by Ann Gimpel
“Jenna?” Colleen looked across the room and locked gazes with the other witch.
“I’m all right. Or I will be once I get this god-awful mess in here cleared up.”
“How long was I gone before they showed up?”
Jenna shrugged. “Not long. Five minutes, maybe.”
“It was like they were right outside, heard every word, and plotted their attack for when we’d be weakest.” Roz shook her head in what looked like consternation.
“That’s exactly what they did,” Duncan growled, and filled them in on Mathilde’s tracking device. “…I’m not certain exactly what type of magic she used, but if its design was similar to what I’m familiar with, she could see you and hear you. If it weren’t for Bubba’s incredible bravery, she could have used his body as a conduit right into your house, and followed the demons in here.”
Colleen shivered. “That’s hideous. We came here instead of our shop because we thought she didn’t know where it was.”
“We need to let Coven Central know so they can remove her,” Roz said.
“Immediately. Before she fucks with anyone else,” Jenna muttered.
“Yeah, I’m surprised she handed over that Irichna to us at Witches’ Northwest, given she was in cahoots with them,” Roz said.
“It was a diversionary tactic,” Duncan said. “Had to be. Mathilde must have guessed her witches were getting suspicious.”
Bubba pushed back a few inches from Colleen, moved the blanket aside, and looked at her. “Aw shit, did I do all that to you?” He pointed at the gouges on her face and arms.
He looked so distraught, Colleen almost told him one of the demons had done most of the damage, but Duncan caught her gaze and shook his head slightly. “When we begin lying, even small ones meant to soothe, we become more like our enemy. Tonight, of all nights, is a time for truth.”
She smoothed the changeling’s thick hair back from his low forehead. “Yes, sweetie, but I’d have tolerated much worse to save your life.” Something occurred to her. “When did you first start feeling bad?”
“In the car waiting for you to come back with our breakfast.”
So almost immediately after we left Witches’ Northwest. “Why didn’t you say something?”
The changeling shrugged, looking sheepish. “I thought it wasn’t anything. That I was just keyed up from the last demon fight. It didn’t get really bad until we were waiting outside the ferry terminal.”
Colleen tried for a stern face, but probably didn’t do very well. “If anything like this ever happens again—”
He shot her a cowed smile and cut in with, “You’ll be the very first to know.”
Colleen dropped her head against the back of the couch and blew out a breath. Little clicks and clacks told her Jenna was picking things up and righting furniture. She thought she should offer to help, but was too tapped out to even say the words. She drifted for a bit with Bubba’s head on her chest and Duncan’s comforting presence next to her.
He murmured to her in a language she didn’t understand and she felt him in her mind, patching, soothing, healing. When he withdrew, fatigue, which had surrounded her in a thick, sticky cloud, left too. Colleen turned her head to the side so she could look at him. “Thanks again.”
Warmth and tenderness shone from his green eyes. “You’re welcome.”
“Here.” Roz shoved a liquor bottle into Duncan’s hand. “I’ve been helping myself, but you may as well too.” She turned the coffee table upright and sat on it. “What’s with the dark fae? I nearly had a heart attack when they showed up here. Thought I’d have two enemies to fight.”
Spots of color splashed across Duncan’s golden skin. “They’re my doing. Colleen found me in your shop, told me about Bubba, and said we needed to hurry back here. I started thinking about the sequence of events and suspected Mathilde had something to do with Bubba’s sudden illness.” He stopped to take a breath. “Changelings are never sick, so I knew something had to be afoot.”
Roz made a grab for the bottle and took a long swig before handing it to Colleen. “I’m missing something here. How’d we get from my question about the Unseelie to Mathilde?”
“Sorry. It’s been a long day.” Duncan shut his eyes for a moment and then opened them again; Colleen sensed him ordering his thoughts. “When Colleen and I showed up here, she parked a little way away because I was concerned about a possible link between Bubba and Mathilde. We both scented the demons once we got near the house. I asked if we needed help. When she said we did, I put out a call. The Unseelie showed up.” He threw his hands in the air. “It’s always a crap shoot. The last time I did that, Andraste came.”
