He watched her over his shoulder, saw her center herself, then close her eyes to focus better. Then he drew on the fire and in an instant, flames jumped to life on his skin. As they danced across her hands and his back, he felt the healing swiftly overtake him.
Teresa’s eyes opened wide and she stared down at the quickening flames covering her hands. She watched as the ragged holes in his body sealed over and became smooth again, as if he’d never been shot at all. And still the flames burned, covering her palms on his back. She took a breath and let it slowly slide from her lungs.
“That’s amazing,” she whispered. “The fire doesn’t burn.”
“No,” he said, allowing the flames to flicker and fade away as his body was healed. “Not unless I will it. I am the fire, Teresa. The flames are what form me. And what I am will never harm you.”
She pulled in another deep breath and studied his face as if coming to a decision. Nodding, she said, “I believe you. Your back is healed over. Not even a scar.” She trailed the fingertips of one hand across his skin as if checking for flaws she couldn’t see. “But your power was drained by the white gold, right?”
“Yes.”
Lifting the hem of her shirt, she pulled it up and over her head, tossing it to the floor. “All right, then. We’ve got to get you healed completely. I know about the sex magic between a witch and her Eternal. My abuela told me that sex drives your power. Right?”
“That is true,” he said, gaze dropping to the swell of her breasts, hidden behind a plain white cotton bra. Through the fabric, he saw her pebbled nipples and his hands itched to touch her. His mouth watered for the taste of her. “We were made as two halves of the same whole. When we join, our powers grow and our strength increases. We are mates, Teresa. Bound by the fires of creation. Sex is the most intimate of joinings, twining our powers together, creating strength. The Mating ritual binds us even more deeply—but my magic is too depleted at the moment to begin the ritual.”
“The ritual is more than sex?”
“Yes. Much more.”
“But sex alone will give you back your strength.”
“It will.”
“Then we’re having sex. Right now.” She unhooked her bra and tossed it aside, baring her breasts to him unself-consciously. Then she stood and before he knew it, she had whipped off her boots, jeans and panties, standing before him completely naked with the dignity and pride of a young queen.
She was magnificent.
“You amaze me,” he said as his body tightened in an agony of need. He’d had no idea his witch was this strong. He had expected her to be afraid and anticipated that she would be hesitant to take hold of their shared destiny. Instead, she had been expecting him. She’d defied him. Helped him. And now she offered herself to bring him back to full strength.
This witch, this woman, had the inner strength of a warrior. She would do whatever was necessary to survive. His admiration for her matched his desire.
He ran one hand up her naked calf and she shivered. Her brown eyes were shadowed, but her expression was determined. “Take your clothes off, Eternal.”
With a snap of his fingers, his clothes disappeared and he rolled over onto his back to look up at her. He felt the fire in him roaring at the promise of sex with his mate.
Teresa dropped to the floor, then straddled him to cover his body with hers. Rune grabbed her and pulled her even closer, his hands coming down onto her hips and holding tightly as if to keep her from changing her mind.
But his witch was nothing if not single-minded. She smiled at him and whispered, “I’m not going anywhere.”
Then she raised up on her knees and his hands slid from her hips to her thighs, loving the hot feel of her skin beneath his palms. His cock was hard and ready. His breath stilled in his chest. If he’d had a heartbeat, it would have staggered as she slowly lowered herself onto him.
Heat at her center welcomed him. Liquid warmth drew him in, higher and higher as she took all of him inside her. When he was fully sheathed within her, she paused, allowing each of them to experience the sensation of being completely joined.
Everything in Rune roared for completion. To claim this woman. To give. To indulge in the many varied ways he’d dreamed of having her. Instead, he forced himself to be still, to allow his witch to lead and drive them forward. To set their pace. To accept the inevitability of their union.
A moment later, she did just that.
Chapter 8
Teresa struggled for air and fought for control. She hadn’t expected to feel so much or so intensely. Her abuela had prepared her for the life that she would live once she met her Eternal. What she hadn’t been prepared for was the incredible sensations coursing through her. She held him within her body and felt herself stretch to accommodate him. He was bigger than she had anticipated and for a moment she’d felt a surge of panic at trying to take him inside her. But the instant their bodies met, it was as if she had been waiting for that moment all her life.
Their bodies were like pieces in a puzzle. A perfect fit, each to the other. A connection swarmed between them like fireflies in the air. Threads of something old and true and potent wound themselves into a tapestry inside her, as if she knew him. As if she had always known him. There was a compelling sense of recognition that became stronger every moment they were joined.
Powerful magic sizzled and burned around them. Outside, rain still slashed at the windows and hammered on the roof like millions of tiny fists demanding entry. Somewhere in the city, hunters roamed through the night, searching for her. But here, in this small house in the middle of a dark zone, magic was alive.
Teresa inhaled sharply, then slowly swiveled her hips on him, creating a delicious sense of friction that bubbled through her veins like champagne. She shivered in response and looked down into pale gray eyes burning with hunger. He felt everything she did. She sensed that.
Yes, their connection was fragile, new, but it was there and time would only strengthen it.
