She sighed, her whole body deflating. “Okay, then what?”
He handed her a new biscuit and she took it. “It was my fault…the fire.” He winced. “I mean, you said to get bloodbane and I didn’t see the point when there was wild ashwood in the forest that would be much easier to transplant. It looks similar and I figured you wouldn’t mind since the cats really prefer it.”
Mina let out a long breath. “Yeah, I kinda knew it wasn’t exactly right. Not the right kind of blue.” She ran her fingers over his arm. “Not your fault. I was cutting corners. I had bloodbane on my shelf, dried, it would have done the job but I’d left it behind by accident. I didn’t want to have to start over with my spell and I grabbed what was close by. So…” She entwined her fingers with his. “Not your fault.”
“I’ll get you some bloodbane. Today.”
She felt that giddy rush again. Bas, tough guy extraordinaire, was feeding her, caring for her, worrying about her. “I don’t think I’m ready to give it another go. Not right now anyway.” She shuddered as a chill swept up her spine.
“What kind of spell was it?”
“Just something my mom used to use.” She shrugged, deflecting his question in the most honest way she could.
“If you want perpetual flame, I can do that for you,” Bas said as he jammed up another biscuit. “If your goal is to regulate the temperature then I’ll get that done later. No need for sketchy dark magic.”
Mina picked up her biscuit and tried not to take it personally that he was insulting her use of magic. It wasn’t like she hadn’t almost burned the entire place down but she could do the spell. She’d successfully created blue fire only a few days ago.
He cleared his throat, motioning to her arms. “Everything looks good there, all healed up.”
She rotated her arms, marvelling once again at the lack of burning or scarring or pain even. Magical fire could stick like napalm, and linger so that the burn would continue even without the fire. Zeus’s saliva had saved her in a huge way. “It’s amazing. That cat of yours is a treasure.”
Bas ran his fingers over her forearm, his touch giving her shivers. Her stomach fluttered and her pussy ached once again…like she hadn’t just fucked him three times in the last few hours.
“Seeing you like that…” He cleared his throat again, entwining his fingers with hers. “I thought I was watching another witch burn right before my eyes.”
Mina frowned, her heart thudding. She lifted his hand to her lips, kissing him tenderly. “Your mother, right? I’m sorry, Bas, I didn’t mean to make you relive that.”
He brought his arm down and patted her hand before disentangling himself.
Mina felt that like rejection, loneliness biting at her heart, a thud in her chest that she was so familiar with. Can’t keep him forever, Mina. He’d close her out and act like sex was just sex and she needed to be okay with that. It’s not like she didn’t know what she was getting into when she’d launched herself at him in the first place.
“I lied to everyone about that.” Bas sighed.
Mina snapped her head up but he wasn’t looking at her. Instead, he was focused on Zeus, who had settled himself at the foot of the bed, his big furry head resting on his paws. Looking content, totally unbothered by anything going on around him.
“I said I wasn’t there when it happened, but I was.” He laughed bitterly. “I couldn’t help her. I tried but it was too late.”
She reached over and took his hand again—not talking, just holding. Even if he didn’t say another word, she wanted him to know that she was with him in this.
“The fire, it was raging and I was distracted. Off with a human, fooling around. I can’t say for sure, but I think…I think she did it on purpose. Got me out of the way so that the human witches could destroy my mother. By the time I realized that something was wrong, the fire was out of control and it was too late. My mother’s screams just stopped. The cat… I could see him try one more time to get the door open. It was too late…” His voice cracked. “Even if I got her out somehow, the fire had destroyed her, the damage to her body would have been impossible to heal.”
“The humans did this to her? The ones she’d been helping, working with?” Mina felt the weight of his sadness. And understood the bitterness of that reality. “Why would they do that?”
“Because she was a pure witch?” he scoffed, his voice edged with a rough snap of frustration…not directed at her she knew but still, she felt it all the same.
