Wintertide Read online

  My thighs tightened around him, urging him to give me more as I pressed into him. He ran kisses down my exposed throat, biting at the curve of my neck as his fingers dug into my hips. I knew he was still holding back, and I wanted to make him lose that control of his.

  I trusted him to keep us both upright as I raked my hands along his shoulders, a low groan coming from within him. “More, Calex,” I cried out, my vision growing hazy with need.

  Behind us Blade still watched, devouring every movement, stroking himself with each thrust. The heat grew in his eyes and knowing this brought him satisfaction made me wanton for more.

  Calex slid his hands around to my ass and gripped me harder, pulling me roughly against him with each thrust, making me take every inch of his throbbing cock. My pleasure built until it was almost painful as he held me right on the edge of my own climax. Harder and deeper he assaulted my pussy, the sound of flesh meeting flesh echoed through the room and pushed me closer to my own finish. His dick stiffened, his sounds becoming almost animalistic, and I knew he was as close to coming as I was.

  With one last thrust I cried out in ecstasy and his dick jerked inside me, filling me with a heat I hadn’t known existed. I clung to him as my eyes met Blades over his shoulder and his own hand pumped harder, the cum shooting from his dick as he groaned out his own finish.

  Calex pumped his hips against me a few more times, long sure strokes that dug my hips into the wall as he made me ride out our orgasm until the very end. My body quivered around his as he slowed and leaned his head against my shoulder.

  For a moment we stood our breaths coming out ragged together before he finally looked up at me. “Fuck, Ice,” he breathed.

  I leaned forward in response and kissed him, expecting him to be rough and instead he gave me a sweet, tender kiss, dragging it out slowly until he had my head reeling again. He pulled back and slowly set me to my feet, my muscles aching in the most amazing way from using ones I didn’t even know I had.

  Blade had stood behind us and strolled over as Calex straightened my skirt. “That was fucking amazing, kitten,” he growled, his eyes taking on that unearthly amber glow they did when he was close to losing control.

  “Not too bad yourself. For a pussy,” I winked playfully making Calex laugh out loud as he buttoned his pants.

  “You will pay for that remark,” he stated darkly as he kissed me. Instead of taking it further though he set me back on my feet, leaving my lips tingling with the mixed taste of the two of them.

  I looked between them both, unsure of what to do next, or if this was about to become awkward as fuck. Calex traced his fingers between my eyes, “Don’t worry, Ice. We will figure it all out. I am more than happy with what we have going on. Blade is like a brother to me. I trust that he will protect you and care for you as much as I do. And Sebastian; I’ve come to trust him after our talk. The completed bond you have with him is just a bonus that eases my mind.”

  Blade nodded his agreement, “I agree with Calex. However, at the moment, we have other matters to concern ourselves with.”

  “Yeah, about that,” I trailed off.

  “You have some explaining to do, Ice,” Calex said gently.

  I moved over to one of the padded crates and sat with my head in my hands. Where did I even begin?

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Calex came and sat next to me, his hand resting on my thigh for comfort as I took a deep breath. “That’s my sister, Alayna,” I explained as they both watched me.

  “We gathered that. But what’s the deal?” Calex asked. “I have never felt so much rage, anger or animosity coming from two people. Especially her.”

  I shook my head, “For some reason she has always been like that. She has always hated me and I have no clue what I ever did to make her that way.”

  Calex tried to comfort me, “Sometimes siblings are just that way and there’s nothing you can do about it. I should know,” he let out a dry laugh. I asked him to explain, but he waved me off. “Lucifer’s son is all I’ll say for now, but trust me, I know all about the hate without a cause thing. You have the floor, Ice. We can talk about my fucked-up family another time.”

  I really didn’t want to talk about my problems. How was I going to explain to them something that I still didn’t understand myself, and I had an entire lifetime to figure out. They both sat quietly watching me and I knew they weren’t going to budge so I continued. “From the first day my power showed I was unable to control it. My father hired so many tutors to try to teach me how to channel it, but no one could ever get me to understand. I was a disgrace to my family, first for having power, and then even more so for not being able to control it. Then there was Alayna. She had power, but she also had control. So much so that she was even able to hide it from my parents, all while tormenting me with it in the meantime.

  “If you think about it, I should have been the one that was jealous of her, the one that hated her. All I ever wanted though was to have someone that I could talk to. Someone that understood. Even though her power was so different from mine, I still held the hope that she would grow out of her malicious behavior, but she never did.

  “It started when we were really young and playing in her room. She started a fire, and I tried to help so she didn’t get in trouble. Mine went haywire and broke an important heirloom. My parents were furious with me, but Alayna; she seemed to take glee in the way I was punished, banished to my room and had everything taken away from me. It only got worse from there as she learned she could manipulate my emotions and get me to lose control to get what she wanted from our parents. Even up to the point of having me sent away.”

  Calex sighed and squeezed my hand, “It sounds like she’s the one with the problem, not you.”

  “Are you really going to use that line?” I scoffed.

  Blade laughed “You should just keep quiet, Calex. Continue, kitten,” he ran his hand down the side of my arm, sending tingles across my skin.