She moved on him again and leaned forward when he lifted his hands to cup her breasts. His thumbs and forefingers stroked and squeezed her nipples, sending jolts of need through her system. She gasped, arching into him. “I feel …”
“Yes, you do,” he said and rose up to take first one of her nipples and then the other into his mouth. His teeth and tongue worked her already sensitive flesh. She held his head to her breast, pulled free the leather thong holding his hair back and then threaded her fingers through the thick, dark strands. It was too much. The feel of him beneath her hands. The swamping need his body created in hers. All of it.
Danger persisted at the edges of her mind, yet passion was in the driver’s seat. She couldn’t be bothered with witch hunters. Not now. Now, all she needed was the climax hurtling toward her.
She moved even faster, rocking her hips against his. And still it wasn’t enough. She had to have more. Faster. Deeper. Harder. Magic clawed at her. Need trumpeted inside her.
“I can’t go fast enough,” she finally managed to say, groaning as an agony of suspense clutched at her. Her body was coiled, tensed, and still straining for the orgasm that remained just out of reach.
“I can,” he promised, his voice a low growl of hunger. Instantly, he rolled her over onto her back and lifted her legs onto his broad shoulders.
Teresa’s breath came in short, quick gasps. She looked up into his eyes and saw flames pulsing in their depths. His features were taut, his jaw clenched with the same desperate desire that held her so tightly.
His hands slipped beneath her, lifting her behind, positioning her so that his first thrust went deeper than she would have believed possible. Her back arched and she called out his name on a shriek of pleasure that threatened to tear her in two. He was all. He was everything. And if she didn’t get that release soon, he would kill her.
As if he knew exactly what she was thinking, feeling, he moved in her, his hips pistoning, his body retreating and advancing with such speed that
everything was a blur of sensation. She’d never known anything like this before. Didn’t know if she would even survive it. But if she died, Teresa told herself, it would have been worth it.
Again and again, Rune pushed his way into her body and she moved with him, meeting each and every thrust with a silent demand for more. Until, finally, that longsought release crashed down on her.
The first shattering explosions shook her to her bones and she shouted his name as her body bucked beneath his. Her hands clutched at his strong arms, holding on for her life while the world as she knew it dissolved into a shower of bright lights and sensation.
“More,” he demanded, before her first release had finished, and with his thumb he stroked her center until she screamed again, twisting wildly in his arms, calling out his name as her body did what she wouldn’t have thought possible. She felt herself splinter and then somehow come together again, all within several amazing moments.
She was still trembling, futilely trying to catch her breath, when she heard his deep voice thunder out a howl of victory. Then his body emptied itself into her and all she could see was her Eternal, staring down at her with flames shining in his eyes.
Chapter 9
Kellyn reclined in the oversized tub and idly stroked her fingertips through the mountain of bubbles covering the surface of the water. She’d had a rough month, she acknowledged. Hardly surprising that she needed a little pampering.
A frown curved her mouth as she remembered the bitter conclusion to her last encounter with Shea Jameson and the Eternal Torin. It had ended with Shea throwing a teleportation spell, sending Kellyn to the back end of beyond in the blink of an eye. Infuriated, frustrated, she’d awoken in a muddy field in Ireland, surrounded by cows who looked even more startled than she had felt.
Still feeling the sting of failure, Kellyn reached over to pick up her glass of champagne. She took a long sip, letting the icy bubbles soothe her tattered spirit.
“Doesn’t matter,” she assured herself, smiling at the way the light glinted off the crystal flute. “All I have to do is turn one of the Awakening witches. Just one. Then their plan will fall apart and I win.”
Sliding down deeper into the water, she rested her head against the cool porcelain and looked out the window at the skyline of Washington, D.C. She could have been in New Mexico right now, tromping through some hideous desert to deal with Teresa Santiago. But really, a bubble bath in civilization sounded so much better to her battered temper.
“Besides,” she whispered, “if he needs help with her, he can come and get me.”
When her phone rang, she considered not answering it. After all, hadn’t she earned a little relaxation? But the insistent, shrill tone wouldn’t be ignored and Kellyn sat up to snatch the phone off the shelf beside the tub. “What is it?”
“We missed her in the desert.”
Fury shot through her. “You mean you let those idiot human teams kill her?”
“No,” the voice on the other end of the line assured her quickly. “They missed her, too. The Eternal showed up and flashed her out.”
“Eternals,” she muttered, tossing the rest of her champagne down her throat as if it were medicinal. The immortal warriors had been a pain in the ass of every would-be bad guy for centuries. “I thought you said you could deal with him.”
“I can,” her caller said. “But the point was to not give ourselves away, remember?”
“As this is my plan, do you really feel it necessary to remind me of its intricacies?” Attractive or not, this particular male had begun to annoy Kellyn. She probably shouldn’t have agreed to work with him on this after all. But with his special gifts, he had proven just too tempting to ignore.
“No more than you should feel it necessary to remind me what the goal is.”
The ice in his tone let Kellyn know he was no happier about this situation than she was. Well, then, fine. She would give him a chance to fix it. “Where’s the witch now?”
“We don’t know,” he admitted. “An MP was attacked, though. Apparently he was hit by lightning.”
