Witch Heart

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

He came down over her body, kissing her back with even more heat and pressing her against the mattress.

If she wanted him, he was hers.

With his free hand he undid the button and snap of her jeans, pulled them down and off her legs, along with her underwear. Her flesh was pale and cold everywhere.

Pushing the hem of her shirt up, he kissed along her breasts and stomach, then urged her to roll over on her stomach so he could run his lips and hands over the chilled skin of her back. She moved restlessly beneath him, pressing the curve of her perfect ass into the cup of his groin.

He dragged his hand down between the cheeks of her rear and found an area of her body that was a far cry from cold. Hot and slick, Claire's sex was eager for the touch of his hand. He found her clit and rubbed it, making her moan.

Her fingers clutched the blankets as he slipped one, then two, fingers deep inside her velvety tight sex. Her muscles rippled around his fingers as he thrust in and out. Her hips moved, too, as she met his movements as though he fucked her with his cock.

The last remnants of the control Adam possessed shredded.

He unbuttoned his jeans and forced them, along with his briefs, to his ankles. Claire pushed up again, fitting her ass to his groin in invitation. He grabbed her hips and met her there, pushing the head of his cock into her entrance and feeling the stretch of those satiny muscles, the hot fist of her sex around his shaft.

"Hell Claire, you feel so fucking good. I'm not going to last long."

She glanced back at him, breathing heavy. "Make my blood pump again, Adam."

Pulling out of her, he held her hips and thrust back in. Harder. Faster. He set up a rhythm that would drive them both to climax in minutes.

Claire dug her knees into the mattress and met him thrust for thrust. Together they fell into a physical harmony that made his magick pulse in the center of his chest, made fire tingle along his skin in hot little bursts. No other woman he'd ever been with made his power flare like that during sex.

Claire's magick answered and it wasn't the elium, it was her power — a clear beautiful pulse of element that momentarily took his breath away.

Knowing he wasn't going to take long to come, he threaded his hand between her body and the mattress, pushed between her soft thighs. Finding her clit, swollen and aroused, he stroked it over and over.

She shuddered, the first clue that he was touching her the way she liked. He kept it up — steady, firm, relentless pressure driven by his thrusts. It made her body shiver, then go taut.

Beneath him, she orgasmed. The muscles of her sex tightened and released in pleasurable spasms, milking his cock. Her cries, soft and heady to his ears, filled the air. Her body relaxed as the climax took her over, her magick flaring in an arc around them.

It wasn't long until he followed her. Pleasure rocketed up from his balls and overtook him, mind and body. He came inside her, her name falling over and over from his lips.

Afterward, they lay on the bed together, tangled and sated. Claire was breathing heavily now, deeply. A healthy flush tinged her cheeks and her body was warm to the touch.

Sex had done the trick. Sex as a reaffirmation of life to counter the taste of death on Claire's tongue.

"You feel better?" he asked, rolling her once again in a position to spoon.

She snuggled against his chest and sighed. "So much better."

"There are strange things about you, Claire. The dreams for one thing." He paused, thinking, his fingers trailing over her skin. "And when we make love, you trigger my magick."

"Make love?"

He opened his mouth and closed it. "Doesn't seem right to say fuck, even though I like to fuck you."

"You think there's a difference between fucking and making love?"

He stroked her upper arm. "Yeah, I do. I've done a lot of fucking in my life and it's been good. I've spent a lot less time making love, but making love is better. Deeper."

"What happened to your wife, Adam?"

He stiffened at the question, his fingers halting the stroke of her soft skin. It was like a punch to his gut when he least expected it.

She rolled to her back. "I mean, how did she die?"

Adam sat up, yanked his jeans on, buttoned them, and pulled a hand through his hair. "She died during a burglary."

"I'm sorry."

He gave a harsh laugh. "Twenty-five brownstones on the block and the guy had to walk into ours."

