Lifted Curse (Curse Trilogy) Read online

  He takes a deep, cleansing breath as we walk out into the hall, and I hear the thunder and lightening going crazy outside the soundproofed room.

  “It’s a stage three,” a man murmurs to us as we walk through. “It’ll be hard to pass through this storm tonight.”

  “We’ll go in the morning. We all need rest anyways,” Clay sighs. “Go find Hale. I have a lot of phone calls to make.”

  “Hale caî make them for you,” I murmur gently.

  He smiles appreciatively, and then he pats my hand.

  “We all have a part to play, Araya. You and Hale play yours well. This is my part. I’ll handle this. Just go be with Hale right now.”

  “I’ll be here if you need me.”

  “I know,” he graciously murmurs while kissing my forehead.

  He pats my arm once before heading down the hall to his room. I smile as I walk toward Gabe, and he smiles back encouragingly at me.

  “You still make things better, I see.”

  “I just know Clay well enough to know he’s strong. There’s a reason he’s the commander.”

  He smiles bigger, and then he hands me a number.

  “That’s my cell. If you need me, you call. Hale said you’d wait out the storm tonight, but he planned on leaving as soon as day breaks. In case I don’t see you again, I wanted you to know how to reach me. I’ll show up anytime, any place.”

  “Thank you, Gabe,” I say while wrapping my arms around him to offer a hug.

  He hugs me back, and then he withdraws with a smile.

  “I’m going to go climb into bed with my wife and sleep off this grueling day.”

  “I wish I had time to catch up and meet her,” I sigh.

  “You can after this is over. I know you’ll beat them. You’re too strong to let them end us, and I believe in you. I always have.”

  “Thanks,” I say while blushing.

  “I think Hale is waiting on you. He’s upstairs, second door on the right.”

  I smile again while offering a wave, and I sigh as I head up the stairs. Everything keeps piling up. There’s constantly a new curve with a brick wall popping up once we make the sharp turn. It’s a never ending game it seems.

  I almost smile when I see the door, and I use my gift to open it from the inside when I realize I don’t have a key. My breath leaves me when I see the red petals littering the floor. I look around at all the roses lining the room, and I’m in shock at the sea of red. Even the bed has rose petals scattered over it.

  “Hale?” I murmur softly while walking into the candlelit room.

  He suddenly appears from the back room with a soft smile and light eyes as he walks toward me. Ginger music plays dully in the background. His lean, sculpted body is shining beautifully under the soft glow of candles. His perfect upper body glistens from the shower he just freshly left, and his scent is intoxicating as his wet hair drizzles slightly. Those low-hanging pants are all that cover him right now, and I’m still a bloody mess.

  “What’s this?” I muse as his lips reach mine.

  “This is the first time you’ve been mine in so, so long. I wanted it to be special,” he says while his lips stroke mine.

  “You don’t like romantic stuff,” I giggle out while returning the kiss.

  “I’ve changed, baby. I may still not be overly fond of such things, but my need to make you smile is quite the addiction.”

  “I love you,” I murmur softly as his lips cover mine again.

  “I love you, Araya.”

  He smiles as he pins me against the wall, and I grumble when I realize I’m still covered in his dried blood.

  “I can’t do this right now,” I huff as I gently push him back.

  “What? Why?” he worries.

  I smile lightly as I offer him a sweet kiss, and then I murmur, “Because you’ve showered, and I’m still a wreck.”

  I motion to my blood stained fiasco of a body. He laughs lightly while pulling my hand up to meet his lips, and then he follows me to the bathroom. I’m so ridiculously girly right now even though I look like I just slaughtered a small village. The dried blood cracks around my lips when I smile too big.

  “I bought us some food, so we can eat when you get out,” he says so sweetly.

  “I wish you hadn’t showered yet. Then you could just join me,” I provocatively entice.

  He smirks devilishly, and then he shakes his head before blurring to me.

  “I need to get dinner ready, or I would. Besides, if I get in that shower right now, we’d never get out,” he says while jerking my hips to meet his already hard, ready-to-go erection.

