Heart's Volition (Into the New World #4)

By: Frey Ortega
Into the New World 4

Chapter One

Micah Faraday was royally screwed, and not in the good way most incubi would have liked.

It all started when he brought Erik Anderson into his life. Saving the man by binding himself to Erik hadn’t been a part of his life plan, but there was a little seed of thought inside of Micah that told him that if he could provide an inkling of good in the world by saving a life, then he wouldn’t die completely useless. He hadn’t counted on Erik actually wanting to be with him, though.

The moment the mating bond snapped into place between the two of them, Micah knew he was screwed, because there was an actual chance that Erik actually wanted him, and Micah couldn’t admit to himself that he —no, yearned for—another person to like him.

Now, he had someone who wanted him. Erik was many things to Micah even though they’d only been mated a short while. The phoenix was a lot of unknowns, certainly, but the one thing Micah knew about the man was that they were bound together irreversibly, and it seemed Erik was okay with that, much to Micah’s surprise and chagrin.

And they hadn’t had sex, well, ever, though that wasn’t so much a problem since they’d only been mated for three weeks. Although, Micah definitely felt the pangs of hunger inside him, a hunger that wouldn’t be sated by any meal, and it was something that only Erik could give him. As an incubus, he needed to feed in other ways than just eating food. Being bound to someone else just made this need stronger, this need to feed, to play with, and to devour the man he was bound to.

Not to mention the fact that the man with wild, blond hair, ice-blue eyes and a perpetual, lopsided grin on his face was like sex on a stick. Micah needed to mentally fan himself whenever he even turned to look at Erik, and something inside him constantly tried to propel him into Erik’s arms. He needed to stay away.

Because of the way he was trying hard not to feed from Erik, Micah’s mind trailed off from time to time into some state where he constantly felt exhausted, sometimes to the point of catatonia. It felt as though the world around his would cease to exist, and it brought him some peace of mind even as he sat there, unresponsive.

Back when he had been abducted, so much of his time was spent feeling the rhythm of a machine press into him on all ends that there were times that he almost felt one with the machine. Every so often, when his body throbbed, he could feel everything around him disappear, and he would be sucked into his thoughts, daydreaming and not paying attention to anything else, really.

Much like this moment, where Micah was seated in the middle of an apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, the apartment he now lived in with his newfound “mate.” A whole group of his roommates were seated in the living room. Erik was waving his hand about in front of Micah’s face to try and capture his attention, and two couples were off on the other side staring at him like he’d just lost his head. Zack had an arm draped over the back of the couch, with one leg drawn up while Rain was leaning forward, his legs splayed out in a comfortable sitting position, his fingers tented.

Then there was Kai, who was settled right against Darius, his head against the gargantuan man’s shoulder. Erik, of course, was to one side, with that lopsided, sexy-as-sin grin on his face and the way his arm draped over the back of the couch, his body language just screaming honest and open and everything Micah just wanted to touch and feel and…do a lot of other things to.

Micah was so deep, deep into his reverie that he hadn’t realized he was actually talking to a group of people. One minute he was listening to Kai tell a story, when Erik’s arm tightened around him slightly and he careened into oblivion. Part of it was extreme hunger.

Times like these, Micah missed the freedom of being able to feed from the energy of the world around him. Now, it was as though everything was funneled—and amplified—by the big, Nordic-looking lug beside him. It was just one of the many double-edged swords when he bound himself to Erik weeks ago. When Erik started to feel worried, Micah lost the already tenuous supply of energy he had, and it made his mind attempt to shut down to try and conserve what little energy he had left inside him.

But he knew he couldn’t. Micah could see the looks on the faces of his friends and he had to come back. He blinked rapidly, before turning to the source of the voice trying to talk to him.

“Earth to Micah, come in, Micah,” Kai said. “You still with us, space cadet?”

“Huh, what?” Micah blinked and turned to Kai. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was just thinking…”

“Care to share with the rest of the class?” Kai grinned.

“No, not specifically,” Micah said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as a tinge of red appeared on his cheeks. “It’s nothing serious.”

“Party pooper. No, seriously, we’re worried. You’ve been spacing out a lot.” Kai frowned. “Not to mention, you’ve gotten pretty pale.”

“It’s just incubi stuff, don’t worry,” Micah replied, waving a hand absently. “Nothing to be worried about.” He was lying. It was definitely something to worry about that he’d look paler when people were already joking that if he grew any paler, he would be translucent.

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