by J. K Harper
“Let me put forth that theory for you and get your view on it.”
“What theory?” he asked again.
“Liam’s. He thinks you took one look at me and fell in love, and it motivated your actions. It led you to escalate the pursuit of vengeance, and when the link between you and my sister was finally broken, allowing you to take full vengeance on Jeb, you did so without hesitation. Because you fell in love with me and wanted to protect me. What do you think of that theory?”
Her tone and expression were neutral, but he was certain he saw the gleam of anticipation in her eyes. He didn’t even think about lying or trying to shield his heart. What did it matter if she knew the truth, or if she didn’t? Either way, if she rejected him, he was going to be miserable. “I think Liam’s pretty smart for a Negen.” He gave the words gruffly, trying not to smile when Naiya gave him a huge grin.
“So you love me, Bach?”
He nodded. “I’m crazy about you. I’ve never felt anything like this before, and I don’t expect I ever will again.”
She frowned at him. “You’d better not. I expect a lifetime commitment, and I don’t want to have to worry about you suddenly falling for another witch.”
He could feel his eyes widen, and he stared at her for a long moment. “You’re asking for a lifetime commitment?”
She got up from the table, moving around to his side and propping her hip on the edge of it as she stood near him. “I’m not asking. More like demanding. I’m usually pretty laidback and gentle, but things are different with you. You belong with me, and I belong with you. So no straying. Are we agreed?”
Still hardly daring to believe it, he reached out and put a hand on her hip, guiding her to sit on his lap. “Absolutely, we’re agreed. I have no need to look elsewhere if I have you. I hope it’s the same for you.” He realized she hadn’t yet said anything about loving him in return. Her words seemed to indicate she did, but he needed to hear the actual admission. “How do you feel about me?”
“I love you, Bach. This is the real thing, not that tepid emotion I felt for Jeb and convinced myself was love. Even though we’re very different, and the dark side of you scares me a bit, I can’t imagine living without you. I’m hoping you’ll rein that in a tad, but if you can’t, I’ve accepted it is part of you.”
He nodded. “It seems obvious we should stop our nighttime activities, and then you won’t have to see that side of me.”
She surprised him by putting a hand on his cheek, her gaze boring into his. “I don’t want to stop helping people, and I don’t want you to stop punishing the bad guys. I’d like if you didn’t turn any of them inside out anymore, but I think we can make a real difference together, as a team. We’re going to be a team in every other aspect of our life, so we should team up there as well.”
He was doubtful. “Are you sure you can handle that? I can’t promise I won’t be doling out what you would consider an extreme amount of justice.”
“Revenge,” she corrected with a crook of her lips, turning his words back on him. “And yes, I’m certain I can live with that. I love all parts of you, even the deep, dark demon locked inside.”
Bach rolled his eyes at her melodramatic words. “He’s not locked inside. He’s just under the surface and can come out at any time. If I stay with you now, believing your words, and then you find you can’t follow through later, I don’t know if I can make it through that. I’d be devastated, so be sure now, before it’s too late for me to change my mind. I could go back to the underworld, and you can forget all about me.”
She shook her head. “Would you forget all about me?”
He snorted. “I think that would be impossible, Naiya. I’ll never forget you, but I can stay away from you if that’s what makes you happy. But if I give in now, I won’t be able to do that later. You have to be sure.”
She put her other hand on his other cheek, cupping his face between her palms as she brought her mouth closer to his. “I’m absolutely certain. I don’t want you to go anywhere.”
“Then I won’t.” He had no more chance to speak as her lips touched his, and he had no desire to as he lost himself in the passion flaring between them. Holding Naiya made him feel whole and complete, and it quieted some of the darkness inside him that was always clamoring before. He was her sin, and she was his salvation. Together, they were two parts of a whole, made complete, and he wasn’t going anywhere.
* * *
If you missed Serafina’s story, learn more about “Playing With Fire” on Kit’s website.
