The Gift: An Awakened Novella Read online

  I watch as Maggie slowly steps toward Declan. It’s the first time I’ve ever really seen her so unsure of herself. It’s so unlike that confident little witch. Then, I see her confidence peek through as she seems to give herself a little pep talk right before she tugs on the hem of Declan’s shirt.

  He glances down at her. “Yes, Queen Maggie?”

  “W-will you please dance with me?” she asks shyly.

  The other two girls giggle, which draws Declan’s attention to them and then back to Maggie.

  “It would be my honor.” He bows to her, and her face lights up.

  He holds out his hand to her and she places her tiny palm in his. Then he escorts her to the middle of the room. It makes me fall even more in love with him every time he interacts with my kids, especially Maggie.

  Maggie giggles as Declan picks her up and she puts her feet on top of his, and he steps around in a circle with her. She’s loving every minute, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t starting to feel a tad jealous of a five-year-old girl.

  “Queen Maggie,” Declan says, pulling her attention from their feet up to his face.

  “Yes, Prince Declan?”

  “May I please have a dance with the princess?” he asks, and they stop dancing.

  Maggie glances over at me, a smile forming on her tiny face. “Yes, that would be quite all right. Princess Ms. Campbell! The prince would like to dance!”

  That gets the boys to look over. Apparently this, of all things, piques their interest. Go figure.

  “I guess I don’t want to disappoint the Prince or Queen, now, do I?” I ask, walking over to them.

  “No, you wouldn’t!” Maggie grabs my hand and places it in Declan’s, then she pushes me into him.

  I stumble into his hard chest, and he grabs my waist to steady me.

  “Why hello, Princess Ms. Campbell.” He smirks.

  I shoot him a look, but I can’t hold it, because I feel a smile forming on my lips.

  “Shall we dance?” he asks.

  I nod, and he leads me in a circle around the room. He twirls me, which earns us some soft “awwws.” We don’t break eye contact as we dance throughout the room, and I have to keep reminding myself that there are children present. The look he keeps giving me—it’s like he’s starving for me, and only me.

  If the kids weren’t here…well, let’s just say I love it when he worships my body. I’ve never felt more alive than I do when he touches me and shows me just how much he loves me.

  Right as the song ends, he dips me and the whole room erupts in applause. Declan is smiling down at me, then his eyes flick down to my lips, then quickly back up to my eyes. His pale green eyes search mine, and I’d let him kiss me if we didn’t have an audience.

  I break our eye contact for just a second to glance in the direction of the kids. Then I look back up at him. He starts to lean down, and I start to think he didn’t get the message, but instead of his lips brushing mine, he places a soft kiss on my cheek. Then he stands us both upright.

  There is a collective round of applause.

  “Oh, gosh, they are perfect!” Callie looks on with a dreamy look on her face.

  “Ms. Campbell and Declan sittin’ in a tree! K-i-s....uh, Ms. Campbell how do you spell kissing?” Tucker asks.

  I laugh and remove the crown from my head. “All right, everyone, show’s over. Time to clean up.”

  “We’re a hit,” Declan says as he follows me back to my desk.

  I pull out my lesson planner and shove it into my messenger bag.

  “Are you coming over tonight?” he asks.

  I freeze for a second, then continue packing up. “Yeah.”

  I’ve been a little nervous traveling outdoors since my attack. I know the grounds are safe again, but they were safe before and that didn’t seem to stop the vampires.

  “Sunshine, everything will be fine. I’ll keep you safe. If you want, I can come over to you and then we can walk back to my cabin together.”

  I nod as he pulls my bottom lip out from my teeth.

  “What do I keep telling you about that lip?” he mutters.

  I can feel my body starting to warm up, and all thoughts of being bitten by a vampire again disappear.

  “What if I’m doing it on purpose?” I ask, lowering my voice. “What if I like it when you bite my lip?”

  “Ms. Campbell, there are students present.” He leans in closer. “But if they weren’t here, then I’d have you bent over that desk, and my cock would be so deep inside you, you’d be seeing stars in the daylight.”

