Capturing the Last Welsh Witch

by J. M. Davies

  “I know what you’re going to say, Marcus, but I need you one more time and then you can walk away. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

  She stared as the muscle twitched in his jaw. Ella squeezed his hand, which squeezed her breast, and she moaned. At this moment, she didn’t care about tomorrow: there was only now. Hours ago, she thought she would never take another breath but here she was, still alive in this cursed life. He may not love her the way she loved him. Ella sucked in the air; she stumbled as her heart missed beats and tried to catch up. She loved him—why did that surprise her? Never before had she given herself so willingly to any man knowing so little was given in return and here she was, exposed and needing his touch, his kiss. She swallowed and gazed at him as she moved his hand down over her belly to the juncture between her legs. She pressed his fingers down into her heat as she arched back, savoring the feel of friction and what it did to her.

  “Please.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Ella lay on the soft but firm mattress of the king-sized bed and allowed her fingertips to smooth their way along her silky skin and wind their way down to her most intimate of places as she remembered vividly all the pleasure she had experienced with Marcus before he had left her. They had barely made it back to the room after her declaration in the parking lot and then as soon as they entered the elevator, Ella unbuttoned her shirt and moved her hips from side to side in the journey up to the eighth floor in the elevator. Marcus had pinned her against the steel wall and unbuttoned her jeans so he could place his hand down into her panties. Feeling the wetness between her legs, he groaned and inserted first one finger and then another as Ella kissed his neck. As the heat in the elevator soared, Ella coiled her leg around his hip, locking them together.

  When the elevator shuddered to a halt, Marcus whisked her out and as soon as they entered their hotel room, both stripped off their clothes, dropping them on the ground. Ella backed away, headed for the bedroom and shimmying out of her jeans, only leaving her scanty underwear on. She didn’t make it to the bed before he grabbed her around her waist and lifted her up against his naked body and she squealed. Automatically, she wrapped her legs around his waist, fusing their bodies. His hard erection nudged against her moist core and she stared at him, unwilling to breathe or say anything, just needing him to be inside, filling her. He pushed his erection slowly while he kissed her neck and panted against her skin, making her shiver and want him more.

  “I thought you were dead. I saw all that blood and I thought you were fucking dead.”

  His voice was savage and filled with a barely controlled anger. He eased the hold he had around her waist, letting her legs slide down against him. They leaned against each other for precious moments, warm bodies connected, but the mood shifted from dizzying, uncontrollable desire as he leaned his forehead against hers to something deeper. Ella stood on tiptoes and kissed his mouth with soft little nips, smoothing her body against his as if smearing her scent all over him to reassure him.

  “I’m not dead, Marcus. I’m very much alive and in need of something only you can give me. Please.”

  Ella kissed him on his chin, his neck, and then she crouched lower to kiss him over his taut and firm chest, over his toned abdomen. She licked his belly button and she smoothed her hands down over his hot flesh, stroking his groin and hips until she touched his very alert and throbbing cock. He wove his hands into her hair and pulled her head back slightly so they gazed at each other. She looked up at him as he held her away from his manhood, stilling her.

  “I want to please you, Marcus, like you pleased me,” she said quietly. Her small hand grabbed hold of his sex and she stroked the length back and forth, adding some pressure at the base.

  “Ella, you always please me.”

  “Just one last time. I don’t want anything more.” She didn’t believe her own words and didn’t stop to wonder whether he did. A shudder raced through Marcus and he eased his hold on her hair. She continued her teasing massage of his sex from the base to the tip. Within seconds, any reservation that Marcus may have had disappeared and he gathered her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. For the rest of the day, he made tender love to her, taking his time and wringing out every orgasm until she was exhausted and completely sated. The way they made love this time was completely different than before. Marcus didn’t simply ravage; he took his time, touching and tasting every part of her body. The sun filtered into the room through the sheers, but they wrapped their bodies around each other sleeping the afternoon away.

