Rebel (A Cassidy Edwards Novel Book 4) Read online

  Published by

  Bento Box Books

  Edited by

  Louisa Stephens

  Cover Art by

  Lind

  Copyright © 2017 Carmen Caine

  Ebook Edition

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and didn’t purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, return it to MyBentoBoxBooks.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

  Table of Contents

  An Alternate Universe

  Swiss Cheese

  Inside or Not?

  The Seeds of Mutiny

  A Dark Secret

  Nightmares

  Fool Me Twice

  Stone Cold

  A New Door Opens

  Raven

  Mon Enfant Fantôme

  Dysfunction at its Finest

  An Unwelcome Intervention

  Imp Haven

  The Godmother

  The Masked Man

  Fingers in Every Pie

  Darling

  Something Darker

  A Daughter of Mine

  Twenty-four Hours

  Items One and Two

  Prison

  Masks and Glitter

  Chaos Galore

  The White Owl

  About the Author

  Carmen’s Other Books

  An Alternate Universe

  I stirred, stretching first before slowly opening my eyes. Shadows still shrouded my bedroom walls. I propped myself up on an elbow and peered down into the living room below. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the lights of New York City glittered against the backdrop of a clear night sky and a full, silver moon. In the distance, the ever-present police sirens wailed. Odd. I couldn’t have slept more than a few hours, but I felt fantastic—like I’d slept for a week.

  Yawning, I began sifting through my thoughts, dredging up my last memory before I’d passed out from sheer exhaustion. Lucian. Lucian was in there somewhere. Oh yeah, I’d collapsed onto his muscled chest, hadn’t I? The horrendous pain in my head had started up again. I’d cured it by sprinting up the stairs, crawling into bed, and plopping myself next to—no, on—the astonished warlock.

  I tossed a glance over my shoulder and eyed the empty sheets behind me.

  Well, he wasn’t there now.

  As if on cue, Lucian’s sexy rumble murmured from the darkest corner of my room, “And how long has your head been hurting, Cassidy?”

  I jerked, startled, as he emerged from the shadows, his head tilted sideways as if listening to a far off sound. “A week?” he queried, his deep voice resonating in the slight, cultured British accent. “Maybe more?”

  “Yeah, something like that,” I admitted, shrugging a little. Curious, I slipped out of bed and joined him. Obviously, something was up. “What is it?” I asked.

  He dropped his silver-blue gaze on me. The thick, dark line of his lashes highlighted the intensity of those eyes and in the dim light, they practically glowed. I let myself take yet another quick, visual inventory of his physical assets. Tall. Strong. The sexy kind of lean that accompanied constant physical activity. He was a handsome devil. An elegant one, too. Pure eye candy.

  Taking a deep breath, I forced myself back to the business at hand. “So, how long have I been out? Days?” I probed, but then a new thought dawned. I’d slept awfully well. I felt pretty darn good. Too good. Suddenly suspicious, I half accused, “Did you spell me again?”

  A chuckle rumbled deep in Lucian’s chest, and a charming smile crooked his carved, perfectly shaped lips. “I didn’t spell you, my dear,” he demurred.

  He demonstrated then, by sweeping a hand over his head.

  The ceiling above responded, glistening with pinpricks of light resembling the twinkle of distant stars. They were beautiful. I watched them sparkle above my head for a few moments and then glanced back at the warlock towering at my side, studying me through a heavily lidded gaze.

  “And why reproduce the Milky Way?” I asked, again finding his bulging biceps a tad more interesting than the miniature galaxy twinkling overhead.

  Lucian moved to tuck a stray, auburn lock of hair behind my ear in a gesture startlingly … tender? “New wards,” he explained, nodding at the blinking canopy above.

  So, the network of stars explained the lack of pounding headaches. I smiled, grateful for the cool blanket of relief. Maybe I’d just spend the week in bed, hiding from the world and the messy, confusing business of revenge and other things I didn’t want to think about at the moment.

  “Someone powerful is attacking you,” Lucian went on to say. “But they’ll find it harder now.”

