by Cynthia Eden
“If I hadn’t known you were mine, the dragon would have burned you on sight. Don’t you get it? Don’t you see? That’s what Genevieve and Devon thought would happen.”
Her lips parted. “What?”
“That’s why they put you in the cell next to me. I was the assassin hired to kill you.” He’d never get over that. Shit. “So they brought you to me. I should have used my flames on you.”
“But you were wearing an enchanted collar. It controlled your fire.”
He just stared at her.
“Didn’t it?”
“Don’t you remember? The collar broke when you were still in the cell next to me.”
“That was because I helped you. I gave you my magic. You transformed back into the form of a man—”
“Or Genevieve and Devon broke the collar. They were the ones to make the spell. And isn’t there a rule among witches that binding spells can only be broken by the ones who put the enchanted pieces in place?” The bastard Devon had been the one to snap the collar on him.
“Sonofabitch.” She looked shocked for a moment. Finally, he’d caught her off guard. “It…it wouldn’t have worked,” Valerie said, voice halting. “I told you that fire won’t—”
“Did they know that, though?”
Her lashes flickered. “Genevieve and Devon…they always asked me how I escaped the flames in Salem. I told them I used a spell to transport myself. I never told anyone—except you—that fire doesn’t hurt me anymore.”
“So they believed that by putting you in the cell next to me, they were bringing you to death. They didn’t want the other witches to see you. Half of the witches are terrified of you and half are in awe of you. A quiet death was better.”
Her lips pressed together for a moment, then she murmured, “But you didn’t kill me. You just blew a little smoke my way.”
“I mated you. And I knew exactly what I was doing.” He pressed a kiss to her mouth. “Because you are mine. My dragon knows it. My wolf knows it—”
“What about the man?” Valerie cut in. “What does he think?”
He thought he was looking at the only woman he wanted to be with for the rest of his life. The woman he’d kill to possess. The woman who’d somehow found her way into his very soul. “He thinks he won’t ever let you go.”
“Even if I’m bad for him? Even if I bring a war to his door?”
“There will be no war. And you aren’t bad for me.”
Her eyes seemed to darken even more. “Don’t be too sure of that.” Then she twisted, catching him by surprise and rolling them both across the bed. “I can be very bad.”
He thought she was fucking good.
“Let me show you.” Her fingers slid over his chest, moving in a silken caress. “Maybe you’ll start to like bad.” Her head lowered. Her mouth pressed to his chest. Licked his nipple. Bit.
He groaned.
“See,” she whispered, “I think you’re starting to like it already.” Her hands went to the snap of his jeans. She jerked them open, carefully eased down the zipper, then took his heavy length into her hands. Her soft, silken hands. His dick was hard and fully erect, and when she stroked him, pumping his erection from root to tip, Griffin’s hands flew out and fisted around the sheets.
The sheets ripped beneath his claws.
“Going to ask you to use some of that legendary shifter control right now.” She glanced at him with a sexy smile. “Think you can hold out?”
“Val—”
She took him into her mouth. Sucked him hard and deep, and his roar burst out, strong enough to shake the house. She didn’t let up. She licked and kissed, she worked him with her mouth and tongue, and the sheets were in freaking shreds beneath his hands. He wanted to come. Wanted to erupt into her hot mouth. Wanted her.
So he was taking her.
He grabbed her hips as his control shattered. Legendary, my ass. When it came to Valerie, he had no control. He lifted her up, making her straddle his hips, and then he plunged into her. Her hands flattened on his chest, and she gave a long, low moan.
Then she was rising up, pushing down, building in a rhythm that would take them both to oblivion. Her fingers pressed to his chest, and he swore that they seemed to heat.
“Ready to be bad?”
He was about to erupt—
“Here goes.”
Her fingers shot a pulse of magic straight into his chest. He looked down. Sparks danced around her hands. Pleasure drove through him. She gave a sharp cry as she climaxed, and her pleasure seemed to just surge into him, amping up his own release. Filling him, strengthening, going on and on in the most powerful orgasm of his life.