  When they awoke, it was night and the giant full moon shimmered through the windows. A yearning grew and their last union was the most wild and frantic coupling. Ella lay on her back as Marcus drove his shaft into the deepest part of her as if it would never be enough. He clutched her and bucked, yelling out, and kissed her neck. Ella bucked as her orgasm spread and the waves carried her away. A deep, sharp sting—a bite at her neck—had her pushing at his chest and wriggling but a deep growl and a strong weight pushing her down deeper and deeper made her resist as the world shifted on its axis. Mine. She heard the words like a command.

  Say it, Ella. I want to hear you say you’re mine. Mine.

  She wasn’t sure whether it was a dream or whether Marcus was talking to her inside her head, but after giving him everything, saying this little word seemed like nothing.

  I am yours.

  As if the word unlocked the door, Marcus slumped against her body and they lay entwined, not moving for a while but wrapped in each other’s arms. Ripples of euphoria rocked her body back and forth in a drugged stupor. Fireworks exploded in the pit of her belly and fiery tingles screamed in her veins as her body undulated and trembled. The sense of being united and feeling of total completeness was overwhelming. The pain in her neck disappeared and she floated like a butterfly on the breeze, feeling the warmth of the sun on her skin. She clenched her nails into the mattress; something magical had taken place as her body continued to pulse. She fell into a deep slumber.

  Hours later, a sense of loss and coldness surrounded her and she jerked awake, stretching her hands out to the side where Marcus had been, only to find the spot empty and the sheets cold. The door to the bathroom swung open and a shaft of light fanned into the room. Ella fell back against the pillow.

  “Ella, I need to talk to you.” Marcus stood, already shaved and dressed in his jeans and dark sweater. His hands raked through his wet locks despite the early hours on the clock. He spoke with a distance that was impossible after all they had shared but it was there on the edge of his tongue. Ella gathered the single cotton sheet and covered her body, shielding herself against his stare and wanting to hide away from this moment of heartbreak. She sat forward and wrapped her arms around her knees, bracing herself. She was ready.

  “I have a new job, working for Orion Corporation. My old Captain has set up a private company. It’s a good job. I get to handpick my assignments and my team but I have to leave now, today, and that means leaving you. Steel promised me that you will be taken into protective custody. There’s a man waiting outside the door, ready to take you until the Elusti is blown apart. I’ve made sure that provisions will be made for you so that you can live comfortably with a new identity. He will brief you with all the details later when he takes you in. You will be safe and it will be my on-going mission to hunt them down.”

  He stopped and scanned around the room as he chewed on his lower lip. She’d never seen him do that before and almost felt sorry for him as he looked so awkward. She didn’t know how to respond, or what he had expected her to say. The loss she’d felt earlier was replaced by a void and empty feeling but she couldn’t say anything. She simply nodded. There was nothing to say. He hadn’t made any declarations, or real promises; he’d only ever been honest that it was only sex, even when confronted with the knowledge that they were soul mates. He’d never truly believed any of it, and although she knew irrevocably that things had changed for her, there was nothing to
suggest it was the same for Marcus. He was walking away, even after discovering they were the same, and knowing their shared past. There was nothing left to be said.

  Her fragile heart ached and throbbed but she wouldn’t cry or make a scene. No, she would let him go. Ella straightened her shoulders and flicked her messy hair away and bravely swallowed as he grabbed his leather bag off the ground and picked up his keys from the bedside table. He moved to step closer but she bent her head.

  “Thanks for everything, Marcus. I do wish you all the best, but don’t worry about me. I’m a survivor and I’ve always taken care of myself.” She ripped the sheet from the bed and wrapped it around her like a shroud. She jumped off the bed and headed toward the shower. Don’t look back—just let him go!

  “Just go in to the debriefing, Ella, and let them handle everything.”

  She didn’t move to look back but gritted her teeth at his words. “Sure, whatever you say, Armani.” Pushing the door open, she escaped into the still steamy shower and closed the door behind her. She rested against it until she heard the door click closed in the other room. Turning the shower on to full force, she stepped into the pouring heat and let the water pummel her skin. With her head in the cascading water, she let her tears fall. After the shower, she returned to bed, reminiscing over the past with Marcus. Her fingertips quickly traced over the sensitive places he had recently been.

