Assassin's Kiss

by Sharon Kay

  A robin sang high above in a tree. Jinx pleaded once more, rubbing Scorpio’s legs, before sitting down to wash her face. Tessa shifted her feet.

  “I have to put this on you.” She spoke so softly he would’ve had trouble hearing it if he’d been in the cell. But outside, his body hummed with power and the nearness of his mate. He dug his nails into his palm, fighting the urge to draw her close.

  Trust. He had to allow her trust to keep building. “Okay.”

  With a sigh that sounded all kinds of reluctant, she met his eyes and he leaned forward like he’d done the other day. She opened the collar and reached up, clasping it behind his neck and holding her hands in place as she invoked the spell that would dampen his strength.

  Hell if he cared. Her arms were around his neck, and he could just about feel her skin. Heat pulsed from her torso, and his senses screamed for her.

  Her heart rate sped up and her breath came shakier than a second ago. And this time, her shirt didn’t gap to give him any peeks. But it was tight, so tight he could see the outline of her bra. His dick twitched. Gods, she had no idea the effect she had on him.

  Or did she? He clenched his teeth in an effort to remain still, when every nerve in his body exploded at the near contact.

  She finished and stepped back, releasing a shaky breath. “Hallon’s orders,” she said quickly.

  He straightened slowly, as slow as she was quick. “I understand.” He gazed down at her from his full height, loving the way the sun found the chestnut streaks in her hair and brought them out to play.

  Her eyes dropped to the collar. “If…” her voice cracked. “If we run into trouble…”

  He nodded. “I’ll handle it.”

  She let out a breath and looked at Zeebi. “Guess we’re ready then.”

  He looked them over. “No tools?”

  Zeebi grinned. “No need, demon. Watch and learn.” With a wink, she turned and headed into the trees.

  “We can draw the ore up from the ground with our minds.” Tessa angled her head, signaling him to walk with her behind Zeebi.

  “Like how you got the crystals?”

  “No, that was spells. Yeah, we still dug them up, but we needed help with the locations.”

  “And not here?”

  “There’s a lot of ore.” She gave a half smile. “You’ll see.”

  “This is on your own land?”

  “Yep. No one else ever bothers us there.”

  “Good. I’ll make sure it stays that way.”

  She shot him a curious look, but didn’t speak.

  “Vespera doesn’t want this ore?” he asked.

  “They can’t get it. No one there has metal affinity.” She kicked a rock. “Though I wouldn’t put it past them to get in our way, just to mess with us.”

  He had the fleeting thought that the simple fact of her going there might be enough to make them mess with Bronwy, but he didn’t want to remind her. “What do you do with it?”

  “Some of it, we make into weapons or amulets. We also sell a lot to the elves up there.” She pointed in the direction of a small mountain range. “They forge it into their special steel.”

  “Elven steel.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I never knew where they got their raw materials.”

  “You may have wielded an elven-forged blade created right here.” She paused. “Other creatures retrieve ore for steel, too. It’s not like Zeebi and I are the only ones.”

  He flicked a glance to the blond witch ahead, who seemed intent on putting space between her and them. Hell, if it gave him some semblance of alone time with Tessa, he’d find a way to repay Zeebi later.

  “How’d you learn you had this gift?” He watched as she tugged aside a low hanging branch so she could pass, then held it for him as well. “Thanks.” His heart warmed with surprise and confidence. She could’ve let the thing fly back and smack him.

  “I bent several of my baby spoons.” A grin lit her face. “I guess it was mainly on the foods I didn’t like.”

  He chuckled. “I can just imagine that. Not just turning up your nose at the food but bending the damn spoon. You knew what you wanted and didn’t want, even back then.”

  “Yeah.” She swatted at a mosquito. “So then Dad started me in training with the Elders. That, I’m told was pretty funny. They don’t usually work with babies. And I’m not sure I listened too well. But it was a start.”

  “Interesting that your friend showed the same skill.” He looked up the path, but saw only a hint of blond through the trees.

