The Witch's Brew (The Witch's Brew 1)

by Brenda Cothern

  Mikael could feel his arousal and hunger for Adam ricocheting back at him through their link. It was a wondrously insane sensation. He wasn’t sure if he was responsible for their climbing passion or if it was Adam’s doing, but he didn’t care. No, all Mikael currently cared about was the feel and taste of the man beneath him as he ground his throbbing erection down.

  Another moan entered their kiss and this time Adam was sure it was born in his own throat. He tightened the hand that grasped Mikael’s hip and urged his boss to press down harder while he thrust up into the erection he felt aligned with his. The taste of blood coated his tongue again, but Adam didn’t pull out of their kiss this time. He was too consumed with his desire to feel more of Mikael to even freak out over the blood that could belong to either of them.

  Mikael balanced on one forearm and used his strength to pull his hips away from Adam’s. How he managed to free himself and Adam while fighting Adam pulling down on his hip, he had no idea. But he did manage, and the moment he reached down, took them both in his hand, and squeezed, Adam bucked up into him harshly.

  Adam broke their kiss with a hiss on his lips. Many men had taken him in hand before, but none made his balls pull up so tightly, so fast, that the sensation was almost painful. Mikael’s first stroke shattered that pain and assaulted him with unadulterated pleasure.

  “Fuck,” Adam hissed out around his fangs.

  “Ungh,” was the only sound Mikael managed to make in agreement.

  Mikael wasn’t going to last. Not. At. All. The feeling of Adam’s silky hardness pressed firmly between his palm and cock sent shivers of pleasure down his spine. Experiencing Adam’s lust through their link only pushed him closer to the edge. His fangs had dropped during their kiss and his desire to bite was so strong that forcing himself to resist was the only reason he hadn’t cum all over Adam’s muscular stomach already. Still, that didn’t stop him from lowering his head to rest in the crook of Adam’s neck.

  Adam’s fangs itched, but the feeling was like the annoying sound of a mosquito near his ear. Every neuron in his body was focused on Mikael’s hand that stroked him. It wasn’t until Mikael lowered his head and Adam caught the scent of his skin that the annoying whine of the mosquito turned into a full-fledged buzz of a bee. His fangs went from itching to aching and throbbing. Adam struck on instinct without conscious thought. He turned his head and bit into the side of Mikael’s neck. Mikael’s blood filled his mouth at the same time his cock exploded.

  Adam bit him and that was the catalyst that sent Mikael over the edge into ecstasy. His hand jerked and his hips collapsed down onto Adam and he met the man thrust for thrust as they rode out their orgasms. Mikael panted in Adam’s scent as his fangs throbbed with the desire to taste Adam in return.

  However, it wasn’t their current position that prevented him from doing so. No, it was how Adam might react to the intimacy because Mikael was sure that Adam currently feeding from him was an instinctive, opposed to intimate, act. How Adam would react after he’d realized what he was currently doing likely wouldn’t be good if the man’s reaction to tasting blood in their kiss was anything to go by. Still, Mikael forced himself to relax and wait.

  The glittery stars behind Adam’s closed eyes began to fade and he became more aware of himself. Of course, the first thing that registered in his mind was that he was still grasping Mikael’s head. Not only grasping it, but holding the man’s head in a position so Adam could suck on his neck. Adam loved the way men’s skin tasted and the marks his mouth could leave on their smooth skin. Mikael would look sexy as hell with Adam’s mark on his neck.

  It was this thought that registered through the sensations in his mouth; warm syrupy liquid that tasted like heaven. Blood. I’m drinking Mikael’s blood. The thought didn’t repulse or scare Adam as much as he thought it should.

  The taste was just too incredible to feel anything other than pleasure. Still, regardless of how delicious Mikael tasted, Adam knew he had to stop drinking from the man. He just didn’t know enough about what he now was, could now do, and didn’t want to hurt his boss. Slowly, regrettably, he pulled his mouth away from Mikael’s neck and licked over the wound he’d inflicted.