  As Ella applied a generous smear of red lipstick to her pouty lips, she stood back and admired her handiwork. She fussed with her newly styled, bouncy blonde tresses and pulled the front of her Victoria Secrets red satin corset with matching diamanté studded thong. By the time she finished, Marcus would get this piece of gossip in triplicate and it was going to be so satisfying. If his final parting words had been slightly more caring or showed a modicum of true feeling, she may have found another way to gain her freedom but no, she decided he deserved everything he got. She knew it would eat him up as much as it would hurt her to even touch another man.

  But there was no way she was going to be tucked away safely, like some ancient relic, watched over by Marcus’s friends. It would be unbearable; the distance alone from him might drive her insane but to have constant reminders flitting in and out of her life was worse. At least, if what she had been led to believe about being parted from your mate was true, but not having experienced it before, she wasn’t entirely sure the rumors were true. She was fine. She wasn’t a blithering mess. She could do this. There was a loud tap, tap, tap on the door that divided her bedroom from the main suite. It was her escort. “Miss. We need to leave. Mr. Drayton said to make sure we left at eight thirty sharp.”

  The male voice on the other side of the door sounded young and she didn’t recognize it at all, which melted away any last-minute nerves as she went into her role of seducing siren. She settled herself comfortably on the large bed and dimmed the light switch, praying that she could pull this off. “You’ll need to come in, unfortunately. It’s a bit embarrassing but I need your help.”

  She wriggled on the bed, attempting to stay calm as her heart fluttered. She stretched her left arm above her head as if it was attached to the handcuff she had looped around it. Of course, it you were up close and personal, you would realize it wasn’t actually locked. The broad white door swung open and there, dressed in a dark suit and white shirt and holding a gun, was a shorter version of Marcus. Or was she seeing double? She shook her head to clear her vision. He was much shorter but broad with shoulder-length dark hair—lighter than Marcus’s color—and his eyes the color of whiskey. But his face was baby soft, as if he wasn’t old enough for facial hair. He was young, maybe in his late twenties, and his eyes widened to the size of soup bowls when they finally rested on a squirming, semi-naked Ella on the mattress. His mouth practically dropped to the ground as he soaked up every inch of her body. She pouted.

  “That son of a bitch left me handcuffed. You’ll need to get over here and unlock me if you want me to move. The key is on the side table, just out of my reach. Look there.” Ella was positioned smack in the center of the bed so no matter which end he tackled her from, he would have to actually get up on to the bed to help release her. He stared and closed his mouth shut, frozen for a moment as his brain ticked over. Without saying a word, he put the gun down on the table and stared at the small key, swallowing. After taking one step toward her, he stopped.

  “Mr. Drayton never mentioned handcuffs.” His thin eyebrows lifted as he looked again at the scene in front of him, staring openly at her curves. She twisted her long, slim body, baring her mostly naked ass, and bounced up and down on the bed.

  “Well, I guess he forgot but either way, he likes to be in control and there’s no way I can be out of here by eight thirty if you don’t free me and stop gawping.” Her angry voice rose and that shifted him into gear as he grabbed the key, knelt on the bed and stretched his hand to cover hers. He stared at her face and her lips as she flicked her tongue over her ruby gloss-streaked mouth and that was his undoing. She kicked him right in the groin, leaving him in agony and dazed. It was easy to slam him down on the bed, forcibly switching her wrist for his and snapping the cuff to the bedpost. Stunned, he lay there groaning and then as awareness dawned, he yelled angrily. She blew him a kiss as she grabbed her discarded clothes from the chair and closed the door behind her.

