Chasing Secrets (Capturing Magic Series Book 4) Read online

  “Okay, this so wasn’t what I was expecting,” I mutter in awe as I take in the gorgeous room. “With how plain the seating area was …” I shake my head.

  Focus, Harlynn, focus.

  I look at Asher. “How are we supposed to be safe here if a succubus is running this place? Aren’t they supposed to be really tricky and manipulative?” They also radiate sexual energy, but I’m not about to say that aloud. Although, it does sort of explain why she didn’t swoon at the sight of Asher’s charming smile. Then again, I’ve never been one to swoon, either.

  A thought sort of bitch-smacks me out of nowhere.

  Do I have succubus blood in me?

  No, there’s no way that could be true. But then I think about all the kissing I’ve been doing and …

  I gulp. What if I do?

  “They’re very tricky and manipulative,” Asher grumbles as he strides over to the bar in the corner of the room. “But their powers mostly lie in sexual energy, so most of us shouldn’t have a problem.” As he grabs a bottle from the shelf, his gaze floats in Maxton’s direction.

  I honestly don’t know what’s going on at this point, why the succubus energy won’t affect the guys, but Maxton apparently.

  “She won’t affect me,” Maxton assures Asher as he unzips his hoodie.

  Asher cocks a brow at him as he grabs a bottle filled with ruby red liquid from off the shelf. “How can you be sure she won’t?”

  “How can you be so sure she won’t affect you?” Maxton throws back at him as he takes off his hoodie and drapes it on the back of a chair.

  Asher carries his gaze, his eyes clouding with a storm. But he doesn’t utter a word, just stares at his brother.

  East sinks onto the foot of the bed, his gaze bouncing back and forth between the two brothers. “Here’s a thought,” he says. “Instead of trying to communicate via telepathically, which we all know you can’t do, why not just talk about your feelings aloud?”

  Asher’s gaze cuts to East. “What feelings?”

  East looks at him insinuatingly without uttering a word.

  “Are you guys talking telepathically?” I finally ask, confused. “Because you keep saying you can’t, but either you were lying or just really like staring at each other.” Not that I can blame them. They’re all super pretty to look at.

  “No,” East answers, carrying Asher’s gaze for a moment before focusing on me. “We’re using eye language.” He smirks

  “You’re such a freak,” I say, unable to keep the smile off my face.

  He grins back at me. “And you are by far the prettiest creature I’ve ever seen.”

  I roll my eyes again, a comeback tickling at my tongue, but Asher speaks first.

  “Everyone should be fine around the succubus,” he states as he pours the rub liquid into a glass. “However, I’m really curious about what this event is that’s taking place in the basement. We should probably try to find out what it is.”

  “Don’t we have more important things to worry about?” Arrow reclines back in the chair he’s sitting in. “Like finding an energy reader?”

  Asher takes a sip of his drink. “Well, we’re not going to get anywhere with that until we make some acquaintances here. And according to Eva—the succubus at the front counter—almost all of the creatures in this town are attending the event, so that might be where we have to start.”

  “Yeah, we knew about the event already,” East tells him. “Our little thief could hear your entire conversation.”

  Curiosity sparkles in Asher’s eyes as he looks at me. “You could hear past the silence spell this place has on it? That’s … interesting.”

  “It definitely is,” East agrees, looking at me. “Which makes me even more eager to find out what you are and what you can do.”

  “You don’t think I have succubus in me, do you?” I find myself asking.

  As soon as the words leave my lips, I want to retract them, mostly because Asher is mid-sip and ends up spitting his drink out all over the floor.

  “What?” he asks through a fit of coughing. “Why the hell would you think that?”

  All their jaws are practically hanging to their knees. Well, except for Maxton, who just looks slightly amused.

  I shrug. “Because of some stuff that’s happened … between … us.” Gods, why did I have to open my mouth? And, even worse, my cheeks are on fire.

