Draven reached out to touch her, and she leapt backward. “Don’t.”
She couldn’t risk that he would try to influence her in any way. She was immune to magic, but she would not risk his life on the gamble.
Hurt flashed across his face before he could hide it, and she felt like a shit. “You have your freedom. You can live.”
A bitter laugh escaped him, the darkness he kept under wraps spilling through. “What life? I jump from woman to woman to man to feed like a parasite. My kind doesn’t get a happy ever after. If we stay with one person, they usually die within five years, unable to withstand our touch. We’re doomed to be hunted and locked away—like an obsession.”
He took a step toward her, and it was all she could do not to skitter away, the door thumping her back as she smacked into it. “You don’t want this. You kept your distance from me for a reason, never touching, never getting close.”
“Because I want you too much!” He stared down at his hands in hatred. “No matter who I touch, they’re influenced by my magic.” Then he glanced up at her, a sliver of hope shining in his eyes. “Until you.”
“You don’t know that.” She glared at the other guys in helpless anger when Draven stepped closer, blocking her escape. She flinched when he edged closer. “Stop. You don’t want to do this.”
“Oh, you’re very much wrong.” He gave her a genuine smile, not one of his devil-may-care grins. “I’ve been wanting to do this from the moment you saved me from a nest of gremlins and sang by my side. Kiss me.”
“No.” When he leaned closer, Morgan closed her eyes and turned her head to the side. When a heartbeat passed then two and nothing happened, she gingerly cracked open her eyes to find him smiling down at her, only an inch separating their faces.
“Kiss me.”
Morgan found herself leaning forward to obey the compulsion until her natural immunity kicked in, and she jerked back with a scowl.
Only to find Draven grinning down at her like a loon, the spark of hope in his eyes making her breath catch.
He lifted a hand, running a finger down her jaw, his hand coming to rest against her throat. “Kiss me.”
Morgan leaned forward without a thought, wrestling for control, only stopping just shy of touching his lips. “No.”
She found herself picked up and spun around, his whoop of joy making her smile. When he slowed and slid her down his body, she found herself plastered against his surprisingly muscular chest.
“Morgan.”
She jerked her head up to find the smile wiped from his face.
“Tell me no.”
She opened her mouth but couldn’t seem to find any words as his head slowly lowered. She expected him to ravish her mouth, expected to be pulled under his spell. Instead, his lips barely touched hers, but the impact was enough to knock her on her ass.
Her lips tingled, wanting more, her skin aching to brush up against him, and she pried open her eyes to glare at him, but feared it ended up being more of a besotted, lovesick puppy-eyed look. She was going to accuse him of using his magic on her, but his dazed expression shut her up.
Whatever he did to her was completely mutual.
She glanced down at her arms and disappointment hollowed out her chest.
No mating marks.
Draven nudged up her chin with his knuckles. “You’ve placed your mark on my heart. The others will show up when they will.”
Morgan swallowed a lump in her throat, sure as hell hoping he was right. She couldn’t imagine her life without him—without any of them. They’d worked their way into her heart when she wasn’t looking. She didn’t have a clue how she’d been lucky enough to find them, but she had no intention of letting them go. She’d find a way to outwit the ticking bomb on her back and keep them safe, one way or another.
“We should go.” Ryder prowled toward the door, head cocked as he listened for a second before swinging it open.
Draven quickly kissed her forehead, then headed out first. “Follow me. We should be able to slip out a small service door on the roof without being noticing. They hadn’t secured it yet when I went to check.”
The others followed, Morgan bringing up the rear. She paused next to Ryder and held out her hand, wondering if he would accept what she was offering. One second he was by the door, the next he was inches away from her, his wonderful fresh scent wrapping around her, luring her to close the gap between them.
What he did next made her go all mushy inside—he set his hand into hers like she’d offered him the world. Morgan smiled up at him, threaded their fingers together, and allowed him to pull her out the door.
They weren’t spotted on the way to the roof. The service door Draven mentioned was nothing more than a rusted hatch, the guys barely to fit their broad shoulders through the small opening. The ladder was long gone, so they had to jump and pull themselves through. When she moved to leap, Ryder grabbed her around the waist and easily lifted her over his head. She gave a startled yelp, shooting him an annoyed glare, but her heart gave a betraying leap at the way his hands spanned her waist, a warm shiver going through her at the thought of those hands on other parts of her body.
She dragged herself through the latch, gulping fresh air, cursing the warm heat in her cheeks.
To her surprise, being outdoors didn’t relieve the oppressive atmosphere. The double moons were barely visible past the gloom, the air murky and dense. The guys split off in different directions to survey the rooftop, but Morgan was drawn to the south wall. As she neared the edge, a shadow pulled away from the wall, wrapping a hand around her mouth when she would’ve shouted an alarm, pulling her into a crouch and pinning her to the wall.
The moment he touched her, the magic surged from her bones, as if summoned.
Ward.
She stilled while Loki charged forward and nipped at his hand, a little growl vibrating through his whole body. Ward lifted his hand in surrender, retreating only enough for her to move, his eyes jumping from her to Loki, before giving a tiny nod to the little beast. He put a finger to his lips, then tipped his head to indicate over the wall.
With a nod, Morgan turned and peered over the edge…in time to see the elves drag one of the infected to a post a few yards away from the castle. They secured the struggling man with a bit of rope, then beat a hasty retreat back to the fortress, never once bothering to look up.
The soldiers stopped being of interest when a wisp of fog uncurled from the surrounding forest. She could see the man fight against his restraints, his screams muffled by a gag. When Morgan jerked to her feet, Ward kicked her legs out from underneath her. She hit the roof hard, the impact knocking the breath out of her. The air was like drinking water as she struggled to breathe, resolutely dragging herself toward the edge of the building…but it was too late.
Before she could act, the man was ripped from the pole and dragged screaming into the woods.
The guys came at a sprint, their interest in the scream stopping dead when they saw her struggling to breathe next to a man they didn’t recognize. Weapons were drawn faster than her eye could track, each of the guys spreading out, moving in synchronicity only made possible by years of practice.
“You’re leaving.” Ward ignored the guys as if they didn’t exist, staring at her for a few seconds longer, then nodding. “I will join you, but we need to go now.”
Chapter Fourteen
“They’re feeding them to the mist.” Morgan pointed over the wall to the post located near the forest. “Their experiments.”
She might as well not have bothered to speak, the guys were paying her no attention, their unflinching focus on Ward, and Morgan rose to her feet. “Do you think they offer them as some kind of sacrifice to keep the mist away?”
“Doubtful.” Ward rose to his full height next to her, and she was surprised to see he wasn’t much taller than herself. “More like the mist is a wild animal. They’ve fed it, so it returns to the same spot.”