Page 13 of Spelled By Truth and Tresses

My lips parted as his thumb skated across my full lower lip, the contrast of his rough skin on mine akin to licking an exposed wire.

He pulled back, his eyes widening with shock, as much as mine were. “Come on, siren,” he growled, and turned, shaking his head. He pressed his palms together, then twisted them before pressing them against the door. A jagged crack spread vertically where his hands connected with the marred oak a moment before an ear shattering squeak of wood against wood rented the air. I threw my hands over my ears as the door fell into two halves. Unholy shit.

I squinted into the depths of the tower, but barely any light penetrated its interior. With a groan, my feet practically dragged to slow my pace as my eye twitched with unease. Nothing good can come from entering this place.

However, I followed him through the door, heedless of my instincts to flee, and sneezed as the dusty air reached my nose.

“I’ve been here before.” Jax and I both snapped our fingers. Small flames appeared on our fingertips. Deep blue and violet light finally chased away a bit of my niggling worry. “I mean asides from in my dreams,” I admitted, pacing around the circular room, and running my fingers along the countless doors, curiously absent of handles or knobs, built into the stone walls. The inside of the tower was much bigger than it appeared from the outside, some unknown magic expanding the original space. Power radiated into my fingertips through each sealed door.

I hissed, then hinged at the waist and clutched my head as screeching pain burned through me. I clamped my eyes shut and let out a short scream.

Jax rushed to my side and scooped me into his arms. “Fuck. I hoped the power in this space would affect you, but not this drastically.”

“I think I came here when I was a kid to escape my mother, but I can’t be sure,” I whimpered through panting breaths. My skull felt like it was moments from cracking. “It feels like there are foggy memories struggling to break free of my subconscious,” I moaned, then buried my face in his chest.

My body jostled as he strode toward the exit. “This was a mistake. We?—”

“No!” I interrupted him. “Please, show me why you brought me here. It’s okay, the pain is lessening already.” It was, the longer he held me, the quicker it receded.

Jax’s nostrils flared as he huffed. My fingers scraped over his dark stubble, as I smoothed them over the vein ticking in his jaw. “Please?”

He swallowed audibly, then nodded and moved to the massive, rust speckled circular staircase to the right of the door.

“You can put me down now.”

He snorted. “No.”

I looked up as he placed his boot on the bottom step, then hid my smile against his tattooed neck and let it go. There was an endless expanse of stairs above us. If Jax wanted to carry me the whole way, I wouldn’t stop him.

The metal groaned under his weight as we ascended. He looked at his boots as he climbed, dodging holes and gaps where the stairs rotted through entirely as he went.

I ran my hand down the wall splattered with blood turned brown with age each time we circled close enough.

“Something truly dark happened here.” He told me.

The tragic energy sunk beneath my skin and crawled into my bones. I shivered, then wrapped my arms around myself. Jax tightened his arms around me.

The floor far above us creaked. My body tensed, then my head flew back. Splits and gouges scarred the surface of the thick wooden beams supporting the stone floor of the next level.

Finally, we emerged on a landing.

I gasped, then clung to Jax’s neck as he adjusted me, one of my ass cheeks now firmly filling his hands, then slid my body down his. My boots thumped against the intricate metal beneath us, each piece woven together intricately like the web of a spider. Normally it would be a struggle not to notice every plain of muscle as our bodies connected, but the lure of the solitary black maple door drew me to it. Tendrils of magic wrapped around my limbs and tugged gently. I glided over, my eyes inspecting every inch. Like the others, there was no knob.

“How do we get in?”

“Like this.”

Jax brushed past me, his body rapidly turning transparent, then disappeared through the wood.

CHAPTER 6

The metal hinges squeaked, then the door opened wide. My jaw went slack as I took in Jax as he stood on the other side, his body shifted from translucent to solid before my eyes.

He reached for me and my feet moved of their own accord. I jumped. The door slammed the moment I crossed the threshold.

From one blink to the next, Jax invaded my personal space. A soft smile transformed his usual harsh features into something irresistible as he taped his fingertips beneath my chin and I instantly closed my mouth.

“Come, pet.”

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