Night Magic: A Wing Slayer Novel

by Jennifer Lyon

  He moved so fast, he nudged her back, slapped his hands against the wall on either side of her head, and lowered his face to hers. “When your mother trapped you in your third eye tonight, I knew something was wrong. Desperate to get back to you, I hurried to the car, but it wouldn’t start.”

  Ailish froze against the wall, feeling the heat of him surround her, burning through her defenses.

  “So I started to run, my urgency growing with every stride, until wings sprang from my back and I took to the air and flew back to you. Wings, Ailish.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Like Axel and Sutton?”

  “Exactly. You know what that means?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “You are an earth witch. The bird only lives for you. You brought out his wings just like Darcy and Carla brought out their mates’.”

  Her body filled with a bright hope that scared the shit out of her. She wanted to believe him. “But I’m still handfasted, and—”

  “Trust me. Like you did when you were asleep and showed me your nightmare. Ailish, I trusted you with my soul. Isn’t it time you trust me with yours? Trust us together?”

  This was the man who held her in her nightmare, understood her fear of hellhounds and darkness, and found a way to overcome her blindness to show her she was safe in the room. And in his arms. He judged her not by her mother’s actions, but by her own. Ailish saw that as clearly as she’d seen the bedroom through his eyes. She reached up and sank her hands into his hair. “Yes.” She brushed her mouth across his, dragging her hands down his face, once again trying to see him, just as he’d shown her her own face, and the bedroom …

  She broke the kiss, holding his face between her hands. “Can you show me what you look like?”

  He leaned his forehead against hers. “We can try. If I look at myself in a mirror, you should see what I see.”

  Her magic heated up and spread through her like liquid desire that was half sexual and half a longing so deep, she thought it came from the center of her heart. She pushed him back, grabbed his hand, and felt her way to the bathroom door. “Where’s the mirror? Over the sink? Is there a full-length mirror?” She turned and said, “Oh! Can I see you naked?”

  Phoenix laughed, his rich voice echoing in the bathroom. He shut the door and said, “Full-length mirror on the back of the door.”

  Ailish heard him take off his boots. Then his vest. She leaned against the counter, gripped the edges of the cool granite. She wanted to see him. It bothered her that other women saw Phoenix and she couldn’t.

  “Honey, you’re thinking so loud I can hear you without touching you.” His leather pants whispered as he stripped them off. He reached out and took her hand. “Other women may have seen me, but only you have brought my bird to life. Now come here.”

  He tugged her to his side and put his arm around her.

  “I can feel your chakras, feel your excitement. Close your eyes.”

  The bathroom had overhead lighting. Ailish could see shadowy shapes, but it was all just shades of gray. She closed her eyes.

  Phoenix leaned down. “Come inside me, take a look.”

  His low voice traveled through her chakras, and her powers poured out. The flow was fast but sensual, melding her and this man together. Was she flowing inside him? He in her? He began stroking her shoulder, and then … feathers stroked her, too. The bird, reassuring her that it was okay to let the magic sweep her away.

  The image was sudden and clear. Ailish felt her breath catch and she lifted her hand, reaching out to touch the mirror. It was cold and hard. But reflecting in that surface was Phoenix. She stood next to him and saw herself wearing just a T-shirt.

  Phoenix was naked and dark. Huge. Tall. She tried to take him in. Black hair the color of a raven’s wings. It fell midway down his neck in an uneven cut. She looked at his dark eyes and saw both death and life. Now she knew why Dee had said he looked like an outlaw. His eyes told a story of a man who didn’t care if he lived or died. Eyes that told of killing and making tough choices. He had high, hard cheekbones, a strong forehead and chin. Dark stubble ran over his beard line.

  He wasn’t smiling or frowning. Just looking at himself.

  Even his neck was strong. His shoulders were huge—nearly the width of a door. His skin tone, she didn’t know, maybe some Native American? Didn’t care, except that it was Phoenix. She looked over his arms, the impossibly ripped bulges. “The tattoo.”

  He turned his right arm into the mirror.

  There it was. The half of the brilliantly colored blue-and-purple phoenix rising from the furious flames, like life and death. The bird was life and the flames were death. Just like Phoenix.

