by Eliza Gayle
He typed out a message, asking for Rena’s birth date. He told Graelen he had a lead on someone but he needed more information before he could be sure. He kept the message brief and to the point. No point in getting himself in any deeper than he had to. Hitting the send key, he leaned back in the butter soft leather chair to wait.
One of these days all his hard work was going to blow up in his face, and for some strange reason he dreaded that day. What had seemed like a simple plan had turned into a complex situation. He never thought he’d have a relationship like this with a man. He’d spent the better part of his adult life avoiding any relationships and the complications that came with them.
“What are you doing, Jake?”
Jake’s elbow slipped from the edge of the desk at the sound of Denn’s voice behind him. He straightened in the chair, turned and looked up to see his lover hovering in the door, watching him with droopy eyes and sleep tussled hair. Jake’s cock jerked against his lower abdomen. That look warmed his blood and threatened to send him into a full boil.
“I needed to do some research online, hope you don’t mind?” Now that he had some time to kill his mind wandered to other less troubling things. Like Denn’s cock in his mouth.
“No, I don’t. What are you researching?” He crossed to the leather chair in front of the desk and sank down, swinging his legs so his bare feet rested on the edge of the desk.
Jake reluctantly let go of the fantasies he’d begun to imagine. “Our little resident witch, as a matter of fact.”
Denn’s eyes narrowed, becoming more alert. “What exactly are you looking for?”
“Answers, plain and simple. There has to be a reason why she isn’t healing properly. You’ve said it yourself, she should be awake by now. It’s as if something is draining her just as she starts to get better.” Jake stood from his chair and paced in front of the computer, watching for a response to arrive.
“So what have you come up with? Anything?”
“Yeah I think so. I’m just waiting on confirmation.” Jake turned away from Denn, avoiding his knowing gaze. He really didn’t want to get into this yet. Not until he heard back from Grae.
“Why am I getting the impression that I’m not going to like your theory, Jake?”
With a sigh Jake turned and looked at him. How did he tell the man he had growing feelings for, that the woman lying in the bed upstairs might be his empathic mate? He scrubbed his hands over his face in dread. An emotion he dared not name stabbed through his chest. He wasn’t sure he was too thrilled about it either.
“I’m not sure how you’ll feel—” A familiar chime sounded behind him, signaling incoming mail. Letting his answer fade away, he turned back to the computer and opened the e-mail from Denn’s brother.
Hey Bro,
Her birth date is April 10th.
What’s up?
G
Jake sat back in his chair and let his head fall against the cool leather. Well, well, what a coincidence. Problem was, he really didn’t believe in coincidences, far too pat.
Denn watched Jake’s body movements carefully. Whatever he’d received in the e-mail either wasn’t what he expected or was really bad news. The way Jake slumped in the chair gave him a bad vibe.
“Jake, you okay?”
Jake slowly turned the chair to face him, his face solemn. “I’m right and I’m not sure how I feel about that.”
“What the hell are you talking about? What have you done?” Magick swelled in his body. An automatic defensive mechanism when his instincts screamed trouble. A bad feeling consumed him and he knew for sure he wasn’t going to like what Jake had to tell him.
“Relax, Denn, I haven’t done anything. I had a hunch, I checked it out, and now I know.” He tossed a piece of paper onto the desk at his feet. Denn picked it and read a message from his big brother Grae. While he read, Jake tossed down another item. Spying the driver’s license with Raven’s picture on it, things started to click. Tumblers fell in a pattern through his mind as if opening a lock. No. No. No.
Without looking at the license he lifted his gaze to meet Jake’s. This was clearly no joke.
“It’s true, Denn. She’s the one.”
“Well, fuck me.”
Jake snorted. “That’s one way to put it. But however you say it, you are royally screwed, my friend.”
Denn’s feet slid to the floor with a thunk. He roughly pushed his hands through his hair, frustrated as hell. “I can’t deal with this right now. She’s up there lying in bed still comatose, and I can’t figure out what my brother did to her or why she won't heal. I have tried every human medicine, as well as every spell and potion in my arsenal that makes even a fraction of sense. Yet, she lies there better one minute, worse the next. It’s driving me fucking nuts.”
“You have to think about it, Denn, don’t you see, man? Think it through. If she is your empath, what is her role in your life? Remember the prophecy.”
“According to my brothers, she would bring some sort of balance between my light and dark magick. Which she can’t do, by the way, if she is dead. I have to figure this out.”
“Come on, Denn, you’re better than this. Quit looking at the obvious and think. You heard your brother describe what his woman does to him, how he feels every time she touches him. What happens to you? When you touch her, what happens?”
His shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He so didn’t want to go there with his lover. He didn’t want to tell him that the texture of her smooth skin drove him insane with desire, or how her scent permeated his senses and clung there for days. He couldn’t admit to Jake that he could not get her out of his mind.
“Denn, look at me.” He raised his gaze once again and stared at the chiseled features of Jake’s face. His whiskey colored eyes that always reminded him of sex and pleasure every time he looked at them. “Do you think I don’t know? That every time you’re around her you get so hard it must hurt? Give me some credit, I’m not blind.”
