Charm (Crave #5)

by Tracy Wolff

I can’t help it. I scream again, then realize what a truly horrible idea that was when the blood currently gushing all over me…gushes straight into my fucking mouth. Because of course it does. It tastes beyond horrible, and I start to gag, which has Hudson yelling in alarm all over again. And I get it, I do. This is not the optimal place or time to toss my cookies.

Im cryinh

Because once I’m close enough, I wrap my arms around him like a koala—not pretty or empowering but it gets the job done—and

Mood

“I need this, too,” she whispers. “I need you.”

“Gargoyle. Hmm.” He looks at Hudson. “Is that what she thinks she is?”

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN edit: i forgot shes a demi god

She shrugs. “I didn’t toss you. You…launched yourself. Besides, I liked that shirt, and now it’s ruined forever.” “More than you like me, apparently.” I roll my eyes at her. “At the time, maybe.” She reaches over, slips her hand into mine. And nearly makes my bloody heart explode, even before she adds, “Not anymore.”

“It does,” she answers, deadpan. “It makes me want to climb you like a tree, wrap my legs around your hips, and persuade you to have your way with me.” “Um.” For the second time today—and pretty much the second time ever—I’ve got absolutely no comeback for Grace. Except, “The inn is just around the corner.”

IM DEAD

How had I torn a rift in time in the first place? And if I did it once, can I do it again?

I KEPT TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IT WAS BUT I JUST REMEMBERED SHES A DEMI GOD

“Yeah,” Hudson says, raising one eyebrow. “You did. Looks like you’d rather be stone than talk to me right now.”

Ooooo throwback

Caoimhe’s smile disappears. “Like he wants to do it for the rest of his immortal life,” she answers seriously. “Give me a break.” I roll my eyes. “You can’t get all that from just a look.” She seems insulted. “Of course I can. As a performer, I spend my life reading a room. And that guy is one hundred percent gone over you.”

I finally see a bright silvery platinum-colored thread. It’s in the middle of a bunch of different threads—a hot-pink one, a bright green one, an electric-blue one that seems to radiate warmth and joy.

But after brunch at the mayor’s house, I had to admit I was still Grace’s second choice. And I don’t want to be anyone’s second choice anymore.

:(

I get to spend every day with my best friend, someone who loves spending time with me right back. How amazing is that?

By the time she left the library, it was quite clear she was upset with me about something, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what. That fucking blue string.

NO U DINGLE

Instead of answering, she asks, “How was your day?” It doesn’t sound like a trap, but it definitely feels like one.

More, it has shame coursing through me. Because all this time, when I’ve been so sure that I know him better than anyone else, it’s never occurred to me that he knows me the same way. That he’s been giving me the space to decide what it is I want—who it is I want.

Which is why I’ve always known, for far longer than I was able to admit, that Hudson is everything I want, everything I need, and more importantly, I accept him exactly as he is, the same way he accepts me.

Hudson needs me as much as I need him—he’s just afraid. And I get it. I do. Honestly, I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. I read his journals. I know how his father spent a lifetime giving him things to love, then taking them away.

His grin turns soft. “I’m so glad you’re okay with the mating bond. I was worried you’d be upset or disappointed.”

AHHHH

“So it’s my fault now?” he asks, incredulous. “Well, it sure as shit isn’t mine,” I tell him sarcastically. “All you have to do is tell me how you feel, and you can’t do it. You won’t do it.” “I love you!” he snarls.

AHHHH

And suddenly, his mouth is in a whole lot of new and interesting places.

HAHA

“Yeah,” she says, and her voice is breathy and urgent. She reaches up, cups the side of my face with her hand, holds my gaze. “You know I love you, right?” I swallow, my heart lodged in the back of my throat. “I do now.”

“Don’t kiss me like you think it’s the last time,” he whispers. And I realize, in shock, that his eyes are wet and my heart cracks. Hudson hasn’t cried since he was a kid, according to his journals. That’s not going to change tonight.

OMG

Because I see her. Smokey. Standing next to the gazebo, completely frozen except for the fact that she’s screaming her head off. And the dragon is headed straight for her.

