Ensnared (Sea Dragons of Amber Bay Book 2) Read online

  Ensnared

  Sea Dragons of Amber Bay #2

  Zoe Ashwood

  Copyright © 2020 by Zoe Ashwood

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover by Natasha Snow.

  Edited by Emmy Ellis of Studioenp.

  Proofread by Lori Parks.

  Created with Vellum.

  Hi, dear reader!

  Thank you so much for getting Ensnared. This is the second book of the Sea Dragons of Amber Bay series, a steamy reverse harem paranormal romance.

  If you haven’t read Tempted, the first book, yet, I highly recommend you start there as this is an ongoing series where the story progresses from one book to the next.

  Here’s the full list of books in the trilogy:

  Tempted

  Ensnared

  Seduced

  Happy reading!

  Zoe

  One

  Skye

  The cold beach pebbles bruise my knees, and I scramble around to stare at Jack. I’m still naked, but I utter a curse with numb lips.

  He’s too still. Too quiet.

  Moments ago, my magic exploded from me in a column of white flames as he and Ty gave me the most glorious orgasm of my life. Only it now feels dirty and wrong—because Jack is insensible on the ground.

  Ty presses shaking fingers to Jack’s wrist, feeling for his pulse. After several tense seconds, he exhales, his shoulders slumping.

  “He’s alive.”

  He turns Jack carefully to his side and covers him with the blanket. I sob in relief, then crawl closer to help, but he growls at me.

  I stumble back, shocked. I’ve never seen Ty look like that, especially not at me. But I can’t blame him. Whatever happened when Jack and I climaxed together has hurt him so badly, he’s unresponsive.

  “Don’t touch him,” Ty barks.

  I cover myself with my arms, shivering in the moonlight. “I won’t hurt him, I just—”

  “Get Aiden,” he commands. “Now.”

  There’s nothing I can do here. Ty is watching over Jack, his face etched in worry, so I drag on my jeans, forgoing my underwear, lace up my hiking boots so I don’t kill myself on the rocks, and race off, still pulling on my jacket.

  Aiden meets me halfway to the lodge. “What the fuck is going on? Was that fire on the beach?”

  There’s real fear in his voice, and I can imagine why: a forest fire here, in a village in the middle of the woods with only a small number of people to fight the flames, could be deadly. The truth is far, far worse.

  I shake my head. “That was me,” I choke out. “Jack is…”

  Aiden doesn’t wait for me to finish the sentence. He sprints down the path, and I follow, stumbling over my feet. The moonlight seemed so bright, but the path is shadowed by spruce trees, tall and dark in the night. My hands shake so much, I tuck them under my armpits. Fear grips my gut the closer we get to the beach, but I can’t leave now.

  If my magic has hurt Jack… Aiden will know immediately I was responsible. They’ll throw me out of the village. I’ll have nowhere to go and no way of knowing if Jack will be okay. A knot forms in my throat, and I can barely breathe, each inhale searing my lungs but carrying too little oxygen.

  I emerge from the woods and skid over the pebbles in pursuit of Aiden. Ahead on the shore, he drops to his knees beside Ty. He checks Jack over and peers into his eyes, but when Ty lifts his arm and drops it, it flops to the ground as though Jack is a marionette with cut strings. I slow down and hang back, afraid of going closer.

  The air around Aiden shimmers, a golden flicker, there and gone again. Gods, I bet that’s some sort of residue from whatever magic I’d accidentally wrought. A cry escapes my lips, and I stifle it with my palm. With quiet steps, I approach them, but they don’t acknowledge my presence. Not that I expected them to: they need to take Jack somewhere safe so he doesn’t die from exposure.

  Ty is also still naked, and I scan the beach for his clothes. Nothing. He and Jack had come striding out of the waves like sea creatures, but I’d been too preoccupied, too lost to pleasure, to think about it until now. I step closer, wanting to offer him my sweatshirt—it’s small, but surely it’s better than nothing. I can’t do anything more. The magic came out of nowhere, and I have no idea how to undo the damage. Ty flinches as I approach, then turns his back on me. It hurts, but I’m not surprised. Just as I thought I was making friends, I went and fucked it all up. Again.

