BLOOD MAGIC

by Jennifer Lyon

  The cold truth of that hit him hard. Axel sucked in a breath.

  What if it was true? What if Darcy was doing something to him? When she'd been threatened by the rogues at her apartment, the hawk on his skin had seemed to come to life. The wings had tried to lift off his back. This thing on his back, it wasn't just a tattoo.

  “What?” Ram walked over to him, seeing that he was obviously thinking something over.

  Hell, if he couldn't tell these four men, who could he tell? “The wings. My hawk tat. I swear the wings tried to lift off my skin today at Darcy's apartment when those rogues attacked. And he screeched in fury.”

  “Your knife?” Phoenix asked.

  Axel shook his head. He'd looked. Repeatedly. “No wings impressed on there. And no ring of immortality around my thumb.” Those were the traditional signs that the Wing Slayer used to deem a hunter worthy of being one of his hunters. Yet someone had changed his original raven into a hawk, who was the traditional leader of the hunters. If the Wing Slayer had changed his tattoo, then why wasn't he showing himself to Axel?

  He swept his gaze over them and said, “What if Darcy is doing something to me? The hawk tat never did anything until she touched it.” God, his hawk wanted her to touch him again. She made both Axel and the hawk feel alive.

  Key shook his head. “Your tat isn't charmed by a witch. I'd know. We'd all feel it.”

  That was true, they'd all feel the residue of her magic. He was letting his father's soulless ramblings get to him.

  Ram looked thoughtful. “You were the closest to the witch blood tonight, yet you resisted.”

  He snorted. “I wanted it. It was too damned close. Only the thought of Hannah kept me from going after it.” And memories. Memories he didn't want to deal with tonight.

  Ram wasn't finished. “You put the witches in one of our safe houses.”

  He was changing, there was no doubt. He couldn't let innocent earth witches be killed. He had to act. Was that him rising to the hawk tat he wore or was it something else? There weren't any answers, so he said, “Let's call it a night.”

  An hour later, he paused the security system to go into the house. Just as he reengaged the alarm, he heard Hannah's cry of terror, “Make them stop!”

  Axel threw off his exhaustion and moved at inhuman speed to her room. His baby sister had scooted to the top corner of her bed, clutching her Minnie doll and her blankets. “Don't let them get me!”

  Axel scooped Hannah into his arms. “No one's here, baby.” He hugged her shaking body to him while scanning the room again. He could see perfectly in the dark, but they'd taken to leaving a night-light on for her.

  “The shadows! Please, Axel!”

  Her hot tears hit his shoulder and twisted his guts. “No one's going to get you. I swear.” She was having nightmares of shadows swallowing her up. The curse was taking hold, tormenting her mentally and physically. Her little body shivered, but her head felt hot against his neck. Axel put his hand on her back to hold her snugly against him and strode out of her room.

  He almost ran into his mom.

  Axel reached out his free hand and steadied her. She looked exhausted and her arm beneath his hand felt thinner. “I've got her, Mom. Get some sleep.”

  “Is she feverish?”

  Eve's eyes were haunted. Hannah's night-light spilled out just enough illumination to show her in a pair of sweats and a long-sleeved shirt. Her eyes were smudged with fatigue and worry. “Maybe a little, but mostly scared from a nightmare. I'll wake you if she needs anything.”

  His mom looked over him. “You're hurt.”

  He shrugged. “Doesn't matter. Go back to sleep.”

  “It matters,” she said softly.

  Forcing a smile, he reassured her. “I'll be healed before you get up in the morning. Go back to bed. I'll put Hannah in bed with you once she's asleep.” He moved past her and strode out to the kitchen. He didn't bother with a light, but went to the fridge and got out a bottle of water. “Try some water, sweetheart.”

  “Don't want it.” Hannah tucked her face farther into his neck.

  Axel bypassed the big table and sat in the oversize rocker. “One drink, Hannah.”

  It had been nearly a week. Time was ticking by. Tonight, Axel had a list of five demon witches. They were cross-checking to see if they could find out if one of their daughters had been killed the night Hannah had been cursed.