When it ended, he sucked in a deep breath. She’d collapsed on top of him, covering him with her body. Her breasts pressed into his chest, and her mouth was right at his neck. She kissed him, right over his pulse point. “That was amazing. Let’s do that like a million times.”
He was still in her. And she was wrapped around him.
She fit.
His arms closed around her back. “A million.” Because they had time. All the time in the world.
She gave a little moan and snuggled even closer. “Don’t leave this time.” Her voice was husky. A bit groggy. “Feel better…when you’re near.”
“I won’t go anywhere.” Leave her to be clawed? To be hurt? Never again. “It’s okay, baby, I’ve got you.”
“No.” Her breath feathered over his neck. “I’ve got you.”
Chapter Eighteen
She felt warm. Not like…on fire, villagers-want-to-burn-me warm but…toasty.
Safe.
Valerie cracked open one eyelid and realized exactly why she felt so cozy. She was in the arms of her shifter. He was still sleeping, but even in sleep, he held her tight. She liked that. He held her so close, as if she mattered.
Maybe she was starting to matter to him. Wouldn’t that be something? Her big, bad beast. Falling for someone like her.
“You’re watching me sleep.”
Surprise rippled through her. “No, I’m not,” she instantly denied. “Because if you know I’m watching, then you can’t be asleep.”
His eyes opened. No sleepiness there. Absolute awareness.
For some reason, a blush stole across her cheeks. She could feel the heat filling her face. “Hi.”
He smiled. “Hi.”
“Um, you stayed.” Which was awesome. “And I don’t think I screamed again.”
“You didn’t. No levitations. No more claw marks.” His fingers trailed over her shoulder. “Maybe…maybe it doesn’t happen if you aren’t alone. Maybe I can keep you safe.”
That was something to consider. To wish for. “Don’t know.” She rolled away from him. Rose from the bed. “I’ve never let a lover stay the night, so I don’t know if I scream when someone is with me or not.”
“You’ve…damn, you have a great ass.”
She’d paced to the window, but she glanced back at him, smiling. “Glad you noticed.”
He’d sat up in bed. “You’ve never spent the night with a lover?”
Not since Tomas, no. “When you sleep, you’re vulnerable. It would be too easy for a lover to slit my neck with a knife. Or shoot me. Or—”
“You didn’t trust your lovers.”
She glanced back through the window. Sunset was coming. “No.”
“My claws are sharper than any knife. You don’t worry about me slitting your throat?”
Her brow furrowed. “You can’t kill your own mate. You’d go crazy.”
The bed covers rustled. He padded toward her.
Then he wrapped his arms around her. “Is it really so hard to just say that you trust me?”
It was. Yes, incredibly so. “I don’t think you fired the arrow that hurt Rio.”
“Good. Because I didn’t.”
“But I think a shifter did. If you want my top three suspect list, it’s Goldilocks, Warren, and Elliott.”
He’d gone tense behind he
r. “Why them?”
“Because Goldie, um, Lucinda hates me. If someone made me think half my hair fell out, I’d probably want to get some revenge, too.” She kept her gaze on the water. The waves were really quite beautiful. “And while you told me that only you and Carmichael knew about the witch poison in your tower, it’s obvious Warren and Elliott are your best friends. They’re the top power after you, aren’t they? I’m betting they both know your secrets.”
“I never told them about where the poison was hidden.”
“Maybe you didn’t. Someone else could have told them. Like your brother.” Now she glanced over her shoulder. “You’ll notice, he wasn’t in my top three, even though you banished him.” That still didn’t sit so well with her.
Griffin turned her in his arms. “Why don’t you suspect him?”
“Because he’s too obvious of a bad guy.”
The faint lines near his eyes deepened. “You’re underestimating him. Don’t do that. Carmichael is dangerous. He hates witches. He knew about the poison.”
“In case I’m wrong, I have Edgar tailing him.” She smiled. “Didn’t see that coming, did you? You just saw my gorgeous ass and overlooked my scheming mind.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I love your scheming mind.”
“Edgar is also there to protect Carmichael. Not just to spy on him.”
