” he warned. “I’m in control, and right now, we’re alone in a cabin, with one of us ill-equipped to handle the situation—and it isn’t me.”

  “And what would you do? Kill me?” I snapped.

  “There are plenty of other things I can do to you,” he rumbled as he watched me squirm.

  I smirked and jabbed him sharply in the stomach before throwing myself backwards, landing on my backside on the floor, legs spread apart for balance as I grabbed and held my head, which I’d just knocked against the hardwood floor of the cabin.

  It took moments to even be able to see past the stars dancing in my vision, and when they cleared, thunder exploded directly above us, shaking the little cabin. The wind howled violently as rain pelted the tin roof re
lentlessly, and I lifted my head to find Lucian hungrily looking between my legs at my naked sex. Instead of covering myself, I smirked. Asshole wasn’t immune! I almost wanted to do a happy dance, almost.

  “Nice try, asshole,” I growled as I rolled to my side and stood up. I moved around him, rubbing my head as I watched him. I stared at the handcuffs, wondering how the hell I’d prevent him from casting again, since he shouldn’t have been able to in the first place. I whispered a spell, which would hopefully strengthen the chain of the handcuffs. “You’re not getting out of here until I get what I want from you.”

  “What exactly do you want from me?” he gritted out angrily as he watched me with a coldness that sent a shiver running down my back.

  “What do I want from you?” I scoffed. “Let’s start with the disturbing thought that I know if I kissed those lips, you’d taste like aged scotch with a hint of citrus; or that I dream of you every single night, but it doesn’t end when the dawn comes. Instead, I spend hours trying to remove the feel of you from my body. Let’s start there.”

  “Just because you’re fantasizing about fucking me doesn’t give you the right to do this, Witch.”

  “Fantasies?” I almost screamed. “Fantasies are dreams of sex you like! I don’t do that, I have the same dreams that replay in my head night after fucking night!” I scrubbed my hands over my face as I moved closer to him. “This is the kind of sex I’ve never thought of, even in my wildest imaginings! You hurt me, and I like it! You spread my legs in front of strangers and let them watch us, watch me as I come apart in your arms. I can feel you when I wake up, how you stretched my body, how it hurt—and yet you somehow made it so much more than that, didn’t you? You would make me wild with need, so wild that I would let you do anything to me, just to please you. But something happens, and then hurt and anger take over. I wake up broken, as if it actually happened. If it changed, or varied at all, I’d call it a dream, but never a fantasy—it’s more of a nightmare. I don’t like pain, no one does. In my dreams, I relish it, but only from you.

  “I think it’s a memory, that somehow you did something to me and erased whatever happened from my mind. Either it’s a memory, or you’ve been with Lena and I felt it or shared it through her. One of those two scenarios has to be right, because I’ve used magic to block the dreams from my mind, to keep you out of my head while I sleep. The dreams actually got stronger after that, as if by trying to keep them at bay, I let something else in. Add that to the fact that there’s a ton of pictures in my bedroom that I have no memory of ever taking. Which means I have a big chunk of missing time,” I explained as I tapped my head. “Now, there’s no one in our coven strong enough or powerful enough to have achieved a mind wipe but me, and I didn’t erase my own memories.”

  “There are ways to go about getting answers, but this isn’t one of them. I can tell you how this way ends,” he growled thickly.

  “And how’s that?” I moved closer, as if I was drawn in by his seductive mouth.

  “You lose,” he replied confidently.

  “Even if I lose, it doesn’t really matter, does it?” I laughed hollowly. “Either I get my answers and I’m not crazy, or I don’t and I go to the coven and ask them to strip my powers. Because as powerful as I am, being crazy would make me a danger to others,” I admitted hesitantly.

  “You would ask them to strip your powers. You would allow that to happen?” he asked cautiously.

  “If I am crazy, or I can no longer discern what’s happening to me, then yes. I’d ask them to protect the coven, even at the cost of my powers. I’m not a saint, but I don’t plan to be a killer either, and with how much power runs through me, I could potentially destroy the coven. Dark witches are deadly witches.”

  He didn’t look away, but he didn’t offer up any explanation as to what I was going through. Instead, he looked at me with pity. I chewed my lip as I watched him.

  “I guess we’ll be doing this the hard way, then?” I murmured as I turned to the grimoire, a bowl full of black ink, and a spoon that waited for me near the cauldron. “You won’t keep your secrets for long, Blackstone.”

  “That’s what you think, but your spells will not work on me,” he smirked.

  I spun around, marched towards him, and before I could stop myself, I’d slapped him. I blinked, looked down at my hand and then up at him. I’d never hurt anyone before, and yet something about him got beneath my skin, festered, and wouldn’t let go. My breasts rose and fell with my anger as his face slowly moved back to meet my angry eyes.

