Somehow, he did. “You aren’t dying. In a few more minutes you’ll just wish you were dead.”
He waved his wand over my belly. Red swollen welts marked my skin. I didn’t remember Josie biting me there. He pulled back one side of my sports bra to reveal the swollen punctures on my cleavage.
“Bollocks,” he muttered.
“How long ago did she bite you? Are there more bites?”
“Mmm,” I said.
The way he jostled my breast as he pulled the fabric aside made me slick between my legs with yearning. The warmth of his hand radiated through the fabric. I wanted to feel his hand on me, cupping my breast and stroking me. I wanted him to fill me. Warmth flooded my core. Sweat broke out on my forehead. I felt feverish and drunk.
“Can you feel your fingers and toes? Can you move, or has paralysis set in?”
Now that he mentioned it, I didn’t feel my fingers or toes, only the aching need deep within me. I thought about wiggling my foot, but it was too much effort.
“Did she kiss you?” he asked. “Did you swallow any venom?”
“Maybe.” I wanted to tell him it hadn’t been my idea, but I was drowsy and too relaxed to talk. I didn’t want to have to explain myself.
“I told you Josephine Kimura and you were incompatible as roommates, but did you listen? No. You never listen.” He drew back, taking with him the warmth and pleasure his closeness had brought.
I shivered. My skin hurt. He paced back and forth. Spiderwebs moved out of his way.
“Why must you always expose yourself to danger like this? If it isn’t the Fae, it’s a death wish with other Witchkin.”
A wave of pain jolted through my body, and I cried out. Tears welled up in my eyes. “Please.” My hands were numb and my vision blurry around the edges. “Help me.”
“There’s an irony to this.” He ran his hands through his lustrous hair.
I wished I was running my hand through his hair. “I need you.”
“Only a few months ago, our situations were reversed. I begged you for help. Do you remember what you did?”
“I want to feel you inside me.” I panted from the exertion of speaking an entire sentence.
The gray of his eyes carried the torrent and turbulence of storm clouds. He was so beautiful, like a painting of a fallen angel. I laughed, but I didn’t know why I was laughing.
“You left me to be tortured,” he said. “You left me there, and I suffered for days until the effects of the venom wore off. I cursed your name and wished this fate upon you. I wanted you to suffer as I suffered, to understand the misery you left me to. Only when the effects wore off did the Fae free me.”
The harsh edge of his words caught me off guard. I forced myself to listen. I swallowed, but found my throat was tight, either from venom or guilt stirring inside me.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know I shouldn’t want you, but I do. I’m sorry I made you suffer.” Or that’s what I tried to say. It might have come out as a moaned mumble.
He must have understood enough of what I said, though.
“More likely, you’re sorry you’re suffering.” He snorted. “When I saw you next, I understood you were angry and hurt, so I left you alone. I tried to forgive you for leaving me to be tortured. It was my hope that with time, you would forgive me for causing you heartache. But then you accused me of being unprofessional.” He shook, anger etched into every movement. “You let that sniveling man try to ruin me. You said I sexually harassed you and invaded your head.”
Tears filled my eyes. “I am sorry.”
“There is only one cure for jorogumo venom. It’s an aphrodisiac and can only be dissolved through sexual release.” He lifted his chin, looking imperious. “It would be fitting to leave you here to suffer as I did.”
I nodded or tried to, but my hair was caught in the web. A sob bubbled out of me. My muscles contracted with pain. I had no doubt he would be able to feel the pain radiating out of me, to take pleasure in it—emotionally and magically.
He spoke in a careful monotone. “If I leave right now, no one will be able to say I took advantage of you this time. You won’t be able to accuse me of molesting you later. The most you’ll be able to say is that I’m a git who did the same thing to you as you did to him.” A hint of doubt flickered through his eyes. His words seemed to be as much to convince himself as to convince me.
He turned and headed for the door. Spiderwebs parted.
Whether it was the aphrodisiac breaking down the barriers of inhibition or the hunger driving me senseless so that I was desperate enough to speak the truth, it came out. “I was . . . in love . . . with you.” Each breath stabbed into my lungs. “I still love you.”
“Merlin’s balls.” He turned back. “Why must you do this to me?”
His shoes clomped onto a hard surface, and he rose higher, though there were no steps in the room or anything nearby he could have climbed onto, so he must have used magic. He drew in a few steadying breaths and closed his eyes, looking like he was readying himself for some heavy-duty magic.
The moment he cupped my cheek, his brow furrowed. The pain of yearning wicked away from me. His face paled, and he shuddered. The pressure of his hand on my face increased, but he didn’t hurt me. More of the agony lancing through my limbs left me. I breathed easier. Yet with each breath that grew more easy for me, his own grew shakier.
The fog cleared from my head. He was taking my pain, not so differently from what he’d done in the past. Only, this wasn’t like the pain of burns from lightning or tattoo needles. This strange needing that felt simultaneously good and bad had to be messing with his affinity because he wasn’t handling it as well as he had with those other kinds of pain.
It was hard to believe he would do this for me after all the ways I had wronged him. And yet, maybe it wasn’t that surprising. He had always tried to protect me, though his ways of doing so had often infuriated me. Could it be that he did it because he truly did care?
