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KADE HAD MEANT TO TELEPORT home after delivering his first package for the night, but he’d run into another courier when he’d been leaving the house. A carriage had stopped for them and he’d had no choice but to head back to the Magic Guildhall with his colleague. He still hadn’t found a spell that would permanently boost Sorcha’s power, but he wasn’t willing to give up yet.
He descended the stairs and looked up to see a witch watching him. He saw straight through her illusion to the lovely face of Sorcha beneath it. She gave him a wicked smile of invitation and he grinned back at her. She headed to her house and he followed at her heels like an obedient puppy.
The warlock entered the mansion to see Sorcha waiting for him at the base of the stairs. Leaving the door open for him had been his invitation to enter. Crooking her finger to beckon him, she began to climb. He hurried after her and caught up to her as she pushed her door open. She turned to kiss him and dragged him inside, then shut the door. “I like it when you take charge,” he said with a grin.
“Do you?” the gorgeous half fae beauty said, arching a blonde eyebrow. She took the parcel from him and tossed it onto the island in her kitchen, then undid his cloak and let it drop to the floor. Taking his hand, she led him into the living room. “Take your clothes off, Kade Sinclair,” she ordered in a mock stern tone.
“Yes, my lady,” he said with a smile of anticipation and did as she’d commanded.
Her silver-gray eyes ran over his body when he stood naked before her. “Lie down on the divan,” she ordered next.
Kade turned to the backless gold sofa she was pointing at and crossed to it. He lay down and rested his head on the long, round cushion. She began to undress, torturing him by slowly revealing her delectable body a bit at a time. When she was finally gloriously nude, he was rock hard and was straining to be inside her. “What are you going to do to me?” he asked, pretending to be nervous and shy.
“I’m going to ride you like a stallion, my handsome courier,” she replied. Her long golden hair spilled around her shoulders as she gracefully crossed to the sofa. She straddled him and ran her hands over his body. Then she bent and kissed her way from his stomach up to his mouth. Her sex was poised above him, so close, yet so far away. Finally, she sank down onto him and began to ride him as she’d promised.
Kade had never felt pleasure as intense as this before. None of the other women he’d been with could compare to Sorcha. It was almost like she’d put a spell on him that he couldn’t resist. Her hips rose and fell and her gaze remained on his face, watching the pleasure that he didn’t even try to hide.
Sorcha increased her pace until they were both breathing hard and fast. From the glazed look in her eyes, she was close to reaching her peak. He reached up to cup her breasts and she leaned into his hands with a moan. His hips rose to meet hers, increasing their pace even more. Small shockwaves went through her, then she cried out in release. Ice burst from her hands to coat the sides of the divan as he climaxed shortly after her.
She collapsed on him and he ran his hands up and down her smooth back. Sadly, their bliss was momentary. Their heads turned towards the door when they heard a letter squirm through beneath it. “Great timing,” Sorcha muttered when it fluttered over to her and came to a stop in front of her face.
“I’m glad it didn’t turn up a couple of minutes earlier,” Kade said ruefully as she sat up. Their fun times were over, judging by her serious expression.
She gave him a distracted smile, then climbed off the sofa. “I need to wash up,” she said without opening the letter. It fluttered in her hand, urging her to read it. The message it contained had to be important. She strode down the hallway to the bathroom and Kade jumped when thunder split the air. The ice was melting from the divan. It vanished even as he pulled the drapes open to see how bad the storm was.
An image that had been etched into the glass caught his eye. It was of a man wearing a hooded cloak. In shock, he recognized his own face. Rain pelted against the windowpane, but the droplets magically ran off the hood that shielded his face. His mouth dropped open a little when he realized he’d created an image of Sorcha that was eerily similar to this one.
Looking around the apartment, he took note of the quality of the furniture and fixtures. Sorcha’s clothing was of far better quality than usual and the magic of Nox was strong in her home. A niggling feeling that something wasn’t right lodged inside his chest. Few magic users had the ability to cast strong spells nowadays. He’d just witnessed Sorcha coating the sofa in ice without even trying.
He glanced down to see all traces of lovemaking were gone from his body. He’d been cleaned by magic. It hadn’t been necessary for Sorcha to wash up. She’d just wanted to be alone when she opened the letter. He could hear her bustling around in her bedroom, getting dressed. Her discarded clothes had been sent to her closet without him even noticing it. He pulled the drapes shut and donned his clothes and was waiting for her when she strode into the room.
“I’m really sorry, but we have to cut this short tonight,” she said with what sounded like true regret in her tone.
A worm of doubt and mistrust had been created in the warlock’s mind, but he smiled at her. “I need to get going as well,” he said as they headed for the door. “I have a package to deliver,” he added. He grabbed the parcel from the marble top of the island and surreptitiously cast a tracking spell on Sorcha when she opened the door. He noticed she deliberately blocked his view of the image that was etched on the door as he strode past her. She caught his arm and guided him down the stairs before he could glance back at it.
“I had a really good time tonight,” Sorcha said as they descended to the bottom of the stairs. “Will I be able to see you again soon?”
“You can count on it,” the warlock replied with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. A horrible suspicion was increasing by the moment as they exited from the house. She gave him a kiss, then hurried off to catch a carriage.
Kade walked away, but he didn’t go far. His tracking spell was locked in his mind and he used it to follow Sorcha. He teleported after her as she headed to the Fae District. She climbed out when the carriage stopped and looked around before hurrying along the sidewalk.
Using the camouflage spell he’d learned from the beautiful half fae witch, Kade kept a safe distance between them as he trailed after her. A lump formed in his throat when she reached a mansion and vaulted over the wall. His suspicion that she wasn’t just a low-level magic user like she was pretending to be was validated a moment later. He felt a blast of familiar magic and knew it had been cast by Sorcha. Screams rang out from inside the mansion. “Someone just killed my father!” a fairy shouted in anguish.
Kade’s heart felt like it was shriveling inside him as his worst fears were confirmed. He felt a teleportation spell being cast, then Sorcha vanished. His tracking spell indicated she’d jumped to somewhere else in the Fae District.
Remembering back to the first night he’d seen Sorcha, Kade couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been. He’d known something had been wrong with the wound on the murdered fairy’s forehead. He’d assumed the murderer had struck from the rooftop of a house across the street, but Sorcha had been standing on the sidewalk when she’d sent her deadly spell upwards. When he thought back to that night, he realized the angle of the wound had been completely wrong.
He was only a few blocks from where he was supposed to deliver his parcel. The warlock teleported closer, then walked the rest of the way. A human witch opened the door when he knocked and took the package from him. She nodded her thanks, then closed the door. Kade didn’t bother to walk far before teleporting. His rage and betrayal were too strong for him to delay what he needed to do.
