Her Soul to Take (Souls Trilogy) Read online

  “Rae,” her lips curled around my name, like it was something sweet she wanted to eat. “I like that. Somewhere between masculine and feminine.” She set her cards face down on the table, took a deep breath, and pulled the first card.

  It depicted a stone tower standing tall among a forest, flames licking from its upper window as storm clouds gathered around it. Everly set the card down carefully and paused.

  “Change,” she said softly. “The life you knew, your strong tower, has been dramatically changed. It is no more.” Her lips parted again, only to close without a sound. Whatever she was going to say next, she’d changed her mind.

  Well, that felt far more ominous than it should have. I smiled, glancing with a little uncertainty at Victoria, who just shrugged her shoulders and took a long gulp from her “water” bottle.

  Everly lay down the next card. It depicted a man lying face down in the snow, his arm outstretched as if he’d been reaching for something. Numerous swords were pierced through his back, pinning him to the ground, blood staining the snow.

  Everly said nothing. She wasn’t looking at me anymore, but her eyes kept flickering to the side as if she was looking for someone. She pulled the last card, turned it to set it down —

  “Excuse me.” A woman had sidled up behind me, and I jumped at the sound of her voice. “How much do these cost?”

  Everly snatched up the cards, smiling brightly as she answered the woman. Victoria hopped down from the table with another sigh.

  “Let’s find a bar,” she said, finishing off the last of her Rosé. “I’m starving.”

  She led the way as Inaya put her arm around my shoulders and leaned close to whisper in my ear, “Everly is Victoria’s half-sister. Kent had an affair right before Victoria and Jeremiah were conceived. They’re only a few months apart.”

  My eyes widened, and I had to resist the urge to glance back. Everly definitely hadn’t inherited the Hadleigh family resemblance, but I could at least understand Victoria’s derision for her a little better, not that the situation was in any way Everly’s fault. Victoria had pulled further ahead, and seemed to have found a bar that was to her liking as she called back to us to hurry up.

  But my mind was still on the cards. I didn’t know much about tarot, but I think the last card I’d got a glimpse of would have been fairly obvious to anyone: a skeleton in a black cloak, carrying a large scythe as it rode a white horse across a barren field.

  Death.

  The bar was bustling with people, but we managed to get a table near the back. Victoria ordered a round of beer and appetizers, insisting she was going to pay for everything. I suddenly got the feeling she had started drinking long before I met up with her that day.

  She’d evidently extended an invitation to other friends too, because we’d only been there a few minutes when another group turned up: two women with their boyfriends, and two men who Victoria knew from one of her classes. She quickly clung onto one of them, and before long she was seated on his lap, another round of beers was ordered, and the conversation had grown to such a volume that no one could really tell what was being said, but none of us cared anyway. The bar was filling up, and I was feeling pretty good with two beers warming me and the high energy surrounding me.

  I wasn’t sure when he showed up. Maybe he’d been there the whole time and I just hadn’t noticed, but I doubted I could have overlooked him. I glanced across the table, laughing at something Inaya had said, and Leon’s gaze slammed into me, sharp and burning, those pale green eyes holding me captive for only the briefest of moments before snapping away.

  Leon was seated in the corner, his back to the wall, leaning back on his barstool with his arms folded and a grin on his face. His arms were bare tonight, allowing me to take a good look at his tattoos. Colorful swaths of ink, like the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, marked him from his wrists to his shoulders. He wore tight black jeans, Converse, and red t-shirt with jagged lettering emblazoned across the front. He wasn’t sitting alone. I could only see his companion’s profile, but where Leon’s tattoos were bright, the other guy’s were dark, shadows and deep details inked across his biceps. Snakebites pierced his lower lip, and a black barbell was studded through his eyebrow above honey brown eyes.

  I considered it an unspoken rule of the universe that more than one absurdly hot person couldn’t exist in the same place at the same time, especially not in such close proximity to each other, and to me. But these two — muscular, grinning, dark enough to straddle the fine line between intriguing and terrifying — were not only sitting directly within my line of sight, but they kept looking at me.

