DeWitt’s Pack 7
The Spirit Within
Alpha werewolf Eric Martin was killed in battle, but that hasn't
stopped his spirit from mating with the medium vampire Ivan
Belekoff.
Eric is not the only spirit Ivan can see and touch, and the other
spirits are constantly attacking him for possession of his body,
until Eric becomes Ivan's protector and battles them off.
Soon, their arrangement brings out Eric's guilt. He is dead. He had
no business mating with Ivan, and when a new medium arrives,
offering to teach Ivan how to control his power, Eric is faced with
the decision of moving on to the other side.
Ivan does not want Eric to go. He still needs the other man more
than anything, and he doesn't care if that's selfish.
Eric must soon decide if true peace lies in death, or in the arms of
his lover, before the new medium sacrifices Ivan's soul to the
Gods.
Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Paranormal,
Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 35,572 words
THE SPIRIT WITHIN
DeWitt’s Pack 7
Marcy Jacks
EVERLASTING CLASSIC
MANLOVE
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IMPRINT: Everlasting Classic ManLove
THE SPIRIT WITHIN
Copyright © 2012 by Marcy Jacks
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62241-659-2
First E-book Publication: November 2012
Cover design by Harris Channing
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THE SPIRIT WITHIN
DeWitt’s Pack 7
MARCY JACKS
Copyright © 2012
Chapter One
Ivan Vaughn Belekoff, former prince of vampires of the Eastern
lands of the United States, sat on a dry patch of grass in front of the
sparkling pond he’d grown to love.
The night was still young and warm from the daylight hours, but
the peak of summer had come and gone, and now the nights were
becoming longer and cooler.
He enjoyed dipping his toes in the clear water after a hot day of
sitting in the room he’d been given after coming to live on werewolf
territory, doing naught but reading old Robert Ludlum books—some
of which were not even written by the man.
The water was glorious, and so was his new home. It was freeing,
being able to walk about as he wished. It was a pleasurable sensation
he was still becoming used to.
After Ivan’s brother, Vladimir, had joined—or mated, as the
werewolves called it—with one of the wolves here in DeWitt’s pack,
Ivan had been fortunate enough to come along with them, escaping
their older brother’s tyranny and an attack on their vacation home by
every alpha in the pack.
This good luck was only due to the fact that he and Vlad got on so
well. Ivan might be older than Vlad, but the other vampire had a habit
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of treating Ivan like he was the youngest in their family.
Not that he didn’t have his reasons.
Those same reasons were also why the werewolf Eli was so keen
on keeping Ivan close, which was another motive for Ivan to get away
and enjoy the solitude of the pond, reflecting the silver light of the
crescent moon and stars.
A cold, pleasurable shiver passed up his spine, and when Ivan
exhaled, a cloud of gray mist came out.
Normally this would frighten him, especially considering what
usually followed, but the spirits that came to Vlad hadn’t attacked him
in weeks. He actually hadn’t seen any for several days now, and this
spirit didn’t give him the fearful shivers that the others did.
This could only be one particular spirit then. Good. He’d missed
him.
“Hello, Eric. I was hoping we would see each other tonight.”
Eric spoke from behind him. “Just wanted to check up on you. See
how things were doing.”
Eric came and sat beside him. The werewolf spirit was naked, as
he usually was. The chill in the air did not go away, but Ivan was a
vampire. The cold did not make him uncomfortable. The nudity did,
but only in the beginning of their…relationship. Now, the sight of
Eric’s body made Ivan shiver, and not for the cold, but it was still
pleasurable.
Spirits were always wearing the clothing they had on them the
moment they died. In Eric’s case, that was nothing at all. He was a
werewolf warrior in life. It would only make sense for him to be
naked in death. Werewolves could not wear their clothing if they were
expecting to transform, and Eric had been in the midst of a
transformation when he was killed by another wild werewolf.
Ivan knew this because Eric had told him.
“I am well, thank you,” Ivan said.
“No other spirits came to you today?”
Ivan had the feeling that Eric already knew the answer to this but
The Spirit Within
9
wanted to come and ask for the excuse to be near Ivan anyway. Ivan
wished that Eric would come and see him, regardless of any other
spirits that might be lurking around.
“Not today. Though I am curious as to why you have been
avoiding me.”
Eric whipped his head over to him. Ivan had difficulty in hiding
his smile.
“I haven’t been avoiding you.”
“You have,” Ivan countered, as calmly as though they were
discussing the morning traffic or the weather. “I used to see no other
spirit but you for hours at a time. Now I am fortunate if you will visit
me for fifteen minutes at the end of the day.”
The more he spoke, the more the words came out sounding bitter.
Ivan hadn’t meant for that, but it was difficult to keep his emotions in
check.
“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”
Ivan had screamed and shrieked like the most worthless of
cowards the first time he saw Eric in his bedchamber several weeks
ago. Whenever a spirit came to him, it was not because they wanted
help to perform some small task that would give them closure and the
ability to move on to the next life. No, nothing as cinematic as that.
The spirits were angry, always, and they wanted life. They wanted
their lives back.
Because Ivan was born with the curse of seeing them, it somehow
drew their attention to him in return. They attacked him in anger,
attempting to possess him to experience life once more. Sometimes
they succeeded, and Ivan was forced to fight them out of his body,
becoming bruised and battered in the process. For the times when the
spirits failed, Ivan came out looking no better anyway.
His brothers had thought him to be mad. His eldest brother, King
Markus, nearly had Ivan locked away in an asylum. He probably
would have been if Vlad had not intervened and begged for Ivan to be
given another chance.
10 Marcy
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Ivan had to be careful ever since then to keep the bruises to
himself, and he only screamed when there was no one around to hear
him or when he could not help himself.
His brothers never stopped thinking him to be insane, but at least
the threat of being evicted from the palace was gone.
There was a time when Ivan had considered taking his own life,
just to end the misery and torture at the hands of so many wandering
spirits, but then Eric appeared.
Ivan rarely left his bedchamber when he still lived in the palace
with his mother and brothers. He could not act strangely in public if
he never went out in public, after all. Such a way of life was his only
option to hide his condition from others.
He’d just come from a bath and had been drying his hair when he
looked up and saw Eric standing in his room, searching around
curiously, naked and partially transparent.
Then Eric had turned and noticed Ivan, had seen the way Ivan did
not look through him, and had stepped forward to speak to him.
Ivan’s reaction had been immediate and part of his usual routine.
He’d jumped away from the approaching spirit and shrieked at him.
Partially due to fear of attacks and torture, and partially in an attempt
to scare the ghost away before it could possess him.
The spirits who possessed Ivan had a terrible habit of attempting
to push him out of his own body. That was always the most
frightening part. That they would kill him to regain their lives.
In his shock at all the yelling, Eric had fled.
Ivan had then sat on his bed, heart pounding at the encounter, and
no more than an hour later did another spirit arrive, and this one
would not be cowed by Ivan’s screams.
Soon, he was not merely screaming to get rid of the ghost, but
because of the pain the spirit was putting him through as it had
punched, clawed, bit, and slapped at Ivan, attempting to force itself
inside of Ivan’s body.
The spirits passed through most people, but they could touch Ivan
The Spirit Within
11
all they liked, and despite his vampire strength, the will and strength
of a ghost seeking to return to life was always greater.
Fortunately for Ivan, he’d requested that his room be
soundproofed to prevent his nightmares from disturbing the rest of the
family during their sleeping hours.
Perhaps meeting Eric had been something of a miracle. Any other
ghost would have taken him and tossed him out of his body in an
instant had he shown any sort of weakness to them.
Not Eric.
“I’ve missed you,” Ivan confessed, and he leaned down, allowing
his head to rest on Eric’s shoulder.
This time Eric was the one to shiver. Ivan was still attempting to
figure out how a bodily reaction in a dead spirit was possible. Eric
passed through every other body that he tried to make contact with.
Perhaps his physical reaction was simply because Ivan was the only
person he could be physical with.
Ivan was disappointed, though not shocked, when Eric did not
return the sentiment.
Eric protected Ivan from the other spirits, and for a time, Ivan had
come to see Eric as something of a friend.
Ever since coming to this land and meeting Eric’s twin brother,
Ivan was no longer sure what they were to each other.
Ivan used to lean against Eric like this often, and the other man
would put his arm around Ivan’s shoulder, inviting him closer,
apparently stunned that he could still experience physical pleasure
through touch.
Ivan decided to stop being a coward and give it a try. He put his
hand on Eric’s thigh and kissed his neck. His throat worked as he
swallowed, and his strong jaw went tight. If someone were to walk
into the clearing, would they see Ivan holding onto nothing, pressing
his lips against air? He wasn’t sure because no one had ever stumbled
upon them during these moments.
There hadn’t been any moments like these ever since Ivan arrived
12 Marcy
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at this pack.
Eric inhaled sharply, and Ivan could feel the man’s thigh become
stiffer as his body reacted. His cock lengthened and became hard.
Again, Ivan did not know how this was possible, because this was
definitely a spirit sitting next to him. Ivan heard no pumping of a
heart, scented no blood beneath Eric’s skin, and yet there was
apparently enough blood in his spiritual body to form an erection.
Ivan reached for it when Eric took him by the wrist. His grip was
not strong, but the signal to stop was loud and clear. And
disappointing.
Ivan hated how the rejection made him want to weep, punch,
snarl, and kick. All of those angry emotions running through him at
the same time could not be healthy for him.
Eric stood up. He did not need to brush any dirt or blades of grass
from his legs, because, although the imprint of his body was on the
ground, nothing came back up.
“I need to be going,” Eric said.
Ivan was angry and in no mood to be accommodating. “Where
does a spirit need to go?”
“I hear my brother coming. I’ll talk with you later.”
Ivan spun around just as Eric turned his back on him and began to
walk away. Where he was walking to, Ivan did not know since the
man vanished from sight midstep.
Ivan bent his head and rested his forehead on his knees. His body
still pulsed and hummed with how close he had been to Eric, but Eric
was denying him again.
Ivan willed away his erection. The task of making himself flaccid
was becoming more and more difficult with every time that Eric
refused him.
At the age of forty, young for a vampire but still old enough to
have some experience, Ivan had had a few partners in his life. That,
however, was before his condition had been discovered by others as
Ivan could not keep it secret any longer, and suddenly no male wished
The Spirit Within
13
to come anywhere near the insane, screaming prince.
Eric was Ivan’s first lover in nearly twenty-two years, and he
wasn’t even alive. Spirit or not, Ivan enjoyed taking advantage of
their lust for each other.
Ivan had told himself that if Eric was simply using the sex as a
form of payment for the protection against the other spirits, he didn’t
care.
That bargain had been in the beginning of their love affair. Ivan
was shocked that he would be so hurt that Eric would no longer wish
to be with him.
He wished he understood why.
Eric had been correct, though, when he stated that his twin brother
was approaching. Perhaps he was simply putting off the sex because
there were more people around here than there were when Ivan had
been living as a prince. More people, no soundproof walls, and a
better chance of being caught.
Perhaps Eric’s rejection was simply another way of protecting
Ivan. This time from humiliation rather than physical attack.
Eli walked at a leisurely pace. Though he looked completely
identical to his dead brother, short and dark hair, strong body and
wide shoulders, the differences were clear.
For one, this man was wearing clothing, and his cheeks were not
pale with death. Ivan could also smell his blood flowing through his
veins and under his skin as his heart pumped in his chest.
Ivan sighed at the sight of him and returned to staring into the
pond.
It was not that he disliked Eli, but Ivan would rather the company
of Eric than of his twin brother.
Eli seemed to be the only person in the pack who believed that
Ivan might actually have a connection with spirits, and he had a
particular interest in Ivan ever since he began speaking of his dead
brother.
There was still that twinge of doubt in his voice whenever he
14 Marcy
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spoke, as though he worried that perhaps Ivan truly was crazy and that
he should be careful with his words around him.
Ivan hated being spoken to like a child.
“Hey, Ivan. How’s it been going?”
Ivan prepared himself for the usual polite questions that came
before the cautious inquiries.
“Very well, thank you. And yourself?”
Eli shrugged, and then he sat in the exact same place Eric had just
vacated. “Pretty good. Pretty good. Have you seen Eric today?”
The Spirit Within
15
Chapter Two
Eric watched from the sidelines as his brother spoke with Ivan. It
was a pain in the ass having to strain his ears like he did just to be
able to hear them. He’d lost pretty much all of his werewolf senses
after he’d died, and now he felt like he was half-deaf compared to
before.
Really, they weren’t sitting that far away. Eric used to be able to
hear from that distance no problem, now it was like he had human
ears or something. He didn’t know how they survived as a species if
this was all they had to work with.
He could always make himself invisible, which was a neat trade
off, and just walk up behind them to listen to what was being said, but
the problem was that it didn’t always work on Ivan. That was Ivan’s
trick for being able to see the spirits around him.
Those were reasons enough to stay hidden behind the bushes and
trees, watching as his brother conversed with Ivan with ease, his eyes
lit up as Ivan spoke, his body tense with excitement.
Eli had a mate, and Eric was pretty sure his brother wasn’t the
kind of wolf who would want to bring in other lovers to that
relationship, but how well could he know that? A lot had changed
since Eric had been away. His brother was certainly not the man Eric
remembered him as.
He was a recovering alcoholic, hardly the fun, upbeat person he
used to be, but at least he had his mate Chris to help him. Eli was
definitely a little more like himself whenever his mate was around.
Eric sighed. He was just acting jealous. Jealous that his brother,
his still-alive brother, could sit next to Ivan and speak with him as
16 Marcy
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normal people did. Should anyone walk into this clearing, they would
not see Ivan speaking to himself, or kissing the air like a psychopath.
Ivan was beautiful, too. Eric wanted nothing better than to go to
him and kiss him. The vampire was a stark contrast to his brother’s
darker, more tanned form. Hair that was so blond it was practically
white, a lean build, and pale skin.
Eric had to look away, trying to push away the desire he felt. He
really was no better than those spirits who had abused Ivan for all
those years. Even now he could see them, surrounding the pond in a
wide circle. Surrounding Ivan.
There were only five of them that Eric could see, and they could
see him, which was exactly the reason why none of them made
themselves known to Ivan or attacked him.
A ghost might not be able to manipulate the normal people and
objects around them, but they could damn sure attack each other.
Eric had attacked them violently enough before that they had
finally learned their lesson. This was the reason they stayed away, and
why he could not go too far from Ivan.
It was also the reason why Ivan had fallen in love with Eric.
Since Ivan was a tortured man, vampire in this case, alone in the
world with hardly anyone except for his demons for company, it was
to be expected that he would grow attached to Eric as his protector.
Eric wouldn’t stop protecting him, but it was wrong of him to
string Ivan along, no matter how good it felt, how alive he was when
they came together.
Ivan was alive, and Eric was dead. He needed to accept that fact
and allow Ivan to move on with his life.
Eric sat down and wrapped his arms around his knees with a sigh,
still listening to the conversation and watching their exchange. It was
innocent. It always was.
Maybe if Eric still had a life to live, moving on for him wouldn’t
be such an impossible thing to do.
The Spirit Within
17
* * * *
Ivan returned to his new lodgings. They were small compared to
what he was used to but much more peaceful. The quiet used to put a
sliver of unease into him. Now he welcomed it.
Eli had been persistent, as usual, in his questions about his
brother. Ivan answered as best as he could, assuring the other man
that Eric was not in any pain, and that he passed on his love to Eli and
his new mate, but every time Eli came to Ivan, it was as though he
expected different answers, and Ivan no longer knew what to tell the
other man.
Ivan had never had to deal with jealous family members before,
but he supposed it was to be expected, considering Ivan had a link
with Eli’s twin brother and Eli did not.
The soft knock at his door, cracking through the silence despite
the small sound, made him jump. “Enter,” he called.
Vlad opened the door and poked his head inside.
Ivan smiled, genuinely happy to see his younger brother.
Vlad, however, looked at Ivan as though he were getting ready to
scold a small child. “I heard you went out to the pond by yourself
again.”
Ivan bit down on his lips. He loved his brother, appreciated how
protective Vlad could be of him, considering Ivan’s history, but he
despised being treated like a child.
“I was not alone.” For the most part.
Vlad appeared hesitant, like he was afraid his words could send
Ivan into a downward mental spiral of screaming and fear and
scratching and punching himself.
Ivan had only ever done such things to himself to force the spirits
out of him or because they were forcing him to hurt himself.
“You were…with the ghosts?”
“There was one spirit in particular there, yes.” As usual, however,
that spirit had come and gone in quick succession. “Then Eli came
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and spent some time with me.”
This was another subject matter that Vlad was having difficulty
broaching. He was torn between thinking that Ivan was somehow
stringing along Eli’s hopes, or believing that Ivan really was seeing
the things that he claimed.
Ivan just wished he had some way to prove to his brother that he
was not mentally unstable or randomly violent.
Vlad seemed to decide that Ivan’s time spent with Eli was
harmless, at least. “Well, I guess there’s that, but even being with one
person all the way out there can be dangerous. People in this pack
have been attacked at that pond. It’s too far off the main property.”
That was right. The pond might be on pack land, but there was so
much land here that it could not all be watched all of the time, and the
farther away one went from the houses, the more risk there was of
being accosted by the wild werewolves who roamed the outskirts of
the property.
Apparently James DeWitt, the pack alpha, had bested another
pack alpha and had taken his land for his own, the members of the
other pack vanishing as they were freed from the old rule.
That defeated alpha, in his anger, had created a large group of
wild werewolves and set them loose on the land. Sometimes they
were known to enter pack territory, and because that pond was not
exactly close by, it was dangerous to go alone.
Dangerous for the omega wolves, that is, who were too small to
fight back, needed the protection of their alphas, and were not as
quick to run away.
“I know the dangers, but I can hardly go there during the daytime
with the others.”
The pack made a family event out of swimming in that pond,
taking the omegas and the children along with them to cool off during
the hot hours of midday.
Of course, being vampires, Ivan and Vlad could not attend such
functions. Vlad seemed at peace with this, but Ivan enjoyed having
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19
the pond all to himself.
“I am fast enough to run away from any threat and strong enough
to defend myself,” Ivan said.
Unlike Vlad, Ivan had grown up having to constantly fend off the
spirits wishing to possess him. He knew how to fight back.
Vlad’s lips thinned. “Very well, just, let me know the next time
you wish to go out there. I will go with you. It’s much harder to sneak
up on two vampires than it is one.”
Especially because vampires had no natural scent that the
werewolves could pick up on.
Not wishing to argue any longer, Ivan simply nodded and agreed,
and then Vlad went off in search of Andrew, his werewolf mate,
while Ivan had naught to look forward to but spending the rest of the
night by himself.
Not for the first time since coming to this land, he damned Eric
Martin for ever coming into his life.
20 Marcy
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Chapter Three
Eric sat on top of the brand-new roof that had been installed on
the cottage where he and his brother used to live. After Eric’s death,
Eli moved out, unable to stomach being inside the cottage they both
shared. Then, when Eli took a mate, he happily built a cottage of his
own that the two could have, giving them some privacy and
preventing the need to share with any of the other alphas or omegas.
No one had bothered to move into the cottage Eric and Eli used to
live in. They feared it, and more than once Eli overheard the children
whispering to each other that it was haunted.
Which it must be, considering Eric was still here. He’d stayed
with his pack, unable to move on, until the day he was mysteriously
transported to Ivan.
He didn’t know how it happened originally, but once it did, he
could not stop himself from splitting his time between his pack and
Ivan.
Now Ivan was here, and he was living in the cottage that Eric used
to live in. He was eating at the table that Eric had once eaten at and
sleeping in Eric’s old bed.
The sun was high in the middle of the sky, so it was more than
likely that Ivan would be inside, the heavy curtains pulled shut,
sleeping.
Eric wanted nothing better than to let himself drift through the
roof and into the house, walk into that bedroom, and wake Ivan up the
best way he knew how.
His dick pulsed at the thought of putting Ivan’s cock in his mouth
and teasing the other man until he woke up.
The Spirit Within
21
He forced himself to not do anything but keep watch over his pack
and make sure that no wandering spirits came too close to Ivan.
He saw none today. Maybe it was going to be a good day.
What a stupid thing to think about. Of course it wasn’t going to be
a good day. Ivan was growing more and more miserable as the days
progressed, and no matter what Eric said to himself, he couldn’t stop
himself from being such a pussy and just come out and tell Ivan the
truth.
What they were doing, what they had been doing, would not
work.
A living being could not live happily with a wandering spirit.
Eric would just leave if he could, but he didn’t know how to cross
over, and so he was trapped on this plane of existence.
Even if he knew how to leave, he knew that he wouldn’t. He
couldn’t leave his brother a second time, and he couldn’t leave Ivan
alone to be constantly attacked and beaten by wandering, angry
spirits.
