“It’s my witch book. Darcy gave the ring to me.” She closed her eyes, drinking in the feel of Linc pressed up to her back and the memory of doing magic with Darcy and Carla. “It was so amazing to circle magic with them. They helped me until we hit the block.”
“You have friends now.”
See that? Linc got it, understood how much it meant to her, which made her care even more for him. Trying to remind herself of her priority, she kept her gaze over the city and said softly, “Kendall’s out there somewhere.”
“I’ll help you, sweetheart. That call I just took from Carla? She told me to try to get you to open your sixth chakra.”
“My third eye?”
He nodded. “She’s surmising that your third eye can get above the block on Kendall to see her location. That means we push your magic past your communication chakra.” He lifted his hand to her throat. “It’s a lot of magic. You have to trust me to help you. Do you think the souls are up to it?”
“They didn’t react to the magic I did today. Not even when I moved what I know into my witch book, which included my shield magic. Before, that would have stirred up the souls.” She closed her eyes, feeling the weight of them in her magic. “I think they’re used to the falcon now. He was there a lot when I was in the soul screams, or at least I could hear him.”
“He was there singing to you.”
“How did he know to do that?”
“Because you told us. Your mom and you, you had music together. That was your good memory, your bond. He knew you’d follow his music, even if you couldn’t hear anything else.”
Her heart hit the top of the highest cliff and tumbled right over, giving her that bottoming-out sensation. This is what it feels like to fall in love. “You have too much of me too.”
He kissed her hair. “Open your chakras and gather your magic.” His voice flowed whisper soft against her ear as he lifted the hem of her shirt.
Her chakras popped open with a hiss, magic pouring out as she let him slide off her shirt. He’d told her no one could see, and she believed him. She relaxed as he trailed his fingers up the center line of her belly, between her breasts to her throat.
Then down.
Tingles broke out on her skin. Her powers began to spin, chasing his touch. A flush rose, and she moaned as her magic swelled. Desire rushed up, her nipples hardening and folds softening. “Linc.”
“I feel it. Jesus, I feel it right to my cock.” He pressed his erection constricted in his pants against her lower back. He hadn’t bothered putting on a shirt. “Keep going, Risa. Feel it.”
His caress slid down into her panties.
More magic burst out, causing her to gasp as he penetrated her with two fingers, brushing hot spots deep inside her. “You’re so wet. Slick.”
“That’s from you too.” She wasn’t even thinking now, just feeling the magic rushing, his fingers pumping.
His dark laugh spilled over her. “That makes it hotter.” He gathered her slickness and rubbed it on her clit.
Power pushed at her throat. She stiffened, trying to breathe past the pressure.
Linc wrapped his other hand around her neck, skating his fingers up and down as he continued the sexy invasion between her legs, gliding in and out in a maddening rhythm. Every touch made her hotter, needier. She arched into his thrusting hand, riding it out, secure that Linc only gave her pleasure.
Her fifth chakra opened with a vibration. Sudden, sharp awareness hissed through her. The bird’s wings pumped powerfully, corralling her magic while emitting musical chirps, whistles and trills. They were beautifully familiar to her, the same calls he’d used to lead her out of the soul screams. Why was Falcon doing it now? Understanding dawned. The bird’s music had calmed the souls while leading her out of the cracks in her mind.
Singing. He’s singing to the souls.
Linc jerked behind her, his fingers stilling.
Panic edged in. “What?”
Shh, it’s okay, love. You just surprised me. You projected your thoughts to me like I am to you.
I did? She’d never felt this close to anyone. It thrilled and terrified her.
Soul-mirror connection. The mind link forms over time. You told me the bird is singing to the souls, keeping them calm.
The heat and safety of Linc surrounded her from the outside and caressed her internally. It was so powerfully amazing it caused her magic to surge again, pushing higher, making Linc’s touch more vivid.
You’re so beautiful to me like this. Real and trusting. Let the magic have you, Risa. I’ll hold you, I won’t let go.