  “More,” she said softly. He was looking straight ahead. She could see only to his stomach.

  He looked down.

  Ailish followed him, down the flat carved stomach, seeing the line of hair she traced with her fingers that led to the springier, coarser hair. Then his penis. Full, ridged, huge.

  She reached for him, desperate to touch him, to trace the vivid blue lines, to circle the swollen head. She hit the cool mirror.

  Without moving his gaze, Phoenix took her hand and put it on his cock. She saw him guide her hand to himself. Her panties went wet. Using just a finger, she traced the head, touched the slit.

  Phoenix shuddered, his body jerking, but he held his gaze, letting her look and touch him. She traced the length of him. He was bigger than she’d realized.

  “You take all of me. I can sink into you all the way up to my balls.” He spread his legs wider, took her hand, and cupped his balls.

  Ailish felt the most vulnerable part of this hard, dangerous hunter resting in her hand, the heavy sacs so fragile, and her heart clenched. A fighter never reveals his vulnerable spot to his opponent.

  You’re my lover.

  He took his hand from hers, leaving her cupping his balls.

  I trust you.

  She’d never been that to anyone. Never. Not a trusted lover. She caressed him gently.

  He groaned, his arm around her tightening. “I can show you what it looks like to enter you. How hot it is to slide into you. How your body and your magic take all of me.”

  She shivered with pleasure, with the sheer connection between them.

  “Take off your shirt, beauty.”

  His gaze turned from himself to her. She saw herself enveloped in the shirt she’d found. It was black and hung almost to her knees. Phoenix was looking at her, showing her. She took her hand from him, got hold of the shirt, and pulled it off. It was weird—she watched herself pull off a shirt. She saw her legs, her thighs—they were lean and muscled. Saw her black panties. Her waist and breasts. She was as small breasted as she thought. But her stomach and arms were muscular. Her hair was getting long.

  She hadn’t realized she’d opened her eyes, but Phoenix was looking right at them. Silvery blue. Then his gaze dropped.

  “Panties.”

  She saw herself as she bent to slide them down her thighs and kicked them off.

  He turned, lifted her in his arms. He was looking at her face when he said, “Fast and hard now. Then we’ll shower, and in bed, slow and lingering. I’m going to show you what it’s like to spread your legs and kiss you until you come for me.” His eyes closed and his mouth came down on hers.

  Ailish forgot about seeing and thought only of Phoenix. His tongue in her mouth, her breasts against his chest. She wrapped her legs around his waist and shifted the kiss, sinking her tongue into him and rubbing herself against him.

  Phoenix lifted his head with a growl, put his forehead against hers, and said, “Need to be inside you.” With one arm he shifted her higher. “See with me, Ailish.” He looked down as he took hold of his cock.

  She saw him push against her. Felt the thick head of him penetrating. Then he went deeper, an inch at a time, the huge length of him disappearing inside of her.

  Her body clenched hard.

  “Oh yeah.” He thrust and buried himself inside of he
r.

  They were flush, his wiry pubic hair brushing her smooth skin. “Joined.”

  “Yes.” He lifted her and then thrust.

  Ailish watched as he thrust time and again, going harder and deeper until she was coated with sweat and need, until all she could feel was Phoenix filling her up and driving her to bright lights of pleasure. Just as her orgasm burst over her, he yelled out, wrapped his arms tightly around her so that she felt his pleasure rocketing through him and mixing deeply with hers.

  DAYS REMAINING ON HANDFAST CONTRACT: NINE

  Phoenix walked into the condo kitchen. Empty.

  He looked in Key’s room. The other hunter had come in with him this morning and slept here.

  Empty.

  Where the hell was she? The bird didn’t like it, either; he started that burning shit with the flames. “Knock it off, I’ll find her.” He pulled out his BlackBerry and accessed the cameras. No alarm had gone off, so she hadn’t gone far. Nothing in the hallway. Maybe Key showed her the club? He looked in there.

  Nothing.

  Next he tried the warehouse. She wasn’t by the computers or in the sitting area, not playing pool—and he was pretty sure Ailish could use her magic to play pool—so where? Wait, the gym. Maybe Key had showed her the gym. He accessed that camera view and—

  Shock gut-punched him.