Eric wished he knew what their problem was. Eric was dead, too,
and he wasn’t running around haunting people.
Eli and Chris walked out the door of the small cottage they’d built
together, hand in hand. Eric watched them go with a mix of happiness
for his brother and envy.
“He can see him,” Eli insisted. “You should hear him talk,
everything he says. He knows things about me and Eric that we never
told anyone before.”
Chris still sounded a little skeptical, like he wanted to believe and
be happy for his lover, but at the same time was hoping for Eli to slow
it down a bit just in case his hopes would be crushed. “I hope you’re
right, and I hope he is, too, but for someone to be able to see
ghosts…”
“Werewolves and vampires and a lot of other things that normal
people don’t think about are real, so why not this?”
“Yeah, but the normal people are the ones who don’t believe in
22 Marcy
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vampires and werewolves and ghosts. You and I know for a fact that
two out of those three mentioned are real, but if ghosts were real, if
there really was a bunch of spirits wandering around here since the
dawn of time, why haven’t any vampires and werewolves seen any of
them until now?”
Eli clenched the muscles in his neck and frowned. He was being
stubborn, as usual. Eric smiled at the sight.
“Ivan said that it was Eric who pulled you out of the pond that
day. He really is here. You said it might be him, and it was him. He
saved your life.”
Yeah, Chris had nearly drowned in the pond that Ivan was so fond
of visiting. It was the healing pond, and still no one knew where its
powers came from.
The day Eric had been murdered, Eli had tried bringing him to the
pond, but its powers hadn’t worked on Eric. He didn’t heal, and he
didn’t return to life.
Chris, however, was a different story. Maybe it was because of the
man’s multicolored eyes. According to werewolf legend, they were
good luck, so maybe that had played a part in it.
Chris had been wounded by another werewolf, and like before, Eli
had brought him to the pond, hoping for a miracle.
The miracle happened, but not until after Eli had thought he was
too late and his mate had died. Eric had been there when it happened,
and he’d mourned for his brother’s loss.
Only then, after Eli had allowed Chris’s body to sink to the
bottom of the pond and ran off to get his revenge, did the healing
powers of the pond finally take place.
For some reason, the pond not only healed Chris, but also brought
him back to life. The problem was that it turned out the poor guy
didn’t know how to swim.
Eric had to do something at that point. Whether or not he came
back to life again was not a risk he could take if Chris would have
drowned in the water, and even though he hadn’t been able to
The Spirit Within
23
physically touch anything before, he ran into the water, grabbed Chris
around the back of his neck, and then pulled the man to safety.
That had been the first time Eric was able to physically touch
anyone, and he hadn’t been able to do it to anyone other than Ivan
since. Was it because Chris had the lucky eyes of Romulus and
Remus? Or maybe because they had been in the healing pond when
Eric pulled him out? He didn’t know.
Maybe that was the reason for Eric’s sudden departure and
meeting with Ivan. Maybe making contact with the man with
multicolored eyes had somehow given Eric enough luck to meet Ivan.
Just not enough luck for the both of them to be alive when that
meeting occurred.
He’d been so stupid. Why hadn’t he resisted before? Why let it get
to this point at all? Completely stupid.
“I just hope you’re right about him,” Chris said.
Eric didn’t blame the other man for his lack of faith. Werewolves
prayed to the spirits of Romulus and Remus all the time, but to have
someone who claimed to have a direct link to them was something
else entirely.
“I am right,” Eli said, his voice filled with all the faith he
possessed, and Eric’s heart, if he still had one, or maybe just the
empty space inside of his chest, felt warm.
I miss you, too, bro.
A commotion sounded as several of the younger teens and
children started running back to the group of houses, and Eric and
every other adult looked to see what had them spooked. A gray Ford
truck that neither Eric, nor anybody else in the pack judging by their
expressions, recognized drove in through the unpaved road, slowly
riding along the dirt clearing before coming to a stop where all the
other vehicles in the pack were either parked or broken down and
being used for scrap metal.
A woman stepped out. She was tall, slightly big boned, with her
long, straight hair kept back with a red bandana. The wind blew as she
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stepped out, ruffling her long brown skirt and gold hair.
As James was not immediately on hand, Eli was the one to step
forward. Eric jumped off the roof and ran forward to be next to his
brother. Likely this woman was just lost and in need of directions, but
there was something about her hippie look, the floral flip-flops, and
dream-catcher earrings that had him intrigued.
“Can I help you?” Eli asked. He was big and dark enough that her
attention was immediately on him as the speaker. Anyone who was
still transformed as a wolf was easily able to slip away into the trees
and hide until the woman left.
She looked at him and smiled, holding out her hand for Eli to
shake. “Yes, my name is Opal Drew. Are you James DeWitt?”
Eli took her hand and shook it anyway. “No, but he should be
around. There a message I can give to him?”
It was never good to assume things. Eric was aware that Eli knew
this. Just because this woman in the strange clothes was asking for
James didn’t mean she knew anything about werewolves. For all
anyone knew, she was here to talk about the giant hunk of land they’d
all been sitting on for the last couple of months and ask James if he
was interested in selling off a couple of acres of it.
“I would rather speak to him in person, if he’s available.”
She was polite enough, and Eli nodded to Chris, who went off in
search of their pack leader. James would likely be out hunting, but if
that was the case, Chris would need to find him, and fast, bring him
back to the main part of pack land, sneak him into his house to put on
some clothes, and then come out to meet the woman who wanted to
see him so badly.
While Eli was explaining that it might take several minutes to
bring James out here, Opal looked right at Eric.
His breath caught in his throat as her pale-green eyes locked onto
his.
She could see him. Just like Ivan, she could actually see him. Eric
knew this wasn’t a mistake or even a coincidence that she was
The Spirit Within
25
looking at something just beyond him. Nope. It was him she saw.
The extra little bit of confirmation was when her eyes went down,
almost against their will, and she blushed and looked away as she
caught sight of his dick.
Well, what the hell did you expect, lady? he wanted to ask. He’d
died when he was naked. It wasn’t like he had any clothes to wear.
He walked up to her, stepping right through one of the teenage
weres who was staring at Opal like she was the most amazing thing
he’d ever seen.
All the newcomers to the pack had been male, after all. Poor kid
was in a desperate need of a social life outside of the pack.
“Can you see me?” he asked, even though he already knew. He
just wanted to see what her reaction would be.
Her cheek ticked, and he cursed. “Goddamn, another one.”
She looked at him sharply, and he saw it in her eyes.
“That’s what you’re here for,” he said, and he made himself
disappear from her sight. He had to hurry before that ability of hers
allowed her to see which cabin he was going to. He stepped through
the door into the cottage.
The curtains were thick and they kept out all direct sunlight, but it
was hardly full-on darkness in the cabin.
He ran into his old bedroom where Ivan was staying and stepped
through the closed door.
In here it was a little darker only because Vlad and Ivan had taped
cardboard over the windows to shut out most of the light.
Ivan slept above the covers. There was no central air in this small
cabin, and he was not used to being so hot. He never slept naked,
however. He always had to be wearing something. Tonight he’d worn
a pair of baggy shorts that went down to his knees.
Looking at him lying there, eyes shut in sleep, his hand resting on
his chest and legs sprawled over the bunched up covers, he could have
passed for human or maybe even another werewolf.
Eric contemplated not waking him but then just went to the bed.
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Ivan would want to know about this other woman who could see
spirits. She certainly didn’t have the appearance of someone who was
abused by them. Maybe there was a trick to it that she could teach
him.
Maybe Ivan was the real reason why she was here.
Eric put his knee up onto the mattress. It didn’t dip under his
weight. It never did unless he was on top of Ivan, pounding into him,
the entire bed shifting and shaking and hitting the wall.
He shook the thought from his mind. He didn’t need an erection
right now.
As he got closer, Ivan’s skin pebbled slightly from the cold Eric’s
body produced. He took Ivan by the shoulder and gently shook him.
“Hey, Ivan, wake up.”
He shook him a little more before Ivan groaned and opened his
eyes. Those red orbs focused on Eric’s face, and Ivan smiled and
reached for him.
Eric took him by the hand before he could grab hold of him.
“There’s a woman here who can see ghosts just like you.”
Ivan’s confusion turned into…well, deeper confusion, and he
frowned. “What?”
Ivan sat up as Eric got off the bed. “A woman just drove onto the
land. She could see me. I know she could. She asked for James, but
there’s no way she doesn’t want you.”
Ivan shook his head. “Vlad and I have not told anyone of our
whereabouts. Who would we tell? We have no family left.”
And if there were any of those people alive, he knew they were as
good as dead to the brothers anyway. “I know. I believe you.”
“Vlad would never speak openly of my curse either.”
“Don’t worry. I believe you. I just want you to be prepared.”
Eric didn’t realize he’d reached his hand out and cupped Ivan’s
cheek until the other man rested his hand on top of Eric’s.
Eric was too shocked and embarrassed with himself to pull away.
Ivan leaned closer and kissed him.
The Spirit Within
27
Eric had never felt more alive. The press of those soft lips always
sent a jolt rushing through him, like he’d touched a live wire or
something. Any physical touch had that effect, really, but it was
always when their mouths came together or when Ivan touched Eric’s
cock that he really responded.
It was almost like he had come to life, like that electrical current
had acted as a defibrillator and brought him back from the dead.
Every pore on his body, every hair, and every nerve was awake and
thrumming. He had a heart, and it was beating once more, very
quickly.
Ivan had him, and he knew it, the bastard. Eric’s hands slid around
Ivan’s waist, dipping under the loose shorts and pulling them down
just enough so that he could get a grip on Ivan’s ass. It was firm, full,
and perfect.
Eric pressed him down onto the bed, laying his body over top of
Ivan’s. He pushed the shorts down even more, letting Ivan’s beautiful
prick spring free. He was cut, and pre-cum pearled at the tip of his
dick.
“I’ve missed you,” Ivan said on a gasp as Eric thrust their cocks
together.
Now that Eric was touching Ivan, the bed rocked slightly as he
thrust against the other man. He wanted to tell Ivan that he’d missed
him, too, but he couldn’t say anything. Not a word came out of him
because of how much he hated himself for doing this, for not having
the strength to fight back and just stop.
But those red eyes were so tempting. Vampires had the ability to
charm anyone who looked into their eyes, creating feelings that
ranged from lust and love to anger and hate.
Ivan had tried to charm Eric once or twice before. It never
worked. It was the ghost thing all over again, so he didn’t even have
the luxury of placing blame on someone else for his own weaknesses.
Ivan moaned, and he tried to raise his legs to give Eric better
access to his body, but the shorts he’d been wearing to bed were still
28 Marcy
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around his legs.
“Fuck me, Eric, right now. Fuck me.”
He couldn’t say no. He forced his body away and began pulling at
Ivan’s shorts, yanking them off. He was ready, and so was Ivan. Just
one more time to have him. One more.
He’d just managed to get them off when a knock sounded at the
door.
They both froze.
“Who is it?” Ivan called, his voice slightly higher than what was
normal.
Mick, James’s second in command, answered from the other side,
his own voice sounding off, like he was embarrassed or something.
“Sorry, I know you can’t answer the front door during the day, and
when I knocked and you didn’t say anything, I let myself inside.”
Ivan took the shorts out of Eric’s hands and slid back into them.
They were a little stretched out now. “What can I help you with?”
He was so polite, even with the frown on his face as his erection
wilted. Eric’s did, too. He was torn between anger at the interruption
and being grateful for it.
“James wants to see you. He said he’ll be bringing someone over
here in a couple of minutes if you needed to get ready.”
“I do, thank you.” Ivan’s voice came out snappy.
Guess he couldn’t hold back on his disappointment after all.
Eric listened carefully for the sounds of Mick’s retreating boots,
heading out the door.
He sighed and fell back on the bed. Ivan rubbed his face and
looked down at him.
“Eric—”
“I’ll give you some privacy so you can get dressed.”
“Don’t leave!”
He already had. Eric vanished from sight, at least from Ivan’s
sight. Judging by the way his shoulders sagged, Eric knew he’d gotten
it right this time.
The Spirit Within
29
There was never knowing how long he could stay invisible in
front of Ivan, not to mention that if he stayed and the air remained
chilled, Ivan would know Eric was still in the room, so he had to
leave before the other man could either sense or see that he was still
there. He looked away from the bed when Ivan grabbed hold of one of
the pillows and buried his face into it.
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Chapter Four
It was actually a difficult thing, for Eric to be able to properly spy
on two mediums who could sense when ghosts were nearby. Because
it was only two in the afternoon, James had to bring his little meeting
into the small kitchen in Ivan’s cottage. Extra chairs were brought in
to accommodate the pack alpha, his beta, Ivan, a couple of other
alphas, and the mysterious woman. Vlad had been wrapped inside a
thick blanket and walked over with Andrew. There was no way the
vampire wanted to be anywhere else when this woman spoke to his
brother. Sun or no sun.
Eric didn’t blame him for being so cautious. If this woman wanted
something from Ivan, or was able to show him how to keep the ghosts
away from him, then Eric wanted to be around for the news, too.
The problem was the chance that Ivan might be able to see Eric
even when he was trying to keep himself invisible, and there was no
telling how strong that woman’s powers were.
Then there was the issue that whenever Eric got to be too close to
Ivan, he grew cold. Whether or not that was a change in the
temperature in general, or just Ivan’s reaction to him, Eric didn’t
know.
He found a possible solution through the ceiling. He came down
from it, making sure that most of his body was still in the attic, but
this way, he could look down on the party of people and listen in on
them without being seen by Ivan or that Opal woman.
Mick was occasionally sending Ivan odd looks between sips of his
coffee, and it was clear the other man had heard the noises Ivan had
been making. Since he couldn’t hear anything from Eric, Eric could
The Spirit Within
31
only guess what was going through his mind.
Andrew had told Eli the first night that Ivan was introduced to the
pack that Ivan was not right in the head. No thanks to Eric, that was
spreading around pretty quickly.
After the refreshments had been handed out, James cleared his
throat, leaning his elbows against the table. “All right, tell Ivan here
what you just told me.”
Opal turned those sparkling green eyes to Ivan. Really, they
glittered with excitement, and Eric felt a jealous chill surge through
him.
Was she attracted to Ivan?
“As your leader has told you, my name is Opal Drew, but he
hasn’t yet told you that I am a medium.”
Ivan appeared unfazed, though still perhaps curious about her
presence and what that had to do with him. “I know.”
Opal appeared equally unfazed by Ivan’s knowledge. She just
nodded. “I see.”
Eric rolled his eyes at them. Christ, if being psychic meant playing
these strange little games, then Eric was glad he was born a werewolf
instead.
James and the others were the most confused during this
interaction.
“You know? How?” Vlad asked, looking between his brother and
this woman who claimed that she and Ivan were the same.
“Because”—Ivan looked to his brother, and then at Eli, before
wetting his lips and continuing on—“Eric told me she was here.”
Eli’s eyes brightened, and again, Eric felt his heartstrings tug that
his brother wanted to see him so badly and Eric couldn’t grant him
that wish, even though they were both in the same room together right
now.
Isaac was the one who shook his head. “No way.”
He didn’t say it to dismiss Ivan’s claim, however. He just seemed
more or less blown away.
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No one else in the crammed kitchen really had anything else to
say. They were still torn between shock and disbelief. Vlad more so
than any of them.
“He told me that you saw him when you came in?” Ivan asked.
“Yes. He passed on naked, I assume?” She blushed lightly again,
but she knew perfectly well that Eric died with no clothes on.
“Wait, how did you know that?” Eli asked. “I get that you can
maybe see him sometimes, but—”
“His spirit is naked,” Opal stated, and Eric had to bite down on his
lips to keep the humiliated groan from leaving him. “Spirits only wear
the clothes they passed away in. In Eric’s case, that was nothing at
all.”
Werewolves were used to seeing each other naked. That was just
the way it was when a man was forced to take his clothes off prior to
making the shift into a wolf, but for these people, Eric’s friends and
family, to all know that he was running around with no clothes on all
the time…It was too much.
“So”—Eli looked at Ivan—“every time you see my brother, he’s
naked?”
Ivan’s arms were crossed. He wouldn’t meet Eli’s eyes. “Yes.”
Eli leaned back in his chair. Shock was all over his mug. “Huh.”
“Anyway, Ivan,” Opal said, drawing the attention in the kitchen
back to herself. “I came here because there was gossip going around
the spirit world that another medium had been found. I take it you
have been having trouble with some of these spirits that visit you?”
“Yes,” Ivan said again, his back straightening.
Here it was, and Eric was glad. She was going to tell him how he
could survive on his own, how to properly fend off the ghosts so that
he wouldn’t be forced to rely on Eric all of the time.
It made Eric sad to know that, when that happened, Ivan would no
longer need him.
He was a complete bastard for thinking something like that.
“Do you know what can be done about it?”
The Spirit Within
33
“Good God,” Vlad whispered, and Andrew held his mate a little
closer as it looked like Vlad’s eyes were about to pop out of his skull.
“Those really were ghosts doing that to you? All that time?”
Ivan looked like he was biting the inside of his cheek. “Yes.”
“Baby,” Andrew said, but Vlad couldn’t be stopped.
“No, don’t. It’s just that…Jesus Christ, Ivan, I’m so sorry.”
Ivan looked at his younger brother strangely. “For what?”
“For never believing you,” Vlad blurted. “I mean you told me, but
I never believed you. I always thought it was in your head, and that
you were hurting yourself on purpose.”
Vlad looked like he was ready to cry. Eric felt sorry for him.
Though no one in the pack had been cruel to him, it had gone
around that Ivan was mentally unstable, and sometimes violent unto
himself. There were people, mostly the children, who avoided him for
that. This proved otherwise. Ivan was not dangerous and never had
been. It had always been the spirits to attack him.
Ivan held no ill will against his brother either. “You kept Markus
from sending me away to be put in a straightjacket.”
“Do people even still use those?” Isaac asked.
James elbowed the human in the side, shutting him up.
Ivan never took his attention away from his brother. “Besides,
ever since coming here, things have been better.”
“How so?” Eli asked.
This time Ivan did look him in the eyes. “Eric’s been keeping the
ghosts away from me. He could only do that whenever he was able to
visit me wherever I was, and we didn’t know how his travel worked,
so it wasn’t all the time, but even that I thought was good enough. I
haven’t had an attack since coming here at all. Eric stays here pretty
much all the time.”
“Eric’s been visiting you?” Eli asked, and Eric winced at the
shocked hurt he heard there. “For how long?”
Ivan looked at Chris now, and the way the man with multicolored
eyes gripped Eli’s shoulder, it seemed Vlad wasn’t the only person in
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the room who had wanted the support of a mate during such a hard
conversation. “Almost right after he pulled your mate out of the pond.
That was the first time he came to see me.”
Eli’s throat seized up. “Is he here now?”
Eric fought the urge to go down there and make himself known, to
give Ivan a message that he could pass on to Eli.
I’m here, bro. Don’t you worry.
“I don’t see him or sense him right now. He’s been avoiding me.”
Those last words were a knife in Eric’s heart.
“That is precisely the reason why I am here,” Opal said. “You see,
it’s not natural for a spirit to wander around on earth. Eric protects
you because he is a noble warrior and only recently dead. The longer
a spirit wanders the earth, the more…How shall I say this? Not good.
It’s not good for them,” Opal said.
Now Eric was hanging onto her every word.
Not good? What was that supposed to mean?
Ivan asked just that question.
“Those spirits, the ones who’ve been attacking you, they didn’t do
it out of spite or because they have a score to settle.”
“I know. They’re doing it because they want life,” Ivan said.
“Not necessarily life,” Opal said, lacing her fingers together, her
colorful bracelets rattling with every movement she made. “They
want to move on. They want to go to the next realm. They see you
and on some level are able to sense that you can do that for them. If
they take your body, they will be given life again and therefore be on
a realm different from their own. Does that make sense?”
“The ghosts want to kill him?” Vlad asked, staring hard once
more at Ivan.
“If a spirit possesses the body of a medium, and then pushes him
out and keeps him out for long enough, then, yes, Ivan will die and
the new spirit will become the owner of the body.”
“That’s why you were always hurt?” Vlad asked. “You were
trying to beat them out of you?”
The Spirit Within
35
“Or they had been trying to push me out.”
Now Vlad’s face and chin did begin to tremble, but he held
himself in check.
“Are you saying that you know how to stop them? You do not
give the impression that you are attacked on a daily basis,” Ivan said,
his eyes moving up and down her body as though searching for any
hidden scars.
“It is a little difficult to explain,” Opal admitted. “But with
strength of will and body, you should be able to frighten the spirits off
yourself. Ignoring them is also an option, and the one I find works
best.”
“I’ve tried ignoring them. They know I can see them anyway,”
Ivan said.
