The sensation made my body go slack. The wolf rode me, arching my ass into the woman behind me. A whimper escaped my mouth when her jaws tightened, fangs sinking deeper into my flesh. The blood tickled as it dripped onto the collar of my shirt.
I was suddenly left shuddering and panting. I slid down the wall when she took her mouth from me.
“Why did you stop?” I went to all fours, looking up at Lenorre, who stood a few feet away. “It felt so good.” My voice sounded strange. It was too purring, too sexy. I moved and felt every muscle gliding beneath my skin. Stretching, I watched as Lenorre’s gaze followed the arch of my body. “So good,” I whispered.
“Kassandra,” she spoke slowly, “that is your wolf talking, not you.”
“When the wolf speaks, is it not with my voice?” My fingers stretched into claws, ripping loudly through the carpet. I leaned forward, out of the stretch.
“She is riding you,” Lenorre said.
A throaty laugh that held the edge of a growl came from my mouth. “There’s one thing I want riding me, Vampire, and I’m looking at it.”
“Rosalin.” Her eyes shuddered closed. “Get out.”
The other wolf caught my attention, her scent filling my nostrils like fresh pine. A whimper fell from my lips. Why was she leaving? She liked playing with me too.
“Oh no, wolf.” Lenorre knelt in front of me. Her arm reached out, grabbing a fistful of my hair. “If it is I you want, that is what you are going to get.”
My tongue flicked hungrily across my lips. Oh yes, that’s what we wanted.
Rosalin left the room with a single worried glance over her shoulder.
I turned my attention back to Lenorre and growled when she closed the distance between us. Using the grip on my hair, Lenorre pulled me forcefully to her mouth. I moaned as her hungry lips met mine. Magic spilled out of our skin, washing over us like we were two tiny pebbles on the beach. Blood like delicious ice cream welled between our locked mouths, and I no longer cared whose fangs drew the sweet metallic rush.
Lenorre used her mouth to lure me onto the bed. The shorts I wore tore from my body with a violent jerk. I kissed her neck. I drew that soft flesh into my mouth, drew it in until the tips of my canines drew blood. My tongue curled around the wound as I licked the blood from her skin. I caught two handfuls of her gown. The silk tore in a hiss of fabric.
Lenorre moaned, hands cradling my hips, sweeping upward to caress the skin just below my breasts.
“Please,” I whispered, arching into her.
Her tongue drew a wet line across my stomach. “Is this what you want?”
“Yes.”
Her hands brushed across my breasts, causing my nipples to harden, summoning a flood of desire from between my legs. Her hand caught the back of my neck, still slick with my blood.
She used that hold to guide me to my knees.
“Look at me.” She caught my jaw between her thumb and index finger, forcing me to meet her gaze.
“Is this what you want?” she asked.
I inclined, trying to catch her mouth with mine. She held me back with that harsh grip. I whimpered.
“Kassandra.”
“What?” I growled and then whimpered again. “I don’t want to talk. I want you to fuck me.”
“No.” Her tone was harsh.
“You know you want to,” I said in a breathy voice, inclining while she held me at bay. “I can smell your desire, Vampire. You’ve wanted to fuck me since you had my body pressed up against the wall.”
Her grip tightened hard enough that it felt like she was threatening to crush me. She whispered against my lips. “Cage your beast, little wolf, and I will fuck you to your heart’s content.”
The wolf’s growl trickled from my lips.
“You have better control than this,” she said, voice firm.
“You shatter my control,” I growled, “and my patience!”
Lenorre’s hand moved to my throat. Her fingernails dug into my skin. I fell back onto the bed when she pushed me away from her.
I blinked up at the empty air.
“I will not take you like this.” Lenorre’s voice came from the corner of the room.
A scream tore from me, rage filled, pained, and empty. The bones in my body began sliding, trying to shift. I fought against them. No, the beast would not have me. She would not take me unless I allowed her to come out. I felt her inside me like she was slamming her furred body against my ribs, to tear her way out. A wave of heat flushed my skin as I felt dizzy and light-headed.
