No Witch Way Out (Maeren Series Book 2)

by Mercedes Jade

  “Blue.”

  Jill felt strangely relieved to hear Victor’s voice.

  Elizabeth had suddenly dropped her mental link. Jill had been going crazy, imagining what could have happened to cut off the telepathic connection they’d had since infancy.

  She hadn’t been able to reach her mother, either, texting and then calling, after forcing herself to wait twenty minutes in hopes that it had just been a simple matter of Elizabeth using her lightning to throw bolts.

  It was the only time her sister cut off her connection.

  She felt like a terrible rat, calling her mother to report that something had gone wrong, after promising to keep the vampire ‘horde’ hunt secret.

  Her mother always responded to texts. As much as the older witch despised technology and drove white-knuckled every time she had to take the car somewhere, her mother never went anywhere without her phone.

  It was Jill and Elizabeth that were always being nagged by their mother to keep their phone turned on and with them at all times in case of a crisis.

  Leaving her shift early, because this definitely qualified as a personal emergency, Jill had been waiting for the last five minutes for the late night bus.

  Her shift normally ended in an hour anyway, but the longer she went not able to reach anyone, the more she figured nobody was coming.

  The bus was slow and there were fairly limited options at this time of night. She had been another minute from giving up and calling a taxi she couldn’t afford before Victor showed up.

  “Hey,” Jill said, trying to keep her tone casual.

  All of her panic was a tight little ball in her stomach. If Victor was here, then it had to mean they had been tracked down.

  It was only a matter of time after the market incident, especially with their spectacular exit from the castle.

  She wondered how their captors had managed to stop Elizabeth from warning her, somehow cutting off her telepathy.

  Her sister wasn’t dead, not dead. They wouldn’t kill her for running away. She hadn’t hurt anyone, just trampled some feelings, perhaps, if Daemon had felt anything real for her.

  Jill was the one they should be angry at after the poisonings.

  “Need a ride?” Victor asked, but Jill knew better than to think this was a question.

  “Where’s my sister? She and my mother were supposed to be here,” Jill said, asking what she really needed to know.

  If Victor didn’t have the answers, then there was going to be a fight. Without the guarantee of their safety, Jill wouldn’t be coming along quietly.

  Victor started walking towards her, cutting off her escape to the hospital staff parking lot.

  She would need to run back into the building, relying on her knowledge of all the hallways and exits to get her away from him.

  The card reader would take a few precious seconds to open the staff access door, before she could enter, seconds that Victor was rapidly cutting down as he came closer.

  “George and I saw your sister walking with Tor. They were eating candy and flirting with some older guys. George stayed to make sure they got home safe,” Victor said.

  He didn’t mention her mother, but she supposed that George had restrained her mother the same as he must have done to Elizabeth and Victoria, if all three witches were unreachable.

  “Oh, okay. I guess I can go home with you, then,” Jill said, not really paying attention to her answer.

  She was still thinking about escape. Her magic was powerful enough to take a vampire of Victor’s strength, and if she caught George by surprise, she might be able to free her family.

  There wasn’t time to think of a plan. She had to act, strike hard and fast.

  “You are getting on this bike, Jill,” Victor said, his eyes flicking to the employee entrance.

  Damn it. He must have caught her looking.

  He casually lifted his hand, directing a little cloud of mist that looked a bit like fog in the cool night.

  The mist settled on the door a few feet behind her, and changed to ice, freezing the door shut.

  So, it was going to be like that. Jill smiled and it had teeth.

  Any humans watching would think her boyfriend was coming to pick her up.

  She walked over to where Victor had stopped. Surprising him, she slipped her hand into his free one.

  Never let an earth witch get the upper hand, literally.

  The things she could do to him, feeling his pulse beat, just under the skin. Her magic was ready to teach this arrogant vampire that giving him a tummy ache and a few days sick in bed was the least of her skills.

  “Why didn’t you bring a car?” Jill asked.

  Victoria had mentioned riding a motorcycle before, but not that it had been with her brother. Friends ought to share vital info, like her brother could ride and was obviously familiar with the human realm.

  A heads-up would have prevented Jill from appearing gobsmacked when Victor showed up looking like a modern day MC ‘lord of the underworld,’ ready to drag her back to hell.

  “Get on the bike,” he said.

  That didn’t answer her at all. He dropped her hand and passed her a helmet.

  “Stealing a motorcycle is a crime, just like kidnapping,” Jill commented.

  She did not put on the helmet. Getting on the bike would decrease her chances of escaping on her own.

  She stopped walking and casually looked Victor over, while he walked, judging the completely normal human outfit he was wearing.

  Most vampires and demons that Elizabeth hunted had difficulty blending in, their clothes completely outdated. Their technophobe habits of walking everywhere also gave her sister a limited hunting ground.

  Jill wasn’t going to have such an advantage.

  Victor wore clothes that he could only have gotten in the human realm, modern and the perfect fit for his toned body. She had no idea how he’d pulled a disguise together so quickly.

  His skinny black jeans were worn by use, stressed to the point of threads at the knees and he had on boots that looked like they could do a little ass kicking, silver buckles on the outside jangling with every step he took as he stomped back to his bike.

