Exaltation (Insight #11)(36)



“And how do you know they won’t do that anyway?” Emery said in a soft tone.

There it was, her true fear; that her girls would never forgive her for playing this role for as long as she had, never understand she had no real excuse beyond the fear she had that Jamison would vanish one day.

Jamison’s vim reached out for her, and in a second she was in his lap. He moved her legs on each side of him, and pulled her hips flush against him. He almost smiled when he heard her breath catch.

He looked up at her. “We raised them to forgive. We raised them to have gratitude. We raised them side-by-side. You’re the only mother Raven has ever known or will know. I’m the only father the twins have or will have.”

His hands moved up her thighs. “You’re mine, Emery. This is our family.” He hesitated as his thumbs moved in small circles on her thighs. “I need you. You know every side of me. Now more than ever we need to be side by side.”

Emery reached her hands for his face. “What’s wrong?”

“Right now,” he said as his eyes moved over her. “This space between us.”

She let her thumbs trace his cheekbones. “Baby steps. I feel it, too, Jamison, the risk in the air. I don’t want them to deal with us and whatever that danger is all at once.”

Jamison let out a faint breath. That was as close as he had ever gotten her to agree with him on the matter.

He leaned up and claimed her lips, soft and sweet at first, but the second she moved her hips closer to him the kiss became hungry, fierce.

In one swoop, he’d pulled her tank from her and his hot lips landed on her chest. He smiled as he kissed her flesh, as he heard her gasp, and felt her hands rush through his hair.

His hands moved up her thighs, grasping her, squeezing. Emery arched her back and moaned his name as she rocked against him.

Jamison stood with her in his arms and laid her across the table. His kiss moved across her chest, and just as he was sliding down her stomach he froze.

Emery was so consumed with the high he was giving her that it took her a second to notice something was off.

“Get dressed,” Jamison said as he stood.

“What? What’s wrong?” she asked as she saw fury wash down his face.

“Call the girls, something’s wrong.”

In a frantic rush Emery ran to the laundry room and pulled on clothes. “What do you mean something is wrong?”

“Something just broke the protection spell,” Jamison said as he sent a mass text to those in the inner circle of the coven to meet him at Saige’s.

Those spells were layers deep, and kept the girls and Soren safe no matter where they were. It took a lot to break one. In the past Jamison had sensed Rydell King and his followers trying to penetrate them, and it was nothing for Jamison to strengthen them once more. This was an automatic shut down. Something catastrophic had to have happened.





Chapter Eleven

Lust is all Escorts really know. They can’t feel love, for if they do it connects them to a sea of souls they’re meant to protect but harm just the same. It would weaken them to feel love, and they all strived for as much power as possible.

There were a few Escorts who felt something with their mate beyond everyday lust. They called it a fever. Fevers were rare but Rydell knew of them. He knew they were arresting, that they sucked you in and sent a surge through your soul near constantly. They were dangerous because they blinded you from your purpose from time to time.

Someone like Rydell, a First who was meant to always protect his sovereign, kept his distance from such things. More so now than ever—he had a faction to rule. He couldn’t be distracted.

Which was why, now after the rush of her touch dissipated, he was pissed at that girl—she stole his focus.

He was beyond twisted. He couldn’t figure out how a human girl made him feel like that. Why he could now sense her as if she were swimming in his veins.

He knew he had to deal with Raven and get as far away from this place as soon as possible—find any and every way to forget about skater girl. He would outrun the fever if it was the last f*cking thing he did.

He had zero time for addictions.

As he was trying to think of a quick fix, and tell himself not to track the girl as she pulled away in a Jeep, Dagen and Kade pulled up in front of him.

Kade only dropped off Dagen then drove on.

“I thought you said to appease my ego you were going to stretch this out to two weeks?” Dagen said.

Rydell furrowed his brow at him in question then he remembered. Earlier in the day he was telling Dagen they were going to be out of there in a few weeks time, they’d focus on the curse then. Dagen had his doubts, told Rydell not to underestimate Raven. He was there moments after Benjamin faced her and the boy was still not right. Rydell smirked and said not to insult him, he would toy with her for at least two weeks before he struck.

“I may have to make it up to your ego another way,” Rydell said as he stared in the distance. He was not staying this close to skater girl for two weeks, not if he was all but sure she’d sparked a fever in him. He still could not figure out how a human soul enchanted him. It made no f*cking sense.

A wicked smirk emerged on Dagen’s face. “Benjamin said she was a hellava kisser. Was he right or just bullshitting? I doubt he actually touched her. I really do.”

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