“They turned on her,” Mina croaked, sick to her stomach at the thought.
“A child she was caring for died and suddenly they decided she was expendable. No one stopped it from happening. Mob mentality took over. They didn’t have pitchforks but they might as well have.” He sighed. “I left the night before, went to a party, met up with one of the flirty town girls and then didn’t come home until it was too late.”
She squeezed his hand. “You blame yourself.” She knew he did. It explained so much about him—his anger toward human witches in particular. They hadn’t exactly shown their best selves to him. “What they did was indefensible.”
“I know. That’s not why I’m telling you this.” He finally looked at her, his eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “I wasn’t going to let another witch burn and I’m sorry I didn’t get there sooner.”
Mina laughed and then leaned in and kissed him. “Your cat saved my arms so it all worked out just fine.”
When she pulled away she could see that he wanted to say something more, that there was doubt in his eyes. They’d both been impulsive, letting lust carry them through the night. She didn’t want it to end though. Not yet. It was selfish, sure. She should tell him that she wasn’t a pure witch. She should tell him that half of her DNA was entwined with the human side of magic. The thing he loathed the most. But she couldn’t do that either because for the first time in a long time she didn’t feel like she existed in solitude. The touch of another witch, even if he didn’t really know who or what she was, was just too tempting. She wasn’t delusional enough to think this thing was going to last. She would give herself a little bit of happiness while she could.
She kissed him, plunging her tongue into his mouth as she moved, climbing onto him, straddling him, rubbing her pussy against the rigid length of his shaft.
He moaned into her mouth, his arms coming around her to grip her ass, to push her down harder so her clit abraded him in the most delicious way.
She unravelled herself from the sheet that was covering her, pulling it from her breasts as he brought his hands there, tweaking her nipples roughly, thumbs rubbing, fingers pinching.
“You’re so fucking hot, Mina,” Bas’s gruff voice came out like a growl as he trailed his lips away from hers, down her jaw to nip at her throat. “I didn’t know you’d be this way… So sexual… So responsive.”
“I’m full of surprises,” she purred.
With the sheet tossed aside, her pussy made contact with his cock and she just couldn’t help herself, gliding onto him so that she could ride him. A slow, tantalizing ride, where she rolled her hips back, taking his shaft all the way out, just as his crown rubbed at her clit, she and then moved back in, hard. His hands were on her ass once again guiding her so that she hit just the right angle over and over again.
He moved his mouth to her tits, sucking on her nipples one after the other, licking and pulling with his teeth, flicking to soothe away the bite before doing it all over again. She arched her back, her head angled up, her eyes closed. The sensation of everything…Bas under her, their bodies one, was everything she wanted in that moment.
And he let her go, let her ride him with a wicked flick of her hips, until a sheen of sweat coated her skin and her breaths came out in hard pants, her body coiled and ready to explode. Then he flipped her, moving in one fluid motion so that he pinned her beneath him, the weight of his body making her feel like she couldn’t move, like she couldn’t breathe. She wrapped her legs around his wa
ist, her eyes locked on his, and moved with him again. Taking the pounding crush of his body, his cock deeply thrusting, her clit jolting with each roll of his hips. The electricity between them, their eyes locked, was more than Mina could bear and she willed her orgasm to rise, to take her over the edge so that she wouldn’t blurt out something stupid.
She didn’t want to be alone anymore. She didn’t want to feel that gaping hole that separated her from everyone else.
As her climax crested, she pulled him closer, forcing him down so they were chest to chest, her cries muffled by his body, his weight crushing her down. And he wasn’t far behind. With a groan that she felt to the core, he let his cum spew, hot jets that filled her up and made her orgasm rise higher, last longer, and explode until she thought she would fall apart.
This man… He was something so complicated, so deliciously burdened that she felt like her soul was speaking to him. She felt like she could tell him everything she’d ever thought. All of her fears, her wants, her doubts and desires. All except for that one thing…that one little thing that threatened to pull them apart completely.