Kellyn smiled to herself. A powerful witch, this one.
“And there are a lot of dark zones in Sedona,” the man was saying. “My guess is the Eternal swept her into one. He was shot up pretty bad, so he’s going to need some healing time.”
“Then find her while he’s weakened.”
“That’s the plan,” he told her and hung up.
He hung up.
On her.
Kellyn stared at the phone in disbelief. No one dismissed her. No one. Her fingers closed around the phone until the plastic shattered and shards of it dug into her palm. Then she threw the mess at the wall and watched as pieces fell to the floor like black rain.
Furious both at having her relaxation time interrupted and at the clear disrespect, she poured more champagne and quaffed it. Turning her glare on the window again, she stared at the outside world and promised herself that once this damn Awakening was finished there would be some payback.
Her bathwater had cooled by the time she stepped out of the tub, leaving all thoughts of relaxation behind.
Chapter 10
“He’s fried.” Landry looked at the dead MP sprawled across the shattered windshield of a sedan. The kid’s eyes were wide-open as if he were still surprised.
“What the hell happened to him?”
Landry shot the young agent beside him an incredulous look. “The witch happened to him, you fuckwit. You heard the report from the desert. She can throw lightning, for chrissakes. Looks like she landed a hit on this poor bastard.”
While the younger agent muttered to himself, Landry narrowed his eyes against the driving rain and scanned the neighborhood. He knew people were watching him. Knew they were too afraid to step outside and get pulled into a federal investigation. All but one, anyway.
“She ran off down the street there. Just left that guy smokin’ on the hood of that car.”
The boy couldn’t have been more than seventeen and both fear and excitement glittered in his eyes. Landry recognized the look. It was the thrill of the hunt.
“How long ago?” he asked the kid.
“’Bout an hour. I called to report it, but it took you guys forever to show up.” Just a touch of disgust colored his tone.
Landry agreed with him. But the MPs had to call in tips, get approval. Hell, even tracking and killing witches was filled with bureaucratic bullshit these days.
“Fine. Thanks for being a good citizen. Your country appreciates your help,” Landry told him.
“Yeah, can I come with you?” The kid was practically bouncing in his eagerness to get in on a witch kill. “I’ll stay out of the way. Swear it.”
“No. Official business,” Landry told him, then cuffed the kid on the shoulder. “But when you’re eighteen, you sign up for MP Youth Camp. Give ’em my name—Landry—as a reference.”
The kid glowed. “Thanks, dude. Seriously.”
But Landry was already moving off, his mind on the witch. They were in a dark zone, so he knew he wouldn’t be able to trace her magic. His best bet was to return to her house. To join the others already there. He wanted this damn witch.
Teresa was shaken.
She’d gone into this with her eyes wide-open. She was no shy virgin offering herself up on an altar of duty. She’d had sex before and had assumed that this would be no different.
She couldn’t have been more wrong.
Despite everything her grandmother had told her, taught her, the old woman hadn’t known exactly what a witch and her mate would feel. If just sex with her Eternal was this overwhelming, what, she wondered, would the Mating sex be like? Mate. She would be this immortal’s mate, she knew. Destiny and all that. But Teresa had promised herself that she would do her duty to her magic, to the world, all while keeping her heart separate.
She’d been in love before and that had turned into a misery the likes of which she was in no hurry to repeat. Miguel, her ex-boy
friend, had been a bastard. He’d hurt Teresa in more ways than she wanted to remember—and he was human. Just imagine what an immortal could put her through. No. She knew now that she had given Miguel power over her by the simple act of loving him.
She wouldn’t be making a mistake like that again. Especially with an already extremely powerful immortal.
A flicker of something that might have been fear sputtered into life in the pit of her stomach, then dissolved again a moment later. That was a worry for another day. For now, they needed to get moving.
“My strength has returned,” Rune said, lifting one hand and watching as blue and red flames danced across his skin.
“I see that.” Teresa moved off him and bent to pick up her clothes, but they were soaking wet and cold as ice. She really didn’t want to put them back on.
Looking back at him, she asked, “You have this house ready for me. Any chance there are clothes here, too?”
He snapped his fingers and instantly he was clothed, in black jeans, a black T-shirt and boots that looked as though they could kick their way through hell without a problem. He smiled at her as he stood up.
“Nice for you,” she said.
His fingers snapped again and she was suddenly dry and warm and dressed in the very clothes that had just a moment before been lying in a sodden heap on the floor. Even her favorite cowboy boots were dry and tucked securely on her feet. She couldn’t help giving him a smile. “Now that’s something I want to know how to do.”
“You will,” he assured her. “In time.”
“Right.” Time. It all boiled down to time. Her powers needed to be fully unleashed. She and Rune had to fulfill the Mating ritual. They had to find the Artifact that she had once hidden from the world. All they needed was time. Trouble was, the people chasing her were determined not to let them have it.
And just like that, they were back to the business at hand. “So what now? Where do we go?”
“You hold the answer to that question.” He came close enough to lay his huge hands on her shoulders. “You’ve been having visions?”
Visions of Skyfire Page 5