  East is struggling not to laugh. “I assure you, little mouse, that if you had even a drop of succubus blood in you, you wouldn’t be able to blush like that.”

  Well, at least one good thing came out of my stupid inability not to get embarrassed at even a hint of a dirty remark—I know I don’t have succubus in me.

  “I’m not blushing. My cheeks are just thawing.” I lie, but my squirming makes it totally obvious that I’m uncomfortable right now.

  They all observe me, Asher with his stormy eyes, East with his glittery intense ones, and Arrow with his apparently not real eyes, but that are still super pretty. Maxton is the only one who isn’t overwhelming me with his gaze, but only because he’s staring at the floor.

  Deciding I need a time-out, I stride across the room toward a doorway that I hope leads to the bathroom. “I need to go to the restroom,” I mutter. Then I hurry into the room that thankfully is a bathroom and shut the door behind me. I release an uneven breath as I sink to the floor and lean against the door.

  How am I supposed to do this? Be with all of them in the same room overnight? Sure, I kissed East and Asher at the same time, but that was while I was playing the role of an aftershow woman, and I had faerie wine in my system. It was a totally different situation than right now, while we’re in small quarters with one bed and I keep saying stupid things that make me blush. It’s so much easier when I’m just one-on-one with them.

  I lie down on the tile floor and stare up at the ceiling that resembles storm clouds. Life was so much simpler when it was just me and Jason, and I had to live by the rules of the curse. But it was also boring and lonely and empty. While being with guys makes me feel out of my element, the newness and possibilities make it sort of worth all the stupid crap I keep saying. I just wish I knew what I was doing. Wish I knew what they wanted from me. Nothing has been made clear, not even what is supposed to be breaking this curse, and not knowing makes me extremely uneasy.

  “We really do need to sit down and have a talk,” I mumble, twisting a strand of my hair around my finger. “Although, maybe not with all of them at the same time, or else I’ll probably say something stupid that’ll make me blush like an idiot like I always do.” I sigh at that thought, wondering if there will ever be a time when I won’t blush like a dumbass whenever anyone says something even remotely sexual.

  Gods, I hope so.

  Instead of going back out into the room, I remain lying on the floor for a bit, giving myself some time to relax. My body also starts to thaw, the numbness leaving my limbs. The strange part is that the warmer I get, the more my skin burns, as if someone has lit a fire under my skin and is slowly adding fuel to the flames.

  After a while, I’ve grown so hot that I’m sweating.

  “What in the hell is the matter with me?” I sit up and slip off my coat.

  My skin looks normal, not even a bead of sweat apparent, and yet I feel like I’m sweating. No, not sweating. Melting.

  “Maybe it’s just what snow does,” I attempt to convince myself.

  But as the heat continues to build inside my body, I worry that perhaps my powers are doing something wonky. Eventually, though, the heat fizzles, so I chalk it up to the cold doing weird things to my body.

  Once I’m good and warm again, I drag my butt off the floor, step out of the bathroom, and back into the room, only to find that everyone has left except for Asher.

  He’s sitting in a chair near the window, gazing outside at the snow-kissed roads and buildings with a crinkle between his brows. He’s removed his shirt and kicked his feet up onto the table, a drink in his hand. />
  “Where did everyone go?” I ask as I make my way to the middle of the room.

  He startles, his gaze darting to me. He takes a moment to catch his breath before speaking. “East went to look into finding a reader, and Arrow and Max went to see if they can figure out what the hell is going on in the basement.” He gives a brief pause. “You know, we really need to put a bell on you or something with how soundlessly you move.” He lowers his feet to the floor and rotates in the chair toward me. “Sometimes I can sense you coming, so maybe I should try to tune into that more.”

  “Really?” I ask, coming to a stop in front of him.

  He nods, downing the last of his drink then placing the empty glass onto the table. “Yes, really. Although, it hasn’t always been that way. It’s slowly been progressing, so maybe if I tried to tune myself into the sensation more, I’d be able to sense when you were a mile away.”