She was no less a witch than he was and yet how could she tell him the truth about her heritage? No matter his compassion or his concern, her desperate need for connection was just too dangerous a thing, because she knew that Bas was only in it with his body…and his heart was the only thing that could close the distance between them.
18
“This is so wonderful!”
Bas looked up to find Mina beaming at him, which made his heart swell in a totally uncomfortable and wholly what-the-fuck kind of way.
Building a catwalk for the animals had always been in his plan but now it felt like he was doing this not just for the familiars but for Mina as well. He wanted it to be perfect.
“Come on up.” He brushed his hair back and waved her toward the ladder he’d built.
She nodded, the smile never leaving her face as she grabbed hold of the wood rung and hoisted herself up.
He stood and shifted back toward the anchoring tree. He’d gotten up really early so he could put the ropes in place and get the swing bridge up before Mina woke. He wanted to surprise her with it in place and had almost been done when she’d found him.
“Here, give me your hand.”
When her fingers slipped into his palm a spark of power flashed between them. She giggled and he couldn’t keep the smile from his lips.
“That keeps happening between us.” She was breathless once she had her footing on the narrow boards, so close that her body was pressed up against his in all the right ways.
He looked down at her, catching her eyes. “Incendiary.”
She ran her fingers over his arm, trailing along the lines of his muscles, making him want to flex and show off. “Well, you are incredibly hot.”
He barked a laugh and her smile widened. “So are you.”
He leaned in, ready to capture her lips when something bounced on the bridge, making the whole thing sway. Bas wrapped his arms around her, steadying them both with a firm grasp.
“Zeus!”
Mina was laughing. “I think he approves.”
Zeus was jumping from one side of the planks to the other, alternating as he moved toward them, looking like a kitten pouncing at invisible targets.
“Yeah, well, he’s been nothing but a pain all morning.” Bas felt Mina shifted closer to him, slipping her arms around his waist. This was still new for them. Their touching, outside of sex was tentative, a brush of a hand here, fingers trailing along a hip there. Having a few stolen moments to just hold each other was nice. And again, Bas had to wonder what the hell was going on in his head because he totally was not that kind of guy.
“I’m going to whip up something to eat. You hungry?”
On cue, his stomach rumbled. They both laughed.
She started to shift away but he pulled her in for a kiss. Just a soft, brief one, just to let her know that he liked her being there with him. “Before you go, I want to teach you that spell, the one for your anxiety.”
She opened her eyes as they drew apart and smiled again. “Here? Shouldn’t we try this on the ground?”
“This is the perfect place for it, actually.” He wanted her to be able to shut down a panic attack before it got out of control and he knew that he wouldn’t be around every time she had one to do it for her. “Close your eyes.”
She tilted her face up, took a breath in, then closed her eyes, her smile still lingering. “Ready.”
“The key to dealing with anxiety is to anticipate it.” He moved quickly, pulling away from her and then bouncing on the bridge. It pitched to the side, knocking Mina into the rope rails.
She screeched, half-laughing, as her eyes flew open and her hand swung out to steady herself.
He closed the distance between them, a hand on her chest, spread over her heart. “You feel that?”
“My heart is going to pound out of my body.” She was laughing but he could tell that he’d freaked her out a bit.
“That’s the feeling that starts with one of your panic attacks, isn’t it?”
She frowned a little, her chest heaving as her breathing increased. “Yeah, actually.”
He nodded, sending a pulse of power through his fingers. “This is the turning point, where your heart triggers your flight response, and your brain starts twirling uncontrollably.” He pulsed her again, coaxing her heart to steady. “Feel that?”
She put her hands over his and closed her eyes. “Yeah, how are you doing that?”
“You need to disconnect that thread, the one pulled super taut. Feel it?” He ran a pulse over the connection that was making her heart race. “Visualize it.”
He knew the moment she understood, felt a wisp of her power meet his on the thread that was still quivering. “Got it.”
