Neck-Romancer: A Neck-Romancer Novel Read online

  Maybe my head was still off, but the eff?

  “Okay, I know I said I was awesome, but I’m not that awesome. I haven’t even passed potions yet, there’s no need to look up to me. I’m sure there are other witches that are more worthy of your devotion, so as much as I like having a fan club, I think it’s a little ridiculous.”

  “There is no one like you,” the woman said, coming up beside the satyr, and it was very clear they weren’t just friends when he put his arm around her. There were other cross species couples? She smiled at my reaction and put her hand out to gesture at the head of the room where a throne sat underneath a large symbol.

  The symbol of the necromancers.

  This was a fucking necromancer cult.

  The satyr carefully approached before offering his hand to me that I took because I was too in shock to do anything else. “Our coven has waited four hundred years for the next necromancer to specialize. Many of us gave up hope as generations passed without a sign, and then we got news of Jasmine Neck, the witch that lost her spark, and when she’d finally specialized, she was the necromancer we’d been waiting for.”

  I let him lead me to the throne and noted it had been freshly polished, but that didn’t help the creeped out feeling I was starting to get.

  “Okay, homie. Three questions.” I spun and faced the group, the satyr already taking a few steps back so I was alone by the necromancer altar. “Is there a crown to go with this throne? Do you happen to have any books on necromancy? And is there any chance you’re planning on, I don’t know, sacrificing me to the gods or some crazy shit? Cuz if so, I’m not into it.”

  The satyr scoffed, halfway between laughter and being insulted. “Do you honestly believe we would wait centuries for you only to slaughter you in sacrifice?”

  I shrugged. “Bitches be crazy?” I casually continued looking around the cave and could see no obvious exit. Damn it. “To be fair, you did kidnap me. And you brought me to your secret creepy lair. Not exactly the best way to tell someone you think they’re the tits and want to worship the ground they walk on.”

  “Our methods are unorthodox, and we apologize for that. Our discretion is simply to ensure our safety, and yours,” the satyr explained. “There are those among both our worlds who do not want the necromancers to return. They believe no one should have power over life and death.”

  Like a certain demonic presence did.

  “We believe that our world has become out of balance without witches like you. It has caused centuries of war and suffering. The only way to return the balance is to help you rise in power until you can take your place as the most powerful witch alive.”

  “We pledge our loyalty to you, Jasmine Neck, the necromancer.” The woman knelt before me, and the others followed suit until they were all on their knees, swearing their fealty to me.

  The satyr had difficulty kneeling with his goat-like legs, but he managed to get down on one knee and bowed his head to me, horns and all. “We will live and die to protect you. You need only say the word and we will be by your side.”

  “I…” I swallowed, momentarily stunned at their devotion for a dork like me. “I have soulmates. Magicae Equidem. All three of them. If you’re swearing to protect me, I would have you protect them as well.”

  “You needn’t ask, my liege,” the satyr assured me. My liege. This was the best day ever. “Your family is also under our protection.”

  They’d all started to raise their heads so I sat down on the throne, only because my head was starting to hurt again, and a fangirl-like smile grew on all of their faces. I was surprised none of them whipped their phones out to take a picture.

  “Since you guys have been worshipping necromancers for so long, do you happen to know why it’s been so long since the last one? Or what happened to my predecessor, for that matter?”

  The woman helped her lover stand again. “I’m afraid our knowledge is limited. In the early days of our coven, we didn’t write anything down for fear of it being discovered. We relied on word of mouth to remember the history of your kind, but much of it was lost after the coven disbanded some time ago.”

  “Those that came before us gave up hope,” the satyr explained with regret. “And so with their deaths, almost all that was known about the previous necromancer was lost.”

