He was the calm in the storm, and the fact that she automatically gravitated toward him made her nervous. He fought with her, he played with her, and he was so damn protective of her that at times she wanted to nip him on the nose, which was a form of chiding among the bears.
She had heard his whispered words to her when she had laid down. And it had confused her. Everything was just so overwhelming here. Her tears had flown unchecked, and she had fallen asleep, lulled by his voice. Kevin had regretted his words to her, as Totters had said. She forgave him, but she could still remember the scarring pain in her heart. She was not angry with him anymore, so why did her heart still ache?
She liked his presence around, and although she now needed him to stay at a distance from her, he had become more like an extension of her. Everywhere she turned, Kevin could be found. She liked him being within reaching distance.
It was not that he was glued to her hip, but knowing that he had made her a priority made something inside her chest quiver. She decided to ask Heather about it later. But time was about to run out.
Nina thought back to the prophecy she had just had. She had never felt such a pressure on her mind before. It was as if her world had suddenly blown wide open, and she could see past the world into a hazy silvery mist.
Never before had a prophecy come to her while she was awake.
Perhaps it had to do with the fact that her mind had been in a meditative state. The stark clarity with which she had seen the events had left them imprinted in her mind. No matter what happened, she told herself, she was going to make sure that prophecy never came true.
Kevin glanced back at her. “Breakfast first, or do we–”
“Breakfast,” Nina smiled.
Kevin stopped in his tracks and gazed at her like an idiot, making her pull back warily. “What?”
“You smiled,” he pointed out, dumbfounded.
Nina’s ears turned red, and she asked defensively, “So?”
Her shifter shook his head, and the look that he wore on his face had her heart thumping wildly. “It suits you.”
As Kevin walked toward their room to take a shower, Nina’s resolve hardened.
This prophecy could be altered. She would make sure that Kevin did not take a death blow that was intended for her.
Chapter 11
Kevin soon realized that gathering ingredients for a spell was easier said than done. Nina was a hard task master. Everywhere he would show her would be inspected carefully, and, usually, rejected outright. It was one of the most frustrating jobs the shifter had ever had, and this was coming from someone who routinely took over the discipline of the juveniles.
When Totters flew over with a handful of leaves, Nina ran a pleased hand over his head. “These are just right!”
When the falcon stretched his wings and preened, Kevin threw an evil look his way. He could feel the smugness radiating off the bird. He held out the bud of a plant to the witch who frowned. “It’s too young. We need it at half bloom.”
Kevin growled, startling her. “This should not be this hard!”
Nina shrugged. “Do not yell at me because you’re too slow. These are the very basics.”
The snarl made her disguise her chuckle with a cough. The woods surrounding the den were all included under the protective barrier that hid the den from intruders. Kevin wanted Nina to stay within the barriers. Morrigan obviously knew where she was, and he did not want her out in the open, exposed.
“Nina.”
The witch looked up from where she was kneeling on the ground, her mouth moving as she chewed on a leaf. She held up a hand and then spat it out, making a face. “Oh, this is definitely halzer. Bleh.”
Kevin could not help but smile at her put-off expression. She looked so cute with that little furrow between her brows and her disgruntled look. He handed her the water bottle he had been carrying and watched her get rid of the unpleasant taste in her mouth.
“How did you escape detection all this time? If Morrigan managed to find you here inside the barrier, why could she not track you down before?”
Nina leaned back on her haunches, and enjoyed the sun on her face and replied. “I shielded myself from the minute I left the compound. We had been traveling for weeks without any proper food and water when we reached the barrier surrounding fairy territory.” She winced at the memory. “My shields slipped just enough for my location to be revealed. And then,” she gestured, “everything else happened. I have not been able to keep a control on my powers since then. It’s left me unable to maintain the shield.”
Kevin studied her as she let the heat soak in. She looked so young right now, so relaxed.
“That doesn’t seem to bother you.”
Nina realized that it was true. But then again, even if the future was not set in stone, she knew that her time was up. She glanced at the shifter. His eyes were kind, just as she had seen in the prophecy.
Her heart felt light.
This was her decision. She had no place in the world now. After the power was wrested from Mother, the compound would still brand her a traitor. Where would she go? She was not a shifter. She could not stay here.
Nina frowned. That sounded a lot like giving up. But she was not, was she?
Sensing the direction of her thoughts, Totters dove in from the sky and settled on her outstretched leg. He nipped at her jeans in reprimand.
“We have always managed to survive, Master. What makes this any different?”
“This time, it’s different. I can feel it.”
Totters blinked at her. “I will follow you anywhere, Master. Even in death.”
“It’s very disturbing when you two converse.” Kevin commented. “I cannot stress that enough.”
He was laughing at her, and she closed her eyes to commit this moment to memory.
A pair of lips met her own.
Nina’s eyes popped open, and she was staring into Kevin’s eyes.
What had started off as just a soft kiss, had Kevin freeze. He had expected the chemistry, but not this jolt of electricity that flowed between them. He pulled back for a heartbeat, and his eyes followed the way Nina’s lips trembled, her eyes wild with the flare of lust and embedded with confusion.