“It’s not that simple,” Opal countered. “You have tried ignoring
them, but they can see by your body language that you know they’re
present. Not responding to their threats and screams isn’t enough.
You have to put yourself in the mindset that you are the only person
in the room. You have to believe it so much that eventually, the spirits
vanish and you really can no longer see them.”
That still sounded pretty simple to Eric. The fact that Ivan just
needed to take some acting lessons and that was it? Problem solved?
“If you like, I can help you with this,” Opal offered. “We could
meditate together. During the night, of course.”
“I can’t do that. Eric keeps the spirits away from me.”
“Ask him not to.”
Eric fought the urge to growl. His suspicions of this lady were
steadily rising, and he didn’t like the way that Ivan looked as though
he were seriously considering it.
If—when—Eric eventually left him to cross over into the ever
after, he would hope that Ivan would show a little more remorse for
him that that. Eric would certainly miss him.
“I’ll think about it,” Ivan said.
“What do you want in return for this?” James asked, and everyone
36 Marcy
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suddenly turned to the pack alpha.
James’s scarred face was grim. He had some of the same
suspicion of Opal that Eric had, and his respect for his leading alpha
went up a couple of notches.
“You couldn’t’ve just come here out of the goodness of your
heart. What do you want Ivan to do for you?”
Opal blushed and scratched beside her ear. Eric had never seen
anyone have that kind of reaction before. “You caught me. There is
something I would like.”
Probably for Ivan to change her into a vampire or something, Eric
thought. That usually was what people were after when they
discovered immortality.
“My goal is to learn more about my people. Why we are the way
we are. Why can the spirits touch and hurt us, and us them? Why do
we hear them? Clearly these traits are not specific to humans either. If
they can be found in vampires as well as humans, who knows how
many others out there are seeing spirits. How many of them are being
abused by them and have no one to turn to?”
Eric was starting to hate the way he was constantly feeling like a
jerk today.
Those reasons for tracking Ivan down and speaking with him were
a whole lot more noble than the reasons for Eric constantly sticking
around here.
He was too much of a coward to leave his brother behind again,
and he couldn’t bear the thought of being separated from Ivan.
Ivan’s eyes brightened. “Very well. I would very much like to
learn from you.”
Ivan then turned uncertainly to James. The look on his face
suggested that he’d forgotten for a moment that he was not in position
to be inviting anyone to stay on pack land.
“Would it be too much trouble if she were to stay here? Are there
any places for her to sleep?.”
James nodded, gripping Ivan’s shoulder. “Of course, but for
The Spirit Within
37
obvious reasons, this arrangement will have to be temporary,” James
said, turning that steely gaze back to Opal.
She nodded, hardly containing the smile on her face. “Of course. I
understand the need for secrecy, and I promise I won’t impose myself
on you any more than absolutely necessary.”
Eric lifted himself back up through the ceiling, and then he sat in
the attic for a couple of minutes, listening to the mumbles beneath
him that he could barely make out.
This new medium, Opal Drew, she was going to teach Ivan how
to take care of himself, without Eric’s help. That shouldn’t bum him
out so much, but the ache in his gut felt so real and heavy that he
couldn’t help himself.
He hadn’t felt this way since the first night after his death, when
he came to from whatever sleep he’d been in. Then, only after some
walking around, a lot of questions on his part, and screaming in the
ears of every one of his friends did he finally realize that no one could
see or hear him.
Ivan might claim to love him, maybe he even did, but his love was
based off the gratitude he felt to Eric for being his protector against
those spirits for those weeks they were together. When he finally
learned how to fend for himself, he would move on with his life, just
the way a living person was meant to, and Eric would eventually fade
away into the ever after.
38 Marcy
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Chapter Five
Opal parked her truck onto a patch of grass, turned off the
ignition, and stepped out. It was an old piece of shit, and she hated it,
but it got her to the places she needed to go.
She would be able to trade up without a problem the second she
became a vampire and started making some real money. As it was,
just her nerves wreaking havoc on her were almost too much. She had
to fight herself to keep from overspending on her credit cards. She
was determined to wait until the money had come before she made
her upgrades.
The bastard made her wait. He always did.
A shuffle sounded in the bushes behind her, and she whipped her
head around. The arrow-shaped head of a giant gray wolf appeared
between the twigs and leaves, growling at her.
Her heart jumped for only a second since she’d thought that it
might’ve been one of those werewolves she’d just visited at the pack
where the other medium was staying.
Could one of them have followed her here? If so, she had a lot of
questions to answer since she was supposed to be going back to
Brampton to collect her things from the motel she was staying at.
She breathed a sigh when she recognized that particular wolf
head. The scraggly gray hairs and sharp golden eyes, and that crook in
the lips, let her know that this was Deacon.
Thank God.
He came fully out of the shrubs. He was a massively huge alpha
werewolf, about the size of a pony, only a little thicker and a lot
harrier.
The Spirit Within
39
Opal didn’t have much experience with werewolves, but from
what she understood, most alphas were about his size, sometimes a
little smaller or a tad bigger, but the omegas were always smaller.
Usually only about half the size of the alphas when transformed.
Deacon brought no other alphas with him, or omegas. His pack
abandoned him long ago after he lost the rights to his land from
James. There were other werewolves he’d tried transforming, but they
had rebelled almost immediately, running off into the woods to live
the lives of wild werewolves.
Opal thought all werewolves were disgusting. Wolves, real
wolves, were beautiful and majestic hunters. Werewolves were dirty
men in a desperate need of a bath, all of whom thought it was great to
go out hunting the local wildlife and eating the meat raw.
Real wolves had the excuse of being part of nature and wildlife.
Werewolves were just…yuck. She didn’t even want to think about it.
Maybe if they all weren’t so bloodthirsty with their twisted sense
of honor and entitlement, Eric would be alive right now instead of a
ghost clinging to the first medium he’d come across.
She did her best to keep her face neutral, hiding these thoughts
from Deacon as he stepped in front of her, his body rippling and
shifting as pushed himself up onto his hind legs, the fur falling off of
him and bronzed skin revealing itself.
Opal wrinkled her nose at the smell of the man when he was done
with the change. That she could not hide.
If there was any werewolf in the world who fit her description of
them to a T, it was Deacon. He was in desperate need of a bath, or at
least of jumping into any body of water to wash the scent of sweat
and stink off of him.
“Did you do it?” Deacon asked.
She nodded. “Of course. I have a session with the vampire
tonight. He’s even convinced the pack alpha to let me stay in the
pack.”
Deacon lifted a brow. “Really?”
40 Marcy
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“Yeah. I pulled it off pretty well.”
“That you did,” Deacon said, scratching his chin. He needed to
shave, but Deacon barely seemed to notice that.
Opal had only come here as part of their agreement to each other.
When it was confirmed that she had gotten in and would be making
regular contact with the medium, she was to report back here and tell
Deacon the good news.
She was still having trouble figuring out what exactly Deacon
wanted from the vampire. Opal had always thought that vampires and
werewolves hated each other, but Deacon was after this man with a
single-mindedness that put to shame the attention span of a two-year-
old.
“You did well, Opal,” Deacon said, making a shooing motion with
his hands to urge her back into the truck. “You go on ahead now and
get your things together. Don’t want to keep James waiting.”
No, she didn’t, and even though she despised being talked down
to by a guy who had nothing to his name, not even a pair of
underwear, Opal allowed herself to go.
“Opal.” Deacon put his hand on the door before Opal could roll up
the window. She looked at him. “You haven’t heard from Stephie yet,
have you?”
Opal’s eyes narrowed at the mention of her sister’s name. “No, I
haven’t.”
“What about the others? Any word on them?”
Nothing so far, but even if she had, she wasn’t about to tell him
where her sister was, or where the rest of his pack was hiding. He was
a shit leader then who was constantly cheating on his mate with men
he’d brought in, and she doubted he’d learned his lesson to become
any better just because he’d lost his pack to someone else.
The only reason why she was helping him was for all the benefits
it would bring to her. The chance to become close with and learn from
the spirits of ancient Roman spirits was something she just couldn’t
pass up, even if they were the deities of werewolves.
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41
That, and the immortality.
“The second I hear anything, I’ll let you know,” she said, starting
the ignition.
Deacon released the door and let her drive off.
* * * *
The human named Isaac wouldn’t normally teach anyone how to
handle this sort of weapon during the night, but because of Ivan’s
interest in the guns and the fact that he was a vampire, and exception
had to be made.
Every lamp had to be lit for the target practice, and all members of
the pack had to be accounted for and in bed for when they set off their
weapons.
There was no going to a practice range here. They were
completely out of the question.
The alphas didn’t seem to mind too much, however, as they
handled the black handguns, some even being so bold as to look down
the barrel as though searching for what could be inside.
Jason, the mate of Mick, slapped that alpha upside the head for
such a move. Even though these weapons were merely paintball guns
designed to look like real weapons, neither man appreciated any crude
humor during their lesson.
“These are just really expensive paintball guns,” Isaac said,
holding his weapon up for all the alphas present to see. James had
even come by to watch this particular show, as well as Vlad, who had
also taken an interest.
Basically, the only members of the pack who were indoors at the
moment were the adult omegas who had no interest in ever holding or
handling a gun, and the underage pups who complained when they
were denied the access.
Isaac went on with his lesson. “I rented these out to eliminate any
chances for an accident while you’re all holding them. I have the
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rounds over here. We’ll put them in and fire off a few shots at the
targets later, and then I’ll return these in a couple of days to keep the
pups from getting at them or from thinking that we still have them. I
don’t even want them finding one of my weapons and taking it out
into the woods thinking it’s a toy.”
A Glock, as Isaac had called this weapon, was heavy for a small
bit of metal, perhaps weighing two pounds or so. It was designed to
look exactly like the sort of weapon one might see a human police
officer carrying in a movie.
“Why must we learn about these again?” Vlad asked.
“Because this is one of the weapons a hunter might be carrying
when he’s coming after you. I get that you’re all werewolves and
vampires and you know how to fight—”
Such a generous description of Ivan and Vlad’s physical
capabilities!
“But if a hunter ever gets the drop on any of you and he’s pointing
one of these at your face, well, I don’t know, maybe he’ll shoot you
right away, but say you ever got it out of his hands. You swiped at
him with your claws or something and he’s running away or trying to
get the gun back, well, what do you do then?”
There were some answers give, all of which ranged between,
“Fight him away from the weapon!”
“Kill him before he can get to it!”
“Kick it away and then kill him!”
Isaac shook his head. “You all know it’s not that easy. If for
whatever reason you find one of these in your hand, and it’s easier to
use it on your enemy so you can get back to the main fight, instead of
chasing him down and trying to get physical, how do you use it?”
“Pull the trigger!” someone shouted.
“No, it’ll have a safety,” said another wolf.
Isaac corrected them both by strangely claiming that they were
both right, and he proceeded to show them how to properly fire a
standard Glock, what to do when the weapon locked, how to hold the
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43
weapon without breaking their thumbs while firing, and all sorts of
other things he never would have thought of when holding a weapon.
Thankfully, Jason had been there to help with the hands-on
instruction while Isaac spoke. They were both quite talented at using
these sorts of things, and Ivan appreciated having the knowledge at
hand.
It was the first time he’d participated in one of these strange
lessons, under Opal’s insistence once the woman had discovered they
were going on, and he was glad to have gone.
He collapsed into his bed, tired and ready for sleep. Dawn would
be here soon, and he looked forward to his sleep, sleep so that he
might awake the next night and have another lesson on his self-
defence against the spirits who attacked him and against the living
people in the world who would also wish him harm.
Ivan no longer had the luxury of having guards to protect him, and
the alphas of this pack could not be stretched so thin that they were
out hunting for the wild werewolves, or other human hunters, while at
the same time leaving enough behind to protect the omegas left
behind.
It was better if more and more pack members learned how to
defend themselves, and Ivan was thrilled about it.
A voice startled him awake before he could drift off.
“I find the image of you holding a gun to be very strange.”
Ivan jerked up and was surprised by the sight of Eric. He hadn’t
seen the man since yesterday, and he hadn’t been expecting him.
He wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. “Why is that?”
He shrugged. “I don’t see what you holding a paintball gun has to
do with teaching you how to fend off the other spirits. They’re still all
over the place. I’m still fighting them off for you.”
Ivan’s spirits sank that Eric was apparently only here to complain
that he was still protecting Ivan when he did not wish to. Then the
anger came over him. “If the job is too difficult for you, then by all
means, stop. I never asked you to protect me to begin with.”
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Eric’s lips thinned.
Ivan turned away from him and buried his face in his pillow. He
really was much too tired for this.
Eric’s palm, which was always cold, felt strangely warm on the
middle of his back, and it made his breath stall. “I didn’t mean for it
to come out like that,” Eric said.
Ivan turned to look at him again. “Why do you avoid me so much
then? Tell me what I have done and I’ll—”
“Don’t.” Eric’s face suddenly looked pained. “Don’t do that. This
was never about anything you did. It’s about me.”
Ivan glared at him. “Though I am inexperienced in these matters, I
know well enough when I am being fed a line.”
“Fed a—? You’ve been hanging out with my pack for too long if
that’s the way you’re talking now.”
Ivan never stopped glaring at him, and Eric looked away and wet
his lips. “I’m being serious. I’m dead for God’s sake. You know this
can’t work out. It was irresponsible and selfish for me to have even
tried anything with you to begin with.”
“Now you are being melodramatic. I am an adult, and I knew
perfectly well what I was doing.”
“Yes, you are an adult, but by vampire standards, you might as
well still be a teenager.”
Ivan rolled his eyes. “I would hardly go that far.”
“The point remains, you’re young for your species, and like you
said, you’re inexperienced. The only reason why you took a shine to
me was because I was the only person who knew you weren’t
imagining the things you saw, and because I was protecting you,
keeping the bad guys away. You liked it, and you liked that someone
was coming and saving you from it.”
Ivan felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. “Do you really
think so little of me?”
Eric didn’t have the decency to look him in the eyes as he said it.
“It’s not like I think you’re doing it on purpose, but I just want you to
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45
understand where I’m coming from. I’m not trying to break this off
for no reason, or to be mean to you, but after I’m gone, whether it’s
because I end up going to the other side or not, you will move on.
You’ll forget all about me.”
“I won’t!”
“Ivan, I’m dead.”
“And you think I could have forgotten that?” Ivan demanded,
letting his rage take over. “All I ever see when I look at you is the
spirit of a man whom I want but does not want to have me. Even in
death you want me. I can easily tell, experience or no.” When Ivan
stared between Eric’s legs, the proof of the other man’s desire sitting
there, Eric blushed and was forced to shift away, hiding his erection.
“I never said I didn’t want you back,” Eric countered.
“Then do not say it,” Ivan said before Eric could get back into his
tirade of how it would never work between them. He grabbed the
spirit of the man he loved around the shoulders, and then he kissed
him.
Eric pressed his lips back against Ivan’s. He felt the shiver pass
through the other man that always happened whenever they were
embracing like this.
He pulled away and looked into Eric’s dark eyes. “I want you, and
you want me in return. Stop being an ass about it and have me, right
now.”
Eric moaned and gripped Ivan by the neck, pulling him forward
and meshing their mouths together once more. Really, Ivan was tired
of this game that Eric was playing.
Eric liked to speak of the drama that Ivan brought up by accusing
him of wrongfully blaming himself for Eric’s attempt to leave. His
constant failed attempts. But what was Ivan to think when the other
man clearly wanted him so badly and then always refused to do
anything about it? Constantly avoided him like he was the plague.
The fact that he was dead was a silly reason. Ivan could see him
and touch him. He was as good as alive when they kissed like this,
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when Eric pressed him into the bed and shifted his hips, humping
against him and grinding their cocks together.
Ivan moaned like it was the first time anyone had ever touched his
dick. It felt so incredibly good being with Eric, and by the other man’s
expression, Eric thought much the same thing.
Ivan pulled his clothes off. Most of the pack was long asleep by
now. The lesson had ended long enough ago, and Ivan had only
stayed awake and dawdled because, well, as a vampire, the night was
his time of day to be up and about, and also he’d wanted to read over
some of the books that Isaac had given to him.
There would be no worrying about being interrupted by Mick or
whoever else might want to come looking for Ivan. That would wait
until morning.
Ivan pulled away at his clothes. Eric lifted himself up enough to
help Ivan with that, all the while shaking his head. At what?
“Shouldn’t be doing this. We shouldn’t be doing this,” Eric said,
even as he unbuckled Ivan’s belt and undid his button and fly.
Oh, that was what he was shaking his head at. “Shut up,” Ivan
commanded, and he pushed Eric off of him before forcing him down
onto the bed.
Ivan kicked off his pants and slid down Eric’s body. The man was
gorgeous. He was pale in the way that spirits were, but he was still the
most beautiful sight Ivan had ever seen.
He grabbed Eric’s prick at the base, delighting in the way the
other man sighed and gently thrust into the touch. Eric was thick,
uncut, and the veins on his cock were blue and protruding heavily
under the need for sex.
Ivan pulled back on the foreskin, revealing the head.
“Do it. Please do it,” Eric said, staring down at him with begging
eyes.
Ivan did. He wrapped his lips around the head and sucked back on
it with all the pleasure of sucking on a candy. He’d missed this so
much.
The Spirit Within
47
Eric’s hands went into his hair, gripping tightly, and he moaned
deep within his throat.
Ivan worked on the head for a minute, swirling his tongue around
and rediscovering the hard feel of Eric’s cock inside of his mouth, the
salty taste, the everything.
He went down farther, taking more of Eric inside of his throat.
Eric pumped his hips obscenely, but Ivan didn’t mind. He loved it.
“Oh, Christ. That’s good,” Eric said, and when Ivan turned his
head up, he noted the way that Eric was looking at him, watching as
Ivan’s head bobbed up and down and how his mouth looked with
Eric’s prick inside of it.
Ivan’s cock throbbed painfully, and he was more than aware that
he and Eric had not lain together once since they came here. He
swirled his tongue around only a few times more before pulling away
and climbing back on top of Eric’s body.
When he was practically sitting on the other man’s chest, Eric
grinned wickedly before leaning forward just enough, wetting his lips,
and taking Ivan’s dick into his mouth.
Ivan grabbed the headboard and hissed, and then he moaned,
thrusting his hips against Eric’s mouth, fucking him.
Eric took hold of Ivan’s waist, but it was not to stop him or make
him slow down. Was it possible that a spirit could choke while
sucking cock? Ivan didn’t know, but even if it were a possibility, Eric
seemed to be doing fine regardless.
The bed shook beneath them as Ivan rocked against Eric’s mouth.
Not for the first time he wondered what it would look like should a
stranger walk in on them. Would it appear as though Ivan was on his
knees, humping the air? Or was it at all possible that, so long as they
were touching like this, Eric would be somewhat visible to anyone
who looked for him.
Probably not, Ivan thought. If love really could cure all things,
Eric wouldn’t wish to leave him alone.
Ivan pumped his hips harder, reaching down and grabbing Eric by
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the back of the head and gripping his hair. He didn’t care if it hurt the
other man either. He needed to forget about everything that had just
gone through his mind.
Eric was equally free to grab at Ivan, and he reached up and found
his testicles, massaging them gently as Ivan thrust into Eric’s mouth.
He came, imagining that they had the rest of their lives to be
doing this.
The orgasm was hardly sudden, but it went through his body so
quickly that his body shook with it, his cock pulsing even after the
rush of pleasure shot through him.
He gasped hard, catching his breath. Ivan’s fingers hurt, and he
pulled them away from the headboard with some difficulty. He’d been
digging his fingers into the wood, and now he’d left an indent.
Eric nudged him enough that he got the hint and climbed off of
him. He fell on his back next to his lover.
Eric rolled back on top of him and planted kisses all along Ivan’s
neck, stopping with a gentle bite alone the shell of Ivan’s ear. “We’re
not done yet.”
Ivan’s dick twitched and swelled ever so slightly, despite being so
recently satisfied. He lifted his knees, inviting Eric inside of them. He
wished the other man would stay there forever.
“It’s under the mattress,” Ivan said, staring into Eric’s dark eyes,
brimming with lust.
Eric grinned at him as he reached down and stuck his hands
between the mattresses. He came back out with a small bottle of lube.
It was in a neon purple bottle. Eric leaned back on his knees to
read it. “Warming massage oil.”
He looked down at Ivan, a dark brow raised before he grinned and
chuckled. “Where did you even get this?”
Ivan blushed. He didn’t want to admit that he’d asked his younger
brother to go out and purchase it for him. That alone had been one
strange conversation that he’d just as rather forget.
“Never mind. Use it.”
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49
“The seal’s broken. Have you been using this?”
Yes. Many, many times, and always while fantasizing about Eric
putting his dick inside of Ivan’s ass, pumping into him as hard as he
used to, thrusting home.
It had been the only way Ivan had been able to relieve himself
ever since coming here.
