Wicked Bad: WIcked³, Book 2

  Dedication

  For Cookie—Love is the Reason. To my divas and Smutketeers, Eden Bradley, Crystal Jordan and Lilli Feisty. To Beth, who inspires me and keeps me on course. Thank you.

  Chapter One

  “She’s a royal bitch. Walking around with her nose in the air like she couldn’t be bothered with Triune. Like the men should come to her. Because she’s the special one, right? The Abbott heiress, most powerful Magian in generations, watch her pull a rabbit out of her skinny ass.”

  Harrison rolled her eyes at the snide chuckles she heard as soon as she opened the door to the ladies room. Just what she needed. Jealous witches. No safe haven here. She spun on her heels and walked further down the narrow hallway, looking for someplace she could be alone. If only for a moment.

  Her first Triune, first taste of the club where Magians gathered a few times a year, drawn to meet their perfect magical compliments, to be matched with their triad and begin a life together. For Harrison, it was just another place for her to stick out like a sore thumb. Where the gossip inevitably turned to her.

  Their words no longer had the power to hurt her. She’d spent her life being fawned over in public, and mocked and ridiculed when they thought she couldn’t hear. Besides, they were half right. She had no desire to be at Triune. No desire to become a trophy wife to two Magian peacocks. She already had three brothers and two fathers to boss her around, to keep her from having a life of her own.

  The Abbott heiress. What a joke.

  Tonight it was her cousin Conway that had been given babysitting duty while her best friend, Callie and her two brothers, Tyghe and Tucker, tried to solve a crime. Leaving her on the sidelines again. Only this time she was in a magical meat market surrounded by Magians looking for their mates…and a reason to sin.

  She’d rather be doing laundry like a normal human.

  Human. She sighed. Callie wasn’t human. She was a witch. Harrison was still ticked that Jenner hadn’t told her from the start. Who knew the family housekeeper had so many secrets? All these years she’d let Harrison believe her friend was an average human. A girl with no powers whatsoever.

  When she and Jenner had performed the spell to glamour Callie so she could sneak into the Triune unnoticed, something else had happened instead. Harrison had discovered that her best friend was a Magian like her. It had been blocked by some powerful magic, but it was there. She’d felt it as she’d drawn the natural magic out of her and realized that Callie’s compelling powers had been suppressed.

  Rightly or wrongly, the realization had the bitter taste of betrayal. Not that she loved Callie any less, but her friend had always been Harrison’s only connection to normalcy. To a world where nothing was enchanted. Where everything was real. But it had all been a lie. What she still didn’t know was why.

  The hallway came to a dead end that had Harrison narrowing her eyes. The way the dim light hit the brick looked strange. Charmed. Someone had thrown up an illusion, a challenge, distracting her from her private pity party.

  Had she stumbled across the secret lair of the person responsible for the Triune attacks? Maybe she could catch him before Tucker and the others had a chance. Perhaps then they’d think twice about leaving her out of their adventures. Again.

  The power inside her welled up, familiar and comforting, its electric blue light caressing her fingers with warmth as she touched the brick. It wavered beneath her hand. It was a messy illusion, easy to untangle. There were no obstacles to stop her from stepping through to the other side. The Magian who made this apparently didn’t care if someone found his or her way in.

  A few seconds later and she was in a stairwell. Over her shoulder, the brick looked solid, not showing the hallway she’d just stood in. Where did these stairs lead? Where had they come from? She heard a low male groan and held her breath, instantly cloaking herself from view. It was a spell Jenner had taught her when she was very young, and it had served her well when she didn’t want to be seen.

  “Is this what you wanted, Ric? Why you’ve been distracting me all bloody night long?”

  Another male. This one sounding angry and gruff. She leaned over the railing to look down at the flight of stairs. Her heart began to race at the shockingly forbidden sight. Two male Magians. One dark and one light. One lean and lanky, and one built like a barbarian warrior. Or a rock troll. Two opposite sides of a coin.

