Love's a Witch (8 page)

Rushing to the bottom of the bed to catch her was easy. It was much harder to put her down. Her breath caught. Then the delectable tang of arousal hit my nose. It pulled my wolf from the tight leash I kept him on. Control was my great strength but it was no match for Mary’s hips.

I downed the rest of the wine in my glass and shut the books. There was no concentrating right now. My brain was dredging up all the garbage we didn’t have time to deal with. I put more of the resin from the vial under my tongue. That along with the alcohol might let me convince myself this attraction was superficial.

“Yo, Math Man. Your queen is hungry. If you don’t come eat, your share is officially up for grabs, and unofficially mine.” Her tone was sarcastic, but she put an arm around my neck for a squeeze before heading for the food.

The reality of the finances still tickled the edge of my brain. If we sold the van for a decent price, we could swing a better car. I packed up most of the paperwork in our rolling office tote. I stood and pulled up the handle to lean it against the wall.

We just needed to cut down on motel expenses when we were back on the road. At least a night or two at Kari’s Bed and Breakfast would save some cash. She wouldn’t charge us at this point. With all the locks and some windows broken, our protection would be more than enough compensation. But after that, the places we stayed either needed to be by-the-hour quality cheap, or we needed to rent two rooms instead of three.

Thoughts of sharing a room with Mary started to trickle into my brain, and in the next instant there she was standing in front of me. Blue diamond eyes looked up into mine. It was like I’d called her.

“Are you coming?” She had no idea how the buzz she had going made her words sound. The question should have been innocent enough. It was her breathlessness at hurrying into the room, and the way her pupils dilated that had very un-innocent thoughts banging around in my brain.

I couldn’t help the growl. “Not yet.”

She stepped back, shook herself off a bit, and then started backing into the doorway. “Oh…well…um…don’t blame me if Amber eats your food. She’s been eating a lot. Even for her. And…well…your choice. Ow!”

She tripped and fell on her butt, a ripple bouncing through her frame. How was a guy not supposed to think of her breasts bouncing for other, much more fun, reasons? I grabbed her hand to help her up. Lacking some of my famous self-control, I pulled a little hard. A squeak from her and she crashed into me. Her soft curves felt amazing pressed against my body. A deep breath and I knew I wasn’t the only one affected. She was getting wet just being close to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a bad looking guy. I was used to having women respond to me, but this was different. Hers was a scent I couldn’t ignore, and it caused my wolf to fight harder.

“Save me a plate, Mary. I’ll be in there in a minute.”

“Uh huh.” Making women breathless was fun. Making Mary breathless was dangerous.

This was something more than playful. Before my brain could process anything else, something on her neck really caught my attention. Right where her collarbone met the veins tracing delicately along the column of her throat I could see her pulse. I tilted my head to get a better look. She squirmed against me. She was getting wetter being held. So little Mary had some submissive tendencies. Interesting.

I couldn’t stop staring at that spot. What was that? I hated mysteries. Investigation was necessary. My wolf suddenly grabbed the reigns and he pushed my tongue from my mouth. I started laving Mary’s neck. She stiffened, but immediately softened with a moan. Her scent surrounded me and gave my wolf even more hold. I was drunk on her, and let my wolf hold my body up.

Then my teeth lengthened. A bone jarring feeling that hit me when I scraped them against her supple skin. It was the only thing that made me take the control back. Cold washed over me as my wolf’s intentions became all too obvious to my human brain.

He wanted more than sex from this woman. My wolf wanted Mary as his mate. She was mine. This was exactly what I had been trying to avoid. She couldn’t be mine. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.

Mary was still in my arms. She arched her back. The softness of her belly pressed against an erection that had a mind of its own. My wolf grabbed hold of my lust and pushed through. She smelled so good. I needed just one more taste. Just a little one.

Chapter Eleven

Mary

If I got any hotter or any wetter, my underwear was going to slide down my legs in a pile of melted goo.

