Shadow Sworn (Copper Falls Book 2) Read online

  “Shh,” he soothed, still holding her as she struggled. “Shh, kitten. Come on, Sophie,” he said, his voice even and calm, and she felt the fight go out of her. She slumped, and she released an ashamed, frustrated wail, her sobs wracking her body. Calder turned her gently, folded her into his arms. “It’s okay,” he murmured against her hair, and she shook her head.

  “I’m sorry,” she said between sobs.

  “You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” he said, still holding her. He backed up a little, took her wrists gently in his hands and turned her hands, palm up, so he could look at them. “You blistered yourself up pretty good,” he said, and she could see that muscle jumping in his jaw. Stressed out, angry.

  “I couldn’t stop,” she whispered. “I knew what was happening, and I couldn’t stop.”

  He pulled her close to him again. “I know, honey,” he said. “It’s getting worse.”

  “I’m fine.”

  She heard him take a deep breath. “Clearly,” he said. Then he shook his head. “Let’s get these taken care of.”

  Calder led her into the small bathroom, lifted her so she was sitting on the counter. He dug the small first aid kit out from under the sink.

  “Back in the day, I could have healed this,” she said shakily, at a loss for anything else, looking at her red, blistered hands. They hurt so much she was nauseous with it, and she gritted her teeth.

  Calder didn’t answer. He gently swabbed her hand with warm water on a soft cloth, and she hissed in pain, tried to pull her hands back. He held her wrist until she stopped moving, went back to work on that hand, then cleaned the other one. He applied ointment, and, though he tried to be gentle, the feel of his fingers on her blisters hurt so much tears soon ran down her face.

  “Burns are the worst,” he said quietly, focusing on her hands. “One of the rough things we went through with my dad was the time he decided that picking up the iron stove in his pen and bashing the gates with it was a good way to get himself free.” She’d seen where Calder’s father had lived after he’d lost control of himself; a tiny cabin enclosed by a tall, reinforced fence. “There was a fire in it at the time. He was a mess for months after.”

  She wanted to soothe him. Memories of his father haunted him. All she could do was lean forward and press a kiss to his temple as he wrapped her right hand in gauze.

  “And I’m making you live through it again,” she said softly.

  “You’re not making me do anything. I’m here because I want to be. I love you. This will never, ever be okay with me,” he finished, meeting her eyes. She knew what the “this” was. Her, taking his curse. Her, suffering in his place.

  “Well, watching you lose your mind was not okay with me. We’re both irrational about one another that way,” she said softly. “I love you. I’d do it again in a second. But I’m so—“

  “Do not apologize to me, Sophie. Not ever,” he said, the tenderness in his voice underlaid with anger. Not at her, she knew. He wrapped up her other hand, and she watched his face, watched him working through his emotions as he dealt with the task at hand. Taking care of her, which, she worried, he’d grow to resent.

  She bit her lip. “Promise me something,” she said.

  He looked up at her. “What?”

  “If this ever starts getting to be too much, if it ever gets to the point where you resent what our life is—“

  He stood up and walked out. “Fuck that,” he said.

  She looked down at her hands, which he’d just finished wrapping. “I just don’t want you to stay because you think you owe me something. I’m a big girl and I made a choice. That’s all.”

  He came back, stood in the bathroom doorway. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched her as she hopped off of the counter.

  “And I’m a big boy and I made a choice, too. I love you and you’re mine and the day I resent you or our life together will never, ever come. Jesus, Sophie,” he said, shaking his head. “What part of ‘I love you’ do you not understand?” She didn’t answer, and he kept watching her. “This is something you actually worry about?” he asked quietly, and she nodded, looked away from him.

  “Would you have resented me, if our situation was reversed?”

  “No,” she said, meeting his eyes. “Never.”

  “I believe you. Now do me a favor and have the same faith in me.”

  “I do…”

  “Then stop, Sophie. Just stop.”

  She didn’t answer, and they stood there for a few moments. She didn’t know what to say or do. He took two steps into the bathroom, ending up standing directly in front of her. He tilted her face up toward his, gently, with his fingers, and she met his eyes. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you. I’d do anything, happily, for you. Okay?” he said softly, and she nodded. He leaned down and kissed her, once, gently. When he drew back, there was a small smile on his lips. “If you’d have waited like five minutes, I brought brownies home with me,” he said, and she laughed weakly and leaned against him.

  “Must learn control,” she said against his chest, and he held her tighter. “I ate cocoa powder.”

  “That’s nothing compared to some of the weird shit I’ve eaten,” he said, and then he pulled her out into the living room and fed her and held her, and she felt almost sane again.

  After spending most of the weekend either running, cleaning, or trying to work up the courage to go into town like a normal person, Sophie was less ready than ever to go to work.

  With people.

  Where she would have to pretend she wasn’t starving and thirsty and on the edge of losing her mind.

  “I should quit,” she said for about the twentieth time as she pulled her white work shirt on. Calder was sitting on the daybed watching her lazily, a tiny half smile on his lips. “Stop staring,” she said.

  “You should see yourself. Goddamn, sweetheart.”