Letting his instincts take over, he pushed her to the ground and settled his body against hers. Taking control of the kiss, he licked inside her mouth, and it pleased him when she squirmed with discomfort. His little witch was not resisting his advances. In fact, if the little moan she let out in her mouth was any indication, she seemed to want more.
So he gave more.
His mouth moved on hers, and he sucked on her tongue. Nina let out the most delightful sound at that, which only made him go wild. His hand moved down to her jeans, and he used the heel of his hand to rub against her through the rough material.
“Kevin!”
His name was a gasp, and he pulled down the neck of her blouse and kissed the visible cleavage. He sucked hard enough to leave marks, and his hand then slid under her blouse to wrap around her breast.
The fact that she had been a virgin had him feeling smug beyond belief. Now everything that she would learn would be from him. Excited by the prospect of teaching her how to please him and discovering her petite form, he rubbed his hand with more vigor and Nina pleaded with him for something she could not understand. She was humping his hand and Kevin watched, his cock hardening at her movements. Her expression was twisted with desperation, and he wanted to watch as she lost control just from his hand.
It came too soon, and when Nina arched her back with a cry, he could not take it anymore, and fisting his hand in her hair, he pulled her toward him, kissing her fiercely. His mouth abused hers, and her mind could not comprehend.
As he gentled his kisses and Nina came down from her high, she pushed away from him, refusing to meet his eyes. However, Kevin was having none of that. He pulled her toward him and cupped her face, hiding his smile at her unveiled embarrassment.
“Sto
p it.”
Her words were a whisper, and the shifter pretended to think. “Stop what?”
She nearly cried at that. “This…I do not…Just stop it!”
Kevin gathered her in his arms and let her tumble over him, until she lay sprawled on his chest. One hand settled on her backside possessively, and the other arm was around her waist like a steel band. His eyes laughed at hers. “I do not think so. I quite like you all loose and pleasured.”
“I…I’ll turn you into a frog!” Nina threatened.
Knowing that she did not mean a word of it, Kevin told her, “But then you’d have no one to kiss you and pet you.”
“I’ll kiss me and pet me!” She halted and then gave herself a mental slap on the forehead as Kevin’s eyes lightened up with perverted interest. “Oh, will you? Can I watch?”
Nina shoved at him, and he kissed her neck, licking at it, making her shiver in pleasure. His words were a sexy baritone, as he whispered in her ear, “One day, I’m going to make you strip and then lay down in bed and watch you put your fingers in your–”
Nina slapped her hands over his mouth, looking scandalized. “Do not even!”
Kevin removed her hands and roared with laughter before pressing a sweet kiss to her nose. “All right, all right. I’ll be good, I promise.”
Nina’s cheeks were still red. His boyishly, wicked smile made things inside her quiver, and when Kevin sniffed the air with a little too much interest, she poked at him. “No!”
He sighed in disappointment, and then asked. “Are we done gathering the ingredients?”
Nina sat up. “Totters has gone to fetch the last one. And then we’re good.”
She watched Kevin dig for a sandwich in the small picnic basket she had insisted on bringing along. She wished this moment could last forever. She had never been in love, but the feelings that were developing inside her made her heart clench and throb in pain at the idea of never seeing this man again.
He was pushy, arrogant, and so incredibly bossy. He also made her feel that his entire world revolved around her. The prophecy she had seen this morning had shown her a crossroad.
At any moment, Kevin would intercept an attack on her and his vacant eyes would stare up at her. Or, when the attack came, she was alone, walking her own path and her blood flowed as her body gave in.
There was no choice to be considered. Everything she had learned with this shifter, every emotion that she had experienced with him, she felt like she had lived a lifetime. She refused to let anything happen to him. Leaving him would be the hardest thing she would have to do, but Nina hardened her heart.
He would not look like that, ever.
“You okay?”
She blinked, and suddenly the air felt off. Looking around, the woods felt too quiet, and Nina stilled. Although there were trees everywhere, it felt like they were too exposed. Not moving, Nina said quietly, “Kevin, shift.”
He looked at her, and he must have seen the urgency in her face, because he immediately tossed off his jeans. “What’s go–”
Nina shook her head, and he transformed in a shimmer of light. Kneeling down by his side, her eyes were darting around wildly, but her movements were slow with exaggerated care. “When I push you, you have to start running to the den. And do not stop. Not for anything.”
The bear showed his teeth. He was not leaving her behind!
However, Nina gripped his fur, bending her knees. Realizing what her plan was, Kevin readied himself. The second he felt the nudge, he felt the air around him move swiftly and a weight settle on his back. He ran, pushing himself past his limits.
“Totters! Come back! To the den, now! Danger!”
Nina could feel how far her familiar was, and she strained herself, shouting out to him. When she threw everything she had in the mental scream, she felt the jolt from the bar beneath her.
“Nina?”
That was not Totter’s voice, but a rough version of the familiar voice she had grown accustomed to.
However, her attention frayed when she heard her familiar’s scream in her head. Her eyes flew to the sky, and she could make out the flash of blue and grey surrounded in black smoke. Anger filled her soul, and without thinking, she threw herself off Kevin.
