by Lane Hart
“Don’t touch me!”
“Oh, I have no need to touch you, even if you are…tempting,” Voss replies. “But no, Dr. Murphy is going to do all the work for me. He’ll harvest your eggs, every last one, and then I’ll fertilize them and place them in surrogates! In nine months, I’ll have dozens of children!”
“Oh god,” I gasp, realizing that it’s even worse than I thought. While having Voss touch me would be…torture, knowing what he’s planning to do, to make an army of his out of my own flesh and blood is just wrong. He’ll raise them and use them, doing no telling what to them.
“Get away from me! Let me go!” I exclaim when I see the doctor filling a syringe with a clear fluid, one that will no doubt knock me out so that they can take what they want from me.
Before he can inject it into my IV, I hear Kingston’s voice shouting my name from just outside the door, asking if I’m okay.
“No! Get me out of here!” I yell back, hoping he can hear me and that he’ll be able to take this door down like the one earlier.
But nothing happens.
“Shall I proceed?” the doctor looks to Voss and asks.
“Do it,” he orders him just as Kingston shouts for me to use my magic.
What magic? The red glow from earlier is long gone from my skin, and I’m guessing that happened when Drake drank from me. Kingston is the strong one, the experienced one. Isn’t there something he can do?
I’m pretty sure I hear Drake and Rowan’s voice through the door, arguing with Kingston. These three guys who care about me will come to my rescue. They’ll stop Voss and the doctor before they knock me out and take my future children from me and use them as they want.
But the men I’ve come to care for, maybe even love, don’t get here in time. The doctor injects the drug into my IV, causing the liquid in the line to turn pink instead of red.
I squeeze my eyes shut and pray for that deep sleep again so that I won’t feel the extraction since that’s all I can hope for now.
Except the sleep doesn’t come.
I open my eyes and tell the doctor, “Give me another dose. That one didn’t work.”
“Why didn’t it work?” Voss asks him.
“I-I don’t know. It should have. Maybe it’s the vampire’s blood…”
Vampire’s blood? They gave me Drake’s blood to replace what he took from me. Is that why I feel more…alive. Witches can’t be turned, but could I gain some of a vampire’s strengths?
I try to remember how I felt when Kingston told me to focus on opening the door in our cell, pushing the heat outward.
And as if a light switch is flipped, my skin starts to glow again, even brighter than before.
“What’s happening? How is she doing that?” Voss asks.
Why wait around for knights to come to my rescue when I can try to save myself?
I ignore Voss’s frantic concerns and concentrate all the heat to my wrists. I watch as the leather cuffs start to smoke and then I’m able to jerk right out of them. I don’t know if it is Drake’s blood or what, but I just have this feeling that there’s nothing I can’t do right now.
Not wasting any time, I sit up and get to work undoing the cuffs at my ankles. My fingers may be a little slower than the magic, but I don’t need to use it for this.
“Stop her!” Voss orders.
When the doctor grabs my arm, he instantly yelps and jerks away, looking down at his now red palm that was scalded from my skin.
“Touch me again, and you’ll lose your hand,” I threaten while I continue working on the ankle cuffs, even though I have no clue if I could really hurt him worse or not. He doesn’t try to put his hand on me again, however.
As soon as my legs are free, I’m up and off the table, running for the door.
“I’m okay!” I yell to the men on the other side of the door as I start sliding the multiple locks out of place. Before I can get through all of them, I’m suddenly jerked away from the door by the back of my shirt. I try to reach around to burn the hands holding me but can quite reach them. A glance over my shoulders tells me what I already knew – Voss thinks he can stop me.
Screw my modesty and my shirt! I unbutton it and pull my arms free so that I can turn around and advance on him.
“All I wanted was to leave!” I say as he holds my white shirt up in front of him like a shield or a flag of surrender. Unwilling to let him get away with hurting me again, I make him walk backwards, a grown warlock scared of a new witch wearing just a bra and skirt. Eventually, Voss hits the wall and there’s nowhere else for him to go. “But you have messed with me for the last time!” I tell him before I do something I never thought I would do.
I reach down and cup his old man balls…and then turn up the heat. Voss throws his head back and screams like a girl as I roast his boys, making sure he can never father children again, mine or anyone else’s. He may or may not have any physical scarring. At this point, I really don’t care.
As soon as I release my hold on him, he drops to his knees and then falls to his side into a fetal position.
And I actually feel…good about seeing him in pain.
“Kingston was right,” I say to the men before I saunter back over to the door. “Being a badass witch is pretty damn fun.”
Chapter 21
Drake
When the door opens, we all freeze as Harper walks out looking unscathed and even confident despite the fact that the recently modest and inexperienced witch is not wearing a shirt.
“You’re really okay!” I exclaim before I throw myself at her, wrapping her in my arms because I felt horrible for what I did, not being able to stop drinking from her until it was almost too late. “Please forgive me,” I say as I bury my face in her hair and soak up her sweet cedar scent in case this is the last time she lets me touch her.
Instead of pushing me away, she actually hugs me back.
“I forgive you,” she says softly. “Your blood saved me from, well, you don’t want to know.”