  “Are you trying to make me late for work?” she asked. “I should quit,” she said again.

  “And do what? Hide here?”

  “You don’t have an actual job you go to anymore either,” she pointed out irritably.

  “Nope. I work for myself. And this isn’t about me. This is about you. We’ll get your magic back the way it’s supposed to be, and you’ll be able to start your soap business back up.”

  “By then I won’t need to be able to stay home,” she grumbled.

  “What? Do you want me to tell you I’ll support you if you quit? I will. I would in a heartbeat. Do you want me to do that?”

  “No.”

  “No,” he repeated. “You’ve been doing for yourself your whole life and it would drive you nuts if I even tried to take care of you that way.”

  “Don’t be smug,” she said, struggling with the top buttons on her top. Her hands were better than they had been after the brownie incident, but a few blisters still remained, making it tricky to do certain things.

  Calder stood up, pushed her fumbling hands away, and started buttoning her top. “This is the opposite of what I usually do to your clothing,” he murmured.

  “Feels wrong, doesn’t it?” she asked, squeezing her thighs together, trying not to whine with need for him. The smell of him, the warmth of his body, the slight brushes of his knuckles against her body as he buttoned her up.

  He let his hands linger at the top-most button, where she knew he could feel her pulse jumping at her throat. Her breathing felt shallow, ragged. She was looking up at him, and a look crossed his face. He turned away.

  “What?” she asked quietly.

  “Nothing. I was just thinking how much I’m used to us being together all day. And I’m worried about you and I know it’s going to be hell.” He paused. “But you don’t want me to rescue you.”

  She shook her head. “Just be here when I get home,” she said with a small smile, even as her body went insane, as she hungered for anything and everything, but especially him.

  He grinned. “You know I will be.” He ca
me back to her, gave her a soft, quick kiss, and walked her out the door and to her car. “Have a good day. Remember: control. If you need me, call me. Right?”

  She nodded, kissed him again, and got into the car. Calder shut the door behind her and watched as she pulled out of the driveway and onto the highway.

  “Okay. I can do this,” she whispered to herself as she drove toward town.

  Chapter Two

  “I can’t do this!” Sophie hissed into her phone as she crouched in the cleaning supply closet on the second floor of the resort.

  “Yes, you can,” Layla’s voice said in her ear. “You’re a badass. You can handle a day at work, Soph.”

  “I can smell the food from the dining room. And every time I pass a vending machine I want to break it and take everything. And there are men here.”

  “Yes. It’s a resort in an area where fishing and hunting are things people do. I am sure there are men.” Layla’s tone was firm, and bordering on bored. She’d expected her best friend to be a little more comforting.

  “I swear if one of them even looked at me I’d jump him and I don’t even want them but,” she broke off with a growl.

  “Then control yourself,” Layla said, saying each word more firmly than the last. “This is exactly why we were trying to get you into town at least sometimes. Calder said—“

  “I know what Calder said. I’ve heard it about ninety million times,” Sophie said, rolling her eyes.

  “Well since he’s the expert in the curse department, maybe you should have listened.”

  “You know you’re supposed to be commiserating with me, right?”

  “Nope. You’re a big girl. Get your ass back to work. Love you.” And with that, the line went dead.

  “She hung up on me,” Sophie said in disbelief, staring at her phone. After a few more seconds of trying to force some sense of calm, she stood up, got out of the supply closet, and started pushing her cart down the hallway. She knocked at the first room, and found it empty. After chugging two bottles of water, she got to work scrubbing, vacuuming, making beds, dusting, and polishing.

  “Better,” she murmured to herself. She locked up and headed down the hallway, handling the next two rooms in the same way. When she knocked on the door to the third room, she was irritated that someone was inside. A tall, dark-haired man answered.

  “I can come back later,” she said, already starting to walk away.

  “No, not at all. I was just packing up. Come on in.”

  “Really, it’s okay,” Sophie said. “I have another floor to do, I can come back and do this later.”

  “Why make another trip?” He gave her a disarming smile, and she nodded, followed him into the room. She kicked the doorstop to keep the door open. This wasn’t uncommon — many of the resorts guests were repeat visitors and knew most of the full-time staff by name. She recognized this guest. He was into fishing, from what she remembered. A lawyer or something.

  “I’ll start on the bathroom then so I’m not in your way,” she said, and he nodded.

  Sophie grabbed her cleaning supplies and gritted her teeth. She wasn’t remotely attracted to him. At all. Her mind, her heart, belonged to Calder. But her body had other ideas and she was ashamed to find herself reacting to this strange man almost as strongly as she reacted to Calder. It was wrong.

  She scrubbed the sink and countertop, probably with more force than she needed to. She could hear him moving around out in the main part of the room, opening and closing drawers.

  “Excuse me,” he said, reaching around to the back of the bathroom door, where a tie was hanging. She nodded. He stopped, glanced at her. “Are you all right? You look a little flushed.”

  “I’m fine,” she said. She looked away from him, grabbed the spray to wash the mirror, and stated wiping it down.

  “Do you need a break?” he asked, seeming genuinely concerned.

  She shook her head.

  “Hey,” he said, reaching out as if he was about to touch her.