  “Yeah, we learned together.” Tessa squinted. “Wait—where is she? Zee?” She drew to a stop and looked at Scorpio. “Do you hear her?”

  “Up ahead.” He stopped, too, and reached out with his senses. His vision lasered in on blond hair among the greenery. “She’s coming from that way, heading toward us.”

  Sure enough, branches shook and twigs snapped. Zeebi crashed through. “Oh my gosh, you guys. I just remembered something.”

  “What?” Tessa asked.

  “I promised I’d work with the younger girls today. A couple of them are convinced they have metal affinity.”

  “Who?” Tessa frowned. “No one has it but us. The young get screened for special abilities.”

  “I know.” Zeebi’s eyes were wide with exasperation and she shook her head. “But they’re convinced that their talent was missed. I told them I’d go over some basics with them, just in case, to settle their minds.”

  “Now? But we’re almost to the ore fields,” Tessa said.

  “I’m sorry. You can do it without me. Gotta go! Bye!” Zeebi took off at a jog back the way they had come.

  “Zeebi!” Tessa yelled, incredulity in her voice. But Zeebi didn’t turn around.

  She stared after her, brows knit in confusion. “What the heck?” she said softly. “That doesn’t make any sense. I know she’s flighty sometimes, but this is weird.”

  Scorpio glanced at the shrubs swaying in Zeebi’s wake. Then back to Tessa, adorable in her perplexion. She looked like she was running through scenarios in her mind. “Well I guess we just…” Her eyes swung back to him, and he knew the exact minute that realization sunk in.

  She was alone with him. All alone, in the middle of the woods. “We just, um…” She blinked. Her pulse ticked wildly at her throat.

  “Tessa.” He lowered his voice to a tone he hoped was reassuring. “The other night you said you weren’t afraid of me.”

  Her chin jutted. “I’m not.”

  He touched the collar, not taking his eyes from hers. “Then take this off.” His voice came out in a whispered growl. His body hummed with the need to be unhindered around her, to absorb everything about her sensually and to not have any impediments to protecting her.

  She swallowed hard. Her chest rose and fell. She didn’t speak.

  “You know I will never hurt you,” he continued. “Right?”

  She nodded, eyes huge.

  “You know I will never leave you here alone or unprotected.”

  She nodded again.

  “Do you trust me, Tessa?”

  She sucked in a breath.

  “I think you do. And I swear on all that’s sacred, I won’t ever do anything to damage your trust in me.” He leaned closer, his body roaring to be skin to skin with her. But not yet. “Tessa,” he whispered, the ache to touch her nearly unbearable. “Take this off.”

  C

  HAPTER 11

  TAKE THIS OFF.

  TESSA COULDN’T breathe, couldn’t think, as Scorpio overwhelmed her every sense. Her brain was mush, muddled, worthless. His voice licked over her skin, making her want to follow his words. Because really, was it so much to ask?

  They were all alone in the woods. Alone. That one word should have chilled her, should have made her run. But running was the last thing on her mind. He was more intense than ever, towering over her, eyes bright with feeling she was drawn to but was afraid to think too hard about.

  The words
he spoke were true, and somehow he had tapped into that trust that she herself couldn’t explain.

  If she trusted him, truly, then the collar wasn’t needed. She had a knife at her thigh, but that would hardly hurt a huge demon like him.

  He waited—simmering with energy, and power, and strength—as she stood frozen. But her body seemed to have decided for her, leaving her mind far in the dust. Finally her lungs rebelled against the lack of oxygen and a breath forced its way into her body on a gasp. Next, her arms moved up as if on their own accord, hovering near his neck. In a trembling voice, she revoked the spell on the collar and the clasp released, restoring every dollop of strength to those huge muscles of his.

  The metal thudded to the forest floor, and still she stood, unable to move, not sure if she had signed her own death warrant or made a good choice.

  But then he grinned. A true smile that pulled his full lips up and reached into his golden eyes, bringing a devastating handsomeness to his face. “Thank you.” He closed his eyes and leaned back, extending his arms. He inhaled a deep breath, the muscles in his chest and abs swelling with the motion. His biceps strained the T-shirt he’d been given.

