Chapter 26

Cole

Barataria Preserve, Marrero, Louisiana

“ A lright, then.” Squaring his shoulders, Cole stepped a foot forward towards the barrier, bracing himself for the shock of pain. His toes went through like the protective measure didn’t exist. No damage whatsoever. “Fuck, yeah!” he shouted gleefully, plunging them through the magic into a world where the forest was still except for a mysterious rushing sound above them. He tilted his head back, glancing towards the night sky, as he continued forwards. His eyes widened as he took in the cause of the noise.

The rushing sound was bats. Thousands upon thousands of bats flooded the air, practically blacking out the moon and stars. He nudged Evie, nodding upwards. “I’ve lived in Louisiana all my life, and I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“Did you know that Western cultures consider bats to be evil omens and harbingers of death whereas many countries in Southeast Asia consider them to bring good fortune?” Her question was contemplative, her voice low—probably still back in that clearing with her beloved coven sister—but her eyes shone with happiness as she peered at the colony of bats flying away from the witches' clearing with singleminded focus.

“Which do you think it is?” he asked, sauntering towards where he had abandoned the car earlier that day, calmer now than he had been on his initial tear through the forest. They had spent the last day in varying states of arousal, irritation, and fear; if someone had asked him what meeting the woman from his dreams would look like, nothing that had happened since the construction site would have made the list of options at all. None of it mattered, though, now that Evie was in his arms, chattering about folklore of all things. Their situation was far from perfect, but listening to Evie made the world feel right. He wanted nothing more than to hear her opinions on superstitions. On everything.

She chewed her lip. “I don’t know. I like to think it’s a bit of both. That they're bearers of good fortune to those who intend only good but harbingers of death to those who would cause harm.” A laugh bubbled from her, a welcome sound after the tearful exchange with Sandrine. “A bit vindictive, isn’t it?”

Cole shook his head, long legs eating up the distance. “I don’t think so. Seems more pragmatic than vindictive.” It also sounded very much like the perception of death the goddess of the underworld would have, particularly one who balanced death and life-based magic sources the way she did. “Do no harm and all that Hippocratic bullshit.”

“ Primun non nocere ,” she murmured.

“You know Latin medical creeds?” He couldn’t have been more shocked if she had invited him to participate in a blood orgy on the full moon.

With a small chuckle, she finally turned away from the bats still careening overhead, her eyes meeting his. “Which part of that is surprising to you? The Latin? The medical knowledge?”

“Honestly, a little bit of both.”

“I like to read and learn.” Gaze growing distant, she mumbled, “After each memory reversion attempt, I was always so sick. The elders never told anyone what specifically was wrong with me, mostly because we’re generally forbidden from using magic like that against another witch. So my sisters were warned to stay away because an illness could potentially devastate the coven. We don't have the natural immunity that most humans do, so they were careful to keep their distance. Well, all of them did except Sandrine. She would sneak to the doorway of wherever I was laid out and sing to me. But the elders would shoo her away pretty quickly.” She was quiet for so long he thought she had fallen asleep until she added, “I was so lonely and, well, books were pretty much my only consistent companion during those times. Besides you, of course.” A fleeting smile touched her lips before vanishing.

His fingers tightened on her thigh in rage. All of his control was now dedicated to not destroying the sadistic fucks—her coven elders and the Witches’ Council alike—who put his witchling through near-constant torture in an effort to, what, fulfill some ancient prophecy? Preserve and protect their way of life? Despicable.

Unfortunately, she misread his fury as exhaustion. “You don’t have to carry me all the way,” she said, unraveling her arms from around his neck and pushing against his chest.

Although he was still furious about her kind’s reckless disregard for her life, his caveman brain—the part of him that thought it was an excellent idea to throw Evie against one of these trees and fuck her until she couldn’t even remember all the pain those assholes had put her through—must have taken over his speech center because, before he even thought about how to respond, he was growling, “Angel, you’re not going anywhere, so put your damn arms back around my fucking neck.”

“But I know that I can’t be light to carry.” She waved her hand across her body. “Although all bodies are beautiful, even I know that I have more body than some of my sisters. Plus, you expended a huge amount of magic earlier, which must have made you tired. You can put me down; it’s okay. I won’t be offended.”

It looked like growling was the only form of communication available to him anymore. “First off, your body isn’t just beautiful. It’s a goddamn work of art that I want to worship for the rest of fucking time. Second off, that ‘more’ you’re talking about isn’t heavy to carry. Third, and I’m not gonna say it again,” he rumbled, staring into her piercing eyes, now back to their normal stormy color. “Put those arms back around my neck right now.”