  Mikael forced himself not to tense when he felt Adam pull off his neck. The man didn’t feel anxious beneath him and the emotions in their link didn’t feel panicked. He hoped it was a good sign that Adam wasn’t going to freak out over his first experience drinking blood. However, he didn’t lift his head or move it from Adam’s grasp.

  “Are you okay?” Adam asked quietly.

  Mikael chuckled against Adam’s neck. “If one of us should have asked that question, I would think it should be me.” Adam remained quiet so Mikael continued, “Yes, I am fine. How could I not be after that?”

  Adam loosened his grasp on Mikael’s hair when the man lifted his head, but couldn’t resist allowing the blonde strands to cascade through his fingers. Mikael’s hair felt like liquid silk and Adam thought he could run his fingers through it forever.

  Mikael raised his head and the shift of his body weight caused him to moan. Just feeling their combined slickness against his still semi hard cock was enough to stir his desire for Adam once more. Adam’s moan joined Mikael’s and he locked eyes with the man. He could read so much, but yet so little in the beautiful green eyes that gazed up at him.

  “Are you okay, Adam?”

  Mikael began to push up and away from Adam, but Adam halted his movement. He wasn’t ready for the man to climb off of him yet. Mikael raised a questioning brow and chuckled.

  “I guess that answers that question.” Mikael grinned and still managed to extract his hand from between them.

  “You have fangs,” Adam observed stupidly.

  “As do you,” Mikael retracted his fangs before he leaned down and gave Adam a soft kiss. “They don’t scare me,” he whispered playfully.

  Adam snorted and began to laugh. This whole fucking thing was crazy. A vampire lay atop him, a vampire who he had just gotten off with and the one who turned him less than eight hours ago. Adam should be freaking the hell out now that his anger and lust had been muted, but all he could do was laugh.

  Mikael wasn’t sure what to make of Adam’s sudden mirth. His comment was playful but not particularly funny. There wasn’t any help to be gleaned indication through their shared link, either.

  “What is so funny, aside from the mess we are making?”

  Mikael’s question made Adam laugh harder. They were making a mess with every shake of his body, but a mess wasn’t the only result. They were both growing hard again, though neither man acknowledged their stiffening cocks.

  “My fangs are stuck,” Adam managed to finally say and the words really did not feel that strange.

  He’d been trying to push them back up with his tongue, but all he was managing to accomplish was poke multiple holes in his tongue. Every time he tried and failed, he somehow found it funny. Mikael’s wide-eyed, shocked expression was even more hilarious.

  “What?” Mikael had no idea what Adam was talking about. Fangs didn’t get stuck in anything.

  “They are stuck,” Adam managed to get his humor under control. “I can’t push them back up.”

  It was Mikael’s turn to laugh. “You don’t push them up, Adam.” Mikael shook his head. “Think them up. Just picture your normal teeth and your fangs will retract.”

  Adam did what he was told and felt momentarily embarrassed before he reminded himself he had so much to learn. Not that he hadn’t learned anything already. Knowing he could sense Mikael’s emotions and vice versa was strange. Just as knowing that he enjoyed the taste of the man’s blood was disturbing.

  However, it wasn’t these new revelations that Adam’s mind settled on. It wasn’t how good the man felt on top of him or their slowly building arousal, either. It was the shooting from the night before that had killed him. He hadn’t been the target, Mikael was and Adam needed to know why.

  Mikael watched Adam intentl
y. The man retracted his fangs with a thought as Mikael knew would happen. However, Adam’s light humorous mood was now gone. Seriousness settled over Adam’s masculine features and Mikael felt the shift in their link, as well. Whatever it was that made Adam become so serious was not something Mikael planned to discuss in their current state of dress. He was just about to say as much when there was a knock on his apartment door.

  “That is likely George,” Mikael stated and this time Adam didn’t stop him from moving away.

  They were both a sticky mess. George would already be able to smell them, so there was no sense trying to do more than just wipe down.

  Adam stood, but didn’t follow Mikael into the kitchen. Instead, he forced himself to move slowly to the bathroom. He started the shower and before climbing in, looked at his reflection in the mirror. He looked no different than the day before when he stood in his own bathroom.

