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In the end, I put my plan on hold for a short while, and trudge back to the bedroom to stay with Ky. I conjure myself some buttery toast with jam and, after I’ve eaten, curl up again around the shifter’s still-cool body and snuggle in, boosting my heating spell and relaxing only when I feel the warmth seeping back into his limbs.
I must drift off at last, because dawn appears to be breaking outside when next I open my eyes. I hear muffled voices in the corridor outside the small bedroom. As I wrestle out of sleep, the sound of arguing grows louder.
I lie in bed for a second, listening, trying to orientate myself, and then turn and stretch lazily...
And realize that I’m alone in the bed.
I sit bolt upright, the bedcovers falling away from my torso.
My heart thunders in my chest, until I recognize the arguing voices beyond the door.
Amethyst.
And Kyan.
“I told you, she needs rest! We couldn’t pry her away from you—”
“Get out of my way, witch.”
Ky’s growl sounds as if he’s only just hanging onto his temper. Scrambling out of bed, I stagger over to the door. Opening it, I find Amethyst blocking the doorway. And just behind her...
“You woke up!” I say, somewhat stupidly in the circumstances.
His mouth curves up, and the simmering anger in his eyes softens into something else. Something equally strong and powerful.
“So did you.” His voice washes over me, familiar and enticing. A lick of desire heats my veins and I hang onto the door handle to steady my suddenly shaky legs.
Amethyst looks from one to the other of us, and then rolls her eyes, begrudgingly stepping aside and muttering something.
Kyan doesn’t pay her any attention at all. He looks almost fully recovered. A little pale, perhaps, but otherwise much better. His eyes are bright as he looks me over. I know that he’s checking for injuries, but I’m flooded with self-consciousness, nonetheless. I’m acutely aware of my flimsy borrowed nightgown and the rising flush in my cheeks.
For a moment, we just stand there.
The silence is broken by Amethyst, who lets out a groan. “I’d tell you guys to get a room, but...” She gestures behind me. “Wow, look at that. Already done. I’ll leave you to it, shall I?”
She disappears down the corridor without a backward glance.
I get the strong sense that I’ll be on the receiving end of an Amethyst-style lecture later, but right now, I can’t bring myself to care.
“I...err...” Kyan shifts from one foot to the other. He rubs a hand across the back of his neck. “Sorry for disturbing you, Topaz.”
His formal tone—such a marked departure from all our other interactions—freaks me out. But I let it go. After all, the last time he was in human form and fully conscious, I told him to get the hell out of my life.
Something has changed since then. Something deep and irrevocable. We are both in brand-new territory. There are no secrets between us, not anymore.
“It’s okay,” I say, stepping back so he can enter the room. As he does, the stiff line of his shoulders relaxes. “Amethyst can be a little...”
Ky raises an eyebrow. “Overprotective? A pain in the butt?”
“Dramatic.” I sit on the edge of the bed. “She was apologetic about...um...the knife incident.”
He snorts. “Yeah. She did apologize, earlier. She’s still overbearing.”
I agree, but I don’t think it’s the time to admit that out loud. Instead, I focus on the view outside. Through the half-drawn curtains, the tide is coming in along the beach. The sky is clear and cloudless; it is going to be a beautiful day.
“We’re family.” I try to explain it to him. “Ammie and Sapphire are my coven sisters as well as my cousins. We have no one else, so we have to look out for each other.”
“That’s not exactly true,” Kyan says, his tone soft. “Not anymore.”
He sinks down onto the bed beside me, heedless of the rumpled covers. I feel another absurd prickle of self-consciousness; seeing his hand spread out like that, the smooth tanned skin contrasting against the white sheets, conjures up memories I’ve been trying not to think about.
“Kyan...”
“Topaz.” He leans forward, forcing me to look him in the eye. “I’m so sorry. For all of it.”
I blink back a wave of tears. I have a thousand questions, but I don’t know where to begin. Eventually, what comes out of my mouth is barely more than a whisper. “That first night. Did you come to kill me?”
“No. To track you.” He lifts his hand and runs it through his already-disheveled hair, staring past me toward the window. “Our kind... most of us, anyway... You’ve got to understand. We’re not quite like other shifters.”
I nod. I’ve figured that much out on my own.
“For other packs, there’s a hierarchy that starts and ends with the Alpha. There is no higher authority. But for hellhounds, it’s different. Of course, we have an Alpha—Burley was ours...”
“And now it’s you?”
He nods. “But it doesn’t end with the Alpha, for hellhounds. Most of us are in thrall to the Otherworld. If one of the higher-ups gives us a job to do, we do it.” Kyan takes a deep breath. “The night Luthor came to us, his instructions were clear. Find the witch named Topaz Redferne. So... we did.”
I thought back to the night the demon wraith arrived at my house. Finding Kyan, injured, in the middle of my back lawn. “Why didn’t you just kill me immediately?”
Ky’s mouth tilts upward at the corners. “For one thing, your wards kind of took me out of commission.”