NO

But I’m not the only one who has that idea, because I’m still turning—still bracing myself—when at the very last second, Smokey comes racing through the night.

SMOKEY NO

He’s fading across the square before I get the first word out—and catches what’s left of Smokey’s poor incinerated body before it can hit the ground.

STOP SHUT UP

hold him as Smokey’s ashes flutter in the air around us, the singed red ribbon falling limply to the ground.

HER GD ASHES OMFG

“I’m sorry.” I clutch his shoulder as I, too, look at what’s left of our tiny, mischievous little friend. “I’m so sorry.”

Dont say it like this pls

The razor-sharp sword slices straight through her tough outer skin, straight through the muscle and bone beneath, until her severed head falls to the ground at his feet.

For smokey :(

“Because she loved you,” I say.

SHE LOVEDD U

“I think it’s—” I breaks off as Souil lifts the stick above his head and starts to spin it while his hips gyrate, Elvis style. The chains—and the balls attached to them—start to spin, too, and I gasp as the entire town square is suddenly turned into a seventies, LSD-inspired disco party.

What the actual fuck

The swinging disco balls connect with the side of Orebon’s head—and rips it half off. Flesh and brains fly everywhere, and he crumples to the ground in a pool of his own purple blood.

WHAT THE FUCK

“Why are you doing this?” Lumi cries from where he is, holding Orebon’s lifeless body. “He did nothing to you.” “He was nothing to me,” Souil says, but even his voice is different now.

BAD TIME WIZARD BBAD

“Take your girlfriend, and your little musician friends, and whatever’s left of that poor shadow creature, and just walk away right now.”

Smokey :,(

“The God of Time, that old bastard, created them to destroy people who were arrogant enough to try to mess with how he’s woven time and space together.

Jikan mention

She’s my mate, the love of my life, the most beautiful on the inside—and the outside—girl I could find in any realm. I won’t let this bastard take her from this world.

Smokey is dead. Oh my God. Smokey is dead. All she wanted in this world was to be near me. To love me. And it was my job to protect her. To keep her safe. I fucking let her down. I let everyone down.

No:(

I choose Grace. The way I’ve always chosen her. The way I will always choose her.

Artelya’s eyebrows slash down and, if possible, she looks offended I’d even suggest such a thing. “Of course I will release the dragon if you agree to kill her.” I start, “But—” “Will my death save innocent lives?” she asks, but we both know the answer, so she continues. “Then it will be my honor to save them.”

“Gargoyles are protectors. It is our sacred duty to protect those who cannot protect themselves.”

“I don’t know. I just know that I’m very sick and that I can’t fight with this poison inside me. My fortification froze the poison as well as my body.”

CYRUS

“All gargoyles can speak to their queen any time they wish,” she explains, and my heart skips in my chest. This powerful warrior is my queen. I should have known.

UR THE QUEEN GRACE

“You will make a great leader one day.” I blink at her. “Leader?” Then she says the oddest thing. “Of course, my queen.”

Because this is Hudson, my mate, and I can’t imagine ever being in a situation where my body—where my mind and heart and soul—don’t respond to him.

And for this one perfect moment in the middle of so much imperfection, it is more than enough. It is everything. We are everything.

“I love you,” I tell her. “Forever.” Her arms tighten around me. “I love you the same way.”

“This isn’t how I thought I’d ever be doing this,” he says. “Then again, before you, I never imagined I’d be doing this at all.”

IS HE GONNA PROPOSE

I am in awe of you, Grace. Of your strength and your kindness and your resilience. The way you always try to help others, the way you always get back up no matter what bad thing happens to you.”

Omg

“I’ve never met anyone like you before. I’ve never had anyone make me laugh the way you do. I’ve never had anyone want to take care of me the way you do.

I don’t want to forget you. I don’t want to go back to the way things used to be—I’d rather be locked in a crypt for another two hundred years than face a life without you in it.”

OMFG THIS KILLS ME BC ITS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small box that looks an awful lot like it should be holding a ring.

OMG