  They were locked together, not in battle, but in an erotic embrace that stole her breath. The leaner one was bent at the waist, his white knuckled hands braced against the wall and his pants around his ankles showing off his muscular thighs. The other, his broad-shouldered, massive body towering over the man in front of him, was still fully clothed. Mostly. The powerful thrust of his hips made it obvious what they were doing. She swallowed her gasp.

  She knew this happened. Just because most of the males she knew in Triunes were related, cousins or brothers, didn’t mean all of them were. But she’d never thought about it one way or the other. She bit her lip. That was a lie, she’d thought about it, but she certainly hadn’t imagined the sight of two men locked in a passionate embrace would stir her so completely. She couldn’t see their faces—the stairs were too shadowed. But that didn’t stop her from leaning closer, her curiosity peaked. Her curiosity…and her arousal.

  The man on the bottom let out a chuckling groan. “Have I been distracting you, Jacob? Keeping you from finding the perfect woman? Her Highness would kill me, especially after all the—oh, yes, harder— trouble she went through to get you here.”

  The larger man leaned forward, clasping Ric’s hand on the wall, shafting his lover with long hard strokes that had Harrison shaking. Her body reacted as though she were the one being touched. Taken. She squeezed her thighs together, feeling her hard nipples poke against the fabric of her dress.

  “Shut up, Ric.”

  “Mmm. I love it when you boss me around, babe. Especially when I know I can have you on your knees anytime I choose. Know how much you love it.”

  The other man growled. “Who’s the one being fucked here?”

  “You are. You’re the one who has to give the family an heir. The one who has to find a sweet, well connected girl who will probably burst into tears once she discovers what you’re really like. Your darker urges. How bad you can be.”

  The railing pressed hard against her stomach, keeping her from falling over. This Ric, who she was having a hard time seeing clearly in the shadows, seemed to be taunting the man he called Jacob. And it was working.

  “I’ll show you darker urges.” She heard a smack as the palm of Jacob’s hand connected with the tight ass tilting up as though begging for more. “Fuck, we don’t have time for what you’re begging for. She’ll be your match, too, you know. Why are you trying to piss me off?”

  Harrison heard their words, loving the gravelly voice of the rough man arguing with his lover, but her gaze was riveted to the spot where their bodies were connected. She wished she could see more. See the larger man, Jacob’s, body.

  His thoughts must have mirrored her own, because his shirt and dress pants disappeared into the air with a groaned phrase. By the holy witches, he was a masterpiece. All man. She couldn’t see his face, but his back rippled with restrained power, the cheeks of his ass flexed with every thrust…and he was marked. A tattoo covered half his back, an enraged griffin readying itself for battle. It looked familiar, but she wasn’t sure why. She couldn’t think. Could only want.

  Her lace panties were soaked, and she ached. Felt empty. Needy. Her hands slid down her body and up beneath the short hem of her black dress. One pressed between her thighs, the other between the cheeks of her ass, imagining being filled there by the man currently riding
his lover to ecstasy.

  She’d been prepared, knew she would be expected to take two men when she found her matches. The idea had always been distasteful to her independent mind, but titillating to her body.

  Trapped. Surrounded. Controlled the way she was by all the men in her life. And so she’d shied away from every opportunity to experiment with her over-willing peers. She’d never experienced the real thing. No more than fondling touches with brave boys at the dances she was allowed to go to, and her spells and daydreams. They hadn’t aroused her as utterly as these two had, and they hadn’t even touched her. What would it feel like if they did?

  The men grunted, groaning as Jacob slid his other hand around his lover’s body, taking his, from what Harrison could see, enticingly thick erection into his hand with a sure, knowing grip.

  Harrison felt her body tingling wildly as she rubbed her body in time to their rhythm. She shouldn’t be here. Should give them privacy. But she couldn’t tear herself away. She needed to come with them. Had to. They were all so close.