A different kind of longing filled me, squeezing at my heart. I did love him.
The trembling that coursed through him worsened. He started to sink, the invisible stairs he’d ascended slowly shrinking. His hand left my cheek as his feet met the ground. He fell to his knees, panting.
The potency of the venom crashed back down on me, blinding me with blissful torment. My body yearned for sexual release. I wanted him. I needed him. I would do anything to satiate the ache inside me.
“Please,” I said.
With effort, he labored up his steps once again. “I can’t keep taking away your pain like that. I won’t be able to sustain it.”
I whimpered pathetically, hating myself for my own weakness.
He wiped away my tears with his thumb. “Will you allow me to cure you? Will you trust me?”
A feverish pulse swept through me, making it difficult to focus on his words. “Yes, please.” Not that such a statement meant much at the moment. I had trusted a giant spider only a few minutes before. And then a murderer.
He gave a curt nod. “The most pragmatic solution is to burn the venom from your system. Your cure will require that I touch you. I need to kiss you. Will you permit me to . . . satisfy you?”
I wanted him more than anything. “Yes.”
“Don’t answer me now.” He grimaced, his expression one he might express to a student too eager to provide the correct answer. “Wait until your head is clear.”
He took my face in his hands. My suffering ebbed away into him, and my muscles relaxed. The fog of blind yearning left me.
He closed his eyes. Already he was sinking, losing his control on himself and his magic.
“Answer now,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Yes,” I said. “Kiss me. Cure me. Stop trying to take my pain.”
He released his hold on me. The pining for him returned, but before it could consume me, he pressed his lips to mine. His palms flattened against my l
ower back, pulling me closer. The bite on my breast blazed as it brushed against the fabric of his shirt. Warmth spread from the spot, but this time it wasn’t painful. A pleasant pulse radiated from my core.
He kissed his way down my neck. His tongue lapped at my skin. My body felt as though it were on fire, his touch cool against the sizzle of my flesh. With his every kiss, the agony of yearning subsided. Touch transformed pain into pleasure.
He pinched my nipple between his fingers, and I gasped. His tongue plunged into my mouth, and I arched against him. I moaned into his mouth. The flames inside me threatened to consume me.
“Please,” I said.
His expression was serious, solemn for such a passionate moment.
He slid his hand between my legs, massaging the wetness. My breath came out as a rasp. The sensation of his warm breath on my neck and his arm clutching me around my waist were all I knew. He stroked the silky warmth between my legs before plunging a finger inside me, first one and then two.
I cried out. My muscles shook with tension. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him, but I couldn’t move. Pleasure rendered me speechless. The webbing holding me up creaked as I fought it.
He pushed into me again. The fever in my core crested higher. His arm around my waist slipped away. His footsteps clomped onto the hard surface below. I opened my eyes, wondering if he was leaving. He waved away spiderwebs from his sleeve with his wand as he descended his invisible steps.
The absence of his presence was as palpable as a limb being removed. I was cold and incomplete without his warmth. The agony of the venom returned. A whimper escaped my lips.
With his feet firmly planted on the floor, he was so close but so far away. He was a tease. He’d never meant to save me. This had to be the true torture. It was worse than if he’d simply left when he’d said he would.
He gazed up at me, his face neutral, save for the little crinkle between his brows. He was so close to me, I could feel the warmth of his breath just below my navel.
His hand caressed behind my knee, sending tingles up my thigh. He swept away a strand of silk from my leg with his wand. He made the act of freeing me look simple and effortless. Maybe for him, with all his magic, it was. He lifted my leg and hooked my knee over his shoulder. His hand was cool and firm on my hip. He plunged his fingers inside me again.
I closed my eyes, enraptured. A feather touch slid across the slit between my legs as he kissed me. The warmth of his breath blossomed against my thigh. The touch of his tongue sent a shiver through my body.
My affinity danced inside me, the rhythm erratic. I felt flashes of rainbows and disco lights, tasted electric storms, and heard the music of flowers opening inside me. My magic confused my senses. I was close. When I came, I didn’t know if it would be benign rainbows or an electric current that would shoot out of me.
“I can’t . . . control myself,” I said. “Lightning.”
“Go on.” He mumbled against me. The vibration of his words against my flesh sent thrills into me. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
He plunged his fingers inside again. I crested higher, the ecstasy building to a crescendo. He sucked on me, drawing out the magic and the pleasure. I cried out as the dam inside me broke. Waves of an inferno exploded and throbbed. I screamed out my bliss. The orgasm was so intense, tears rolled down my face.
He caressed my legs and hips, pleasant aftershocks shuddering through me. He massaged my calf and my foot. Sensation returned to my toes. I thought he was caressing me for the sake of enjoyment until I realized how methodic his movements were. I could move my fingers, so I knew I was no longer paralyzed by venom. With precision and care, he peeled away sticky strands of silk from my skin. The cords holding me by my wrists creaked and stretched as more weight became dispersed on fewer strands. I sagged lower, and he swept away more silk ropes from my upper back, my shoulders, and then my hair.