  Someone from the crowd approached, a Lycan, and he walked to a pedestal near me where a small book sat. “The only thing we have is this book.” He approached my throne, and his nostrils flared when he was close enough to hand me the book. “You are mated to a Lycan?” I nodded and he smiled, stepping back once I took the book from him. “One of the things we teach in our coven is to be accepting of all. The war our brothers fight is needless and cruel. One of the only things we know about the previous necromancer is that they were kind to magical beasts and wanted us all to be treated as equals. We try hard to continue that legacy.”

  “JASMINE NECK WHERE ARE YOU? WHOEVER HAS MY LOVER IS IN SERIOUS SHIT RIGHT NOW!” Alec’s voice cracked the air like a sonic boom and everyone was getting up from the floor to turn around as a warlock, Lycan, and ghost burst into the cave, looking like they were about to shove a pencil into everyone’s skulls. They stopped briefly once they saw me, only to continue marching through the room until they reached the throne, Alec at the head with a murderous expression. “What in the fuck is going on, Jaz?”

  Pierce went up the few steps and pulled me to his arms, holding me tightly as his hands shook against my back. “You’re okay. You’re okay, right?” I nodded and he held me even closer.

  “Get away from her! Everyone stay back!” Gilbert ordered, hovering somewhere above us. You’d think seeing a ghost would get some kind of terrified reaction from the coven, but they were merely fascinated, whispering amongst themselves about him and wondering where he’d come from.

  “We were worried sick, and we find you sitting on a throne with a bunch of weirdos like this is completely normal?” Alec yelled over the whispering, and I broke from Pierce’s hug to see the warlock clenching his fists and trying desperately to catch his breath. I’d never seen him so effected before, so out of control. The instant I held out my hand for him, he was up the stairs and lifting me into his arms, shaking more than Pierce had. The Lycan came up behind me and put his arms around my back, sandwiching me between them.

  I lifted my head and noticed some of the water on Alec’s face wasn’t sweat, and I brushed one of his tears back with my thumb. “I’m okay, Alec. I promise.” He cut me off, clasping my face in his hands and crushing my lips with his, kissing me like he thought he’d never see me again.

  “You needn’t be afraid for her safety,” the satyr assured my men. “We would never harm her. Or any of you, for that matter.”

  Alec pressed our foreheads together, petting my hair slowly, unwilling to turn away from me. “We’ll discuss your transgressions another time, satyr. We’re taking our mate home, and if you try to stop us, you’ll find out exactly how far I’m willing to go to protect my soulmate.” Pierce let go and Alec picked me up, lifting my legs as I put my arms around his neck.

  “We will meet again soon, Jasmine,” the satyr said when we passed him, and Alec turned just enough to meet the man’s eyes. Whatever the satyr saw on Alec’s face made him take a step back.

  “Don’t follow us,” Alec ground out, and he continued carrying me out of the cave.

  “Did they hurt you?” Gilbert asked as Alec navigated through some tunnels, somehow knowing the way out.

  I adjusted my arms around Alec’s neck and brushed my fingers through the back of his hair. “Bumped my head a bit, but they said they only wanted to meet me.”

  Alec scoffed and adjusted me slightly in his arms. “Unlikely. If they wanted to meet you, they could’ve just invited you over for tea. They didn’t have to kidnap you.”

  “They had a perfectly reasonable explanation, you were just too busy pointing a finger to listen,” I countered, and Alec stopped short, his hands on me f
isting into my shirt.

  “Jaz,” Pierce started, coming up beside me so I could see him. “It doesn’t matter why they did it. They put you in danger. No one who is on your side would do that. We thought…” He checked Alec’s face, but the warlock was looking dead ahead, grinding his teeth so hard I thought they would crack. “We thought we wouldn’t make it in time to save you.”

  They’d been as worried about me as I had about them.

  I leaned up in Alec’s arms and buried my head in his neck, and he let himself relax just enough to plant a kiss on my forehead before he continued on his path out of the cave.

  Alec flew us to the closest train station with me on his front, Pierce on his back, and Gilbert beside us. Pierce turned into a wolf so we could board the train, and went back to his human form once we’d found an empty compartment.