  “Now that doesn’t sound very fun,” I say. “I like sneaking up on you. It’s amusing when you jump.”

  He narrows his eyes at me, but it’s a playful move. “Well, it’s amusing when you blush.”

  I grimace. “All right, touché, genie dude.”

  He grins, but the smile gradually fades as he slants forward and places his hands on my waist. “Wanna tell me why you were hiding out in the bathroom?”

  With my lips smashed firmly together, I shake my head. “Not really.”

  His brow quirks upward. “Does it have anything to do with the fact that you thought you were a succubus?”

  “No, not really. Or, well, I guess it kind of does, but not entirely.”

  He peers up at me through his thick eyelashes. “Are you worried about what you are?”

  “Sort of.” I shrug. “That’s not all I’m worried about, though.”

  He skims the pad of his thumb along the sliver of flesh peeking out between the hem of my pants at the bottom of my corset. “Care to elaborate?”

  A shiver rolls through my body as I shake my head. “Not really,” I mumble over the thundering of my heart.

  He rubs his pale blue lips together. “If you want this to work, you’re going to have to learn to talk to us about stuff. You do realize that, right?”

  East has said something similar to me before and, deep down, I know they’re both right. The thing is, no one has explained what this is.

  “If I want what to work?” I manage to ask, but I think I already know the answer.

  His gaze sears into mine. “You really don’t know?”

  “I …” I blow out a weighted sigh. “Look, I may know, but I also might not, because I really have no clue what I’m doing or what anyone wants me to do. Or what anyone wants. I am so confused all the time, and I hate it. I don’t like being confused. I like being informed and knowledgeable and, right now, I know nothing about anything.” The words burst from my lips, and while I’m partly embarrassed about my outburst, my chest feels a bit less pressurized.

  He wets his lips with his tongue as he gazes up at me. “You want to know what we want?”

  Well, when he’s looking at me this way … so intensely … it kind of scares the crap out of me to find out. But I manage an uneven nod. “I’d also like to know what I am, but I know that’s a question you can’t answer right now. Although, now that we’re talking about it, wasn’t I supposed to help with this mission?” I place my hands on my hips and stare him down. “And yet everyone took off without—”

  He silences me with a brush of his lips, only pulling back slightly to say, “Relax. They only went to scope things out. The mission isn’t even in motion yet.”

  My lips part. “I know, but I think—”

  He quiets me again with a kiss. “And as for what we want”—his lips graze mine as he speaks—“I think we’ve made it pretty clear, little thief.”

  Maybe they have, but at the same time, no one has explained how this curse is supposed to be broken. Asher has been so vague about that, which has me questioning what exactly needs to be done to break it.

  “What about the curse?” I whisper. “How do we break it? Because we probably need to if things are gonna …” I gulp shakily as I think about all the things we could do that I don’t dare say aloud.

  “I promise we’ll talk about this,” he whispers, skimming his fingers across my skin. “Tomorrow. Right now, though, there’s something else I’ve wanted to do since you challenged me earlier in the snow.” Then he kisses me again.

  I should pull back and tell him we should talk first, but I become too distracted by his lips as I kiss him back, my hands drifting to his bare shoulders.

  He softly groans as he moves his hands from my waist to the backs of my thighs. Then he scoops me up and sets me on his lap so I’m straddling him. His kisses turn intense as he slides his tongue into my mouth.

  “The things I want to do to you,” he whispers against my lips.

  “Like what?” I ask, my pulse racing and making it really complicated to think clearly.

  He shakes his head, his forehead brushing against mine. “You’re not ready for that yet.”

  “How would you know?” I challenge.

  His fingers twitch on my thigh. “Because I do.”

  I open my mouth to tell him that maybe he doesn’t know me as well as he thinks, but he places a finger against my lip.

  “I’m right about this.”