  My smile wilted and turned into a grimace. Yeah. Like I said. I didn’t want to think of Dear ol’ Dad the Mindbreaker right now.

  “So, how long does this light show last?” I asked, steering the conversation in a different direction—any direction, as long as it was away from Emilio.

  “However long you stay around, Cassidy,” Lucian replied mildly.

  I snorted a little. “Somehow, I don’t think it’s that easy to walk away from you,” I said with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

  Of course, with Lucian, things always took astonishing detours. At those words, his gaze altered. His lashes lowered. “You can leave, my dear. You can reject my protection by simply saying so, but I’d wager you’d find life far more difficult, would you not? The hunger alone would drive one mad.”

  Oh, I saw the line he walked with that statement, implying that if I rejected his protection, I would smell his incredibly delicious mana again and be driven crazy by the lust for it. Well, that was true enough. But that wasn’t what he really meant. The suggestive undercurrent in his tone implied something else, something that piqued my interest.

  Lifting my chin, I adopted a huskier tone than usual to reply, “I’d have to disagree, Lord Rowle. I prefer to indulge in appetizers. It does wonders for controlling hunger pains.” Two players always made the game of innuendo a more delightful one.

  A smile played over his lips, and just like that, tension and attraction crackled between us so strongly that I felt I could almost touch it. I let my eyes drift, slowly and deliberately, over his tall form. Handsome as sin. I particularly enjoyed how the fabric of his black tank top stretched over the hard planes of his chest and outlined his yummy, chiseled abs. Yeah, at times, I found him obnoxious, pompous, and annoying, but neither of us could deny the chemistry we shared, an ever-present passion simmering just beneath the surface, ready to ignite at a moment’s notice.

  His smile deepened and his silver gaze dropped, ogling me as much as I ogled him. I’m not sure how long we stood there, relishing what we saw. Time seemed suspended, resuming only when he moved, reaching out and cupping the back of my neck with his hand to pull me close while stepping into me at the same time.

  His lips found mine at once. I was more than ready. He started with a nibble of my lower lip, but reading the impatience of my mood, quickly closed his mouth over mine in the savage, raw kiss I expected—no, demanded—from him. He took my lips in a kiss of the smoldering, scorching kind, one that burned my skin like a brand as his tongue began moving in a show of magical mastery, reminiscent of the warlock himself. Passionate. Sensuous. Raw. A rollercoaster of a ride. He played me like an instrument, at times, soft and teasing, then incredibly slow before letting loose again to ravage my mouth and bring me to a frenzied state of desire.

  I melted against him, mo
aning in outright pleasure.

  At about the third, prolonged moan, he ratcheted things up a notch. Abandoning my lips, he dragged his tongue up my neck with excruciating leisure, beginning with my collarbone and ending under my jaw before once again, closing his mouth over mine in an even deeper, demanding kiss than before.

  But right in the middle of it all, he pulled a typical, unexpected Lucian maneuver.

  Lifting his lips from mine, but keeping them mere millimeters away, he whispered, “I thought you’d run. I’m curious why you stay.”

  Really? He wanted to talk now? Caught in the haze of lust, I shook my head to clear it and licked my lips.

  Ok. So, he wanted to know why I hadn’t run? Why I still hung around? Hmmm… If I were completely honest, so did I. Just why did I stay? Not so long ago, I hadn’t even known the Charmed world existed. Once I’d stumbled into it, my life had turned into one long, chaotic stress-ball nightmare of survival that only grew worse with time. Bolting would be so much easier than staying at this point—especially with that latest Mindbreaker discovery.

  I straightened a little. Now that I thought about it, why didn’t I just pack up and leave? Was it my mom? Lucian? The fact the Charmed could track me down to the ends of the earth anyway? Or maybe, just maybe … did I feel some twisted sense of belonging now and didn’t really want to go?

  Passion doused, I turned away from him, only to jump back, startled upon discovering a large mirror propped against the wall, a mirror that hadn’t been there before.