  Oh, boy.

  My face turns a bright red and I clench my legs together. I glance over at the kids, who are in their own little worlds, totally oblivious to me and Declan.

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he whispers next to my ear, sending delicious shivers down my spine.

  I close my eyes as he places a soft kiss on my neck. He pulls away when we hear a loud noise, and I look over to see that Tucker’s lunchbox has fallen on the floor.

  “Look what you did, Thomas!” Tucker shouts, picking up his lunchbox.

  “I didn’t do it!” Thomas defends.

  “Yes-huuuuh!”

  “Nuh-uhhhhh”

  “Okay, boys, that’s enough!” I shout.

  The boys stop, and I roll my eyes and look at Declan, who watches with amusement.

  “I love it when you get all commanding. It’s sexy.” He winks.

  I shake my head.

  “I have a question for you. What other powers did Apollo have?” he asks.

  “Um, well, apart from healing, his other active power was prophecy,” I say, grabbing my messenger bag.

  Axton is waiting for us at the door, and all the kids are hounding him with wolf questions.

  “Why do you ask?” I close and lock up the schoolhouse, then start to follow Axton and the kids.

  He grimaces. “Okay, don’t be upset, but I’ve been seeing this woman in my dreams.”

  I stop walking and stare at him.

  “No, it’s nothing like that. I don’t get a very good vibe from her. I’ve had dreams before, but none of them have been like this. I don’t know. Maybe it’s nothing.” He shakes his head and starts to walk.

  I grab his hand. “Hey, if your instincts are telling you that these aren’t just dreams, then you should trust them. It’s very possible that you picked up another power from Apollo. Typically, demigods only get one power, but it wasn’t unheard-of for them to get two. Do you know who the woman is?”

  “Not a clue. Maybe I can use my sister’s paints and try to draw a sketch, or maybe ask her if she’s home,” Declan says, bringing our hands up to his lips and placing a kiss on the back of my mine. “I’ll see you later, sunshine.”

  Then he leans in and places a soft kiss on my lips, remembering to keep it PG in front of the kids. We hear the boys yell “gross” and the girls squeal with “awws”.

  “Get a room!” Bennett shouts as he walks over to walk Declan back to his cabin.

  I shoot him a look, and he hold up his hands.

  “What? They don’t understand what that means.”

  “My mom got a room with a friend once,” Joey says.

  I look down and lift a brow. I’m not sure why I always expect him to elaborate. He never does.

  “You’re a strange kid.” Bennett laughs.

  Joey looks up at him. “Takes one to know one.”

  And with that, Joey walks away.

  “That kid scares me.” Bennett watches as Joey walks over to Thomas and Tucker.

  Declan laughs. “All children scare you, Benny.”

  “That’s not true,” he replies.

  “Yes, it is,” Declan and I say together.

  “You two are adorbs.” Bennett smiles, then pulls both of us into a group hug. “Ready to go, Declan?”

  Declan nods. “Bye, babe.”

  He kisses me quickly before running off with Bennett.

  If Declan does have a new g
ift, then I fear that the woman he’s seeing is about to bring hell on earth.

  When I walk into the cabin, I realize that it looks and smells clean. Aria must be doing her “performance cleaning,” as she likes to call it. I can hear her singing in her room, so I walk upstairs and lean against the door frame. She’s got a hairbrush and is standing on her bed. She turns and is only shocked for a half a second before she points at me and continues Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger.”

  I laugh and shake my head. I’m glad she’s back to her old self again.

  I go into my room and change my shirt and then sneak into my sister’s new studio room. She’s going to find it odd that I’m in here, because I never come in here and I never went into the room she had back home.

  I grab some paint colors, not sure what the hell I’m doing or how to even mix paints. Music and instruments are my forte. Painting and art? Not so much. I grab a canvas, place it on the easel, and begin to paint.

  “What are you doing?” Aria asks from the doorway.

  “I’ve been dreaming about this girl for weeks now.” I bite my bottom lip in concentration.

