She hated her mix of longing and jealousy that Ginny had love. Real love. Ram was willing to die to be with Ginny.
While she and Linc were using each other to get what they needed.
“Risa?”
Forcing her eyes open, she focused on the woman confiding in her. This wasn’t about her, but Ginny and her fight to be with the man she loved. “Just thinking. So the problem with Ram is the electrical energy in the thunderbird tattoo, right?”
“It’s going to kill him. It gets worse when we’re together.”
Recalling the earlier conversation she’d overheard, she asked, “That’s why Carla suggested gloves to you?”
“Yes. She wanted to try to infuse them with a magical barrier.”
Risa shook her head. “That will backfire. I could shield the gloves for you, but you said the buildup is in Ram, right? Internally?”
“Coming from the thunderbird tattoo, yes.”
Risa nodded. “What he needs to do is release it, not block it.”
Carla strode into the room, looking as tired as Risa felt. Nodding toward the witch on the bed, she asked, “How’s she doing?”
“Better. Her magic is doing most of the work now.”
The blonde witch laid her hand over the woman’s swollen belly, a soft smile curving her mouth. “Her color is good, and the baby is moving.” Taking her hand off, Carla added, “She’s doing really well. You can stop feeding her magic.”
Relieved, Risa let her chakras close. A deep sense of satisfaction unfurled in her. She’d helped save lives, not lured someone to their murder. It filled an internal emptiness and made her feel like a real earth witch.
Carla pulled up a chair. “I overheard you mention releasing Ram’s electrical energy. Like a lightning rod?”
Risa considered that. “That could work. The safest way would be to bury a rod deep and let the energy go into the earth.”
Carla tightened her mouth. “It’ll reach the ley lines that way. The electrical energy comes from a demon magic curse.”
Good point. “And now with Archer here, sucking energy, that could be a disaster. We could be inadvertently feeding him more magic.”
“Exactly.”
Ginny dropped her legs and leaned forward. “We have to do something, or the thunderbird will kill him.”
Risa’s shield magic pushed at her chakras, wanting to help Ginny. Or maybe Ram since she’d already cast her shield over him. And that thought gave her an idea. “I could shield some kind of box to hold the electrical energy Ram expels.”
“Is that possible?” Carla asked.
She nodded. “Yes. Like I shielded to keep the hellfire out, but this would take a lot less magic because it’s not coming live from the source. This is some kind of curse cast long ago, right?”
“We think so,” Carla said cautiously. “I can’t find the origin—things like who cast it and if someone is feeding it to keep it active through the years—we just don’t know enough to be helpful.”
Encouraged by their interest and pleased at being a part of this group, Risa got up and paced the room. “This could work. I’ll have to reinforce the shields regularly with more magic, but I know I can do it.”
“That would buy us more time to figure out where the curse came from and undo and fix—” Carla froze for a couple seconds, then jumped up. “I have to go.” She rushed out the door.
Risa stared after her then shook her head. “Must be more witches coming in.” She was slowly getting used to the fact that Carla and Sutton talked to each other in their minds. Sutton had telepathically updated his mate all afternoon and evening.
Ginny rose with fluid grace, crossing to Risa. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Carla and the other witches have been working hard to help us, but they know and care about Ram and me. You just met us.”
Risa held up her hand, uncomfortable with the praise, given how much she had to atone for. “I shielded Ram from the hellfire, Ginny. I need him to survive. If he dies, his soul will get stuck in my magic like the others.”
“No,” Ginny said. “Wing Slayer is stronger than that. He’d pull it away before it got tangled with your power.”
Since Ginny’s brother was a Wing Slayer Hunter, Risa assumed she would know, and relief nearly sagged her. One less thing to worry about. But that didn’t matter as far as trying to help Ginny and Ram. “I still want to create the shield to hold the electrical energy Ram drains off.”
She was so immersed in chatting with Ginny, she had no idea how much time had gone by when the door burst open and Hilary rushed in. “Risa, it’s Linc!”
