Spell Bound
Twenty-Four*

Arabella

I feel his eyes on me before I even open my eyes, and that is enough to annoy me. As much as I would like to fake sleep, I know that he probably has no plans on leaving until I acknowledge him.

"What time is it?" I ask as I sit up, clutching the duvet to my chest.

He chuckles. "It is a little past five. The very last time knocked you out for a few hours. It's clear that mating with me is a higher priority than seeing your friend." He states smugly.

Valentina.

I am probably the worst friend on the planet.

"I want to see her." I state. I finally open my eyes and look in his direction. His blond hair is disheveled, and his eyes are back to being their unique shade of black. "You said that I can see her today."

He smirks at me. "Such a shame you don't want me anymore. I thought we could for an even four."

I scoff as I feel my cheeks get warm. "I never wanted you. You are the one who pursued it."

He reaches over to me and takes a hold of my hip before dragging me closer to him. "Now I feel like you are trying to hurt me, my little spitfire." He nibbles on my ear causing me to let out a gasp.

"It would be wise for you to let me go."

“I never thought that such a ferocious female would be so submissive in the bedroom.” He chuckled in my ear, ignoring my request to be let go. “Letting out those sweet little cries, desperate for the pleasure that you know only I can give you.” He taunted.

I feel myself get irritated at his observation. It’s not like I want to be the submissive one in whatever we have going on. It’s just that last night his wolf was so, primal and he only had one thing in mind. Any woman would instinctively submitted to a being that exerted that much power over you.

I close my eyes as I think about what happened last night. His wolf mostly communicated with me through noises, rarely speaking unless it was to give me a command. Then again I spoke enough for the both of us. First I pleaded for him to go slow because it was my first time. I could tell that it was borderline painful for him to move slow he did. For me.

Even his wolf who was running on only his instinct to mate with me, didn’t immediately take me how he wanted. He listened, and he respected my wants.

It was not too long after that, I ended up pleading with him to move faster, to fuck me harder. He gave me exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it.

I bite my lip to keep myself from moaning as my thoughts continue to get more explicit the more I think about the night before.

His hand starts to move from my hip, gliding up my body until he reaches my neck. His hand splays across the column of my neck, the very same way it did earlier today. “Don’t hold back those needy little sounds.” He whispers in my ear.

At this very moment, his presence only annoys me. Did he unlock a submissive side of me that not even I was aware that I had? Yes, but that doesn’t mean that I should have to sit here and listen to him mock me.

I remove his hand off my body and shift to move out of the bed. As soon my feet hit the floor everything just feels different.

My vision is sharper, I am moving faster, and I honestly feel like I could kick down a tree if I wanted to.

I turn to glare at him before standing up to go to the closet. He doesn't need to see me anymore than he already has.

I snatch one of his T-shirts off the hanger, and put it on as quickly as I can. I already hear his footsteps coming my way.

I grab another shirt and a pair of shorts before turning to step out of the closet.

I groan before looking up at the ceiling. How can I forget that wolves have absolutely zero shame and just be naked whenever they feel like it.

He chuckles, before pulling me closer to him. "It was nice to be the dominant one in our relationship for a change." He purrs in my ear.

I narrow my eyes at him, obviously he really wants to talk about what happened earlier. "There has never been a time that you haven't been the dominant one." The same man who had the audacity to say that I am cocky, is blocking the doorway of the closet completely naked as he taunts me about our actions from earlier today.

He licks the shell of my ear, causing shivers to run up my spine. "My wold was very pleased to take what is ours."

Hearing him refer to his wolf as a different person from himself was a little weird. Yet, it made sense. His wolf communicated with me through noises, he only spoke when he found it necessary. He dominated me with brutal force. In comparison Lucian spoke a lot more to me, telling me exactly what he wanted me to do, or what he was going to do. He would reward me with sweet kisses, and preferred to dominate me in a subtle way.

"I need to get in the shower." I state. I have to stand my ground with Lucian, if I don't I mind end back where I was earlier today. At his mercy. "I need to wash you off of my body." Along with being faster, and my vision becoming clearer, my sense of smell has gotten even better. I can smell Lucian's scent all over me, and it is borderline suffocating.

Lucian threw his head back as he let out a booming laugh. "You want to wash me from your body?" He choked out in-between laughs.

I roll my eyes before I push past him. I only have to deal with his arrogance for a short amount of time, then I will be free. I can deal with his nonsense for now.

I open the door to the bathroom and shut it quickly behind me. I don't have time for him to bother me, I need to see Valentina.

I start the shower, the spray of water being too cold for my liking. I walk over to the mirror and the first thing that I notice is the bruised skin around the mark on my neck. I groan as I look at it.

