by Eden Rivers
Nicole clenched her hand in a gesture to key a spell, and fire shimmered along the hallway, green, blue, and purple, but stopped several feet shy of Jaimis and then disappeared altogether. Calling on her own power, Sky figured they had nothing to lose if it backfired. She let it free with a wrenching jolt, to do what it would. A section of wall collapsed near Jaimis, and though untouched, he turned toward the chaotic burst of energy.
Holding the little boy cradled against her, she reached deeper into herself, sorting out the threads of energy seething within her. Nicole raised her hands and hurled a glowing red sword at Jaimis, but the rogue witch sidestepped the attack and rushed toward them, hands raised as he worked his own spell.
Now or never, then. Sky had an acute sense of the moment. She’d either find her power and wield it strong and whole, or the three of them would die.
Rather than try to force energy into its former shape and signature, she let it weave itself anew, following the threads wherever they seemed to want to go. The boy’s breathing came slow and shallow, and she felt his warm blood seeping through her sweatshirt. Nicole launched more barbs of power and light, but Jaimis sidestepped and followed with a burst of energy that knocked them back against the wall and left them panting for air.
Disappearing into the cool, silver paradise she’d shared with Alec on the forest floor, loving each other as his magic caressed their sweaty skin, she felt her power follow that path, forming itself to mimic the safest moment she could call to mind. The air cooled around them, and Sky reached out for Nicole’s hand.
Don’t let go. No matter what, you have to stay close to me.
Silver mist swirled around them, filling the blood-spattered cell with its healing touch. Once we’re in the hall, back into the far corner, away from the stairs. He won’t expect that. When he comes into the cell to look for us, we’ll run for it. Don’t stop for anything. He can’t see us as long as I can hold onto the mist.
Chapter Eleven
They inched out of the cell as Jaimis searched for them, no doubt sensing their presence and the telltale signature of Nicole’s power, but unable to pinpoint their exact location because of the concealing spell. Trembling, they waited with their backs pressed to the far wall, and then broke for the stairs when he stepped into the cell to look for them. The unconscious child grew heavier with every step she took, never mind he couldn’t be much older than six and was thin as a twig. Nicole panted beside her, and Sky couldn’t imagine the pain of the bandages rubbing against open wounds as she ran.
Somehow, they made it out of the house together and breathing. Alive! But as they raced for the gate, a circle of guards closed in on them. Fuck!
Several had guns. Human. Some didn’t, but had power crackling at their fingertips. Ordinary witches, or dark lords? Acting on instinct, Sky led Nicole toward the spot where she’d entered the lowered ward earlier. If she could convince the guards they’d slipped through somehow…
Can you create a sound on the other side of the ward?
Nicole clenched her fist, and a stick snapped on the far side of the barrier. One of the witches moved over to check the ward near the gate, and then someone shouted for him to search the other side.
Cornered like a coon surrounded by hounds, Sky trembled as Jaimis strode out of the house to direct the search. Once Jaimis’s people realized they had her and Nicole encircled…
As a tall, golden-haired witch in leather lowered a small section of the ward and stepped out to look for them on the other side, hell itself exploded through the opening. In a riot of light and noise, witches raced from the woods and threw themselves past the lowered ward.
Where the hell are you, witch? Zach’s anger was laced with fear for her, and she’d never heard anything more welcome than his thoughts seeking hers.
Exiting, fast. Tell Sorren’s crowd to look out, so we don’t get caught up in the backlash of their assault on Jaimis’s people.
Dragging Nicole along with her, she clutched Eric and ran for all she was worth, not stopping until she stood well within the shadows of the trees. Laura! Here. Please, an injured child!
With any luck, Sorren’s people had brought the witch healer along, because she had a hunch Eric wouldn’t make it without immediate help.
Keep low, Sky, and don’t for anything let loose of the concealing spell. For once, Alec wouldn’t get any argument from her.
Fast on the heels of relief at her own escape came dread at how far Alec might be willing to go to take down the rogue witch. Be safe. Jaimis’s death means nothing if it means yours as well.