Griffin’s brow furrowed.
“Because if I die, and someone does want you to think it was Carmichael, then I suspect he’ll be meeting a bad end before you can get to him.”
“It’s not Gold—I mean, Lucinda. She’s not the one who shot the arrow. She was devastated when she realized Rio had been hit. The girl was crying hysterically.”
“Could have been because she missed her target. I don’t think the shooter ever wanted Rio hurt. The shooter didn’t expect him to be brave enough to try saving me.” The jerk had underestimated her henchman.
My friend. Wait, nope, she would not think of him that way.
His voice low, Griffin told her, “I’ve known Warren and Elliott since I was a child. They’d give their lives to protect me.”
That was the point he seemed to be missing. “But would they protect me? Or would they try to protect you from me?”
And there it was. The faintest flicker in the depths of his eyes. “That’s what I thought.” She waved her fingers, instantly dressing herself. Tight jeans. White top. Some cute sandals. Why not look fab when she faced the vamps? Better for them to underestimate her. “And just because you’ve known someone since you were a kid, it doesn’t mean that person can’t turn on you. Speaking from absolute personal experience here. When we were little, Devon used to tell me that we were going to grow up and get married.” Her chest ached a moment. “Instead, he spends most of his adult time trying to kill me.” She eased away from Griffin and paced back toward the bed.
Silence. The uncomfortable kind. She could feel a new tension in his body. She turned and found him studying her. “What?”
“He wants to marry you?”
“No, I imagine that would be his worst nightmare now.” She waved this away. “When we were kids—you know, little kids just imagining life. He wanted to marry me back then. Before everything went to shit.”
“Before Tomas.”
“Yes.”
Griffin seemed to mull that over in his mind. “You never considered that he stopped you from saving Tomas because Devon wanted you for himself?”
She laughed. “No, he was way over me by that point. In case you didn’t know, he and Genevieve have a big on-again, off-again thing happening.”
Griffin’s expression remained tense. She probably shouldn’t have brought up Devon. Good thing she hadn’t mentioned their brief span as lov—
“Did you ever sleep with him?”
She rocked forward onto the balls of her feet. “So, I’m trying to keep up the honesty thing with you, but I have a feeling my answer is just going to piss you off.”
His lips thinned. “You slept with him.”
“I may look like I’m twenty-five, but I’ve been around for a very long time. I’ve got a lot of lovers out there. So if you’re going to be jealous—”
“I am.” He stalked toward her. Totally naked. All muscle. All sexy. “Very jealous. Because I hate the idea of anyone else having you.”
She was not supposed to find that sweet. And it wasn’t. It was possessive. Growly. Shifter to the core. “You can’t have my past.” She lifted her hand and pressed it to his chest. “And I can’t have yours.” Did she dare say it? Would it reveal too much? Don’t say it. Don’t say it, but… “You can have my future.”
Valerie wished she hadn’t said that. He might laugh at her. Might throw out some mocking comment that made her feel like hell. “Forget it,” she added quickly as she tried to sound dismissive. “That’s not what I meant to say.” She pulled her hand away.
He caught her wrist. Brought her hand right back to his chest. Pressed her palm over his heart. “You are my future. You think I don’t know that?”
She hadn’t realized… “That’s good.”
“No, I don’t think ‘good’ is the word. ‘Good’ is too tame for us.” He smiled at her. “But our future will be earth shattering. Epic. Incredible. And maybe even a little terrifying.”
She found herself returning his smile.
“Now are you ready to face the vamps and find your missing witch?”
“Absolutely.”
“Anything I need to know before the big meet up?”
“Enzo can’t be trusted. He’ll turn on us in an instant if he has the chance.” She considered this. “And I think he and Calliope are sleeping together. Blood, sex, and magic are a dangerous mix.”
His brow furrowed. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“If he’s drinking from her and having sex with her, Calliope will be his drug of choice. Vamps get addicted to witch blood. It’s one of the reasons I made sure they wouldn’t like my blood.”
“A junkie denied his fix can be very dangerous.”
