Page 37 of The Magic of Betrayal
“Hunter and I were down at the lake swimming, it was so warm out that evening, and the water was the perfect temperature for a swim. Mom and Mama B were up on the top deck grilling some food for dinner and we could hear their music and laughter all the way down in the water.
“It was late, but we always stuck to our own schedule when we were there. Fireflies had started lighting up the darkening sky and the twinkle string lights from the cabin reflected off the water. These are all things I remembered after the fact." He cleared his throat and wiped his hands down his face.
My stomach twisted unpleasantly because this happy family vacation was about to take a dark turn, and I wish I could stop it.
"Mama B yelled down for us to head on up for dinner, and Hunter swam over to the ladder, climbing up onto the dock to walk back. I stayed behind though, I just wanted a few more minutes to float around on my back and look up at the stars, it was relaxing and it felt like one of those moments in your life where everything is just good. But that ended in an instant. An orange glow lit up the sky and I righted myself in the water and saw the exact moment a large fireball blasted the side of the cabin.
"Just as I was about to scream, I saw a group of people standing off to the side, their attention on the burning house. Whoever the pyro mage was launched three more fireballs while the others stood back and talked amongst themselves. Instead of helping, I choked. I slipped underneath the dock and waited. And waited. I think I'd convinced myself it was a nightmare. There was no way that I could believe my family had just been burned alive inside of our vacation home. But I'd heard my moms' screams, and I knew it was real.
"Over an hour passed before the first responder lights lit up the scene and I swam out from under the dock and pulled myself up. My whole body was shaking and I remember running my thumbs over my fingers, over and over and over again. They were so wrinkled, and I couldn't comprehend how my skin would ever go back to the way it was before. Just like I would never get to go back. Somebody must've seen me because within seconds, I was swarmed by paramedics and was hauled into an ambulance. The cabin was nothing but a pile of smoldering ash when the backdoors of the vehicle slammed shut.
"That day I lost my moms and my only brother. Since I was only fifteen years old, I moved in with Fischer and his family. Our parents had been very close and he lived across the street. Sometimes, it still feels like a bad dream, like I could just close my eyes and reset everything."
Tears were trailing down my cheeks and I couldn't stop them. This was a heartbreaking story, no wonder he didn't like to talk about it. The way he told it, I could tell he was trying very hard to detach himself from the emotion, but his voice had cracked several times and each one felt like a fissure to my heart. This was a life event that shaped him into the mage before me.
"I'm so, so sorry..." I breathed and ran my hand up and down his broad back.Thiswas why he was so protective of the other guys and me,thiswas why he has to be in control of every situation, so he knew the probability of the outcome.Thiswas why he exuded daddy vibes and made me feel safer than I ever had in my life. I knew it wasn't his intention, but damn it if I didn't feel like shit for how sick with worry he must've been yesterday when my phone was dead.
"So, you see, I have some control issues and it doesn't take a shrink to figure out where those stem from. I've been like this with the guys ever since, but for some reason, when it comes to you, it's just an over the fucking top reaction. There's this pull, in here," he took my hand and pounded it against his chest, "and I can't fight it. A stronger man would tell you to stay away from me, from us, but strength left me the moment you sassed me, disobeyed me, cussed at me, fucked me, called me daddy... you're my own personal storm that I didn't fuckin' see coming."
“Cam.” His name was nothing but a breathy sigh from my lips.
“I can’t lose you, baby girl. I can’t lose anyone else.”
I watched this beautiful, broken man, tear down his walls and show me his heart with his bare hands. Cam reached out to me and cupped my cheek in his massive palm. We didn’t speak, we just connected; our eyes saying everything that needed said. This moment was transcending all words. Our souls were twisting around each other, he was giving me this part of himself. I felt his thumb brush a tear off of my cheek, his pupils suddenly dilating into black endless pools. He looked sharply away from me and gazed out across Emerald Lake, pain etched across the planes of his face. Suddenly, everything I knew about Cam clicked into place and it was like I was seeing him for the first time. He was so, so much more than just an alpha asshole; he needed vengeance, and I was going to help get it for him.