  “Why’s that there?” I asked, my voice sounding unnaturally loud, harsh even.

  “To deflect your attacker,” he answered in his polished dulcet tones. “Whoever it may be. So far, I’ve experienced quite the difficulty in tracking their identity.”

  I walked to the mirror, knowing I could answer that one easily enough. My attacker? Emilio. But what would be the point? I frowned. Maybe I should be dusting off those running shoes after all. As legend told it, the entire Charmed world had fought against the Mindbreaker—and had lost, for the most part. He’d obliterated more than one magical species. They’d never truly vanquished him. Whenever they’d gotten close, he’d simply disappeared of his own accord to wait it out and regroup. One warlock—even an extraordinarily powerful Rowle warlock—didn’t stand a chance against such an evil creature as Emilio. So, again, just how could it help telling everyone that their worst legendary nightmare had returned and, oh yeah, I also happened to be his daughter?

  I frowned and closed my eyes. What a downer.

  “What is it, sweetheart?” Lucian’s voice queried softly in my ear.

  One breath. That’s all it took. One puff of his breath on the back of my neck, under my ear, and thoughts of Emilio faded away as my passion reignited.

  I opened my eyes and peered at my reflection outlined in the mirror before me. Lucian loomed close behind. Shafts of moonlight shimmered through the windows, lending his dark hair an almost bluish cast and accentuating the pronounced line of his jaw.

  I reached out and traced his jawline with a fingertip on the glass. He moved closer and eyed me appreciatively, his gaze caressing my skin as if he were using his tongue. My auburn hair fell across my face, hiding my green eyes in a way that only drew attention to my full-lipped mouth. As his gaze dropped to my lips, they parted of their own volition, obviously begging for another kiss.

  Yeah, Emilio could wait—maybe even forever.

  Kiss me, Lucian. I commanded silently. Now.

  On some level, he must have heard. Strong male arms wrapped around me from behind. I leaned back, wanting more of his touch, at least while I could, anyway. When it came to intimacy, the specter inside me always interfered, turning my hunger into a literal one and ending with the object of my desire fleeing my bed in terror. I winced, recalling how I’d even chased the last guy out of my apartment and down the street in the middle of the night, smacking my lips, unable to see him as anything but the juiciest of cheeseburgers on legs.

  “What is it?” Lucian whispered, nuzzling my ear as his palms slipped inside my shirt to skim up my stomach, feeling hot on my bare skin.

  I caught my breath. “This is dangerous, isn’t it?” I asked with marked reluctance. His hands paused. “I mean, for you. Remember last time?” We’d gotten this far before with the heavy petting—and I’d nearly devoured his life spark. He’d spelled me in self-defense.

  “You can’t hurt me, Cassidy,” he assured into my hair. “Not anymore.”

  Of course, I wanted to hear that. But even more, I wanted to know I wouldn’t wake up in the morning having dined on Lucian like a black widow during the night. “How can you be so sure?” I insisted, stubbornly.

  He kissed the nape of my neck before catching my earlobe between his teeth.

  Crud. It was hard to think when he did that.

  He chuckled, soft and low. “Trust me. There’s nothing to fear, sweetheart. Our contract still holds,” he promised, a devilish gleam in his eye. Ever so slowly, he brushed his lips against my neck and allowed his hands to resume their slide upwards and finally under my bra.

  My breath hitched. Well, there was no thinking now—not with that maneuver. Logic, reason, and all shades of judgment flew out the window the instant his hands cupped and caressed my breasts. I held my breath as my nerve-endings began to sing, responding to his expert, teasing touch. I hadn’t known a man’s hands could push me so easily beyond the realm of thinking. Simplicity reigned now. Breaking contracts, rejecting wards, running away, a maniac as a father … it all vanished outright.

  Now, I had nothing to do but feel.

  I entered an alternate universe then, one of intense, magnified sensation, one in which every cell in my body sprang to life.