She swallowed hard as she rocked Eric in her arms, and Nicole clung close, perhaps going into shock herself from the pain. Chaos thundered through the estate, yells, the crackle of magic, and everyone running ‑‑ with Alec at the center of it all. Despite Alec’s determination to see Jaimis dead, the dark witch was the stronger of the two, fed by blood rites and doubly dangerous because they’d surrounded him on his own ground.
“I know you’re close.” Laura kept her voice low, even though the pandemonium seemed confined to Jaimis’s side of the wards. “Could you make a noise or something, so I can find you and treat the boy?”
Sky cleared her throat. “Here.”
As Laura stepped inside the mist, Sky reached out to touch her, including her in the protection of the spell. “Turns out that bit with our power-swapping rite worked after all. Or it did for me, anyway.”
As Laura set to work, Sky stroked the child’s sweat-and-blood-encrusted hair. Hold on, Eric. Please, just a little longer.
* * * * *
Moving with the wrath of a summer storm, Alec watched for a glimmer of movement, a telltale shadow where no shadow should be. He kept his cloak of mist around him, evading both Jaimis’s and Sorren’s witches as he focused on his prey. Just ahead, near the boundaries of the estate, he felt Jaimis’s presence like a needle under his skin, sharp and unwholesome, carved in blood and pain.
Didn’t it fucking figure that the one other witch he’d encountered with the ability to cloak so completely would be the one he needed to see well enough to put him six feet under? But he knew what to look for, and every fiber of his being tensed, waiting for a faint glimmer to give away the dark witch’s location.
Stopping to get his bearings, he listened to the background chaos as Sorren’s and Jaimis’s people fought. Despite the dark connection of their blood tie, Jaimis moved with stealth and purpose, and Alec’s frustration grew with each passing minute.
Fixing on a bit of mist across the rolling gardens, he fell into an all-out run, his heart pounding, his mouth dry with anticipation. His power rose of its own accord, and he felt ready for what he had to do. Bringing harm, let alone death, remained as foreign to him as sprouting wings. But some hurts could only be repaid in blood.
Unleashing a torrent of energy, he fashioned it into a burning sword and flung himself at the sparkling shadow ‑‑ only to meet the mist of an illusion, rather than a concealment spell. As he whirled, expecting a trap, the telltale sound of helicopter blades whirring to life drifted across the fields behind Jaimis’s estate.
As the helicopter rose and flew off over the trees, Alec plunged the sword into the earth and threw his head back in a long, keening howl. Through the dark-blood bond, he felt an echo of Jaimis’s exultation as he escaped.
Alec shook with rage, unable to accept that he’d lost his chance to buy his freedom ‑‑ his dignity ‑‑ back with Jaimis’s blood. The thought that the dark witch would continue to feed on others’ power, to wield the tools of torturer and rapist, shook him to the center of his being.
Lost.
Everything was lost. A thousand memories welled up and obscured his vision as he knelt by the ring of scorched earth where he’d discharged the useless reserves of his power. This much he knew ‑‑ as long as the rogue witch lived, a small piece of him would remain captive, shackled with the horror of memory.
As Sky reached out to him, pressing against hi
s tortured thoughts, his fury found a target. Sky, who’d put her goals above his. The meager list of dark lords above the larger prize, the dark witch himself. Who’d loved him, and then betrayed what little trust he’d been able to offer.
Alec let out a long yell of defiance, his fury ripping through him bitter and hot. You knew what this meant to me! Knew I had to see him dead!
Slamming his shields down with brutal force, he shoved Sky away. In that moment, he hated that he’d given her a piece of his magic. A piece of himself. Thinking of her draping herself in a cocoon of silver mist seemed horribly intimate, as if she’d stolen a piece of his soul. Pounding the earth with his fists, he screamed his outrage at the rogue witch. At Skyler. At the gods. And at his own inability to heal.
* * * * *
Feeling ill at ease in the luxury of Sorren’s private residence, Sky ran her hand across the silky coverlet. Her things sat piled in the corner of the guest room, the contents of a single backpack, the sum total of her earthly possessions. Her shoulders were tight from the day’s events and from hours of sitting rigid at Eric’s bedside as Laura tended to him.