  His pet name for me got me heated even in the middle of bad memories. I forced the thought away though; it was better I got it all out at once than have to return to it. “My family fell for her manipulation. She was the angel of the family and could do no wrong. Dressing and acting exactly as they expected, when they were around that is. It wasn’t long after the first accident that they had my room lined with cinder blocks to keep me from damaging the drywall and removed every single decoration that brought me joy. They were tired of the shame they said of having to replace things my magic destroyed.

  “I was forced to live in a plain room, much to my sisters delight only spending time with my parents at their required formal dinners each night.” I laughed dryly. “Come to think of it, it wasn’t much different from the check-ins here.” They both watched silently as I quieted for a moment, lost in the memories of the awkward dinners. Trying to please my parents and always coming up short as Alayna sabotaged what little way I had made with them. “It was during those dinners that my father would surprise me with visitors. Trying to sell me off to the aristocrats in exchange for a dowry that they would be dumb not to accept. They were all in it for the money, simply coming to see if the risk was worth it, never even trying to get close to me. I can’t imagine how much worse my life would have been if any had taken the offer.”

  “We have so much loneliness to make up for,” Calex said seductively as he slid his hand sensually down my back before lifting my wrist with his other hand and kissing my pulse point. “You will never be without affection and love from us, Ice,” he said against my wrist as I shuddered out a breath.

  “Want to show some affection now?” I asked hopefully, batting my eyelashes at him. He leaned over and captured my mouth, nipping my bottom lip and sending heat spreading through me. I whimpered and leaned into him but he pulled away.

  “Not until you finish telling us,” he waggled his eyebrows at me.

  I narrowed my eyes at him, “Not nice.”

  He shrugged with a laugh, “No o
ne ever accused me of being nice.”

  I sighed, knowing I had to get it over with. “As we got older and she figured out her power more, she got worse. She started using it to torture the staff to get what she wanted from them too. They were all too terrified to say anything to my parents. One day I found Alayna torturing our nanny, she was using her electricity to shock her until she gave in,” my eyes teared up as I thought about how my beloved nanny had convulsed as the electricity flowed through her body. How I stood by too afraid to use my magic for fear that I would make it worse.

  “It was really bad, and finally the nanny caved and told my parents. After all, what more could Alayna do to her than she already was? My parents didn’t believe her, of course, and told her if she made up something like that again she would be out of a job. It only got worse after that, until Alayna went too far and killed her. She covered it up by pushing her out a window and telling my parents the nanny went crazy and jumped. They readily believed her, again. After all they had no clue she had power, and she used the fact the nanny tried to accuse her to solidify her story. I tried to tell them the truth, but they didn’t believe me. In the end, it only strengthened their hatred towards me.”

  Blade wrapped his arm around my shoulder while Calex continued to stroke my lower back. It felt so good to be held by the two of them. So natural to take comfort in them with something I had struggled with my entire life. “She started torturing the other staff and I tried to stop her. Yet every time I did, she would run to my parents and tell them I had hurt her and the staff.

  “My fear and anger grew and I started losing control of my power more and more. Shards of ice would shoot out toward her, sometimes close enough to scratch her and draw blood. I never meant to hurt her, I just wanted her to stop.” I paused, steadying myself so I didn't get too upset and lose control again. I refused to let her have control over me any longer.

  “It was then that my room became my prison and I was no longer allowed out. Only the strictest of tutors were allowed in, but eventually they stopped too, my family considering me a lost cause. They took everything from me, and Alayna relished in my misery. The only thing I had to occupy my time were the books the maids would sneak to me.” I blushed a little at the mention of the books, hoping they wouldn’t ask what kind.

  Thankfully they remained quiet, listening to me recall my past. “They threatened to send me away if I couldn’t get control of myself. Then it happened. I woke up with my room covered in ice. I panicked and tried to figure out how to control it, but I was caught by my mother. Before I had time to clean it up Alayna did what she does best and used her magic to pretend that I tried to hurt her. My parents were blind to the fact that my magic is of ice and could have never left those burn marks. They didn’t care, they had enough and were going to send me to an academy to learn control. It wasn’t until the last minute that I learned I was coming here, not being sent to an academy. Though I can’t say it’s been bad here so far,” I bumped Calex’s shoulder in an attempt to lighten the mood.

  Calex moved to kneel in front of me and took my hands in his, “Eva, you did nothing wrong. Sometimes people are inherently evil and there is nothing you can do to change that. Trust me, I have seen it firsthand. I literally lived in hell before I was sent here. I know evil better than most. Someone who takes pleasure in the kind of torture she did, will never change. All you can do is stay away from her and hope she never gets out of here.”

  “What if I never get out of here either?” I breathed out, voicing my fear for the first time.

  “We won’t let that happen, Ice.”

  I took comfort in his words, “Thank you. I really needed to hear that. You have no idea.” My whole life I thought I was going crazy. That I was the only one that saw her for what she truly was. Finally someone understood and agreed with me.