  He thought about his fangs while watching his teeth and was startled when they quickly dropped. Adam couldn’t help but open his mouth to inspect his new teeth. Gently, he touched one with his thumb. A bead of blood appeared and Adam hadn’t even felt his fang puncture his thumb. In the mirror, he watched the droplet run down his finger and marveled that the prick was healed before the blood even reached his knuckle. Adam stared at his reflection for a moment longer then stripped out of his jeans and stepped under the warm spray of the shower.

  Mikael stripped out of his dress shirt and used a dish towel to wipe the remnants of their combined pleasure from his stomach. He tossed both onto the counter next to all the dirty dishes from Travis cooking Adam breakfast. Without another thought about his ruined dress shirt, Mikael walked across his apartment and answered his door. It was indeed George who stood on his threshold.

  George raised a surprised brow at the sight of Mikael’s half nakedness and the scent that radiated from him. George didn’t comment on Mikael’s current state, but instead just waved the bag he held.

  “I brought Adam clothes.” George grinned. “I figured he’d need them and it seems I was right.”

  Mikael groaned and opened his door further in a silent invitation for George to enter. He closed his door and followed his head of security into his living room. Mikael studied George as the bear garoul took in the damage to his apartment. The apartment’s open floor plan made viewing the destruction easy from any location.

  George whistled at the damage. “He didn’t take being turned well, huh?”

  Mikael motioned toward his couch and they both sat after George dropped the bag of clothes on the coffee table. “Not at first,” Mikael confirmed.

  George snorted and nodded toward the craters in the dining room walls. “That much is obvious.”

  Mikael followed George’s gaze. “Oh, that’s not from me convincing Adam that things were okay. That mess is the result of Randy’s insensitivity to Adam dealing with his new reality.”

  George whistled again. “Randy didn’t take it well, either, I take it.”

  “No, he didn’t,” Mikael said with a frown.

  “Will this be a problem?”

  Mikael understood exactly what George was asking. Problems in the club were easily taken care of, but problems within the family weren’t as easily resolved.

  “No, Randy knows his place now where Adam’s concerned,” Mikael reassured his head of security.

  “Randy fought for hierarchy?” George’s surprise was evident in his tone.

  “He did.”

  “And the result?”

  “His back is broken,” Mikael answered without concern.

  George winced. “Damn.”

  “He’ll be out of work for a few days, but will be fine.” George nodded at Mikael’s assessment. “It was a lesson he needed to learn.”

  “And Adam? I take it he is okay, as well?”

  “As okay as I can be, considering,” Adam answered before Mikael had the chance.

  George looked over his shoulder at Adam who stood at the end of the hall in nothing but a towel. Adam felt the instant jolt of lust through the link he shared with Mikael and couldn’t help smirking at his boss. However, being a smart ass by smirking didn’t stop his body from starting to react especially since his own attraction to seeing Mikael bare chested was joining the party in their link.

  George cleared his throat. Right. Clothes for Adam, Mikael reminded himself. “George brought you clothes.” Mikael nodded at the bag and George took it to Adam.

  “Thanks.” Adam smiled at his security boss. “I’ll get dressed. Then you can tell me what the hell is going on and who was trying to kill Mikael.”

  Adam didn’t wait for a reply before he accepted the bag and turned toward the bedroom in order to get dressed. He didn’t see the concerned look George gave Mikael or Mikael’s shrug in reply.

  ***

  Chapter Fifteen

  George and Mikael were still seated on the couch when Adam returned to the living room. Both men appeared unhappy and Adam was sure it had everything to do with his demand to be filled in on what was going on.

  “So, start talking,” Adam demanded and took a seat in one of the chairs across from Mikael. “Who is trying to kill you?”

  Mikael really didn’t want to have this conversation with Adam right now. Adam had enough on his plate with just being turned. They didn’t need to add their theories as to who was trying to kill him to the list.

  “I can’t help protect you if I don’t know what is going on,” Adam prompted.

