by Billi Jean
“Now that wasn’t nice,” Trouble grumbled, her eyes narrowed in that way Sorcha knew meant her sister was contemplating something deadly.
From the side she realised Markee had Agni up. Moon had the witch by her hair. The witch was awake, but Agni was out.
“Alex! This is it. We need to leave this place.”
“Now? If we work together, we may defeat him now.”
“No! No, please, we need to go.”
As if reading their thoughts, Rage struck out and his spell caught them all by surprise. He ripped through her shield and sent a spell directly at Moon.
“Moon!” Sorcha screamed.
Moon merely tossed her hair off her face and grimaced as the spell hit like a shot of lightening in her chest. Without blinking, Sorcha threw her own spell, knocking the mage back closer to the edge. Trouble dived in, attacking him with both her swords, slicing at him with deadly accuracy. He stumbled back and suddenly burst into a hundred bats all aimed at their heads before he winged up the side of the mountain.
“Holy shit,” Markee breathed.
Moon ripped the witch’s head nearly off with a vicious jerk. “Release him! Now!” she yelled.
“Holy hell, sister, that girl means business,” Trouble muttered, helping her from the snow. Alex stood too, assessing the area with her gaze.
“You have no idea,” Markee murmured then seemed to realise he had and ducked his head.
Suddenly the witch howled in pain, breaking off to sob when Moon unexpectedly dropped her. Sorcha guessed she’d released Agni from her spell.
Alex wrapped his arm around her waist and glared around them. “What of Rage? Is he—?”
“He’s dug in for cover, but he’s not gone,” Trouble said interrupting Alex with a fierce look.
“Ah, that’s good, right?” Markee asked. “I mean, we can get off this pile of rubble and all now, right?”
Alex shifted his feet next to her but through their new bond, she felt him accept that for now, Rage was gone.
“Only for now, my love. We still need to kill him.”
“Why do you say that, Sorcha? Why now do you want to kill him?”
“Because Bridget ordered it.”
“What?” he demanded. He pulled her by her shoulders around to face him. She blinked innocently, but by his scowl, she could tell he wasn’t buying it.
“We don’t have time for this. Let’s meet back at the coven and discuss this vacation, huh?” Trouble asked with a nasty look at Alex.
He glowered, but didn’t respond.
“No.” Sorcha turned to face her sister with a firmness she rarely showed Trouble. “We are going somewhere else, and you can go to the coven. I’ll get hold of you soon, but for now, we are going to celebrate that we’re alive and while Rage might be as well, his days are numbered.”
“Oh? How’s that?” Trouble spluttered. “He’s just flown off into a hundred freaky bats. For all we know, he’s probably sizing us all up right now. What makes you think we’ll kill him so easily another time?”
“I never said it would be easy, but it’s what Bridget wants.”
Trouble frowned and turned serious for once. “Then if she wants it done, why are we waiting?”
“Because now isn’t the time—”
“He’s weak, wounded and if now isn’t a good time, when is?” Trouble demanded.
For the first time, Alex stepped forwards and spoke. “Not now. If it was his time, we would know, but for now, as your sister says, we need to leave this place. Sorcha is freezing, Agni is hurt and Moon has been wounded as well.”
They all turned to see Moon shrug, the limp form of Agni slung over Markee’s arm alone.
“Yeah, and this bastard—sorry Moon—is heavy, eh?” Markee grumbled.
Everyone laughed and even Trouble had to admit that Markee’s pained expression said it all. He wanted to be off this mountain.
Sorcha did too. With her mate.
“I want flowers and something a great deal more memorable than you biting me on a mountaintop, Alex.”
“Sweet, I’ll give you anything, just get us off this mountain. You’re freezing again.”
“Mmm, will you warm me then?”
“Always, Sorcha. Always, eh?”
“Enough, come, get us off this hilltop.” Alex sent her an image of a cabin, not the one that had blown up around them, but another, cosier place she’d not seen before now.