  Leon was really staring, but his companion was stealing glances too, turning just enough to look at me over his shoulder before turning his attention away again. A blush was rising on my face, and for what? Just because they were looking at me? Or because I’d gotten off to the thought of Leon doing awful things to me, and now I had to sit here with his eyes on me and those thoughts prodding at my brain again?

  I tried to ignore them. Leon’s gaze was hot on my skin, as palpable as fingers stroking my flesh. My foot began to tap against the rung of my barstool, and the mozzarella sticks were suddenly too cloying in my mouth.

  I didn’t want food. I didn’t want more beer. I wanted to satisfy this insatiable curiosity that kept dragging my eyes back to that evil smirking dude in the corner.

  Leon and the other man were conversing, and it wasn’t easy, but I tried to focus on the noise from their corner instead of the noise surrounding me. There was a brief moment of quiet as Victoria got up to use the bathroom and one of the couples made their way to the bar to order a cocktail. Only then was I able to catch a few brief moments of what they were saying.

  “...finally let me out. Fuck, if that’s all he needs me to do, what’s a little…”

  I would have been able to understand more if I had dared to watch Leon’s lips move. But I knew that if I raised my eyes in his direction, I’d find him staring back.

  “...about you? Hunting again?”

  Now, his companion spoke. The man’s voice was deep, the kind of voice that balanced firmly on the edge of sarcasm, as if he’d laugh at any moment. “Yeah. I’m getting close….be fun...if she doesn’t kill me first…”

  I was distracted as Inaya got up to leave and hugged me good-bye. By the time I sat down again, the corner table was empty, and Leon and his friend walked past our table.

  His eyes met mine: a challenge, an invitation. There was a pre-roll clutched between his fingers, and his friend had an arm slung over his shoulders. Through the bar’s window, I watched the two of them round the corner of the building, likely going to smoke in the alleyway alongside it.

  I wasn’t the only one who’d watched them pass. Victoria had glared at them the whole way out, and with them gone, our gazes locked with each other instead.

  She smirked. “He’s hot, right?”

  Her boy toy of the night didn’t look pleased with her statement, but I couldn’t disagree. “Yeah, and a dick.”

  She shrugged. “Pretty things don’t need to be likeable, do they?”

  My foot kept tapping against the stool. I slipped my hand into the pocket of my jacket to grip my vape. “I’ll be right back.” I got up from the table. “Gonna go smoke real quick.”

  Outside, the air was crisply cold, my breath forming clouds of condensation as I exhaled. The music from the bar was muted, and the scent of weed was sour and sharp on the breeze. I stood near the corner of the building, the silhouettes of Leon and his friend dark in my peripheral vision down the alleyway. I took a drag on my vape, and the scent of strawberry cream mingled with the odor of weed.

  From behind me, the low murmur of the men’s voices sent a little chill up my spine. Then Leon’s voice called, “Are you just going to stand there and hope we bother you, Raelynn? Or are you going to come get what you want?”

  I whirled around, my free hand shoved in my pocket so they wouldn’t see my fingers clen
ch. Leon leaned against the side of the building, passing the joint to his friend, who smirked at me before he took a drag. I didn’t appreciate him reading into my actions like that.

  I didn’t appreciate him being right.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I said. Leon shrugged.

  “It’ll be easier for you to eavesdrop on our conversation if you come closer,” his friend said, exhaling smoke with his words.

  If I’d actually thought they were a threat to me, I wouldn’t have taken another step closer. But that was the weird thing. They should have been frightening, but instead, I felt this bizarre trust. This completely unfounded belief that they wouldn’t lay a hand on me unless I wanted them to.

  And fuck, I did want them to.

  I walked closer, standing next to them in the alley’s dim light. It was warmer down there — not only because of the building’s closeness, but because the two of them emanated heat. It was weird, but it stopped my shivering. Leon nodded at his friend. “That’s Zane.”

  Zane threw up a peace sign, joint at his lips. “Brothers?” I asked.

  Leon chuckled dryly. “I don’t think most people fuck their brothers.”