  In unison, our breathing slowed and deepened. His lean hips began to move against me and, feeling hot and heavy, I rocked against him in return. His fingers moved over my sensitive flesh, leaving a trail of molten lava. I closed my eyes, resting my head against his shoulder as one of his hands left my breasts to voyage downward, outlining my hips before sliding between my thighs.

  I shivered at the foreign sensations. Neither of us spoke. We just kept breathing.

  His hands stayed on me as I molded myself against him pushing back against his lean hips. Rhythmically, he caressed me before suddenly grasping my upper arms and swinging me around to face him.

  With lashes dropping low, he studied me in silence, clearly asking if I wanted him to continue.

  I answered by running my palms up his chest and locking my hands behind his neck.

  He went for it then, threading his fingers through my hair as he sought my mouth again, meeting my lips with a kiss as hungry as my own. Our tongues connected, his dominating mine so deliciously that I half collapsed against his chest. With kisses of that magnitude, I knew I’d be shuddering with bliss before we even made it to the bed.

  He seemed to read my mind. He began to undress me then, slowly guiding me to the bed and divesting me of clothing first and then himself along the way. Once free of any barriers between us, he swept an arm under my knees and carried me the rest of the way to lay back with me in a sleek, fluid motion. He was like a fish in water, elegant, graceful, his skillful hands and fingers moving everywhere to elicit every pleasurable sensation. Sliding over me, his skin so hot on mine, he captured my wrists with one hand and, pulling them over my head, ran his tongue up sensuously from my navel to my jaw. Meeting my eyes once again, he paused, staring down at me, his dark hair falling over his face.

  I caught a shivering breath of reaction.

  He drew back a little, his eyes twinkling with wicked intent as his lips curved into the smile of a predator knowing he’d trapped his prey—a prey so very beyond eager to be trapped. Lust smoldered in his eyes, a lust I knew matched my own. He stroked my cheek with his thumb, the movements mesmerizingly slow and gentle and then once again, lowered his lips to mine as his body followed suit.

  Our hands began to move, his possess
ive, as if memorizing every inch of my skin, and mine in a curious, sensory inventory of the warlock boldly daring to make love to me despite the ever-hungry specter lurking inside. Hard, bulging biceps. Wide shoulders. Narrow waist. Lean, muscled thighs. Tight butt. All, a delight to touch but so very hard to concentrate on with his incredibly soft lips licking, nibbling, and sucking on parts of my body I could’ve sworn never even existed before. It felt like it lasted forever and yet only a few seconds at the same time. When he finished, I felt myself floating, completely boneless in his arms.

  I was more than ready when he finally took me. A half-moan slipped out of me as he joined our lips with another white-hot kiss and, at last, our bodies as well. Caught in passion, we moved with an ever-increasing tempo, meeting and meshing in the dance of desire as the soft, steamy sounds of flesh on flesh filled the darkness around us. His lips and tongue felt like fire. I tangled my hands in his hair, my fingernails scraping his back as his body tightened over my own.

  My blood pulsed hot. A delightful warmth began to build until my body arched, my every muscle as taut as a bowstring. My teeth clenched as waves of ecstasy washed over me. With a savage, full-throated groan of pleasure, Lucian joined me, casting his head back and gasping, the cords of muscle on his neck standing rigid.

  Timeless. It felt endless. We hung there in ecstasy together until finally, the last waves of our combined pleasure subsided.

  Finally, Lucian braced himself on his palms and looked down into my panting face, a multitude of expressions crossing his own. Tenderness. Surprise. Pleasure.

  For the most part, emotions I shared, of course, but now that the intensity had passed, my primary feeling was one of good old-fashioned relief. Relief. Relief that I hadn’t lost control and killed him after all. It put me in a great mood.

  Inhaling a deep breath, I released it and, rolling him over, playfully straddled his hips. He was so very wickedly sensual. I couldn’t resist running my hands over his hard, sculpted chest as I stared into his incredible blue eyes. Silver threads of mana ran through his irises, heralding an unusual power. “You were right,” I admitted, letting myself truly relax for the first time. “Your wards held.”