“Good,” I say on a sigh, happy there’s something I was able to do right.
That’s all the time I get with the witch before Kingston is pulling her from my arms and into his.
“I would’ve busted the door down, but the damn vampire drank up all my power,” the warlock tattles on me as he holds her, both of them moaning at what looks like innocent contact at first. His palms press to her back and then start to move down to her skirt and underneath. Harper’s hands then grasp the sides of his face before they attack each other’s mouths furiously.
“Gotta say I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get the same treatment. I may not have taken the door down, but I did run all the way upstairs to grab a hammer in like fifteen seconds flat,” I point out while they suck face.
My comment doesn’t distract them, but Rowan’s growl does. The shifter is oddly beautiful in all his orange and black tiger glory.
Harper visibly startles at the sound, having not seen him yet in the darkness.
“Oh my god! Rowan!” she exclaims, jerking out of Kingston’s arms for which I am thankful for since I’ve been completely left out.
I don’t mind sharing the witch as long as I’m included in the kissing and groping. And I have a feeling that for all future feedings from Harper, the warlock is going to be there the whole time to supervise or offer up himself instead. Not to mention he’s bi-sexual and probably dying to rub up on my dick again. As good as their blood tastes, I would let him do more than rub.
The vampires have all been sharing Jezebel for years since she’s the only female we can bite without outing ourselves. When the group sucking and fucking starts, it’s not uncommon for some of us males to touch each other in the process or have our dicks “accidentally” slip into places they weren’t originally intended. It’s easy to blame it on the blood lust afterward, sort of like the “I was drunk” excuse used by frat boys.
“Don’t get too close to him,” Kingston warns Harper, but she completely i
gnores him, kneeling down in front of Rowan’s growling mouth full of teeth. “Harper!” the warlock huffs as he starts to approach with the intention of pulling her away. Rowan is having none of that though. He growls at him and makes a snapping motion in his direction like he’s warning him to back off before he bites him. Kingston freezes, and then Rowan’s head nuzzles the side of Harper’s face.
“See, Rowan won’t hurt me,” Harper says as she strokes the top of his feline head like he’s just a big cat and not a terrifying wild animal. “I’m sorry,” she says as she rests her cheek against his face. “You lost your temper and now you’ll be stuck like this for a month.”
Rowan makes a grumble of agreement before sneering in my direction.
“What happened, Harper?” Kingston asks. “Drake said you were doing better when he left, so why were you locked in there?”
“Your father was going to give you a few brothers and sisters,” she says, making Rowan roar loudly and Kingston to curse before he starts for the door. Harper scrambles to her feet and grabs his arm before he can cross the threshold. “It’s bad, but not as bad as you think. He was going to take my eggs and fertilize them and have surrogates carry them.”
“He has no right!” Kingston shouts. “I’ll fucking kill him.”
“Don’t worry. He won’t be making any children ever again,” she assures him, the implication of which sounds terrifying.
“We’re going to have words; and when I’m done with him, he’ll be lucky if he walks ever again,” the warlock grumbles as he clenches his fists at his side. And I can freely admit that he’s sort of hot when he’s raging out rather than playing the part of the professor.
“Will you make sure she gets back upstairs to her room?” Kingston asks me.
“Ah, yeah. The cat and I’ve got this,” I assure him.
The warlock disappears into the room, shutting the door behind him before I hear the locks click into place. I’d hate to be his father right about now.
“Should we let the cat out before we go to your room?” I ask Harper.
Rowan lunges for me and then Harper steps in between us. “He’s coming with us.”
The three of us walk up the spiral staircase to the second floor of the house. Right outside her dorm room is where Harper then puts her hand on my shoulder and asks, “Can you give us a few minutes alone?”
“You want to be alone in a small space with a tiger?” I ask for clarification.
“Yes,” she says. “I need to talk to him. Please.” Her beautiful green eyes plead with me.
“Fine!” I say throwing my hands up in the air. “But I’m staying right outside the door in case you need me.”
A deep rumbly sound comes out of Rowan that I believe was him calling me a hypocrite.
“Just watch your claws, kitty,” I warn him when Harper holds open her door for him to go inside, and then shuts it in my face.
Like the pathetic, addicted man I am, I sit right down on my ass in front of the door and try to listen to whatever Harper tells her shifter.
Rowan
I’m so fucking angry I want to claw my way through the walls. Not only am I pissed at Drake for nearly killing Harper, at Kingston for sleeping with her, and his father for whatever the hell he was planning to do, but most of all I’m pissed off at myself.
The worst thing I could’ve done was shift now, today, barely a day after the full moon. Now I can’t hold Harper or talk to her for a month!
At least she isn’t scared of me like this.
“Can you get up here?” she asks when she lies down on the edge of her bed and pats the place beside her. There’s not much room, but I still jump up and plop down next to her, half of my body on hers.
“Wow, you’re heavy,” Harper laughs as she wiggles out from underneath until only my front paw is on her chest that’s bare other than her bra. I stay very still, not wanting to accidentally scratch her. She covers my paw with both of her hands, stroking it soothingly. I can feel the warmth of her skin, so nice and hot that my chin lowers to the mattress and my eyes drift close.