I duck my head, unsure whether to laugh, or scream and blast him with magic. Neither seems appropriate to the situation, somehow.
He huffs out a breath. “I never wanted to kill you, Topaz.” A shadow falls across his expression. “You’re a Redferne. That part of the story is true—your mother and aunt did help our pack, once, and we do owe them—and you, for their act of kindness. When it became clear the demon Luthor and his minions didn’t share our concern, we took matters into our own hands.”
“You went rogue,” I guess out loud. My suspicions are proven correct when Ky slowly nods. “You and your pack.”
“It was easy to convince the others. Burley wasn’t sold on our marching orders from the get-go,” he says. “Especially when he realized who you were. When the demons were ready to kill a Redferne witch? Not going to happen. Shifters do not break their promises. Not even hellhounds.”
“I’m beginning to realize that.” I tuck my feet beneath me and lean back on the pillows. We lapse into silence.
It has been no more than the better part of a day, but the time I spent watching over Kyan’s bedside seemed infinite. In my head, I’d already come up with a thousand ways for this conversation to go. The Kyan of my imagination was understanding, horrified, sympathetic, and judgmental. Every shade of emotion under the sun.
The real deal sits opposite me, staring out at the ocean with one hand propped under his chin. His calm acceptance is far better than anything I could dream up on my own.
Now that the moment is here, the words stick in my throat. But I swallow down the nerves; after all, he has shared his secrets.
Time to share some of my own.
“There’s a reason we’re in this predicament.”
Kyan narrows his eyes. “What?”
“On this beach,” I whisper. “In this place. My cousins and I have been here before.”
“Okay... I’m not following.”
“Magic use leaves a trace, right?”
He nods. Basic stuff.
“Think of it like footprints left behind. Or scars.” I twist my hands together. “Most of the time, it’s small stuff. Everyday magic. The marks hardly show up, and most people don’t notice the trace, unless they’re really looking. But with bigger stuff—major spells—the place becomes important.”
Kyan listens closely. “How so?”
“Well, whoever cast the spell can bolster their magic by returning to that same spot.” I prop my hands under my chin, mirroring his position. “Think of it like... boosting the signal. And it’s even more effective when there’s more than one spell caster.”
He raises an eyebrow, clearly taking time to digest this information. “Hold on. That bar where we found Amethyst...”
I chuckle. Trust Kyan not to miss a trick. “Yeah, exactly. Amethyst could draw off the marks we left there in our misspent youth to strengthen her spellcasting and protect her hideout.”
He clicks his tongue against his teeth. “Damn. This is almost vampire-like.”
At my quizzical expression, he adds, “The long game.”
“Ah.”
I can tell he’s still pretty rankled by what went down at the bar. He and Amethyst aren’t each other’s biggest fans, if the altercation I overheard outside the bedroom is anything to go by.
“So,” Kyan prompts. “What is it about this beach that’s so special?”
I take a deep breath and let my eyes close. Memories rush to the surface. Wet sand sinking under my sandals. The gentle breeze stirring my hair around my face. Amethyst’s hand, locked tight with my own as we crouch beside the rocks, watching our mothers, tall and slender, silhouetted against the dark, crashing waves.
I gasp and open my eyes. My face is wet. Kyan is at my side. He runs his broad thumb over my cheeks, drying the tears. I let him wipe them away, trembling, before I continue.
“We came here once before,” I mumble. “When we were kids. Our mothers were working on a spell, you see. A new kind of experimental magic. They thought it might be possible to seal the rift to the Otherworld once and for all.”
My eyes flick up as I remember too late where Kyan originates from. He doesn’t interject. He just waits, patiently, until I continue.
“It was brilliant, really. They wanted to harness the power of the elements—create some kind of energy field.” I sweep a hand through my hair. “But they couldn’t get any other witch or mage on board. Everyone told them they were crazy to even try. So, they came all the way out here to run some experiments. They didn’t want anyone to get hurt. But... they miscalculated something, I’m not sure what. All I remember is...”
I shudder, unable to finish.
A thunderclap that almost split the earth in two, followed by a flash of white-hot lightning, bright enough to temporarily blind me.
Amethyst—her piercing screams and her vice-like grip around my upper arm—trying to drag me back to safety, to where baby Sapphire lay sleeping in the car, parked up on the ridge.
Me begging Ammie to let me go, let me closer, where the power was surging and roaring.
Mom, I tried to yell, but I couldn’t hear myself think. I couldn’t hear anything but the storm.
Amethyst wanted us to be safe, out of harm’s way.
I wasn’t yet in double digits, but I knew there was no such thing as safe. Not for us.
Kyan watches me carefully while I gather the courage to continue.
“They didn’t make it.” I play with the edge of the bed cover, finding and worrying at a loose thread. “They couldn’t control the power. The next thing I knew, I was back in the car with Amethyst and Sapphire. Mom and my aunt must have used the last of their magic to transport us away.”
It’s the first time I’ve ever spoken about what happened on the beach all those years ago. Even Amethyst and I have never talked about it. Part of me thought she must have blocked it out altogether—locked the trauma of our past in a corner of her mind—until she led us here, to conduct magic of our own.