  I grin such a foolish smile once more, and then his mimicked one matches mine as he kisses me again.

  “Hurry up,” he urges while reluctantly releasing me, and my eyes follow him as he walks over to the kitchen area to start pulling down plates.

  “When did you get so domestic?” I tease.

  “Shower,” he playfully scolds, and I laugh as I shut the door behind me.

  The warm water surges free to fall over me the moment I step in, and I wash the dried blood away to form a red pool swirling over the drain. My hair soaks under the water, and I feel the new life rushing through me as I wash away the terrible pieces of the day.

  I could have lost him. I almost did. That fucking bitch.

  “Hale!” I yell out as the tears flow from my eyes, and he’s in the room within a second.

  “What?” he panics as he jerks the shower curtain open.

  His eyes look over my body, and then he narrows his eyes suspiciously at me until my lips fall over his. My soaking wet body presses against his, and he climbs in the shower with me while still wearing his pants. I kiss him with neediness as I cling to him, and I taste the concern and confusion in his breaths.

  “Baby, what’s wrong?” he murmurs against my lips.

  “I just wanted to feel you,” I murmur softly, and he smiles behind the kiss as he pulls me closer to his body.

  “I’m here,” he coos while smiling bigger.

  Then I pull back while still holding onto him as I stare him in the eyes.

  “We need to go through her stuff,” I shiver out.

  “Gabe’s people are already doing that,” he murmurs encouragingly. “He said he’d call if they found anything of any use. It’s doubtful she carried any incriminating information on this trip though.”

  “She set this up. She told them where you’d be and what you’d be doing.”

  “I know, baby. I know. She can’t do anything else though. Just finish your shower, and then come be with me. Let’s make this night about us. We deserve this, and baby, I just… I need this more than you know. Forget all the crazy for tonight.”

  I sigh as I lean back into him, and his lips gingerly stroke mine before he climbs back out. I smirk as I watch him through the transparent curtain, and I smile when he drops his pants to the floor to grab a towel.

  His perfect body is only slightly obscured by the watery curtain, and then he disappears back out of the room. Hale. It’s always been Hale.

  I shut the water off to wrap up in a towel, and I smile when I walk out to see the shirt laid out for me. He’s not in the room right now, so I bypass his shirt as I walk into the bedroom off to the right. I rifle through my bag he must have brought in, and I find some of my savage’s lingerie.

  The sexy, red corseted top has crisscrossing laces which go all the way down the front - showing a good two inches of skin all the way down. The matching red underwear has a laced up pattern as well, and I pull on the black stockings before clipping them into place. I towel dry my hair until it’s not dripping wet, and then I throw on some touches of makeup to add some more seduction.

  I slip into some of my bright red heels before walking back out, and I see him sitting down the last of the two plates as I pick up his shirt he had laid out.

  “I’m almost done,” he says with his back turned, and I smirk as I walk on into the kitchen to stand behind him
as he pulls some napkins from the drawer.

  I wrap my arm around him to lay the shirt down, and he looks at it curiously.

  “You didn’t want to-”

  He stops short as he turns to face me, and he swallows hard when he sees how I’ve dressed for dinner.

  “Damn it,” he breathes while jerking me up, and my legs wrap around his waist as he forces me to the top of the high bar.

  I smile behind the devouring kiss before his lips move down to my neck.

  “Dinner is going to get cold,” I seductively tease.

  “Fuck it,” he exhales as his lips return to mine.

  He jerks my hips to him, and suddenly I’m lying back on the high bar as my head falls off the side. His tongue has slid down and is now daringly playing across my warmest spot as he holds the slinky underwear to the side. I feel his teeth grazing it just slightly. I’m almost hoping he’ll bite me there. Oh the erotic tingles that would follow.

  I gasp as his tongue circles, and then the ginger suckling motion begins behind his lips as he pulls me tighter to his face. I grip the barstool in front of me as the overwhelming sensations become more surreal, and it snaps in my hand which only makes his twisting motions all the more powerful as he claims me.

