by Camryn Rhys
“I don’t. But I like to piss you off.” She kept yanking on the door. “You always promised me you’d never cross the line, Caleb. This feels a lot like crossing the line. Making my life your business. It’s different when it’s Jamie and Paul. You have every right to consider them. But this is my private life.”
He released the door and she almost lost her balance, but recovered enough to glare at him when she realized his foot was still keeping the door open.
“What? Is this your annual sex guest or something?” He cracked a smile, irritating man that he was.
“Shit, Caleb. Would you just leave me alone?” She tried pulling on the door knob but his foot was levered in just the right place. “You know I don’t have an annual sex guest.”
“I just want to make sure you’re honoring our agreement.” His tone took a serious turn. “You know I can take the ranch tomorrow if I want to.”
The words never stopped stinging. It’d been years since Caleb had threatened that, but it never lessened the level of pain she felt.
“I’m not doing magick.” Mattie pushed him square in the chest and he was caught off-guard just enough, he had to take a step backwards to catch his balance, and she could finally close her door. “Just go away.”
From the other side, he made a tiny growling sound. “Don’t push your luck, Matilda.”
Every part of her wanted to talk back to him, but she’d learned from Gabrielle that a person only defied Caleb Gallagher, pack alpha, if they really didn’t mind having their head separated from their shoulders.
Especially when it came to his family, which Paul and Jamie technically were.
She took a deep breath and turned back to the empty cabin. And the closed bedroom door. And Will.
There wasn’t enough magick in the world to control the situation with him. He’d found her, and he’d proven in the past he’d never stop looking. As much as she had wished she could welcome him with open arms, he was a danger to her and all her children. He may not think they were, but her family would be in his head. They would be following him. They would use him to get to her.
Mattie had no idea what she was going to do about the fact that his brother would call the Sheriff. No matter, it was time to face the music.
She did her best work on the fly, anyway.
Will stepped back from the door as he heard her footsteps approach. His blood was thrumming. The door was thick enough that he hadn’t heard everything, but he’d heard enough.
Mattie had another man in her life. One who thought he had a claim on her children. Her ex, maybe, or her current boyfriend. It stuck under his skin that he’d even let the thought cross his mind.
Her with another man.
He rolled his shoulders, trying to clear his mind, but he couldn’t. All he could hear was her familiarity with the man, and their negotiating about her children. About Will’s daughter. They had no right to negotiate about his daughter.
The door opened and she peeked into the room. Mattie looked smaller than when he’d first seen her, like her shoulders had slumped and she was trying to make herself disappear.
Will’s insides warred. He kept wanting to put his arms around her. Comfort her. Protect her. His thinking brain said he couldn’t trust her. Why wouldn’t his body listen to his brain?
Stupid body.
“Who was that?” he asked, surprised at the amount of venom in his voice.
“My neighbor.”
“He sounded like your boyfriend.” He narrowed his eyes, watching her every movement for telltale signs.
Mattie laughed, a strangely melodic sound in the middle of their tense situation. “He’s married,” she said, the arpeggio of her laughter tumbling down the words.
“Well, he sounds pretty possessive of your children.” Of my daughter.
“He’s…” She bit her lip, shaking her head. “This really isn’t any of your business, Will. We need to finish our—”
“It is my business. You are my business.” Dammit. What the hell was wrong with him? It was like they were back in Boston again, and the last twenty-eight years hadn’t even happened. He had to keep his wits sharp and not get caught up in their chemistry.
“Not anymore.”
“We were engaged, Lianne. Mattie.” Those words landed as hard on his chest as they seemed to land on her. Her brows pulled together and her nostrils flared.
“I left you the ring.”
“That doesn’t mean I stopped…” Half of him didn’t want to finish the sentence, but the other half knew he had to. The truth was the only weapon he had. “It doesn’t mean I stopped loving you.”
Her mouth dropped open and she licked her lips. The gesture made his blood rush, made his body heat.
“Come on. You know you were the only one for me. Always.”
The movement of her tongue was driving him crazy. Making him get hard. Breath pushed out of his lungs, like something inside would drive him forward, into her arms. Will took a step toward her, pulling at the bonds still on his hands, unable to get free. He watched her body for signs he should stop, but he couldn’t ignore the response inside.
He’d been searching for his daughter, of course, but just as much of his drive in the beginning had been to find Mattie. They were kindreds, and according to Fate, they belonged together. No amount of nurturing hate could negate the fact he was made to respond to her.
“Don’t say that, Will.” Her voice was a shaky mess. Every muscle in her body looked tight, like she couldn’t allow herself to feel what she was undoubtedly feeling.
He took another step toward her, reaching his bound hands together, ahead of his steps. His fingers brushed the bottom of her sweatshirt and she gasped. Will pulled on the sweatshirt until she stepped into his body. This was the moment he’d been dreaming about for twenty-eight years. Since he was a teenager.
Instead of hating her, he was hard for her.
He wanted her.
She kept moving until her body was against his, until Mattie was pressed against his bound arms. Her eyes closed as she leaned against him. Her mouth was upturned and ready, and Will had a moment of lucidity.