  The air was deadly silent once we had all sat down and locked the door, and Alec refused to let me leave his side. He held me next to him with one arm around me, constantly kissing my head every minute or so as if reassuring himself that I was still there. It was wildly adorable to see him so affectionate, don’t get me wrong, but I didn’t care to be smothered. I put up with it, knowing he would stop soon and be back to normal.

  Gilbert and Pierce sat together on the other bench in our compartment, keeping just as vigilant a watch on me without crushing me against them like Alec. I was starting to nod off under the rhythmic train vibrations and the warmth of Alec’s body when Pierce suddenly jumped up and grabbed the small book I still had in my hand.

  “What is this?” he asked, opening it to look at the writing inside. “Did they give this to you?”

  Alec sprang up, making me fall over without him supporting me, and took the book from the Lycan, slamming it shut. “Rule number one of magic, Pierce. We don’t open unknown spell books without proper protection. They could have a hex on them, or the pages could be laced with poison. You need someone with my specialization to examine it first.”

  “It’s just a book,” Pierce mumbled in complaint, sitting back down.

  “It’s just a book, sure, until one makes your balls fall off,” Alec said as he twisted the book this way and that, examining things around it that we couldn’t see.

  Pierce started laughing but saw the serious look on Alec’s face and turned to me in shock. “Is he joking? Please tell me he’s joking.” My non-answer made him groan and clasp his head in his hands. “Oh god, please tell me my junk is okay, Alec.”

  Alec finished his examination and opened the book again. “You’re fine. This time, at least. I don’t advise making that mistake again.” He chewed on his lip, flipping more pages and reading the text. “Looks like it’s in a different language. I’m not sure which one. But it’s definitely a spell book. And the symbol on the front is the one for necromancy, so…” He looked up at me from the book, and I smiled with hope.

  “It has spells I can use?”

  He nodded and handed me the book. “Looks like your kidnapping had a silver lining after all.” I tucked the book into my jacket pocket before Alec sat beside me again and pulled me back into his arms. “But don’t ever let it happen again,” he said, kissing my head and stroking my hair.

  “You’re squishing me,” I complained, and he lifted me onto his lap, holding me even tighter as punishment.

  “I’m never letting you go again, Jaz,” Alec whispered against my shoulder, settling his face in the crook of my neck.

  “Yay,” I exclaimed dryly, making myself go limp as I accepted my fate and pat his tousled curls. It only took a few minutes before I was close to sleep again, but this time no one interrupted me and I drifted off with Alec keeping me steady in his arms.

  I barely stirred when he moved me, and woke up the next morning in my bed, sandwiched between Pierce and Alec. Alec had my back nestled against his front, and Pierce was holding my hand in his sleep, his face a few inches away from mine. A quick glance towards the ceiling showed Gilbert sitting on one of the rafters, and he drifted down to sit at the foot of the bed once he saw I was awake.

  “How’s your head?” he asked in a whisper, and Alec stirred enough to draw me closer to him in his sleep. “Alec gave you a healing potion when he noticed you had a bump on your skull.”

  The pain had disappeared, along with the dizziness. “I’m good,” I whispered back, and Pierce reached a hand out, grabbing me forward until I was flush against him.

  “Return the witch, wolf boy,” Alec grumped hazily, grasping around for me with his eyes closed.

  “I’m not having a tug of war, a threesome, or anything until there is coffee in my veins,” I said with my mouth muffled against Pierce’s chest. I pulled away from him and laid flat on my back, only for both men to lean into me for a snuggle, pinning me down under their weight. I groaned long and loud, but happily noticed Alec lifting a hand to wave before the coffee machine started making noise. “Smother away, but once that coffee is ready, you’d better get off or get wrecked.”

  Pierce kissed my cheek and stroked my face with his hand. “We’re just glad you’re safe.” Alec’s hands tightened on me but he said nothing. He’d clearly been the most effected, but why, I had no idea.