  “All of my siblings are like that. They hate me because I’m not like them. I don’t relish in torturing people the way they do. My father was no exception, so he sent me here in hopes that I would learn the family trade. After all Jack Frost is known for loving his torture, almost more than my father,” Calex stated.

  “You were sent here because you wouldn’t torture people?” I asked in disbelief. Though I shouldn’t have been surprised considering his family. The devil was certain to have different values than most.

  “Not everyone is in here for the right reasons,” Calex said, making Blade let out a soft scoff.

  I turned to Blade, afraid to ask, but needing to know at the same time. “Why are you here?” I asked cautiously.

  “Murder,” he growled out, looking me straight in the eye. His amber eyes pierced mine as chills raced across my skin. While I suspected he was capable of murder, I certainly didn’t believe he had chosen to kill someone willingly.

  “There’s no way you did it. It was in self defense of something I’m sure,” I defended him making him look at me in surprise.

  “What makes you so quick to jump to my defense, kitten? I am very capable of murder,” he stated darkly.

  “Capable of it, sure. But I don’t believe it,” I told him firmly. He looked at me strangely for a moment, silence falling between us as I waited for my words to sink in.

  “You might as well tell her Blade. She’s right,” Calex finally spoke up.

  “I am here for murder,” he stated again. “But I didn’t do it.”

  “What happened?” I asked, taking his hand. He had been there to comfort me as I relived my past, I wanted to do the same for him.

  He sighed as his shoulders sagged, knowing as I did that we were not leaving until he got it out. “My father has always had it out for my uncle. He wanted his place on the throne, but being second in line he would have to wait for him to die, or be killed. Then when my uncle had a son, the animosity was even worse as he was no longer the second, but the third in line for the throne.

  “I had come in unexpectedly from a hunt and walked in on him talking about staging my uncle's death. Making it look like my cousin was the one responsible, killing two birds with one stone.” His eyes grew dark as he recalled what happened, I swallowed, knowing already where this was going, but listening all the same.

  “My cousin is a good kid, he didn’t deserve that being done to him, so I intervened. While doing so, I was caught in the stampede of wildebeests and my uncle tried to save me, only to get caught up in it himself. My father pretended to try to help him from the oncoming herd, only to wait until the perfect moment and send him to his death.” I let out a small tear at his words, sad for the young lion that had faced so much.

  “I was the only one present when my Uncle passed and afraid that I would reveal the truth, my father blamed it on me and had his lackeys backed his story. So the pride decided my fate and I was sent here while he walked free, no doubt plotting my cousin’s death, as well.”

  “Oh Blade,” I sighed as I leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “You have been through so much,” the tenderness I felt toward him was unexplainable, but him revealing his past to me made me only like him that much more.

  He pressed into me, for the first time kissing me softly, drawing it out as my tongue danced with his. I let out a soft moan and slowly he drew back, his eyes now heated with passion instead of hatred.

  “While I would like nothing more than to continue this, kitten, we are already late for our first class,” he said thickly.

  “Oh shit! I missed my tutoring session,” I exclaimed as I jumped up.

  “I’m sure given the circumstances, the professor will understand,” Calex stated as he joined me at the wall, pushing the lever to let us out.

  “I hope so,” I told them as we left the secret room and headed toward our first class. We still had about ten minutes left, so at least we could show our faces. I didn’t want Sebastian to think I was taking advantage of our bond by just skipping his lessons.

  We entered the classroom and everything fell silent, the whole room watching us as we took our seat
s.

  “Look who finally showed up,” Alayna scoffed. “Thought you might have ran for the hills like the chicken you are.”

  I rolled my eyes but refused to take her bait, instead staring stoically at the front of the class. I felt the confusion and worry rolling off Sebastian, but knew I would have time later to explain.

  Carmen and Alayna sat huddled together shooting dirty looks in our direction as they whispered between each other, every now and then their snide remarks reached me and I struggled not to lose control.

  Finally the class was over and I got up to leave, though as expected, Sebastian asked me to stay behind. Alayna smirked at his instruction, “Not teachers' little pet anymore, are we?” she murmured as Sebastian turned his attention to his desk and the class filed out. As she passed me she sent out a small bolt of electricity towards my feet making me jump to the side as she giggled in amusement.

  In an instant Calex and Blade were both on her, “Watch yourself, bitch.” Calex ground out as Blade seethed next to him.

  “Oh, testy are we?” she purred as she traced a finger down his chest, in her attempt to be seductive.

  He snatched her hand from his chest, and held it tight, “I wouldn’t if I were you,” he stated darkly.

  He didn’t have time for anything else as Sebastian stepped between them. “Whatever is happening here, it ends now,” he ordered.

  Alayna smirked at Calex haughtily as he dropped her hand. She rubbed it with her other one, the only indication she would give that it had hurt her. She beamed at Sebastian, “I was just introducing myself, professor,” she said innocently.

  “Go to class,” he stated. “And don’t let me find out there are any more problems, or there will be consequences.”

  “Of course not,” Alayna pouted as she sauntered from the classroom, turning at the last minute to shoot me a death glare.