My ears popped suddenly as Cam pushed himself up off of the spot we were sitting on. I couldn’t tear my eyes from him. He was radiating energy, and the air was becoming more and more pressurized. I could hear the sounds of the teenagers across the lake laughing and enjoying the late evening sun.
A boom so loud erupted from the heavens, I was positive the gods themselves couldn’t have recreated it. Laughter turned into screams as the thunder kept coming, louder and louder. Cam tipped his head back and looked to the dark skies above us, he opened his mouth in a roar, the thunder an extension of his pain and his inner turmoil.
Fat raindrops began falling to the earth, the sky splitting open as purple and blue electricity began coursing up and down his hands and forearms. He had been dancing between heaven and hell for so long and now the devil was calling for him, reaching out for his heart. The devil could fuck off.Cam is mine.
The rain began falling in waves, unrelenting and savage in its escape from the clouds. I stood up and wiped my now drenched hair out of my eyes. Cam was moving towards the lake, every purposeful stride sending out aftershocks of thunder. Everything felt slow, I was moving toward my big guy before my brain processed the movement, I felt like his magic was pulling me directly to where I needed to be. His hand reached behind his neck as he roughly grabbed a hold of the collar of his henley and ripped it up and over his head, revealing his naked back to me.
I inhaled sharply. How I hadn’t seen his back yet was a mystery to me, but I knew without a doubt this was the first time. I think that was on purpose on his part.
Thecabin.
In full technicolor, was forever enshrined across his entire back and shoulders. The blues of a beautiful lake with a dock started at his lower back, a stepping stone pathway leading up a sloped bank through a sparse pine forest. The simple a-frame cabin’s slanted roof was illuminated with twinkling white string lights. Above the beautiful vacation scenery was a sky that was an exact mirror of what I was living in real life right this moment. Harsh, unforgiving lightning was streaking across his expansive shoulders, purples, blues, whites, and golds. The detail was so realistic, I was concerned I may actually get shocked if I ran my fingers over the beautiful artwork.
Cam heard me behind him, and he spun around. His breathing was ragged, water pouring off his face, his arms lifting as he grabbed his top knot and his soaked hair fell to his shoulders. My eyes tracked the water that was pouring from the ends before snapping my eyes back to his. Water was dripping down my face and he brought his hand to my mouth, his thumb tracing my bottom lip, pushing the tip of it inside my mouth when I opened for him.
This was happening. My stomach flipped as his arm snapped out, his hand closing firmly around my throat, tipping my face up toward his and then everything just exploded. The lightning crashed down around us, lighting up Cam's face, the look in his eye should have scared me. It should have had me trembling with fear, but instead, a loud moan came from my mouth and he stared down at me with a burning intensity that I'd never seen.
My hands went to his belt, trying to get his fucking pants off as quickly as possible, but he smacked my hands away, grabbing the hem of my shirt and dragging it over my head and I launched myself at him. I needed this. He needed this.
He caught me, his large hands finding my ass and lifting me easily so I was able to wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. Cam carried me quickly back to the little hideaway we'd been in before underneath the willows and I released him from my hold as his hands unclasped my bra, I worked on my boots and my pants. All I knew was that I had to have him, and the storm he'd created was so powerful, even if there were still people out here, they couldn't see anything more than five inches from their face.
When I stood after getting my jeans and panties off, he was standing before me like some kind of fucking viking god who bent the rules of the atmosphere to his will. Electricity was coursing over his skin, his hair curling from the water. The sky lit up with a bolt of lightning behind him and I whimpered as his eyes trailed down my generous figure with the hunger of a predator who'd just spotted their prey.
"Baby," he growled and my cunt clenched.
My chest was rising and falling rapidly, my breasts shaking with the effort.
"Lay down on the blanket. Spread those delicious thighs and show me what's mine."
By the stars...
My brain short circuited, but I found myself dropping onto the blanket, my eyes locked with his as I laid back and kept my feet flat, spreading my legs open.