“Now stroke that line, the one causing your anxiety right now. Treat it like one of the familiars. Soothe it.”
She did what he said, pulsed her power over and over, forcing him back until he knew she had it under control. When she opened her eyes, there were tears there. “That was amazing,” she whispered. “I had no idea I could do that.”
He smiled. “It’s just a little trick and the more you practice, the stronger you’ll get. The key is to head off the panic attack before it gains hold so any time you start to feel the jitters, find the thread causing the trouble and calm it down. It’s faster if you bring some blood into the equation. That will bind it quickly and it’ll last longer.”
She leaned in, moving on tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his waist once again and kissed him. “Thank you.”
Anything for you, Mina. “How about some breakfast?”
Zeus meowed loudly right by their heads, looking down at them from a thick branch.
Mina laughed. “Sounds like a good idea.”
Bas wasn’t acting like himself. He knew it, but didn’t think anything of it, much, until he realized he’d been nice to Angel. Consistently.
And it had everything to do with Mina.
Okay, so sex with Mina… Yeah, totally unexpected. Totally fucking hot as well though. Bas wasn’t a man to turn down a good lay but with Mina it was something profoundly different. Amazing sex was his reality; Mina amped it up a hundred fold. And he couldn’t quite put a finger on why.
She was responsive as hell, reading his mind with her moves, countering his in all the right ways. Her aggressive need to jump him all the time didn’t hurt either. Her sex drive might actually beat his, which he found kind of hilarious. She ravaged him with a lusty desperation like she thought she’d never be touched again and he found that seductive as hell.
It was true that he had a thing for fucking the boss but this felt different and that weirded him out a lot. He felt…happy, content. Like he wanted to do things for her even if it didn’t benefit him. Well, realistically, it always benefitted him because seeing her smile actually made him smile and that was a special kind of what the fuck in Bas
’s books. He didn’t do relationships. Not like this. When he found himself gearing up to go into the Dark Forest as a surprise trip so he could fetch Mina bloodbane, he knew he was done for.
And she liked all the things he did, from the way he licked her clit and bit her nipples, to the spells he used when he was working in the sanctuary. She always seemed so damn appreciative that he wanted to do more and more.
Dangerous territory, bud. He silently chided himself over and over again. But it was no use. He was falling for her. Which was why he ventured upstairs to the intern’s suite in search of some female counsel. Another thing he never thought he’d ever do.
“Hey, Hazel, you got a few minutes?” Bas would have preferred Chanda, mainly because she didn’t come off as judgy like Hazel did, but it was Hazel who knew a thing or two about relationships, what with her and Duke being as they were…in love. Bas rolled his eyes. Hazel would give him the best perspective but he hated that he had to ask her…she was just so…so…perfect.
She was sitting in the den, curled up on the leather couch, a large gnarly looking book in her lap and a steaming cup of something on the table next to her. Her eyes were rimmed with dark circles and he guessed she was trying to unwind after a shift.
“Oh hey, Bas.” She closed the book and shifted it to the side. “Yeah, what do you need?” She started to get up but Bas motioned for her to stay seated. He joined her in the room, choosing to pace instead of sit.
“I’ve got a situation brewing that I don’t know how to deal with.”
Hazel winced. “Uh oh…you’re not getting into trouble down there are you? I thought things were going okay now…Angel mentioned that you’ve got yourself a familiar—”
“Angel told you about Zeus?” Bas snapped. He didn’t like the Sin Eater talking about him at all. “She has no right—”
Hazel lifted a hand. “Whoa there, cowboy. She wasn’t speaking ill of you. I just happened to walk into a meeting between her and my Sin Eater, Davies, and asked how you were doing. Davies mentioned that you’d found your place down there and Angel told us about the work you’ve been doing in the sanctuary. It’s all good.”
Feral Heart: A Witch Hospital Romance (The Witches of White Willow Book 2) Page 15