Chapter 17

T he following day, I was in an unusual mood. I woke up with my mind set on repaying Greyson for our dinner date. He laid on his back with his arm behind his head, snoring away in his sleep. From what I’ve learned about Greyson, he slept naked because werewolves’ blood ran hot. Albeit not hot enough to care about what their mates needed.

I placed kisses along his warm skin as my wondrous hand drifted down the taut, muscular slope of his stomach. The tufts of curly black hair beckoned me. My hand slipped through his soft hair, causing Greyson’s breathing to shorten as he sighed. My heart thudded behind its cage as my fingers skimmed over his rigid dick. I was many things, but a liar wasn’t one of them. It was beautiful. A shade lighter than his tanned skin and long enough to reach my hidden spot.

And I would be mad If I didn’t say my mouth was moist with the thought of tasting him.

Positioning myself close to his cock, I wrapped my mouth around his enormous head, sucking him down to the base. The taste of lemon and salty sweat filled my mouth and made my core pulse. My hand worked in tandem with my mouth, covering the area I couldn’t reach. Greyson moaned, making the edges of my lips curl into a smile. I knew he would appreciate my gesture. Closing my eyes, I made my way back to the tip and was about to suck him back down when I was pulled off of him.

Greyson’s hands enclosed my face, making it hard to move.

“What do you think you are doing?” he asked, and I thought the question was stupid.

“I—I,” I stammered over my words. Even with Greyson’s hands on my face, I felt the heat of shame flush across me.

I continued, “I was trying to show you how much I appreciate you…I just thought.”

“A simple thank you would have been better,” he said, removing his hands from my face. “I’m not comfortable with…doing that...”

With those last words, he turned away from me, pulling the comforter over his body. I was paralyzed with my eyes glued to his back. Was I that bad? My magic coursed through me, ice cold, causing me to shiver. Hot tears collected in the corners of my eyes, but I wiped them away, leaving no trace of the offending liquid.

Slipping out of the bed and pulling on the only other outfit I had left. An oversized white shirt with a heavy green skirt that fell past my ankles. When I looked back at Greyson, he had gone back to sleep. Covering my soft stomach, I couldn’t help but wonder if he wasn’t attracted to me. Maybe it was my weight that turned him off. Back at home, that never stopped me from men wanting me. But maybe I was delusional, and it was just my royal position that drew them to me. Walking out the door, the open gathering area was filled with elders and children. Some of the shifters on the porch pointed and turned their scowls toward me, but I ignored them as I dragged my heavy body to the wood pit where Hawk was working on lunch for the pack.

“Hey, Shorts,” he called out as I stood by the pit. “Did you sleep well last night? You look like a ghost.”

I tried to crack a smile, but it felt fake and stretched. “I’m good. It’s just, you know, human problems.”

“Well, nothing beats cooking to take away your problems,” He smiled. As much as I wanted to return the gesture, I couldn’t bring myself to do so. It felt as if the thin thread of magic that was holding Greyson and me would snap, and I would hate to give the pack a show.

I nodded, which was enough for Hawk as he took it as a sign to continue with small talk. Since he was nothing but nice to me, I pretended to listen, but my mind was still in the little room with Greyson’s back toward me. As we prepared the corn soup, Hawk’s mother joined us, taking some of the weight off of me.

Hawk had given me the job of watching the flour they would use as crackers. I hadn’t heard when Kathleen stood beside me, bumping her shoulders into mine.

“So, tell me about how your night went. Was it magical? I made sure to beat it into Greyson that he was supposed to be on his best behavior.”

I opened my mouth to lie, but I decided to be half truthful. “It was wonderful. The food, the atmosphere, and him. He was a gentleman through and through.”

I tried to smile, but it came out as a smirk. Kathleen’s eyes bore into me. Her gray orbs made me believe she knew I was gazing over the truth, but luckily, the pack gathered near the pit with their plates for food.

One by one. Children, men, and women came through the line. Greyson had finally appeared as he spoke to some of the pack members on their porch with his back once again to me. I was so preoccupied with watching Greyson with his pack that I didn’t notice when a small child, no more than six years old, trudged up to me, almost as if I was a monster, and I missed his plate. We both stood watching the toasted brown chips as they fell to the ground.

The child’s eyes filled with tears as he cried. His father, who was next to him, bent down to comfort the child as Kathleen and I stood watching. When he stood up, his harsh glare landed on me.

“Why would you do that?” the man said through clenched teeth.

It wasn’t enough that I dropped the poor boy’s chips, but now I had to deal with his irate father, who hated me for being myself.

“I’m sorry. My mind was elsewhere,” I said to the child, dismissing his father, which I might as well have spoken to the father because the little boy shook as his wide eyes stared at me.