I don't have makeup to cover it up, I don't have complete access to my magic at the moment and I can't even use an illusion spell so other people can't see it, and my hair is barely able to cover because it's shorter.

Lucian steps into the bathroom, still naked and smiles his beautiful smile at me. "You forget to get towels." He holds them up for me to see.

"Thanks." I mumble before walking towards the shower. I push the door open and step inside, immediately being relaxed by the warm water.

I attempted to pull the shower door closed, but it resists and starts to open slowly.

I gasp as I look up to see his large hand pushing on the door.

“What are you doing?” I shriek as I began to attempt to pull the door closed harder.

He chuckles. “You said that you wanted to wash me off your body. I want to see.” I lose our power struggle and he steps inside of the shower. “You forget wash cloths as well.” He hands me one of them.

I bite my lip as I grab onto the wash cloth. “Maybe we should take separate showers.” I suggest. I fight to maintain eye contact with him, the last thing that I need is to look at his body. I can’t deny that I am insanely attracted to this man.

“Why would we do that?” I ask as I take a step away from him.

He takes another step towards me. With him standing in the shower there is limited room, nowhere for me to really go. “Because I love being around you, and you love being around me.” He says before grabbing my arm and pulling me into his body. “You’ve acknowledged me as your soulmate.” He begins to pepper small kisses all over my face.

“As if.” I muster out as I try not to pay attention to our bodies being pressed up against one another.

He pulls away from our embrace. He leans down before picking up an unscented body wash. “You want to use these. Anything with a scent will do nothing but irritate you for now. Give your nose a month to adjust.”

I smile at his kindness. “Thanks.”

He drizzles a bit of soap on each of our wash cloths, and places it back down. “Go on Bella, wash me from your body.”

I feel my cheeks heat up at his taunting.

He steps under the stream of water. I feel my throat get dry as I watch steady stream of water crash onto his skin. I feel my mouth get dry as I follow small droplets of water that travel down his back.

I bite my lip before turning away from him. As tempting as he is, I need to have my focus on meeting with Valentina. Her and I need to figure out how to get the hell out of here and how to stay under the radar for the rest of our lives.

I turn back around and he is facing me, his obsidian eyes are trained on me as the soap runs down his body.

I’ve been waiting to see Valentina for a while now, I can always wait a little longer.

I don’t even give myself time to work up a bit of courage.

I grasp his shoulders, pulling him towards me until our lips connect.

He doesn’t react to the kiss, so I pull away slightly. I bite my lip as I feel my nerves start to race throughout my body at his possible rejection.

His arm wraps around my waist when I began to pull away, and he pressed our bodies together. He presses a firm, but chaste kiss on my lips. “Whenever you want me, you can have me.” He whispers. He slams his lips down onto mine, his tongue licking the seam of my lips. His thumb brushing against my already swollen mark was enough for me to part my lips and moan into his mouth.

He grasps me by my hips before turning me and pushing me up against the shower door. He has a firm grip on the back of my neck with one hand, and his other is gliding up and down the side of my body. "So much for washing me away, Bella." He rasps in my ear.

I let out a small cry as I feel the pad of his pinky finger press against the mark. The minimal contact sending electric sparks throughout my body.

"Don't worry mate, I will give you exactly what you need." He groaned as his hand took a firm hold of my hip. "You will never have to ask more than twice."

I feel himself line up at my entrance before he began to slowly push forward. It hasn't been that long since he has been inside me, a little less than five hours. Yet, it still feels just as good as it did the first time.

He stills his movements for a moment, giving me a few seconds to adjust. When I nod he starts to pull back, before sliding into me again.

"Lucian." I moaned out as he began to increase his pace.

Lucian growled, frustrated that the water running down our bodies was making it hard to grip me. It was almost as if I can feel his frustration running through my body.

"No!" I protest as he slides completely out of me. "Please Lu-" My pleas are cut off as he turns my body back to face him before lifting me off of the ground.

My legs instinctively wrap around his waist. He keeps the one hand on the back of my neck, and the other circles around my waist, holding me in place.

He pulls my body down, impaling me onto his cock. I cry out as he buried himself completely inside of me.

I know that this isn't exactly the smartest thing to do. I have plans to escape him, and yet there is no condom to separate us. The chance of pregnancy must be high between the two of us, since we mated and all. That should deter me. Yet, the thought of having a child of my own didn't sound awful. The only people that I am related to are dead to me, they will never be my family. Having a child with Lucian will just solidify the two of us being together. I am sure that he would never abandon me if I have his baby.

Plus it would be nice if the baby turned out to be a siphon witch like me. I have never met any other siphon witch other than my grandma. From all that I know, I just have to assume that I am the only one.

