Wicked Thing (C.O.A Series Book 2) Read online

  Acknowledgements

  To my two wonderful children, my parents and the rest of my loving family that I’ve been blessed with you give me constant inspiration and support. XO

  To my absolutely amazing beta reading savants and editing buddies, Haley McGee and Leanne Ruissen you two ladies seriously rock! P.S Lori Souther, XO

  Letter to my Readers

  I would like to thank each and every one of you for your devotion to these characters. Writing this series has kept me going through the difficult times and I hope to keep you with me on this magical journey for many years to come. XO

  The Children of Ankh Series

  Sweet Sleep Wild Thing

  Enlightenment Wicked Thing

  Let There Be Dragons

  Copyright © 2016 Kim Cormack

  All rights reserved

  For more information, http://www.kimcormack.com

  Mythomedia Press 2754 10th Ave

  V9Y2N9 Port Alberni BC

  ISBN 978-0-9948306-9-2

  Table of Contents

  1) In Angst and Servitude

  2) In Solidarity They Stand

  3) Lambs to the Slaughter

  4) Handlers and Dragons

  5) Dragon ‘Me’ Time

  6) Shameless

  7) Awkward Awakenings

  8) The Aries Intervention

  9) Welcome Home

  10) Once Upon a Banquet

  11) Otherworldly Bathrooms and Other Shit

  12) Virgin Sacrifices

  13) Covenant of the Dragons

  14) Something Wicked This Way Comes

  15) Mending Fences

  16) Lampir Spittle

  17) Just a Little Bit of Stalking

  18) Adventures in Babysitting

  19) An Echo in the Calm

  20) Demon Fight Club

  21) What Happens in Vegas

  22) Duct -Tape Tuxedo

  23) I Crashed into You

  24) Over Again

  Prologue

  After running away from her foster home at the age of eleven with a group of worldly children, our hero was abducted and held captive for five years as a slave on a dark farm run by Abaddon, where she was both emotionally and physically abused in the most horrific of ways. After the brutal demise of Charlotte, the child she’d grown to love, Lexy was violently executed and her body was tossed into a well. This well had become the resting place of all who’d come before her. She rose from the dead, discovering a dormant Healing ability, because of the brutality of her time in captivity and the nature of her death Lexy Abrelle, the girl with the crimson hair and heart of stone also became a Dragon. She could do unthinkable things while in this emotionally void state and this made her a priceless commodity in the battle between good and evil that raged within the immortal world.

  The Legion of Abaddon came to claim her and she destroyed them, along with the other two clans of immortals that had also come to capture her.

  There are three clans of second tier immortals on earth, Clan Ankh, Clan Trinity and Clan Triad. Clan Ankh’s Oracle devised a plan to claim the most volatile warrior the clans had ever seen.

  Grey of Ankh was sent into the wilderness where a wild Lexy had been dwelling in solitude for years. At first, she’d been living with a pack of dogs but eventually she was left all alone to fend for herself. She’d been without human contact for a long time when she stumbled across Grey, caught in one of her traps. So long that she was a Wild Thing, but in meeting him she found a reason to rejoin the land of the living. She followed him to Clan Ankh. Lexy became their Dragon, Grey became her Handler, and finally, she’d found the family that she’d always longed for.

  Eventually, the bounds of their friendship shifted and they became more, but they were not allowed to be with each other physically because it complicated their duties. So every morning after they’d consummated their love, he was spelled to forget. After forty years of loving him and never having it returned for longer than a night, she knew it was time to stop the insanity. With the brutality of her youth behind her, Lexy of Ankh was finally ready to move on. But how could she, when she would always be bound to him?

  Chapter 1

  In Angst and Servitude

  They were going to have to stay in the crypt for the night so they wouldn’t risk disrupting the three newest Ankh’s week of inter clan bonding before their Testing. She wouldn’t be able to hide from Grey for long. She just had to find a way to stop the blush of her cheeks whenever thoughts of Tiberius crossed her mind. If she didn’t want Grey to think it was a big deal she’d have to learn to disguise her thoughts and act like it wasn’t.

  They’d either be sharing a hotel room in town or be staying in the campsite after they sent the three unsuspecting newbie Ankh into the Testing. Then they would wait for them to either come back out of the Testing or become lost in it, as all who had come before them for the last forty years. Lexy thought of their faces. There was Melody, the girl that had turned out to be Orin’s daughter. Kayn, she was Freja’s daughter and the girl that Frost appeared to have real feelings for after eons of appearing to care for no one but himself. Last but not least, there was Zach, the boy she’d spent a whole year pretending to despise. Lexy smiled; it was ironic that Frost the notorious player had fallen for someone that was as good as lost.

  The muffled sound of laughter from her fellow Ankh caused a smile to form on Lexy’s face. It was a true smile, not an imitation as it so often was when she was at a loss for which emotion she was supposed to be displaying while endeavoring to disguise the fact that she had not returned from the solitude of the void within her heart. It was usually Grey that she used as her lead while figuring out which facial expression was needed for the moment.