Her vulnerability had driven her straight forward, into his trap. All it would take was moving his hands over her head to trap her against him, and he could negotiate his way out of bondage. He couldn’t spring the trap—didn’t want to get free. He wanted to be inside her again. His skin practically itched with it.
Will crushed his lips down on hers, relishing her sharp intake of breath and the softness of her mouth moving under his. His hands were just about at the level, he could easily reach for her pleasure center. The place he wanted to bare so he could kiss her there, love her again, push inside her again.
Mattie wriggled against him and he walked her back to the door, closing it with the pressure of her body.
He slanted his head, driving the kiss deeper, thrusting his tongue into her mouth with frustrated urgency. It’d been too long since he’d been with any woman, and far too long since her.
A desire burned inside him with so much depth, it might set him on fire.
I need you, Lianne Matilda Banfield.
Will didn’t like it, but those words were still true.
He pressed his fingers against the front of her pants, slipping his hands down until they were almost between her legs. She gasped under him and wrapped her arms around his body.
“Oh, Will,” she whispered against his ear, and he kissed his way down her neck.
“Take off this thing.” He bit the hood of the sweatshirt and tugged on it.
Almost before he could release it, she had it over her head and on the floor. Underneath, she wore only a black, functional bra, and he bit the strap of that, as well.
Mattie took the hint and pulled the bra over her head.
Will latched onto one of her nipples so fast, she seemed to stop breathing, and dropped her clothing onto the floor. The heat between them continued to build and he was so hard,he was burs
ting out of his pants.
Will kept breathing in the beautiful scent of her skin as he sucked on her nipple, then moved his attention to the other. One of her hands went around the back of his head, holding him to her. The groans buzzing in the back of her throat were driving him to the edge of his sanity.
His fingers continued to rub back and forth between her legs, trying to stroke along her lips and as close to her clitoris as he could. Her breath was hitching, with each stroke, urging him on.
“Take off your pants,” he whispered, moving up to her ear.
Mattie fumbled with the fastening of her jeans and pushed them down to the floor, along with her panties. He dropped to his knees, hooking one of her legs over his shoulder, and sliding his tongue into her sex.
She rode his mouth like an expert cowgirl rides a stallion, hips relaxed and knees clenching him. She pulled him into her with just her leg, and he was enveloped in the scent of her. Both her hands gripped the sides of his head and she brought him up, opening the front of his jeans and pushing his pants and boxers down to his knees.
Her hand was around his dick before Will’s mind registered what she was doing. Her lips were on his, and the lightning pooling in his abdomen was about to strike all over the western United States, he was so coiled and so ready.
Mattie pushed him back onto the bed and in her naked beauty, she climbed onto him. She guided his erection inside with one hand and pushed his chest onto the bed with the other. The depth of her sigh made something unlock inside Will’s chest.
He knew the feeling. He’d missed this feeling for years. Being inside her, with her, having her body complete his. Emotion burned behind his eyes and he tried to reach for her face, but his hands were still bound.
She caught the rope and pushed his hands over his head. “Leave them there,” she said, her voice uncertain and shaking.
Mattie moved her hips, straddling him, fucking him like something drove her. She was on the edge, he could tell.
Will tried to move his hands down to help her, bring her over the edge with him, but she held his hands over his head.
Anger welled up in him and he tried to fight her again, but she had all the leverage. Her sighs went into the stratosphere and he looked down to see one of her hands between her legs, while the other held his arm in place. Her breasts bounced almost in front of his face, but he couldn’t reach them with his lips.
She began to cry out in orgasm and the intensity of her throaty yells made Will’s coiled desire shoot through him. His balls tightened and he ground out a warning that he was coming.
Mattie continued to ride him, as he came inside her, and kept riding until she sighed her last and collapsed on top of him. All the energy went out of his body, and his eyes still burned as they drooped. Something about the moment didn’t sit quite right with him.
Her breath began to normalize, almost into a rhythm, and he could feel her relax against him. The hand that’d been holding him so strongly before was suddenly slack, and he brought his arms down, over her back, so he hugged her to him. Will’s breaths matched hers, and they began to drift.
As the beginnings of sleep took him, he looked down at her face, so peaceful, so much how they used to be, it almost seemed like the years had melted away, and they could finally be what Fate had made them to be.
Mates. Lovers. Kindreds.
One.
Chapter Five
Mattie woke with drowsy slowness, the warmth of Will’s arms threatening to draw her back into sleep. The completeness she felt in that moment was so overwhelming, it brought tears to her eyes. Her body wanted to stay where it was.
Maybe forever.
Then the fear crept in. The same old fear.
He was a connection to home. If she wanted to protect Brady, she needed to get Will out of her life. There was no way he hadn’t already used a credit card in Springfield. Even renting a car at the Denver airport would eventually bring the Banfield witches to her door.
To Brady’s door.
She pushed off Will’s body, her hands sliding a little on his shirt, which made her feel even dirtier. Here she was, totally buck ass naked, and she’d barely gotten Will’s pants down before she’d jumped him like a starved sex zombie.