I drop my head onto his shoulder as he begins to pick up the pace of his thrusts. Rutting me like the animal that I know he is.

"Tell me how much you are enjoying this Bella." He demands as he moved his hand from the back of my neck to the front of my throat. "Go on Bella." He squeezed, applying enough pressure that restricts some of my breathing.

My teeth scrape the skin on his shoulder, before sinking into the flesh to prevent me screaming out.

He chuckles. "Yes, Bella. Mark me as yours." He stated before pulling my body closer to his. I moaned as I felt my breasts press up against his hard chest.

His thrusts start to become more erratic, and his breaths start to become more uneven. "You're getting close aren't you?" He rumbles in my ear.

I squeeze my eyes shut. "Not as close as you are." I gasp out.

He chuckles at my response before reaching to grab my hair at the nape of my neck. He yanks my hair down, angling my face to the ceiling. A sudden scream leaves my lips as he begins to assault the mark at my neck. He switches between sucking and nibbling on the sensitive area, bringing me close to the edge.

"Now." Is all he says before he bites down on the area.

I lose control of my body and I feel myself I shatter around his cock in response. My vision is taken from me as my eyes roll to the back of my head and my entire body begins to tremble in his arms.

My nerves are so shot I can barely register him finishing inside me as well. "Good girl." He purrs as he begins to stroke my scalp.

A faint smile paints my lips as I feel my body sag into his arms.

"No, you cannot sleep this time Bella." He speaks softly in my ear. "You need to go speak to your friend." He slowly sets me down on my feet. I grip onto his shoulders, feeling unsteady on my feet.

I nod, trying to shake off my orgasmic haze. "I need to see Valentina." I tell myself. I let go of his shoulders, but place one hand on the wall just incase I am not ready to stand upright on my own.

"You also need to wash me off of your body." He states before handing me my washcloth.

I feel my cheeks heat at his words. I bite my lip as I watch him drizzle the unscented body wash onto the towel. "I will make sure that I clean myself throughly." I say softly before stepping into the steady stream of water.

I stumble into Valentina’s room. Giving her a bright smile as I observe all of the trays of food placed on her bed.

It’s nearly dinner time for most people, and I didn’t even get a chance to have lunch. I didn’t realize until this very moment, that I am starving.

“I hear from the person who brought this food in that a certain alpha said that you haven’t eaten much today.” Valentina said before stabbing her fork into a diced carrot, and bringing it to her lips.

I blush at the very recent memories of Lucian and I’s activities. “Yes, let’s just say that I have moved forward with our escape plan.” I said before sitting next to her on the bed and picking up a plate of food.

I glare at the food on the plate. I’m not a big fan of the food that they serve here, but beggars can’t be choosers. Cut up grilled chicken, white rice and a different variety of vegetables on the side.

“You finished the ritual with the alpha?” She asked, the shock is evident in her voice. “I mean I knew that you would, cause you would die if you didn’t, but I’m still surprised.”

I make sure to chew my food throughly before responding. “I am surprised as well.”

I don’t have to tell her that we completed the ritual and then some. That will only make her think that I want to stay.

“I mean you were the one who was always listening so intently whenever wolves were spoken on when we were younger. All these years later now you’ve been with one.” She states.

When she says it like that it sounds like the ultimate betrayal towards my people, but at this point I really don’t care. My community was the first to exclude and isolate me once they found out that I was different. They ended up using me as a cautionary tale to their children, the same way they used the wolves.

I deserve to be where I am accepted.

“Arabella?” Valentina asks. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes. I am fine.” I nod while speaking. “Since I did what I did now I will be able to leave without being in pain. I think. What we really need to be worried about is replaceing a place to-“ I cut off my words as I hear footsteps stop at the door.

I turn my head when I hear the door open, assuming that it is Lucian here to harass me in front of my friend.

Instead it’s a small girl with a shy smile. Her hair was a unique mix of ashy blonde with chocolate brown streaks. Her irises were mostly brown but had pops of blue within them.

In a weird way, she’s stunning.

She slowly closes the door behind her, smiling nervously at the two of us. “Arabella. Valentina, it’s so nice to meet both of you.”

She wisely continues to stand by the door as Valentina and I glance between her and one another.

“Tell me how you know my name now!” I demand.

Her eyes widen slightly, her smile dropping. She starts to play with the ends of her hair, twirling it in between her fingers. “My name is Marisol.” She states quietly.

My eyes narrow on her.

Marisol.

The moon healer.

The main reason I’m stuck here right now because she told Lucian that he and I are meant to be together.

She lets out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, Lucian said that you might not be too happy to see me, but my curiosity got the best of me.”

Of course he’s going around speaking negatively about me.

“I’m just so curious about how things are going with the two of you. He’s been so vague and I always like to hear from the people that I pair.” She rambled on.