Surprise shot through Colleen. “The Celtic goddess of victory?” He nodded. “Wow! Just how widespread is this, um, come help me signal?”
Duncan chuckled. “Damned if I know. I’ve only used it a handful of times in a thousand years. Each time, something different has responded. Let’s see.” He counted on his fingers. “So far, I’ve raised Sidhe, Celtic gods, a Druid, a werewolf, in human form, mind you, and now two dark fae.”
Roz held her hand out for the bottle. “All righty. Back to the Unseelie. I thought they were evil.”
“So did I,” Duncan said. “Sidhe have always steered clear of them.”
“Do you know why?” Jenna asked. She settled next to Roz on the coffee table. It creaked alarmingly, but didn’t splinter as Colleen feared it might, after listening to it complain about the combined weight of the two witches.
“What happened to cleaning?” Roz asked pointedly.
Jenna jabbed her in the ribs with an elbow and pried her fingers off the whiskey bottle. “Since when do I have housekeeper tattooed across my forehead? The only thing left is all the broken glass. I’ll use magic to get it out of here, but I need the room empty to do that, ’cause the shards will fly around like crazy.” She shifted her gaze to Duncan. “The Unseelie?”
“I need to ask someone, or look them up,” Duncan said. “They’re definitely the mischievous branch of the fae, but they’ve done some pretty crass things over the years. I think the main reason we Sidhe shun them is they’re so unpredictable.”
“You know more than you’re telling us.” Jenna continued to skewer him with her shrewd gaze.
He grinned crookedly. “Guess keeping secrets in a houseful of witches is hopeless.”
“You bet it is.” Colleen snorted. “What did you leave out?”
His forehead furrowed. “Not all that much, really. Titania and Oberon oversee Faerie. The Celtic gods formed a separate pantheon, so they don’t pay homage to our rulers. Mostly, they fight a lot amongst themselves—and give Danu fits. The Sidhe, and both branches of the fae, were formed long ago by Ceridwen, from the same energy source. It’s one of the reasons we’ve gotten along fairly well with the Seelie.”
“By that argument, you should have gotten along with the Unseelie too.” Roz set her chin on an upraised hand.
“I think we did, for many years. Then they started playing tricks. Things they thought were funny, like using mirrors to confuse the routes into Faerie. We ignored them and they upped the ante. Eventually, we simply quit having anything to do with them. Rumor had it, they gave up on us and started harassing mortals.”
“History be damned, the two who showed up tonight were a godsend,” Colleen said. Bubba shifted in her arms, mumbling sleepily about wanting to go to his bed.
“I’ll take him.” Roz pushed to her feet and held out her arms.
Colleen kissed the top of his head. “I’m sure glad you’re still with us, Bubs.”
“That makes two of us.” The changeling grinned, turned, and let Roz lift him. “I could get to like all this attention.”
“Don’t get too used to it,” Colleen admonished, but it was hard to maintain any semblance of solemnity when she was so happy. She snugged the blanket around her, leaned against Duncan, and watched Roz carry Bubba toward the stairs. “Whatever happened to that dinner you started?” she
asked Jenna.
“I imagine it’s still there. Maybe a bit on the thick side, but I had the heat low.”
Duncan tightened his arm around her shoulders. “Hungry?”
“It’s a tossup, which I want more. Food. Sleep. You.” She set her mouth in a hard line. “Some reassurance we’ll get at least a few hours’ break before the next demon incursion.”
“Guess we should sleep in shifts,” Jenna said.
Roz tromped back into the room. “I heard that. It’s a good idea. I also heard Jenna say dinner might not be entirely ruined. I’ll see all of you in the kitchen. No matter what comes next, we need to eat.”
“I’ll second that.” Jenna trailed after the other witch.
Colleen snuggled closer to Duncan. “Guess we ought to follow them.”
He repositioned himself so he faced her and ran his fingertips down the side of her face. “You have cuts and gouges. Let me heal them.”
“Later. It doesn’t feel very important.”
He brushed a knuckle over her lips. “Maybe not, but you’re important to me. I was scared for you, and for Bubba. I know how special he is to you. He’s like the child you never had.”