  Narrowing his gaze, he saw Key, wearing sweats, snap a full kick at Ailish’s face.

  The bird screeched in his head. “Shut up,” he said, and watched on his BlackBerry while heading for the door.

  Ailish ducked, then caught Key’s other leg with a knee strike. Key went down on his ass.

  The bird quieted, his feathers ruffling as if preening. The bird was as proud of their witch as he was, now that the creature understood Key wouldn’t hurt Ailish. Since the witch was bonded to Phoenix, Ailish didn’t incite Key’s bloodlust.

  They were simply sparring. He took the stairs down and went into the warehouse.

  He passed the pool table and rounded the partition to the gym. “Basic self-defense for the witches,” Ram said. “I think it’s a good idea.”

  “Told you,” Key said. “Ailish is using her magic to track her opponents, not hurt them. Then she takes them down solely with her mortal skills. No witch karma.”

  “It’s a great idea. Ailish, would you be willing to train Carla and me?” Darcy asked.

  Key laughed. “Carla?”

  Phoenix leaned his shoulder against the partition and watched. Ailish stood in the center of the two hunters and Darcy. Her face glowed, not just the sweat and witch-shimmer, but something else.

  Acceptance.

  Darcy smacked Key on the arm. “Carla’s not clumsy. You should see her dance. She just doesn’t like hiking and stuff.”

  Ailish said, “If Carla wants to learn, I’m happy to teach her. And you. I’ll teach you as much as I can in the next few days.”

  Silence fell like a rock. Phoenix fought the heavy feeling in his chest, the agony rolling off the bird. They couldn’t lose her. Wouldn’t. He walked in. “Ailish.”

  She lifted her head, her face turning toward him with unerring accuracy.

  It kicked him right in the gut. Her beautiful eyes in her strong face, her faint scars bracketing those eyes. She looked straight at him when he knew she saw only a shadow. But she was so attuned to him now, so connected, she could find him in a crowd. He’d bet she knew he was standing there from the second he arrived. She looked like a warrior witch, wearing shorts and a tank, her muscles gleaming, and those scars … showing that she’d stand between a friend and death.

  She’d been only sixteen years old.

  But she’d done it.

  He wouldn’t lose her. He reached out and tugged her to him, kissed her, then said, “If kicking Key’s ass is too easy, I’ll spar with you.”

  She laughed. Not a chance, hunter. You play dirty.

  She was in his head, and it took all he had not to shudder visibly at the pleasure of it. Of her. You like it dirty. He showed her dirty, forming a picture in his mind. A game of naked pool. He’d have to show her the table, he’d have to bend over her …

  “Whatever you two are doing, knock that shit off,” Key said. “It’s creepy, makes me feel like a voyeur.”

  Phoenix shifted Ailish to his side. “Thought you liked to watch.”

  “Women, you moron. Not you doing some kind of kinky psychic sex stuff. You’re throwing off enough pheromones to gag an elephant.” He turned and stalked out of the gym area, still muttering, “Christ, now I’ll never eat again.”

  “Your dragon’s getting fat anyway.”

  “Is not.”

  Ailish frowned. “He has a dragon?”

  “Tat on his chest.” Phoenix looked down at her face, saw the curiosity roll through, and said, “No.”

  She put her hand on his chest. “But a dragon? That sounds really cool. Just a peek?”

  Darcy said, “Phoenix, show her. The dragon is beautiful.”

  He glared at Darcy. “You women are all the same. Always fawning over Key.”

  Darcy grinned at him. “Yeah, if Key will have me, I’m going to dump Axel.”

  “Not. Funny,” Axel said from the other room. “Key’s a good hunter, now you’re going to make me kill him.”

  “Kind of funny,” Darcy shot back. “Ailish laughed.”

  “Ailish,” Axel called out, “help a man out here, don’t encourage Darcy.”

  She was glowing. Phoenix watched her as she considered what Axel said and as she absorbed the feeling of being included in simple teasing. “Want me to fight her to see which one of us gets Key?”

  He heard Axel choke. Probably on coffee.

  Key was roaring with laughter. Ram chuckled.