“Magical signatures are hereditary,” I whisper. “There are scars here. The memory of our mothers’ magic... This place is full of it. We needed to bolster our power as much as possible.”
“So, I guess they helped you out.” Ky’s voice is low, matching my own soft tone. “Your mom and your aunt. They’re helping you, even now.”
I can’t help but smile at the reassuring thought. This place has held nothing but bad memories for so long. Maybe now, there’s some kind of silver lining.
“It still wasn’t enough,” I say. “Even with the boost from their traces, and the help of your pack, we barely held them off, Kyan.”
The room is bathed in warm, morning light, but I still shiver at the horror of last night.
Kyan says nothing, which is confirmation enough.
A new thought occurs to me, and my breath hitches. “So... what now? What about Luthor? Are you still under his power?”
“No. He doesn’t control us. The magic binding us to him disappeared for good the night we refused to help kill you. Something happened then—I think it might have been a leftover element of your mother and aunt’s magic, perhaps, but since we broke free of any Otherworld influence, we are no longer in thrall.” His intense eyes darken. “We can’t return to the Otherworld, though. If we came anywhere close...”
He shakes his head, hair falling over his face. “I guess you humans might call us outlaws.”
He shoots me a wicked grin.
Good, I want to say. Outlaws or not, I don’t want the shifter pack going anywhere. I don’t want Kyan going anywhere.
He must read some of this in my expression as his gaze sharpens. “Why? Were you worried about my wellbeing?”
“No!” I clutch my arms tight around my torso, before relenting. “Fine. Maybe a little. Happy?”
He laughs openly, his smile as bright as the sunlight that falls over his face. I marvel at how naturally he carries himself in the human world. It’s impossible to picture him as a creature of darkness. Even now that I have seen him in his hellhound form.
His expression flickers. He looks at me with a new intensity that makes my skin tingle. I reach up and cover my hot cheeks. I meet his eyes, defiant.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’re beautiful.” he says. Simple, like he’s stating the color of the sky.
No one has ever complimented me like that before. So straightforward, and clearly not expecting anything in return. A gift that warms me to my core.
“Oh.” Smooth. I don’t know what it is about Kyan. He has a habit of disarming me with the smallest, most innocuous things.
Slowly, I lean in toward him. He wraps his arms around my waist, and I sigh at the feeling of rightness.
Last time we were alone in a bedroom like this, our coupling was frantic and messy. The undercurrent of urgency—the sense that we were running out of time—perhaps made us more reckless than we would normally be.
Now, we take our time, lying on the bed beside each other, face to face. He traces a pattern around my jawline, down my neck, and then follows his caress with his lips. He reaches my collarbone and then keeps journeying down, pressing kisses as he goes.
I wriggle to assist him as he lifts the borrowed nightgown and exposes my pussy.
He stops then, looking back up my body, and I arch toward him, trying to encourage him without words to continue his exploration.
Finally, he complies, trailing his tongue over one hipbone and across toward my mound.
I groan and buck upwards, trying to meet him part way. Trying to connect my most intimate place with his eager and talented mouth. He grins and turns slightly, almost but not quite touching me.
“Touch me, you goddamn shifter man.”
He places his hands on my hips, steadying me, before he uses his thumbs to pull apart my flesh. He begins to blow on my clit and my head rocks back into the pillow.
I moan, unable to hold in my need any longer. I want him to give me everything and more, to make me forget everything that has happened in the past, and everything that lies ahead.
Eventually he takes pity on me. His mouth and tongue connect fully with my mound and he laps at my seam, circling and flicking my clit before exploring further. Going deeper. Finding and invading my channel with his hot and ready tongue.
I clutch at his head, my only reality in a sea of pleasure, and buck madly beneath his ministrations. The sensations rise, drowning me, until I can’t take anymore. “I need you, Ky. Inside me. Please.”
He moves away, removing his clothing, but the sensations he has created with his mouth are so strong I almost tip into orgasm just watching him reveal his stunning body.
His cock stands to attention, dark and ready, and I drop my thighs wide, waiting for him to join with me. The bedsheets twist in my hands as I pull at them, and I bite down hard on my bottom lip as he kneels between my legs and readies himself to enter me.
“I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you, little witch.”
His words—those simple words—tip me over the edge into oblivion. I am already beginning to climax just as he thrusts into me, deep and strong, and I shriek as the pleasure of release rushes through every part of my body.
I don’t care that there are others in the house. I don’t care who might hear me. All I care about is my body clenching and pulsating around Ky’s, as he pumps into me so hard my head almost hits the headboard at every thrust.
With a growling roar and an out-of-control bucking motion, he comes too, and the rush of heat as he releases his seed inside me creates yet another delicious meltdown.
I have never felt anything like this—so earth-shattering and all-consuming.
By the time we come back to earth, I’m a trembling, satisfied wreck. He folds me into his arms and I snuggle in, certain that I never want to leave this bed again.