  “I don’t want or need anyone else, babe. No ball and chain to tie us down, holding us to her with the promise of stronger magic and a sweet lay. Neither do you. Certainly not a Magian hag no one likes. God, yes. Hell, can you imagine if that seer your family hired was right? That our match was that snooty fucking Abbott bi—oh, fuck yeah!”

  Harrison couldn’t hold back her climax as the men came below her. Her power exploded from her core, breaking through the cloaking spell, a blast of brilliant blue electricity lighting up the narrow staircase. For a moment she could feel everything. Beyond the hallway and into the club, into the private rooms and beyond. She was everywhere. In everything. Alive.

  The wave turned inward, and she moaned. She’d never felt anything like this. No climax so powerful. Her eyes opened, and her moan changed to a gasp of shock. Her energy was bright all around her. It wasn’t fading. Proof of a match.

  “What the hell?” The gruff voice brought her gaze back down over the rail. The men were shaken, their own magic glowing, twining with each other’s and reaching up for hers.

  Eyes black as moonless night clashed with gray. A flicker of recognition. Of connection.

  Jacob.

  Harrison had a flash of insight. She knew she would look back on this moment for years to come, remembering that burning gaze, and how she reacted to it.

  She ran.

  The necklace around her neck was warming, pulsing with life. Concern. Her mother’s gift. Moira Abbott made charmed jewelry, and she’d created this golden, snake-like choker specifically for her daughter’s first Triune. Harrison pulled it off, not wanting her vacationing parents to fly back in a rush if they sensed her panic. She raced down the hallway and around the corner, pushing through the throng toward the front exit of the club.

  “Harrison, damn it, there you are. Tyghe’ll kill me for letting you out of my… Holy shit, you’re glowing.”

  She grabbed Conway’s arm and felt his protective shield instantly surround her. She used her own cloaking magic on them both, hiding them from the crowded dance club. They could see each other, but no one could see them. “Con, you have to help me. Where are they? I need to get my brothers and Callie and get the hell out of here. Now.”

  Her handsome cousin shook his shaggy blond head, looking more like a grunge rocker than the Magian professor he was. “No can do, Harry. Didn’t you hear? They caught the person whose been attacking Magian compellers. It was a woman, a Proxenos no less. Right here under everyone’s nose. And she almost hurt our little Callie. Luckily Tucker, Tyghe, and apparently our very own Jenner were on hand to save the day. Did you know she was a morph?”

  No. She hadn’t known. And her best friend had been in danger because of her hair-brained idea, and she’d missed it. They’d all left her behind. She knew she was being petty, but it had been her sting, damn it. And it was their fault she’d fallen into this latest calamity. Matched to a triad, unsure of what their magic was but knowing it was strong, nearly as strong as her own. Especially Jacob. And the power pulsing through her from the connection that hadn’t yet broken was aggressive. Pissed off and hungry for more.

  She had to get away. “It should be easy for us to get out of here then. Where are they?”

  Conway blushed as they reached the cloakroom. “Upstairs, celebrating their successful matching.”

  She should have known from the way her brothers were acting. From Callie’s strange behavior. She’d known about her friend’s crush on Tucker, but the way she’d been whenever Tyghe’s name was mentioned this last week was, well, telling. They were her Triune. Shit. Had Jenner known that too? Was Harrison the only one who’d been in the dark all this time?

  She couldn’t think about this now. She had to get out of here before those two on the stairwell sniffed her out. Had to stop them from dragging her off to the Proxenos to be officially claimed.

  “Con, I’m calling in all my chips. You have to do me a favor. A big one.”

  Conway didn’t hesitate. “Let’s go. You can tell me on the way.”

  A few hours later, after climbing up the trellis to her bedroom to change her clothes and grab a few necessities, she had one last thing to do.

  Conway was pacing at the edge of her bed. “I can’t believe you’re really going through with this, Harry. They’ll be worried sick. Is this about those men you were telling me about? The reason you were glowing like you’d just found your magical Prince Charmings? Or something else?”