“Lenorre.” Her name came out strained between my gritted teeth.
“Kassandra?” It was a question.
“What’s…” My spine twisted as the wolf clawed through me. I screamed, digging my clawed hands into the mattress. The fabric tore and springs creaked.
“Kassandra, you have to fight her, or she will dominate you.”
I tried to shield against her, to quiet my mind, but the wolf howled through me. I did the only thing I could think of…I said a prayer to the Morrigan. I didn’t pray for control, I fucking begged for it.
Darkness took my vision. Light like a candle flame sprang to life behind my eyes. I’d felt my prayers answered before, but nothing like this, never like this. The fear sped my pulse.
Then suddenly, the candle was no longer a flickering light but a flame raging through me. Wordless screams fell from my mouth. Magic poured over my skin like melted wax, suffocating, consuming, paralyzing. The wolf looked into that burning flame and cowered. I had a moment to be grateful before the fire intensified, eating me alive.
I opened my eyes to find the shadows swirling around me. The shadow swelled and stretched before swallowing me whole.
I no longer had a body. If I had once had a body, it had been torn apart, atom by atom, cell by cell, and bit by bit. The flame had lifted me up, carrying my essence through a spiral of energy. Everything changed. I was flying through the night air, scanning the blades of grass below like they were beautiful textures on a quilt.
Distantly, I heard voices. I went to them, gliding on currents of air with outstretched arms.
“Rosalin! Do not touch her!” The voice sounded familiar, so I went to it. Something trapped me, pulled me down like a magnet. I tried to break away from it, but it was too strong.
My body pulled at me, sucked me in like some great vortex.
I gasped. I couldn’t breathe. There wasn’t enough air. The blood pounded in my ears.
“What the…?” Rosalin spoke from the other side of the bed. I opened my eyes and her face loomed in my vision.
Strange, I thought, that I could see Lenorre on the other side of the room at the same time. I blinked hard. They were both looming in my vision, too close to the bed.
“Move back,” I said, but what came out of my mouth sounded strange, wrong somehow. I went to touch my mouth with my fingertips. A black wing hovered in my vision.
I tried to sit up, but ended up teetering uncertainly. Lenorre’s gray eyes swam in my vision. My heart rate increased.
“Kassandra.” Her tone was soothing, tender even. “Calm down. Do you understand me?”
I nodded, closing my eyes tightly. I wouldn’t panic. Nope. Not going to panic. One…two…
“What did you do to her that turned her into a bird?” Rosalin asked acerbically.
My eyes flew open. Surely, I was hearing things?
“Bird!?” I screeched. “What the hell are you talking about?” My eyes went even wider. “I am not a fucking bird! I’m a lycanthrope. How can I be a bird?”
“I think she’s stuck,” Rosalin said. Her hand reached out toward me. It seemed bigger than it should’ve been. I tried to slap it away and failed. She scooped me up in both of her hands and held me in front of her face.
“Kassandra, stop flapping around like a madwoman.” She scolded me as I tried to get away from her.
“Well!” I cawed. “Put me down and I wouldn’t be flapping!” The rest came out as shor
t little raspy clicks.
Rosalin grabbed my beak between two of her fingers. “You have got to calm down or you’re going to give yourself a heart attack,” she said.
I blinked.
“You don’t believe us?” she asked.
I tried to shrug, and knew it looked weird. Was I dreaming?
“Was that a shrug?” she asked.
I nodded.
Rosalin walked out into the open area of the bedroom and the next thing I knew, I was airborne. My arms flailed, and for the first time I felt the air catch beneath my wings. I moved them, up and down, rapidly.
I flew.
Holy Morrigan. I was flying.
Spotting the back of the armchair I landed, albeit, a little awkwardly. It took a few hops to catch my balance.
Lenorre came to me, trailing her fingers down my feathered back. It felt weird. I felt weird, like something light and unreal. “Now do you believe us?”