  He opened the bottle of water and coaxed Hannah into sipping some.

  She looked into his eyes. “Can Darcy make me better now? Please?”

  He was asking the impossible of the witch; expecting Darcy to save his sister and his soul for him. Who was really being the coward? Wasn't Hannah worth his soul?

  Yes.

  He brushed her damp hair back. “She's trying.”

  “Am I going to die?”

  “No. I won't let you.” He wouldn't. The problem was that if he went rogue, he'd go for Darcy and kill her. Nothing but his own death would stop him. So he had to time it right. Kill the demon witch and make sure the Wing Slayer Hunters killed him immediately before he went after any more witches.

  And Darcy would end up slaughtered anyway. The rogues would find her. He leaned his head back. “Sleep, Hannah.”

  He was obsessing about the witch. Was it her blood? Her scent? The fact that he wanted her so badly he couldn't sleep?

  Or had she done something to him?

  Hannah fell into a deep sleep. Axel stood and walked silently into his mom's room. He put Hannah next to Eve. Half asleep, Eve reached out and pulled the covers up over Hannah, then fell back into exhaustion. Silently, he walked out of the room and pulled the door closed.

  He stripped off his clothes and got into the shower. Ten minutes later, he got out; he was pulling on a pair of shorts when he heard his BlackBerry beep an alert. He picked it up.

  Someone had bypassed the locks and had opened the front door.

  Wearing just his shorts, Axel walked silently out the door and onto the porch.

  Darcy paused at the top of the steps and turned when she heard the door open. The spill of light from the moon touched her skin, changing her witch-shimmer to a sparkling silver. It caught the threads of gold in her hair spilling down her back in thick waves. She wore a green sleeptank and shorts, leaving her long legs bare.

  The sight of her struck him. Drew him. He took a step toward her and stopped himself. “What are you doing out here?” He knew she wasn't trying to escape him in pajamas and bare feet.

  “I'm going to try to call my familiar. I need to be in the moonlight.” She rubbed her hands over her arms and added, “I can't get anything from the tapestry. Not even a hiss from the cat. I know the spells are in the silver box. I know it!”

  Her frustration dimmed her witch-shimmer. He saw goose bumps on her arms. “Hang on.” Axel walked back into the house, grabbed the brown-and-tan throw blanket from the back of the couch, and went back outside. “Put this on, you're cold.”

  She took the blanket and swung it around her shoulders. Then her eyes widened as she looked down his length and back up. “What happened? Your arm is bleeding, your face is bruised, your chest …” She went silent as heat colored her face.

  He fought a need to grab that blanket wrapped around her shoulders and pull her to him, then strip everything off her so she wore only her witch-shimmer and the faint moonlight. He stepped out, pulled the door closed, and said tightly, “I'm fine. The arm will close back up.”

  “Here, let me …” She stepped toward him, reaching out to touch his arm.

  “No.” He moved quickly to the edge of the porch by the half wall made of rock. Sitting on it, he sucked in a breath. He'd lose control if she touched him with her powers. He'd been too close to the witch blood tonight, was too on edge. The need to feel her blood was rising. “What do you need to do?”

  “Go to the lake's edge.” She paused again at the top of the steps. “Did you find out anything tonight?”

  Axel watche
d her. “We have the names of five demon witches. We're trying to determine which one had a daughter killed when Hannah was cursed.”

  She nodded. “But you'll give me five more days, right? Before you go after her?”

  “As long as I can.” Was she worried about him losing his soul? Or him killing her if he went rogue?

  She turned, made her way down the stairs and walked toward the lake. The blanket draped over her shoulders swung with her body.

  He wanted his arms around her, not that damned blanket. If he had so little time left as a man with a soul, why didn't he just take her? Make love to her? For as long as he had his soul, he would sink his knife into his own heart before he cut her.

  His gut tightened and his chest felt hollow. He wanted her, needed her, in a way he couldn't grasp. Or maybe he'd just gone too long without feeding the sex part of the curse. He'd been too close to that blood tonight, and the burn still hovered just beneath his skin. Threatening, begging, clawing, promising … always promising relief and ecstasy.