  The oohs and ahs grow louder as I moan out, and he grips my hips before his hands slide up to grab my breasts through the lacy fabric. He smirks as my legs start to quiver, warning him of my impending release that is sure to be epic, and then I finally scream out my ecstasy to warrant his smug look of triumph.

  He pulls me from the countertop where he has just thoroughly left me completely shaken, and his lips devour mine with even more desire as he carries me to the bedroom. He smiles against my lips as he forces me to the bed, and his lips drag across my shoulder as his blood bringers unsheathe.

  I gasp as I wait for the explosive injection of his erotic venom, and he surges into me while I’m distracted. I moan out as the divine feeling of his body melding with mine fills me, and his lips kiss his favorite spot instead of his teeth breaking the skin.

  “Do it,” I plead, and he smiles as he thrusts in deeper.

  “Not now. I just want you,” he murmurs softly while returning his lips to mine.

  I smile now, and I grip him tighter as he thrusts in harder as my legs rise up to meet his waist again. He moans as the deeper angle gives him a much better feeling, and the deeper inside me he goes, the more I want him to stay there.

  “Forever,” he murmurs into my ear.

  “Yes,” I sizzle free as he pushes into me again.

  His rhythm quickens, and his hands shred the corset to reveal my body in full. His lips devour my neck as he owns my body, and I just hold on while tilting my hips against his thrusts each time. The thrashing continues with more desire pouring from him than I thought possible in a sober state. Each bashing carries more exquisitely laced promise of another earth shattering moment, and each touch is mind-blowing.

  Gasping breaths and pleasured moans exude from us both as he holds me at my waist with one hand, and his other steadies himself on the bed. My breath leaves me momentarily as I reach the moment too surreal to even allow me to scream.

  His eyes roll back into his head when he finds the same release, and he collapses to my body with his languid, exhausted motion as he holds me to him.

  “Wow,” I gush out through my breathless gasps.

  “Very wow,” he murmurs with his own breathless tone.

  I smile and giggle lightly as he kisses me with a smile of his own, and he pulls up the shards of the lacy fabric - remnants left behind as evidence of our torrid bedroom sexcursion.

  “My savage is going to be very upset with you,” I tease.

  “Or very proud of you,” he playfully retorts, and I let another laugh escape as he stands to his feet to pull his pants back on.

  “You’re impossible,” he jokes while scooping me from the bed to stand me up.

  “I wanted you,” I murmur as my arms rise to bring my hands around the back of his neck.

  He smiles a little smugly as his lips gingerly stroke mine, and then he pulls back to walk back out to the kitchen area. I cover myself as I go back over to my bag, and he walks in holding his shirt while I dig through the sexy ensembles.

  “Oh hell no. You’re not allowed to wear anything else from your bag of tricks until after we eat the food I’m microwaving now,” he jokes, and I let out a bit of a cackle at his adamancy.

  “What’s wrong, Captain Banner? Not capable of saying no?” I tease.

  He narrows his eyes at me in mock frustration, and he wraps his shirt around me before kissing my forehead.

  “You’re not funny.”

  “On the contrary, I find myself to be quite hysterically humorous,” I mock.

  He lets a snicker free as I button up the dark red shirt, and he kisses me again while returning to the kitchen to free the plates from the microwave.

  “I’m starting to think you didn’t want to fuck me,” I say too seductively.

  He rolls his eyes while sitting down at the table, and he lets a smile free as he pats the chair beside him.

  “I did, and I still do. I just had this night planned out to be about a little more than sex.”

  Aw.

  I smile a little bashfully, and I join him at the table to dig into the delicious meal he has planned out.

  “Where did you get this?”

  “There’s a place here I ate last night when I arrived, and I thought you would love it too.”

  “It reminds me of the meal we had when we got engaged,” I murmur through another delicious mouthful.

  “I know. That was sort of the reason I thought you would enjoy it,” he says very sweetly.