“Mark,” Kathleen interjected. “This was an honest mistake. Kota can have more if he likes.”

“Kathleen, we already have to stretch our resources for…” Mark paused to cast a hateful glare at me. “Others, and now she’s wasting our food.”

“She’s not wasting food. She belongs here with us and Greyson as much as you and I,” Hawk said with his arms crossed over his white shirt.

Even with my snark retort forming in my mind, I couldn’t unglue my tongue from the roof of my mouth.

“Mark,” Kathleen said, her red lips pushed into a frown.

“Mark, what are you doing?” Greyson said as he joined us finally. He took a clean plate, scooped up some chips, and gave it to Kota. “See, problem solved.”

Kota smiled through his wet face and went to hide behind his father’s leg as he watched me like a hawk.

Greyson continued, “My mate was just helping Mark. Next time, let’s exercise some compassion.”

“Learn to control her, or I’ll have to speak with Oni about her,” Mark spoke through his clenched teeth.

“Her name is Kaydian, and I think you forget I’m the Alpha in the pack. Not my uncle,” Greyson said without taking his eyes off Mark. “Unless you would like to challenge me.”

Mark frowned as he looked down his nose with his cold eyes fixed on Greyson. He turned away with Kota tailing him, but not before my ears picked up “ filthy human waste .”

Kathleen placed her arm around me and took the spoon from my vise grip. “Mark is a short-tempered fool. Don’t mind him.”

“It’s okay,” I said when my tongue finally unglued from the roof of my mouth. “It goes with the territory, I guess.”

Greyson came up to me. His blue shirt clung to him like a second skin as he hugged me. Which made my insides scream and quiver. He grabbed my hands and kissed the back of both of them.

“I’m sorry, Kay,” he said. Those enormous hazel eyes landed on me, making my knees buckle. “You shouldn’t have gone through that…or what I did this morning. It’s just?—”

“Greyson!” came the deep voice of his uncle from across the clearing. He stood on the porch of his home with one hand on the doorknob and the other on the door frame.

I wish he would tell his uncle to go fuck off, but Greyson turned pale as he kissed me on the cheek and ran off to him.

“Let’s finish feeding these children, and then we can take a break. Maybe I can show you what I’ve sown for the market tomorrow,” Kathleen said with a big smile.

“Okay, that sounds great,” I said.

Since I’ve been here, everyone, except for Joseph Hawk, hawk for short, and Hawk’s mother, Kathleen Hawk, were the only two people who didn’t act as if I had leprosy. The nerve of them. In six days, I had seen more people turn their noses up at me than I have in my lifetime. One of them even mentioned my weight while Greyson’s uncle stood far away from me with a sullen stare geared toward me. No one in my coven or the other covens would dare to even blink the wrong way at me, much less blatantly be disrespectful. I’d bitten my tongue so many times I was shocked not to have bitten through it.

A single tear fell from my eyes, and I regretted it the moment it happened. Panic squeezed the air right out of my lungs, leaving me gasping for air. My knees shook, and I almost collapsed if it wasn’t for me sitting on the rock. I probably would have landed face-first in the muddy bank.

No, I wanted to say, and if I didn’t bond with Greyson soon, I fear the curse will return with revenge.

“Kaydian!” Greyson yelled out. His long legs ate the distance between the river and the massive rock I sat on, leaving Hawk floating in a world of his own. He looked peaceful, at least.

“I can’t get wet!” I hissed out, causing Greyson to stop and cocked his head to the side.

“Sorry, I was getting a bit too eager,” he said. His dimples deepened when he smiled, causing my core to clench.

Dammit!

Pulling my legs to my chest, “I’m sorry. I was thinking about how jealous I was of you and Hawk. I love swimming. Me and Del…”

“Whose Del?”

“She’s my best friend. She’s my Hawk,” I said, smiling as I thought about the times we ran away to swim for hours on end. “We would spend almost all day swimming until our muscles were sore enough to cramp. She knows all of my secrets…a little too much. She’s always been there for me through thick or thin…and she gets on my nerves, but I wouldn’t trade her for anyone else.”

“We found this spot by the river close to the cas…village and marked it as our hiding spot. We skipped school there.” Chuckling, hoping he hadn’t heard my slight slip up. “Oh, I had my first kiss there as well. Talk about awkward.”

Greyson turned silent as he listened to me babble on about my memories. When I was done, his face had a pinched look as he watched Hawk floating in the water. Shifting on the rock, I wondered if I said something that was off-putting. What the fuck did I do now ? My hand molded with his, squeezing it slightly, bringing his attention back to me.

“Are you okay? You went silent on me.”