  Together, Ty and Aiden lift Jack, still wrapped in my blanket. Then Aiden takes his full weight, and they start up the path toward the Lodge. I stare after them, unsure of what to do. In the end, I put out the remnants of the fire I lit earlier by cupping seawater in my hands and pouring it over the embers. The crescent beach that had seemed so beautiful and welcoming just an hour ago, when I’d completed my full moon ritual, is now cold and inhospitable. I pick up my remaining clothes and follow the men.

  Lights blaze in the Lodge, so that’s where I head. All three of them have rooms in the big wooden house, and I know which one is Jack’s. Inside, Aiden and Ty are bent over Jack’s prone form, murmuring softly. Ty presses a wet cloth to Jack’s brow, his movements tender. He’s obviously borrowed a pair of sweats and a t-shirt—they hang off his lean frame.

  I know the moment they become aware of me because they stiffen. Neither of them faces me, and I’m left staring at their backs.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

  Ty throws down the cloth. “What happened?” he demands. “What was that fire?”

  “I-I don’t know,” I admit. I’d never created white fire in my life, and I have no idea why having sex with Jack and Ty brought that out of me.

  “How can you not know?” Ty advances on me, his dark eyes burning. “You fuck a guy and start glowing white—and you don’t know why?”

  Lights flicker, and Aiden shoots me a glare. I look down at my wrists and realize what’s happened.

  “I’m not wearing my bracelets.”

  It’s the only thing that makes sense. I’d left them at my cabin before going out to the beach to complete the full moon ritual. I couldn’t work magic while wearing them, and I’d thought… A sob rises in my throat, and I swallow convulsively.

  I thought I was safe here.

  The bedside lamp goes pop, and the bulb explodes, showering the room with bits of broken glass. Ty yelps and flings out his arm to shield Jack from the debris. Jack doesn’t even twitch at the loud sound, but Aiden cringes, then puts himself right in front of me.

  “You need to calm down,” he barks. “Right now.”

  I gulp down breath in huge, heaving sobs, and another bulb pops in the hallway behind me.

  “Skye,” he commands. “Look at me.”

  He takes my shoulders and squeezes, hard. It’s almost painful—enough for me to have a point of focus. I blink through my tears and drag in a shuddering breath. Then I give him a nod: I can’t speak yet but I’m getting myself under control.

  “What the fuck is going on, Aiden?” Ty asks.

  We both turn to him. Blood drips from his hand where he obviously tried to brush away some stray pieces of glass from the bed.

  There’s no use denying it any longer. He’s a smart guy, so he’ll figure it out sooner or later, as soon as the initial shock wears off.

  “I’m a witch,” I force through my teeth.

  The effort of this confession worsens my
headache. This is the first time I’ve ever spoken those words aloud: I never felt the need with my family, especially as I was considered a dud most of the time, and Aiden figured it out before we ever met in person. I’d never told anyone who didn’t know my secret.

  I’m not sure Ty appreciates how hard this is for me—and it doesn’t matter. It’s not me who’s unconscious. I’m the one who’s been lying to him and Jack for the past month. Maybe not outright, but lying by omission is just as bad.

  “You’re a witch.”

  His tone dips, making it a statement, not a question. He takes a shuffle-step closer to Jack, as though he wants to protect him from me. It tears me to pieces, that small, instinctive movement.

  “I never wanted to hurt him, Ty, you have to believe me. I’m—” I stop myself because this is not the time to blurt out that I’ve fallen in love with the man lying on the bed.

  Ty’s frown only deepens, and he turns from me to Aiden. “Did you know?”

  I want to deny it, to claim all responsibility, because Aiden didn’t cause this. He’s been trying to help me figure out how to control my magic, and I stupidly took off those bracelets for some witchy time. I should have known it would end in disaster, even though it had felt so right at that moment.