She nodded.
“But not as dangerous as shifter who wants to protect his mate.”
He seemed to be warning her. Well, no seemed about it. He was.
She could see the hard warning in his green eyes as he said, “Your life matters more to me than anything else. Remember that.”
He turned away, giving her a very nice view of his ass. She admired it for a moment, then wiggled her fingers, sending clothes flying to cover him. “And you matter to me, shifter. Remember that.”
He’d slipped his way past her guard. For the first time since Tomas, a man had started to make her wonder if there was more to the world than power and magic.
Maybe…maybe there was love out there.
Love for someone like her.
***
Griffin entered the study. He opened the safe and took out the golden bracelets that Devon had given to him. Elliott had been safeguarding them for Griffin, and then, when they’d gotten to the island, securing them in the safe had been Elliott’s first job.
“What are they?” Warren spoke from behind him. Griffin had known the guy was there, of course. Not like another shifter could ever sneak up on him.
“A present for your witch?” Warren pressed. “I have heard that witches enjoy gold. Are they your attempt to buy her love? Because, hate to break it to you, but I don’t think love is an emotion that Valerie Storm can feel.”
Griffin pocketed the bracelets. He turned toward his friend. Valerie’s words played in his mind. “If you want my top three suspect list, it’s Goldilocks, Warren, and Elliott.” His gaze swept over Warren’s tense features. “Why do you hate her?”
“Uh, because she’s a witch? Supposedly the most evil witch ever born? Do you want me to name all of her kills? All of the people she’s cursed?”
Griffin stalked toward him. “How has she hurt you?”
Warren opened his mouth, then frowned. After a
moment, he swallowed, then said, “Are you forgetting what she did to my niece? Working her illusions, terrifying Lucinda?”
“You talked to the other shifters there that day. You know what Lucinda and her friends were doing.”
“So that made it okay for Valerie to torment her? Like two wrongs make some shit right?”
That wasn’t what Griffin was saying. “Are you truly going to stand before me and act as if you’ve never done anything wrong in your life, my friend?”
The target hit. Warren stumbled back. “I’m fucking sorry.” Pain flashed on his face. “You think I don’t regret what I did? Every single damn day? I know I cost them their lives. I know I screwed up and your parents died, I know—”
Griffin fisted his hands in Warren’s shirt-front. “I wasn’t talking about that.” Now he could only shake his head. “You don’t seriously still blame yourself for what happened to them, do you?”
“I let the witch into our world.” Warren’s gaze had turned stark. “I trusted her. I led her to our land. She couldn’t get in without me. She needed a shifter. I killed your parents.”
“You were a kid. Shit, man, you were—”
“I wasn’t some kid. I was sixteen. I was old enough to shift. Old enough to make my way through the portal. I believed her lies. Believed her stories. I let that woman get in. I let—” He broke off.
Griffin could only shake his head. “Valerie isn’t the witch who killed my parents.”
“My witch put a spell on me,” Warren whispered. “I thought she was the most perfect woman I’d ever seen. I didn’t realize how dangerous she was. Not until it was too late.”
“Valerie isn’t—”
“Valerie isn’t Lorena. You’re right. Valerie is a hundred times more powerful. A hundred times more dangerous. And you don’t see the threat that she is.” Warren’s eyes glittered with fury and fear. “Are you under her spell? Because I swear, I think you are. I wasn’t free from Lorena’s magic, not until she drew her last breath.”
Griffin stiffened. “I’m not under a spell.”
“I said the same damn thing. You don’t know you’re under a witch’s spell. Not until you’re free. And then suddenly you realize your witch isn’t so perfect. Not so beautiful. Not the center of your world. That’s the moment when you realize you’ve done terrible things, made terrible mistakes, and you’d give your soul to make things right again.” Warren gave a jerky nod. “Listen to me. Just listen. What if you and Valerie aren’t even mates? What if she’s just screwed with your head? Used more of her magic to make you think that she’s the one for you? You don’t have any way of knowing for sure. Not unless you bind her magic. That’s what Devon said. Devon—”