My thunderous heart suddenly sputters like an old car engine trying to start. Every cell in my body vibrates with the anticipation of what he’ll do next. My fingertips twitch, trying to reach for him, but my muscles fail to move. Ripp throws his head back with a ravenous howl then tears through my denim shorts and any trace of my underwear. The clothes fall to the floor in ribbons, and a devilish smile paints his face.
My legs start to tremble, but he grips each ankle, holding them steady. He leans down, caressing one ankle with his tongue before working his way up with unrelenting licks and nips. I can’t tell his hands from his tongue and teeth. White spots appear in my vision as he reaches my thigh with his mouth and hands. One hand reaches above him, running his fingers across my center that’s already weeping for him. He swirls my arousal, working it to the swollen bundle of nerves, sending lightning strikes through my body. He’s forming a storm that will be named after him.
“Ripp,” I pant, feeling myself starting to crumble at his touch. He slides one finger into me, then two, pumping them into me, building into a ruthless rhythm.
“That’s it,” he moans. “Use my name. Tell me what you want me to do to you.” The air around me spins as he uses his other arm to bend me to the floor. The coldness of the wood below me sends my back arching into him, his fingers deepening with the movement. His mouth presses against me, sucking in my clit through his teeth and swirling his tongue against it.
“Ripp,” I cry out again as his fingers quicken and he presses them against the spot that will leave me a soaking mess beneath him. “Fill me. Fill me with your darkness and make me forget my own.” Tears brim at the corners of my eyes. I can feel my release mounting, but I need more. A strange vibration fills me then spreads over my body in a wave that doesn’t let up. The sensation laps at the shore of my body again and again. The hair on my body tingles as the feeling crosses over my skin, and I raise my head slightly to look down. Ripp growls into my center, and I see tendrils of shadow dancing over me.
I brace myself on my elbows, shaking as I adjust my weight against unsteady arms, not sure if they’ll continue to hold me upright. He lifts from me, just enough for me to see one shadow plunge into my entrance. His face glistens with my wetness as he smiles, and the shadow swells, filling me completely. I let out my own howl of pure pleasure from the sting of the stretch and a fullness I’ve never experienced. The shadow throbs inside me, tightening that coil at the base of my spine each time it expands. My moans grow into screams and my eyelids flutter. I’m so close to the edge, I’m about to go tumbling off.
A cool tingle brushes my lips. It feels like they’re about to go numb. When I peek open my eyes, I see a shadow waits there, begging for entrance. Ripp’s teeth grip my clit again, and when I open my mouth to release a moan, the shadow slams inside. My lips stretch around it, and my tongue struggles underneath. The unforgiving pace builds into a buzzing in body, growing louder with each thrust. Saliva pools around his shadow, dripping down my chin as the thickened tendril works its way in and out of my mouth. My cries of ecstasy gurgle around it as my body succumbs to the rush of pure desire flooding my veins. Molten desire pools from my core, coating Ripp’s face as he moves down to taste the gift he’s pulled from me.
My chest rises and falls in unsteady breaths. His shadows pull back into him like they were never there at all. I blink my eyes several times, waiting for my soul to come back into my body and for the feeling to return to my spent nerves. Exhaustion sets in like a heavy blanket, and I relax my arms to lie back on the floor. “Fuck me,” I whisper.
“I did,” Ripp answers. The voice seems far away, even though his face is now next to mine. I feel my weight lift, and the room shifts in my vision through heavy eyelids as he picks me up. “Now it’s time for you to rest, little bug.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
mattie
The frost-covered branches hang all around me, sending drifts of snow tumbling to the ground as I make my way through them.Thorns from the bramble snag and tear at the flimsy white cotton of my nightgown and bare skin.Everything about the dream feels hauntingly familiar, except I’m not running. Anxiety doesn’t gnaw at my bones. Instead, a sense of knowing seeps into them. I continue to walk towards the clearing I know waits for me. Every breath rises in a puff of steam that fades as I pass through it.