Linc’s mind connected with hers. That intimacy shuddered through her, creating a roar of magic and desire. Her entire lower body clenched around his fingers. His thumb pressed against her clit as pressure built in her forehead. The roof and night slid away, until all her awareness centered on Linc and her magic swelling and pushing and…
Her climax hit, stealing her breath, hot pleasure pulsing wildly. It didn’t ebb and soften, but grew until it unanchored her. Pulling her away.
Terror slammed into her.
Don’t fight it, sweetheart. I have you, I swear. Trust me and your magic.
Risa hovered, aware of a dime-sized pain in her forehead, yet her mind clutched the very last tether holding her—fear. The bird worked at a furious pace, pushing her magic into a stream so strong, it glowed like blue fire. He only waited for her.
Just like when she’d been so scared, locked in the cracks in her mind, she reached for the bird. The second feathers touched her hand, he pulled her free of her body.
Her third eye snapped open. Everything passed in a blur, then slowed.
Kendall! Oh my Ancestors. The child sat in a crib, her eyes drenched in tears, surrounded by an oily gray shroud.
Kendall looked up, a sob wrenching her whole body as her gaze focused. A trembling smile lit up her face, and Kendall held up her fat arms.
To her. Somehow the baby saw her. Unable to bear it, Risa shot forward, desperate to get to the child.
The bird screeched, streaking in to push her back and up. For a second, magnificent wings filled her third eye.
Risa. Come back, now.
Linc’s gentle, coaxing voice created a pull in her magic to go to him. No. She couldn’t leave Kendall. She had to at least figure out where the baby was. But despite herself, she retreated, Kendall growing smaller until it appeared Risa was looking down on a dollhouse with no roof, just a maze of walls. Frantically she scanned the rooms but couldn’t find anything to identify it. She spotted a woman and two men around a card table.
The woman frowned, turning her head so that Risa got a good look at her. Shoulder-length dark blonde hair, light eyes…Petra! She’d found Archer’s mother with Kendall, but where were they?
Pulling farther away, she saw the outside of the main two-story building and outbuildings. Was that kennels? All shabby and in need to paint. Where was this? Finally a fading sign leaned up against an abandoned car came into view. She concentrated with everything she had to make out the words.
Izzy’s Kennel Club.
She barely read that when dizziness spun her away and she plummeted into a freefall.
~ 20 ~
Dread hit him the second Risa’s magic dropped off, and she collapsed in his arms. Oh fuck, not the soul screams. He lifted her and sank down on the lounge.
“Risa.” He pushed her hair back. “Open your eyes.”
Nothing. She just lay there, limp.
He’d screwed up again, so caught up in her, in the untamed beauty of Risa in her magic, the feel of the bird moving with her, the heat…
Wait, the bird was quiet on his back. Not agitated.
Risa. He tried their brand-new mental link as he stroked her face.
Her eyelids lifted.
Linc braced himself, and the dread reappeared to fist in his belly until she fully opened her eyes. Dark blue with no gray. Blowing out a breath, he relaxed. “You okay?”
�
��Hard landing back into my body.” She shook her head as if clearing any residual fog, then sat up abruptly. “I saw her, oh God, Linc, I saw her.” Shooting off his lap, she grabbed her pants and dragged them on. “Kendall’s at a house with a woman and two men. It’s Petra, Archer’s mother. She has Kendall. Where’s my shirt?”
“Whoa.” He caught her arms, needing her to stop and explain more. “Did you see any markings that will give us a location?”
“Yes.” She took a breath, obviously trying to calm down. “I saw a sign. Izzy’s Kennel Club. We have to find it.”
All his muscles locked. He couldn’t have heard that right. Memories spun while the brand on his back burned as if the red-hot metal were being held against his skin right now.
“Linc? Did you hear me? We have to go get her!”
Right. He pulled himself together. “Izzy’s Kennel Club? You’re sure? That place has been abandoned for nearly a dozen years.” As soon as the words were out, he realized how fucking perfect it was, a great place to hide. After all, who wanted a property where there’d been a mass murder? Linc had killed a half-dozen men the night he escaped, and rumors had spread like wildfire after that.