  The group of immortals had arrived back at the Ankh crypt hidden beneath the forest with none of them worse for wear after the Summit. She’d been the one chosen to battle in the coliseum during this immortal gathering. Lexy knew she’d given a spectacular performance, destroying everything in her path. The battle itself had left her nothing to ponder. She had the soul of a Dragon and this was a weapon. She had been created for battle, built out of devastation and agony. Lexy had never been left with lingering emotions after a fight before.

  It was confusion that she felt over the events that had taken place during the half time at the Summit and this was an emotion she wasn’t familiar with. Dragons usually felt clarity over their decisions. Dragons didn’t wander around confused by their uncharacteristically naughty behavior. She’d been very naughty and with her enemy.

  Lexy purposely wandered away from the group, knowing her Handler might be able to read her thoughts and her mind was overflowing with steamy sensual visions of what had happened between her and Tiberius while locked in that room between battle rounds. This would cause her some drama and she despised drama.

  Yes, she’d fully intended to move on from the endless heart breaking cycle she’d found herself in with Grey, but her intention had never been to succumb to the after effects of adrenaline fuelled battle by having an intoxicatingly intimate moment with her darkly twisted nemesis.

  It would have remained a secret, but she’d accidentally let the cat out of the bag in regards to her naughty misdeeds. Grey had teased her a little bit and she’d fully expected that, but she knew his demeanor would change once he’d had time to contemplate what she’d done and with whom.

  Before the Summit he’d made his feelings regarding the flirtation between Tiberius and her more than clear. She paced back and forth in the room of stone. This would never have happened if they were allowed to be together.

  Lexy was a Dragon and Grey was her Handler. A physical relationship between the
two of them was against the rules. This of course had never stopped the act from happening. Logically, she understood why this had to be. He’d awaken with no recollection of being with her physically but she would remember everything. Her mind would hold on to his declarations of love as though they were real until he innocently shared the details of his next conquest. Yet, even after all of the pain he’d caused her while unwittingly breaking her heart she’d always known that he would sooner gouge out his own heart than intentionally hurt her.

  It would be simple if she could walk away but each time she felt the urge to move on fate would pull his emotions back to the surface. Grey would declare his love for her for the thousandth time and even though Lexy knew that all would be forgotten as the sun’s glowing rays moved across his sleeping form, she’d never been able to deny her love for him each time he gazed into her eyes and asked her for the truth about her feelings.

  To others it may appear that Grey was the one who had sacrificed his life for hers. In reality, her Handler was her cross to bear as much as she was his. This bond between them that gave him the ability to calm her in her darkest moments was also what tied her heart to him and only him.

  It had taken a good thirty years for Lexy to come to the conclusion that she had to stop hitting herself and she had…even though she’d chosen a ridiculously self-destructive direction. She’d always despised Tiberius with every breath of her being. Lexy had always thought him to be without one redeeming quality. After they fought together during the Summit the hate she felt for all of these years had turned into want. She’d discovered that Tiberius had a softer side. Lexy had found out what it was like to be in the arms of someone as dark as she was and it had left her lost in the need to finish what they’d started together while locked in that room between rounds of the battle in that coliseum.

  She stood there in the light of the torch that flickered against the gray stone wall a couple of feet in front of her. Tiberius had caused a flame to form inside of her; it was a smouldering blaze that could only be extinguished by him. Whether it was a spark of hope that she’d finally be capable of moving on, or a flame that would do nothing but burn her in the end, she’d yet to discover, but she wanted to, and that was a start.

  Lexy leaned against the wall and slid down it to the cold stone floor. Perhaps the drama she’d be forced to stroll through with Greydon in the aftermath of Tiberius would be a welcome distraction from the real issue at hand. Had she managed to teach the three newest Ankh enough to survive the Testing?

  She’d grown rather attached to this group of endearing teens, even though she’d held a grudge for a long time over the fact that young Zach actually had the balls to try to kill her before they’d taken him from Triad. It wasn’t the grudge that she felt now it was regret. She felt regret that she’d never taken the opportunity to really get to know him.

  She was feeling way too much right now. Her instinct was to shut it down but couldn’t because she felt like she owed these three the ability to say a proper heartfelt goodbye.

  Lexy heard the sound of footsteps on stone and glanced up. There he was… the love of her life. The fantasy that could never be.

  Her Handler, with his always slightly dishevelled looking blonde hair and soft probing blue eyes wandered towards her and teased, “You’re not avoiding me are you?”

  Yes…she definitely had been. Lexy suspected the questions would begin the second he managed to get her alone. They hadn’t had the opportunity to have a private conversation yet. Not, since her battle along side of Tiberius at the coliseum. A wave of guilt passed through her as he silently sat down beside her on the cool stone floor, and laid his head against the wall. One of Greydon’s most endearing qualities was the fact that he always wore his heart on his sleeve but in this moment there was something detached in his mannerisms. He wasn’t touching her. Usually he’d always be finding a way to make that connection by resting his hand on her leg or on top of hers. There was a distance between them. He was undoubtedly looking for details on how far things had gone with Tiberius. Truth be told, she’d wanted to hurt him when they arrived at the Summit, and he’d known she was mad as they’d travelled there in the tombs. He’d kissed her and blamed it on the fact that he’d been drinking. To add insult to injury, he’d ended up with Lily at the end of the night. She knew it wasn’t that simple because Lily had been having ability related glitches that needed to be dealt with and Frost had pressured him into doing it. The situation wasn’t simple. Nothing in their lives was… He probably figured that the self-destructive part of her that he’d been trying to tame for the last forty years had gone out and done the one thing that would hurt him. She knew he couldn’t remember his true feelings for her but in this moment the confusion that was reflected in his eyes suggested that he was starting to, at least on some level.