“Later, sister. Moon, get that wound tended to, and Markee”—she hugged him tightly around his middle—“you behave. No more drinking, okay?”
Alex pulled her closer and nipped at her ear to get her moving. She took hold of the image of his cabin, letting the mountain, revenge and the past go for now while she took hold of her future.
Alex held her tighter, keeping her warm even in the darkness of their shift. She realised then that he always would—keep her warm and safe—no matter what else happened to them. She could only do the same, she thought with a light laugh at the memory of her mate’s secret or not so secret desire to feel her mouth.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Loving Sorcha was easy, Alex decided, watching her crawl up the blankets. Now, after taking the edge off his need for her, and enjoying her in the shower and on the bathroom sink, in the chair by the fire and tossed down on the side of the bed, he was content to watch the way her lush, heavy breasts swayed with each teasing inch she travelled up the bed. The woman’s body was a dream, so curvy and lush he could spill his seed simply watching her walk, let alone feeling those ripe breasts whisper over his body.
“Mmm, you have something on your mind, my love?” she murmured, dipping her head and nipping at the tent he had going on under the blankets. Slowly he caught on that she wasn’t going any farther up his body. When he comprehended what she meant to do, he nearly spilt like a lad.
“Mmm, don’t do that, love. What kind of fun would that be?”
“Damn, sweet, you, I mean, are you, do you—?”
“I want to. I have since the first night when you spilled all over my stomach and breasts.”
“Ah, hell, I lost my control then, sweet. This time I will last longer.”
“Will you, now?” The teasing lilt to her words sent a shiver of anticipation through his body. He shifted his legs under the covers wanting her lips on him so badly he was ready to beg. She pressed the blankets off his hips, with a small grin, bent and kissed the mushroomed head of his cock. He gripped the sheets and tried to hold on.
“If you come too soon, I’ll simply have to start all over again,” she whispered against his shaft.
“Goddess, your mouth looks so small next to my erection, sweet. Suck it past those lovely lips and I guarantee you I won’t last minutes.”
“Well, we’ll see, won’t we? Hold on, my love, while I drive you insane.”
She did too, so well he fought the first explosive feel of her warm, sucking mouth. With a growl, he caught her head and made her slow, wanting to savour every second.
“If you love this I will have to wake you this way each morning, mmm?”
“Holy goddess, sweet. Don’t tell me that! Your mouth is…”
“Amazing, so perfect, so good. Sorcha, don’t stop,” he pleaded when she lifted off and used her tongue and lips to drive him wild before she bobbed her head again. Sensations rocked him, so many he fisted the wooden bed frame with one hand and curled his other at the back of her neck subtly urging her on.
She purred around his flesh and he gasped, spreading his legs wider for her pleasure. Her lips latched onto a spot under the rosy head and he shouted her name at how good it felt. Not done, she began stroking him with her warm hands and sucking in a rhythm that left him wheezing for breath.
“So good, so good, ah goddess sweet!”
“I love it, oh Alex, this is my new favourite thing, my love.”
He choked on a laugh then shot straight to a sitting position when he felt the back of her throat. She held his shaft there,
the tip deep in her throat and snapped her hands up and down his flesh while she sucked and rubbed her tongue along his shaft.
“Holy hell, woman!” He gripped her head tighter and thrust in short, shallow jabs into her mouth. Her rounded, ripe bottom bounced and the image made him so hot he feared harming her. She tormented him by tickling her warm fingers under his ball sack.
“Baby!” He tightened his hands in her silky hair and plunged into her mouth, out of his mind with what she was doing to him. She rubbed along his sack, and swallowed him down.
The balance tipped, and he fell back on the bed, groaning like a beast, too far gone to do more than shoot off load after load. He was barely conscious enough to realise she swallowed each burst of cum eagerly. When he did, his climax staggered him until all he could do was surrender to her.
Slowly, the room surfaced and he could breathe again. Sorcha licked one more time from the root to the tip, wetly sucking the sensitive head past her lips, before sending him a heated look.