“No,” I clicked.
“How does she change back?” Rosalin asked.
Lenorre shrugged. “I’ve only heard tales about someone receiving a gift from the Goddess,” she said. “I have never actually witnessed such. That is something that Kassandra is going to have to figure out.”
I closed my eyes. Forever stuck in the form of a bird did not sound like a well-lived life. Maybe it was similar to shifting. I took deep meditative breaths, and instead of a wolf being pushed back in its cage, I imagined a nice little nest on top of a tree. Visualization is everything, sometimes, and surely birds liked nests? I tried to familiarize myself with the energy. Fire. The wolf was more earthy, like rainwater and soil. The bird, or whatever it was, had heat to it. I pushed that energy into the metaphysical nest I imagined.
It wasn’t working. Damn it. I wanted my arms and legs back! At least when I was a wolf I felt at home, comfortable in my own skin. This shape was alien to me. I thought about my human body and how much I wanted it back.
A shadowy mist rose around me. Lenorre stepped away from me.
“Fuck,” I said and touched my lips. My voice came out in human words and it made me want to cry.
A second later and the back of the chair tipped with me on it. I hit the wall and slid down in a clumsy heap to the floor.
Rosalin laughed.
“Well, looks like she figured it out.”
“You think?” I said, standing on wobbly legs, bracing my hands on the back of the chair.
“It is good to see you are back to your normal self,” Lenorre said, sounding surprisingly calm.
“And naked,” Rosalin added.
I looked down. Sure enough, she was right. I put myself behind the chair, using it as cover. Lenorre went to the closet by the smashed painting. She took something out and then offered me a dark red robe. I took it, gladly.
“Tell me this isn’t really happening,” I said. “Tell me that one of you just slipped me a roofie.”
“A roofie?” Lenorre asked.
Rosalin said, “It’s a date rape drug.”
“I cannot,” Lenorre said thoughtfully, “unless you wish that I lie to you.”
“What the hell just happened?” I asked no one in particular.
“I came running when Lenorre called.” Rosalin put her hands on her hips. “You were surrounded by all of this shadowy stuff. Definitely magic.”
“What were you thinking when you were about to shift?” Lenorre asked, her expression still thoughtful.
I ran my fingers through my hair, pushing the tangled tresses out of my face. “I don’t know. I didn’t want to shift. I prayed to the Morrigan for control,” I said, then thought about it and finally admitted, “Well, begged, but the wolf is never like that. She’s pushy, but not that pushy.”
Rosalin said, “You went into a type of metaphysical heat when Lenorre bit you.”
I gave her a disbelieving look.
Lenorre said, “Rosalin speaks truth.”
“For werewolves,” Rosalin continued, “biting the back of the neck is a sign of courtship. When Lenorre bit you, your wolf saw it as a proposal and offered herself.” She frowned when she said that last bit.
“Why are you frowning?” I asked.
She actually sighed. “Because the fact that your wolf offered herself to Lenorre means that she thinks she’s a fitting mate.”
I looked at Lenorre. “But you’re not a werewolf.”
“No,” Rosalin said, frowning, “but she’s powerful enough to dominate your wolf.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, eyeing her warily.
She shrugged. “A dominant female wolf always goes for a stronger mate. At least, she’ll go for a mate that matches her in strength. Lenorre proved that she could match you, if not best you, in that area.”
“Great,” I said.
“So, you called upon your Goddess’s aid.” Lenorre swiftly changed the subject, for which I was grateful. “An Irish Triple Goddess who happens to preside over ravens and crows?”
I drew in a deep breath. “Yes.” I let the breath out, seeing where she was going. Was that even possible? A headache was beginning to start between my eyes.