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About the Author
Kit Fawkes is the pen name Kit Tunstall uses when writing steamy paranormal (especially shifter) romances. It’s simply a way to separate the myriad types of stories she writes so readers know what to expect with each “author.”
Kit Tunstall lives in Idaho with her husband and two sons. She enjoys writing several genres and subgenres, but almost everything she writes has a strong romantic element. A fan of post-apocalyptic, zombie, and dystopian books, she prefers to read or view such stories from the comfort of her living room and never, ever in person.
Let the Bodice Hit the Floor
by Jacqueline Sweet
Chapter 1
No one expected Simone to come to the Raven Queen’s masquerade ball.
She wasn’t the kind of girl who came to parties.
It wasn’t because of her curves, which she had a lot of. Simone loved her body, every magnificent inch of it. She took pride in pouring herself into a long, clinging silk dress that was as black as the hole in her heart. She hadn’t worn the dress in years and maybe it was a little more snug than she remembered and maybe she needed to pull the corset a little tighter to make all of her fit in, but she looked damn good in it, like a proper sexy witch, even if she was practically spilling out of the bodice.
Simone felt sexy and only slightly ridiculous in the dress, which was basically par for the course for her and Halloween costumes.
The previous best costume in Simone’s life had been a ladybug costume that was giant and round and covered her face but completely revealed her rather nice and shapely legs. So many boys had tried to talk to her when they saw her legs, but had given up when they realized she couldn’t really hear them from inside her muffled bug. She’d considered that the best kind of win. It’d given her the fizzy excitement of attention without any of the actual pressure of conversation.
The reason she didn’t go to parties was that Simone was the kind of girl who was gravely serious when other people were making jokes, and annoyingly jokey when other people were serious. It was as if the little compass inside her that should have told her how to behave in social situations was always pointing the exact wrong direction.
But it wasn’t her fault. Not really. She hadn’t always been this way. It was a thing that had been done to her, the result of a magical bargain made too hastily. Eagerness was, as always, the enemy of magic. She’d wanted power and the Raven Queen had offered it all those many years ago, and the price had been her heart. Simone had jumped at the offer—what did she need a heart for, anyway? Hearts were messy. They encouraged you to think with your blood, not your razor-sharp mind. Hearts made you weak.
But maybe she shouldn’t have traded it away? Maybe having a heart would let her feel like she belonged in the world again?
As a witch of no mean power, Simone knew seven spells, three charms, and a moonlight ritual that could all make her an amazing conversationalist. She’d tried them over the years but hated how they made her feel. Because in order for her to pass as normal, to smile and giggle and nod at all the right times when boys talked to her, she had to become someone else. That’s what the spells did and when they wore off, the boys ran away. Every time.
Magic couldn’t fix her, but it surely had broken her.
Simone arrived at the Raven Queen’s ball ten minutes early. She parked her car at a l
ot on the outskirts of Bearfield, the sleepy little tourist town with all the secrets. It was a charming town, and more than once Simone had found herself driving up from Berkeley just to walk the cozy streets, to eat the incredible little muffins at the bakery, and to shop at what was honestly the best stocked (if overpriced) magic store in California.
The parking lot was nondescript, just one of those park-and-ride lots where carpoolers were supposed to stop, but which rarely seemed to actually have any cars in them. There were two other cars this time, a fancy all-electric car that made her witch senses tingle, and also a black van with a giant raven airbrushed on the side.
When she pulled up, the driver of the van hopped out, checked her exquisitely forged invitation, and bowed deeply to her. He was a skinny boy wearing an Edwardian suit coat and ruffled white shirt over baggy, ripped up jeans. His hair covered his eyes and he smelled like he’d not just been smoking pot, but rubbing it over every inch of his skin. Simone would have bet her wand that he was a raven shifter, one of the Queen’s many underlings.
“This way, m’lady,” the skinny boy said, opening the door of the van and bowing low again.