Craig’s teeth began to press and scrape against my skin. It felt amazing. Then I was on the floor again. Only this time I had been jerked back by someone else instead of falling under my own weight. However you wanted to look at it, my ass still hurt.

“What the hell, Craig?” Amber’s voice shattered the last of the dreamy state Craig’s mouth had created.

I rubbed my sore rear as I stood up again. “Amber, geez. Thanks a lot, but maybe next time you could just cough instead of yanking on me.” Craig backed up. The guy looked terrified.

Okay, so this was awkward, but did he have to stare at me like I slipped him a roofie?

“No. It’s not possible.” Craig was talking to himself.

The moment was more than over when Amber started dragging me into the kitchen. It took a minute for my heels to dig in and a minute longer for Amber to realize I was trying to stop, and let me stand still.

“Amber, what’s going on? I’m really confused.” I wanted her to tell me something that made sense, because my mind was doing nothing but replaying how Craig’s tongue felt, and I had no idea why it seemed so important.

Amber patted me on the head. Have I mentioned my place at the kid table? Amber just gave me a booster seat. She reminded me again with her response that not a damn thing had changed. So much for our heart-to-heart girly talk. I was going to have to figure out how to make Amber understand. Maybe I could get a large bat and hit her every time she said something stupid.

“He’s just as confused as you, sweetie. Don’t worry about it right now. Let’s just go eat his portion of the bread. Kari found some of her homemade apple butter…” Amber kept talking as she wrapped her arm around my shoulders and guided me forward.

I dug in my heels again. Well, I tried to dig them in. Hybrids are strong. I pulled the little hallway carpet with me along the wood floors. “Amber, please just freaking talk to me. I am sick of following you blindly, and you trying to keep what’s going on from me. Didn’t we just have this talk?”

“Sometimes wolves freak out when they find their mate. He needs some space, sweetie. Let him have his meltdown.”

Whoa.
Mate
? I let her drag me into the other room before I had a meltdown of my own.

Lunch was eaten at a broken table held together with clamps and bungee cords. Our group was as tightly strung as the red band Amber kept flicking with her finger. Craig had made a brief appearance before he gave some lame excuse about paperwork. Jake’s brow furrowed, but he didn’t push.

Amber seemed completely oblivious. The conversation centered totally on food. Kari had traveled to Australia at some point in her life and the two were going on and on about Tim Tams, some kind of cookie Amber used to stash back home, but never shared with me. I sat over-chewing my food trying to prevent it from hitting my stomach like lead. Amber’s flippant words wouldn’t leave me alone. She said I was Craig’s mate. Was it possible? Was it okay? Would he turn me? Had he been trying to bite me?

My fork bumped my plate and let loose a screech that had me jumping from my seat. My water spilled and because it’s me, I didn’t just end up with a small puddle of water on my lap. I watched as the chair rebounded into the hutch behind me. The last piece of glass in the house that hadn’t been trashed by Kari’s break-in shattered.

“I am so sorry.” I started to clean it up. Glass tends to slice skin when you grab it by the handful. I let loose a string of curses. Craig came rushing in, and the broken glass crunched beneath his cowboy boots.

“Are you okay?” Giving me time to answer would have been nice. Instead I found myself in his arms. I would have held on, but I was gripping my throbbing hand and trying not to bleed all over him. He turned sideways to get through the smaller entry to the kitchen.

Kari moved aside the food she had been plating and looked genuinely freaked out. “Are they okay? You told me Amber’s newly turned. Do we need to take Mary out of here?”

“They won’t bite me. Ow!” I jostled my palm when Craig dropped me on the countertop. Fresh pain shot up my arm.

Craig grabbed my hand and pulled it towards him to see how badly I had cut myself.

“You don’t need to worry about her safety with us. We’ll protect her. The only thing we need to worry about is your murderous werewolves coming back.” Craig looked like he was yelling at my palm. His eyes didn’t lift as he started opening drawers to look for supplies.