That’s what I am, though. Isn’t it?
Her clothes were strewn over the small bedroom, and as she dressed, she berated herself every time she slipped her arm or leg back into a piece of clothing that had been discarded in the sex haze.
This is what happens when you don’t have sex because you’re afraid of losing your powers. And when your Kindred is on the other side of the country. And you can’t even get close to a man without being afraid of losing your ability to protect the son who came out of your own womb.
Fuck. Fuck-fuck-fuck.
Tears streamed down her cheeks and she wiped them away with the sleeve of her green sweatshirt. She couldn’t cry. Mattie needed to cast another Sleep Spell on Will and figure out how much of the Confusion Spell she could use before her power gave out. Maybe enough that she could leave him at the Denver airport in his rental car.
But…
She looked at him, lying on the bed with his pants still low on his thighs, eyes still closed, hands still tied.
It’d been twenty-eight years since she’d seen William Walker, and he’d chased her across the country. He hadn’t stopped looking until he found her.
Would the Confusion Spell be enough?
Tears soaked Mattie’s cheeks again. If only Mom was still here…she’d know what to do. Mattie glanced down at her watch and the bottom dropped out of her stomach. It was almost one o’clock.
Past the deadline for Will’s brother to call the Sheriff.
Shit.
She scrambled for his pants, digging in his front pockets for his… A cold glass cylinder settled into her palm and she pulled it out.
Will groaned, reaching for her with a distinctly male noise that still shot desire through her entire body. His eyes locked on the vial and his brows curled in concern.
She couldn’t breathe. Between her magick desire for Will’s prostrate body, and her racing thoughts about the vial, the world was circling in on her. Like everything was about to go black.
“Wh—what the…” Mattie took a long breath, trying to settle herself. “What is this?”
“Mattie.” He sat up, reaching for her until she’d backed all the way to the door and hit with a hard thud.
“I thought you weren’t in contact with my family.” She opened the stopper and sniffed. The sharp, pungent scent was familiar enough. She’d made enough of it in the years she’d been running from Will, and she’d used it on him more than once, when he didn’t even know it was happening.
Paralysis Spell.
It would keep a person’s body from moving, and keep them from being able to utter magick, if they were a witch. She’d had to use it on her son once when he was first learning about his own powers. For his own protection.
It worked best if the herbs were boiled and enchanted, then ingested. Mattie knew the words to the spell to cast, live, although it wasn’t as effective. But it was on the tip of her tongue as Will fumbled with his pants. His tied hands made it harder for him to button his jeans.
She scrambled through the door and closed it behind her, uttering the quick, ancient words of the Lock Spell, which would hold the mechanism of the door, no matter what pressure was applied. As she stood on the other side, her heartbeat raced and tears continued to press at her consciousness. A loud bang on the bedroom door made her jump back.
Will pounded again. “Mattie. You have to let me explain.”
“I don’t have to do anything.” She forced the words through her clenched teeth. The world kept swirling, and she didn’t know what move to make next. If he had vials, then that meant her family was still using him to find her son.
To end Brady’s life.
No.
She had to dispose of this potion before the glass broke and
the liquid got into her pores. Mattie ran to the kitchen, unstoppered the bottle, and poured the contents down the sink, running the water after it until it was warm.
“Just listen to me. Lianne. Matilda,” he continued to call, pounding on the door.
She was done listening.
Mattie had listened to her mother, who’d promised the Protection Spell was safe. She’d listened to Siobhan, who’d promised the baby would be a girl, not a boy. Never a boy. And she’d listened to Will, who’d promised her the world, but worked for the witches who wanted to kill her son.
I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t have a choice.
She repeated the mantra that had gotten her through the first years, when Will was still chasing her. When she couldn’t let him find her, as much as she wanted to, because he would bring the entire power base of the Banfield witches with him wherever he went.
Choices have consequences.
If she’d wanted to keep Brady, she’d had to leave Will. The decision would continue to be the same, as long as Brady was alive.
Her choice would be the same.
Mattie walked to the door and cast the unlock spell with a sad drop in her voice.
I don’t have a choice.
Will launched through the door, her name on his lips, but she was ready for him.
She said the quick words of the Paralysis Spell and he collapsed, face-first, toward the floor. Mattie caught his heavy dead weight and went down with him, turning him onto his back. She dragged him to the couch and put a pillow on one side, pulling him up and putting his head at an angle that would allow him to continue breathing normally, and would keep saliva from pooling in his throat and choking him.
She avoided his eyes. Couldn’t afford to look at him, or her resolve would melt away.
The sex had been…gods…revelatory. She hadn’t felt that whole and complete since she was a teenager, in the arms of her kindred, right after her mother had said the words of the Mate Spell, with candles around them.
If she allowed herself to get swept up in his wake, she was putting Brady in danger. Especially given the fact that Will had a potion on him. That meant he’d spoken to someone in her family, maybe even told them he was still looking for her, even though he said he hadn’t.