  His ass looked as fine in the jeans as the time she saw him half-undressed, in her room at court.

  She blushed to be looking down there and pulled her eyes back up.

  The fitted leather jacket he wore was zipped from the ride over, emphasizing wide shoulders and a tapered waist. She wondered how he hid his weapons under the jacket, not doubting for a moment that he was armed to the teeth.

  A dark ruby winked from one ear, surprising because he hadn’t worn royal jewels in the castle.

  He had left his own helmet on the handlebars, grabbing it.

  “You do not want to add to your punishment,” Victor advised her when she just stood there. He’d probably caught her staring. “Put the helmet on.”

  “What punishment?” she asked, her tone objecting. “I’m unclaimed, so you don’t have a right to punish me.”

  She may have grown up here, but she still knew the rules of Maeren’s male-dominated society. Only a male relative could impose discipline on unclaimed witches.

  With her mother’s extremely rare single status, another male that was close to Jill might be able to claim the responsibility, but it still wouldn’t be Victor if she had anything to say about it.

  He put his helmet back on the bike’s handlebars. A few steps more and he was looming over her and blocking the light from the street lamp.

  She felt a shiver before she could suppress her body’s reaction to his nearness. Even in the human realm, she felt the power radiating off of him. He was fully fed and charged, and clearly, he had recovered nicely from her poisoning.

  How could he punish her when he was fine?

  “You owe me a feeding,” he said.

  His fangs protruded, ready. Her heart hammered. Was he planning on claiming his feed right here?

  She shoved her helmet bac
k at him, trying to push him a few steps away at the same time.

  They were nearly the same height, although the boots gave him an inch on top of the couple he already had on her.

  He didn’t move even when she added a little earth to her push. It felt too vulgar to give him a real shove with her strength. They both knew magic gave her an edge and she didn’t want to show off.

  Anyone that witnessed it would wonder.

  “This is not Maeren,” she said. “Protocols don’t apply here, so you can stick your punishment where the sun doesn’t shine. I don’t owe you anything.”

  He smiled at her. “You’re right. Rules don’t apply here.”

  Jill realized she’d just shot herself in the foot. She decided that pushing him wasn’t the wisest idea, looking around her at the deserted staff parking lot.

  “If you touch me, I’ll scream. Humans have advanced weapons,” she said, backing up a step. She tripped.

  He caught her, grabbing her by her right arm. His grip held her steady, while she found her footing. He didn’t let go.

  “Scream,” he dared her.

  He had called her bluff.

  “There’s a good explanation for all of this,” Jill said. She swallowed down her nervousness and looked up at his golden eyes.

  They glowed with inhuman power. All that black he was wearing made him blend into the night, but those eyes shone with hunger, waiting to pounce.

  He was such a gorgeous male, bladed cheekbones with little hollows that drew attention to his perfect bone structure, and a strong, square jaw, softened by a generous mouth with the most kissable lips Jill had ever seen.

  He pulled her against him. He did it slowly, letting her drag her feet and still moving her closer, until she was trapped. His hand, holding her helmet, snaked around her back and waist to also grip her.

  The heavy helmet rested on her bottom and he let it tap the vulnerable curves a couple of times with impatience as he waited.

  She looked back up at his eyes, having to crank her neck a bit now that he had them so close together. The inhuman glow in them had only gotten hotter, giving away his fire prince status.

  He was every inch the commanding royal and Jill was his helpless servant, chained by desire.

  Slowly, so damned slow, he lowered his lips to hers. She caught a glimpse of swollen fang as his head descended. He held her body prisoner, although she could have moved her head to avoid his lips.

  He might have let her get away with a peck on the cheek, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of cowing her.

  His leisurely kiss may have been paced, yet it meant business. He claimed her mouth thoroughly, licking and biting her lips, using his aroused fangs to scrape against her lower lip, enough prick to get her attention.

  She moaned and he thrust in, still not holding her head, making her stretch up onto her toes to reach him and keep his tongue playing in her mouth.

  He was teasing her.

  She tried to suck his tongue to hold onto him and he obliged her, deepening the kiss again, a short, frustrated growl escaping him as she shyly met his tongue to duel and then pulled back.

  That growl went straight to her belly and lower, making her tight and achy with need.

  She wanted to crawl right up his body and pull his mouth down on hers until she didn’t know where he started and she ended. She needed fewer clothes, more of his hands, and his hardness pressed against her.

  With a whimper, she grabbed onto his shoulders and flattened any space between them.

  He broke the kiss off, nipping her lips with his fangs when she tried to continue it.

  “Bare your neck to me,” he demanded, his protruding fangs affecting his speech.

  He lowered his head again, not waiting for her compliance, nibbling along her jawline.

  She put her hands on his chest, fisting his jacket and pushing back, halfheartedly. She had never felt anything like this, lightheaded with her first real taste of desire.

  “No. Not here,” she groaned. He blew cool air against the angle of her jaw, where he’d nibbled.

  This was what they meant by priming a witch for feeding.