“Just hurry and use it!” Ivan practically yelled.
Eric, it seemed, was in the mood to be playful. He grinned and
was slow about pouring some of the lube onto his fingers, making
sure Ivan was watching the whole time he rubbed his fingers together.
Ivan spread his legs farther apart, but Eric grabbed his dick and
stroked him.
The organ practically jumped in Eric’s hand. Ivan’s body
shuddered at the touch as Eric stroked him. “What are you…ah. What
are you doing?”
“I want to do something different,” Eric said, his eyes completely
serious.
Uh-oh, that was never good. Usually. What could he have in
mind?
Ivan understood when Eric lifted himself up and over Ivan’s lap,
keeping a hold of his dick and lining it up with Eric’s pucker.
His eyes widened. “Wait, you cannot…”
Eric looked down at him. “Why?”
Why? He didn’t know why. Perhaps it was because that, in all of
his fantasies involving the two of them together, Ivan had never been
in this position. He’d never been with another man like this.
There was the possibility that Eric was only doing this because he
was still going to attempt to leave him, and that he wanted their last
time together to be a first for the both of them.
Ivan shut his eyes. “Do it.”
Eric did. He lowered himself slowly onto Ivan’s prick. Ivan could
hardly believe the sheer pleasure that shuddered through him.
“Stop. Stop,” he commanded.
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Eric looked down at him with confusion in his eyes, and Ivan bit
the inside of his cheek.
“You okay?” Eric asked.
More than okay. He was just fighting as though his life depended
on it to not spill himself inside of his lover.
When he was certain he was master of his body once more, he
nodded to Eric. “Yes, keep going.”
Eric grinned at him and sank all the way down. Ivan could not
help but throw his head back and groan. His entire body arched under
the beautiful sensations washing through him, but the weight of Eric’s
body prevented him from moving too much.
Already Eric began shifting himself, thrusting against Ivan’s prick
and slowly bobbing up and down. Eric gasped and shut his eyes
against the pleasure he felt, and Ivan could not help but look at him
and admire the majesty of his body.
Every muscle on the other man was tight and gleaming with sweat
as he moved on top of him, his pace becoming shallower and faster.
Ivan gripped his hips to hurry him along as well, his toes curling
against the sheets as they fucked hard and fast.
Eric moaned loudly. “Holy shit. Holy God.”
The lucky bastard. He could be as loud as he wished and no one
would hear him. Ivan had to keep his pleasure contained. Or, as
contained as was possible. Keeping his sighing moans down to a
minimum as he watched Eric ride him was becoming difficult,
especially as the other man cursed like that.
Eric then fell forward onto his hands, the switch in position
allowing Ivan to capture his pink, plump lips and grip his back as Eric
fucked himself on Ivan’s cock.
Why had they never come together like this before? This was…it
was…
Ivan cried out as he spilled himself inside of Eric, and somehow,
just knowing that he was coming inside of his lover, marking the
other man as his, only served to heighten his pleasure and prolong his
The Spirit Within
51
orgasm.
Eric groaned as his anal muscles clenched around Ivan’s shaft
almost painfully while he bucked and humped against him. Eric
reached down and grabbed his cock, stroking himself as the pleasure
consumed him.
Ivan sighed, his body relaxing with satisfaction and the want for
sleep, and then, strangely, he felt that invading presence he’d come to
loath and fear as his body was possessed by an intruding spirit.
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Chapter Six
Eric didn’t know what happened, but he knew it had felt good.
Good in the sort of way that his orgasm shared with Ivan had been.
He felt cocooned, wrapped in warm blankets over every inch of his
body. Every part of him, every nerve and hair, felt alive and
wonderful.
He opened his eyes and was shocked to be looking at the ceiling
of the bedroom he’d just been in. The mattress was beneath his back,
and he was naked.
That last part was hardly a surprise considering he was always
naked, but when he shifted his body to sit up, the strangest thing
happened.
The bed dipped beneath him and the sheets moved as he did.
Not a lot, only what was to be expected considering he was
moving slowly, but it was still there.
Eric looked down at himself, and his heart quickened and
breathing hitched as he realized he was not inside of his body.
He jumped up from the bed, his feet making smacking noises on
the hardwood floor as he ran to the dresser. There was a large mirror
on the wall behind it, and it would tell him if what he feared had
actually happened.
Ivan’s pale face stared back at him in shock and horror. The red
vampire eyes were gone, replaced with Eric’s dark ones, and he shook
his head.
Goose bumps pimpled up along his, or Ivan’s, skin, and he
stepped away from the mirror.
Jesus Christ. What had he done?
The Spirit Within
53
Eric pinched his skin, surprised to feel pain for the first time. He
touched his face and put his fingers to his neck, listening to the
healthy heartbeat pumping blood through the body he inhabited.
He inhaled deeply and tasted the air. It was cool, and the scent of
sex hung thickly in the room.
He was alive. And he felt great.
Eric shook himself. No. He was not alive. He was inside of Ivan’s
body. Where the hell was Ivan? Had he pushed the other man out?
Eric swallowed, not enjoying the fearful lump in his throat. Had
he killed him?
Eric sat on the bed, clutching his hands together and keeping his
head down. He needed to be calm about this. He needed to focus.
What was it that Ivan had said happened to him every time a spirit
possessed him?
He’d had to fight back to keep them from pushing him out, and to
push them out in return, but Eric felt no resistance. Ivan was not
taking command and flinging himself onto the ground in an attempt to
beat the ghost out of his body.
Could that mean…?
No.
“Ivan? Are you there?” Eric inwardly asked, his body, his stolen
body, shaking with every second there was no answer.
“Ivan, please answer. Please be there.”
“Get out.”
Eric lifted his head. It had almost sounded like the voice ahead
come from outside, within the room, not in Eric’s head.
“Where are you?”
“Get out!” Ivan’s voice shouted again.
Then he felt it. The distinct push of someone trying to force him
out. It was painful. It felt like he was being squeezed through a hole
that was way too small, but he didn’t try to resist.
He needed to get out, and he didn’t know how. If whatever Ivan
was doing was the only way, then he’d take it.
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Eric fell onto the floor with a heavy thud, his body becoming
tight. Everything on him felt cramped and was getting worse. He cried
out.
“Get out! Get out!”
“I’m trying.”
He thought he would pass out from the pain. He hadn’t felt pain
like this, he hadn’t felt pain period, since the day he’d died.
Then it was over. A cool rush of air washed over his body, like
he’d opened a window after spending some time sweating over his
exercises.
It felt good. Well, not good, but definitely better than what he’d
just gone through. He looked down at himself and saw his normal
pale, spectre hands, his chest, his naked body, everything was the way
it was supposed to be.
He was still gasping from the exertion, his ghostly body tingling
from having been inside of a living body and then flung out so
violently.
Ivan wasn’t doing much better. He was worse.
Ivan was hyperventilating. There were bruises along his mouth
and neck, and he was clutching at his chest, scrambling away from
Eric and toward the bed.
Eric went to him. He tried to, he didn’t know, what was he
supposed to do for someone who couldn’t breathe like this?
“Ivan? Ivan, look at me.”
Ivan tried to push him away, but Eric deflected his weak attacks.
He grabbed onto the other man and held him, pulling him back
against his chest for support. This was what he’d done that one time
all those weeks ago when he came upon Ivan being attacked. The
ghost had gotten in, but Ivan had had some trouble getting it out.
When he did, this had happened. He could feel Ivan’s heart. It was as
fast as a hummingbird.
Even for a vampire that couldn’t be a good thing.
Eric made soothing noises as he held onto the other man, and
The Spirit Within
55
eventually, thankfully, Ivan’s heart rate went back down to normal.
Eric sighed. Thank God.
Ivan lurched away from him, and Eric felt cold at the loss. He
watched as Ivan scrambled to his feet. He had to hold himself up on
that ugly-ass dresser that was in the room.
His chest pumped up and down once more as he stared down at
Eric as though he were…well, a ghost.
“Ivan—”
“Get away from me.”
Eric stood up. “Ivan, I’m sorry, please…”
“I said get out of here!” Ivan exploded.
Eric sucked in a breath right before his throat closed up. He
nodded and vanished from Ivan’s sight, but not from the room.
Ivan collapsed onto the ground and curled up on himself sobbing.
Eric couldn’t watch him do that without his heart breaking into
pieces.
Ivan had once told him what it felt like when another spirit tried
taking possession of his body. He’d compared it to being—
Eric cut the thought off before he could even think the horrible
word. That didn’t stop his brain from listing all the things that Ivan
experienced while others did that to him. The loss of control, being
taken over by another person, having that person inside of him, mixed
in with all the pain and panic Eric had felt when he was being pushed
out, were all normal feelings when a spirit attempted to take
command of Ivan’s body.
Eric couldn’t believe he’d done it to him. He didn’t even know
how he’d done it, but Ivan was there, on the floor, crying out for the
grief and pain Eric had just put him through.
Eric had wanted Ivan to accept his loss, but this was not the way
he wanted it done. Eric left the room as he throbbing in his chest got
to be too much to bear.
Maybe this was what Opal had meant when she said that ghosts
were not meant to be in this realm. They did terrible things they
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wouldn’t have normally done.
* * * *
If it had been as simple as vanishing and never returning, exiling
himself to God only knew where, Eric would’ve done it in a
heartbeat. It wasn’t like he had the will to exist after what he’d done.
He was already dead, though, and he couldn’t leave. He was still
somehow strangely tied to the land where he’d died.
And to Ivan.
It was impossible for Eric to travel beyond pack territory, so he
would remain stuck where he was.
He was both angry for this and relieved. He wasn’t ready to leave
Ivan behind thinking so badly of him. He needed to tell Ivan that what
had happened was an accident and explain that it would never happen
again. Mostly due to the fact that Eric was still attempting to move on
to the afterlife so that his brother could stop mourning for him and
Ivan could have something closer to normalcy in a life partner.
God. He hated this.
Morning had come and gone hours ago, and now it was midday,
but the sun was still shining as brightly as ever. Eric sat on top of the
new black roof of his old house that Isaac had helped to install with
the other alphas weeks ago. The renovations of all the cabins was
going smoothly thanks to all the money that hunter brought into the
pack. Sometimes Eric could barely recognize the place. It definitely
wasn’t the rundown dump it used to be.
The pups were suddenly released from the care of the omegas who
tutored them during the day, and they ran out of the cabin where their
lessons were held into the sunshine, shrieking their joy.
All Eric could think about was Ivan, only twenty feet beneath him.
Was the other man okay? Or was he still in the thousand pieces that
Eric had left him in.
That hippie-looking woman, Opal, had come and tried to knock
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57
on the door at around noon.
He’d growled when she had done that. Stupid woman. Didn’t she
know that vampires slept during the day? She might as well have
knocked at two in the morning for all the curtsey she’d showed.
It was going on four, and now she was back. Still early for a
vampire, but when Ivan didn’t answer again, Eric’s insides clenched
up with worry.
He would not go down and check on the other man. He would not.
Opal stepped away from the door, apparently giving up. She
looked as though she was about to walk away when she suddenly
stopped and turned. She looked right up at Eric.
He hated it when she looked at him. It made him feel like that
creepy kid from The Grudge, sitting above everyone like he was.
She faced him full on, stuffing her hands into the pockets in that
long flowing skirt of hers.
“Not blushing anymore, are you?” Eric said. He didn’t bother
shifting his body to hide his penis. He’d stopped thinking there was
any point about it. She might be human, but now she was staying with
a pack of werewolves. She would get used to seeing naked men.
Apparently she already had. It hadn’t even been a week.
She didn’t say anything back to him either. She probably didn’t
want to draw any more attention to herself than what she already was,
staring at the top of one of the cabins like she was.
She moved toward the side of the cabin and then kept on going
into the trees.
She was good at getting her point across without saying anything.
Eric followed her.
If anyone thought it was strange that she was walking off to be
alone within the trees, no one stopped her, though Eric did see a
couple of curious glances as they went. Most notably from Eli.
She stopped sooner than he expected to. The small clearing
between the shrubs was hardly the ideal place for a private
conversation with werewolves all around who had excellent hearing.
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Maybe she was hoping that the yells and laughter of the pups would
drown out anything she had to say. Maybe she just didn’t want to go
farther into the woods were so many wild werewolves were
supposedly lurking.
“It’s nice to finally be able to speak with you,” Opal said. The
warm smile on her face told him that she meant it.
She actually liked talking to ghosts.
“Uh, thanks,” Eric said. “You, too,” he added quickly so as to not
be rude.
Opal chuckled a little at his lack of tact. “I make you nervous. It’s
all right to admit it.”
No way. “You don’t make me nervous.”
“Of course I do. I make you nervous because I came from
nowhere and all of a sudden am offering the medium you’ve attached
yourself to a way to survive without you.”
After last night, a way to survive without him was probably for
the best.
“Oh, does that trouble you?”
It wasn’t what she said so much as how she said it that had Eric
growling at her. “Watch it, lady.”
Opal put her hands up but hardly looked worried considering Eric
wanted to rip her apart. “I meant nothing by it. Relax yourself.”
“What do you want?” Eric demanded.
“This is where it will get a little strange, but I want to know what
you want.”
She was right. That was strange, and it had Eric a little taken
aback.
“You’ve been sitting on the roof of that cabin for the last twelve
hours or so. Ivan invited me over today to practice some meditation
exercises, but he’s not answering the door.”
“He invited you over at noon for meditation?”
The disbelief in Eric’s voice must have been apparent.
Opal shrugged. “He said he would be up late, so I was to just pick
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the time. He didn’t answer the first time, and that was fine. I gave it a
few more hours so he could rest, and then came back. Still no
answer.”
She looked pointedly at Eric when she said that.
He blushed. “I have been wanting to ask you something,” he
muttered.
There was a large gray rock protruding from the earth between a
couple of leaning trees. The rock was smooth and dry, and Opal fixed
her skirt and sat on it like she was royalty or something.
“Go on.”
He hated this so much. Why was it only her he could talk to about
this? Why not his brother, or James? People he actually cared about.
Why couldn’t they speak to him?
“I possessed Ivan last night.”
Opal’s thin blond brows raised high into her hairline. Her mouth
didn’t drop, but her lips did pinch together, and that was enough for
him to get that it was a shock, even to her, that he would do such a
thing.
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” he snapped.
Opal put her hand on her chin. Eric had never seen anyone do that
when they were thinking before.
“I see,” she said, and then said nothing else.
He waited, but considering the subject matter, he wasn’t very
patient.
“You see what? What does that mean?”
“It means…” She looked up at him, squinting her eyes. Then she
straightened herself and crossed her arms over her chest and her legs
at the knee. “It means that your spirit is restless. You’ve been on earth
for far too long. You’re lashing out.”
Was he? Eric certainly felt pretty restless right now, but that was
only because of what he’d done last night. He’d been making himself
sick over the conflicting urges to be with Ivan or to let him go so that
he could have a normal life as well.
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Never once had he thought that meant he wanted to be inside of
Ivan’s body.
In ways that didn’t have the other man gasping and moaning
beneath him, that is.
“What’s it like, being possessed?” Eric asked.
Opal blinked at him. “What’s it like?”
“Yeah, what happens to you? What do you feel? You’re good at
keeping the spirits away from you. Even I haven’t seen any at all so
far today, and that’s not just because of me, but you had to have been
possessed a couple of times before.”
He had to know what it was that Ivan felt. Ivan had told him, but
now Eric needed to hear it from her.
Her eyes hardened, and her lips pressed tightly together. “It’s a
violation. Someone else is forcing their will onto you, causing you
pain as they do it, when they are inside, and it is a fight to get them
out. When they come out, your body is left shaking and your mind
can barely function. You can hardly breathe. Everything inside of you
feels as though another hand had touched it, and you do not like it.
It’s a terrible feeling.”
Eric winced. Well, at least now he understood why Ivan would
compare it to rape.
“It was an accident,” was all Eric could force himself to say.
“Yes, well, you still did it, intentional or not.”
“But I’m stuck here. I’ve tried moving on, and I have no idea how
to do that. I don’t want to hurt Ivan again.”
“You can start that by not haunting the cabin he is staying in.”
“I’m not going inside the house,” Eric muttered.
“Stay away from it completely. Stay away from him. If you are
unable to leave as of yet, then spend your time running through the
forests. Do the things that you used to enjoy doing. They will take
your mind away from him and bring you much closer to peace.”
“They will?”
“Yes.” Opal nodded. “Whatever it was that made you feel free in
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life will do the same for you in death. Since you were a werewolf, my
guess is that it was spending time in your wolf form, hunting and
racing through the trees. Many spirits cross over while doing such
things.”
It made so much sense that it was ridiculous. “I can’t hunt,
though. I’m not alive.”
“You could try. There are spirits in the world who can cause
change among the objects and creatures around them. That’s how
hauntings occur. Just practice. With the smaller animals, you will
have a better chance for success since animals are more in tune with
the spirit world than people are.”
To go hunting and running again…that sounded nice. That was
exactly what Eric needed.
Opal stood up and pointed her hand toward the denser area of the
forest. “Go now. Do not come back until you manage to catch a
rabbit.”
If Eric was able to catch anything, he wanted it to be a buck, or
maybe he could sneak up on a mountain lion and scare it. That was
something he’d never been able to do.
He took two steps forward, stopped, and then turned back toward
the pack.
“Ivan will be fine. I will see to his lessons while you are away.”
Ivan needed the space from him. So long as Eric wasn’t around
then Ivan wouldn’t need to be fearful or distracted.
Eric allowed the transformation of his wolf to wash over him.
That same tingling feeling of the change was there, only in death, as
opposed to life, the change was instant.
Out of habit rather than any dust in his coat, he shook himself off,
still not entirely feeling the rush of air through the hairs of his coat,
but there was a little something there, and that was enough to make
him excited for the run.
Eric took off, digging his claws into the earth as he ran, launching
himself faster and faster into the forest.
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* * * *
Opal watched the spirit run off. He would be back, but after she
told him of the possibility to touch things and hunt with practice, she
doubted that would be for another little while.
She’d almost been shocked to learn that her spell had worked. The
spirit had actually taken possession of Ivan’s body.
She’d performed the spell as a last resort, not truly expecting it to
work. The spirit and medium had to be close for such a thing to be
forced on both parties. Physically and spiritually.
Perhaps they were being intimate when it happened.
Opal’s face heated at the thought of such a gorgeous specimen
like Eric touching another man. Ivan especially. She wondered if, had
Eric been alive, he would allow Ivan to sink his fangs into his neck
and lick away the blood with his tongue. Though the fantasy did have
its erotic appeal, she had better things to attend to.
She checked her watch. Little past five in the afternoon. She
would give Ivan another shot before giving up and just waiting for
nightfall. Now that Eric was away, she really hoped he would answer
his door this time.
Success. On her knock, a small voice called for her to wait, and
she did wait two minutes before opening the door and letting herself
inside the small cabin.
Vampires generally required living spaces with two doors to keep
out all sunlight. A werewolf pack would hardly be so accommodating,
and until a mud room could be built, both Ivan and his brother would
have to take the most careful of precautions when inviting others into
their houses during the daylight hours.
Ivan looked like shit.
She smiled warmly at him, and he weakly returned it.
“Did you have a bad night?” she asked.
“Yeah, but…” Ivan wet his lips, exposing for the smallest of
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seconds those beautiful fangs of his. She wanted them inside of her.
“Have you seen Eric?”
She blinked, and the tingling pressure between her legs ceased.
“Eric?”
It was always best to speak as much of the truth about these things
as possible. That always made things much easier to remember in the
long run. “Yes, he’s just gone off for a hunt in the woods.”
Ivan stared at her. “He did?”
“Yes. He seemed much eager to be gone. Are you sure you’re
feeling all right?”
Ivan looked away from her for a second. “I was just hoping he’d
be around. He usually is.”
“Remember that he cannot be nearby as often as you’re used to.
Otherwise, how will you practice your new skills?”
Ivan nodded. “So, what are we going to do today?”
It was dark in here because of the way all the windows were
boarded up, but that made the setting all the more perfect. Opal pulled
long white candles from her beaded purse. She placed them onto the
table and lit them with the matches she kept on hand.
She sat down in one of the chairs and held out her hands for him.
He came to her easily, and Opal performed her tests. It was time
to see if Ivan would be worthy enough for the Gods.
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Chapter Seven
Ivan continued his lessons with Opal for the next three days, and
each time he grew more and more frustrated.
He didn’t understand how any of this meditation hand-holding had
anything to do with keeping the spirits who attacked him at bay.
The lessons he took with Isaac and Jason with their weapons were
interesting, but again, how was learning how to operate a pump-action
shotgun supposed to aid him with violent spirits?
“Be patient. Improving your mind and spirit are all part of the
overall lesson,” Opal would tell him when he asked questions.