  “You’re going to regret that,” he whispered huskily, his eyes liquid depths of black-blue fire.

  “I doubt I’ll ever regret removing that smug grin from your face, even if only for a second. Now shush, I need to concentrate.”

  I turned, smiling as I made my way to the grimoire once more. I knelt beside it and picked up the spoon, then stirred the ink in the bowl with it before I scooped up some of the ink and examined the dark, oily substance as it dripped back into the bowl. Chanting a soft spell from the grimoire, I stirred the ink several more times; clockwise, then counterclockwise as I chanted. Leaving the spoon in the spelled ink, I cradled my hands around the bottom of the bowl, rose, and moved to the small table across the room.

  I watched the candles flicker as the cracks in the cabin allowed the air to rush through them as the wind continued to scream outside. Like most spells, this one called for me to be bared to Hecate, exposed so that he, too, would be exposed and forced to whisper truths, unable to lie.

  I set the bowl on the table and reached down to the hem of my gown. I chewed my lip nervously as I raised the purity gown over my head and tossed it to the floor, feeling its magic as I whispered the spell to hold its magic to me. I heard his hiss and forced myself not to react. I scooped up the bowl and dipped my fingers into it as I moved back to him and tried not to shrink under his furious glare.

  “You could make this easier on both of us,” I offered as I held my hand out, threatening him with the ink. “Or I can make you powerless to answer me. I know a man like you isn’t used to being powerless, but maybe it will be good for you.” I waited and pursed my lips as he watched me through cold, angry eyes.

  “If you curse me, there will be no one who can save you from my wrath,” he warned.

  “Is that so?” I mused, pushing my fingers against his chest as I drew the runes onto his shoulders, across his chest and abdomen. I stepped closer, drawn by the contact, and with my free hand, I began working at the button of his slacks. “I have to remove your pants, so be a good boy and hold still, hmm?” I bent down and set the ink bowl aside, expecting him to fight me; instead, he didn’t move. I pulled his pants down and realized my mistake as I looked at what his pants had concealed. I swallowed as I looked up and saw his eyes filled with an emotion I couldn’t put my finger on, and then I stifled a groan as I closed my eyes, even though he laughed at me for it.

  Who had a beautiful cock? Cocks simply were not beautiful, and yet, his was thick, long, and perfect. I shook my head to dispel that thought and then realized I hadn’t removed his shoes yet. As I bent my head down to look at his feet, my cheek rubbed over his cock, and I bolted backwards.

  “It’s just a dick, Fitzgerald,” he mused thickly. I lifted my eyes and blushed from my roots as I realized the object of our discussion was growing!

  “Stop that! Stop it,” I shrieked, covering my eyes as I pointed at it. “Put it away!”

  “Free my hands and I will,” he growled, and I frowned even deeper.

  “It doesn’t need to be growing for this, that’s uncalled for.”

  “A pretty girl just rubbed her cheek over it,” he replied easily. “It doesn’t give a fuck about propriety.”

  I dropped my hand and bit my lip as I turned, looking anywhere but at his cock. I moved closer as my heart raced, my mouth watered, and my throat longed to be filled. I really
sucked at kidnapping, and worse, being naked with him! Everything that had ever played out in my head decided to become one big porno in that moment, which was the worst thing I could be thinking of right now. My sex heated and my body tightened with unsated need, a need he could easily satisfy.

  I lowered myself, refusing to acknowledge his cock as it bobbed a firm hello like a happy puppy. I unlaced his shoes and tried to pull them off, but he wouldn’t meet me halfway. I backed up, looked at him, and shook my head.

  “The book says we have to be naked—together.”

  “Ask me if I care, little girl,” he returned thickly, as if he’d eaten the gravel from outside and it had become lodged in his throat. “This is a dangerous situation you have us in, one I didn’t ask to participate in. You’re naked, I’m hard. You also suck at kidnapping, but I bet you suck dick a lot better.”

  “You’re an asshole,” I snapped, spinning around to retrieve the ink before moving away from him. I dipped my fingers into the warm mixture, brought them up, and painted the matching runes to Lucian’s on my body. I tried to ignore his glares and focused on the spell, chanting as I painted my waist and my arms.

  I was so engrossed with what I was doing that time held no meaning. I smirked once the last rune was placed and turned around, only to come face to face with a wide, tattooed chest.

  I looked up into midnight eyes and screamed.

  Chapter 3

  Hands wrapped around my throat as I was picked up and pushed against the wall, hard. My head hit, bouncing against it as lights exploded in my vision. How the fuck did he get free? My hands scrabbled against his, scratching his hands as I struggled to get free, but he held me in place as his body pressed against mine.