Simone nodded to him, hitched up her dress as far as she could and clambered up into the van. It was not easy. Skintight silk dresses and corsets and painfully high heels didn’t play well with clambering.
As soon as she was in, the boy slid the door shut and jumped into the driver’s seat.
“If you’ll buckle your seatbelts we can be on our way,” he said in a voice that suggested he’d rather be doing anything else than ferrying partygoers to the Queen’s palace hidden deep in the woods.
A couple sat in the back of the van. Simone nodded to them cautiously as she buckled up. The entire van reeked of weed and she had to squeeze her fists tightly to avoid summoning an air elemental to air the vehicle out. The summoning would work wonderfully for removing odors, but it would do devilish things to her hair. More importantly, it would blow her cover.
“Hello,” said the woman half of the couple in the back seat. She was a pretty brunette dressed in pink like a Disney princess. Full Cinderella. And her other half was all Disney prince. They were both buzzing with happiness and excitement, squeezing each other’s hands and grinning like fools.
“Hi,” Simone tried.
“Isn’t this exciting?” the man said. “I’m Danny and this is Sarah. We’ve never been to a party like this before.” Something about him was off. He had an animal in his heart—a bear. She’d have to careful around him. Magic and shifters were an unpredictable combination. Shifters had an irritating habit of seeing through glamours, shrugging off enchantments, and being pains in the ass, mystically speaking. Especially bears.
“I’m Lisa,” Simone lied. It was the name on her invitation, and if the couple or the driver noticed the hesitation as she said it, they didn’t say anything. “And I don’t think anyone has been to a party like this before.”
Sarah leaned forward, all bright eyes and lipstick. “What do you think will happen tonight?”
“Well, last year at the town Halloween party someone accidentally spiked the drinks with shifter nip and everyone went pretty batshit crazy until the sun came up. There was a sort-of orgy and some dudes tried to burn down the roadhouse with everyone inside, so I’m guessing the Raven Queen will try and top that this year. She hasn’t held a party in forever, y’know? So I’m sure this one will be apocalyptic and I just hope no one dies this time.” She’d said it trying to be funny, but it came out all wrong.
The couple’s smiles faded and the rest of the ride passed in silence.
Simone needed time to think and time to refocus her plan. The Raven Queen had stolen her heart years ago and this was her best and maybe only chance to get it back.
Chapter 2
Working security for the Raven Queen’s batty little party was not how Rhett had planned on spending his Halloween.
Like most shifters, he tended to lay low on the holiday. The barrier between the living and dead was at its thinnest that night, which was great if you were a ghost, but Rhett was a bear and it just meant a lingering headache and a cold pressure on the back of his eyes.
Halloween was for humans. They had the luxury of knowing who they were and where they fit in the world. Masks, for them, were a chance to escape into a fantasy. To play at being someone else for a night. But shifters—shifters never fit in. They weren’t mortal and they weren’t animal, so neither world wanted them. A shifter always wore a mask.
Not that he wanted to live with animals. Animals were fucking boring. All they cared about was eating and sleeping, and if the season was just right, mating. How is that fun? His best friend, Good Boy, had spent a year living as a bear and refusing to shift into his man shape, after his mother had passed—God rest her soul—and that year had done something to the man, robbed him of some essential quality that he’d slowly been clawing his way back to. Whereas their Alpha, Danny, spent too much time as a man. He lived amongst humans and pretended to be human, grudgingly embracing his bear side only when he absolutely needed to. It made him weak, but Danny didn’t seem to care. Ever since he found his one true mate, everything with him had been sunshine and white wine and picnics with strawberries. Fucking perfect Danny Morrissey.
It was Danny who had talked him into the job.
“The Raven Queen is throwing a party. A once-in-a-century gala,” Danny had said over beers at the river house.