Perhaps he was simply being so rash and angry because he missed
Eric, and he could barely have gone and visited his brother without
the other werewolves nearby, most of who still looked at him
strangely.
Then there was Eric’s brother, Eli. The man was impossible to be
put off, and Ivan was having a difficult time of constantly explaining
to him that he had no word from his brother. Not since the day Eric
had apparently run away into the forest.
Just looking at Eli was painful. The brothers were too much alike.
Only Eli was alive, and Eric was dead, and he would stay that way.
Perhaps this was the true reason he’d come out here, into the
forest, where all the bad creatures lived, by himself.
Ivan rubbed his arms. The cold didn’t usually bother him, but this
was not the comforting cold he experienced whenever Eric was
nearby. This was natural and hollow.
“Eric,” he called, letting his voice move across the black sky and
tall trees. They shifted and swayed in the wind. No one answered him
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back.
“Eric,” he called again, making his voice louder this time.
Three days. He’d gone three days without any word from the
other man. Not so much as a nightly visit or good-bye. It made him
worry, in the sort of heart-pumping way he didn’t like, could Eric had
left him for good?
No, he told himself. Eric wanted to move onto the next life, but he
would always return and say good-bye. He would.
Ivan would not leave here, regardless of any danger, until he
found Eric or Eric found him. He needed to see the other man. Three
days was too much, and it had long since become apparent that Eric
kept his distance only because of the way Ivan had reacted.
He would have to still be on the property. Eric had told him that,
aside from those times when he’d been pulled to Ivan’s side, Eric had
never had the power to leave the pack land.
So if Ivan just continued to search—
A rattle in the trees startled him. Ivan turned just as the gray-white
body of a young boy past through the trees.
Ivan was frozen in place. The spirits were back. Without Eric’s
protection they had come for him finally.
And he was out here in the middle of nowhere, by himself. What
an idiot he was.
Perhaps not. The boy hadn’t seemed to notice him, and though
Ivan had not done very well when it came to pretending to not see
them, the little ghost had yet to return.
He sighed his relief, but then it became apparent that he’d
celebrated much too soon. The white face of the child returned, the
black eyes angry and dark mouth opened in a long gasp.
Pretend you cannot see him. Pretend you cannot see him.
Ivan turned about and began walking in the other direction, the
direction he hoped he would find Eric in.
These ghosts were always somehow different from Eric, though.
Whenever Eric walked around or touched things, they wouldn’t react
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unless he was also in contact with Ivan.
But as the boy ghost followed Ivan, his bare blue feet crunched
loudly into the dry leaves and twigs. He was getting closer.
Ivan swallowed hard over the lump in his throat. It didn’t go down
well with the other rocks in his gut. He couldn’t stop his arms from
shaking. The boy was so close now that he could hear him breathing,
a raspy, angry sound.
Ivan couldn’t do it. The boy knew that Ivan was aware of him, and
there was no making him forget it. Ivan ran.
The boy behind him shrieked and gave chase. His screams
sounded like a squawking, high-pitched crow. It hurt Ivan’s ears.
The spirit had difficulty keeping up with Ivan’s pace. Now that he
was free to run, allowing his vampire speed to take over, the ghost
could barely match his pace.
It must be a new ghost for that to be possible.
Eventually the sound of the running footsteps and bird-like
screams fell far behind him, yet Ivan did not yet stop. He couldn’t, not
until his chest and lungs burned from the exertion, and not until his
feet begged him to stop.
He slowed his pace to a halt and then promptly fell onto his hands
and knees. With the wheezing sound coming out of his throat, he felt
as though he could be the ghost here, and not that boy that had been
chasing him.
Ivan shivered. He hated seeing spirits, especially ones so dark and
mindless of all things except for the urge to attack and possess. After
being with Eric for so long, he’d forgotten what it was to be
surrounded by these spirits on a constant basis.
He needed to find him and bring him back. Ivan couldn’t handle
the separation any longer.
He kept walking, not entirely certain where he was, which was
another reason to be fearful, but he’d walked for no more than five
minutes before he realized that he was coming upon the end of
DeWitt’s pack territory.
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Eric could not go any farther than this. He’d told Ivan that before.
For whatever reason, Ivan was the only one able to give Eric the
ability to travel farther, and only if they were together.
That had been how Eric had come to see him all those times when
Ivan was still living with his family, kept carefully hidden away in his
bedchamber.
He nearly turned back when another noise startled him.
Like an animal that scented a predator, Ivan froze. Another spirit,
or the same boy that had chased him?
He held perfectly still for several minutes, hardly daring to
breathe, his eyes darting around for whatever might be attempting to
sneak up on him.
A long whoosh of air breezed by, shifting the leaves in the trees
and moaning theatrically as it went, but nothing appeared before him.
No face materialized from between the branches, no painful howls
sounded from the spirits who were jealous of Ivan’s life.
Really, there was nothing to be jealous about. He was a vampire!
Wasn’t he part of the undead anyway?
Then Ivan scented warm blood beneath soft skin, and he heard the
rapid thumping of a small, frightened heart.
His fangs lengthened almost of their own accord. Yes, this was
another thing he’d wanted to come out here for. Ivan wanted to drink,
and that rabbit smelled like a rather large one.
The extra energy would be useful for when he had to flee from
more ghosts, and it might also keep him on his feet long enough to
find Eric.
The poor little beast was no match for Ivan’s speed, and he caught
the animal around the belly before lifting the soft fur to his face.
It was a sign of how pathetic Ivan was that he winced when he bit
into the animal to drink. The cry it released unnerved him. It was
hardly a wonder that Vlad treated him like a child when he always felt
sorry from the beasts he drank from.
With it being either the rabbit or him, Ivan chose himself, and he
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finished off his meal quickly before gently depositing the little body
back onto the earth for other predators to come for later.
No use in throwing the rabbit away somewhere and letting it go to
waste. That would be an even larger shame.
Ivan stood tall and began walking back in the direction from
which he came, now confident he would be able to handle any spectre
that leaped out at him while he was walking.
He stopped as another snap in the branches startled him, and then
the familiar moans of the dead hovered in the air.
Ivan’s body chilled with gooseflesh, but like before, no face
appeared before him and no hands reached out to grab him.
The sound came from behind him. From the place he was leaving.
I should escape now while I can. It was better to go if there was
truly a cluster of spirits gathering just beyond those trees. If they all
sensed Ivan’s presence, then all the animal blood in the world would
not give him the strength to resist them.
Despite this, he was drawn to the noises they made. He was
curious to see what it was that they were grouped around. Ivan had
never known ghosts to stay in such large groups before, and from the
sounds of the zombielike moaning, there were a dozen of them at
least.
As silent as a caterpillar on a leaf, Ivan inched his way forward.
He made no noise among the branches as he pushed them out of the
way to better see into the clearing.
He gasped and nearly released the branches he was holding out of
the way at the sight.
Eric was on the ground, lying on his back, his eyes shut and body
facing the black sky. Every spirit surrounded him and stared down at
his prone body, as though confused as to what could be the problem.
He must have come out here and the lot of them attacked him
when his guard was down.
Ivan could not believe it, nor could he allow whatever abuse they
had heaped onto him to continue. A ghost could not possess another
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ghost, but they could cause harm to each other, and that was
apparently what had happened.
Ivan stepped out of the bushes, the branches and leaves rattling
together as he released them.
Every gray face turned toward the noise. They were all dark, and
the sockets where the eyes should have been were entirely black, as
though shadows blocked them from view.
The eyes were the windows to the soul and all that.
His fear of them wracked through his body, but his fear for Eric
was stronger. He charged the spirits with an enraged war cry.
In what looked to be more shock than fear, they stepped out of his
way, allowing him to pass. None of the spirits attempted to keep him
from Eric. None seemed all that interested in the spirit that lay on the
ground like a wounded animal.
Suddenly, he was in the center of their circle, and they were all
still giving him that silent stare.
Ivan knelt down and grabbed Eric around the shoulders, and he
shook him with every ounce of vampire strength that he had.
“Eric! Wake up!”
His body moved and shook as Ivan tried desperately to wake him,
but he had no idea if this sort of clumsy technique would even work
on a spirit. Could Eric feel his hands? The way he was desperately
shaking him?
Yes, he had to. Eric was always able to feel Ivan’s presence. That
was how they’d found each other. He would feel this, too. He would
wake up!
He had to. The spirits had long since lost all of their shock and
were now moaning collectively as they shuffled forward, their pale
fingers reaching out to Ivan.
He would not leave without Eric!
“Wake up! Eric! Please, wake up!”
Finally there was a small noise coming from out of Eric’s throat.
His eyes fluttered open, and he frowned at the sight of Ivan’s face.
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“You…”
Ivan was already gripping his hands and struggling to haul the
other man to his feet. For a spirit, he was remarkably heavy. “Eric!
We need to leave!”
Eric’s half-lidded, confused eyes widened as he looked around the
area they were in and took note of the many approaching spirits.
“What the—?”
He wasted no other words, but neither did he grab Ivan’s hand and
run off with him. He shifted into his wolf form, the transformation
fluid and fast. The animal opened its jaws and roared at the lot of
them.
More than half of the spirits cowered at the noise and stepped
back, but still there were others that continued coming.
Ivan had only ever seen Eric attack other spirits once before, and
that was when he had come and chased them out of his bedchamber
when he was still living with his brothers. He’d never actually
witnessed Eric’s wolf in battle.
It was frightening and beautiful. The wolf bent its head, the hair
along its neck and back standing straight, looking like long, pointed
needles. He growled and barked, spittle escaping the long mouth, and
when the spirits continued to walk forward, Eric lunged.
For some strange reason, he almost expected the wolf to pass
straight through them. Perhaps it was because Eric looked so alive
while the other spirits were obviously dead.
No, he was as solid against him as he was whenever he touched
Ivan. His teeth bit down on the neck of one of the spirits, it cried out
as though in pain and the body exploded in sparkling lights as he tore
straight through.
The ghosts lost all interest in Ivan as they began targeting Eric
now. Eric lunged at others and spun around quickly as some of the
ghosts tried to climb on top of him to hold him down.
He had to help. He couldn’t let Eric fight them alone.
For the first time in his life, Ivan attacked one of the ghosts first,
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71
although he did it while the spirit’s back was turned on him and
approaching Eric.
It was a male spirit, smaller than he was and perhaps just a young
teenager at the time of death, so his attack was simple. He grabbed it
by the throat and pulled back as it tried to charge at Eric.
It shrieked and flailed in Ivan’s arms, and not for the first time, he
was surprised at how solid the spirit felt when he touched it.
The boy stopped struggling, and then the head turned in a one-
hundred-and-eighty-degree half circle, as though the bones were made
of putty, if there were any bones at all beneath that pale skin.
The boy snarled at him, thrusting his hands out and pushing Ivan
away.
He flew up high and came down hard against one of the thicker
pines. Stars dotted his line of vision, and when his eyes cleared and he
looked up, the ghost of the boy was standing above him, staring down
at him.
Then it reached for him, those black eyes soft and needy, the same
look every spirit had when it wanted to take control of his body.
Ivan would not be possessed ever again!
He screamed at the ghost. More of a war cry, the same as he’d
used when he ran for Eric in the middle of their clearing.
The ghost’s black mouth dropped open in shock as the boy
stepped back as Ivan rose to his feet. He advanced on the ghost as the
spirit backed away from him, and he didn’t stop.
Every ounce of helpless rage he’d ever felt, all the pent-up anger
and frustration, came boiling to the surface as he marched toward the
spirit. For once, the ghost of a potential attacker looked fearful of him,
rather than the other way around.
He charged at the spirit, his fists clenched and his fangs ready,
prepared to tear into the boy for daring to even think he could take
command of Ivan’s body.
The boy vanished before Ivan could sink his claws into his flesh,
or whatever it was spirits had that made it so that Ivan could touch
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them.
He stood there in shock for a second, staring at the space where
the boy had once stood, and Ivan did not sense the cold presence of
him any longer. The spirit had retreated. He could hardly believe he’d
done it. He’d frightened away a ghost entirely on his own. He’d done
it on his own.
He smiled to himself. Then he looked over, remembering that Eric
was still fighting off the many other spirits that had been attacking
him.
Only he was no longer doing that. He’d chased away the attacking
spectres, as he always did, and now he was simply standing there, still
in wolf form, staring at Ivan.
Ivan smiled at him. “I did it.”
Eric shifted back into his human shape, naked and beautiful. His
smile was proud and genuine. “You did.”
Ivan ran to him and threw his arms around Eric’s large shoulders.
Eric was almost too surprised to catch him, but Ivan was more
interested in kissing every inch of Eric’s face, stopping at his lips.
His body thrummed with the pleasure of victory. There had been
so many of those spirits only a moment ago, and now he and Eric
were safely together. They were gone, and Ivan and Eric were still
here.
Eric pulled back from the kiss, staring down into Ivan’s eyes.
“What are you doing here?”
“I can ask you the same thing,” Ivan said, kissing Eric again.
Eric would not be put off. He groaned as he pulled his mouth
away, as though it pained him to interrupt what Ivan was attempting
to do. “No, really. How did you get out here? I don’t think we’re even
on pack territory.”
“We’re not,” Ivan admitted. “I came searching for you after what
had happened. I was just about to turn back when I came upon those
spirits, and you were lying on the ground, right there.” Ivan nodded to
the spot, shivering as the thought of Eric lying there, for the first time
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actually looking dead to him, flashed through his mind.
“How did you come to be out here?” Ivan asked. “You said to me
yourself that you cannot leave the pack land.”
“I can’t, not unless you’re there with me.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
Eric shook his head. “I was hunting. Trying to, anyway. The
animals sense me when I want them to, but I still can’t grab onto them
when I get close. I remember I was chasing a buck, and I knew I was
coming close to the edge of the land, then nothing.”
Eric looked down into Ivan’s eyes. “Maybe those ghosts all snuck
up on me.”
Ivan pulled Eric closer to him, until they were completely chest to
chest, and he rested his cheek on Eric’s shoulder. Perhaps that was
what had happened, and when Ivan came for him, Eric was able to
wake up from whatever the attack had been and finally defend
himself.
He could not bear the thought of being without this man, ever
again. “Please do not go.”
He felt Eric’s arms stiffen around him, and he knew he was in for
another fight.
Ivan looked up at him, at the pain in Eric’s eyes, and he held onto
the other man tighter, keeping the spirit of the man he loved close.
“Ivan, I—”
“Do not start with me that nonsense that you would prefer I live a
normal life. I am a vampire and a medium. There is nothing about that
which resembles normalcy.”
“I attacked you,” Eric said. “I took possession of your body and
can’t even figure out how I did it. Opal said it was because I’m
restless to move on, and I’m taking it out on you.”
Ivan felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. “Are you
restless? Are you restless and eager to be away from me?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then do not leave me here by myself!” Ivan yelled. “You are the
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only good thing that has happened to me in my entire life. You are the
only reason I am alive today. If you do not want to leave, then do not
leave. You can take possession of my body any time you wish if that
is what it will take to have you stay.”
“Shh, Ivan, stop. You’re going to make yourself sick,” Eric said,
pulling Ivan back into his arms. They both held each other as though
it might be the last time they ever did.
“You came to me for a reason,” Ivan said, not finished speaking
his thoughts. “You are not like the other spirits for a reason, too. If
you wish to leave because I do not make you happy, then go. Please
do not leave because you think you have to.”
Ivan couldn’t believe he just said that, and his heart stopped as he
waited for Eric to tell him that, yes, Ivan wasn’t making him happy,
and that he was done with protecting him from every single spirit that
came within a ten-mile radius of him.
Eric sighed, and Ivan felt the distinct press of those soft lips in his
hair. “It’s not that. I want to stay. You’re here, and so is my brother
and my pack. All my friends.”
Eric put his hands on Ivan’s shoulders and pushed him back
enough so that he could look into his eyes. Ivan shivered with the
dark expression he found there.
“If I stay, if I stop looking for a way to the next life, if there even
is one waiting for me at this point, then you need to do something for
me.”
Ivan’s soul sang with relief. “Anything.”
“You need to keep going to those lessons with Opal. Get her to
teach you everything she knows about banishing spirits, defending
yourself against them, all that. Because if I ever turn into a violent
ghost like one of those guys”—Eric looked up and around at the place
where they had both just fought and won against several violent
spectres—“you need to learn how to fight me off.”
“I will. I promise.” Ivan cupped Eric’s face and kissed him. “It
won’t come to that, but I will do it.”
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Chapter Eight
Eric hoped to God that Ivan was right and that Eric wasn’t just
allowing himself to give in because he no longer had the spine to
resist.
When he first opened his eyes, hearing Ivan calling out his name,
he’d thought he’d finally gone to heaven.
But then the confusion had set in because Ivan was not dead, and
how was it possible that the other man could have followed him into
the next life? Then he became aware of the situation and what was
truly happening, and he’d gone on the attack. He was in a place he
didn’t fully recognize, and there were so many spirits around them
both. All of which would want a piece of Ivan.
He immediately went on the attack. They were much more
determined than what was usual, but he would not allow them to take
control of Ivan’s body. He would not let them make Ivan into a ghost
like Eric!
When he heard Ivan’s scream, his insides, or whatever it was he
had as a spirit, jumped into his throat, but Ivan was not being taken
control of.
He took his attention away from the spirits he fought just enough
to watch as Ivan attacked one of the spirits that Eric did not have
within his sights. Ivan was attacking it head-on like a warrior, and he
was doing well. Ivan was holding his own, and then he’d frightened
the spirit away entirely.
The spirits Eric had been battling had seen that and then looked at
Eric. They must have determined that they were outmatched because
then they, too, retreated into the night.
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Eric had never been more proud of Ivan.
Maybe it was witnessing the vampire in battle, taking care of
himself and frightening away his attacker, that was the true reason for
Eric’s crumbling resolve.
When Ivan had cast him out for possessing his body, Eric had
feared he would never see the other man again, yet here he was,
kissing Eric’s face and pleading with him not to go.
All was forgiven then. Thank God. Thank God.
Eric was not one to let such an opportunity slip away. Especially
with his body still thrumming with the adrenaline of battle.
He didn’t push Ivan down onto the soft moss so much as Ivan
pulled him down on top of him. He felt Ivan’s erection immediately,
and he responded to it accordingly.
Eric loved the feel of Ivan’s fingernails clawing into his back as
he tore away at Ivan’s pants. Ivan would be walking back naked at the
rate Eric was going, but that was hardly the issue at the moment.
“Turn around. Get on your knees,” Eric said. He spat into his hand
as Ivan grinned and did as he was told.
Eric wished he was the sort of man who was able to resist the
impulse of his body and take his time preparing his lover for what was
to come. Ivan moaned so beautifully and pushed against Eric’s fingers
so wantonly that he could barely contain himself.
It was then that he noticed the strange slickness against his fingers
as he stretched out Ivan's asshole. It was slippery and wet and almost
like a lubricant.
What the hell? Was it there because Eric wanted it to be there?
Was he somehow creating the stuff to keep from hurting Ivan while
they did this?
Maybe it was just ectoplasm or something like out of
Ghostbusters. He didn't know if that was gross or not.
“Eric, do not stop, please do not stop,” Ivan begged. He did it so
nicely, too.
He pulled his fingers out of Ivan’s pucker and lined up his cock
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with the entrance. Ivan pushed out as Eric pushed in, and when he
was completely submerged, he buckled over Ivan’s body, nearly
collapsing on top of him.
He grit his teeth, forcing himself not to move despite the pulsing
pleasure just being inside of Ivan was causing. The fact that Ivan was
trying to push back against him wasn’t helping either.
“Do it. Fuck me now,” Ivan commanded, looking over his
shoulder at Eric, as though asking, What’s the hold up?
He would’ve told Ivan that he was going to be the death of him,
but Eric was already dead.
He took hold of Ivan’s hips, gripping so tightly the other man
hissed in pain, but then he began to move.
The amazing push and pull of their bodies made Eric groan low in
his throat as well as release gasping sighs. Ivan’s own noises of
pleasure heightened everything Eric was feeling.
“Yes. Yessss,” Ivan hissed, pushing back against Eric’s thrusting
hips. “Just like that.”
“You’re so fucking beautiful like that,” Eric rasped. “I’m never
leaving you behind.”
Ivan moaned at those words. He went down on his elbows,
keeping his ass in the air while Eric fucked it.
No, he wasn’t fucking Ivan. He was making love to him, and it
had been stupid of him to think he was doing anything but that all this
time.
“I love you. I love you so fucking much.”
Ivan gasped and Eric wasn’t sure if the other man heard him, so
he just kept right on going.
His balls tightened, and release was in sight. He slowed his pace,
attempting to draw out more of that amazing feeling, but he only
succeeded in heightening his pleasure.