She looked shocked then pleased, a slow smile breaking across her face as she followed his order. “Are you always this bossy?” Even though she was being a tease, her arms were back around his neck and the happiness on her lips was finally reaching her eyes. After everything that had happened, that was all that mattered. Well, that was what mattered now at least. Later, he would punish her for her sassy mouth.

“Nah.” He leaned in, nuzzling the delicate shell of her ear before nipping at her earlobe. She shivered against him, and his rationale for not finding a good tree stump to bend her over went pretty damn fuzzy. “Usually, I’m much worse.” It would feel so amazing to sink into her beautiful little body, better still to feel her come all over him as he filled her up. He shook his head, trying to bring his thought back into focus.

A list. That's what he needed. A list of all the reasons he couldn't get distracted. One: they were on the run from witches who had committed unspeakable acts against his Angel. Two: he didn’t know whether the coven would follow them or if they even could follow, given the green army Evie had raised in her magnificent ire. Three, four, and five, respectively: she had just discovered a devastating secret about her past, left her beloved sister behind—even if it was only for the short term—and abandoned her entire life to come with him. It was not the right time for anything sexual. For now, he needed to be sensitive. He needed to remain focused. He needed to stop fucking staring at her breasts testing the fabric of the shirt she had borrowed from him.

Cole gulped, forcing his eyes away from her perfect tits, and kept his pace consistent as they reached the field he had raced through only hours ago. Even though his life had changed irrevocably in that time, the world around them didn’t seem to have gotten the memo since it still looked exactly the same. After checking both ways, he crossed the untraveled street, more careful now that Evie was in his arms, and passed into the tavern parking lot.

When he had parked, his car was the only one there. Now, though, the lot was crammed full of trucks, reliable old beaters, a few motorcycles, and even a local patrol car. The tavern was hopping, music and the scent of good food and cheap beer pouring through the open doors.

“You hungry?” he asked as her stomach growled audibly. Something something, the care and feeding of his woman was probably important. The voice in his head mumbling this advice sounded annoyingly like Hayden. In his head, he rolled his eyes at the future lecture he would undoubtedly receive from his best friend about caring for his woman; Hayden’s recommendations were better suited to scene aftercare than general caretaking. “We should probably put a bit more distance between us and the forest, but we can stop to eat if you need to.”

“Do you have food at your house?” After constant movement over the last 24 hours, an unexpected abduction, and some truly overwhelming revelations, he could hear her voice wobbling with tiredness, practically feel the exhaustion emanating from her. His chest squeezed uncomfortably at the realization that, without him, today would have just been just another normal day for her.

“Yeah, baby,” he chuckled. “I got food at home.” Balancing her weight on his hip, he used his free hand to depress the car’s handle before sliding her into the bucket seat. She relaxed into the deep seat, drawing her knees to her chest.

When he dropped into the driver’s seat, she was already watching him sleepily, one hand extended towards him. Fuck, he loved that she reached out to him like she hated being separated from him for the amount of time it took him to walk around the car. In all his thoughts of what his reaction to his fated wife would be, this possessiveness, this complete loss of irrational thought about her, around her, never crossed his mind as a possibility. Evie was turning his world completely upside down, and he hadn’t even fucked her yet. He still remembered the taste of her on his fingers after she came, though, the feel of her thighs resting over his shoulders… at the memory of her body garbed only in his black sheets, her legs wrapped around his waist, her eyes hazy with desire, arousal fired through him. He opened his mouth to say something—he wasn't exactly sure what—but his throat seized around the words when he got a good look at her.

His witch’s eyes were closed, though, her hand resting against his arm. As much as he wanted her, as much as he imagined that she would love waking up to him inside of her in any way, there were far too many things they needed to discuss, including consent, safe words, and, oh, that little thing called their shared destiny, for him to dedicate himself to hearing her screams at this moment.

As he started the engine, he couldn’t help but lean over to kiss her forehead lightly. As he backed out of the parking spot, he couldn’t stop himself from brushing a rogue auburn curl behind her ear, his hand lingering against her cheek. And as, for the second night in a row, he drove back to New Orleans with Evie by his side, this time by her own choice—a fact that made him want to throw a whole ass party—he slid the delicate hand resting on his arm down to his own, so he could intertwine his fingers with hers for the short ride home.