  Jealousy was one of the ways she’d brought his emotions back to the surface in the past, but that wasn’t what she was trying to do with Tiberius. Grey shifted around to face her.

  He stared into her eyes, gently caressed her cheek with one finger and said, “You have an eyelash on your cheek.” He held up his finger and an eyelash was balancing on the tip. He grinned and said, “Make a wish.”

  She smiled at him and whispered, “I’m good.”

  He closed his eyes and with a gentle puff of air he blew her eyelash off of the tip of his finger.

  She’d made a conscious decision to let any romantic notions go, but when he did these things she knew she’d never be able to, not completely. Grey was her kryptonite. Her Achilles heel had always been her feelings for the only person she’d ever truly loved. He was the one person she could never have. Well, at least not in the way that she wanted him.

  He put his arm around her and pulled her against him. They sat there in the silence for a moment before he kissed her on the head and whispered, “You didn’t actually sleep with that tool, did you?”

  She knew that was coming. Lexy slipped out of his embrace and teased, “Am I about to get a fine from the booty call police?” Lexy was fully aware that she could have just told him that it hadn’t gone farther than a steamy make out session and that would have ended the conversation but she had never been able to resist the urge to push his buttons. Why was she still trying to hurt him? This was silly.

  He smirked at her, taking her silence as an admission. Grey shook his head, stood up, turned around and walked away from her as he muttered, “Forget about it.”

  He was visibly upset. Why did she feel this guilty? With an exasperated sigh she stood up, followed him, and reached for his arm as she caught up with him. He stopped walking away and turned to face her.

  She explained, “It was just a kiss. It didn’t mean anything we were just caught up in the moment.”

  Grey smiled at her, appearing to be relieved, he teased, “No worries…I’ll just spray you down with Lysol when we get to the hotel room.”

  She playfully shoved him and sparred, “Funny Greydon. That’s hilarious. What have you done in the last couple of days? Perhaps, you’ll need to pick up your own bottle?”

  Her charmingly pig headed Handler chuckled, “Touché,” as he placed one of his arms around her and just like that, all was forgiven. She recalled Azariah’s words…Love and lust are temporary but friendship can last forever. She could have him forever but only if she ceased to love him this way. They made their way back towards the group of animatedly chatting Ankh.

  As they approached the others Frost grinned at her and declared, “You two have obviously worked things out.”

  Now, she was a little bit lost?

  Grey gave her shoulder a squeeze and sighed, “What can I do? She’s turning into a brazen hussy but I still love her.”

  Lexy took comic offence to his statement, stepped away from him and quipped, “Seriously… I’m a hussy? I’m sure you spent last night playing checkers.”

  Grey glanced at Frost and chuckled, “I did absolutely nothing last night but dwell on your un
characteristically naughty behavior with our enemy and get absolutely wasted on pimped out ceremonial wine.”

  Frost raised one hand and piped in, “I can vouch for that.”

  “And what was it that you did the night before that again?” She teased. That shut him up.

  Grey grinned as he sheepishly responded, “Point taken, but in all fairness if you get to repeatedly refer to me as a man whore, then I get to call you a brazen hussy at least once.”

  Orin and Markus walked in, both of them lugging large heavy looking coolers. They placed them down on the stone floor and Orin announced, “There are buns with meat and cheese and a choice of either beer or cider. He opened one of the lids, grabbed something, and said, “Here you go Lexy. I imagine you’re absolutely famished.” He grinned and winked as he chucked it at her.

  She caught it, smirked at him and replied, “Thanks.” Oh wonderful. They were all going to mess with her. She unwrapped what he’d tossed at her and it was black forest ham and cheese on a bun. She devoured the whole thing in a couple of bites. Another bun came sailing through the air without warning and she caught it and smiled.

  Orin flirtatiously chuckled, “Damn, you’re good.”

  Lexy glanced up at him. How far did they all think she’d taken things with Tiberius?

  Orin had been hitting on her at the banquet. She recalled that part of the evening. He tossed a beer across the room without warning her, still trying to catch her off guard. She caught it in one hand and gave him a cocky smile. They all began eating and telling tales of the Summit while she listened with a mouthful of bun, unable to speak. Grey was sitting beside Lily. He whispered something in her ear and she giggled. That was going to be irritating. So, she grinned and gave her can of beer a few good shakes before popping the tab in his direction. It started to spray all over them both.

  Grey started cursing, “What in the hell, Lex?”

  She placed her hand over the now slow spurting beer and sweetly apologized, “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

  Grey stripped off his soaking wet beer scented shirt, dropped it on the stone floor behind him and glared at her. He knew she’d done it on purpose. He couldn’t prove it though.