  She closed her eyes and hated every single thing she was physically feeling.

  “I’m fine. I think I’m going to come back later though, okay?”

  He nodded, looking confused, and she left as quickly as she could, wheeling her cart to the service elevator and taking it to the next floor up.

  By the time her shift was over, Sophie had a sore jaw from keeping it clenched against the craziness running through her. She’d run out of change after making way too many trips to the vending machine, and walking past the kitchen had nearly been a disaster. She quickly bid her co-workers goodbye and sped toward home.

  She drove down the highway, the windows down, the radio off, the cool wind blowing through her hair. The sky was darkening, the sun low on the horizon. The trees had long lost their leaves, and it was as if the Earth was breathing its last breath before winter buried everything. They had already had their first snowfall; such a thing wasn’t uncommon where they were, at the very top of Michigan’s upper peninsula. Soon, the whole world would be under a blanket of snow.

  The highway was empty, and before Sophie knew what she was doing, she pulled her car over the the shoulder, got out, and headed through the scrubby trees at the side of the road, emerging on the edge of the river. If she followed it, she would soon be on her own property.

  And as much as she needed to see Calder, it wasn’t what she wanted. Not then. Suddenly, she wanted the silence she could only find in the woods and near the water. Stopping hadn’t made sense to her when she’d first done it, but all of a sudden, it seemed like a fabulous idea.

  She stuffed her hands in the pockets of the wool sweater she’d tossed on, and strolled along the edge of the river. She let herself be soothed by the sound of the water rushing over rocks, babbling its way toward the falls. Her legs carried her along the shore, almost of their own volition. There was no thought behind it, just the sensation of movement.

  Sophie kept walking, and stopped, freezing when she came upon a doe drinking at the edge of the river. She remembered the last time she’d used her healing powers. She’d healed a doe. Not this doe, of course, but seeing her made Sophie remember it just the same. The doe raised her head and watched Sophie, her large, long-lashed eyes reflecting Sophie in the dimming light. She raised her snout, and sniffed at the air.

  And then she bounded away, spooked.

  Sophie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. For just a moment there, she’d dared to hope that not everything was as changed as she’d believed. Of course the animals could smell it on her. The stench of Shadow. Marshall’s dark power flowing through her where once there was only Light. She knew Calder smelled it. Sometimes, she could as well, a smoky, intense scent that clung to her like a veil and never seemed to fall away.

  She stood there for several moments, and then she felt another presence nearby. A presence that she was tied to. A presence that owned her, no matter how much she hated it. Him.

  “Finally. It is impossible to get you alone. Does loverboy ever take a break?” Marshall asked, his smooth voice cutting the sunset quiet like a blade. “Of course, not that you would be avoiding me now, would you?”

  Sophie didn’t answer, merely turned and looked behind her. The man, warlock, who had haunted her steps, who had ensured she was alone, who had terrified her, tarnished her every moment, whether she was asleep or awake, stood there. His nearly-black eyes seemed to take in every detail, and even that, even a look from this particular man, felt like an assault. She felt bile rise in her throat as her stomach twisted. Not so much in fear, the way it used to. In pure, hot hatred.

  That was Shadow. That was what it did. At least, that was what she tried to tell herself. She had been convinced she was pure, that she was Light, and the hatred that lived in her for Marshall could never have been her own. She wondered, the longer she lived with Shadow coursing through her veins, how much of that was true.

  “You’re still obsessing over that Light bullshit?” Marshall asked irritabl
y. She was linked to him now, in every way. Her power linked to his, her emotions, his to know and play with as he desired. So far, he had kept his distance.

  “Why are you here?” Sophie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he just stood there watching her, and she hated it. She despised the hungry look in his eyes, the possession there.

  “You look just like her, you know that?” he finally asked.

  Sophie took a few steps away. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she was relieved that she didn’t have any kind of reaction to Marshall. At least there was that. At least she didn’t have to feel her body responding to his presence the way it had earlier, to the men she passed at work. “Like who? Migisi?” she asked.

  He shook his head, still watching her. “No. Before her.”

  “What? Her mom? How long have you been stalking my family, you creep?”

  He smirked. “I told you. Hundreds of years, ‘kitten.’ I can’t believe you let him call you that.”

  “That is none of your business.”

  He shrugged. “Not Migisi’s mother. Before her. Long before. Some of Migisi’s ancestors came over from Spain, settled in the Americas back when the Conquistadors sailed here. I met her before that, though.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, still watching her. “You were never meant to be Light, kitty cat. She was pure Shadow, and she was perfect.”

  A chill went up Sophie’s spine. “I swear, lying is as easy as breathing to you, isn’t it?”

  Marshall let out a cold laugh. “What reason would I have to lie?” He stepped closer to her, and she did her best to avoid flinching back. She refused to allow him any more satisfaction in seeing her afraid of him. “Your hair, your eyes, even the shape of your lips, Sophie. Of course, she was a lot thinner. I think you’d probably look better in a corset though. More to push up,” he said, holding his hands cupped in front of himself, at chest level. Sophie felt her lip rise in a snarl, and he laughed. “She was gorgeous.”