“Sorcha,” he breathed, so amazed by her he couldn’t say more.
She kissed his cockhead and smiled happily at him, looking like she’d discovered a new toy she couldn’t bear to part with. His limp shaft surged harder at the thought. Watching him with that same smile, she lifted her leg to straddle his hips, settling on his stomach and leant down to brush kisses to his jaw and neck.
“You liked it.”
He snorted at the absurdity of that understatement.
She arched a delicate eyebrow and her teasing lips tipped up in a bigger grin.
“I loved it.”
“Mmm, well, good,” she whispered then brushed a hot kiss to his neck. Would he ever be able to feel those lips and not think of what she’d just given him? His erection pulsed in answer. Hell no.
“I might have to do that again, since I rushed it I think,” she said in a husky whisper.
He tossed her on her back and met her surprised look with a grin. “What? It was perfect,” he assured her, kissing her lush lips and growling at his taste on her mouth. “Perfect, like you, but soon, aye, soon you can try again if you must.”
She laughed as he knew she would and her cheeks flushed brighter. She glowed with happiness. He had done that to her. Had made her happy.
“How is it you have never been with a man before?”
He could tell his question had caught her by surprise so he soothed her with a hand on her flat stomach. “I only wonder. You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, and I know our histories, times were not always easy on women,” he hedged, watching the way her tiny ribs rose and fell under her breasts, without saying more.
“What are you asking me, Alex?” she finally said.
He met her sombre gaze and something in the way she held herself still had his instinct flaring. “Have I hurt you with my question?”
She relaxed and slowly eased under his hand. She reached up and caressed his hair off his brow with a soft look. “No, simply surprised me. I’ve never willingly given myself to a man, Alex. Never loved one, nor used my body”—she grinned and pulled him down to kiss him—“or mouth on him. Is this what you ask?”
He pulled her close and settled her in his arms, rocking her slightly with his body. Through their bond, he could have read the truth, but instead of prying, he sent her his love and strength. His wolf paced and added his own. Against him, he felt her tremble slightly and knew she cried, but her tears were silent.
“I would have protected you, had I known. It was after, after you left Scotland?”
“No, it was before. It was long, long ago,” she whispered after a long moment of simply letting him hold her.
“Aye.” He suddenly realised what she wasn’t saying. She’d died. It was the only explanation to how he’d been her first. He’d felt her virginity, broke through it. If she’d suffered rape, then…
“You died?” Anger suddenly mixed with the pain he felt for her suffering. “You died.” He turned her gently. Her eyes shown bright past the tears she tried to wipe away. He brushed her hand aside and used his thumb to clear her face of the moisture. “I didn’t realise. I never knew a witch could suffer so. I believed only the mortal women accused of being witches were harmed.”
“They were. But this was before that, Alex. Long ago. Trouble brought me back.”
“As you brought her back.”
Sorcha didn’t say anything for a long while, simply caressed his chest with her hand. Finally, she tilted her head and eyed him suspiciously. “Why do you ask this, now?”
“You haven’t healed, not as you should. My ignorance, and then your pain, has made it a deep wound, Sorcha. You have to let this go, eh? I will help you. You’ve forgotten it but the pain is still there.”
“Not with you.”
“Aye, not with me,” he agreed with a grin. “I give you much more than pain, eh?”
“Alex, you give me a reason for being here, living.” She indicated the cabin—his home—with her hand. “This, us, we exist for a reason, but our bond gives us strength, alone we’re half alive, together we’re truly part of this world.”
He watched her expressive features and knew she had let her past go, while it was still there, and always would be, with him she would find healing. Much as he felt with her, he thought.
“Together we are going to enjoy this world, too, eh?” He grinned at her slow smile and kissed her salty cheeks. “First I think I have a need for my witch.”
“Oh? And what do you need? Didn’t I just have you trembling like a stallion?”