Ivan moaned and bucked beneath him, wanting to reach the end as
quickly as possible, and then Eric opened his mouth and moaned out
loud as he came, pumping his hips until he milked himself dry inside
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the other man.
Ivan had long since grabbed a hold of his dick as was stroking
himself as Eric finished off, until Ivan’s body stiffened and he shot his
load into the moss beneath them.
They breathed hard for a moment, and then Eric spooned up
against Ivan’s back and kissed his neck. He loved being inside of
Ivan. He would stay like this for the whole night if he could.
He only got perhaps a minute out of it before Ivan playfully
nudged him. “Getting hard for me to stay up like this with you on top
of me.”
Eric did not want to move. “Thought vampires were supposed to
have this amazing strength.”
“Orgasm saps our strength.”
Well, it was good while it lasted. Maybe it was best if he didn’t
make Ivan collapse onto a puddle of his own semen anyway.
Eric gently pulled out of his lover, losing the connection he
always obtained whenever they were one like this.
He could still feel the cool breeze on his skin and hear the
chirping insects of the night, and that same warm buzz was glowing
inside of him after he’d come, but now everything had a decidedly
more shaded feel to it. He wasn’t as…alive wasn’t the word, because
he wasn’t alive at all, but with their connection broken, Eric’s senses
definitely weren’t as sharp.
At least this time he’d not possessed Ivan.
Ivan shifted a little away from the splotch he’d created on the
dark-green moss. Eric allowed himself to fall onto his back, and
warmth spread through him when Ivan curled up against him.
“Were you worried?” Ivan asked.
“About what?”
“That you would lose control.”
Maybe his relief over just that fact had shown on his face for Ivan
to be bringing it up now. “I didn’t think about it. Too busy enjoying
your company.”
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They both chuckled a little, and then Eric got serious. “I don’t
know why I did that then and it didn’t happen now. I don’t know what
happened.”
He looked down into Ivan’s red eyes. “You know I would never
possess you on purpose, right? I swear to God it wasn’t on purpose.”
Ivan held him tighter. “I know, and I know you better than that. I
think I just panicked and forgot it was you for a moment. I didn’t
really want you to leave either. I think I just overreacted. I was
just…”
Scared was likely the word Ivan was looking for, but Eric didn’t
want to push it.
They had to keep going with this conversation, though. Better it
was done now than later when it might be too late.
“If I ever take over your body again by accident, I’ll get out of it
as soon as possible, I promise. I don’t want you worrying that I might
try and possess you again.”
Though, he still wanted Ivan to continue on with his lessons just
in case Eric accidentally possessed him and then couldn’t get out.
Ivan would have to know how to force an unresisting ghost out of his
body before any permanent damage could happen.
“I was actually thinking about that,” Ivan said.
It certainly was much easier to enjoy this peace now that they both
knew the spirits wouldn’t return. If only Eric required sleep. He
would suggest they spend the night right here, under the black night
speckled with stars and the clean scent of pine and earth all around
them.
Then again, Ivan was a vampire. Not only did he not sleep during
the night, but if he did, he definitely wouldn’t waking up in the
morning.
Ivan pinched Eric’s nipple, hard.
Eric jumped. “What was that for?”
“For not paying attention when a prince speaks to you.”
Eric smiled, running his hands through Ivan’s pale-blond hair. It
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was getting long and would soon need a cut.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to do that. What were you saying?”
With his feathers smoothed out now, Ivan finished what he had
been talking about. “I remember when you had control of my body,
your eyes became my eyes. That is to say, my eyes were no longer
red, but they were the color you have now.”
Ivan touched Eric’s cheek, just under his left eye, as though
making his point.
Eric blinked, remembering looking at himself in the mirror and
seeing Ivan’s body staring back at him. That was right, the eyes had
been different.
Windows to the soul.
“What are you thinking?” Eric asked, knowing Ivan was planning
something.
Ivan wet his lips. They were still plump and pink from being
kissed.
“I was thinking that, if I willingly gave my body to you, you could
use it to speak with your brother. I do not know your reasons, but you
have been hesitant about being near him ever since I came here, and I
shall assume that it had been before that as well.”
Eric looked away from him. He didn’t want to come clean to Ivan
about his conflicting emotions regarding Eli.
He wanted so much to be around for his brother, but at the same
time, he wanted for Eli what he had wanted for Ivan. He wanted him
to move on, forget him, and live his life as normally as possible.
But things like that weren’t possible when Eric was as selfish as
he was when it came to both people.
Eric couldn’t leave his brother behind any more than he could
leave Ivan.
“What do you think?” Ivan asked, looking at him carefully,
awaiting his answer.
“You would let me have control of your body? Look, I know you
hate that, and I’m not about to force you to—”
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“It will not be forced,” Ivan said quickly. “Perhaps it will be
different if I am giving my consent to be a vessel, and we could also
use it as an exercise. Every time I allow you control of my body, I
will then attempt to push you out. I can then determine whether or not
I am making any progress or not as we practice keeping the other
spirits out of my body.”
Eric couldn’t believe it, but it was a sound idea, and it did allow
him to finally speak to his brother.
There could be no more pussying out if Eric decided to do this. He
would finally be able to speak with Eli, and all the while it would be
helping Ivan to practice pushing the spirits who possessed him out of
his body safely.
He held Ivan closer. “All right.”
* * * *
Opal came sharply awake from a decidedly unpleasant dream.
She knew to always listen to her dreams. They told her things her
own small powers otherwise would never be able to pick up.
Her spell had failed. Eric would be returning to haunt the pack
some more with Ivan. How that weak vampire had ever managed to
find the spirit before those ghosts could turn him into one of them,
Opal would never know.
She threw the blankets off herself. Deacon would need to know
about this. He was going to want to make new plans now that theirs
had been thoroughly destroyed.
Ivan still had his protector. Who were they going to use now?
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Chapter Nine
They practiced together all night and well into the morning. Ivan
would wait with clenched fists for Eric, and Eric would take
possession of his body. They kept a timer, keeping track of the best
times that Ivan could push Eric out. After Ivan started to relax his
body some more, it almost became a sort of game to them, keeping
high scores and all that.
When Ivan managed to push Eric out for what seemed like the
twentieth time, a little too easily, he snapped at him. “Are you even
trying anymore?”
“I am,” Eric said, shock all over his face as he stared at Ivan for
the outburst.
“Doesn’t feel like it,” Ivan muttered. He was tired as well, so there
was no way he should have the strength to be pushing Eric out of his
body if the other man was actually, really trying to take over.
Eric seemed to know where his thoughts were going in that way
that he did, though. “I’m resisting, but I’m not giving it a hundred and
ten percent or anything. We don’t know how this works, and I don’t
want to risk that, if you can’t get me out, then I can never come out.
Understand?”
He did. It was hard not to when Eric looked at him like that and
cupped his cheek in the way that he liked.
Ivan nodded, and then he yawned.
Eric chuckled. “Maybe you should get some sleep.”
“I’m fine. We can keep going,” Ivan said on another yawn.
“It’s ten in the morning, and I know Opal loves waking you up at
noon for your sessions. Take a nap real quick and I’ll come back
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later.”
Ivan was too tired to resist more than once. Now that he was
yawning, he couldn’t seem to stop. He nodded and stumbled toward
the bed, falling into it gracelessly. If his ancestors could see him
fumbling about like this, they would be ashamed of him.
Ivan was vaguely aware of Eric removing his shirt and shoes for
him, and then pressing his lips to the side of Ivan’s mouth before he
fell farther into the dark pit that was his dreams, feeling pretty good
about his strange abilities for the first time in his life.
* * * *
Eric stroked Ivan’s white-blond hair one more time before he
stood up and left the bedroom. Ivan was doing so well, he could
hardly believe the progress in such a short amount of time.
One morning and already he’d nearly mastered being able to push
Eric out of his body.
Eric had been telling the truth when he’d said he wasn’t giving it a
hundred and ten percent as far as trying to take over, but he had been
giving it ninety percent at least. Ivan was getting better at this.
The only thing that really confused Eric was how difficult it was
for him to even get inside of Ivan’s body. For the first five minutes
he’d tried, nothing had happened. The first time he’d managed it, it
had still caused Ivan some displeasure, and he quickly exited his
body.
Oh, he was better at it now and could do it almost instantly, and
now without hurting Ivan at all, but if it was so difficult for him to do,
then how in the hell had he managed to do it that one time by accident
when he and Ivan were in bed?
Eric ghosted his way over to the cabin where Chris and his brother
lived.
He was almost there when he spotted Opal heading toward the
cabin where Eric had just come from. In her truck.
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He frowned at the sight as she backed the Ford as close as she
could get it to the front door.
She looked around when she got out of the vehicle, then spotted
Eric staring at her.
She smiled and waved, her beaded bracelets jangling along her
arm.
Strange woman, Eric thought, waving back and suppressing a
growl.
It looked like she was getting ready to knock on the door and
wake Ivan up from his sleep, if he even could be woken up after
staying up so late. She needed to be told, and told again so that she
finally understood, that vampires kept a different time set than
humans and werewolves not just because of the daylight thing. Ivan
needed his sleep, and she was constantly disturbing that.
Opal started pulling a couple of metal rods out of the back of the
truck and leaning them against the side of the cottage door.
Maybe she wasn’t there to wake up Ivan, or at the very least, to
keep him awake for long. It looked like she was just dropping those
poles off. What they were for, Eric had no clue, but he told himself
not to be too suspicious. It was probably another meditation thing.
They were dowsing rods for all Eric knew.
Confident she wouldn’t be able to wake Ivan up if she tried, Eric
got back on track, moving toward his brother’s cottage.
He’d been a coward, mostly ignoring Eli. Now, with an apparent
reunion so close at hand, he wanted to see him.
Would his twin recognize Eric’s presence if he stood right beside
him? Was he happy or sad today? And how was his mate treating
him?
Eric should know the answers to these questions, and now he
would.
He stepped through the shut door of the cabin. It seemed Eli was
not on guard rotation this morning. Otherwise he would be up by
now. As it was, Eric didn’t even hear the familiar kitchen sounds that
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came with cooking breakfast. They weren’t anywhere that Eric could
immediately see, which left only their bedroom.
Eric didn’t want to walk in on anything, and he was about to leave
to come back later when the bedroom door opened.
The blond man with the dual-colored eyes stepped out, naked
from the waist up and a happy grin on his face. His hair was
bedraggled, and it looked as though Eric had come at the right time.
They were finished.
“I like pancakes with my eggs, by the way!” Eli’s voice shouted
from the bedroom.
“Don’t push it!” Chris called back, pulling a large frying pan out
from the bottom cupboard of the kitchen, still grinning.
Eric didn’t know what exactly it was that was the reason for Chris
preparing his brother breakfast in bed, but knowing they weren’t in
the bedroom screwing gave him reason enough to press on.
He peeked into the room then entered it completely when he saw
his brother wasn’t entirely naked on the bed. He was in his boxers
above the rumpled sheets, leaning back against the headboard with his
hands behind his head and a grin on his face.
The TV was on and he was watching something, but Eric barely
paid any mind to what was on the screen.
This was the closest he’d ever been to his brother since the day
he’d died.
He sat on the bed, still looking at Eli’s face as he watched TV.
Eli’s skin pebbled a little, and he shivered from the sudden cold and
rubbed his arms.
“Weird,” he muttered.
Eric couldn’t help himself. “Hey, bro.”
Eli looked around, and then he called out, “Hey, Chris?”
“Yeah?”
“You feel cold?”
There was a pause. “Not in the kitchen, no. Why?”
Eli shook his head. “Nothing.”
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Eric was disappointed. He’d hoped that because they were twins,
he and Eli would have some kind of connection that would allow
them to communicate, even in death. Maybe not as easily as he and
Ivan and Opal did, but still, there had to be something.
Eric waved his hand in front of Eli’s face. His brother still seemed
more preoccupied with finding out where that sudden cold had come
from. From what Eric could see, there was no air conditioner in the
room.
“Eli, can you hear me? It’s Eric,” he added stupidly, as though Eli
wouldn’t recognize his voice even if he could hear Eric.
There was still no sign of recognition, and Eric’s frustration rose
up.
Ivan was going to help him with this, to help him actually speak to
Eli, but he’d hoped so much…
Eric stuck his hand into Eli’s chest just to see what would happen.
He yanked it back out again in a panic when it looked like Eli was
having a heart attack.
“Oh shit! Eli!”
Eli clutched at his chest, but now that Eric had removed his hand,
it seemed he was just catching his breath after being horribly choked.
“Jesus Christ, Eli, I’m so sorry,” Eric said, knowing his brother
couldn’t hear it.
“Eli?” Chris appeared in the doorway, noticed the way his mate
was breathing and clutching at his chest, and then ran to him.
He ran right through Eric before he could get out of the way, but
what had happened to Eli didn’t happen to Chris, and Eric had only
passed his hand through his brother, not his whole body.
“Baby, you okay?” Chris asked, slight panic in his eyes. He had
the cordless in his hand and looked like he would use it to dial 911
even though police and other human officials were strictly prohibited
from pack land.
Eric could hardly blame him for wanting to go against the rules if
his mate was having what appeared to be a heart attack.
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“I’m fine.” Eli swallowed hard then shook his head. “I just felt
something.”
“You felt something?”
How had Eric done that? He’d never been able to do that before.
He was going to have to ask Opal how much of an impact he could
have on people as a ghost. Maybe it was similar to the way Ivan could
increase his skills on defense and keeping them out of his body. If
Eric just tried a little harder and practiced, maybe he could have an
effect on the objects and people around him.
“Yeah,” Eli said on a long sigh, as though he were enjoying the
fact that he could breathe again. “It’s still cold in here. You feel that?”
Chris looked up and around. “Yeah, actually.”
Eric held no hope that the man with the multicolored eyes would
be able to see him. Chris had seen him that one time when Eric had
managed to pull him out of the water, but he’d been near death when
that had happened.
Actually, that was something else Eric had forgotten about. He’d
grabbed hold of Chris’s body and pulled him out of the pond. He’d
touched another living person other than Ivan and had managed to do
something for him.
Hope renewed that he would not only be speaking to his brother
soon, but maybe with enough practice would be able to be seen and
heard by them as well, Eric left the room.
“See you later, guys,” he said on his way out. He couldn’t wait
until nightfall when Ivan woke up from his sleep.
He ghosted through the door of his brother’s cottage and then
stopped in his tracks when he noticed the door to Ivan’s small cottage
was wide open.
That wasn’t right. Doors and windows to vampire homes were
never open during the daytime.
Eric looked around, hoping to see if anyone else noticed this
strange phenomenon. The pups and the omegas who took care of
them during the day all went about their business. It was hot out, not a
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cloud in the sky, and Ivan’s door wasn’t the only one left open for a
breeze.
No one here was used to living with vampires just yet. They
probably weren’t putting it together that such a sight was out of the
ordinary.
Eric ran to the doors. He swore if that idiot lady had let herself
into Ivan’s house and left the door open he was going to murder her.
Something blocked him from getting inside, however. When he
tried running through the walls, he wound up running into the wall.
Smashing his face and nose with a painful crunch.
He grabbed his face as he fell back on his ass. Thank God he
couldn’t break any bones as a dead man.
He got to his feet and glared at the wall. What. The. Fuck?
He put his palm flat against the wood paneling. It was solid. He
couldn’t get through. He concentrated and tried again, and still felt
nothing.
Okay, something was definitely not right inside there. He
slammed his fist against the wall. “Ivan!”
He ran around the side of the house to the front door.
Those bars, the ones that Opal had pulled from the cab on her
pickup truck. They were completely blocking the way. They were
hardly nailed to the door frame or anything, just criss-crossing over
the entrance. Maybe the only reason why Opal hadn’t shut the door
was because she couldn’t reach through to grab at it when finished
with this weird setup.
He touched one of the bars then yanked his hand back when the
hot burn scalded him.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” he yelled, shaking out his hand and
glaring at the bars.
Well, if Opal didn’t sense him coming, she knew he was on his
way now thanks to his big mouth.
“Opal, you get out here now!”
He didn’t know what the bars were, but it almost felt like touching
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pure silver, but they couldn’t be silver. Just looking at them was
enough to confirm that, and if there were any traces of silver, it
definitely wasn’t enough to burn him as much as it did.
He looked down at the long red welts on his palm and fingers.
Never once had he been injured like this since dying. Fuck that hurt.
“Opal!” he screamed. “If you hurt him, I swear I’ll tear your head
off and eat it!”
There was still no response, not directed at him at any rate. When
he stopped yelling and started listening, he could make out the sound
of her murmurs. It was low and melodic. She was doing something in
there to Ivan. He just knew it. Christ, why had any of them ever
trusted her?
He had to get passed these bars. He laid his fingers against the
bars and yanked them back when the sizzling burn scorched him
again.
“Fuck!” he screamed, slamming his hand on the door frame.
Wrong hand! He’d just hit the hand that he’d just burned more
than ninety percent of!
Eric sucked in a breath and released a neck-clenching yell,
fighting with everything inside of him to keep from tightening his fist
in pain. Something like that would definitely only make things worse.
It was almost as if he’d forgotten what pain felt like. Now he had
to suck it up big time.
If he was able to touch these bars, then that also meant he should
be able to break them down without concentrating on it too much.
He banged on the bars with the heel of his palms then slammed
into them with his shoulder, feeling every inch of burned skin and
clenching his jaw and teeth as he tried to kick and smash his way
through. They weren’t nailed in, but they were stuck pretty tight.
Blood was actually dripped down his arms as the burn seared
through his flesh. He didn’t know it was possible that he could bleed,
but he didn’t stop.
He was going to destroy her for this!
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Finally one of the bars popped loose, landing with a clang on the
kitchen floor. It was the middle bar that had been stuck in the center
of the two crossed ones. He ducked carefully under them and was
finally inside. He left behind bloody footprints as he walked from
where he’d kicked the burning bars and they’d taken off some of his
skin.
Christ Almighty.
Eric hobbled his way toward Ivan’s bedroom. The whole house
seeming to vibrate as he stomped along, and Opal’s chanting voice
getting to be louder and louder.
He turned the corner and looked into the room just as Opal stood
up, lit a match, and threw it onto the bed where Ivan lay unconscious.
“No!” Eric screamed as the bed ignited up in bright flames.
Opal ran out the door as Eric ran for his lover. She was clutching
something in her hands, but he couldn’t be bothered with that right
now.
“Ivan!” He reached for his lover and tried to grab him, but for the
first time, his hands went straight through his body. He tried again
and it still didn’t work. He couldn’t touch him. Couldn’t drag him to
safety!
“Ivan!”
Eric did the only thing he could think of. He concentrated, and
allowed himself to sink into Ivan’s body, putting his spirit in the
pilot’s seat so he could get them out of the burning bed.
That bitch had stuck newspaper clippings or something onto it to
make it light up so fast. She was as good as dead when he got them
out of here.
For the first time since he’d done it on accident, Eric took
possession of Ivan’s body with so little difficulty he could have done
it in his sleep.
He didn’t feel the flames like he’d felt the burning in the bars, but
the second he became one with Ivan’s body, the hot air surrounded
him with pain. He flew up from the bed and landed on the floor,
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choking against the smoky air and gasping for breath. He clutched at
his chest much the same way Eli had done when Eric had stuck his
hand in the other man’s chest.
He was out of the fire, but it was still hot in here, and last he
checked, there was no fire extinguisher in this cottage.
Shaking and getting to his feet, Eric took hold of the burning
duvet and tore it from the bed. He threw it down on the floor, snuffing
out the fire with the blanket itself, stamping his feet on the smaller
flames until all that was left was the smoke in the air.
Coughing and wheezing, Eric waved the smoke away from his
face and exited the now-ruined bedroom. The door at the far end of
the hall leading outside was still open. He had to be careful not to step
into any direct sunlight while he was in this body.
“Ivan? You there?” he asked, hoping to hear Ivan’s voice inside of
his head. He coughed and gagged some more. He also tasted blood
inside his mouth, but neither his tongue nor cheek hurt, suggesting
he’d bitten himself. “Ivan?”
No reply. Well, maybe he was still unconscious, maybe he was…
Eric’s entire body went cold as a chilling thought occurred to him.
No, Ivan wasn’t unconscious inside of his own body. He wasn’t there
at all.
When Eric took possession of the body, not only had it been easy,
but when he sat in the pilot’s seat, he never got the feeling that he was
pushing someone else out of it in order to take control.
Ivan’s soul wasn’t in this body. It wasn’t in the house period.
Eric completely lost his shit when that happened, and he
screamed. “Help! Someone help me!”
There was already a commotion outside of his door as apparently
several of the omegas and some of the alphas had watched Opal drive
away in what was no doubt a speed worthy of a car chase on Cops.
Tristan’s face was the first he saw, stepping carefully under the
bars that still crossed over the doorway. They didn’t burn his skin as
he touched them.