Adam still remembered it vividly. He always would. He'd just arrived home after his shift. It had been late, around midnight. He'd gone upstairs where Eliza had already been in bed. She'd woken and wanted a bottle of water for her night table. He'd offered to get her one—Gods, he'd offered to go instead of her—but she'd told him to take a shower, go to sleep.

He'd just been unbuttoning his shirt when he'd heard the gunshot.

The rage running through him, hot and thick, had been nothing he could control when he'd raced downstairs to find Eliza lying in a pool of her own blood.

He hadn't hesitated, not for a moment. He'd raised power and blasted it at the middle-aged, scruffy-looking thief. He'd been a warlock with earth abilities. Later he'd found out that the warlock had targeted his house specifically; he'd been targeting lots of witches around Chicago, breaking into their houses. He'd already killed three people.

Adam hadn't known all that at the time, though. All he'd seen was a strung-out low-life warlock who'd just shot his wife and didn't look a fucking bit upset about it.

Adam's fire magick had risen unbidden. He'd been out of control, his rage perfect. The warlock had tried to raise power, but Adam had been ten times stronger and faster with his abilities. He'd burned him alive where he stood. A flash of white-hot flame, then just a charred thing on the carpet, smoke curling up in lazy tendrils.

Ashes to ashes.

Once it had been done, Adam had lifted Eliza in his arms and she'd died. The memory still choked him up.

Since Adam had reached for magick instead of his gun, dealing with the aftermath had been a problem. The killing had been in self-defense, since the thief had had his gun pointed at him. But how would he explain the charred remains to the authorities?

Adam had called the Coven and they'd helped him conceal the nature of the killing. They'd helped him dispose of the body, clean up the mess in his house, all of it.

He'd told the police the burglar had gotten away.

Wracked by grief for Eliza, Adam had quit the force the next day and gone to work for the Coven. Thomas Monahan had earned his complete devotion from that day forward, and the Coven had gained themselves a loyal and skilled hunter, someone who tracked down warlocks and dealt with them.

"It happened in the middle of the night. I was just off shift. I had my uniform on for fuck's sake. I had my gun." He let his voice trail off. "But I was too late. She went downstairs to get a bottle of water. I heard the gunshot. By the time I got there, she was on the floor. She died in my arms."

Claire's hand was on his back. She'd probably put it there a while ago, but he only noticed it now. It was warm. The heat of her palm bled though the fabric of his shirt and branded his skin. The touch of her comforted him.

"What happened to the thief?" she asked softly.

Adam spread his hands. "I burned him, burned him practically to ash."

"Your wife wasn't aeamon?"

He shook his head. "As human as human could be. She knew about me, though. About us. I could never keep any secrets from her."

Claire was silent for a long time. Finally, she asked, "Do you still love her?"

He looked at her. "Not like that. I'm not in love with a dead woman, Claire. She's gone and I know that. I've grieved her and moved on, but I feel in debt to her. I was responsible for her death." He swore low. "I was there! There with my gun, there with my fire. I was in the house and she still died. I was a fucking cop and the burglar still got her right under my nose."

"Adam—"

"So, I'm sure that makes you feel really safe with me, Claire. Considering I'm supposed to be protecting you and I couldn't even keep my own wife from being shot in our home."

She shook her head. "Adam, I do feel safe with you. Sometimes bad things just happen. Sometimes—"

He shook his head and yanked away from her. "No, don't tell me not to feel responsible, Claire. Damn it. I get the stages of grieving and all the psycho-babble. It still doesn't change how I feel."

"Okay." She paused, pressed her lips together. "But I do trust you Adam. I trust you more than I've ever trusted anyone."

He shook his head. Poor woman. "You're one of the few people other than Thomas who knows any of this."

"I won't tell anyone."

He studied her sitting there with the blankets drawn up around her body. Adam wanted to hold her, needed to hold her. Needed her warmth and her closeness in a way he couldn't remember needing a woman for a long time. He wanted her skin to skin, but that wasn't wise.