~ 15 ~
Risa’s heart pounded as she ran flat out across the grounds of the school. A half-moon lit her way, but all she could think about was Linc. Blooded. Crazed. So out of control, they’d locked him in a room in the gymnasium.
Could she help him? She had to. He’d saved her from those rogues, held her when she’d been sick, then helped her when desire had suddenly unleashed, flooding her veins and ripping out her old fear. He’d even told her about being caged, trained to kill like a feral animal.
It couldn’t end like this.
Blowing past the pool, she headed across the open field and finally spotted Carla rushing toward her.
“What happened?”
Worry rolled off the other witch. “It’s bad, Risa. Really bad.”
“Was it Archer somehow?” Fear slithered around in her belly. Linc couldn’t die. She wouldn’t let that happen.
Carla touched her shoulder. “No, he wasn’t there. But another problem was. Quinn Young.”
“Who’s that?”
“He runs the rogues back in Glassbreakers, California. Years ago, he made a deal with Asmodeus. The demon gave him the Immortal Death Dagger.”
More anxiety twisted her belly. “It can kill immortals?”
“Yes.” Carla took her hand and led her toward the huge gymnasium. “The blood of a soul mirror can save them. But it gets worse. Quinn has turned into something more than rogue. He grows these daggers on his body so he has more than one. He could have killed them all tonight.”
Her chakras cramped at the thought of Linc dead. “But they’re all alive, right? No one died?”
Carla stopped walking outside the door, her eyes filling with tears. “It was your shield that saved them.”
She reared back. “How? I have to hold it to keep it active.”
“We think it’s the soul-mirror bond with Linc. There was enough there with your blood exchange. All of us soul-mirror witches working together were able to use enough magic to reinforce your shield. We couldn’t have done it if you hadn’t shielded the guys earlier, or if it had been any longer since you cast the shield. Basically your magic clung to Linc and his falcon.”
Stunned, Risa lowered her hands from where she’d been twisting her tangled hair. “My shield…lingered?” In the past, once her father had forced her to drop her shield, it had been gone.
“Apparently. I don’t think we’d have been able to hold it very long, but more hunters showed up and joined the fight. In the confusion, Young got away.”
Risa shook her head. “I still can’t believe you were able to do that.”
Carla took a breath and squeezed her hand. “Linc’s in bad shape. We’re hoping you can save him by finishing your bond with sex, but not if it breaks your mind. I swear to you, no one will make you do this. It’s a risk for you, and your choice.”
There wasn’t a choice. She had no chance without Linc. He deserved to live. “I’ll do it.”
Carla hesitated. “Risa, you’ll need to let the falcon in as your familiar. For this to work, you have to accept the bond.” Worry weighted the air between them. “You need to understand, Linc isn’t himself. He’s caught up in blood and sex lust, crazed and violent with it. He might hurt you.”
Dread clotted her determination. This wouldn’t be the Linc she knew, but a near monster. He wouldn’t care about he
r. He’d just use her or kill her. Part of her wanted to run the other way.
Carla stepped closer. “Risa? You can say no.”
She looked up at the witch’s troubled gaze. “Then what would happen?”
“Axel is on his way here. There won’t be any more options. We’ve already brought him back from the madness of bloodlust once. Axel will have to kill Linc. Otherwise he’ll get away from us, kill a witch and lose his soul forever.”
“No!” Oh Ancestors, she wouldn’t let that happen. Linc could have finished their bond any time, but he’d held back for her. He’d put her first in that respect. And now he could die because of it.
No more pathetic self-pity. Steely determination rooted in her spine. “Take me to him.”
Once inside, Risa’s shoes echoed on the wood floors of the vast gym bracketed with basketball hoops, and one side lined with bleachers. They went through doors and into a long hallway. After passing a couple small offices, they came to the end where brooms, mops, buckets and grim-looking men cluttered the hallway.