Valentina gasped. “You’re the wolf that I kept hearing stories about!” She accused pointing her finger at her.

A slight blush coats her cheeks as her smile widens. “Yes, that’s me.” Her eyes turn to me. “I was wondering if I could maybe talk to you? About Lucian and being his mate. I know that a lot of witches have opinions on us wolves.” She started to move closer to the bed.

“That’s a nice way to put it.” I state as I shift to make room for her on the bed.

I may not be thrilled that she is here, but it wouldn’t hurt to make nice with her.

“So what exactly do you think that you can say that will make me fall head over heels with the person that tricked me into starting a mating ritual with him?” I ask.

She slowly lowers herself onto the bed next to me. The closer she gets I can’t help but notice that she seems, tired. Her movements are slow, and they look somewhat painful. While under her eyes the skin was somewhat swollen.

Her and I maintain eye contact and a smirk forms on her face. “I don’t think that I need to say much. You are covered in Lucian’s scent and.” Her eyes trail down my neck, stopping at the mark at the base of it. I follow her eyesight and curse low under my breath as I moved my hair to cover it like I had earlier.

The skin is red from all of attention that Lucian gave it last night. My hair is long enough to cover it, but if I move too much my hair will fall behind my shoulder. I should have known that I would regret cutting my hair. Now I can’t even use my magic to grow it back out.

“That’s not true. I took a shower.” I made sure to wash him away from my body.

“It doesn’t exactly work like that.” She giggles lightly. “You can’t exactly wash him away, especially if it is still fresh.”

Valentina slapped her hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing.

I glare at Valentina. I know that hearing this is only confirming her suspicion that I am going to throw away our escape plan so I can stay here and be with Lucian. While it’s nice to know that my friend is willing to forgo our plan altogether, I think that she might prefer me being with Lucian. Even though he is a wolf.

“We have more important matters to discuss other than that disgusting alpha.” I change the subject.

Marisol nods. “And what would you like to discuss?” She ask.

I look over to Valentina, wordlessly asking her if we should let Marisol in our plan. While she is mated to the Alpha King and I am sure she wants to stay loyal to him. I am also aware that she and everyone else around her want her to live. We have to use that to our advantage. She nods and then we both go back to facing Marisol.

“I am positive that I have a way to save you.” She perks up at my statement. “But it involves me leaving this place.”

I observe her as she observes my statement, this could very easily backfire. She could run and tell Lucian or her mate and Valentina and I would effectively be put under lockdown. It’s a dangerous game, but the risk is worth the reward. Her help can guarantee our success.

I would just be in debt to her and would have to return to attempt to save her.

“You would leave here? I’m assuming that you don’t want Lucian to know.” She responds.

I roll my eyes as she states the obvious. Of course I don’t want Lucian to know. He already knows that I want to leave, which puts me at a disadvantage. Him knowing when I am planning would guarantee my failure.

“He can’t know.”

Marisol nods her head slowly. “I think that I can help. I can ask Scarlet if she can disable the magic disabling spell.” Hey eyebrows furrowed towards the end of her statement, and I can tell that she is unsure about what she just said.

“Yes, that would be great.” Valentina said before turning to me. “What about all the pain that you were in when you tried to escape?” She asked me.

I turn away from them as I think about the recent and very humiliating memory. “Even if that happens now, we will make it home fast enough and I am sure there’s some kind of potion that we have there that can help.”

Even though I am not one-hundred percent sure, it is a risk that I have to take. Not only for myself and Valentina, but also for Marisol. She’s taking a risk helping me, especially using a witch that is apart of her pack. The least that I could do is test the theory that I think may be right, I just need to look over a few more things.

Marisol grabs both of my shoulders and turns me to face her. “If I do help you, you have to promise to return.” She says sternly.

I feel Valentina’s stars on me as I take my time to answer her question. “I will come back.”

It’s not necessarily a lie. I plan on coming back to help her and immediately escaping here again. Valentina will have a head start on replaceing a place to hide away and live the rest of her days an I will follow that plan as well.

Marisol smiles weakly at me, she squeezes my shoulders slightly before standing from the bed. “I am assuming that you guys probably want to go tonight. Alpha Lucian will feel the shift in the air the second that she undoes the disabling spell so I recommend doing it tomorrow. I’ll keep him and my mate busy.” She smirks at me. “The only thing the two of you need to worry about is getting out of here in one piece.” She winks before exiting the door swiftly. Her learning that I might have a way to save her putting a pep in her step.

“Well she’s nice.” Valentina stated watching the door that she just exited out of.

“Definitely.” I agreed. She turned to me and we slowly smirked at one another. “She is exactly what we needed to get the hell out of here.”