The house had been a gift to Rhett, from the Bear King of Bearfield, Marcus, who was the scariest damn bear Rhett had ever seen. Years ago, Marcus’s dad had expelled Rhett’s family and Danny’s family and Good Boy’s family from the town and now Marcus was trying to make it right. The house went a long way to doing that. Not all the way, mind you, but it sure was a good start.
“The Raven Queen? She’s that loony shifter witch, lives out in the deep woods, right?” Rhett asked. “Not interested.”
“I’m not asking you to be my date,” Danny laughed. “I’m saying it’s a job. Good money. The kind of money that can set you up for years and might lead to more work.” The setting sun made Danny glow with a golden honey hue and Rhett knew—he always knew—that at any moment he could challenge Danny for the Alpha position, and he’d win. He was a good man, and an okay Alpha, but as a bear he was out of practice. He hadn’t had a real fight in years. Not like Rhett.
“Pass,” Rhett said. “Hard pass. You know what my Halloween plans are?”
“Do they involve a bottle of something brown and alcoholic and a marathon of old movies?” Danny grinned at him. He was right, of course.
“Two bottles,” Rhett grunted.
“Look, if you’re going to live here, in Bearfield, you need to put down roots. You need to join the community. You need to be out there, man.”
Rhett gave Danny the side eye. “What did she promise you?”
Danny grinned even wider. “She said if I could get a tough and scary shifter to provide security then I could have two invitations for me and Sarah. This party is going to be insane and it’s our first Halloween together. I want it to be special—not just wandering around San Francisco in costume, trying not to get puked on by a bunch of over-served teenagers.”
Rhett sighed and finished his beer. If he was honest with himself, he’d admit that he could never say no to Danny. They’d been closer than brothers their entire lives. It was Danny who’d forged a pack for them, who’d turned a handful of scrappy lonely kids into a family. He owed everything to Danny, which was why he never challenged him.
“Dude, you can get drunk and watch movies any day. How many opportunities do you get to guard a castle?”
Of course he said yes. Fucking Danny Morrissey.
He’d shown up early for the job by an hour and had even showered. The path to the castle was lit by lanterns and wound through the thickest and darkest parts of the woods. As he neared the Raven Queen’s castle, the trees grew larger and more twisted. Dolls of twine hung from the
ir branches. Winking crystals had been embedded in their bark and half-swallowed in the slow growth of the centuries. The air was so thick with magic that it made Rhett’s teeth ache.
How much of the decor was for the holiday and how much was always like this was impossible to tell. As Rhett walked the path, scores of ravens watched from the trees, cawing and laughing in a raucous storm. If the Queen was going for a spooky vibe, she nailed it.
The castle itself was built in a massive oak tree—stone and wood merging seamlessly, stretching up higher than the redwoods. It was old and impressive and Rhett could feel a bit of his irritation lift. He’d never seen anything like the castle before, and that was rare for him.
When people looked at Rhett, they saw muscles and scars and tattoos and the glower that was his default expression—his resting I-will-punch-you face. They thought he was a thug, a mook. He was Muscles For Hire. But in his heart, he was a seeker.
When Danny had gone off to live amongst the mortals in some office job, and Good Boy had decided to be a bear for a while, and Pretty Brandon had hurled himself into relationship after relationship, Rhett had wandered the world. There was a hole inside him that he needed to fill. For a while, violence seemed to do the trick. He sought out bigger and badder things to fight—traveling the world, seeking out shifter cage matches, dragon warriors, and even once a goddamn Bigfoot that needed a good punching. He had the scars to show for it. But the thrill had worn off and the hole had remained.
With Pretty Brandon’s help, he’d tried drugs to fill the void, but they just made him sleepy. Drinking didn’t do it, but it did take the edge off. Sex helped, too, but it never lasted. He’d fucked and fought his way around the world, and still felt this lingering emptiness inside him. Maybe, in the late hours of the night, he could admit to himself that he didn’t see the point in a relationship. Mortal women aged and died and he never would. Why open his heart to that kind of pain?