Sutton had thick, clanking chains thrown over his massive shoulder. He stepped in front of Risa and Carla before they reached the small window. “Carly, you don’t want to see this.”
Carla put her hand on Risa’s arm. “I’ll be right here if you need me.”
Nodding once, she walked up to the window where the last hunter, Eli, stood, his shoulders tight and his mouth flat.
The groans emanating from inside the room turned to a moan of agony.
Shifting her gaze to the window, she took in the eight-by-eight room with painted block walls, cement floors and nothing else.
“Storage room.” Sutton’s voice came from behind her.
That explained all the crap stacked in the hallway. But it was the man in the room who caused her heart to shove up into her throat. Linc stood completely naked, one hand on the bare block wall to her right. The other was jerking over his cock, his hips pumping and his face contorted in sheer agony.
“He can’t get off,” Eli said.
Risa couldn’t look away from the beautiful and terrible sight of Linc. Huge shoulders and chest, the muscles moving as he worked his dick. Tight waist, his ass perfect as he pumped into his fist. Powerful thighs all the way down to his feet, toes digging into the concrete as he fought to orgasm.
I need your touch. That’s what he’d told her earlier today. He’d tried to jack off for her but couldn’t do it without her touching him. Linc’s suffering tore through her.
“Let me in.” She clawed at the newly installed deadbolt.
“Stop, Risa.”
Ram strode to her, a second set of thick chains looped over his shoulder. “We have to chain him. We hoped he’d be able to jack off, get some relief before you go in there.”
“Let me in and get out.” She took a step closer. “You want someone watching you like this? Want them to see you at your most desperate moment? Leave us alone.”
The hunter’s face hardened, and tiny blue sparks snapped from his hands, sizzling as they hit the chains. “He can kill you. Right now the sex magic is fighting the bloodlust. But one smell of your blood and bloodlust will win. Then,” Ram said, his voice harsh, “Linc will go rogue, and we’ll be forced to kill him.”
None of them wanted to do that. They cared about Linc, were willing to fight for him. Well, so was she. “I’m not going to die.” She hoped.
The ice in Ram’s gaze cracked to protective worry. “I can’t let him hurt you, Risa.”
She saw it then. This man intended to keep her safe even at the cost of his friend’s life. Linc had meant it earlier when he’d said that Sutton and Ram would have dragged him away from her if she’d asked them too. Arguing wouldn’t win. Instead she had to divert Ram enough to let her in there without chaining Linc. Every instinct she had told her that if they chained him, it’d make him more feral.
Like her magic had protected her, Linc’s feral side protected him.
Decision made, Risa toed off her shoes and yanked off her shirt.
Ram stepped back, surprised. “What the hell?”
After ripping open her pants, she dragged them down her legs and kicked them away, leaving her in a bra and panties. She meant to reduce herself from a woman to an object in Ram’s eyes. “Open the door and go away. You want me to save him, I’ll do it. But I don’t need an audience, and you aren’t chaining him.” She wouldn’t allow it. He’d come to her in her worst moment, and he’d been kind. Gentle. She wasn’t going to have him treated like an animal.
“He’d want us to protect you.”
“He’s not an animal.” And neither was Ram. Despite her stripping down to basic underwear, he maintained his protective expression and stance. Sudden humiliation choked her. How much did these men know? That she’d been a whore for her father, luring men to their deaths? That Linc didn’t want her beyond sex to break his curse? Earlier today, Linc had snapped at her in front of them that she wasn’t doing her part to keep their deal.
Tears threatened, and finally anger. What did it matter what they thought? This was all temporary. “Ram, he needs me. I’m his only chance. If you chain him, he’ll fight, and I won’t be able to reach him. Please, open the door and leave.”
“Do it,” Eli said. “Give her the chance.”
Ram’s jaw bulged, and the veins in his neck pulsed. After an endless second, he released the deadbolt and opened the door.
She rushed into the room before he could change his mind. Quickly, she pulled the door shut.