"Get dressed, Claire. Just in case. Theo said he'd take first watch, so let's try and get some sleep, okay?"

She nodded.

"Even put on your boots." He'd bought her some good steel-toed ass-kicking boots because sometimes magick wasn't enough.

He watched her dress, repressing his very strong desire to pick her up, sling her over his shoulder and kidnap her. Take her somewhere far away and lock her there, so that he and Theo would be able to fight the demons themselves and she would stay safe.

Adam's jaw locked. Somewhere between then and now Claire had become his to protect, to shield, to care for. Every protective male fiber of his body fought the temptation to simply drag her off by her hair to a cave somewhere so she'd be safe.

The problem with that was three-fold. First, Claire was stronger than either of them, so to handicap themselves in battle that way was sort of silly. Second, Claire would never allow him to protect her in that way and she would probably kick his butt royally if he tried. Third, it would just be wrong. Claire's future was at stake; she deserved control over it.

But it was fucking hard to deny that caveman part of him.

After she'd dressed — a pity — he lit a fire in the fireplace, flipped off the light, and lay down with her on the bed. The blaze in the hearth made shadows lick the walls of the room and filled the space with a warm glow.

Even though he'd just had psychological and emotional shit stirred up, and even though they were waiting for two killer demons to come knocking on their door, Adam couldn't help but notice the serenity that stole over him as soon as Claire was in his arms.

She fit there perfectly. Head tucked under his chin, arms around his chest, one long, slim leg resting in between his. Even their breathing meshed.

Adam let out a slow, uneasy breath. The problem staring him in the face was ugly. He'd failed to protect Eliza. Eliza had died.

His arms tightened around Claire. No way in fucking hell or Eudae. would he fail twice.

They came in the early morning.

Claire sat straight up in bed. Adam was already at the door, wicked-looking copper sword in hand. Every nerve in her body seemed to flare to life in an odd psychic awareness. Deep within her, the elium throbbed, making nausea burn bitter on the back of her tongue.

They were here. They were angry.

Adam threw the door open to find Theo already going head-to-head with Tevan and Kai. Earth magick pulsed the way she'd taught him to use on the daaeman—with a little twist and a whole lot of punch. Fire magick burned subtly across her skin as Adam drew power.

Claire threw the blankets away and tucked a copper dagger into the waistband of her jeans at the back. Then she rushed after Adam, raising her own elemental magick to join theirs.

As soon as she cleared the threshold, she sent the room into chaos, leaving clear an area around Adam and Theo. Furniture flew, dishes crashed.

The Atrika stood at the doorway. They'd just strolled right in, it appeared. While she kept them busy knocking away the projectiles she sent toward them, Adam and Theo lobbed earth charms made to pummel and bolts of fire at them.

Kai bellowed as Theo found a way through his shields and hit his stomach with a bolt of earth magick so strong it made her nostrils tingle with the scent of dry ground. The Atrika turned and screamed at her, eyes bloodred and fangs extended. "Come with us and we will not make the male aeamon suffer."

"Fuck you!" yelled Adam. "You're going to have to kill us both to get to her."

"Stupidity!" shouted Tevan over the din of magick and crashing debris. He lifted his hand and threw a bolt at Adam.

Claire blocked it just in time with earth magick, but the elium — tingling in violent resonation to the Atrika—drove her to her knees.

Tevan took the opportunity. A cold, hard thread of power wrapped around her leg. Claire cried out in surprise at the strength of it. Tevan tugged her forward and she went down on her stomach, searching desperately for purchase on the rug.

The rope of energy around her leg tightened painfully, and he pulled her toward him. As she neared Tevan with increasing speed, her fingernails dug into the wood floor, scratched at another area rug.

"Claire!" Adam ran to her, but Tevan yanked her out his reach, toward him, just as Adam's fingers brushed hers. She screamed as she suddenly shot over the polished hardwood floor like a bullet, straight toward Tevan's open arms and sharp fangs.