  “No, you just think you’re right about this because you think you’re right about everything,” I say, my lips moving against his finger.

  When he slants back, his eyes are a thunderstorm of clouds. “Watch it, little thief. You’re veering toward that line again.”

  “You mean, the one where I hand your ass to you.” I dazzle him with a sassy smirk, totally getting off on this like he accused me of earlier. “Yeah, I’m fully aware that I am.”

  His eyes darken, and his lips part. I expect him to throw some snarky remark at me, but instead, he stands up.

  I grasp onto him as I start to tumble backward, but his grip on me tightens, and he holds me against him. Then he strides toward the bed and lays me down.

  “Don’t fucking say I didn’t warn you,” he growls out.

  I have about half a second to process what he said before he climbs onto the bed with me, covers his body over mine, and kisses me fiercely.

  As our tongues tangle, his words replay inside my head.

  What did he mean by that? Warn me about what exactly?

  A pulsating heartbeat later, he pulls back, grazing his teeth across my bottom lip and eliciting a moan from me. Then he props up on one arm and places his free hand on my stomach. “That mouth of yours,” he breathes out as he plays with the ribbon that secures the corset. “Has tested my patience from the moment you knocked on our vehicle door to tell us about that fire. Do you know that?”

  I want to toss a witty remark at him, something clever, but all I can concentrate on is the way his fingers trail along the front of my corset and come to rest at where the ribbon is tied.

  “Yeah … So …?” I trail off as he tugs on the ribbon, unlacing the bow.

  “You looked so innocent, standing out there, your hair all wild, your gorgeous eyes so big and full of innocence,” he murmurs while carrying my gaze and slowly loosening the ribbon.

  My breathing increases, my chest rising and crashing as the front of the corset starts to open.

  He trails his fingers down the ribbon, tugging and unlacing until the front of the corset completely opens up. “Do you have any idea what I’ve wanted to do to you since the first time I laid eyes on you?”

  I resist a gulp. Okay, maybe I wasn’t ready for this. Sure, I fooled around with Arrow and East, but they were both super gentle with me. This … is very, very intense. And I feel clueless and innocent, just like he’s always saying.

  I shake my head from side to side, focusing on keeping my breathing as even as possible.

  He leans in, his breath dusting across his face as he slips his fingers inside the corset. �
��I wanted to spread those long, pretty legs of yours wide open and fuck you until screamed my name.”

  I whimper as he pinches my nipple and bite down on my bottom lip to keep from doing just that—screaming out his name.

  “I still want to.” He sketches the pad of his thumb across my nipple again. “I fantasize about it all the time.” He trails his finger over to my other breast and lightly pinches that nipple.

  I gasp, delving my fingernails into his shoulder blades as I move my legs upward and wrap them around his waist.

  “Ash,” I whisper hoarsely.

  “Good gods,” he breathes out as he brushes his finger across my nipple again.

  Sparks erupt through my body, and my back bows upward. Something about the movement causes Asher to snap. He goes from being gentle to tearing the corset off my body.

  My eyes widen as he tosses the torn fabric aside. But I hardly have any time to freak out before he lowers his mouth toward my breast and wraps his lips around my nipple.

  “Oh my gods,” the moan fumbles from my lips.

  I know I should stop—make him stop—before I end up releasing all of the energy swirling inside me, but I can’t think past the haze clouding my mind as he nips and sucks, his hands wandering all over my sides. I can barely comprehend anything except the feel of his lips and the wonderful sensations throbbing through my body. And then, all of those sensations collide and pulsate through me in a giant wave. I dig my fingernails into his back as I struggle to hold on yet let go.

  But I finally let go.

  Fly away up to the fucking stars.

  By the time I return back to reality, Asher is kneeling between my legs and staring down at me. His eyes are wild, and he’s breathing raggedly.

  “I don’t … I need to fucking breathe for a moment,” he whispers, but I think he’s talking to himself.