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“Hey, what’s going on?” Tristan asked.
Eric always liked Tristan. He was a good omega, and he was
mated with Isaac. They could help him. He ran to Tristan and grabbed
him by the shoulders.
“You need to help me—”
“What happened to your eyes—”
“Listen! I’m not Ivan. I’m Eric. Opal just ran off with Ivan’s soul,
and I took possession of this body before she could destroy it. Do you
understand me?”
Tristan shook his head, fear etched firmly on his face.
“That’s fine. Can you just go and get Eli and bring him here for
me then? Like right now. Go right now.”
Eric was already pushing Tristan back toward the door. “Now. Go
get them for me now.”
“Hey! Careful, you’re going to get into the sun!”
Eric would’ve liked to say that he didn’t care about that right now,
but he was in Ivan’s body, not his own. He had to protect that just as
much as he had to protect the soul.
The strange thing was how he didn’t so much as feel it getting
hotter the closer he got to the sunlight streaming into the cottage.
“Just go, please.”
Tristan nodded. “All right.”
The omega clearly thought Eric was out of his mind, but he was
going anyway. That was exactly the reason why he liked the other
man.
Other omegas came by to see what the fuss was about. Corey must
have been nearby because he was the first person to step through the
door, giving the twin bars crossed in the way an odd look as he
ducked beneath them.
He looked at Eric. “What’s going—” He stopped himself. “What
happened to your eyes?”
Eric shrugged helplessly. He didn’t have time to explain the thing
with his eyes. Thankfully, Eli, Chris, Morgan, Isaac, and James were
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the next to come through the door. James shooed away the other
omegas to keep them from spying, pried the bars out from the middle
of the door, and then shut it to give them some privacy.
Nick, Andrew, Markus, and Adam must be out in the field then.
Eli was looking at Eric with the most hope in his eyes Eric had
ever seen in his life. James’s expression was similar to his mate’s.
“What happened to your eyes?”
“This happens when I take over Ivan’s body.”
“You’ve done this before?”
Eric nodded, feeling strange to have to admit to it. “A couple of
times.”
Just then Eric suddenly remembered Ivan’s brother. No one
thought to go and wake him, it seemed.
“Eric?” Eli said. Chris held his mate’s hand tightly, or Eli held his
tightly just to have something to ground him.
Eric was pained to do this to him, but he had to. “I missed you,
too, bro, but that medium, Opal, she did something to Ivan, removed
his soul from his body I think because I can’t feel him here at all.”
“Ivan’s gone?” Corey asked, stunned.
James’s scarred face twisted in thought. “Assuming what you’re
saying is the truth, where would they go?”
Eric tried to keep his frustration in check. “I don’t know, but I
need you to track her. She has him, I know she does, please, James.”
“I’ll follow her,” Eli said, looking at Eric with such trust that his
heart actually swelled. “I’ll track her down if that’s what you want.”
“Thank you,” Eric said.
“You will have to go with him,” said another, older voice that had
not previously been in the room.
The group of men parted, revealing Old Maggie. She kept her
screwed eyes on Eric as she stepped forth.
She was shorter than all the men by far but held a sort of power
over than that only a pack wise woman was entitled do.
It was no wonder. She was the ancestor of most of the alphas in
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this pack.
Ivan wasn’t exactly tall, but his body towered over Old Maggie’s.
Eric was surprised to see her. She hadn’t exactly been welcoming of
the vampires since they came here, not to mention the fact that Opal’s
very presence seemed to insult her beyond belief.
Maybe she just had a natural suspicion of strangers. Rightfully so,
considering the mess they were currently in.
She crooked her finger at him, beckoning him to bend down.
“Come here.”
Eric did not have the time for this, but if he could just get the
blessing of the pack’s wise woman, he could have the whole pack
tracking that bitch before she got too far with Ivan’s spirit.
She squinted as she looked into Eric’s eyes, and then she nodded.
“This is the body of the vampire, but you are not that vampire I
met when they both came here. You claim to be Eric Martin?”
“Yes,” Eric said immediately.
He heard Eli release a sobbing sound after that.
“Why do you haunt this pack? Why have you not moved on?”
“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully.
This was strange. Eric was becoming more and more relaxed as
Old Maggie spoke to him. That shouldn’t be happening. He needed to
find Ivan. He needed to save him. What was Old Maggie doing to
him?
“I am told that you have been haunting this young vampire as
well. Why have you been doing that? Because you can connect with
the living through him.”
“No,” Eric said. “He’s my mate.”
Old Maggie jerked back in surprise at the answer. Guess she
hadn’t been expecting that. Neither had Eric.
Jesus. He felt like he’d been drugged when he said it, but he
meant it. Somehow, even in death, Eric had found and attached
himself to his mate.
Finally, Old Maggie seemed to come out of the trance that Eric’s
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words had put her in, and she nodded. “Then it is even more
imperative that you travel with them.”
Eric shook the fog he felt out of his brain. “I’m in a vampire’s
body. I can’t go outside.”
“You do not have a vampire’s eyes,” Maggie said, pointing a long
gnarled finger to the side of Eric’s head, right beside his left eye that
he knew was his own color rather than red.
“A spirit cannot be outside of the body for very long. You keep
the body alive by being in it, breathing for it, and keeping the heart
going, but now you must return the vessel to the proper host. You
must not wait for the wolves to track down the false medium and then
return here. You must go with them.”
“Okay, I’m completely on board with this idea, but how am I
going to go?” Eric asked. “It’s daylight outside.”
Maggie glared at him as though he were being an idiot. “Do you
not feel your wolf? Do you not feel that the sun is not fire to your
skin? I am standing right next to you, and I can see that what little
sunlight that is coming through that door is not hurting your skin.
Fool,” she muttered.
Eric blinked and looked up. It was warm in here, but it didn’t feel
anymore warm than it needed to be. Even after death, he’d always
been able to transform into his wolf, but now that he thought about it,
he could still feel that part of himself beneath his borrowed skin. He
looked down at his hands, tried to imagine the transformation taking
hold of him.
His fingers blackened and shrunk. Coarse hairs sprouted up
through his pores. He grinned and looked up.
Eli looked ready to start crying, his eyes were so bright. “Let’s
you and me go running,” he said.
Eric nodded, and then he really let the transformation shift
through him, not even bothering to remove what was left of his
burned clothing.
He howled with his twin, and he and the rest of the gathered
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alphas, and Isaac once he got onto that ATV of his, took off into the
woods, following the scent of that pickup truck and Opal.
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Chapter Ten
If there was one thing Ivan hated more than being possessed, it
was the sensation of being shoved out of his body, of not knowing if
he would have the strength to fight his way back inside, of not
knowing whether or not he would survive.
Now was one of those times, but the distinct feeling of
helplessness accompanied that since Opal had lit his body on fire and
escaped from the house before Eric could stop her.
Ivan wasn’t sure where his lover was, or whether or not he would
be able to stop her. One thing was certain for him, though. He was
probably going to die. Hell, he likely was already dead. Was this what
death felt like? If so, why couldn’t he escape from this spot that Opal
had charmed him to? Why couldn’t he go and find Eric?
The idea of death no longer really bothered Ivan. Take away the
unknown fear of the afterlife, and there really wasn’t much to be
scared of.
If Ivan was really dead, then he should be able to go off and spend
his death happily with Eric, but he couldn’t. Did that mean he was
still, on some strange level, alive?
Opal had drugged him with something, or perhaps it was a spell.
Either way, when he’d come to, realizing what she was doing, she
was already in the middle of pulling his spirit out of his body and
capturing it into a small glass bottle.
He’d panicked, but there was nothing he could do against her.
Despite being a medium who was able to physically interact with the
spirit world, Ivan was helpless against Opal’s attacks.
He might as well have been punching and kicking at a shadow for
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all the good it did him.
Strangely, she’d then leaned over his prone body on the bed,
gently opened Ivan’s mouth, placing her wrist inside, and then forced
his jaw back up until she hissed and blood pooled around her wrist.
Ivan could hardly believe what he’d seen. Was this woman mad?
Surely she did not think that a single bite would transform her into a
vampire?
Then she began piling debris and papers and other small, easily
flammable objects around Ivan’s body.
He’d shouted at her, begged and pleaded with her not to do such a
thing to him.
When Eric appeared inside the room, Ivan thought himself saved,
but then Opal had tossed her match onto the bed, and she’d run out
the door with Ivan in tow while Eric rushed to the bed in an attempt to
save the empty shell.
Now he was here, and he had no idea if Eric even succeeded, or if
he would see him again for that matter.
Especially with the way Opal and that strange individual were
chanting in front of the pond.
It was James DeWitt’s pond. He wasn’t entirely certain if he was
seeing things or not due to the brightness of the sun—honestly, how
did the daylight creatures function in this blinding light?—but it
almost looked as though the water had become brighter since the
chanting started. Was it glowing? Opal had since taken him out of the
bottle and attached his soul to a necklace she wore, so he was able to
see a little better.
Opal was chanting the most passionately between the two, her
arms flailing about in fluid motions as she called to every spirit in the
world, old and new. She even called to the God, and there were many
names in her chanting that Ivan did not recognize.
He sat a little straighter when the word sacrifice was mentioned.
Surely not! They were going to—? For what possible purpose?
As quickly as it had begun, the chanting stopped. A light fog had
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by then developed over the glowing water, which seemed to pulse
with life. It was beautiful, and Ivan could hardly take his eyes away
from it.
“Did it work?” the huge male barked, looking between Opal and
the magical waters.
“I think it did, Deacon,” Opal said, clasping her hands together as
she looked down into the water. She seemed as transfixed by the sight
as Ivan had been.
“How do we do this, then?” Deacon said, carefully sticking a toe
and then a whole foot into the shallow water. “I just wade in?”
“Yes, get at least up to your waist. Be quick about it. The
werewolves can come at any minute.”
“Assuming they followed you,” Deacon said.
Ivan’s heart sank. There was indeed always that assumption. Eric
had no way of telling the others what had happened. If the whole
cottage went up, then they might even still be working on putting out
the fire. They would know Ivan had been murdered once everything
had been cleared away, and it would likely not be until then that
hunting parties would be sent out in search for the female medium
who’d fled the scene.
Opal approached him, and Ivan tensed up.
“Now, now, it’s time for you to do your part. You have been
chosen.”
The large man, Deacon, had wanted to see Ivan’s face, and so
Opal had no choice but to release him from the small prison and place
him in chains instead.
He almost wished it was a real chain instead of a pink crystal
necklace. Even though it was small and light, he was unable to move
it, lift it, or cause any other sort of change in it. Opal had used a spell
to bind Ivan to the crystal, and then she hung the necklace from a thin
branch on one of the trees. He’d been forced to stand there and watch
their strange show ever since.
“Why are you doing this?” Ivan asked as Opal neatly plucked the
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necklace from off the branch and walked toward the pond. Ivan had
no choice but to follow. It was almost as it an invisible leash kept him
tied to the stupid feminine crystal.
“Because the sacrifice of a medium is required, and we aren’t
exactly a common race.”
That hadn’t been what Ivan meant. “But who is all of this for?
What am I dying for?” He also wanted to ask if he would be with Eric
in the end as well, but Eric was not in the afterlife. He was trapped on
earth.
Something resembling pity entered Opal’s large eyes. She shook
her head at him. “It’s not your life that must be sacrificed. You are
already dead. We need a soul to complete the process.”
Ivan looked toward the glowing water. Deacon was washing his
face in it and splashing the water up his arms before dunking his
entire body. He was glowing, too, when he came back up.
“Who do you hope to call?”
“A god. We shall summon a god to the earth. I shall be rewarded
with enough knowledge to make me the prime medium in the whole
world, and Deacon will become the host, and in return his enemies
will be destroyed, and he shall be given back the land that is rightfully
his.
For the first time, Ivan became more enraged than he could ever
remember. “You evil cunt. Those good werewolves took you in as
their guest and you dare defile them like this?”
Opal’s face was stony. “I don’t like being called a cunt.”
She threw the necklace into the water, and like he was tied to an
anvil with a chain, Ivan was pulled in.
* * * *
Eric watched in horror as Opal threw some glittery thing into the
glowing water of the pond, and Ivan was flung in with it. He charged
faster, digging his claws deeper into the earth to propel himself along,
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and he was only able to catch a quick glimpse of the shock on Opal’s
face as he jumped far and dove into the water where he thought he
saw Ivan disappear.
Strangely enough, Deacon was in the water as well, standing in
the shallower end, but he was glowing like a nightlight. He didn’t
understand what the hell Opal had to do with Deacon or why they
were working together, but he did understand where the glow in the
water came from when he was submerged.
Spirits. Hundreds of them. It was like swimming in the river of
Styx. They swirled around in a massive cluster, almost like fish. Some
came closer to Eric to inspect him, but then darted away, down farther
into the deep end of the water where they were all gathered.
Eric swam deeper, the water, usually so crystal clear, becoming
darker and colder the farther he went. He never had a clue that this
pond was ever so deep.
He found what the spirits were all circling around, and he nearly
inhaled the water.
Ivan, there he was. His eyes were closed, and he actually had the
look of a dead spirit as he floated in the water. It almost looked as
though something was tied to his ankle, weighing him down in the
same way he was tied to that chain Opal had thrown into the water.
Several of the spirits were clutching Ivan’s body, many putting
their lips on whatever skin they could find. The sight confused him,
and then he realized what they were doing.
They were sucking on him. These ghosts were sucking on Ivan’s
spirit like he was made of candy, and thing trails of white light left his
body and entered into the mouths of the ghosts from where they were
attached to him.
They were actually sucking away his life.
Why they were doing this to Ivan’s spirit and not to Eric, who was
actually inside of a living body, he didn’t know, nor did he care. It
was dark down here, but the necklace still sparkled, and Eric’s eyes
instantly focused on it. He swam for it. A billowy cloud of dirt and
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slime puffed up from the bottom of the pond when he set his paws
down on the floor. He dipped his face, and his jaws still managed to
find the frail chain that the crystal keeping hold of Ivan was
connected to.
His eyes went wide, and he exhaled all the air from his lungs as
the pain in his mouth burned.
Silver! The fucking chain was made of silver!
Regardless of the pain, Eric wasn’t about to let the chain go. He
pushed down on the bottom of the pond floor and shot to the surface
of the water. The spirits cried out at his theft and followed. He didn’t
look back at them.
Bright light assaulted his eyes when he broke through the water’s
surface. He swam with everything he had inside of him for dry land,
running as his feet touched down on the shallow area of the pond.
He watched as Deacon lunged for him, but the shot from a gun,
the bullet punching in the water between them, stopped Deacon in his
tracks, allowing Eric to get back onto dry earth and drop the necklace
out of his mouth.
Ivan was still attached to it somehow, and as Eric dragged his
body out of the water, Ivan was dragged along with him. He was still
unconscious and way too dead-looking for Eric’s comfort. At least
those other spirits weren’t sucking the life—if that was the proper
description for it—out of him anymore.
Eli was in human form now, and he dropped in front of Eric and
took him by the muzzle.
“Your mouth—”
He didn’t even want to get on that subject. He could already see
the blood on Eli’s hands from where he touched Eric’s muzzle. At
least he’d kept his tongue safe, so he would still be able to speak.
He shifted back into human form. His lips felt cut up and were in
the beginning stages swelling.
Eli had to force himself to look away from him and down at what
Eric had brought to the surface. “What is that?”
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Eric looked down at Ivan. “Hopefully, Ivan’s soul,” he said,
picking up the other man and holding him tightly in his arms.
He was aware the other alphas were staring at him like he was
nuts. Hell, to them it probably looked like Eric had just curled up and
was crooking his arms out with nothing in them.
Everything would make sense and be okay again once Ivan’s soul
came back into his rightful body. That crystal be damned, Eric was
the real thing tying Ivan to this world.
“Come on, baby. I know you can hear me. Come back to me.
Come back.”
For the first minute, there was no response, and then Ivan twitched
in Eric’s arms. He moaned and weakly opened his eyes.
Those red orbs were blurry as shit. He squinted up at Eric’s face.
“Oh, damn,” he muttered.
Eric laughed.
“What? What is it?” Eli demanded, looking down into Eric’s arms
and squinting, trying to force himself to see what he could not see.
“Nothing,” Eric said, making a fist and bringing it down hard on
the pink crystal. He ignored the burning in his hand when he
inadvertently touched the silver chain, but he took great satisfaction in
the pink glass shattering.
Eric opened himself up both mentally and spiritually, allowing
Ivan the ability to enter back into his body now that he was free of the
chain that had bound him.
Ivan disappeared, vanishing inside of the body that Eric was
hosting. He felt a slight twitch inside of himself when Ivan attempted
to take over the driver’s seat, as well as the confusion that followed
on the heels of it when Eric refused to budge.
“Can’t let you take over just yet,” Eric told him inside of his head.
“Still daylight outside, and I’m thinking the only reason why this body
isn’t burning up is because I’m controlling it.”
He could sense the way Ivan seemed to shrivel up in fear. Being
outside of his body for so long must have thrown off his senses.
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Otherwise he would’ve noticed right away the fact that the sun was
still up.
“Oh,” was his only reply.
“He’s inside me, now,” Eric said. “He’s safe.”
A loud shriek disrupted their quiet reunion. Deacon had rushed
out of the pool of water, and he’d grabbed Opal around the waist
during the confusion. He was dragging her toward the deep end of the
water.
He looked to the sky and began calling out, “Mighty gods! Hear
me! I offer you the soul of this medium as your new sacrifice!”
Opal shrieked long and loud before Deacon dumped her under the
water and held her head down.
“Shouldn’t we do something to stop this?” Isaac asked.
“Let him kill the bitch,” Eric snarled, recalling the way Opal had
tried to light Ivan’s body on fire.
“What if he summons something we don’t want to deal with?” Eli
asked.
Deacon was no spiritual man, so he kind of doubted that his
sacrifice would mean shit to the gods.
But then as Opal’s thrashing became more and weak, the water
seemed to glow even brighter, coming almost alive.
Then it did come alive. Those same spirits who had been picking
at Ivan’s soul were now closer to the surface of the water. Because
that was where Opal’s body was? Hard to tell considering Eric didn’t
know shit about any of this.
“Something’s coming,” Ivan said inside of their now-shared mind.
“What?”
“He’s summoned something! Something is here!”
Deacon was laughing hysterically now. He looked like one of the
insane villains not seen outside of old cartoons and B horror movies.
“Yes! Yes! That’s it! I call to the spirits of Romulus and Remus!
Take me as your vessel! Punish my enemies for their thefts!”
Deacon pointed a finger at James as he said this, and that seemed
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to be the cue everyone was waiting for. As one, the pack seemed to
come to the general decision that this could not go on, especially
when Deacon was planning on attacking their leader.
Everyone rushed into the water to charge him. The water pulled
up from the pond and pushed them all away. It was like a giant hand
had slapped the pond, creating a wave that couldn’t be broken
through.
Eric coughed water out of his lungs.
“Eric! Are you all right?” Ivan asked from the inside of his head.
Eric felt Ivan’s worry covering him like a blanket.
“Peachy,” he said. He wouldn’t bother pointing out to Ivan that
since he was still in his body, any injury or discomfort he felt was
being heaped upon Ivan.
Ivan had had enough to deal with without having that slapped onto
his plate. Eric was going to have to be more careful the next time he
tried blindly charging into battle.
The rest of the alphas all had the same problem with choking on
the water they’d just inhaled, and when that was finished and
everyone looked up at the mess they were going to have to deal with,
nobody breathed.
Eric couldn’t decide if Deacon was standing on the water’s
surface, or if he was standing on the backs of the hundreds of spirits
who were still just beneath the surface. Either way, it was fucking
creepy. Opal was dead at his feet, but she was floating face down in
the water, drowned, and being gently tugged to and fro by the spirits
who were not lifting Deacon above the water. Kind of like the way
some children used sticks to play with dead frogs still floating in
ponds and streams. It seemed that, since she was now dead, the body
was useless for them to even attempt to take possession of.
“I am never going near that water again,” Ivan said.
Eric silently agreed.
“Jesus Christ! I used to swim in that water!” Isaac said, his
horrified tone mirroring what Eric and Ivan had just thought, and Eric
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knew that the rest of his pack could also see the hundreds of dead
spirits floating around in the water.
The strangest sight was Deacon himself. The man was glowing a
light-blue color. He reminded Eric of one of the night-lights he and
Eli had once had in their shared bedroom when they were just pups.
His back was hunched, and Eric could hardly blame him
considering the weight in muscle he was likely now carrying.
Deacon’s body had doubled its muscle weight. At least. His shoulders
were massive. He was the poster boy for steroids. Everything on him
was built and tight. The already-tight T-shirt he’d been wearing was
now shredded around his shoulders.