  “Never trust the enemy.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  The waves crashed violently on the shore below in rocky Skrinkle Haven with its impressive sandstone cliffs and slim headland that split the beaches in two, as if man-made. She wrapped the gray infinity scarf another loop around her neck to stop the blustery wind from the coastal breeze. The turbulent aqua-marine waters stretched endlessly and seagulls screeched in the air above her. Ella added some final delicate brushstrokes to the canvas before she settled the small paintbrush back onto the easel and admired her work. Without turning around, she shifted her stance and dug her hand inside her pocket.

  For a moment, the wind stilled and a movement behind her alerted her to the fact she wasn’t alone any longer. Living in the small village of Manorbier in Wales, it hadn’t taken very long for the locals to get to know her and the story she had created of a single artist painting the Pembrokeshire Coast at different spots and times of the year. She had rented a small self-sufficient cottage in the tiny village on a month-by-month basis; it was better that way, giving her the freedom to leave with little notice. One month had passed by quickly enough with no news or unexpected visitors and Ella was surviving in her lonely, isolated existence. The sudden scent of a human presence had her spinning around; her left hand rose to shoulder height, curled into a fist, and her right hand clenched tight, ready to fight off a would-be attacker. A tall, statuesque man about the same height as Marcus stood there but there the similarities ended. Why she compared every man she met now to Marcus, she had no idea but she did. Intelligent hazel eyes stared at her and a thick, neatly trimmed mustache twitched as the man gave a tentative smile. He wore dark-gray cargo pants and a thick navy sweater with a short black leather jacket on top and heavy brown boots.

  “I’m Ben Steel. The postman said I would most likely find you on this rather isolated path, Miss Jessica Smith. Look, to cut a very long story short, I know you’re Ella Masters, the Witch. I know that because Drayton works for me and told me where you would be. Did you really think he would simply let you escape? To cut to the chase, Miss Masters, we’ve allowed you some space and privacy but it’s time to come in.”

  Ben sucked in the fresh, salty air and looked around, narrowing his gaze back toward Ella. “It’s undeniably beautiful here and you’re a gifted painter, but aren’t you the least bit bored?”

  The way he spoke and learning that he was Marcus’s friend and boss did two things: it made her cheeks flush crimson at the thought he must know all her story, including the very last chapter at the hotel, and that Marcus had known where she was and her new name the entire time. How was that possible?
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br />   “I’m not sure what Marcus told you about my company Orion but it’s an elite and private task force that I have set up purely to hunt down those who need to be captured and dealt with. I have only just begun setting up the ground crew but I want a global team committed to defeating the enemy, whoever they might be, and ready to move at any time and to any location. I know you have an extraordinary set of skills and I believe you would be an asset to my team. I’m offering you a job, Miss Masters, and with that comes a hefty sign-on bonus, added to the fact that you instantly get enrolled into the family. We protect our own. No disrespect, Ella—may I call you Ella?—but you cannot hope to fight everyone off on your own out here. Or do you plan to keep moving every couple of weeks?”

  His voice was rich and sincere. She hadn’t quite worked out what her game plan was going to be long-term; all she knew for sure was that she couldn’t count on staying anywhere for any length of time and eventually she would run out of money. Staring at her golden bracelet, she moved it around her wrist and stared out at the sea.

  “I can help you get the Elusti, Ella. Isn’t that what you want?”

  Ella breathed in the air and let the energy of the wind clear her head as her hair, which had stopped growing since she had arrived, blew back and forth. Living secluded, pretending to be someone she wasn’t, left her few options. It meant a lifetime of being on the run, hiding and always living in fear. If Ben Steel was true to his word, she would not only have money to live on but important work that would bring the Elusti down. She may not have the means to tackle them alone but as a team and over time, that was a possibility. There were still many unanswered questions about other people like her. The way the Elusti was set up, with Aidan at the helm as some sort of mad scientist—shivers raced down her spine at the memories, which made her believe there was much more going on. He was playing games and conducting experiments. Her hand rubbed her neck; he had injected her several times with an unknown substance and she didn’t know what the effects of it was but she feared she wasn’t the first or last to be tested on. She hadn’t even told Marcus. Working for Steel would give her a sense of purpose and it would give her some answers.