  She hated feeding Phillip from her neck, preferring the wrist and keeping things impersonal, but the need she felt to let Victor sink his fangs into her was nothing like the mild priming she had with his older brothers.

  They had respected her modesty and simply touched her and kissed her as a formality to soften their bites.

  Victor demanded and stroked her body, claiming her mouth like he wanted to stake his right to her blood and surrender.

  “You don’t choose,” he reminded her. “A feeding of my choice was promised.”

  William had let her turn off the lights, only biting her when the door was closed and no one could see her blushes.

  Anyone could come out into the parking lot and see her here, thinking she was necking with her boyfriend.

  His hand with the helmet slipped under her ass. The hand holding her arm let go to catch the back of her head, his fingers twisting into her hair firmly.

  He picked her up, crushing her chest against his as he slowly pulled her head to the side, so his lips could slide from her jaw to her neck.

  He sucked the skin over her thudding pulse.

  She wrapped her dangling legs around his hips and he started walking back to the bike.

  Good thing, it was close, because she didn’t think he was looking where he was going, too busy giving her a hell of a hickey.

  Her bottom hit the bike’s seat. Her legs were still spread wide to accommodate his hips and he didn’t back up a step. The bike was too high for her to touch the ground, perched at the side, with just his hands holding her in place.

  She tried to draw her legs up in front of her and close them to get some space.

  He let go of her ass to grab one of her thighs and push it back, spreading her open further. His arousal pressed up hard against her.

  She squeezed her eyes shut. If he kept it up, she was going to finish, right here, on the bike.

  He released her neck with a pop that broke the suction he had applied. Her flesh felt swollen and hot from his attention but she wanted more, needed his fangs.

  She bit back her complaint. He didn’t need to know how much he had primed her with a few kisses.

  He pulled one of her hands gripping his jacket off him, guiding it down to in front of her thigh for her to hold onto the seat. It forced her to keep her thighs open wide.

  “Hang on,” he told her, releasing the hand.

  He trailed his fingers along her open thigh as he kissed her. His fangs nipped at her lips, one hand still tangled in her hair to hold her in place.

  His lower half pushed hard against her, giving her the pressure she craved. With a moan against his mouth, she held onto the seat more firmly.

  He wasn’t going to stop her from falling off of the bike if she didn’t hang on like instructed.

  “Stop playing,” she complained against his lips.

  He broke the kiss off. “Jill, are you still trying to control what is happening here?”

  “I offered to feed you, not fuck you.” Her defiant gaze met his as she swore.

  He didn’t have to know she rarely swore out loud. He was driving her to do all sorts of uncharacteristic things. She didn’t want to be nice or giving with him.

  Jill wanted to push Victor down with all of her real strength and take her own pleasure.

  His fingers plucked the ties of her scrub pants.

  She tried to let go of the seat to grab him, but he shoved a little harder against her, knocking her off balance, and she grabbed the seat again.

  “Move your hands and there will be consequences,” he threatened her. His voice had dropped low, gruff with arousal.

  “I’m primed enough. Just bite,” she demanded, silently admitting he’d turned her on more than his brothers ever had before feeding.

  She actually wanted it this time, knew that it would feel
good.

  Her scrub pants were loosened in a couple of quick tugs. She sucked in a shocked breath. He wouldn’t dare. He had just been teasing her.

  “First, I’m not going to be feeding right now. I am going to taste you, so the blood bond will stop you from hiding again.”

  “What? You could have tasted my wrist,” she complained. He’d worked her up for nothing.

  His hand slipped under the bottom of her untucked scrub top and brushed against her bare belly, his fingers dipping into her loosened pants. Her aching core clamped down in anticipation.

  Fuck. What kind of tasting was he referring to right now?

  “Stop,” she told him, but she didn’t move her hands this time.

  He paused for a moment. “Second, I’m not going to drive with you clinging to me, this close to orgasm. You’re going to let me put my fingers here,” he said, letting his hand slip down to cup her. His fingers curled against her folds, stroking her once.

  “Someone is going to see,” she hissed at him. She clenched the seat so hard that her earth strength might leave its mark.

  “Then hold still. My body will block yours,” he said, moving his hand to try to sink his longest finger into her.

  Just one finger but the position made it tight, especially when she squeezed.

  His thumb brushed her soaked pussy and he slowly corkscrewed his finger in as she shifted against him.

  She gripped his jacket hard. He wasn’t going anywhere now, with her seconds from coming. Her muscles were already tightening towards the inevitable.

  “You’re a sadist,” she bit out, letting him pull her head to the side for his bite.

  “Dominant, Jill. We discussed this,” he said, moving his finger inside her, against some magical button, while thumbing her bundle of nerves.

  She broke apart.

  His bite didn’t hurt at all, the relief of him finally piercing her neck actually throwing her body into another taut orgasm, dragged out by his thumb providing just the right pressure without teasing, wringing each spasm her muscles had left from her body.

  He politely licked his bite closed, while his fingers played with her.

  “Next time, I will feed and you will take all of me,” he whispered in her ear as she shook with pleasure.

  She felt her body go limp from the long release. He finally withdrew his hand from her pants. He let go of her head as well, his warm hand dropping to her shoulder to steady her.