  The action makes me think of my girl, and how I love it when she bites her lip. But I push those thoughts aside and focus back on the painting.

  “Um, does Ciera know about this?”

  I look up and shoot my sister a dirty look over the easel. “No, it’s not like that. This girl…I get bad vibes from her. I’m just trying to get this image out of my head. Not that I think painting it will help.”

  I shrug. I’m not an artist, so I’m not sure why I thought this was a good idea. Aria comes over and stands next to me.

  “Is this supposed to be a girl or a bear with a human face?” she laughs.

  I scoff. “Aria, I’m serious.”

  I turn to her, and when she sees the serious look on my face, her face falls.

  “Okay. Why didn’t you just come to me? I can help you,” she offers.

  I don’t know why I didn’t think of asking her when I got home. It’s not like she wouldn’t have helped me.

  Aria removes the canvas and places a new one on the easel. “Give me the brush. Describe her to me.”

  I hand her the brush and start describing the woman.

  “So, are you glad we decided to stay?” I ask her while she paints the long dark hair on the mystery woman.

  “Yeah. I think it’s nice that we have people in our lives that know the dangers of the world and want to protect it just as much as we do,” she answers, swiping the brush along the canvas.

  My sister is amazing. I love all of her paintings and drawings. One Christmas, she painted me a guitar with watercolors. She included the lyric, “We are all just prisoners here of our own device” from “Hotel California,” our favorite song by the Eagles. Growing up, that’s all we listened to with our dad. I hung it on the wall by my bed.

  “I agree. I’m happy here, more so than I’ve been in long time,” I tell her.

  “I can tell. Ciera is a huge part of that, and I’m really glad you didn’t hurt her!” Aria playfully nudges my shoulder.

  “I almost did, truth be told,” I admit.

  Aria stops painting to look over at me.

  “What happened?” she asks, concern lacing her tone.

  I know if I were to tell her I don’t want to talk about it, she would accept that and drop it. She never forces anyone to open up to her, but I always do for the most part. She’s always been one of my best friends, and even though it frustrates me that she won’t really talk to me about that night, I’m glad she’s finally opening up to someone about it. Even if it’s not her full feelings, it’s a start.

  “The night of the attack, Ciera got bitten, and I froze. I froze for the first time in my life, and she got hurt. Then you got hurt, and I couldn’t get to you. I was stuck in that barn and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.” I scrub a hand down my face and close my eyes.

  “Hey,” Aria says softly, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Look at me.”

  I lift my head up and look at her.

  “It’s okay. I-I know what’s it like to freeze up. I did it…” She pauses and sucks in a breath. “That night, I froze, and you got us out of Mom and Dad’s room.”

  My eyes widen at her revelation and I reach up and place my hand over hers on my shoulder. I don’t say anything as my gaze connects with hers. It’s the first thing she’s ever told me about that night. I’ll take it.

  Aria inhales sharply and forces a smile. “I’m glad you got over it, though. I can tell you guys are happy together.”

  She removes her hand and turns her attention back to the painting.

  “You and Hunter seem pretty happy together too.” I smirk when she glances over at me.

  Aria flushes. “Yeah. I really like him.”

  “Like, really, really?” I joke.

  “Like, really, really, big brother,” she laughs. “He brings out the best in me and makes me feel like a better version of my old self. I know that probably sounds lame—”

  “No, it doesn’t,” I cut her off.

  She looks over at me and smiles.

  I feel like things are finally starting to look up for us. Then I glance at the painting and see the woman who’s been haunting my dreams lately and a sense of dread overcomes me. An hour passes and Aria is finally finished with the painting. She shows me the canvas and I feel the blood drain from my face.

  “Yeah, that’s her. I don’t know who she is, but I don’t like her. Whoever she is, she’s bad news.” I take the painting and place it on the table, not wanting to look at it for another second. “Thanks for helping me with this, little sister.”

  I grab Aria and pull her into a hug.

  “Anytime.” She wraps her arms around me. “All you have to do is ask.”