When the last of the strings on my limbs were cut, I dropped to my feet. I nearly toppled over, but he caught me. I clutched at his shoulder, trying to stay upright, but I couldn’t stand. I might not have been paralyzed, but my legs were jelly. He lifted me into his arms and carried me through the misty curtains toward a flickering light.
It was a joy to wrap my arms around his neck and hold him tight. Sheer drapes of silk shifted out of the way for him.
“How do you feel?” He set me down on my bed.
“Mmm.” I managed to reply. I leaned against him.
His arms remained circled around me, hugging me to him. “Can you feel your hands and feet?”
I wiggled my toes. Well, how about that? I could.
“Do you feel any pain? Can you feel any remainder of venom?” He stroked my shoulders, the gesture soothing against my naked flesh.
I stared up into his face. His forehead crinkled between his brows, so much concern in his eyes . . . for me. He genuinely cared.
He was more handsome than ever, with his midnight hair falling back from his face in waves. His beauty was the perfect combination of smooth lines and sharp angles.
“Thanks for saving my life.” It was easier to talk now, like the air wasn’t being squeezed from my lungs.
Felix Thatch smiled, a hint of it reaching his eyes. “I didn’t save your life. I simply removed the venom from your system faster.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. My muscles were so fatigued they shook.
“I might have some venom left in me.” I breathed into his ear.
“That’s doubtful.”
I laughed.
He pried my arms from around his neck and placed them at my sides. “This is a bad idea.”
“Why?”
His eyes narrowed. “You have a tendency to bring out the monster inside everyone.”
“I make people passionate.”
I yearned for him to touch me again. Even so, I knew he was right. I had brought out a monster from Josie. I wondered what kind of monster lurked below the surface of his skin. I had already caught glimpses of the cool, unfeeling creature that dwelled within him.
He smoothed a hand against my hair. “You break down protective spells and disarm charms without trying. You draw out affinities that would endanger yourself and others. I know what you are, and it’s still difficult for me to resist you. If I give in to your magic, you shall hate me for it later. I’ll hate myself later.”
“I want you,” I said. I shifted and noticed his erection pressing against me. “I want to feel you inside me.”
“No, you don’t. It’s either your affinity talking, or you still have residual venom in your system.”
“It must be the venom. I need you to save me from imminent doom.” Though I didn’t burn with need like before. I wasn’t in pain.
He snorted. “You don’t even trust me enough to let me teach you lessons anymore. If you were in full control of yourself, you would see how impaired your logic is that you should wish to be with me, of all people.”
I kissed him and wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him closer. Feeling his warmth against me filled that aching inside me.
“You’re incorrigible,” he said.
He drew back the blankets and plopped me down on the clean sheets. He buried me under the covers.
“Is that a no?” I asked.
He didn’t answer. He snuggled up behind me. I started to turn toward him, but he placed a hand on my shoulder, keeping me faced away.
“Stay like this,” he said.
I remained turned away, but I squirmed closer to him.
“What do you know? You are capable of listening and following directions . . . for once.” His words were flavored with his usual snarky sarcasm.
I smiled, though I doubted he could tell with me turned away. “There’s a first time for everything.”
He shifted the covers behind me and slipped his arm around my waist under the blankets. The smooth texture of his shirt separated
me from him. I would have preferred for him to remove his clothes, but I suspected he would have objected.
He spooned against me, his knees behind mine. He lifted my upper leg to rest on top of his. It was nice snuggled close like this. Maybe it was touch making me a slave to my affinity, but I didn’t care. I needed this. From the way he smoothed a hand up and down my arm, to the tenderness of his lips kissing that patch of skin between my ear and hair, I felt his love for me. Even if he hadn’t told me in words, affection radiated from his every gesture. He had sacrificed a little bit of his pride to make me happy.
I didn’t anticipate he’d do more than cuddle with me, but he stroked my thighs, making me wet for him all over again. His fingers brushed against my pubic hair, teasing me before backing away again. My breath hitched in my chest as he playfully tormented me.
“Please say you aren’t going to stop, because if you’re doing this just to torture me or prove some kind of point, I will seriously hate you,” I said.
He chuckled softly. “Would I do something so wicked as that?”
“Yes.”
I reached behind me and tried to touch him, but he returned my hand to my side of the bed. He wouldn’t let me touch him. I suspected it had something to do with the professional distance he was always trying to establish between us.
“I like when you touch me,” I said. “If it makes you feel better, you can tie me up with spider silk again. I want you to dominate me. You can have me any way you want.” Either I was drunk on my affinity, or high on jorogumo venom, because I would never have admitted any of that so readily.
His hand left me, and he wrestled with his belt. Fabric rustled behind me. I wanted to turn to kiss him, to explore the map of his body with my hands, but I suspected he would chide me if I moved. He slipped an arm under my neck and circled that arm across my chest. He cupped my breast, breathing into my hair. His erection pressed between my legs as he nudged himself into place between them. Slowly he eased himself inside me.
I had been waiting for this moment for years. The feel of him was more delicious and decadent than eating hot fudge straight out of the jar.
Hex Crimes Page 28