Shaking off today’s assortment of horrors would take a hell of a lot more than her half-hour soak in the huge, sunken tub. Even with her shields clamped down so tight she might as well be alone in the universe, the reverberations of Serena’s grief over Scott’s death penetrated her defenses. Lena had arrived back from Canada near midnight, and she was with her sister now. With Eric sedated and under Laura’s careful watch, and Serena with family, Sky felt at loose ends. Even Nicole had finally drifted into a fitful sleep with the help of Laura’s herbs.
As she combed her damp hair, she listened to the chirping of crickets through the open window, feeling vulnerable in the shorts and oversized T-shirt she’d chosen as pajamas. Her jeans and hooded sweatshirt had been her battle gear, and now she had trouble abandoning her armor.
“Hey.” Zach’s voice accompanied the soft knock on the guest room door.
Eager for any distraction, she tossed aside the comb and let him in. “Any news?”
When he closed the door and clicked the lock into place, Sky raised an eyebrow.
“Call me paranoid, but this isn’t over. Lock won’t keep a witch out, and I know we should be safe here, of all places, but the cop in me feels better knowing the bolt’s in place.” He crossed the lushly furnished room, scuffing his bare feet on the Oriental rug as he headed for the open window, slammed it shut, and slid the lock into place.
Sky shivered at the swell of magic as he set wards at the door and windows. “You really are spooked.”
“Seeing ahead can be a blessing and a curse.” Apprehension clinging to him like a dark cloud, Zach plopped down on the end of the bed, his rugged good looks out of keeping with the delicate silk spread. “I told you Jaimis might have dug his burrow deep ‑‑ and I believe we’ve seen the last of him for a while ‑‑ but shit’s not over yet.”
“Alec…?” Fear slithered through her, dark and unpalatable.
“What I’ve been telling you all along, witch. When push comes to shove, we’ll face the threat together.” He lay back against the pillows, and even though his half-buttoned shirt covered the hawk tattoo and the fresh scars, he looked out of place among the backdrop of Impressionist-style paintings and plum-colored drapes. “Seeing as Alec’s off chasing dark lords with Matt, we’re not together. That mean’s whatever shit remains won’t happen until he’s back, more likely than not.”
Suddenly exhausted beyond words, she sprawled next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. “And if he doesn’t come back?”
Alec’s rage had seared through her with the force of a nuclear explosion, blasting at the link they’d formed. She had no hold on him, no claim to his affection or loyalty. With their cat and mouse game officially over ‑‑ and the cat running free ‑‑ she didn’t expect to see Alec again.
“Watch it, witch. You’re forgetting I was along for the ride when we strengthened our ties during that little power-sharing trick. Psychic overflow’s a bit strong at the moment, and self-pity’s never been my style. Stop fussing. He’ll be back when he’s ready.”
Sky managed to land a slap on Zach’s side before he rolled her onto her back on the silky spread and blew a raspberry on her stomach. When she squirmed to retaliate, he raised his head and nuzzled her breasts, which felt good after a hellish day. Very good.
But taking this any further seemed like a bad idea. “Look, Zach, I need to relieve some stress as much as you do, but you and Alec have been friends too long for me to come between you.”
“Right, if you’re worrying about screwing things up for me and Alec…” He trailed a row of kisses across her tummy. “Then you’re further gone than I thought. Here’s the landscape ‑‑ you and Alec. Give him time to work through his own private hell. He’ll be back. And keep in mind I’m pretty fond of the son of a bitch. Wouldn’t be here with you right now if I thought there was the slightest chance of making his life any harder than it is at the moment.”
As she worked through that, Zach nudged her onto her side and kneaded her shoulders until she resisted the inclination to purr. “Since you’re so damn fond of him, why didn’t the two of you ever settle down together?”
“The obvious answer would seem to be his political career, but that had nothing to do with it. Bottom line ‑‑ Alec’s too champagne and caviar for me, and I’m too beer and peanuts for him. Friends? Absolutely. Lovers? You bet. But the first time he wanted to watch some PBS documentary on brine shrimp, and there was a game on, we’d slaughter each other in the battle over the remote.”