  I kiss the top of her head. “I know. I’m going to shower, then head over to see my lady.”

  I know Ciera is scared to walk alone, even though a shifter will be with her. So lately, I go to see her, and then we walk back to my place together.

  It’s been a week, and a group of us all decided to go see a band called Chasing Ghosts together. It’s this all-girl band from the UK that Grace is a huge fan of. I’m just glad to be getting out of the Compound for a little while.

  I’m sitting in the backseat of Hunter’s Impala and my girl is sitting next to me wearing a black skirt, a maroon long-sleeved crop top, and ankle boots. Do I want her to straddle me right now, while I push her panties to the side and slide into her? Fuck yeah, I do.

  My phone vibrates in my pocket pulling me from my thoughts and I pull it out, seeing it’s a text from Ciera.

  Ciera: I want you to pick me up how you would with the other girls.

  I look over at her, and she blushes.

  Me: But I already got the girl.

  Ciera: Think of it as role play.

  Me: I’ve created a vixen.

  Me: I fucking love it. Okay, go inside and start dancing. I’ll come to you.

  I reach over and place my hand on her leg. If the engine wasn’t so loud, I would bet she sucks in a sharp breath as I inch my hand higher. Then I pull my hand away.

  When I first met her, she was this innocent virgin who was too smart for her own good. Now, she’s a naughty teacher who is still too smart for her own good. She knows how to turn me on. Though, to be fair, it doesn’t take much.

  Me: Maybe I’ll make you come undone.

  Ciera: ;-)

  Me: If you don’t stop, it’s going to get really awkward for my sister and her boyfriend.

  I look over at her and she’s biting her lip. I glance up in the front seat and notice that my sister and Hunter are having a conversation, not really paying attention to us in the back seat. I unclick her seatbelt, grab her leg, and slide her over to me. Her hand lands on my cheek as I lean forward and bite her lip.

  “Game on, sunshine,” I whisper in her ear as I kiss the soft spot on her neck.

  Then
I make her slide back over to her seat and she buckles herself back in. Her heated gaze connects with mine, and I wink at her.

  We pull into the parking lot, and Hunter drops us off at the front while he goes and parks the car. I grab Ciera and pull her close to me, leaning down to whisper in her ear.

  “You have no clue what you started. Go. I’ll find you,” I murmur.

  Then I kiss her neck, darting my tongue out on the sensitive spot behind her ear. She pushes away from me and grabs Abby, and they go inside. Bennett is walking with my sister, and I spot Zayne.

  “‘Sup man? You ready to have some fun?” I ask.

  “Hell yeah. But I need a drink first,” he says.

  I nod.

  We show the bouncer our IDs and walk inside the crowded club. We make our way over to the bar and order whatever is on tap. I glance around the dance floor and spot Ciera dancing with Abby.

  “She’s sexy tonight,” Zayne says, finishing his beer.

  “Who?” I ask.

  “Abby.”

  “She’s a great girl. Go get her, tiger.” I slap his shoulder.

  He laughs. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

  Then he leaves and makes his way through the crowd to Abby. I drink the last of my beer and set the empty glass down on the counter.

  It’s time to pick up my girl.

  I do what I always do and lurk back in the shadows, watching her. And slowly I make my way through the crowd. I come up behind her and wrap my hands around her lower stomach. She freezes, so I lean down.

  “Hey, sunshine.” My voice is pitched low as I start dancing with her.

  At the sound of my voice, I feel her body instantly relax into mine. Abby and Zayne are off in their own little world, and it’s just me and Ciera. The dance floor is packed with people dancing and grinding, and some people are even making out.

  I lower one hand down her leg and reach under her skirt. I skim my hand higher, higher, and…there’s my sweet spot. I start to swirl my thumb along the sensitive bundle of nerves, and she leans her head back on my shoulder, exposing her neck. I slide her panties to the side and slip a finger in, then kiss her neck as I insert a second finger. I hear her soft moan and I turn my head slightly and kiss her, swirling my tongue with hers.