Chapter 11

Evie

Barataria Preserve, Marrero, Louisiana

A s her mystery man—no, she corrected herself, her Cole —gaped at the suddenly reformed forest around them, Evie almost felt like the Earth started turning again. Without those fiery emerald eyes on her, holding her hostage in their depths, she could breathe, her lungs finally taking in air once more. She was shocked at the forest’s reclamation since she had never executed magic on that astronomical a scale, but it was what she had almost agreed to while wrapped in his arms that actually froze the blood in her veins. That pet name said in his raspy voice, that spike of lust she knew they both felt when he touched her, almost had her agreeing to go with him. To leave the forest. Her family. Her home .

“I can’t go with you,” she responded, tugging at her hand. “I just met you. And this place is my home. My family is here. I’m not leaving.” She pulled at her hand again, knowing if she could get herself free of his touch that maybe the world would go back to normal again. Her palm rasped against his, and, for a second, she thought she was about to go free.

But then his fingers tightened around hers, and Cole turned back to her. And there went her oxygen once more in the face of his too bright eyes and beautiful features. “Angel, you said it yourself; I’ve been with you all your life. You can trust me.” She opened her mouth, and he shook his head at her. “So trust me when I tell you that you need to come home with me. If you stay, you could be in danger. I won’t leave you here and,” he paused, glancing around him, his face crinkling in amusement before he finished, “I was not made for camping.”

If she thought he was incredible when he was serious, he was even more astounding in happiness. Holy Crone Mother, his smile practically stopped her heart; she wanted to see more of it. Then his words trickled into her consciousness, and she frowned as she considered them. They didn’t make sense. She steeled her backbone and argued, “Why would I be in danger if I stayed in the place where I've spent my entire life? Outside of meeting a random man trying to abduct me from my home in the middle of the night—” she gave him a pointed stare. “—I haven’t really faced a lot of surprising and dangerous situations here. What danger could I be in if I just stayed home?”

His eyebrows raised in shock. “Evangeline—” “Evie,” she corrected, smirking as he rolled his eyes at her. “Fine. Evie. The forest is not the danger. It’s the people who are going to come looking for you now that I’ve found you.”

If she was confused before, she was upside down now. “Wait. Now that you’ve found me? You were actually looking for me? Also. What people? Why would they be looking for me? And, again, what does you finding me have to do with anything?” Her voice rose angrily on the last question.

Cole scraped one long-fingered hand through his hair, and Evie tried not to get distracted at the thought of what those hands could undoubtedly do to her body. Focus, Evie. It’s time to focus. She heard him mumble something that sounded suspiciously like, “of course she had to be stubborn,” before he raised his voice to an audible level. “Evie, you just raised an entire fucking forest from a construction site. Rerooted centuries old trees, grew vines and flowers from nothing. Picked up machines that weigh at least a hundred tons. Have you ever done that before?”

He knew. He knew she had magic. How? The elders always made it sound like the general population’s belief in magic had died out long ago. Were they wrong? Or were they lying to protect the coven? It wouldn’t be the first time they had done something dangerous in the name of safety. She sputtered, wanting desperately to deny her magic and this sudden exercise of power on an exponential level, but she found herself fully unable to lie to Cole. “No. No, I’ve never used magic on that level.” Her voice was quiet as she stared around them at the reclaimed land. “I didn’t know I could.”

Nodding emphatically, he pushed further, crowding back into her space. “Do you know why you were able to do that?” At the subtle shake of her head, his gaze lit up with victory and what looked like pride.

“Cole, I can’t leave my home,” she rasped, and his victorious look vanished, the corners of his mouth turning down in a small scowl. Even though he looked irritated, he couldn’t seem to stop touching her. One hand wrapped around the back of her neck, tugging her into the warmth of his body, while the other ran down her side. She shivered as he brushed the side of her breast, and she felt more than heard the groan that rumbled from his chest. “I’m safe here.” Although she wouldn’t leave with him, she couldn’t just let him go. She had to see him again. “But you could come back? Just because I’m not going with you doesn’t mean that this is the last time we have to see each other.” Gods, she needed this to not be the last time she ever saw him.

He didn’t respond, his fingers continuing their steady agonizing pace down the length of her body. His eyes were steady on hers.

She suspected he was trying to distract her and, although she hated to admit it, it was working. “Cole,” she sighed as he shifted the hand on her neck to cup the back of her head. “Please... ” She didn’t even know what she was asking for, but she knew she needed him more badly than she had ever wanted anything.