  “I don’t remember my bed being big enough to hold three of us before now,” I noted, turning my head towards Alec to rub against his cheek.

  “I might’ve used an extension spell,” he answered, kissing my nose slightly with his eyes still closed. “God, I hate being up before noon. The sun is so goddamn bright.”

  “What are you, a vampire?” Pierce joked.

  “Ha,” Alec scoffed against my skin. “I wish. Then I could have a legit excuse for not being awake during the day other than, ‘I don’t like it.’ Trust me, teachers don’t accept that. I’ve tried.” His hand on my side started traveling downward, tracing circles along my stomach until he was about to slip his fingers into my underwear.

  The coffee pot clicked, signaling it was finished.

  “Check the hand, and get off,” I told him, and both of them were off me in a split second, correctly fearing my wrath. I got up and walked to pour myself some coffee, and sipped it as I looked down and noticed I was in a tank top and underwear I hadn’t been wearing the previous day. I picked at the corner of my eyes and sniffed, gulping more coffee as I studied the panties Alec had put on me. “Is this the underwear you took from me on the train?”

  “You’re welcome,” Alec announced as he tried to snuggle back under the blankets. “I have a sudden need to take them off of you again, so hurry up with that coffee.”

  “I have class, horny pants. Do you know how many demerits I get if I’m even five seconds late? All my teachers hate me, and I don’t want to start losing privileges from all these demerits.”

  Pierce got up from the bed, stretched with a sleepy growl, and walked to me as he reached into his pockets for the Ouija board necklace I’d given him. He put it around his neck and gently grasped my face in his hands before leaning in to kiss me, leaving me completely breathless and more than regretting my decision to run to class instead of tearing his pants off.

  “Th…” I gulped and blinked a few times. “Then again, I can always miss a class. Or five.” I almost dropped my coffee trying to dip back into him for another kiss but he pulled away and flashed me a toothy grin.

  “Too late.” And he crouched down in front of me, shifting from man to wolf before I could tell him how much of a dick he was.

  Alec rolled over, exposing his toned back to me. “Wake me when it’s dinnertime.”

  “If you go to class, I’ll let you get to third base outside the greenhouse.”

  He was up so fast, he tripped over the blankets and faceplanted on the floor.

  Gilbert stayed behind in my rooms since I didn’t know how to make him only visible to us yet, but I was able to touch his hand briefly before we left, and I swore I would get a handle on my abilities as fast as possible so we could kiss again.

  Alec walked behind me down th
e dorm stairs, no doubt trying to catch a glimpse under my uniform skirt, and he took my hand while we walked through the common room so the other advanced studies students could see that we were together.

  Pierce followed us to the stairwell, coming up to my other side as we went down a few flights to my first class where Alec dropped me off. He walked me into the doorway, and in full sight of my classmates, pulled me in by my waist and kissed me with enough tongue to make a saint blush, making sure I was breathless by the time he was finished. I stumbled back, unsure of what year it was for a few seconds, and he righted me with a smirk.

  “I’ll be back for you in an hour. Pierce, keep her safe.”

  That was how my day went. Alec walking me to class, Pierce staying by my side constantly, and as someone who was used to being by themselves, I was not enjoying it. Before my last class, Pierce tugged me into a hall closet and shifted into his human form before giving me a kiss that rivaled Alec’s on the dizzy scale.

  “I have to go check in with my pack,” he explained against my lips. “There’s been an issue with the Centaur herd so I need to make sure everything is okay. Alec said the barrier will still be open for me, and he’ll come get you at the end of your last class before he has to study. I’ll be back tonight, I promise.”

  “I’m not a newborn baby, I can take care of myself.” He smothered my complaint with more kisses before shifting back and leaving me in the hallway unsupervised for the first time that day. I took the opportunity to run back up to my dorm and used a spell to lock the door that only I could undo.

  “Rough day?” Gilbert asked me, appearing at the foot of my bed.