When I reach the treeless patch of woods, I’m not alone. The clearing is lit, snow reflecting bright white, though no light makes it through the cover of the trees. The witch stands in the center. Her silvery hair lightly sways in the winter breeze. Small pools of melted ice surround her bare feet where they touch the frozen ground, as though she’s been standing there awhile, waiting for me. “Child,” she speaks, her voice amplified in the small space. “It’s almost time.”
I nod my head in response, though I’m not sure what I’m agreeing to. My feet drag me closer to her, one careful step at a time until I can see her white eyes through strands of hair. Snow falls around us but doesn’t stick to any part of her. It seems to move around her before making its way to the ground.
“A promise was given,” she says, quieter now that I’m inches from her. “Your fate sealed.” Her mouth widens, revealing teeth that are yellowed and either broken or missing entirely. Unease pools in my stomach and slithers out to every muscle, tying them in knots.
“You knew?” I ask, my words barely a whisper. I’m afraid the wind will carry them away and she won’t hear them at all. I reach out to her but recoil my arm when I see shadow-like veins crawling under my skin.
“I did.” She clucks her tongue, the noise sharp against the deafening silence. “Some puzzles are meant for the pieces to solve.” The words spin inside my head. Anger rises from my chest to my throat, but she clucks her tongue again and shakes her head.
“The relic?” The question comes out choked. The words are forced to move around the scream I’m holding at bay.
“It’s back in its rightful place with the beings it came from.” My eyes go wide. “But not the one from which it came. However, the promise still stands.” Relief from the answer to my unspoken question washes over me. It wasn’t him. A thousand more questions invade my mind, but I know that’s not why I’m here.
“Why?” My voice crackles and my body trembles, though I’m not sure if it’s from her words or the cold.
“Some make deals for power and others for revenge, each cursed. You, my child, must bear the burden of both sides of a deal you did not make, but one you were destined to fulfill.” She turns her head and points with one spindly finger. My gaze follows it to a small pool of water in the snow that hadn’t been there a moment before. “Look.”
My legs follow her orders, turning me towards the pool. I try to fight against it, but I only manage to drag my feet as my body continues to shuffle forward. As I get close enough to see my reflection, antlers appear in the water, giving way to the skull of a deer staring back at me. Between the antlers sits a crown of rusted barbed wire and tangled vines. Green light burns in the black sockets. Shadow and mist swirl through a storm of thorned branches and bramble where my body should be. I scream, but there’s only silence. My lips form the words to call for Ripp, but I’m met with only more nothingness. I want to claw at the invasion of a body that’s not my own, but my arms refuse to move.
“It’s time.” The witch’s words ring in my ears. The vial against my chest shatters, shooting tiny shards of glass into my skin, hot liquid searing through my veins.
I bolt upright.A piercing wail erupts, pushed out by the force of my entire chest. Ripp throws his arms around me protectively, clutching me to his chest. He holds me as my frantic breaths slow and I adjust to my surroundings. I’m no longer in the coldness of the woods but the safety of my bed. I turn in his arms and stare up into his questioning gaze. “The witch,” I say, closing my eyes. I squeeze them shut tightly as I try to hold on to the disappearing threads of the dream.
Ripp’s body tenses at the mention of the witch, but he waits for me to continue. I sigh, opening my eyes again. The room around us is still dark. “She said she knew. She knew about me and the relic.” Ripp growls, his chest rumbling against my face. “She kept mentioning a promise and that it was time.”
“Fucking hag,” he snarls and spits each word. “Must have slipped her ancient fucking mind.” He’s seething. I feel his muscles ripple as they flex beneath me, like he’s ready to pounce on her if she dares to appear in this room.
A sob slips from my throat, and I shake my head. “I don’t understand.”
“I might.” Ripp’s voice lowers and grows dark. “I found something in the papers from the boxes. I was waiting for a better time, but there might not be one.” His words are ominous and hang heavy between us.
I want to scream at him, demand to know why he didn’t tell me earlier, but I’m too exhausted to put up the fight. “What?” I croak instead. Several moments go by, like he’s trying to decide if it’s too late to change his mind.
“Your father and the sheriff knew each other.” The confession hits me like a rock to my temple. I stare at him, dazed, silently hoping he’ll both stop and continue. My need to know wars with the part of me that wants my past to stay dead and buried. “They were part of some group.”