  It was a lie. A soul-shattering lie.

  Keeping Darcy in sight, he watched as she stopped at the edge of the lake. She stood quietly, barely moving. Then she stretched up, allowing the blanket to slide down and pool at her feet on the shore. She tilted her head back to angle her face up to the moon and extended her arms out to the side. Curving her body in a graceful arc, she gave herself to the moon, to the night.

  Axel sucked in a breath, her beauty shimmered with heat; her silver necklace reflected the pure white of the moon so that it appeared to be only moonlight weaving a pattern on the skin between her clavicle bones. Her hair flowed in a river of auburn down her back, her breasts rose high and thrust out while the curve of her hips rounded enticingly down to her long bare legs. The moment was so personal he almost felt he was intruding.

  He couldn't look away.

  She spoke, the pitch of her voice rolling over him like a caress. She arched back even farther, closing her eyes, giving herself over. Then she breathed deeply, and he felt her power surge. Unfurl. Reach out around her, strong enough to send ripples across the dark mirrored surface of the lake.

  Axel surged to his feet, unable to stop himself. Not wanting to. Her power, her sexuality, her very center, called to him and demanded that he answer. Now.

  The wings on his back fluttered beneath his skin. Animal and hunter instinct took over, and he melted into the night, skimming down the stairs and across the dirt until he stood in front of her. He drew in the scent of her, the full lemony spice now filled with the smell of the moon and sheer joy. And power. He put his hands on her waist.

  Her eyes opened slowly, her pupils were enlarged. Her breasts were swollen and her nipples pebbled beneath that little shirt. He could smell the musk of her desire, her need. Her rising power had filled her body, and now it pulsed inside of her. She said, “My fifth chakra opened. I begged the Ancestors to grant me an animal to help me do spell magic and focus my power.” Her body shuddered beneath his hands and he felt a wave of energy move through her.

  Axel felt it like it were his own. Like he was con necting to her, plugging in, as if unseen parts of their separate beings were fusing. And with it came a sense of hope. Real hope.

  Her eyes widened. “Can't control it,” she said.

  It struck him how he had deprived her of what she had needed, locking her up on the lower floor and away from the elements. She was an earth witch, she needed the earth. Now she was on overload as her power stretched and unfurled and soaked up the earth through her chakras. His own body responded, going hard, tense and reaching with an instinct stronger than any other, stronger than even his bloodlust. A drive to lock up the connection between them. “Don't try,” he said. “Let the power have you.” He wanted her drenched in the power, swimming in it. Then he wanted to taste that power, feel it, touch it, and finally, sink himself in it while wrapping his arms around her, holding her as she gave herself to the power.

  And to him.

  “You don't understand.” She reached down to pull her shirt from her breasts. Her movements were frantic and unsteady.

  Oh, he did. He slipped his hands down her waist and pulled her shirt up and off. “You need to be free. You need to breathe, to feel the moonlight on your skin, and to feel my touch.” Her hair slid through the top of the shirt and fell around her.

  Dropping the shirt he saw he was right. Her breasts were swollen until her skin was nearly translucent with a silver glow and ethereal blue veins. He cupped their weight in both hands, thumbing her dark and luscious nipples.

  She arched, a sound of pleasure slipping from her.

  He lowered his mouth to one nipple, dragging his tongue over the hard nub, then drawing it in, suckling. Drawing her into him, feeling their very essence surge and mesh.

  Darcy canted her hips, her hands clutching his shoulders, then she shifted to pluck at the fabric of her shorts. “Axel,” she breathed his name.

  He answered by letting go of her breasts and dropping to his knees. He brushed her fretting hands away and drew down her shorts and panties. Exposing her to the moonlight.

  And to him.

  Her scent hit him first, spicy and mouthwatering. When he opened his eyes, he saw her dark curls and full thighs. He reached up, gently pressing her legs apart, then separating her curls to see her folds.

  The moonlight shimmered on her, showing him the moisture, soaking her and the small bead of flesh stiffened with need. Holding her open with his fingers, he stroked his thumb over that little spot.