  “He’s not—” I begin, but he puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

  Aiden, ever proud and honest, doesn’t balk from the question. “Yes, I knew.”

  Ty gives me a glower so dark, I flinch involuntarily. Witches were never well-understood by humans, and I guess we’ve found the irreconcilable difference between us that he can’t get over.

  “Leave.”

  His voice is a growl, and there’s enough threat behind it that I duck my head and back away to the doorway.

  “I’ll get a broom and a dustpan for the glass…”

  I trail off feebly at the fury in his expression.

  “No. You’ve done enough.”

  Aiden is staring straight at Ty, his jaw locked. I look at Jack. He’s immobile, his chest rising and falling slowly. His face is too pale—ashen gray beneath his healthy tan.

  I turn and escape, my boots crunching on the broken light bulb glass in the hallway. I barely make it down the Lodge steps before my stomach turns and I’m sick in the withering hydrangea bushes that some lovely soul planted by the path. My knees buckle, so I kneel on the damp, cold ground. I cough and heave until there’s nothing more to spit up.

  My insides feel empty and hollow. I thought I’d found my home in Amber Bay, but after this, there will be no staying for me. Not after I nearly killed Jack with my unchecked magic.

  I stumble to my feet and head to my cabin. I’ve got work to do if I want to be ready to leave by tomorrow. The night air bites at any exposed sliver of skin, worming its way beneath my jacket where I’m still naked because I hadn’t put on my underwear.

  Princess Penny, curled up like a fuzzy snail on her doggie bed, whines sleepily as I let myself in. She sees it’s only me, so she tucks her snout back down and falls asleep again. My heart breaks: she’s just gotten used to this new home and she’s been eating more since we came here. Her fur has grown glossy with health, and she’s adopted the guys as part of her strange, mismatched pack.

  It’s the final thought that brings me down completely. I manage to grab my bracelets from the kitchen table and shove them on my wrists, then collapse on the couch, boots still on, and cry.

  I hadn’t cried much after I heard that my family had disowned me. I’d wiped away my tears and got back to my feet. But here, I thought I’d made friends. Turns out, I really should have told them what I was from the start. Then maybe Ty would have avoided me, and I wouldn’t have fallen for him, too. I can’t ever tell him how much he means to me, not after the horrified, disgusted look he gave me.

  Sobs rack my body, and I let myself feel all the pain. I deserve it. I brought this on myself by thinking things could be different here. I blindly pat around me for tissues. Finding none, I wail harder, then get up and shuffle to the bathroom to find toilet paper. This is it: there’s no going back from this point, and tomorrow morning, I’ll be on that tiny bush plane, flying back to Anchorage.

  I glance at my reflection in the mirror and immediately wish I hadn’t. I dip my head and splash cold water on my face, though my shoulders are now shaking from hiccups. Then I return to the main room of my cabin and survey the scene around me.

  I hadn’t brought a lot with me to Alaska, thinking I would only remain here for two weeks. The men bought me enough winter gear to last for months, though, so my belongings suddenly doubled. But I won’t be taking any of that with me. Some of the items, I hadn’t even unwrapped because the really bad weather hasn’t hit yet. Someone will be able to take them back to the shop and return them, I’m sure. I stack those on the kitchen table, folding every piece neatly. I won’t leave this place a mess.

  My own clothes and Princess Penny’s gear go into my two pink suitcases. Jack had goggled at me when he’d first seen them at the airport. It seems like an eternity has passed since that first day. Jack and Ty have found a place in my life so seamlessly, it feels as though I’ve known them forever. Even Aiden, who I can’t figure out no matter how hard I try, has become…a friend. He’s shown me that my magic can be controlled. What a mistake we’ve made.

  I only wish I had more time with them. To learn more from them. To love them better.