“That’s good. Relax,” she encourages with a pat on my head. “Everything is fine now. I’m sorry you got angry, but Drake didn’t hurt me on purpose. And Kingston, I was going to tell you before everything happened. I guess he told you first.”
I nod my head once.
“I know you don’t trust him and didn’t want me to be with him. I was angry at him and tried to resist him, but it almost didn’t feel like an option. There’s this…pull between us.”
Fucking hell, I know that, I wish I could tell her. I saw the way they mauled each other with my own eyes when she came out of that room. It was like they couldn’t keep their hands off of each other, and I was…jealous. Jealous because I couldn’t touch her that way, and jealous because if she’s with Kingston then that means our time together is over.
“I won’t give you up,” Harper says as she strokes her palm over the top of my head and even scratches the corner of my ear. “Not unless you don’t want to be with me anymore…”
I gently shake my head, not wanting to dislodge her hand but wanting to let her know I still care about her. That it doesn’t matter to me if she’s screwing other people because I can live with the jealousy but I’m not sure I can live without her.
“Good,” she says as she winds her arms around my neck and hugs me to her, surrounding me with her warmth. “Things are going to change around here. I can feel it. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You can stay here with me until you’re back to the Rowan I can talk to and kiss.”
I nod my agreement to that.
“I have no clue what you eat like this. Oh, do I need to find you a giant kitty pan?” she asks, making me cough out a growling chuckle.
And then, the damnedest thing happens. My bones ache as they begin to change just like when I’m shifting…maybe because I am shifting. The usual pain and discomfort takes me over, causing me to roar until my voice sounds human again. But the agony soon subsides, and it’s all worth it when I’m lying next to Harper in her bed, naked and shivering from the trauma of shifting so soon again.
“Rowan! You’re back!” Harper exclaims as she jumps on top of me and buries her face in my neck. “I thought I would have to wait weeks!”
“Me too,” I agree gruffly. “I don’t know what the fuck happened, why I shifted before the full moon...”
“Oh, I’m just glad you did. I know how much you hate being an animal even for a day. I closed my eyes as I held you and thought about how badly I wanted to see you and then it happened!”
“Your magic did this,” I say. “I can’t believe it.”
“You really think so?” Harper asks when she pulls back to see my face.
“It has to be,” I reply. “It’s never happened before and you’re still glowing. It was harder to see as a tiger,” I tell her as I stroke my palms up her bare arms. “But now? You’re beautiful.”
“Does this mean you forgive me? For Kingston?” she asks with her eyes filling with unshed tears.
“There’s nothing to forgive, darlin’.”
“I missed you,” she whispers as she buries her head in my neck again. When her lips and tongue brush over my skin in an open-mouthed kiss, there’s no more holding back. I’m naked underneath her mostly bare, gorgeous curves and I need to be inside of her.
In the blink of an eye, I flip our position, putting her on her back; and then my mouth is crashing down on her lips.
I kept waiting and waiting until I lost the chance to be her first. It was no one’s fault but my own for letting my past hold me back. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to move on, to let go of the memories of Rachel. But it’s high time I let her go and let Harper know I can’t live without her before it’s too late.
“I need you,” I whisper against her lips. And before I even get her response, her scent lets me know that she needs me too. The fact that she was just with Kingston hours ago makes me even more desperate
to claim her. My cock agrees as the head rams the gates of her heaven, eager to be let in. But at the same time, despite how ready I am, it may be too much too soon for Harper. “Are you still sore?” I ask as my lips move to her neck and down to the swells of her breasts overflowing from her bra cups.
“No. Drake’s blood healed me all over,” she replies. And in that moment, I hate the vampire just a little less. “I want you inside of me, Rowan.”
“Thank fuck for that,” I groan as my hips finally surge forward, filling her in one thrust. I could smell just how ready she was, but feeling her hot, wet pussy clenching around the length of my shaft is pure ecstasy. I had forgotten how good it felt to have sex since it’s been so long. There’s nothing better than giving myself to my woman, feeling her nails dig into my shoulders and then my ass cheeks, urging me to hit the deepest, darkest parts of her, satisfying her needs. And I plan to do just that for the rest of my days. The rest – dealing with Kingston, Drake and the ass whooping for the coven masters can wait a little longer.
Chapter 22
Kingston
“You’re fucking done,” I tell my father after I lock him in the same room where he held Harper. The seared restraints attached to the hospital bed ratchet up my anger even more. I can’t believe he did this to her! If I were a shifter, I probably would’ve turned like Rowan.
When I finally suck in a breath to look at the rest of the room, I spot Dr. Murphy trying to make himself as small as possible in the far corner and see my father weeping on the floor. The sight is more satisfying than any other memories of him.
“You deserve every second of your misery,” I say as I walk over, towering above him, almost able to see my reflection in the top of his bald, hung head. “The masters are finished ruining this place. Either they can resign, walk away untouched, or I’ll have Harper pay them a visit.”
“Who…who’s going to run things? You?” he scoffs, finding the strength to be condescending even while in pain.