She smiled wryly. “I only just realized that in the past few days. Pretty dense of me, huh?”
“Maybe not. Admitting we care about someone makes us vulnerable, because then we shatter if we lose them.”
Colleen laid a hand on the side of his face. “Earlier you said something like, tonight of all nights, is a time for truth.”
“Yes, I did. Why mention it now?” He smoothed her tangled hair back from her face.
She took a deep breath, suddenly nervous about his answer to the question she hadn’t asked yet. He was here, surely that meant things had gone well with Titania… “Did you talk to your queen?”
His face clouded—brows drawn into a thin line, eyes worried—and her heart seized. She dropped her gaze, fighting sudden tears. “No, sweetheart,” he said quickly. “It’s not like that.” He cupped her face in his hands and tipped it so she had to look at him. “I found Titania. We chatted of this and that. When I asked her about you, she said no, and vanished to end any possibility of further dialogue.”
“Is that why you came to my shop? To tell me?”
“I suppose that was part of it, but the main reason I was waiting in your shop was to tell you I can’t live without you. Titania’s blessings don’t matter. Oh, they’d make our lives easier, but we’ll do all right without them. I never spent much time hobnobbing with other Sidhe.” He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “They’ll probably miss me more than I’ll miss them.”
Pain sluiced through her. His offer was wonderful, amazing, but she couldn’t let him forsake immortality for her. She shook her head sadly. “I’m touched and flattered, but someday you’ll resent having lost your immortality. And you’ll blame me for it—”
Sadness rimmed his eyes with a network of fine lines. “Are you trying to tell me you don’t want me? I know we’ve only just met, but I’ve never been so attracted to anyone. I can’t imagine my life without you in it, Colleen. Please, please don’t push me away.”
The tears that had threatened a few moments before overflowed. She scrubbed her cheeks with the backs of her hands. “It would be for the best. You need someone truly immortal like you. Someone where the queen will bless your union…” Her voice ran down, buried in a sob.
He gathered her into his arms and held her tight against him. “You’re scared.”
She nodded against his chest, almost too overcome to form words. “It’s a huge step. Relationships are hard under the best circumstances, and if you have to give up everything to have me, I just don’t see how things will ever work out.” Her heart ached, but what she was doing was important, necessary. Even if he couldn’t see beyond today, she could, and—
“Sweetheart. Stop that.” He tightened his arms around her even more. “Did it ever occur to you that after living as long as I have, immortality might have lost some of its panache? I don’t care about living forever. Many of my people either go mad or fade into the Dreaming. What I care about is you. If Titania excommunicates me and alters something inside me that starts a more normal longevity clock ticking, it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice.”
She started to argue with him, tell him he wasn’t thinking straight, and then she ran what he’d said through her mind. Joy, as poignant as her grief had been, burned through her like an out-of-control wildfire. She pushed back so she could look at him. “Really?” Her voice came out as a squeak.
He nodded. Tears glistened in his eyes too. “Really. I’ve been afraid you wouldn’t want me, but I was going to sit in that shop of yours until you showed up so I could find out for sure one way or the other. I didn’t know quite what I’d do with myself if you sent me packing. Immortality would have felt particularly empty and meaningless, facing another few millennia just like that last one’s been.” Hope illuminated his face, making his beauty even more ethereal. “If the only reason you’re hedging is to save me from myself, forget it. I’m long past old enough to make my own decisions, and take full responsibility for them.”
“Okay.” She swallowed hard. “Last hurdle. How do you feel about Bubba?”
“I helped save him, didn’t I?”
“Not what I meant. He’d have to be a part of our life.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way, but I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit I’m hoping we’ll have other children too.”
Something about the way he said other children melted her last reserves away and brought on a fresh spate of tears. “Christ! Look at me. I’m a maudlin mess.” She snuffled. “You’re right about me being scared. Hell, being responsible for me and Bubba has been hard enough.”
“Darling.” He pulled her against him again. “You wouldn’t be responsible for me. We’ll take care of each other.” He laughed, sounding self-conscious. “Not that either of us has much experience in that regard, but we can learn together.”