  “Some do,” Zane said quickly. “Bros with benefits.”

  “It’s frowned upon.”

  “As if you give a fuck what’s frowned upon.” Zane laughed and passed the joint back to him.

  Neither of them looked high, and the joint was nearly gone. The only noticeable difference was that Leon’s piercing gaze had slightly softened, making it almost bearable as he watched me take another drag from my vape.

  “What is that shit?” he said.

  “Strawberries and cream.” I offered it up for a hit. He shook his head.

  “Won’t do anything for me.”

  Leon took a long drag on the joint, the ember at the tip flaring brightly with his inhale. He blew the smoke in my face: piney, sour-sweet. "Better than that sweet vapor, isn't it? That shit you tell yourself is enough…” He shook his head. “Just doesn't satisfy."

  Zane leaned closer. "You need something harsher, with a little more bite." His teeth clipped together on the final word.

  Ignoring Zane, I glared up at Leon’s smug face. "You're a dick."

  "Oh, Rae." He stepped closer, closing the already small gap between us. My choices were to take a step back — and press my ass up against Zane — or stand my ground. I didn't move, and Leon's hips brushed up against mine. Inches from my face, he took another drag, and the smoke coiled from his lips as he said, "You have no idea just how much of a dick I can be."

  I gulped as the smoke caressed over my face. The touch of his body was hot, hard, and utterly tempting. Part of me wanted to grind up against him, really show him that I could be a tease right back. But another part of me wanted to slap him, leave him there in the alley without the satisfaction of knowing just how much he'd gotten in my head.

  Without ever knowing how much he'd made me want him.

  “Why did you come out here, Rae?” he said casually. But nothing could be casual when he was pressed that close.

  “To smoke,” I muttered.

  “No, no, no. Why did you come out here?”

  Zane was chuckling behind me. I wasn’t about to lose my courage. “I was curious.” Leon tweaked an eyebrow at me, expecting more, and I managed to get out, “About you. I was curious.”

  Leon nodded sagely, as if he’d just been told the secret to the universe and realized he’d known it all along.

  “Curiosity is dangerous,” Zane said softly. His voice was inches from my ear, enough to send a chill up my neck. “I’ve heard it kills pussies...Is that the phrase?”

  "Close enough. Tell you what, sweetheart," Leon flicked what remained of the joint down and crushed it under his shoe. "I'll make this game a little easier for you, a little safer. Because I like this game. I like playing with you."

  Zane put his arm casually around my shoulders, making me jump. "It's too dangerous to play with Leon without a safety net. I would know." He smirked as if the declaration was a badge of honor. Between the two of them, my mind was a flurry of uncertainty and my body was determined to further betray me with every passing second. There was something ungodly hot about feeling so small between them, skirting the edge of playfulness and danger.

  I didn’t know what game we were playing exactly. But I was ready.

  "Yeah?” My voice squeaked. “How will you make it easier?”

  Zane snickered. "Oh, so she does want to play!"

  "Of course she does," Leon said, his voice smooth as honey. "I knew she'd be good sport."

  Not a good sport. Sport. I was the game, the toy. My heart began to race, my insides tensing with arousal. Fuck, how could this feel so dangerous and yet so sexy?

  My breath hitched as Leon’s fingers grazed up my neck. I expected him to tip up my chin, but his fingers stopped where my heart beat pulsed, right beneath my jaw.

  "Mercy," he whispered. He made that simple word sound beautiful, like poetry, like something tender. "That's all you have to say, and the game will stop immediately. Make sense?"

  "You're giving me a safe word," I said softly. "Jesus Christ..."

  "Christ isn't here." Zane's voice tickled against my ear, the snake's whisper to Eve. "Only the Devil, and he enjoys willing victims."

  “Your heart is beating so fast,” Leon said softly. “I think you’re excited, Raelynn. Do you want to play? Or do you want to leave?"

  Zane pulled his arm from my shoulders and stepped aside, bowing as if to permit me an exit from the alleyway. But I didn't move. Holy hell, I was actually considering this. My body craved Leon’s touch, craved the dangerous game he promised. My fantasies were running wild. But there wasn't much time. The others would wonder where I was soon and start looking for me, if they weren't already.