  She opened her jewelry box and placed her necklace inside, leaving a long note on top of the closed lid for her family. “It’s everything, Con. You know it. I need this. Just a little bit of time to be myself before I give in to what everyone else expects me to be.”

  Conway nodded, a look of empathy on his roughly attractive face. “I know it. Hell, your brother Lorie and I used to talk about it. We could never decide if we envied you or—”

  “Pitied me?” Her chuckle was bitter. “The funniest part is, I’ve never understood what it is that makes me so damn special. Because I know more spells? Well that’s thanks to all my teachers who expected me to learn them. Is it because I have no specific power? I’m not a grower or a compeller, not a seer or even a protector like you. If anything, that makes me more oddball than great.”

  She shrugged, at a loss. “I love my family, but they don’t understand what it’s like. And Lorie? I envy him. He lives the way he wants, without any expectations. He gets to be a dreamer with his nose eternally in some dusty book. I never had that luxury.”

  Her cousin grimaced. “That’s a double-edged sword, Harrison. Out of all of you, Lorie needs the biggest kick in the pants. Waiting for him to wake up so we can find our match is wearing on my patience. He hasn’t returned any of my phone calls in a month. If it didn’t happen on a regular basis, whenever he got lost in his library research, I’d be worried. He’d miss his entire life if given the chance. And our mate could have decided to give up by now.”

  The worry on her cousin’s face required a much longer conversation than she had time for. She knew Conway was frustrated. Of course he was. He and Lorie were two thirds of a triad that might never be found. Not unless the perfect woman slipped between the pages of one of Lorie’s books. “But he’d get to, Con. As much as it ticks you off, he still gets a choice. And even if it’s a temporary illusion, I want one too.”

  In her bag was everything she’d been gathering for the last year, from recipe books to classified ads. Most importantly, enough potion to last her at least six months. She’d never thought she’d have the guts to actually do it. But after her powerful reaction to those Magians at the club, how intensely she’d been drawn to them despite what they’d said about her, she knew she couldn’t allow them to find her. She wouldn’t.

  She turned to Conway. “You know what to do? And Callie’s new to being Magian, but she’s a good compeller already and—”

  He held up his hands. “I know, I know. I’ll shi
eld myself around her, and make sure I take a potion or two before she and Tucker give me the third degree. Honestly, I’m more afraid of what Jenner will do to me.”

  “Nothing,” Harrison was adamant. And very aware that the housekeeper had returned and was even now downstairs in the kitchen, able to realize they were here at any moment. “She owes me, too, and she knows it. She was a morph and didn’t tell me, she knew Callie was a Magian, and she didn’t tell me. If she wants my trust back, she’ll have to keep my brothers from calling an all out manhunt. And Callie will help them understand.”

  A part of her wanted to unpack her bags and be there for Callie when she got back. To celebrate with her and find out about everything that had happened. To tell her best friend all about her own bizarre experience. But her survival instincts had kicked in with a vengeance. This was her window of opportunity. The only chance she might get. If she was going to do this, it had to happen now. While her brothers were distracted, her parents away. While she still had the guts.

  Conway cupped her shoulders in his hands, his soft, moss green eyes compassionate. “I’ll be there for you. You have my phone number. If you’re blocked from magic all you have to do is call and I’ll move heaven and earth to get to you.”

  She smiled. He’d always been a good friend. “Yes, I have your cell. I also have a pocket full of cash, and finally a little independence…what more could any girl ask for?”

  A pair of dark, mysterious eyes sprang to mind, but she instantly pushed the image away.

  That snooty fucking Abbott bitch. Isn’t that what the other one, what Ric, had said? Her teeth clenched. They wouldn’t have to worry about her. She was taking a vacation from demanding, self-important male Magians.

  Especially ones who so obviously didn’t want her.

  Chapter Two

  Three months later…

  “Order up.”

  Harrison grumbled, limping up to the service window to pick up her table’s lunch order. Her shoes were pinching her toes. Again. “I’m exhausted. Why did I take Melissa’s shift again?”