He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Sorry, it’s—never mind. I’m jealous of Del. She seems like a great friend.”

My mouth opened to respond, but he already jumped off of the rock. He undressed as I sat there and tried not to stare at his hard dick. Not that it mattered, seeing as all he could stomach was a chaste kiss on the cheek. I wanted to ask him what about me repulsed him, but since Hawk was finally stumbling out of his little world on the water, it would have to wait. Hawk walked up behind Greyson, naked as the day he was born with a smile.

“Hawk and I are going for a run. Do you want me to walk you back to the village?”

Did I imagine him being upset? Maybe I was thinking too much about the situation. Greyson would tell me if something was bothering him. It was just my imagination getting the best of me. Without a second thought, I leaped off the massive rock and gave him a kiss on his lips. When I pulled away, his tan skin became the color of the Sacramento sunset, vivid red.

Every day I stay here, I fall deeper…

“The tip of your nose is as red as Grey’s, Shorts!” Hawk chuckled.

I hated that nickname at first, but it grew on me…not that I would ever let them know.

A princess must have some secrets.

Hawk, Greyson, and the other shifters were just as looming as the trees at night. Come to think of it, everyone in the village, except for the children, was taller than me. Hawk’s large bronze hand landed on Greyson’s shoulder with a wet sound. His gray eyes danced in the sun. The stalk difference always made me wonder about Greyson’s parents. The only thing he told me about his parents was that they passed away when he was young. No backstory or his mother’s name. And a fat chance of me getting it out of Hawk or his mother. They’re just as tight-lipped as Greyson.

“No, I’m fine. You guys go ahead. I’ll walk back home.”

Greyson slipped his hand into mine. Our fingers intertwined as he stood there, appearing unsure of himself. My magic almost slipped out the way it jumped for joy, but standing here just touching his warm skin was heaven…it felt like home.

“Are you sure? I could take you back home. Do you have enough of the spray on?”

I raised up on my tippy toes before he could pull away and planted a kiss on his cheek this time. Safe and innocent.

“I have enough of that smelly deodorizer,” I said.

After I told Greyson a loose lie about losing one on my journey here, he immediately found some among the pack. No one has recognized that I’m a witch so far. Not even Greyson’s grumpy old uncle, who would surely snatch me from this realm and deliver me to the underworld.

“I—shit,” Greyson replied. “I forgot about the deodorizer.”

Hawk, who was watching with a huge grin on his baby face, patted his back.

“Come on, Grey. The sooner we go, the quicker you can get back to being with Shorts,” Hawks said with a haughty smile.

Greyson asked one more time before he pulled away. He stood there for a minute before Hawk grabbed his arm and dragged him away.

Not wanting to go back to the village. I returned to my rock and laid down. The slosh of the water and the birds sang a tune I couldn’t resist, and I drifted off to the dream world.

A high-pitched squeal woke me out of my nap as I shot up from the awkward position. The sudden movement sent me flying off the rock as the kink in my back throbbed. Note to self: using a rock as a makeshift bed is bad. My body trembled as I focused to get a hold of my emotions and my magic. Luckily, I could rein in my magic before it reached out and killed everyone.

A minute passed by as I sat on the floor with my wrinkled forehead as I tried to figure out where the sound came. The squeal bounced around the woods again. This time, curiosity got the best of me. Or so I told myself . Honestly, I had nothing else to do but go back to that damn village and drum up a smile so fake that even the goddesses would believe me.

Tiptoeing through the woods was not my favorite pastime, as you can tell, but as I crept closer to the sound, it changed. The squealing had disappeared, and in its wake, the sound of multiple people moaning enticed me to move forward. It called me like a siren does its victims, and I desperately wanted to get there to see what the excitement was about.

Everything in me told me to turn around and go home, but if there was one thing I was good at, it was being nosey. The thick wooded bushes gave way to a small clearing by the edge of the water. Hiding behind one of the large trees by the clearing, I peeked out the side to see a couple in the middle of having sex…no this was beyond sex.

My face flushed with want as I watched the little squealer squirm while her lover had their head stuck between her thick blonde thicket of hair that surrounded her pussy. Blondie, as I so affectionately named her, was a woman from the village who wouldn’t spare me a glance when I walked by her, but that didn’t matter because I was going to take something from her for myself as a little payback for her rudeness.