  I sniffle and put my teal Adidas sneakers on top of my folded clothes. Tomorrow morning, I’ll grab whatever is left before someone flies me to Anchorage. I wonder who will draw the short straw. I’m not sure Ty will want to spend several hours in close proximity to me, so it’ll probably be Aiden.

  Collapsing on my bed, I only manage to draw the covers over myself, then sink into deep, dreamless sleep.

  Two

  Aiden

  Skye’s footsteps recede down the corridor, leaving me alone with my two best friends. One is unconscious on the bed, and the other furious enough that he’s shimmering, on the verge of a shift.

  I fucked up so badly, I can’t even begin to form an apology that won’t sound like complete bullshit.

  “Want to explain to me what’s going on?”

  Ty’s speaking through clenched teeth, but his voice is deceptively quiet. He steps around the bed and faces me, his hands clenched into fists by his sides. He’s vibrating, one breath away from shifting.

  “I’ll tell you everything, but you need to calm down.”

  His strong hands land on my shoulders, and he slams me into the wall.

  My head smacks against the wood. I groan at the impact. He’s not holding back, and if I don’t deescalate this, he might shift and hurt Jack or himself even worse.

  “Please, man.” I hold my hands up even though I really want to wrestle him to the floor and keep him there until he fucking breathes for a minute. “You can’t shift here, you’ll hurt Jack…”

  “Don’t talk to me about hurting Jack.” Ty points at me. “You’ve been keeping secrets from us, that’s what hurt Jack. And that…that…”

  He can’t even finish the sentence. He snarls and whirls away from me, his hands at his hips.

  “What Skye did was an accident,” I say. “I’m sure of it.”

  And I am. I may be an idealist, but I’ve spent enough time with her over the past couple of weeks to know that she wouldn’t hurt Jack on purpose. With that old dog of hers and her crazy rescue mission that led to her arrest in San Diego, she showed her soft heart. I’m pretty sure she’s in love with Jack, and Ty as well—I see how she looks at them when they aren’t watching. She’s a woman who falls with her entire heart, a witch who would rather strangle her own magic forever than cause distress to those around her.

  Ty doesn’t want to listen to any of that right now. And I understand that. He’s pissed, scared for Jack, and probably feels betrayed—by both me and by Skye.

  “How long have you known?” he asks, his voice broken. “Was it something she
did here? How did you find out?”

  I take a deep breath, because I’ve been anticipating this. Ever since I invited Skye to Amber Bay, I knew all the secrets would come to light eventually. I just hadn’t imagined I’d be having this conversation with Ty only while Jack was unconscious between us.

  “I knew before I contracted her,” I say. “It’s why I picked her and not some random human IT tech.”

  He stares at me. Blinks. Then launches himself across the room and slams his fist in my face.

  We go down in a clatter, and he rears above me, fist raised to strike again. Blood rushes in my mouth, blinding pain radiating into my skull, and I know my nose is broken. Still, I don’t fight back. If swinging at me will make him feel better, I’ll take a hundred punches. A thousand. I’ve betrayed his trust, and I don’t know how to make it right.

  He stares down at me, one hand at my throat as though he wants to choke the life out of me. Then he growls in disgust and gets off me, shaking out his hand.

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “I should have told you.”

  “You think?” he yells, whirling back to face me. “Gods damn it, Aiden, what the fuck! You’ve been harping on about how we need to keep flying under the radar, how the world is out to get us. Then you bring a fucking witch to our village! Does anyone know what you’ve done?”

  I shake my head. “I didn’t want to risk Skye’s safety.”

  “Skye’s…” He gapes at me, seemingly incapable of even finishing the thought.

  Then he throws his hands up and stalks away from me, back to Jack’s side. His bare feet crunch on the broken bits of the light bulb, and he curses under his breath. The bed dips as he sits next to Jack and puts a hand on his chest.

  His expression is so torn, I realize I must have missed something. He and Jack have always been best friends, but now he looks at him with tenderness. Absent-mindedly, he rubs his hair with his other hand.