She pressed her face into the hollow between his neck and shoulder. “We’ll probably make a whole lot of mistakes.”
“It will be fun kissing and making up.” He tilted his head and closed his mouth over hers. The kiss started out sweet and tentative, but escalated rapidly into something with a mind of its own. His lips felt firm and demanding pressing against hers. As he plumbed her mouth with his tongue and she sparred with it, the world dropped away, leaving just him, her, and the sensations coursing through her body. Her nipples tingled, taut with need. Her crotch flooded. She wound her arms around him and slid her hands under his clothing, desperate for the feel of his skin beneath her fingers.
“Are the two of you coming to dinner?” Roz called.
Colleen broke away from their kiss long enough to call, “Just wrap whatever’s left in foil. We’ll get to it later.”
Raucous laughter rang from the kitchen. “We’ll take first watch,” Jenna yelled.
“And second,” Roz chimed in.
Duncan grinned. “Is there somewhere a little less public where we could go?”
She grinned back. “Why Mr. Regis, what kind of girl do you take me for?”
“It’s actually Lord Regis. And the kind of girl you are is one who will be my wife.”
Before she could rein in her tongue, Colleen squealed, “I accept.” She rolled her eyes and felt heat suffuse her face. “Gosh, I sound about fifteen.”
“I understand completely. If it didn’t seem so undignified, I’d turn cartwheels across the floor.” He got to his feet and pulled her after him. “Now, about that bedroom.”
“Follow me.” She led the way up two flights to her little room snugged beneath the old house’s eaves.
Chapter Fourteen
Duncan followed after Colleen. The swing of her hips and the firm globes of her ass, outlined by the blanket wrapped around her, mesmerized him. His cock pressed uncomfortably against the front of his trousers and his throat felt dry. Heart pounding
with anticipation, he walked into her cozy room and summoned his mage light, dialing it to dim, just enough to see by. A double bed with a colorful, quilted throw sat beneath the room’s dormer window. An antique armoire butted against one wall. Bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling. A computer desk was tucked into a corner, complete with an enormous screen. Some sort of tablet or e-reader lay on a bedside table, next to a softly glowing, crystal lamp. He stifled a chuckle.
Colleen turned to face him. She took him in from head to toe; her frank gaze probably didn’t miss a thing. “What’s so funny?”
“I’ve never gotten used to the blend of old and new. Computers and witchcraft. Books, scrolls, and an e-reader, all in the same place.”
“Don’t you have a computer?”
“Of course I do. But it’s placed out of the way where I don’t have to look at it unless I want to.” He shrugged, feeling sheepish. “Don’t dig for meaning. Feelings don’t have to make sense.”
She unwound the blanket from her body, and laid it over a chair. The lines of her shoulders, arms, breasts, stomach, and hips were clean and beautiful. She was so perfectly formed, he forgot to breathe. He hastened to her side and met her ice blue gaze. “You are quite possibly the most striking woman I’ve ever seen.”
She colored and looked away. “Oh, please. Coming on the heels of your earlier pitch about tonight being a time for truth…”
“It is the truth, at least in my eyes. No, oh please, about it.” He ran his fingers through her thick, auburn hair, combing it back and away from her face. Tracing her cheekbones down to her neck, he murmured, “No goddess was ever more perfect. Your skin has a dusky, golden cast to it that almost sparkles. Your eyes remind me of ocean shallows in warm climates. Such a clear, pure blue.” He drew his fingers down her face again. “High, defined cheekbones, a strong, determined jaw, full, kissable lips—”
“You’d better stop that. I’ll become insufferable.”
“Somehow, I don’t think that’s possible.” He filled his hands with her breasts. They were amazing. Full, with generous nipples, they rode high on her slender ribcage. He stood just touching her and drinking in her beauty. The moment felt magical, yet far beyond any magic he’d ever summoned. Her nipples puckered against his palms in the chill air of the room. He bent and took one in his mouth, nibbling, sucking, teasing, and was gratified when she moaned, arched her back, and buried her hands in his hair.