“Stop it, Jake, I don’t want to hurt you. It means nothing.”
“Hurt me?” he laughed. “I’m not that insecure about us. I may not fully comprehend where we’re headed now that a woman you are destined to be with has entered the picture, but I still know how I feel and I suspect your feelings haven’t changed.”
“How can you take this so lightly?”
“You think this is light? Look at me, Denn, I have been pacing this house for days trying to figure out what to do. Now I can’t help but wonder if I should leave. Logically, stepping aside and letting nature take the course it had originally intended would be smart. Not that I’m none for doing the right thing.”
Denn stood and crossed to Jake in two long-legged strides, anger surging through him. “Don’t presume to know what I want. I haven’t asked you to leave and I’m sure as hell not planning to.” Heat leapt between the two men as Denn’s magick reached out for Jake and enveloped him in a haze of sensual need. “It took us too long to get used to our situation to throw it away now, wouldn’t you say?”
Jake stared at him, longing evident in his slitted eyes and the soft slash of his lips. Need gripped Denn by the balls. With the potent combination of anger and magick, he couldn’t resist Jake now if he tried. This close he already felt the heat of Jake’s skin soaking into him. He dipped his head and pressed a crushing kiss to his lover’s lips, forcing his tongue inside to revel in Jake's hot, masculine mouth.
A growl rumbled in his throat as the joining turned deeper and more intimate than before.
His thoughts strayed back to the luscious curve of ruby red lips tempting him with every sigh. The agony of those thoughts wrenched him away from Jake and forced him two steps back. “What are we going to do if she dies? What then? I might not have much time.” His voice came out harsher than he intended, but he had to break the moment or he would be fucking Jake right here in his office as he fantasized about the woman. Not a great scenario there, Denn.
“You’re still not li
stening, Denn. What I’ve been trying to tell you is I think the healing issue is basically because of who you are and who she is to you.”
Denn furrowed his brows at Jake.
“If she is meant to take on the negative aspects of your magick when you touch, maybe that is what is preventing her healing. Wouldn’t it make sense that right now she might not be strong enough to do her job?”
Finally Jake’s words hit home, the light bulb turned on and Denn knew. He’d noticed a difference in his magick since she’d been around, but he hadn’t ever considered it might have something to do with her. Fuck.
All the while he’d been trying to heal her, he’d actually been harming her. Without even knowing it he’d gone from Dennison Scott the healer to Dennison Scott the killer.
Chapter Three
Jake rubbed the herbal potion in a circular pattern across Raven’s bare, flat stomach. The contrast between his work roughened hands and her unblemished skin thrilled him. So much so that his cock was now pressed so tight against his zipper he wondered if he might break it. He could certainly hammer fucking nails with it.
No wonder Denn had spent so much time in here. Just touching her was like a sexual aphrodisiac, the effect so strong that he found himself spending a lot more time in here than he needed to. Were all witches this potent?
With Denn unable to touch her, Jake followed his directions and took care of her all day and evening. Occasionally he would find Denn standing in the doorway watching her. Yearning for her, if the look on his face was any indication of what was really going on with him. If he hadn’t experienced some of the same feelings and desires toward the witch, he might be jealous. Denn was his lover, after all.
Between Denn’s confusion and his guilt they’d certainly become the pair. What a fucked up mess he’d landed in. Not that he’d trade a second of his time with Denn for anything.
Once all the lotion had been applied, he loosened the rope on her left wrist. God, how he hated that they had to restrain her but afraid she would hurt herself in her nightmares, they’d had no choice. There were fresh red streaks on the inside of her wrist from her latest episode that his thumb passed over in a caressing motion. Unable to resist, he brought her wrist to his lips and rained kisses all around her weary skin.
Not paying attention to anything but the chafed skin of his patient’s wrist, he was shocked when her hand jerked out of his grasp and fastened around his throat in the blink of an eye. Her fingers dug into the vulnerable skin between his jaw and shoulder blade, nearly rendering him helpless. He looked into her midnight blue eyes and saw pure rage and fear—she wanted her freedom. His throat constricted as she cut off his air supply, and he swung his arm down in a circular motion, hitting at the weak part of the wrist, forcing her fingers apart long enough for him to twist out of her grasp and rocket off the chair next to the bed.
“Dammit, woman, are you trying to kill me?” He massaged his throat as she continued to stare at him with a venomous anger that might maim him if he got even an inch closer.
“Where am I? What the hell is going on? Why the fuck am I tied to a bed? Untie me right now,” she ordered.
“If you’ll calm down for a minute, I’ll get Denn and we can explain what happened to you. Jesus, chill.” He watched her lips move again, but the sound coming out was whispered and fast. On and on, she spoke.
“What? I can’t understand you.” Still, she didn’t stop, and it finally dawned on him that she wasn’t trying to talk to him but instead was chanting. Fuck, she was trying to work a spell. Panic flooded him as he reached for an idea to protect himself.
Calm down, Jake, you know her magick won’t work in this house.
Denn made sure of that as soon as he brought her home. Yet the more she chanted the louder she got. The fine hairs on his arms stood on end as a whisper of power buzzed around his body.