  But the simple, soft touch of Leon’s fingers against my throat kept me hooked like a fish on a line.

  "You'll stop if I say it?" My voice shook, but it wasn't in fear. I couldn't remember ever being this excited, or this painfully turned on.

  "You have my word." Leon’s voice was firm, so confident that it left no room for doubt. "And I know we're short on time. I know you have friends inside, good friends who will come looking for you if you're gone much longer. But I don't need long. I only need a few minutes."

  "A few minutes for what?"

  I could have sworn fire flashed in his eyes when he gave me a wide grin. "To make you come."

  I blushed red from head to toe. Zane wagged a finger at me. "Tick-tock, girl. What'll it be?"

  "Does it sound like fun?" Leon’s eyes hadn't left my face. He was examining me, watching carefully, absorbing my reactions as he waited for my answer.

  He wanted a willing victim, and I was goddamn willing.

  "Yeah, that sounds fun." My voice didn't shake now. All my jitters were inside my stomach as I returned his cocky smile. "But we'll see if you can actually make good on only needing a few minutes."

  His fingers, first so soft where they laid against my throat, tightened as he pressed me back to the wall. He was firm, controlled — it stopped my words and took my breath away as he stood over me, so close I could smell him. His scent was warm like a summer bonfire, crisp like cold lemonade. Citrus and smoke.

  "Keep watch, Zane," he said, as his free hand caressed down my side. He brought his mouth close to my ear, as his fingers traced the edge of my jeans along my hip, and he whispered, "Making you come won't be a challenge, sweetheart. You're already turned on by your own imagination and the few words I've said to you. So consider what my fingers will do."

  Those wicked fingers slipped under the waistline of my jeans. Oh my God, what was I doing? I was about to let a near-stranger finger-fuck me in an alleyway and all I could think was, Yes, God, yes, please! His fingers teased along my inner thigh, over my trembling flesh, sending goosebumps down my legs. My breath was shuddering, my hands pressed against the rough bricks behind me. His f
ingers reached my cotton panties and stroked along the edge.

  “Remind me again, Raelynn,” he growled, his nose pressed against the hollow behind my ear. His body was so close, melded against mine, hot and heavy. “Remind me again how badly you want me to make you come.”

  Fucking hell, I’d come from his words alone if he kept talking like that. My tongue seemed to have forgotten how to form words, and it took me a moment to compose myself enough to speak. One long, torturous moment, where his fingers kept teasing so close and his lips brushed against my ear.

  “I want you to make me come,” I whispered, for if I spoke too loudly it would come out as a moan.

  Leon hummed appreciatively, and his fingers began to rub over my panties. “Put your arms around my neck. You’re going to need to hold yourself up somehow.”

  I did as he said, wrapping my arms around his neck and clinging to him. It immediately made the moment feel more intimate, more desperate. I had to reach up to hold onto him, so it meant my face was buried between my arms and nestled close to his chest.

  His fingers slipped into my panties. He rubbed over my clit, then over my folds, then he chuckled. “Oh, so wet for me. So soft.” His fingers circled my clit, slick with my arousal, moving over the bud until my breath began to come in little gasps. Fuck, he was right — I was already so turned on, my body was eager to orgasm. He began to use two fingers to massage me, and a tremor went through my legs.

  “Ah…Leon…” I began to pant, my forehead resting against his chest. From under my upstretched arm, I saw Zane watching us with a sardonically satisfied smile on his face. When our eyes met, he held a finger up to his lips. Ssshh.

  Then Leon’s fingers slipped inside me, and the ability to control my volume was utterly lost.

  “Shh, shh, Raelynn,” Leon chided me gently, his hand moving from my throat to cover my mouth instead. My moans were muffled against his palm as he cupped between my legs, his two fingers pumping into me as he used the heel of his hand to massage my clit. “Not too loud now. If someone comes along and sees us, I’ll have to stop. And you don’t want that now, do you?”