He lifted his face and stood straight, and holy hell, even his
features were different. Similar, but still different. His cheekbones
almost appeared a little higher, his brows were definitely heavier, and
his hair was longer, touching his shoulders now. His eyes glowed red,
but it wasn’t the same red that was found in vampires’ eyes. No. This
was something else entirely.
That something was realized when it twitched behind him, and
Eric noticed the tail. A long wolf tail, gray and shaggy, was behind
Deacon’s body. It was attached to him, as though being in the in
between of a transformation was supposed to be normal.
Deacon chuckled, more of that evil scientist kind of thing. He
clenched and unclenched his massive fists. The tips of his fingers
were black, and his nails were now pointed in thick, arching claws.
When he smiled, his fangs were revealed.
He stepped forward on the water then looked down at his hands.
His grin widened, and he glared up at James.
“I have been chosen!” he shouted. “I had to kill the sister of my
mate to do it, but Romulus and Remus chose me!”
More of that shaggy gray hair sprouted along Deacon’s skin, and
if anything, he seemed to get even bigger.
“Eric, is this normal for a werewolf?” Ivan asked.
“No, baby, it’s not.”
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“I’m gonna kill you now, James. Nice and slow. Then I will claim
your pack as my own, and then I’m going to take Tristan as my own.”
“Why would he want Tristan?” Ivan asked.
Right, he didn’t know that story.
Isaac stepped forward and pointed the barrel of his Glock at
Deacon’s face, and then he fired.
The bang was loud. Eric didn’t expect it to be for some reason.
Maybe it was because he was so close to the gunfire.
He wasn’t the only one to grab at his ears to shield them, however.
Pretty much the whole group of alphas yelled in pain and clutched at
their ears.
No one could give Isaac shit for it, considering Deacon was
threatening his mate.
Deacon’s head was thrown back as though he’d been punched in
the forehead. Or a metal bullet had made impact at over a thousand
meters per second.
“You got him!” Mick hooted.
For a split second, Eric nearly let his guard down with the
happiness he felt, too, but then Deacon straightened, his black grin
never leaving his face.
A couple of drops of blood trailed down his face from the long
scratch travelling on the left side of his forehead, but other than that
there was no sign he’d even been shot.
“That’s impossible,” Isaac said. “That was a silver bullet.”
Christ. If silver bullets couldn’t be counted on to kill him, then
what could? The bullet hadn’t even penetrated his skull. It just struck
him, cutting the skin and then changing trajectory.
Eric could make jokes about having a hard head, but that would be
way too much.
“You cannot kill me,” Deacon said, stepping forward, slowly
walking toward the edge of the pond.
As one, Eric and the rest of the alphas took a hesitant step back.
“I will kill all of you and take your omegas. I will make a new
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pack. I am a god!”
James stepped forward. “I’ll fight you to the death first!” he
snarled, his scarred face twisting in a rage.
“He’ll die!” Ivan yelled.
Eric knew this, and so did the other alphas, but it was the leader’s
duty to accept all challenges to his position. James had no choice but
to fight.
“Eric?” Ivan asked when he did not respond.
If Deacon really was possessed by Romulus or Remus or both,
then Eric needed to find a way to help his alpha and get Ivan back to
safety, all without giving up possession of this body or running away.
There was nothing he could think of doing that would allow him
to stay and fight and keep Ivan from being hurt.
“Eric?” It was Eli who spoke this time.
Eric looked into his brother’s eyes, and he didn’t like the
understanding and pain he saw there. It was humiliating and did not
bode well for what his brother was about to say.
“You’re sharing your mate’s body. You need to get out of here.
You can’t fight without getting him hurt.”
Everything screamed inside of Eric for him to stay, but this body
did not belong to him. He could get Ivan killed if he stayed.
“Don’t leave!” Ivan yelled.
“He’s right,” said Mick. “You did what you were supposed to do.
Now you need to go. Warn the others about what’s coming so they
can get ready in case we lose.”
“Tristan especially,” Isaac said, still pointing his Glock at
Deacon’s smiling face. “When you get back and start running, you
make sure to take him with you.”
“I will hunt him down eventually,” Deacon taunted, touching his
fingers to his lips. “I’ve already tasted his skin and his blood. He
bears my mark. I will find him.”
“Shut up!” Isaac yelled, firing off another shot. This one landed
smack dab in the middle of Deacon’s chest.
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He stumbled back a bit, but did not fall over and die. The bullet
did burn him though, as was proven when Deacon hissed and reached
for the small red hole that had been punched into his chest.
A tiny wisp of smoke curled out from the wound because of the
silver, and Deacon clenched his teeth as he dug his long fingernails
into the wound and pulled out the silver bullet. He flicked it into the
water and glared at Isaac.
“Never mind James. You will be the first to die,” Deacon said,
advancing angrily on Isaac.
In sheer desperation, Isaac emptied his entire clip on Deacon. He
reloaded and did it again, and yet Deacon still came forward, barely a
hiccup in his stride as he advanced.
When Isaac was done with bullets, he pulled his knife from out of
his boot and got into a fighting position.
Eric saw the rest happening in slow motion. Mick, James, and Eli
all started to charge at Deacon in an attempt to keep him away from
their friend.
Another blast of water from the pond shot them into the air and
pushed them back, soaking everyone.
“You told me that werewolves worship Romulus and Remus. Why
would they let him do this?”
Isaac was visibly shaking now, forcing himself to take shallow
breaths as Deacon came up to him.
“I don’t know,” Eric said out loud.
His feet were practically glued to the ground. He wanted to be one
of the alphas who went on the offence, who prevented Deacon from
killing one of his good friends, but not at the cost of killing Ivan. He
could not fight while he was in this body.
Isaac lunged with the knife, but Deacon easily dodged it, grabbed
Isaac’s hand, and then promptly broke it.
Isaac screamed as he dropped the knife, and Deacon’s hand shot
out and gripped him by the neck, lifting him into the air.
“You must fight this! You must!”
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Before Eric could tell him once more that he could not, before he
could even turn his back and race back to the pack as he’d said he
would, Ivan pulled himself out of his body, his spirit flying toward
Deacon.
“No!” Eric shrieked as he watched the incorporeal form of his
lover vanish inside of Deacon’s body.
Deacon promptly dropped Isaac, and the human landed on his
back in the sand, rocks, and patched grass.
Deacon reared up and roared, every vein in his body popping out,
his eyes nearly bursting from their sockets, and his muscles clenched
and tight.
He reminded Eric of the stiff form of a man being electrocuted.
Then he fell to his hands and knees. His head was bent down as he
gasped for air, the glow of his body vanished, and trails of steam rose
up out of his back.
Eric rushed forward and grabbed hold of Isaac’s arms, pulling the
man to safety since the hunter was too stunned by the turn of events to
do anything other than stare. The idiot.
Deacon looked up at them as they retreated. James and the others
came forward to inspect the damage done to Deacon’s body.
His eyes were most certainly no longer red. Did that mean that
Romulus and Remus had left Deacon’s body? Eric was more
concerned with where Ivan had gone.
“What have you—?”
As though that had been signal the spirits waited for, every
glowing spectre rose out from the water and latched themselves onto
Deacon’s body. He saw them and made the attempt to swipe them
away from him like flies.
But they were not flies, and they would not be put off. They
grabbed at his arms and legs, putting their lips onto him the same way
they had done to Ivan when he was beneath the water. Several of
them attempted to enter his body, others being pushed out where the
few other spirits succeeded.
The Spirit Within
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The body could only contain so many spirits at once, Eric had
learned.
One of the spirits to be pushed out was Ivan. When he landed on
the ground, he appeared pale, even for a ghost, his body trembling
with the effort of what he’d just done
“Ivan!” Eric ran to him and pulled him up and into his arms. He
immediately relaxed his consciousness and allowed Ivan to reenter his
body.
He felt the way Ivan glowed with comfort and warmth now that
the spirit was back where it belonged. It felt good.
“What did you do to him?” Eric asked.
He felt Ivan’s giddy pleasure ripple through their shared body as
he replied. “I convinced the spirits possessing him that he was not
what he seemed. They already did not like him for not being a medium
and for calling them as rudely as he did.”
“What?” Eric asked.
“They were only in his body because of the spell. They did not
much wish to be there either. I entered the body and others followed.
It was too much, and now the spirits are being pushed out.”
“What’s happening to him?” Eli asked, having not been privy to
the conversation Eric had just had with Ivan.
He grinned at his brother and told him and the rest of the pack
what Ivan had just said.
The ancient ghosts of Romulus and Remus had not wished to
enter into Deacon’s body, but they had no choice because of the spell.
Ivan had helped to free them, and now Deacon was under attack by
the many other ghosts still crawling around the pond.
They were all vying for the top spot. Ownership of the body
before it died.
“Jesus,” James muttered as they all watched Deacon flail around
in the water. His eyes were bright with panic as he was pulled to and
fro by the many glowing spirits. It was like watching a group of
hungry wild animals attacking and devouring a piece of meat tossed
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to them.
Eric wondered which of them had been Romulus and Remus. Or
perhaps they were too important to be seen, or had already left. Some
of the spirits were certainly older-looking, judging by their clothing
rather than their faces, but none were in any Roman attire that Eric
could see.
Not that he had a good idea of what Roman clothing actually
looked like.
“Help me!” Deacon shrieked, falling backward into the water,
kicking and punching at himself when the spirits entered him, trying
to claw them out, and at the ones still fighting to get inside of him.
Somehow, in all that mess, Deacon’s eyes still found Eric’s, but
he got the feeling that his next cry was directed at Ivan. “Get them off
me! Help me!”
He felt the way Ivan curled up and looked away on the inside. If
he’d been able to, he would’ve put his arms around the other man,
knowing what he was thinking of as Deacon was attacked.
Ivan was thinking of the many times he’d been in such a position,
fighting for his life against the ghosts that wanted possession of his
body. Only Ivan had never had to fight off so many of them at one
time.
Eric couldn’t believe he’d almost allowed himself to leave Ivan by
himself.
Deacon had opened the door when he tried to force two spirits
who were very nearly gods inside of his body. Now he couldn’t get
them out or make them stop without the powers of a medium.
He was completely on his own.
This time there was no discussion amongst the pack over whether
or not they should help him. Everyone stood where they were,
watching in sick fascination as Deacon was overpowered.
Many spirits gave up the fight, too weak to continue, and they
ghosted away, shoulders slumped in defeat. Others fought on, battling
over Deacon’s body until the water he kicked up around him turned
The Spirit Within
113
red with his blood from where he punched and scratched himself too
hard.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Deacon reared up, his
back arching out of the water, and he released the loudest scream Eric
had ever heard. He had to cover his ears against it. It could have
shattered glass.
Then he fell back in the water, limp as the dead.
The entire pack of alphas seemed to sigh in relief that it was over.
Everything seemed so much quieter after that, and it was eery. James
waded his way into the now-still water to collect the body.
Then Deacon bolted upright, scaring the living shit out of every
single man waiting on the sidelines.
James looked like the only alpha who hadn’t jumped back. No, he
crouched down to get a better look at the man who was comfortably
sitting in the water, leaning on his hands and looking up at James
curiously.
When he spoke, an old, heavy accent that Eric couldn’t place left
his mouth.
It was something akin to ye old English, Scottish, and something
else Eric couldn’t recognize.
“Ach, now who in the whoring hell might you be lookin’ at, lad?”
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Chapter Eleven
Ivan was happy to be back in his own body again. Though he
trusted Eric, and for the sake of the other alphas and Eric’s brother he
would still be willing to share on occasion, he still couldn’t get over
the strange unnatural feeling that came with giving up control of his
limbs, of letting someone else pilot his body.
It made him shiver when Eric finally stepped out and gave control
back to Ivan, though not until they’d made it back to the cottages, and
not until Eli was able to share a few tearful moments with his brother.
Though he was inside of his body and had no choice in the matter,
Ivan felt incredibly like an intruder as he watched Eric and Eli hug
each other, both of them with tears in their eyes.
There was no way Ivan could keep himself from giving control of
his body to Eric at least once in a while after witnessing such an
event. It would seem too cruel of him.
Then the brothers and the rest of the alphas finally said their good-
byes to their friend, and Eric stepped aside and gave Ivan control once
more.
“I’ll meet you in our room later tonight,” Eric had said as he
ghosted through the now-forlorn-looking crowd of alphas.
It was Ivan’s turn to be smothered with hugs from his younger
brother, who had been forced to stay behind when Ivan’s soul had
been snatched away by Opal.
Vlad’s fangs were out and quite long as he snarled over the
revenge he wanted but could never have. “That fucking bitch is lucky
Deacon killed her or else I would’ve found her and stripped the skin
from her fucking bones!”
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115
Ivan was taken aback by the language, and Vlad blushed once he
realized what he’d said. Then they both laughed.
Questions about Opal’s possible motives followed, and Ivan then
had to explain what he knew of the situation, which was not much.
He told them that Opal had forced Ivan to bite on her wrist, which
only meant one thing. She clearly wished to become a vampire. All
else, he could not say.
Vlad had snorted at the ridiculous notion that one could become a
vampire from a single bite. Ivan agreed with his disdain
wholeheartedly.
However it was that the two were connected—Deacon had
shouted something about her being the sister of his mate—the pack
seemed to have other things on their minds. Like what to do with the
new arrival, Blasius.
That was how the man introduced himself, though he could give
no surname, nor clan membership, nothing. He was the spirit who had
won the right to Deacon’s body, and though he seemed friendly
enough for a loud, foreign, dead warrior, the pack was still wary of
him.
Tristan especially. The poor omega had jumped when he first
caught sight of Blasius and had to be taken into the arms of his mate
Isaac and explained to gently that the person he saw was not the
person he thought him to be.
Tristan still could not make himself calm enough to stay for very
long in the same vicinity as Blasius, but the warrior didn’t seem to
mind. He was more interested in examining every television and radio
he saw, once even attempting to break one open to free the poor
bespelled souls within.
He was clearly not from this era.
Ivan had requested permission from James to return to his cabin.
Though he’d done little else but rest these last few days, he felt
increasingly tired after his ordeal.
James gave him the go ahead to leave for his cabin, and the bed in
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his bedchamber, and Eric, who would be waiting for him.
The strange thing Ivan did not quite understand was the respectful
way in which the pack alphas all seemed to part for him as he passed,
nodding to him as he did.
What had changed? Perhaps because they now had proof that Ivan
was a medium and not the crazed individual they had thought him to
be? Because he had brought them a few precious moments with their
fallen brother?
Regardless of what it had been, Ivan was grateful he was no
longer being looked upon with suspicion and pity.
“We’ll talk tomorrow night,” Vlad had said to him after one last
hug.
“Tell Eric…I’m glad we got to see each other,” Eli said, putting
his hand on Ivan’s shoulder just as he reached the door.
Ivan took pity on the poor man and smiled at him. “You will see
him many more times as well. I promise.”
Eli’s eyes shone brightly with moisture, and Ivan finally exited the
cabin they had all gathered in before the poor alpha would unman
himself.
He walked straight back to his own cabin, the cool night air
soothing on his skin after his body had spent so much time out in the
sun—he never wanted to do that again! He grinned at the sight of
Eric, sitting on top of the roof, gloriously naked, and watching the
stars shining particularly bright against the black sky.
“What are you doing?” he asked, standing below him.
Eric looked down at him and returned the smile. “Waiting for
you.”
Eric allowed himself to ghost through the roof, and now he was
inside the house.
Eagerly, Ivan opened the door and went inside. Any other man,
medium or otherwise, would be too frightened to enter their home
during the night if they knew that a spirit was inside.
Ivan could hardly wait to get in.
The Spirit Within
117
There was nothing amiss with his night vision, but he preferred
having the lights on anyway. The kitchen was empty, and so he
walked down the small hallway to his bedchamber.
He’d hoped to see Eric lying on their bed, legs spread and waiting
for him with that wicked smile on his face that he usually had
whenever he was searching for sex.
Now, he simply stood in front of the doorway, hands clasped in
front of him. He never looked more like a frightened puppy in Ivan’s
eyes.
Though he was pretty certain that they would be getting no
disturbances, Ivan shut the door behind him. “What is the matter?”
His heart hammered. If Eric used this as an excuse to try and leave
him once more, Ivan would simply die. Eric had held his brother for
an awfully long time before Eric had exited Ivan’s body.
Eric wet his lips, and for Ivan, his worst fears were being realized.
It made him angry. “You would try to leave? Again? After all that
we have been through?”
Surprise coated Eric’s features. “What? No! I’m not leaving.”
“Then what is all of this?” Ivan demanded. “You stand before me
as though you are about to make a confession. To what purpose?”
“Baby.” Eric stepped forth and put his hands on Ivan’s shoulders.
The warmth of his hands on Ivan’s skin, and the emotion he saw
shining in Eric’s eyes, was enough to make him calm.
“I was going to say that I was sorry I was ever trying to go. Do
you know what I told the others when I was inside your body? When I
had to get them to come with me to save you?”
“How could I possibly know what you told them?”
Eric rolled his eyes before looking at Ivan again. He seemed torn
between grinning at him and allowing his body to tremble with fear.
Fear or what?
“I told them…” Eric wet his lips again. It made Ivan wish to kiss
him. “I told them that you were my mate.”
Such a confession stalled any and all lustful thoughts Ivan may
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have been harboring.
“You know what that means, right?”
Ivan nodded stupidly. “Did you mean it?”
“Of course I meant it. I didn’t even really know about it until I
said it.”
There were all sorts of things this could mean for them. It could
be the very reason why Eric had unexpectedly arrived in Ivan’s
bedchamber that night they first met. The night Eric had been
murdered. Also the reason why the alphas in the other cottage were
suddenly so respectful of him.
“I’m your mate,” Eric said. “If you still want me.”
Dear God, not this again. “Of course I want you. I want no other
but you, and when I grow old and eventually die, I want you to be the
spirit mine joins with.”
Eric inhaled a deep breath, then wiped at his face. “Christ, can
ghosts cry? I think I might.”
Ivan took him by the face and kissed him. Eric’s large hands slid
down and around his bare waist. After Eric had been in control of
Ivan’s body, and somehow, miraculously, transformed into the wolf,
Ivan had had no clothing to wear when he returned to the cottages
until someone fetched him a pair of long shorts.
They were loose on him, as were most of the borrowed garments
he wore, but suddenly they were much too tight as Eric dipped his
fingers beneath the waistband and pulled them down his hips. The
shorts were so big on him that Eric had no need to undo the button or
pull down the zipper.
Ivan moaned as Eric pulled them together, their cocks rubbing
together, and Eric shivered and groaned in that way he did whenever
he and Ivan were being intimate.
It made him feel alive, he’d once said.
One day, when Ivan was comfortable with being the spirit outside
of his body, he was going to have to make love to Eric like that. He
wanted to feel the same things Eric was feeling. Were the sensations
The Spirit Within
119
he felt more powerful? Sharper?
One day, he told himself. Not now.
Eric pressed Ivan against the wall, easily lifting his smaller body
into the air and grinding their pricks together. Eric breathed like he
was running a marathon into his ear.
“Oh fuck. You feel so fucking good,” he moaned, pressing his lips
down onto Ivan’s neck and sucking on just the place Ivan liked best.
He arched and sighed when Eric began playing with his nipples,
and he humped hard against Eric’s rocking hips, desperate for more of
that friction.
Eric continued to moan and mutter nonsense into Ivan’s ear, but
eventually his words became more meaningful.
“So scared. So fucking scared when she took you away,” he said,
still thrusting against Ivan’s weeping prick.
Ivan continued to thread his fingers through Eric’s hair, gripping
his shoulders, petting him until he calmed himself.
Then he pressed his lips to Eric’s ear. “I love you.”
Eric pulled back to look at him. Ivan had never seen Eric so
happy. Their mouths came together in another long, glorious kiss.
Ivan wondered if Eric was aware of just how soft his lips were.
They were like pillows, and Ivan loved pressing his lips against them.
He loved it even more when Eric opened his mouth to slide his tongue
along the crease of Ivan’s lips, a silent command for him to open to
him.
He did.
Ivan wasn’t exactly in the mood for being fucked hard and rough
against the wall, so he wiggled until Eric put him back onto the floor.
Still holding onto the other man, he was comforted by Eric’s solid
form beneath his hands, proof that, spirit or not, he was not going to
disappear on Ivan ever again.
Ivan led them over to the bed. “I want us to take our time with
this. Fuck me slow all night.”
Eric laid his body over top of Ivan’s, hooked his arm beneath
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Ivan’s knee, lifting his leg, and did just that.
THE END
WWW.MARCYJACKS.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marcy Jacks lives and works in Ontario, Canada, where she is
fervently pursuing the writer’s life while writing about lots of
gorgeous guys. She loves hearing from readers, and you can reach her
at authormarcyjacks@gmail.com.
For all titles by Marcy Jacks, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/marcy-jacks
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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