With her back bowed, Blondie whimpered as her tan hand dug into her lover's inky black curly hair, holding them in place. “Oh god!” she whimpered as I thanked Youna for being close enough to hear every word that fell from her cherry-colored lips. Something about watching the pair embolden me. I’m not a stranger to masturbating by any means, but this would be the first time watching someone have sex while doing it. My hand skimmed down my curves until it slipped under the waistband of my pants, finding my fiery pussy. If Greyson won’t kneel, then this will have to do for now . My fingers slowly glided into my pussy until they were coated with my essence. Two fingers into my needy pussy, leaving my thumb to play with my sensitive clit. With my eyes half dimmed, Blondie flipped Curly onto her back. The glint in her eyes told me this wasn’t their first go around. Curly chuckled as she grabbed Blondie’s muscular thighs and helped position her right above her mouth.

“Quit playing around. We have to get back soon!” Blondie said with a mischievous smile.

“As you wish, my love,” the curly feminine voice said right as she placed a kiss on her wet pussy. The sound was sloppy and erotic. As I watched the blonde lover’s pussy glisten against the moonlight, it made me bite my bottom lip. As I held back my whimper, speeding up my fingers, pulling and teasing my swollen clit. Her lover wrapped her arms around her thick thighs, controlling Blondie from moving her drenched pussy from her mouth. Curly was out to kill her blonde lover as she inched her down onto her mouth. Curly was faster as she removed her mouth with a pleading whimper from Blondie. She ran her pink tongue along her inner thighs, causing Blondie to pinch her tan nipples and whine her hips to get Curly’s mouth back to her aching pussy. The slow, tortuous ascent to her apex made her whine out, “Please Kathleen…Please I—” Curly pink tongue snaked out and licked her soaked slit as Blondie looked ready to crumple in bliss. Her hazel eyes were narrowed to slits, with her mouth agape as curses fell from her plump lips.

Wait…Kathleen…Hawks mother!

This new information should have sent me running, but I was caught up in the lovers’ tryst. My fingers trembled as the cooler air caressed my essence soak pussy. The fiery sensation left me feeling warm as more blood pooled my clit. A hazy glaze covered my vision as the heated

Especially as Kathleen glued her mouth to Blondie’s pussy as she feasted on the delicate, soaked flesh. Blondie’s hand connected with Kathleen’s curls as she rode her mouth. Kathleen was out to kill her lover as she slid herself up and down onto her mouth. Chasing her lover’s tongue movements with each buck of her hips. It was breathtakingly mesmerizing. Her breath hitched as her eyes shuttered closed. She was almost there as her teeth bit into the soft flesh of her plump bottom lip. I envied her. I thought as my legs shook when I pinch my swollen clit. Kathleen’s moans grew hungrier as she gave Blondie free rein of her mouth. A subtle tremor rolled through Blondie, “Yes, I’m about to?—”

Her words were cut off as a firm hand wrapped around my mouth and another around my waist, breaking my concentration on Kathleen and Blondie. My body struggled to get the intruder to let me go so I won’t miss our—Blondie’s final blow.

“Kaydian, stop!” Greyson hissed in my ears.

The pathetic whine that tumbled out of my mouth was muffled by Greyson’s powerful hand. My elbow connected with his steel stomach in hopes he would put me down, but all he did was hoist me higher on his chest. Asshole! If he would just touch me…kiss me or something! As I swung my feet in the air, I couldn’t feel the ground until he placed me on my two feet in his small brown and yellow room.

“I’m so disappointed in you,” he said as he ran his hand through his hair. “Invading Kathleen’s and Sidney’s privacy…listen, I know it’s different here in the village from your home, but some things are sacred.”

Reeling from his words, I asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Greyson opened his mouth, but the words seemed to have died on the tip of his tongue. His frown returned as he said, “I think I’m going to sleep over at Hawk’s house. Hopefully, his mother hadn’t noticed.”

Panicking, I tried to fix the mess. “Greyson! I’m sorry I—They were having sex in public, Greyson. It can’t be that sacred if they’re willing to risk getting caught.”

Greyson’s frown deepened, “And that makes it right? Using their time as your personal entertainment to…”

Greyson shook his head. “It’s wrong no matter how you twist it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have to watch other people have sex if my mate cared enough to touch me?” I regretted the words the moment they fell from my lips.

“I’ve always dreamt of how I would meet my mate, and how we would learn about each other together, Kaydian. Just knowing you’ve been with someone else…I’ll see you in the morning.” Greyson said before he abruptly turned to leave.

The little voice of reason told me to haul him back to the bedroom and apologize, even if it meant begging, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so. Throwing myself onto the bed. The hot tears left a trail of searing regret and embarrassment. At that moment, I missed my Del, my mother, Sera, Luc, Merrell, the coven, and hell, even my father. I missed my little enchantment room… my books and my paintings…my life.

Maybe I made the wrong choice to stay here. In the dark recess of my mind, I can see the three sisters, with their dark hoods risen, shaking their heads at me.