His touch may have started out as a distraction, but it had taken on a life of its own. And it wasn't just affecting her. Cole seemed to have lost the thread of their conversation just as thoroughly as she had. “Just one taste,” he mumbled to himself, and then his mouth was on hers.

She melted against him as he slid his tongue along her lips, parting hers. Seizing her by the waist, he lifted her from the ground, pressing her body along the length of his. A throaty moan rolled out of her, the sound muffled under his sensual assault.

Cole nipped her lower lip aggressively before devouring her mouth desperately, his tongue twining sensuously along her own as one hand gripped her ass. His entire body was shaking at the intensity… no, that must be her because he was strong and stable under the legs that she had wound around his waist.

No. She wasn’t shaking. Evie pulled back, confused. It took them both a moment to realize that it wasn’t them shaking but the very ground beneath them. What was happening? The rumble grew louder, the earth’s shaking intensified, and, from outside the regrown section of forest, she could hear screams and high-pitched sounds. What the hell is happening?

Without a word, Cole turned on his heels, arms holding her tight where she was still wrapped around his waist, and sprinted for the tree line.

“What are you doing?" Evie panicked, shoving at his chest. "Put me down!”

He barely spared her a glance, his long legs eating up the distance to where the final trees stood between them and the outside world. When he spoke, his voice was terse. “We need to get the fuck out of here. Something’s wrong, and I need to keep you safe, Angel.”

Although that name in his voice nearly did her in, she wasn't going to cave. He still needed to put her down. He didn’t get to tell her what to do, and he definitely wasn't deciding where she lived. “Cole,” she started sternly. “Put me down. Now. My magic is here.” Only partially true since she drew her magic from the moon; it was just easier for her when there was plenty of fauna and flora around. He didn’t need to know the details right now, though. Not as he was trying to kidnap her from her home. “My family is here. My life is here. And I’m not fucking leaving just because you ordered me to.” Her voice rested heavily, sarcastically, on the word “ordered,” letting her would-be abductor know exactly what she thought about his plan. When he refused to drop her, she slowly gathered magic to her, drawing from the moon’s rays and whatever that dark power was, the one that lived deep inside her and had been trying to get out since she saw him. She gave him one last warning before she unleashed her wrath on him. “Cole. I mean it. Put me down. Right. Now.”

He maintained his hold on her, and her temper redlined. Her lust transformed into rage, and she felt like she could level mountains in her anger. “How dare you try and take me from my home without my consent?” she hissed, drawing the vines from the forest floor to wrap around his lower body, their firm hold forcing him to a stop.

His grip on her upper thighs stayed firm, though, even as he swore violently at her, the forest, the vines, and somebody called the Moirai.

The trees around them bent inwards, those nearest to them extending towards Cole. He grimaced in pain and rage as their thick limbs squirmed in between his torso and Evie, forcing distance between them. His hold loosened just a bit, and the branches pushed more firmly against her stomach. She wiggled and, finally, felt his hand slip on her right thigh. With a firm press of her hands against his chest, she shoved backwards, her legs sliding down his hips towards the ground.

Just as she felt the toes of one foot graze the forest floor, Cole growled, a deep, almost inhuman sound, and his eyes flamed a deep radioactive blue, erasing all traces of the familiar green. The limbs between the two of them decayed, bark flaking rapidly until they turned to dust falling away in the January wind. She gaped as the vines were subject to the same treatment, and his hand locked around the leg that had escaped, wrapping it back around his waist impatiently. Snapping her gaze back to his face, she saw a crown of blue fire so dark it was almost black sitting on his head as he stared down at her imperiously, no trace of the man who had been lost for her just moments before in his glowing eyes.

“You shouldn’t have tried to get away from me.” He continued his march toward the treeline; her heart plummeted with each step. The further they got, the less chance of escape she had. Although she had never been outside of the forest, she felt almost certain that wherever Cole lived didn’t have trees, vines, and other greenery to summon to her aid. “You should have come with me voluntarily.” He leaned down and whispered in a voice raw with emotion, “No one, no force in the Underworld or on Olympus, not even you, powerful little witch, can separate us. You’re fucking mine, Angel.” And with a firm press of his lips to her cheek, he took the final step past the trees, and she left the safety of her home for the first time in memory.