“I saw the sign leaning up against an old rusted car. Do you know—?”
The building jolted sharply, then settled. In the distance, car alarms blared.
“Earthquake.” That jarred him out of his memories. He grabbed her hand and yanked her to the door. “Let’s go.”
Risa stumbled. “Wait, I’m dizzy.”
The building swayed again, triggering a deep need to get her out of the structure that could collapse. Too many years in a cage made him hyperaware of how easy it was to get trapped.
“No time.” Linc scooped her up and wrenched open the door. The stairs split into two sections. He leapt down one, then the next and kept going down each floor until he got to the garage level. Quickly scanning the empty structure, he raced to the car, a bad feeling riding his spine. Natural earthquake, or Archer rising?
After dropping Risa to her feet, he opened the door. “In.”
She complied, and he shot around the car, jumped in and started it just as another jolt hit.
“Crap. I feel it in my magic.”
Peeling out of the garage into the dark night, he asked, “What does that mean?”
“It feels like the night Archer spawned.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. The bastard had to wake some time, so why not now when Linc had Risa out in the open? He spun the wheel, taking a corner. His phone rang, and he answered it through the car’s Bluetooth. “Dillinger.”
“Rogues are attacking,” Axel said. “We have all the women in the multipurpose room in the center of the school.”
“Anyone hurt?”
“Nothing significant, but Darcy and Carla feel demon magic in the ley lines.”
“So do I,” Risa spit out. “It’s Archer. He’s waking.” She grabbed Linc’s arm. “Kendall! We have to get her.”
Goddammit. What should he do? Go help his friends or rescue his mate’s baby?
“You know where she is?” Axel’s voice cut in.
“I saw her with my third eye,” Risa confirmed. “Petra’s there too.”
“Where?”
Linc jumped in. “Izzy’s Kennel Club. It used to be an underground dog-fighting place. They had gambling, prostitution and other illegal activities.” Like deathmatches with Linc as their star attraction. “It’s been abandoned for years. I can make it there in fifteen minutes. But I have Risa with me, and it’s too dangerous.”
The car shook as another earthquake jolted. More car alarms went off, people ran out to the streets, and two cars collided. All hell was breaking loose.
“No time!” Risa’s fingers dug into his biceps. “You swore, Linc!”
He spun the wheel, turning the car to head the other way. “Axel, get the women to Baron’s gun range. He has a bunker belowground on the site. Put the girls there. Risa only saw two men and a woman. I should be able to get the baby.” Two rogues and a woman—even a demon witch—he could handle.
“Archer might be hibernating there. You can’t take Risa into that possible danger.”
“I’ll be able to tell,” Risa blurted out.
“What?” Linc glanced over at her white face and clenched hands.
“I was right there outside the Mystique Hotel when he spawned. I feel his power now. If it increases as we approach the kennel club, then we’ll know we’re getting closer to the source.”
That made sense, but his muscles locked up at the idea of putting her in any more danger.
“Go and report back,” Axel said. “Don’t get too close, just enough to know if Archer’s there, then we’ll figure it out. Right now… Fuck.”
“What?” How much worse could this night get?
“More rogues attacking.”
“Do you need me?”
“No,” Axel ordered. “Get the kid first. But we’re not leaving. Moving the women in a vehicle makes them too vulnerable. You find out if Archer’s at the kennel club. Update me.” The line cut.
Ignoring the deep urge to go protect his friends, he gunned the engine, breaking speed limits and pushing the car to the max. He swung around a motorcycle. “I need the truth, Risa. Will you really be able to feel Archer if he’s there?”
“Yes. It’s a heaviness now, but I’m still in control. What I remember was that the closer he got to me, the stronger an oily, smoke sensation coated my mouth. If he’s close, I’ll know.”
“You didn’t realize he was at the house when he attacked with the hellfire.” Was he doing the right thing? But damn it, he’d sworn to get her baby for her. Axel and the others could handle rogues.
Risa sighed. “My magic was numb then.”