Underneath the humor, she picked up a note of pain. “You tried, didn’t you?”
“One summer, when he was home from college. Lasted six weeks sharing an apartment before we ended up in a pissing match so big and bad and ugly it left both of us smarting under a barrage of mean-ass spells.” Easing her shirt up over her breasts, Zach licked a line of delicious warmth around her areola. “Which is the true answer to your question, by the way. Too much testosterone, too much power, too much pride. Just couldn’t compromise enough to make a go of it together.”
The pain simmering across the link they shared spurred her to action. Undecided until now, she sat up and pulled her shirt the rest of the way over her head, then tossed it onto the floor. Shimmying out of her silky running shorts, she decided to leave her panties on. Preserve a little mystery.
Now to steer the conversation away from uncomfortable history. They’d suffered enough hurt today. “What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve ever done in bed?”
“You mean with Alec?” Nudging her onto her back, Zach traced lazy circles around her stomach.
“Even better.”
His low, throaty chuckle made her wonder if she’d wandered into dangerous territory again. But when he bent to lick a warm, lingering circle around one breast, then the next, she figured he’d decided to keep that particular bit of the past to himself.
Propping himself up on his elbow, he shook his head. “When we were kids, Alec and I used to dare each other to do stupid stuff. ‘Betcha won’t steal a candy bar from the corner store.’ ‘Betcha don’t dare run naked through old Mr. Bronson’s field.’ That kind of dumb kid shit.”
Her heartbeat skittered into overdrive when he reached down to trace the outline of her bikini panties, toying with the edges of the elastic. Something about this felt off balance, not having Alec here. But she trusted… Fuck. She really did. She trusted Zach’s assurance that no one would be hurt by this.
“You okay?”
“Mostly. Just thinking about the two of you. Hardly know anything about you, but I’m more comfortable with both of you than just about anyone else at this point.” Longing so strong it all but choked her rose up at the thought that she’d cut ties with Alec when she carried out her plans to find the list of dark lords at the expense of Alec’s determination to seek revenge.
“You know us. It’s
not all about being able to say what our favorite beer is, or how we like our steak. You’ve been in our minds so much lately, I feel like I’m going to start painting my nails and watching chick flicks if I don’t watch out.”
Wow, it felt good to laugh. Wrong, maybe, with Scott dead and Eric hurt so bad, but Zach set free a part of her she thought had died the day Jaimis picked up his whip.
“Don’t go there. And don’t feel guilty for needing to laugh. It’s like breathing. Reminds us we’re alive, even when the world’s going to shit around us. So, like I said, Alec and I were big on daring each other. The ‘betcha won’t’ game led to some…” Hesitating, he shook his head again. “Truly outrageous sex. Ask Alec sometime. If he’s cool with sharing, I’ll handle the embarrassment.”
Right, but Alec was gone. And she’d stolen a lot more than his concealing spell. It galled her that Jaimis ran free, but in the instant Alec had raged at her earlier, she’d felt the world crumple around him.
“You saved a child, Sky. Ease up on yourself. May have saved Alec, too. Head-to-head with Jaimis, there’s no guaranteeing the good guy would have been the one to walk away.”
Desperate to forget for a while, and turning to the world’s best solace for grief, she toyed with a button on Zach’s light blue shirt. “Betcha can’t make me come.”
His snort conveyed a world of male bravado.
Her lips parted, Sky ran her fingers over the smooth cloth of her panties. “Three times…”
Zach snorted. “You underestimate ‑‑”
“With your mouth.” Teasing him with her best seductive smile, Sky waited for him to bite.
“Gonna be four, then.”
“Because?”
Chuckling, Zach slid her panties down past her thighs, then clear of her legs, and abandoned them at the end of the bed. “Don’t want to come alone. Fourth time, I’ll be deep inside you. Now what about hands?”
“No sexual touching. Other touching’s okay.” Her stomach fluttered in anticipation, and her nipples tightened into hard little nubs. The world might be caving in around her, but her body remembered this game as easy as breathing.