She heard his roar, but she was beyond caring. Rolling onto the ground and coming to a standstill, Nina instinctively manifested her energy into a physical form and arced her hands, imitating a bow.
An arrow made of pure energy struck the mass that was attacking Totters, and the falcon took advantage of that. He dove toward her, and Nina opened her arms. She ignored Kevin’s snarl and felt him brush up against her, taking a protective stance. She watched the black mass regenerate, and seeing the bloody form of her familiar, a great fury welled up inside her.
Her eyes tracked every movement of the mass as it raced after her falcon, and Nina raised her hand, shooting out pure power just as Totters flew into her arms. One hand held his injured form to her, and the other kept up that stream of power that the black mass dissipated.
She felt the bear turn into a man struggling to suppress this unnatural anger. She was prepared for him to tell her off about her reckless behavior. However, he gently took her bleeding familiar from her hands and ran his eyes over him, assessing his injuries.
Nina ran her hands over Totters and muttered a healing spell. Its effects were slow, but the relief she felt from him went a long way in helping her calm down.
She glanced at Kevin and then around them. “We’re still not alone.”
“We’ll have to run.” He grabbed her hand and clasped Nina’s familiar against his chest. They ran swiftly through the woods. Reaching the den, Nina broke the hold Kevin had on her hand and knelt to the ground. The barrier that she raised was more powerful than any Kevin had ever seen. He could see how her magic broke through the ground and shot into the sky, covering the den and their immediate territory like a dome. He watched it solidify and then shimmer away as if it did not exist. But he could feel its presence.
Nina studied it, and her face lifted. There was a fierce emotion on her face, one that made his blood boil. And when it came to this volatile little witch, Kevin usually let his instincts rule.
Grabbing her by her neck, he kissed the defiance out of her. The anger leaked out, replaced by passion and pure, raw heat. The look that Nina gave him from under her lashes promised all sorts of wickedness.
Another side of Nina to explore.
She was high on power, and as she kissed him back, her fingers clenching in his hair, an embarrassed squawk had her pulling back, blinking.
“Uh.” That predatory expression was gone. But she did not blush either, her attention going to Totters. “You’re going to be fine by the time we do the locator spell. In the meantime, you rest, and you,” she looked at the naked shifter, and her cheeks were dusted with red, “you should probably put something on.”
Kevin glanced down and winced. “Yeah.”
They entered the den, and none of them noticed the tiny tendril of dark mass following them inside.
The tendril moved after them and divided itself into two. One followed after the witch, and the other went to scour the area.
***
“Mother.”
Thousands of miles away, in an enclosed room, a stunningly beautiful woman stood in front of a basin that was dug out of the floor. It was filled with sparkling water, which showed the image of two people standing in a clearing, and right now, as she sipped her jasmine tea, her attention was not on the woman who had called her name, but on the girl that she had raised herself.
Her eyes were sparkling, Morrigan noted vaguely.
Had Nina ever smiled like that while she lived in the compound?
Quiet with an unassuming air about her, she had floated from room to room with that bird on her shoulder. A twinge in her chest surprised her. Had she grown to care for the child?
She watched as Nina put her familiar on the bed. Her eyes studied the way the shift
er watched her ward. So the bear was in love with Nina, was he? The part of her that still held onto her humanity wondered if he could protect her when the time came.
The High Priestess’ eyes fixed on the bird. Well, was that just so very curious.
Her extensions had gone to retrieve the pages and the key, and instead they had attacked the falcon.
Morrigan raised a brow.
What an unlikely turn of events.
Chapter 12
When Nina looked over her shoulder for the seventh time, Kevin frowned. “What is it?”
Nina studied the empty room and looked uncertain. “I do not know. Something just feels off.”
“The sun is setting. It’s time.”
Nina stood up, and she was about to follow Kevin out of the room when she paused. Her eyes fell on her familiar who was snoozing, his head tucked under his wing.
“What are you doing?”
“I do not want to leave Totters here.” She told Kevin. Her eyes swept over the room twice, but she could not pinpoint what was making the hair on the back of her neck rise with alarm.
Her voice was sharp. “Totters!”
The falcon was so attuned to his master, that he immediately opened his eyes and flew over to land on her shoulder. Once there, he promptly fell back asleep.
“Does he sleep like this a lot?” Kevin asked, poking at the bird and barely saving his finger from being nipped in sleepy annoyance.
Nina was preoccupied with her thoughts, and she answered vaguely, “The spell does that. If the healing is swift, you do not feel the effects, but if the wound is grievous or the healing is slow, the mind needs to rest.”
She backed out of the room and then put a hand over the door, murmuring something. Then, she warned Kevin, “Do not enter the room. Once the location spell is over with, I want to do a cleansing ritual here.”
“Why?”
Nina looked grim. “There is something there. I do not know what, but it’s making my magic spark.” She looked ahead, her voice quiet. “And that’s never a good sign.”
The spell was to be performed just outside the den, as Nina had refused to risk the inhabitants of the pack.
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