Playing the Witch's Game (Keepers of the Veil)

by Zoe Forward

  He knelt by Jen and, using the screwdriver tool, removed the tracker from her ankle and did the same for his. Once done, he stood and ordered, “Shift us. Get us somewhere safe.”

  …

  Jen pressed herself into Nikolai, her head still swirling from the air compression of the shift, her eyes still nonfunctional. Finally, safe. She listened. No one else here. Charlotte would never greet her here again. Sad, she hugged Nikolai tighter.

  Nikolai staggered, almost dropping both of them to the ground before he shot a hand out to stabilize himself against the wall. “Now would be a great time for any healing you might have to offer. It was a fucking miracle I didn’t faceplant on my way up to the hotel room.”

  Jen opened her mind and waited until she felt magic running through her. She shot a quick prayer to the goddess and made slow circles with her hands on his back. Her body heated and flamed, but not a burning ache, a rejuvenating energy.

  “You can stop now,” he mumbled moments later. “I’m…good. That’s pretty amazing.”

  Her head swirled. “Lightheaded.” What seemed like moments later she blinked her lids open, finding herself on her bed in her alternate dimension. Nikolai watched her from a nearby chair. He must’ve moved one of the kitchen chairs in here to keep vigil beside her.

  “How long was I out?”

  Momentary alarm flared in his gaze before he hid it. “A while.”

  He’d worried about her. A lot.

  She liked that he’d worried. That he probably hadn’t left her side. “What’s the plan?” she asked as she pushed off the covers and padded toward the bathroom.

  “We have to go back. To Barbados. To the house your druids own there.”

  “Barbados?”

  “Alexi told me you’d know where to go. They’ll meet us there.”

  Before she stepped into the bathroom she glanced back, over her shoulder, at him. “What about Shannon?”

  “Eli and another druid took her out of the hospital.”

  “Thank God.” She closed the door, used the toilet, and then brushed her teeth. She combed a hand through her hair, marveling at the detangling work of the show’s cosmetologist.

  When she emerged, Nikolai met her, large and dominating. He kissed her with an aching hunger she had never known from him. Like it was the first time. Her mouth opened under his gentle assault. She whimpered as his tongue stroked along hers. God, she’d missed the taste of him.

  Her clothes melted away. He moved his hands over her body, sliding over her skin and setting off flares of pleasure that overwhelmed her. He murmured, “Barbados can wait for a bit.”

  She had to touch him. To soak up the heat and power that was so much a part of him. She needed him. Here and now.

  Between kisses, she unbuttoned and removed his shirt, pushed his pants off. Then she gently shoved him back into a sitting position on the bed and straddled his legs, aware he sat only because he wanted to. She stared into the brilliance of his green gaze. His expression was different—more intent than she had ever seen before. She glanced behind him at the bed. And stilled. Every bit of sexy drained out of her.

  “What the hell is that?” She pointed at a doll propped on the bed. “They didn’t…”

  He stretched behind him to snag the doll and shot her a lopsided grin. “Yep. It’s an authentic Brunette Jen Barbie.”

  “Oh God. No.” She took the doll from him, rotating the plastic figure dressed in a hideous green rendition of her wet suit and swim shoes.

  He said, “I couldn’t just leave her in the hotel room. You should be flattered. There aren’t very many women who ever get a doll made after them.”

  Tears burned Jen’s eyes.

  “Angel, don’t cry. Please. It’s…she’s a nice-looking doll, if you care for Barbies. It’s not that bad. We’ll make them give you part of the profits.”

  “It’s not that.” She swiped her moist eyes and plucked at the doll’s clothes. “Couldn’t they have put her in something more attractive?”

  Nikolai barked out a laugh. He shifted her on his lap. “Leave it to you to worry about what she’s wearing.”

  “Do you think the doll is hexed or anything?” she asked.

  “I’m not getting anything from it. But maybe we should burn it just to be sure.”

  “That sounds like the best plan ever.” She grinned.

  He tossed the doll outside the bedroom door. His lips moved over hers, parting hers to dip his tongue playfully into her mouth, then pulling back and drawing her lower lip between his, sucking lightly. His hands moved up her back, then down. He gripped her hips and pulled her up his legs until his erection was cushioned against her belly.

  Her head fell back, but he was right there, taking advantage of her neck to kiss along her jaw. “You are so beautiful. I don’t deserve you.”

  “Don’t say things like that. I didn’t see anyone else out there attacking a crocodile to save me.”

  “It was him or me, and I wasn’t in the mood to die.” He kissed his way down to her exposed breast, not that she even remembered losing her bra. He bit gently, and it was the most erotic feeling. She shuddered at the caress. The primal hunger of the bite made her moan.

  “No condom,” she said. “I want to feel you. All of you.” She kissed along his neck.

  “We’ll make babies. Magical little babies.”

  She froze, each hand on one of his shoulders. Her lips lifted from his neck. A fine tremor began in her heart and spread through her body. She placed her hand against his heart to feel its steady thump-thump.

  “Babies mean forever,” she whispered as he lifted her and guided himself to nudge the folds between her thighs.

  “This is the kind of love that is going to be forever, Jen. I love you, and it’s not the kind of love that wavers. It’s the kind that doesn’t fade. Not only do you make me see everything I want in life, but you took the dark pit of my soul and filled it with brightness. I want the kinds of things now that I thought I’d never even utter. Things like family, and forever vows. I meant it when I asked you to marry me.” He eased inside her. Fiery warmth invaded her body.

  He flinched and sharply inhaled. He lifted her hand away from his chest and glanced down. “What is that? What did you do to me?”

  Her face flamed hot to see the raised relief of a meandros etched onto his skin. “A god mark of bonding. I guess they’re giving us the okay on forever, too.”