Linc shoved off the wall and spun around.
His eyes, oh God. Dilated pupils, membranes as swollen and red as his huge, rigid, abused cock.
True fear broke through her cool. She whipped around and reached for the door.
One second later, Linc grabbed her arms from behind, lifted her and pressed her face first against the opposite wall.
“I smell your blood. It’s mine.”
At that moment the icy truth hit her. He was going to kill her with his bare hands.
* * *
The witch was his. He didn’t have his knife, but nothing would keep him from her blood. Spicy cinnamon.
Something about that scent tugged at his mind. Reminded him of…he couldn’t remember.
Instead, he felt the soft woman against his torturously hard dick. The smooth cotton of her panties covering the hot skin beneath. He pushed his cock deeper and pressed his face to that luscious spot where her neck curved into her shoulder. Groaned as her scent filled and saturated him.
Something nagged him. What was he supposed to remember? His head throbbed as he fought to think.
Blood.
Sex.
They were all he could think about. And the unbearable heat in him.
No knife. Teeth. He could use his teeth. He licked her shoulder, and the taste rippled through him. His cock jerked and pulsed against her panty-covered ass.
An image of her flitted through his mind. The dark-haired beauty trapped in a cage with a collar around her neck. Confusion swirled…there and gone.
Something moved on his back. Whipping his head around, he growled a warning. His witch. He’d kill anything that came in the room.
Nothing there. Yet he felt scraping on his back.
“Linc, I’m here to help you.”
Her voice. It made his head hurt more. He turned back, but he didn’t want her to talk. He wanted her to bleed. All the powerful blood soaking his skin, cooling his veins. Making the pain stop. Making him stronger. Undefeatable. He’d rip the door off and hunt for more witches.
Gazing down again at her exposed neck, he lowered his head and latched on. Bit down.
A wave of magic rose.
He inhaled just as he tasted her blood. Wild pleasure hit his tongue and jolted through him, so strong his jaw slackened.
A force that smelled like hot candy threw him back. Shoved him. Kept pushing until his back slammed into the opposite wall. Something that felt like feathers snapped a
round him. When he struggled, the feathers turned hard as steel, refusing to budge.
What the hell?
He watched the witch as she turned, so beautiful with her witch shimmer soaking her skin in silvery-blue sparkles. She wore black panties and a bra, and walked softly toward him. “I’m going to help you.”
He winced at her voice. It made him want to remember. Need to remember. Made his cock throb too much. Forcing his gaze up to her face, he met her eyes.
Dark blue. Intense. Determined. Familiar enough to create a tug in his gut. “Your magic won’t save you, witch.” How had she bound him? He didn’t understand.
“The falcon tattoo on your back is helping me.” She stopped in front of him. “He’s my familiar, remember?”
He measured her, ready to kick when she got close enough. Pain would snap her magic. But her voice. It tore through his mind, shoving back the burning fog. The insanity of the bloodlust cleared, and he recognized her.
“Risa. Christ, get out of here!” Fear for her popped sweat out on his neck and back.
She undid her bra, ripped it off her arms and flung it to the floor.
Linc stared as her breasts bounced free, the sweet tits with dark nipples. He couldn’t look away. Not until he saw her reach for her panties and slide them down her long legs, revealing her mound to him, with the tight little strip of dark hair running straight down between her toned thighs, shielding what he wanted most.
The memory of her taste tormented him. He’d had his mouth between her thighs and wanted that again. Needed it. Nothing tasted like Risa and her desire. Flames of lust licked at his cock.
When she kicked the panties away, he saw a flash of pink right at her center.
His mind stuttered, and a longing, deeper than lust, bigger than anything he’d ever experienced, wrenched through his entire being. The drive to claim her. All of her. Not just her body, but her very essence.
Risa strode toward him, awash in confidence and the magic she was using to help the bird hold him. Her scent, like a red-hot candy left to melt in the sun, flowed around him, staking a claim.
Caged Magic Page 19