He laughed, rolling with her and hugging her tight. The blankets shifted past her shoulders to pool at the rise of her arse He curled a hand over her ripe breast, weighing the beautiful globe in his palm. “Aye, your stallion has a need to taste his mare now, eh?” he said, ducking his head to suckle her ripe nipple.
She giggled and buried her hot face in his neck, pleasing him so deeply he brushed a final kiss to her breast and merely held her warm body for long, wonderful moments under the fall of her curly hair. “I always have a need for you, Sorcha. I will be a greedy mate, lass. I hope you realise that.”
“Oh? And what makes you think I’m not as greedy for you?” She rolled to her back and dragged him with her willingly. His legs tangled up in the blankets, but he scooted to the side, dragging her with him so they were both under the warm comforter. She squirmed and slid a slender leg along his hip, spreading her legs for his possession with a wicked bite at his tight nipple.
Not a man to ignore an invitation he aligned their bodies and froze, halfway to paradise.
“Oh, come on! This is what you’ve been doing for the last week! Can’t you two call it over by now?”
He would have spun around, but Sorcha dug her nails into his back, so deeply he felt the half-moon marks sink past his skin.
“Hell, woman! What are you doing?”
“Stay. She can go.”
“Well, let a man turn around.”
“No. Stay. She goes.”
“Trouble, you need to knock first of all, second we are not calling it over. Alex is my mate as you already know and third, it’s time you took your rightful place. I quit. Alex and I are living here, in Scotland.”
“Can we?”
“Hell, sweet, we can live anywhere you want, just let me turn the hell over.”
“Don’t leave the bed.”
“I’m naked. I’m not going anywhere.”
Alex rolled to his back, making certain the blankets remained covering them. Sorcha immediately glued herself to him like a second skin. He took the hint without need of their mind speech and curled her up in his arms, half across his chest to face her sister.
Trouble narrowed her blue eyes and started pacing, nibbling her thumb. “We need to bargain a bit here. What do you mean you quit?”
“You’re head of the coven. I’ve babysat long enough. Alex and I want time alone, a few years, possibly ten, maybe twenty, then we want to have our own children and
have a family.”
“Right?”
“Aye, sweet, ten or twenty years of you though. I’m a greedy mate, I want you to myself.”
“Oh, Alex, I love you.”
“Deal with your sister, Sorcha, then I will teach you again how much I love you.”
“Stop with the lovey dovey talk! Gawd, like I can’t tell?”
Sorcha laughed and covered her mouth with a hand. He refused to hide his smile and grinned at Trouble’s amazed expression.
“Let me get this straight. You are going to live here—in the middle of nowhere—with him?”
“And you need to move the coven here too. Not here, here,” she hastily added when he stiffened. “But nearby, maybe near Braeriach. We need to cleanse this land and rid it of Rage, maybe the Jackals, and then see what happens.”
“And then see what happens? Have you forgotten the pain we both suffered in this place?”
Sorcha blanched and he growled low. “Watch your words. You’re Sorcha’s sister and for that I will give you one chance, but cross that line again and you and I will have more than words.”
Trouble rolled her eyes, clearly not impressed. “Wolf, the last thing on this world that frightens me is you.”
“Trouble, please, don’t. Alex, stop.” Sorcha adjusted the blanket over her breasts, tucked a curl behind her ear and only then met her sister’s outraged look. “I’m sorry. I do realise, but the past is still there. You can find ways to accept it and let the pain go. Here, in our homeland, I think you will. Either way, Trouble, you will be the head of our coven. The move needs to be soon.”
“Well, how will I do that? The coven is spread out all over—”
“Trouble this is your job now. I’m on my honeymoon and I would prefer to start it without you here, but if you want to stay, well, I won’t stop you either.” Sorcha had the nerve to trail a hand down his stomach. He stopped her with a silent growl.
“What! No way are you—”
“Shh, she won’t stay.”
“Fine, fine, I can see this has all been decided. I’ll go. Maybe get Tabithia off her butt to help and send Hunter to scout a good area. I’ll check in.” She broke off and tossed her red hair. “Just call me, okay?”