  She shook her head, glad he had his eyes closed so he didn’t see her staring like she’d never seen a male before. Surprising glimmers of both blond and brown streaked through his buzzed hair. She glanced away at the trees, but the image of him was burned onto her brain. No, she’d never seen a male who looked like him. And for the first time, she let herself simply exist in his presence, not thinking about the past. She allowed herself to absorb every detail about him, lethal and otherwise.

  Peeking beyond his scary, sometimes stony façade, she found a male whose eyes teased her with a hidden sensuality. As if he would make her body reveal secrets she didn’t even know about. Every inch of him was honed to a warrior’s perfection. She had no doubt he’d be able to fight anything in the realm…and win.

  “So.” His deep voice husked into her thoughts. “Where to?” He bent to retrieve the collar. “May as well not leave your handiwork behind.”

  “Right.” She managed to speak in a normal voice that wasn’t breathy or squeaky. “It’s not far. Another half mile. This way.” She took a tentative step.

  He rolled his shoulders and stepped next to her.

  It felt so weird to be just…walking with him. As if they were two normal people. As if he wasn’t the prisoner of her coven. She took a steadying breath, trying for balance and failing. The world had shifted on its axis.

  Alone with him. What the hell had Zeebi been thinking? Tessa could strangle her friend, sure she had planned this whole thing.

  She felt naked, unguarded, yet not in danger. And that feeling didn’t make sense.

  “What’s on your mind?” Scorpio’s voice rumbled into her thoughts.

  Crap. She could barely admit her thoughts to herself, let alone being up front with him. “That I’d like to strangle Zeebi.”

  He glanced at her, a smile tugging his lips. “Am I that bad?”

  “No. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” She grabbed onto her backpack straps, needing something to do with her hands. “It’s just, you know, I didn’t expect…this.” She shrugged.

  “I didn’t expect a lot of things,” he murmured. “Like coming out of a portal and landing here.”

  Her own short-sightedness knocked her down, making her feel about two feet tall. Good going, Tessa. This isn’t all about you. He’d been behind bars for over a week, forced to heal slowly. The only one who’d been nice to him was Jinx. She glanced at him, trying to read his face, but he appeared as calm as ever. “How did that happen, anyway?”

  “Fuck if I know. I was with my team on an op. Gathering intel on a possible rogue weapon. Things got messed up and suddenly we were fighting guards, hellhounds, and explosions. I got sucked into the portal and figured it was my prespelled amulet that would take me back to Watcher HQ. But it brought me here.”

  “A prespelled amulet took you to the wrong coordinates?” She frowned. “I’ve never heard of that happening. Unless the spell was wrong in the first place.”

  “Ha.” He snorted. “I guarantee the witches at HQ do not get those things wrong.” He shook his head. “I got nothing on that. And I don’t know if it was just me, or the whole team got zapped somewhere else.”

  She couldn’t imagine being hurtled to an unknown location, let alone one that turned out to be hostile. She’d never stopped to think of things from his point of view. “I’m sorry.”

  He pinned her with a smoldering stare. “I’m not.”

  Oh gods. Back to that. She couldn’t think about that, because he confused her and stole her breath. Her brain couldn’t reconcile the two seemingly opposite halves of him. Murderer. Warrior. And yet…her mixed feelings from yesterday clamored for a rematch. She couldn’t condemn him for killing when he’d been forced, and then thank him for the same action when he defended her.

  Thankfully, the trees parted and the rocky expanse of ore fields stretched out in front of them. “Oh, um, good. We’re here.”

  “Wow.” He took in the harsh ground.

  Only a few hearty weeds poked up. The field wasn’t big, only about an acre, but it was a figurative gold mine to her. Many would think it was a wasteland. She guessed Vespera did. Then again, with their dark magic, they didn’t need to dig things up from the ground to make their livelihood.

  “Yeah.” She tried to imagine seeing it for the first time. “It looks bleak.”

