I pulled off my shirt then, baring my naked top half to the world. Truthfully, I hadn’t thought it would work. The idea was idiotic if I was being honest with myself, but desire wasn’t too far an emotion from happiness, and desperate times called for desperate measures. To my surprise, the visual aid seemed to work, and Kade and the others turned their attention to me. Their eyes remained glazed, and laughter still poured from them, but desire now swirled in their eyes as well, and I hoped it was enough.
A toadstool floated down now only a foot above Darian’s head, and I launched into action. Running at the siren, I jumped into the air and flicked the fungus away with the back of my hand before it could land on his silver hair. Where the toadstool connected with my skin, tingles bloomed, and within seconds, I couldn’t move my fingers.
Great, so they can paralyze us.Thankfully, I was only numb up to my wrist, but I wasn’t waiting to find out what would happen if a whole bunch of the toadstools landed on me.Oblivious to the murderous toadstool, Darian laughed and kept staring at me.
Sighing, I turned my attention to Asher and put on my best seductive expression. “You want to be happy? Grab the fae and I’m yours,” I purred teasingly into his ear. “But without the fae, you’ll get nothing.”
I almost fisted the air in triumph when Asher actually listened and lumbered toward Prince Azaren, throwing the fae over his shoulder. He moved slower than he ordinarily would have, but he wasmoving.
The fae books Locke and I had been holding were scattered on the ground, but I knew there wasn’t much I could do about that. The toadstools were getting closer, much too close, and we had to get out of there.
Bending down, I snatched up the four closest books, stacking them onto my arm that had the numb hand, and I turned to Darian and the others. They were still watching me as they laughed like they couldn’t tear their gazes from me.If I can’t break them free from the trance, I need to get them away from the toadstools and the yellow smoke.
“The first one to reach me gets me all to themselves,” I declared seductively. Well, I had meant to sound alluring anyway. In reality, it came out as more of a panicked order, and I had no hope it would work, but miraculously, they all nodded and followed after me.
I’d barely made it a few steps when Locke was reaching for my shoulder, but I dropped low before springing up again, avoiding his pale hand. As I moved forward, my gaze constantly flicked upward to scan above our heads for the falling fungi. The faster I moved, the faster the monsters chased me, and it wasn’t long before I was running and gliding between the trees, jumping over boulders and fallen logs.
Behind us, the toadstools fell to the ground, but as I ran past more of the giant toadstools, like they could sense us, they puffed out more trails of yellow smoke and spewed new baby fungi into the air. Down, down the little toadstools fell, their tiny mouths opening as eerie, childlike laughter spilled out, and on I ran, leading Kade and the others away from the danger.
As the monsters followed me, Locke never took to the sky and Kade never shifted, and I wasn’t sure whether to count that as a blessing. My lungs burned and legs ached, and I was starting to think we’d never escape the toadstools, when the sky began to clear, the toadstools thinning and the yellow smoke disappearing until all I could see was the tree line and the vibrant leaves of the trees.
Thank the Mother.
But I didn’t stop. Not even when we entered a clearing with lush grass and an inviting burbling brook in the distance. As we ran, Locke and the others became frustrated when they couldn’t catch me, their slower movements allowing me to stay ahead of them, and soon it wasn’t the toadstools I was running from. I’d thought once we were away from the yellow smoke, they’d regain their senses, but even though they’d stopped laughing, their eyes were desperate and wild as they ran after me. The happiness that had held them prisoner seemed to become overruled by desire as if by trying to get them to feel something else, I’d manipulated the magic somehow. The further I ran, the more I started to worry about what they’d do if they caught me.
“You can stop chasing me now!” I shouted back at them. “The creepy toadstools are gone!” But the monsters continued forward, their predatory gazes focused solely on me. I ran into a thick copse of trees, and for a moment, I couldn’t see the monsters. Then a hand gripped my waist, long fingers curling around my belly, and I shrieked as claws pressed against my abdomen. “Locke,” I squeaked.
The vampire spun me around brutally and pushed me to the ground, sending the fae books and my shirt flying from my grasp. My back thudded onto a thick pad of grass, and the air rushed from my lungs at the impact.
Locke stared at me hungrily, and I gasped as his top lip lifted, revealing his long, sharp fangs.
“Snap out of it!” I yelled as I started shuffling backward. “You know how you like to keep yourself at a distance and be all broody and shit? Yeah, I want that Locke back.”
Ignoring my plea, Locke dropped down, crawling over me with his long arms braced on the ground. There was no happiness in his expression now. The male was ruled by hunger and desire, and he looked scary as hell. Lifting my nonparalyzed hand from the grass, I fumbled for one of the knives at my hips. My frantic heartbeat pounded in my ears as Locke’s clawed fingers trailed to the marks on my arm where I’d dug my nails into my skin. He raked two fingertips through my blood and brought his fingers to his lips, sucking the blood off. Before he could reach down again, I managed to pull a dagger free, and I lifted it to his throat.
“You don’t want to do this,” I told him, my words shaky. “That yellow smoke the toadstools gave off messed with your mind.”
As he dropped his hand again, this time, his fingers brushed down the center of my pants. Swallowing, I pressed my blade harder against his throat. The sharp edge ate into his skin, and a trickle of black blood slid down his pale neck. He paused, and it was only then that I realized his eyes were clear. They were no longer hazy and unseeing but were a sharp onyx black that gave me chills.
A smile curved his perfect lips, and his gaze slid down my body. This time, I knew his actions were intentional. It was possible they had been the moment he’d grabbed me. It would explain why he’d caught up to me faster than the others. Because he’d regained his sense of self and remembered he had incredible vampire speed.
The knowledge that it was Locke who was touching me, therealLocke, made my body respond to him, but I didn’t remove my blade.
He leaned closer to me, his body hard between my thighs as he let my blade sink in deeper, and more blood trailed down his neck.
“S-Stop,” I said, wanting to take the blade away but still not willing to.
“You know what’s funny,” he said, his voice full of irony as his black gaze focused on my exposed neck and then fixed on my lips. “When I first realized how much you were affecting my brothers and me, I thought you were dangerous. That either you would tear us apart or we’d destroy you. But here you are with a blade to my throat after having saved us from whatever the fuck just happened back there.”
I smiled weakly, some of the tension leaving me. “Well, someone has to protect you four.”
His gaze lifted to my eyes, and the look was so intense that I wanted to turn away, but I couldn’t. He stared at me like I was a puzzle and he was trying to decipher the invisible clues written on my skin. Seconds passed excruciatingly slowly, but a shout from close by finally drew his attention away, and I let out a long breath.
“Fuckin’ Halced, what was that?” Asher asked as he emerged from a space among the surrounding trees. Prince Azaren was still bent over his shoulder, but there were twigs and leaves in the prince’s hair as if Asher had barreled through the forest, not caring that there was a living being over his shoulder as he raced after me. “One second I’m starin’ at a crushed fungus stuck to my boot, and the next I’m laughin’ like a lunatic.Thenall I remember is wantin’ to rail Sharachi against a tree.”
A grumble came from the opposite direction, and Kade appeared from behind a tree, scowling as he strode toward us. “I hate this place.”
Darian stepped into view near Kade, somehow still looking pristine despite his run through the forest. His blue gaze went straight to me and the blade I had pressed to Locke’s throat. “Whatever magic those toadstools gave off, it was powerful enough to make us forget ourselves. Locke, would you mind releasing our lovely Raine?” He seemed to think for a moment, then he smiled. “Or perhaps, I should be asking Raine to releaseyou.”
