Charm (Crave #5)

by Tracy Wolff

“Seriously? As black and empty as the terror growing inside you?” a sarcastic voice with a very proper British accent asks from deep in my head. “Melodramatic much?”

Not these being his first words to her

Everything feels almost soothing. Like coming home.

Knowing that this is hudsons room hits different

“Do you like the accent wall? It’s Armani black,”

Cryijg

The way he says “fuck” this time comes out more like “fook,” his accent growing heavier with each word, and I have the inane urge to giggle.

Fook

“Looks like the devil really does wear Gucci.” He snorts. “I already told you I’m a vampire, not a devil—though I suppose you could be forgiven for confusing the two, since you know my wayward little brother. Also, to be clear, this is Armani.”

The armani obsessioj

“Is that the same ‘mummy dearest’ who assaulted Jaxon when you died?” I respond, voice scathing.

I know we're in the past rn but i forgot how insufferable she is rn

He stills. “Is that how he got that scar?” He’s still staring down at his watch, but for the first time since we began talking, his voice is devoid of its usual sarcasm. “He should have known better.” “Better than to kill you, despite everything you did?” “Better than to trust her,” he murmurs, and he sounds a thousand miles away. “I tried to—” He breaks off in the middle of the sentence, shaking his head like he wants to clear it.

:(

I don’t want to send Jaxon into a complete panic for my safety, but I really want him to come fast. In the end, I settle on a short message. Am fine. Trapped with Hudson though. Sending location. I hit send, then scroll down and tap “share my location.” And wait.

??

The way Grace is running straight toward the giant, flame-shooting plonker of a beast currently tearing through the sky directly at her tells me the anti-Hudson propaganda machine has obviously been hard at work in the time I’ve been gone.

HUDSON IS SO FUNNY LOL

“So you admit that I’m not doing this! That that thing—whatever it is—is not of my making,” I crow, and yes, I’m aware that celebrating that win while a monster circles us is a little like the dance band on the Titanic playing “Nearer My God to Thee” as the ship went down.

Shes so annoying rn omg

Because of course this girl has a recycling bin in whatever strange fever dream she’s got us locked up in. We may kill each other or get eaten by a giant, ugly-ass dragon, but at least we will have fake recycled our fake bottles first.

And finally, there’s another string I can’t pull my gaze from in this tangle of connections. It’s a bright, electric blue, and it’s gossamer thin, but it is very definitely there. And it’s glowing ever so slightly. And somehow I know, even before I reach out a fingertip to touch it, that it connects to me.

AhhhHhhh THE MATING BONDD

“Not trick it. Obviously, the plan is to make you a better person.” “Oh, right. Of course.” He looks down at his hands. “Because I’m a shite person right now.”

My poor babby

Besides, who did I have to call anyway?

Hudson :(

As I hold her, I note several things. One, she fits surprisingly well in my arms. Two, she smells really good—like vanilla and cinnamon. And three, I kind of like holding her.

I must have wanted it so badly…because I actually did it. I disintegrated myself.

Because the thin string I instinctively know connects me to Grace has quadrupled in size since yesterday…and it’s now glowing the most brilliant blue I have ever seen.

Mates snifdle

“But now that it looks like they’re not, you get to shoot the messenger?” When he puts it like that, I feel like I’m the one in the wrong.

Yeah CUZ U R

But he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he puts a finger under my chin and tips my face up to his. Our gazes collide and for one long, impossible moment, everything inside me goes still. And still Hudson waits. Still he keeps his eyes locked on mine. I don’t know if he’s waiting for permission or asking for forgiveness. Eventually, he must get the answer he was waiting for because he starts to move.

“I have to go, Smokey. I’m sorry.” Then he leans in close and whispers, “I love you,” so softly that I have to strain to hear it.

:(

But Grace just grins. “You’re nowhere near as bad as you think you are. And even if you were, it wouldn’t matter. You’re my friend. And I want you to do this.”

So I lift her hand to my mouth and press a soft, open-mouthed kiss against her palm in silent thanks.

I close my eyes, try to think of anything else, but all I see are Hudson’s bright blue eyes staring back at me. Hudson, who has the most ridiculous sense of humor—and who is up for laughing at himself at least as often as he laughs at me. Hudson, who worries about a little shadow’s feelings simply because she’s claimed him as hers. Hudson, who would rather hurt himself than do anything that might possibly hurt me.

“Smokey!” Hudson exclaims. The little shadow whirls around and runs straight into his arms.

LOL

Last night, we slept wrapped together as defense against the chill in the mountain air. Just two good friends cuddling.