  “Oh darlin’, he will make you pay for that one,” Phoenix said, then added, “So will I. Now let’s go get some coffee.”

  Key touched her shoulder. “Going upstairs to get cleaned up. Later.” He walked away.

  Phoenix slid his arm off her shoulder, took hold of her hand, and walked with her. It was easy to find the connection between them and show her where they were going. He knew Ailish would commit the layout of the warehouse to memory, then she’d be able to move around freely.

  She tightened her hand in his. “I can see.”

  It was so hard not to shift his gaze to her face, but keep it focused on where they were going. “Key’s workstation. He does our tats, and he also has a drawing board.”

  “For his work. He told me,” she said softly.

  Phoenix was amazed. He’d been sleeping and Ailish had been making friends. He’d heard her slide quietly out of bed, but he knew she was safe in the condo, and Key was there. So he’d let himself sleep.

  He explained what he was showing her. “Pool table. Sitting area, drinks in fridge, coffee there.” He let her see the coffeepot. “Past that is the computer console, all the monitors, and basically, that’s Sutton’s baby.” He showed her enough for her to get the gist of it.

  “Coffee, Ailish?” Ram called out. “Cream? Sugar? Or we can make tea.”

  “Tea, thanks. Black is fine.”

  Ram walked over with tea for Ailish. “It’s hot. Grab the handle with your right hand.”

  Phoenix watched, part of him twitching to guide Ailish’s hand to the cup. But she did fine, reached out, felt the heat, and got hold of the handle. She had her bearings, she could handle herself. He turned and poured coffee, then walked over and sat on the arm of her chair.

  Ram filled a cup for himself, then said, “Ailish, nice to meet you, and thanks for the demo.” He turned to Axel. “A, going to check in on Eli and Ginny. He’s restless and wants to know how he’ll face his test while sitting on his ass in a safe house.”

  Phoenix looked down at Ailish. “Eli is the hunter the rogues were trying to force to turn. They dumped witch blood on him and hurt his sister in front of him.” Then he shifted his gaze to Ram. “He has a point. Linc was fighting with us when he ca
me face-to-face with his friend who had turned rogue.”

  Axel rolled his head to stretch his neck. “Fine, but he needs to get his tat or Wing Slayer won’t test him, and Ginny needs protection. The rogues know she’s his weakness. Make that happen.”

  “Eli wants a griffin, Key can do that soon. As for Ginny, I’m giving her a job here, and she can stay here or with one of us.”

  Axel sighed. “Why do you even ask me?”

  “Makes you feel important.” Ram turned and headed out the back.

  Darcy laughed.

  Axel walked over and sat next to her on the couch.

  “Next time you need my blood to heal him, I’m not giving it to you.”

  She put her hand on his thigh. “Yeah, you will.”

  Axel intertwined his fingers with hers. “Fine, but I’ll make him suffer first.”

  Phoenix used to wonder how a total hard-ass like Axel could be brought to his knees by a witch. It was only now that he realized that true courage was in opening yourself up to a woman and giving her the power to destroy you.

  Ailish said, “Darcy, I know you said Morgan’s better this morning, but for how long? How much time do we have?”

  Phoenix felt her worry and guilt about Morgan.

  Darcy answered, “Carla and I managed to pull out most of the dark magic. We can’t break the blood link, but we set your mother back at least a couple days.”

  Phoenix saw her slight wince. “Your mother was manipulating you,” he said. “Showing you that about my mother … that was to try to break us up. They failed in trying to get my mother to kill me—” He stopped. “So she told you to feed your guilt and scare you. Maybe hoping I’d blame you and reject you.”

  Darcy tilted her head to the side. “What’s this about?”

  Realizing Ailish must not have told them, he explained about the ashes of his phoenix and Maeve’s threats.

  Darcy leaned forward. “Let me see if I understand. The phoenix flew over at Ailish’s birth, and burst into flames. Maeve and her coven saw it, and realized Ailish was a siren so they gathered the ashes. While the physical bird died, the soul went back to Phoenix. That created the link the demon witches needed to torment Phoenix’s mother.” Darcy took a sip of her tea, her gaze reflective.