  “You acted like it killed you to have to take me out that night,” I giggle out.

  “It did. I had begged you to marry me for over six months and you finally said yes. All I wanted to do stay in and hold you - amongst other things,” he murmurs with a touch of scandalous humor toward the end.

  “That was a good night. I was glad we went out because it made the build up all the better,” I seduce, and he takes a deep raspy breath as if I’m starting to get to him again.

  “I got some champagne,” he says while coughing to clear his throat, and now I’m wondering why he’s acting so mushy all the sudden.

  He pours me a glass, and I smile as I stand up while holding it. He looks at me very seriously as I lower myself to his lap while sipping on the bubbly drink, and he smirks as my lips catch his lightly.

  “Where did you get all the roses?” I ask while letting my lips trail down his cheek.

  “They have incredible artificial growing rooms here. I told Gabe why I needed them, and he was happy to oblige.”

  “I like celebrating,” I murmur while moving to straddle him as my lips continue to explore his neck.

  “I can see that,” he snickers out, and I smile against his neck as he pours more of the bubbly deliciousness into my glass.

  “I’d like to show you a little better,” I murmur softly as I start undoing the buttons on my shirt.

  “Damn. I always forget how incredible it is to be with you,” he sizzles out while pulling my lips to his as he grips my ass, and then he pulls back. “But not yet.”

  His secretive smirk intrigues me as he brushes my hair from my face. His hands slide down to rest on my waist, and then he kisses the skin revealed through the small crack I’ve made in the shirt.

  “Araya, I know you know how much I love you. I know how severely I’ve fucked up, but I’ve never for one minute not loved you.”

  “I know,” I utter while letting my lips close over his.

  “Marry me,” he murmurs softly against my lips, and I’m almost stiffened by the suddenness of his request.

  I lean back to look into the hybrid blue eyes staring fearlessly into my unguarded violet ones as he waits expectantly for my lips to move. His breaths have stopped, his lips quiver, and I’m almost shaking.
>
  “Marry me,” he utters again, and his lips cover mine as I feel something sliding onto my finger.

  I pull back to look down at the finger that holds the new gem, and tears drizzle lightly from my eyes when I see the black diamond with a sparrow etched inside.

  “Please say something, baby,” he rattles out nervously.

  “Hale… I want to say yes, but-”

  His lips cover mine to silence my doubts as he pulls me closer to him. My hands clasp around the back of his neck as I stay astride him, and then he pulls back to brush my hair out from in front of my teary eyes.

  “Then say yes. No more secrets, Araya. You know everything. I won’t ever hurt you again. I swear I’ll tell you everything. Please say yes,” he murmurs before his soft lips find mine again.

  More tears drip free, and then I tremble as I look at him again.

  “Yes,” I choke out, and he smiles salaciously as his lips capture mine with more fervency.

  He lifts me up to carry me back to the bedroom, and I cling to him as my tears invade our kiss. He can’t stop smiling, and I’m forced to mimic it to the point we can’t even kiss anymore.

  He gently places me on the bed before blowing out the fire hazards beside it, and I smile bigger as his body slides over mine.

  Yes.

  Chapter 7

  Savage Attire

  I can’t stop smiling as we pull into the Seminole compound, and Hale’s goofy grin exudes mine.

  “I want to marry you as soon as possible.”

  “Let’s plan it out a little,” I chuckle.

  “Here’s a plan. We show up at Clay’s office, and he pronounces us husband and wife.”

  I laugh at his eagerness, and then I shake my head as I lean against him.

  “Why the rush?” I muse as he climbs out of the car, and he swishes around to open the door for me.

  My still-too-sexy wardrobe draws some instant attention as the stiletto boots almost reach my knees on top of the white leather pants with the blood red shirt that wraps around my breasts and not much more.

  “Well, for one, your new wardrobe has everyone ready to steal you away from me,” he teases.

  I roll my eyes at the unwanted attention, and I lean into him a little more as his arm wraps around me.