“Denn!” he shouted. Where the fuck was he?
“Your magick won’t work here, Raven.” Her chant ceased abruptly as she lifted her cold gaze back to his face. “That’s right. This house has been warded up tight against witches like you. The only magick that works in here is Scott Magick.”
“I demand to be released. You can’t hold me here like this. My coven will be searching for me and when they find me you can be sure there will be hell to pay for this.”
“Are you sure about that, witch? You’ve been here for weeks and we haven’t heard a peep about you from any coven, local or in Boston.” Again her gaze registered shock at his words. “Yes, we know exactly who you are. Hell, with Gralen’s research we probably know more about you than you know yourself. You’ve got quite the colorful past.”
Her eyes turned hard again. “Why am I being held here? I’ve never known the Scott clan to be violent.” Her voice grew stronger with every word out of her mouth. Already she had gained some strength since she woke up. Amazing, really, how well Denn’s magick could work when applied correctly.
“You’ve been ill. You fell sick in Boston and Denn brought you here to heal.”
“Kidnapped, you mean. And I didn’t exactly ‘fall’ sick now, did I? That bastard Cash almost killed me.” She struggled with the loose bed sheet, trying to pull it up, until finally it gave and she was able to cover her partial nudity. “I’ve heard rumors for years about the depraved sexual practices of the Scott twins.” She struggled against the ropes. “But this is a little ridiculous, don’t you think? They really have to resort to unwilling victims now?”
Jake bit back a laugh at the incredulous look on her face. She sure was a sassy little thing. “You’re only tied up because we were afraid you were going to hurt yourself in your sleep.” She fell silent at his statement, not only that but she also she turned her face away, focusing on the far wall. “I take it you’re not surprised by that fact?” Still she said nothing.
Several awkward minutes later she spoke. “So, who are you? You don’t look familiar to me, you can’t be a Scott.”
“You know all of them, huh? Not just the one you were trying to kill?”
“Hey, everyone has to make a living.”
“Oh, please, don’t give me that bullshit. What kind of living includes killing someone?”
“A lucrative one.” Her voice sounded as icy as her eyes had looked staring him down earlier. “So are you going to untie me or not?”
She has balls that’s for sure. Rubbing his throat, he responded. “I’m thinking not. I’ll wait for Denn to get here and see what he thinks we should do with you.”
“Ohhh, I get it. You’re Denn Scott’s new flunkie.” She looked at him then, a measure of spark and sarcasm shining from her face.
What the hell was with this woman?
Unable to stop, a low chuckle sounded from his throat. “Flunkie, now there’s a thought. I’m going to have to remember that one. Should be good for a laugh later tonight.”
Raven rolled her eyes. “So, what are you going to do with me then? My legs are hurting and I really need to pee. Surely you’re not afraid of little ole me.”
“You really do have a smart mouth on you. Keep it up and I’m sure to find something creative for you to do with it.” He smiled again.
“What the hell is going on?” They both jerked at Denn’s voice from the open doorway.
“Your witch woke up and tried to choke the life out of me. And she has quite an attitude.” Once again he gently rubbed his throat with his fingers, remembering the inhumanly strong grip she had managed.
“Oh, as if you wouldn’t have an attitude if you woke up tied to a strange bed,” she spat.
“See what I mean?”
“Well, I guess this proves once and for all that your theory was right, Jake. This is going to be one hell of a situation and I doubt she is going to like it.”
“Hey, I’m right here.” She waved her free hand in front of her face. “Someone care to tell me what is going on and when exactly you are planning to let me go?”
Denn walked over to the bed and b
egan untying the rope from around her bound wrist. Jake noticed he took extra care to not touch her skin. Although, despite that lack of skin-to-skin connection, the energy in the room changed, thickened. He backed away from the bed, letting Raven reach for her ankles and untie them herself.
“We only tied you up to keep you safe.”
“Yeah, yeah, your boy over there already told me that.”
Denn choked on her words. “My boy?” He turned toward Jake with an odd look of confusion.
“Yes, Raven and I had been having a rather surreal conversation before you arrived, and needless to say she has some rather strange opinions. Apparently I am your flunkie.” Denn had moved away from the bed and Jake watched cautiously as Raven finished untying the last knot holding her to the bed. She no sooner got free than she bolted to the door. “Shit.” He saw her slip out the door just as he started after her.
“Wait.” Denn’s voice boomed through the room.
“But she’s—”
Denn held up his hand, cutting off his statement. “Going nowhere. I told you I spelled the house. That includes a lockdown for her. In fact… “Denn headed for the door. “ This ought to be amusing.”
“You’re dark, Denn, real dark.”
A crash from across the house reminded them that they had a wild, angry witch loose in the house. “Maybe we should go make sure she doesn’t hurt herself or destroy the house.”
“Good idea.”
Jake followed Denn through the house, searching room by room for Raven, for once cursing the size and three levels of the townhouse. Eventually they wandered into the courtyard and found Raven alternately yanking on the door, trying to open it, and pounding on it as hard as she could while screaming for help.