“Oh, they weren’t looking to kill me. They were coming to take me away. I was up for harvest.” Kari let the statement drop. From the way Craig tensed, I knew something she said was a big damn deal.

Her words sat heavy, and I stopped fighting with what Craig was doing. Her colors changed. She wasn’t in a panic, but a grey fear was beginning to trickle into her aura. Whatever she was talking about she had accepted, but it scared her. I forgot about my pain for a moment to try and figure out what was going on.

“What does that mean?” I directed my question at Kari. She seemed to be okay explaining things to me. Maybe I could get someone to let me in on a few secrets of the world that was so big and bad.

The grey in her aura darkened. “You need to ask your travel companions about their heritage sometime.” Her eyes darted to Craig before she continued. “Harvesters are those who capture witches for the vampires. They can be vampires themselves, or any other creatures who value money over their consciences.”

“So, they’re kidnappers? How do they keep all those disappearing people a secret? Wouldn’t they be reported missing?” Craig was dabbing my hand, and stayed quiet as I spoke. I was a bit surprised he let Kari do the talking. Craig knew a lot, and was usually the first one to jump in on this kind of thing.

“If vampires are involved they can compel people. But that is not usually necessary. True witches aren’t exactly the most public figures. We tend to keep our lives quiet to avoid the whole witch trial thing from repeating itself. Harvesters also prefer solo practitioners whenever they find them. It’s easier to snatch us up than it is to harvest from a coven. They take us whenever they can find us.” Kari drew herself up. “It’s why I bathe in the salts mixture I do. It helps keep me off their radar. Before you came I packed my body with mud to keep it in place since I wouldn’t have time to reapply.”

“That’s what smelled so bad?” I had to ask.

Kari frowned. “I took the soil from the garden. I forgot about the compost I had mixed in earlier in the week.”

It smelled like more than a few decomposing eggshells. I had a feeling Kari was attracting wildlife that were using her garden as a litter box, but she was still worried, and I didn’t see the need to bring it up.

“They thought by trashing my house I would just roll over and go with them. Either that or I’d get hungry enough to weaken and be an easier catch. I would have done a lot better had it not been for the rain the other day. It flooded the banks and my usual escape route. I was working my way back to the house to see if they had gone, but someone hit me with a car.”

There was something dark just outside my comprehension. The look of confusion must have shown on my face.

“She’s saying she was meant for the blood market. They will continue looking for her. If they don’t find her, they won’t mind taking a substitute.” The anger radiated off Craig. He threw down the wet paper towels he had used to clean my wounds, smacking them loudly against the garbage can.

“And now I’m wondering how fast we can get out of here. They won’t find your body and they will come back, Kari. You know that, right?” Craig dug out some dish cloths from one of the drawers below my ankle.

“I am aware of this, but my center is here. We need to spend some time here to help Mary on her path. Sure, this isn’t ideal,” Craig snorted at that. Kari cleared her throat and it sounded like she was about to shush him. “But I think we have time. There are things she needs to find to make it to where you need her to be.”

Craig looked at Kari, and I wondered at the meaning of her words. Was she prepping me for what the Clan needed from me, or Craig? Who the hell really needed me around anyway?

“Why would they come back? Isn’t it easier to grab someone else?” I wanted to be included in all this. I just wish I understood the backstory better.

“Witch blood has a wide variety of uses in the vampire world. From delicacy to power boost, we are captured, for what they call a harvest. It used to be just a few individual vampire Families who could capture someone they come across and keep them for their own use. With the advancement of the internet, and skilled money launderers, there is a large black market developing. Many other supernatural creatures seem to be taking advantage of it, including werewolves.” Kari dug around in a drawer and got out some antibiotic cream. Guess even magical women needed a bit of Neosporin. And bonus…it was the one with the added pain relief.