  She shuddered and made throaty noises that sank into him.

  He leaned forward and touched his tongue to her.

  Darcy thrust her hips into him. A taste wasn't enough, not nearly enough, and he devoured her. Lapped at her, dipped inside of her, increasing his pace with her movements and cries. Cupping her hips with one hand, he dragged her closer, wanting to be filled with her scent and flesh.

  More.

  He slid a finger inside of her, feeling the silky hot folds pulse with her witchcraft, then clench and beg. Still suckling her, he added a second finger.

  She rode his mouth and fingers, her hands digging into his shoulders until her rich, full orgasm exploded. She cried out, shaking with pleasure and her legs folding beneath her.

  Axel caught her in his arms, pulling her to him.

  Darcy tasted herself when Axel slammed his mouth onto hers, his tongue probing deep, his arms anchoring her to his body. She could feel his tightly leashed lust pounding at him, his erection thick and hard against her bottom.

  Another wave of pure energy undulated from her center outward. Pulsing strong enough to make her shiver. He had licked her into a shattering orgasm, but it wasn't enough. It wouldn't be enough until Axel filled her. She had never before felt these waves of agonizing wanting. Her skin prickled with it, demanded it, it felt like she was splitting apart and needed him to fill her up and seal her soul in her body.

  Her cry of frustration broke the kiss.

  Axel's green eyes flared. He lifted her from him to lay her on the soft blanket covering the earth. Then he rose, stripping off his shorts.

  He was magnificent. His bronzed skin rolled down his stomach then paled at his hips. His hair was inky black and curling around his cock.

  Huge.

  Like the man himself.

  Beautiful in an untamed way. He'd fill her, make her unbearable wanting stop. She looked up to his eyes.

  He watched her, his gaze sliding down her body then back to her face. Danger and magic danced in the air between them, drawn to each other like magnets.

  Another roll of overfilled power surged through her, forcing her body to arch, her breasts high and her thighs to open. She didn't know what this was … but it was sweeping her away, like she was caught in a spell.

  She wanted to surrender to its claim, whatever it was. “Please,” she commanded, beckoning him to her, to come into her body.

  Axel shivered once, dropped to his knees. Set
tling himself between her legs, he said, “You'll take all of me.”

  She didn't know what he meant, but then he pressed fingers into her, sliding in slow but deep. And deeper.

  “Yes,” she agreed. Willing to give him anything. “I'll take it all.” She knew the emotional pain would come with his release. It would smother her with the weight of truth about her, but right now, she didn't care. She just wanted him to fill her.

  He took his fingers out and circled his cock to guide himself into her.

  She spread her legs wider, lifting her hips, accepting him.

  “Easy,” he growled. His shoulders bunched, his neck corded.

  Hot tears of need burned her eyes, thickened her voice. “You said I wouldn't have to hold back with you.” She wanted … she didn't know, but she had to have it. All of it.

  His hard green eyes softened with a flutter of wings that slipped away as soon as she saw them. “Not holding back, sweet witch. You're tight, but Christ, you're opening up for me.” He trailed off in a groan as he thrust.

  Then thrust again deeper inside of her.

  Again. This time so deep her body clenched and a wave of witch energy rippled with the pleasure.

  He shuddered, lowered his face to hers and said, “Touch my hawk.”

  Oh, God, how she wanted to. She slid her hand over his shoulder to the wing tat. The feathers were warm and soft and lifted to her touch.

  Axel slammed his mouth to hers, licking her lips, suckling her tongue while pumping his cock into her. Hard. Deep. The sensations pounded her, and she curled her fingers around the feathers, holding on as she soared. Energy snapped, her powers heated and swelled, her soul rose and touched his.

  Axel reared up on his hands, his powerful shoulders gleaming with sweat.

  She desperately needed him to fill her. She needed to feel the man and the hawk, needed to merge their souls. “Axel,” she arched into him.

  He stared down at her, his vivid eyes a clear green. Then they filled with the wings of his hawk. “Take what you need, Darcy. Take it all.” His words were gentle, but he thrust deep enough to slap his balls against her.