  His lips caught hers as he eased deeper inside her.

  Breath caught in her throat as her pleasure crested.

  He said, “We belong together. I like it.”

  Her legs tightened around his thrusting hips as he moved harder and deeper. His body coiled beneath her—he had to be close to the edge. Then he alligator-rolled her beneath him, his eyes wild. He thrust and impaled, driving into her hard. She fought to hold back but she was so near her own edge. Her whole body started clamping down with a mind-numbing blast of intensity.

  “I love you,” he whispered in her ear, his voice hoarse. “Always.”

  “I love you.”

  His head lifted, and his gaze snared hers with an intensity she’d never seen before. He switched his angle, taking her to a new high. Sensation overtook her. Her mind disintegrated. It melted in the wake of her climax. The completeness of it seared her soul, even as he whispered his love again. Vowed it, swore it. He collapsed over her, catching himself on his elbows as his chest heaved for oxygen.

  He rolled and pulled her against his side so they spooned. “We’re going off the grid for a while. I don’t know for how long, but long enough for the people on this show to forget us.”

  “What about my job at the museum?”

  “You can’t go back to that life, not with the ones who are after you. This isn’t a game to them. They intend to murder you and Shannon. You know that, don’t you?”

  “Yes, but…we can’t just disappear, although I’d like nothing more than it to just be us somewhere…doing this for a long t
ime. We have to go back and do the final show thing.”

  “We’re not going back. The producer tried to kill us. Owen…it’s not over with him.”

  “You think that’s what Anaïs meant?”

  “I don’t know. But we will figure it out.”

  “I want my clothes.”

  “I’ll buy you new clothes.”

  “I don’t want new clothes.” She scowled.

  “Fine. I’ll have someone get your clothes. We’ll have our lawyers make it clear we’re never going back to the show. Ever. They can deal with the fallout.”

  “If we’re recognized worldwide, how do we hide from that?”

  “I’ll teach you.”

  “Ooh, spy stuff? Do I get to wear wigs and use fancy gadgets like Serenity?”

  A deep rumble of laughter rolled out of his chest, vibrating against her back. “What kind of gadgets are you interested in?”

  “I always wanted some of those glasses that could see through anything.”

  “That’s fiction.”

  “Oh. It doesn’t matter.” She rolled and buried her face in his neck. And yawned.

  “Sleep, Angel.” He kissed her forehead. “Just sleep. I’ll take care of everything when we go back. I’ll make sure we’ll be safe.”

  “Together…” she mumbled, snuggling into a heat she intended to enjoy forever.

  “Together.”

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  Acknowledgments

  Thank you, Allison Collins, for the editing magic. A huge thanks to the entire Entangled team. There are so many talented people behind the scenes who helped make this book happen.

  To my husband: none of this would be possible without you. Thank you for keeping things together when I was running from my day job as a vet to my night job as a writer.

  Thank you to fellow Entangled author, Nichole Severn, for your friendship and support, and a general get-it-done when needed.

  Laura Bradford, this book might not have made it to publication if not for your persistence. Thank you.

  As always, thank you to the rest of my incredible family (those furry and human) who are always in my corner.

  Finally, thank you to you, the reader, who welcomed my characters into your heart and mind, and let them tell their stories. ~ZF

  About the Author

  Zoe Forward is a hopeless romantic who can’t decide between paranormal and contemporary romance. So, she writes both. In addition to being a mom to one rambunctious first grader and wife to a conservation ecologist who plans to save all the big cats on the planet, she’s a small animal veterinarian caring for all the small furries, although there is the occasional hermit crab.

  When she’s not typing at her laptop, she’s tying on a karate belt for her son or cleaning up the newest pet mess from the menagerie that occupies her house. She’s madly in love with her globe-trotting husband of ten years, and happy when he returns to their home base in North Carolina.

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  Discover the Keepers of the Veil series…

  Protecting His Witch

  Despite her telepathy and the uncontrolled “dimension-hopping,” Veterinarian Kat Ramsey hasn’t a clue that she’s a witch. Then she accidentally hops into the next world and runs into her seriously hot one-night stand from years ago. Billionaire and former druid Matthew Ryan hasn’t forgotten Kat…or the curse she gave him. Her unexpected return means finally breaking the hex. Unfortunately, his libido has other ideas—like how to get her back into his bed once last time. And worse yet, he suspects that Kat is the seventh Pleiades witch. Now he’ll have to protect the woman who made his life hell…

  His Witch to Keep

  Serenity Danssaert is in trouble. Not even her MI6 training or her powers as one of the seven Pleiades witches is going to save her sister. Then Alexi Jovec shows up. While his need to own Serenity—body, soul, and beyond—is nearly unbearable, it’s also forbidden. He’s the last man who could ever be her destined. Besides, Hades’s right-hand man cannot bond with a chosen Pleiades witch. He may be the one man who can protect her, but she can never be his to keep.

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  After waiting a year for her best friend, Kaden Chance, to see her as more than a friend, bakery owner Annabelle Sparks is ready to finally start dating. What she doesn’t know is that Kaden isn’t from Earth. In order to retain his intergalactic immunity, no one can ever know he is an extraterrestrial. But when Annabelle starts dating, something strange happens to his unmoved heart: it begins to beat. Now he faces an impossible choice—tell Annabelle the truth and be deported…or lose his last chance at love.

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  Brye Morgeaux is a half-witch, half-warlock who always relied on her beauty. After a run-in with a warlock, Brye’s face is scarred, forcing her to look to who she is on the inside, which is darker than anything she’d imagined. Then she’s handed a terrible ultimatum—join the warlock clan, or watch her family die. Now Josh Copeland realizes the woman he loves might just be her own worst enemy. He’ll have to find a way to show Brye who she really is…before she kills him.

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