  “Too small for a large mining operation?”

  “Yep. So it’s pretty much all ours.” She walked out farther, stepping on bits of gravel and around large boulders that were scattered across the space. The ground was mostly level, since she and Zeebi were the only ones who came here. No huge pits had been dug in effort to retrieve more metal.

  Scorpio followed her and stayed standing as she knelt on the ground. “No tree cover. We’re too exposed.”

  “We don’t exactly have a choice. And Zeebi and I have never run into trouble here.”

  “I cannot fucking believe you two would come here alone.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Those days are over.”

  She swallowed and stared up at him. Menacing and protective. “I’ll work as fast as I can.”

  He grunted. Folding his arms, he scanned the area, eyes moving in a methodical pattern of near then far. She got the impression that not even an ant would escape his scrutiny. He abruptly dropped his gaze to her and quirked a brow.

  She flushed. Busted. “Um, yeah. Sorry. Starting now.” Really, Tess? She wanted to smack herself. She didn’t need to watch him to know he was aware of everything around them. Knees nestling on the dirt, she slipped off her backpack and opened it, taking out her tools. Trowel, small shovel, pick. A sturdy fabric bag that she could unfold to carry home anything too big for the backpack. Or rather, Scorpio would carry.

  Placing her hands on the loose dirt, she curled her fingers into it. She focused on her ability, on her connection to the land and the metals it contained. Power hummed up from her hands and spread through her veins, through her torso. It built to a heady mix of connection and respect.

  She reached out with her mind, seeking the fist-sized rocks that held what she was looking for. Her hands burrowed deeper. Then sudden knowledge crystallized, and she yanked her hands out and reached for her trowel. Digging directly in front of her, several inches down, she found three gray rocks. Rust red streaks zig zagged along their rough surface. Perfect.

  “That’s it?” Scorpio’s voice rumbled from above her.

  “See this?” She pointed to the streaks. “That’s the iron. The elves remove it with their magic, I remove it with mine.”

  He gave a low whistle. “Other races need a blast furnace for that. Will you show me how you do it?”

  She blinked, surprised. The process wasn’t really all that interesting. But she didn’t have a good reason to say no, unless she wanted to be a bitch. “Okay.”
>
  “Can’t wait.” He winked at her and went back into Watcher mode.

  He winked. Her tummy flipped. Oh my gosh. This was bad. Being alone with him was getting to her. Thank goodness he had his head on straight, because she was thoroughly discombobulated.

  She worked for almost an hour, moving when she needed to, digging and pulling up rocks. Scorpio helped with a few that turned out to be bigger, nearly two feet long.

  “How would you have gotten this back home?” He scowled as he easily pulled a large rock from the ground.

  “Usually, if we find ones like that, we have to leave them and come back with the men and a cart.” She shrugged. “We usually don’t find rocks this size, though. They’re almost always sma—”

  He abruptly dropped the rock and jerked upright. He held out a hand to indicate she should stay quiet. Tessa froze, unaware of anything except the two of them.

  “The wind just changed. We have company. Let’s gather what we can and get out of the open.” His voice was preternaturally calm.

  “Who is it? Vespera?” Nerves on edge, she shoved the tools and smaller rocks into her pack, while he got the big rocks into the larger bag.

  “No. Wolves.”

  A gust of wind stirred her hair, raining chills all along her arms. “No. Can’t be.” Panic surged, tightening her chest. “It’s daytime.”

  “Kharv said their population is increasing, and they might venture out in the day.” He cursed as the wind swirled. “Too late. We’ll come back. Up.” He extended his hand.

  She stared at it. Not wolves. Anything but them. Her breath came in choppy puffs. Her muscles refused to function.

  “Tessa.” He took her hand. “I won’t hurt you. We need to move.”

  She longed to tell him it wasn’t him that had her rooted in terror, but words wouldn’t form. Need to move. His hand was warm on hers, his voice urgent, and that’s what she focused on. He would protect her. The fledgling trust broke through her mind-numbing fear and she stumbled to her feet.