2 friends cuddling

“It is,” he agrees. “But I need to make sure it’s what you want to do, too.” His words surprise me, and I can’t help studying his face, trying to decide if he’s just messing with me. But he looks as sincere as he sounds. “You really mean that, don’t you?” “Of course I mean it.” Now he just looks insulted. “It’s no use having a partnership if one person makes all the decisions and the other person just has to follow along. We’re either in this together or we’re not.”

Yeah notlike jaxon

I want to dance. I want to twirl and shout to the heavens that Hudson Vega still cares what I think of him. He cares a lot, if that fook was any indication.

Gorl u love him

But that’s okay. I don’t mind coming to him this time. I am the one who hurt him, after all.

“Who the fook are you? And what the fook do you want?”

FOOK

At one point, she disappears, and Hudson gets up to look for her, only to find her racing back to him loaded down with flowers from one of the planters.

SMOKEY LOL

The second bloom he gives to me, despite Smokey’s hiss of disapproval.

SMOKEY ISSO CUTW

“We had a little costume snafu in the back—and I couldn’t let my girl come out until she was feeling confident she looked her best.”

MY GIRL

Then his strong fingers pluck the guitar’s strings, and I recognize the song in the first three notes. And I melt. I just fucking melt. Hudson is playing a One Direction song. For me.

This is so sweet but im dying that its a one direction song LOL im predicting that its little things

Because no matter what, he’s still that little boy from his journals who would do anything, suffer anything, to save someone else pain.

Snifflrd

But then he leans forward and starts to sing the first line of “Little Things,” and everyone—and I mean everyone—swoons.

LOL I CALLED IT

He chuckles. “I hope the troupe doesn’t mind I hogged the spotlight for a bit.” “Are you kidding?” I joke, leaning back to share a smile. “Caoimhe almost threw her panties at you. So did Orebon and Lumi.” Hudson raises one brow, his turbulent blue eyes as fathomless as the ocean, and asks, “What about you?”

HE ONLY CARES ABT HER

It turns out she chooses two of them—the rainbow one and the gold one—draping them around herself like they’re expensive diamonds instead of a few pieces of fabric. Once she’s satisfied with how they look on her, she takes the other two ribbons and tucks them into the small nightstand drawer we gave her to use for her treasures.

SHES SO CUTE

“Just because I’m a vampire doesn’t mean I’m dead,” I call back.

“Hudson, look!” she breathes as she gazes out at the sky. “Isn’t it beautiful?” “So beautiful,” I agree. She glances up at me and her breath catches in her throat. But her voice is casual when she teases, “You aren’t even looking at the sky.” I start to tell her I’m looking at something even more beautiful, but the line is so fucking cheesy, I just let it die.

Sniffle so romantic

He gently grabs hold of me and slowly, inexorably moves us until we’re on the edge of the crowd. More, he arranges things so he’s on the inside and I’m on the outside, so that I’m free to dance and twirl and do whatever I want to while he uses his body as a wall to keep me safe.

CRYIJG

And I feel safe, safer than I’ve ever felt in a situation like this. Hudson isn’t taking the choice from me. He isn’t trying to talk me into leaving or wrestling control out of my hands at all.

CUX HES PERFECT

No one has ever done that for me, not even Jaxon, who constantly wants to protect me by making sure I change how I behave. Hudson just makes sure that I have the space and security to do what I want when I want to do it.

Facts

It makes me like him even more.

He scrolls through my music for a second and then says, “Actually, I think this should be our song.” And then he presses Play and the opening lyrics for “Rewrite the Stars” fill the night sky around us.

Maybe that’s why I’m the one who makes the first move. The one who closes the small distance between us so that I can press my lips to his.

OMG

And the truth is, I don’t give a shit about any of those people. Not when their lives are weighed against Grace’s. I’ve lost everyone I’ve ever cared about in my life. No way am I losing her, too.

“Yeah, well, I guess we’re going to have to figure out how not to let that happen,” she shoots back at me. “Because there’s no way I’m sitting up here like some damsel in distress while people are down there dying because of me.”

SHe has 0 self preservation

There’s no way I’m just going to sit here and watch this bastard take down the girl I lo— I stop the thought before it can fully form. And ignore the fresh, cold slide of terror down my spine. The girl I like. No way am I going to watch him hurt the girl I like.

He turns on me and I’m trembling, terrified in a way I’ve never been before. Not of this damn dragon but of turning around and seeing what’s become of Grace. My Grace.

I turn back to her, startled, and notice it’s her fingers that are brushing against mine. Except not exactly her fingers. Stone replicas of them. Not ash, I realize as I gaze at her. As our fingers meet and join. Stone. Grace is stone. And not stone as in a statue, either. This Grace, who is somehow—incomprehensibly—made of stone, is also somehow—incomprehensibly—alive.

Her GarGOYLE