  “He’s got a point, Mikael,” George added.

  “We really aren’t sure,” Mikael finally said.

  “But you have an idea,” Adam said with surety.

  “We do,” George answered and Adam shifted his gaze to his security boss. “We think it is either the drug dealers or prostitutes retaliating for being booted from the club.”

  “The attacks have been pretty extreme for petty drug dealers and whores especially when any one of us would have been an easier target,” Adam interrupted.

  “I am not sure I agree,” Mikael said and waited for Adam to look back at him. “The shooting was typical gang banger style.”

  “But it could be someone else.” Again Adam said with surety since he could feel trepidation in the link he shared with Mikael.

  “There is a faction, an organization if you will, that we call the Hunters. Their goal is to take out anyone who isn’t human,” George informed

  “Hunters wouldn’t use human knives or bullets,” Mikael countered. “In each attack that was what was used.”

  “So, these Hunters know how to kill us,” Adam deduced.

  “Not just us, but all that aren’t human,” George corrected.

  Adam shifted his gaze back to George. He remembered the man denying he was a vampire, but that didn’t mean he was a human like Chris and Rita.

  “What are you?” Adam asked George.

  “Do you remember when we discussed the books you like to read, Adam?” Mikael’s change in topic caught Adam off guard. “The paranormal books you enjoy specifically.”

  “You are a werewolf?” Adam raised a questioning brow at George.

  “We are not called ‘weres’ because we are garouls,” George corrected.

  “Okay, but you still can turn into a wolf,” Adam deduced.

  “Bear, actually.” George grinned and chuckled at Adam’s wide-eyed expression.

  “A bear.” Adam just looked at George in disbelief. “Who else is a bear?”

  “No one who works here,” Mikael answered. “But we do have a few other garouls in the family.”

  “Who and what are they?” Adam inquired with curiosity.

  “I’ll leave it up to them to tell you when they are ready,” Mikael replied. “But, back to those books you’ve read. There are supernaturals that have been mis-portrayed in fictional novels and movies. There are also some that the imaginations of humans haven’t even thought of yet,” Mikael informed. “That isn’t what is important right now, though.”r />
  “We would have had a definite answer to who was trying to kill you if you hadn’t killed that shooter last night,” George said casually as if the death of someone in the club was a common occurrence.

  Maybe it is, Adam thought, but decided not to inquire at the moment.

  “Yes, we would know more if I hadn’t acted impulsively,” Mikael admitted without a trace of remorse in his tone. “However, I do not believe Hunters are behind these attacks.”

  “These Hunters never use knives or bullets to try and kill?” Adam couldn’t believe that was the case.

  “Most of us can’t be harmed by a regular knife or bullets,” Mikael informed. “They will hurt us, but rarely can they kill us.”

  “Good to know.”

  Adam was more concerned about his fellow coworkers and what could kill them than he was about what could kill him, and his fellow life drinkers. Mikael had already told him how their kind could be killed and a knife or a bullet wouldn’t do it.

  “Tell me more about these Hunters,” Adam requested.

  Adam’s military mind was craving more Intel on what he now perceived was their enemy. He wanted to know as much as possible so he could be prepared to defend against them, or go on the offensive, and take them out.

  “They are mostly humans who think anyone not human needs to be destroyed because we are an unnatural blight on the world,” George began.

  “Mostly. What does that mean?” Adam raised a questioning brow.

  “Some of our kind have joined their ranks under the delusion of redemption for what they are,” Mikael explained.

  “That makes absolutely no fucking sense.” Adam shook his head.

  George chuckled. “No, it doesn’t, but that doesn’t changed the fact that our own have turned against us by helping humans try to kill us.”

  “So, how do we find them and fix this shit? If we take them out first… problem solved.”

  Mikael grinned. He could feel Adam’s disgust and desire to protect them through the link they shared. He was not only pleased that Adam was already so protective of their family, but also surprised at Adam’s level of protectiveness especially since he was newly turned. However, Mikael had the feeling that Adam would be just as protective if he hadn’t been turned. The thought made him smile.