That was a punch to his ego. Linc hadn’t forgotten trying to kiss and arouse her, and she’d gone cold on him, her magic protecting her. He understood it, but it still rankled. “Yeah, well, your magic loves me now.”
She snorted. “Your bird sings to me.”
Despite the hellishness, he turned to face her. Dark choppy black hair falling around the bare shoulders of her tank, her usual camo pants, clunky boots. Hottest woman I’ve ever seen.
Risa met his gaze, her eyes softening. “I heard that.”
“Good.” He wanted her to know.
She shifted to look at the road. “Linc!”
Jerking around as another earthquake rumbled, he spotted a fissure splitting open in the road, the sides caving in. Reacting, he cranked the wheel, just missing it, and careened up the sidewalk toward a trailer park.
The bumper scraped and moaned as the low-slung sports car struggled to jump the curb. Tires better not blow. Finally, the car straightened, and he guided it around the sinkhole back onto the street.
“Second Viper destroyed in a fucking week,” he growled.
“Maybe you should get a Hummer. They eat curbs for breakfast instead of crying and whining like a little bitch.”
Linc laughed, some of the tension easing in him for a second. “I’ll get you a Hummer.” Pink, just to piss her off. Sobering, he said, “We’re almost to the place. That sinkhole might indicate Archer’s close by. Are you feeling anything more? Tasting anything?”
“Same pressure in my chakras, nothing else.” She twisted in her seat, nerves and worry making it impossible to sit still.
He turned into a storage yard. Rows of lights showed the locked units. Linc pointed to a dirt road. “The kennel club is down there a half mile.”
Risa unsnapped her seat belt.
He reached past her into the locked glove compartment, pulled out a gun and handed it to her. “If anything happens to me, use this gun, hightail your ass back to this car and get the hell out of here. Call any of the guys, or Baron. They’ll protect you.”
“I can’t leave without Kendall.”
“You will if you have to. If I’m down and you die tonight, then that baby has no one. Live to help her later. Got me?”
Risa nodded.
Linc rolled up his pants legs, then reached under the seat, grabbed his holsters and strapped his throwing knives to his calves. “Open your magic. What can you feel?”
Her magic rolled over him, buzzing through his veins. The bird spread on his back.
“Kendall and demon magic. But it’s not Archer.”
He nodded. “I smell copper and sulfur, but not as strong as the night Archer spawned. Pretty sure the sulfur is Petra the demon witch, not the spawn. Even if he was hibernating, he’d be giving off scent.”
“He’s waking though. Soon.” She shifted in her seat. “I need to get Kendall before he fully wakens.”
Her agitation rode her magic, pricking his skin as he unbuttoned his shirt and slid it off.
“What are you doing?”
“It’s white—it’ll stand out like a beacon in the night. Especially with the nearly full moon.” He tossed the shirt, clearly sliding into hunt-and-kill mode. He grabbed his phone and sent off a quick text update to Axel, Sutton, Ram and Eli.
Done with that, he looked at Risa. “Let’s get your baby.”
* * *
Risa’s heart pounded as she watched Linc peel off his civility and James Bond charm. Wearing rolled-up black pants, his bronzed skin and a wicked knife expertly fisted in one hand, the others gleaming against his powerful calves as he moved with incredible stealth, he looked rough and feral.
Kendall’s nearness sparked a huge, empty ache inside Risa. The baby may not be her biological child, but Risa loved her desperately. Should she have told Linc the truth?
Don’t think about it now.
Linc stopped, catching her hand. “I’m going to shield us so we appear invisible.”
Both their hands vanished. A quick glance at their bodies proved his claim. She couldn’t see either of them. “Wow.”
“I can’t hold it if I engage in a fight. Quiet now, rogues might be shielding too.”
She squeezed his hand to let him know she understood and followed him as they stayed off the road, stepping around weeds and rocks. They passed the old stripped-to-a-shell car with the sign she’d seen with her third eye. Her shoe snagged on something, causing her to stumble. Regaining her balance, she made out the shape of an old mattress.
Caged Magic Page 26