If it was the Morrigan’s energy that had poured through me, if she had given me this gift…Why? Why give me the power to shift into not one, but two animals? And why in the moment when I was trying to cage the wolf did I turn into a bird instead of back into my human form? There was too much to think about. Suddenly all I wanted to do was to sit down, drink a cup of coffee, and pretend I lived a normal life. Any crisis I’d ever met always went better with coffee. And the fact that animals don’t drink coffee made me feel a bit more human sitting with a coffee mug in hand.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I said. “I’m getting a headache. I still don’t feel real and I could really go for some coffee.”
Lenorre offered a graceful nod of her head but didn’t say anything. She wasn’t looking at me, and I found that more disturbing than the way she usually stared at me. Talk about mixed signals.
Rosalin laughed. “I’ll go make coffee, then.”
I followed Lenorre as she began walking toward the door, busying myself by making sure the robe was tied securely. Lenorre wore a black dressing gown that buttoned up the front. I couldn’t remember seeing her change, let alone put clothes on. Sparing a glance at the bed, I spotted the remains of my shorts. The mattress had stuffing sticking out where my claws had torn it. There were black feathers all over the black sheets.
“Sorry about the mess.”
Lenorre looked at me with an expression of soft amusement. “Do not trouble yourself with it. It wasn’t entirely your fault, after all.”
Rosalin fell in quietly behind us as we walked down the hallway.
I sighed, tired to the bone. My voice was more of a whisper this time. “By the way, thank you.”
“For what?”
“You didn’t take advantage of me,” I told her. “Though I probably would’ve enjoyed it.”
The corner of her mouth lifted in a half-smile. “Did I just hear you admit that you would enjoy sleeping with me?”
“We slept together already,” I said. “Remember?”
“I remember well what we started,” she said in a breathy whisper, “and what we have to finish.”
“Finish?” I retorted. “I bunked with you this morning. You got what you wanted.”
“Mmm, can you truly say that you have gotten what you wanted?” she asked.
I gave her a look.
“You remember what you said, don’t you?” she persisted.
“The wolf said a lot of things.”
She whispered against the fall of my hair. “You are the wolf, and she is you. There are desires the wolf will bring to light that you are afraid of.”
My stomach did a little flip-flop, and I tried to ignore it.
Had I agreed with the wolf? Had the wolf only spoken my desires out loud?
…Maybe.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The dining room was just off the kitchen on the ground floor. The table was large enough to easily seat ten people around it. I sat at one end of the table, huddled over the steaming mug of coffee that Rosalin had poured for me. Even though it had already begun to heal, she had bandaged her wrist with gauze. Lenorre sat next to me, but on the opposite side of the table where the entire kitchen was visible.
Rosalin took a seat, placing the mug of tea she carried on the tabletop in front of her.
“Why does this part of the house feel strange?” I mumbled into my coffee.
“Strange?” Rosalin asked as she took a sip.
I nodded. “I felt it last night. The energy in this area of the house just feels…different than the rest.”
Rosalin shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“How does it feel different?” Lenorre asked.
I tried to find the words that would describe it. If I closed my eyes and focused on the feeling, it seemed tight, warm, like I had just walked into a room where a circle of protection had been cast.
“Magic,” I said. “I can’t really describe it. It’s like the change in the air before it rains.”
Rosalin’s honey eyes met mine and it was obvious she wasn’t quite following my line of thought.
“When the house was built a protection spell was cast around the grounds and within its walls,” Lenorre said.
That explained the tight and warm feeling in the air. If what Lenorre was saying was true, then the protection was stronger on this level, because it was on the same level as the grounds around it that had been protected as well.
A cell phone rang. I knew it wasn’t mine, because mine was still downstairs in the front pocket of my backpack. Rosalin stood from the table, fishing the phone from the front pocket of her jeans. She answered the phone as she walked out into the living room. I did my best not to eavesdrop on the conversation.
“The wolves are meeting tonight,” said Lenorre. I turned and looked at her.
“Has Rosalin talked to the head honcho?”
“If by head honcho you mean alpha werewolf, then yes. She has spoken with Sheila.”
Witch Wolf Page 18