Adam bellowed in frustration and shot fire magick at Tevan, but he just blocked it.

Hard fingers closed around her legs and flipped her. She lay on her back with Tevan looming over her. He smiled, showing fang. They were bone white and tipped in red.

She couldn't let him bite her. One bite and she was done for. She'd be unable to use her magick, not to mention move. She couldn't let him jump her anywhere, either.

Claire brought her foot up fast and hard, kicking him square in the face with the heavy sole of her boot. He went careening backward with an oof of surprised pain.

Adam came from her left and swung his sword at Tevan, striking his thigh. Tevan howled in pain. Acidic blood sprayed from his wound, which popped and sizzled from the copper exposure. The demon went down on his knees.

Taking advantage, Adam swooped his blade upward, aiming straight for Tevan's throat. At the very last moment, Tevan jumped and disappeared. Adam's blade whooshed through air.

Tevan jumped back into the room right behind Adam.

"Watch out!" Claire yelled, raising air magick and sending a chair careening into the Atrika to knock him off balance.

Adam turned, dropped the sword and tackled the Atrika. Together, they rolled across the floor, punching each other.

To her right, Kai and Theo were locked in a magickal battle. Claire rolled to her feet and sent the couch crashing straight into Kai, giving Theo a chance to regroup.

Then she turned and refocused her attention on the tangle of Adam and Tevan. Tevan pushed his hands into Adam's chest and Claire screamed, knowing what was about to come.

Daaeman magick pulsed, scorching the air with its thick, acrid scent. Adam flew backward. He hit the wall behind him with a sickening thump, collapsed to the floor, and lay still. Cold terror crawled up her throat, but she had no time to dwell on it.

Tevan turned toward her and Claire raised a thread of earth to block and fire to parry with. She used both as soon as she pulled them, preventing Tevan from wrapping her in another tight coil of power. She couldn't allow him to drag her toward him again.

Aeamon magick didn't work very effectively on the daaemon. It worked as a distraction, or as a sideswipe — magick used the way Adam had done in Wisconsin, blowing up a car and managing to get the Atrika in the blast.

But it did work sometimes when you twisted it just right — a thing Theo and Adam had already grown good at and Claire had mastered.

She hit Tevan dead on with her thread of fire — perfectly executed. He blocked the stream, but it still sent him careening backward into a window. Glass shattered. The scent of charred daaeman rose in the air.

The shock of using two separate threads of earth and fire at the same time weakened her knees and sent her collapsing to the floor.

Rue's voice echoed in her mind. You still haven't learned to integrate the elements, Claire. Learn!

She drew a shaking breath, knowing she had no time for rest or recovery. Taking the opportunity to help Theo while Tevan was down, she whirled and drew two more threads.

Kai anticipated her action and shot a massive blast of power at her. She dove to the floor just as it hit. It scorched her back, singeing her clothes and sending a flare of pain through her.

She heard a very human grunt and the sound of fists hitting flesh. Claire army-crawled to the edge of the overturned couch — she'd landed behind it — and peered around to see Theo and Kai rolling on the floor, locked in a fistfight.

She understood Theo and Adam's desire to throw punches instead of magick, since their power was not totally effective against daaeman shields, but fistfights with an Atrika wouldn't go well. She shot to her feet, gathered her strength and aimed it at Kai.

If only they would separate a little to give her a clear shot…

Ironlike hands clamped down over her shoulders, making her yelp in surprise and pain.

Tevan.

He yanked her back hard enough to give her whiplash and she reacted from some primal, animal-like survival instinct. She thrust her hands back and funneled all her earth magick into Tevan's massive thighs, twisting a little and forcing it hard to get past his natural shields.

All it did was make him yelp and release her, but that was enough, she rolled to the side and gathered more power.

Not enough.

He was on her again in an instant, pulling her to the ground and straddling her. Acidic blood dripped onto her clothes and burned through the fabric to her skin from the cuts he'd sustained from the window. The pain made her cry out and writhe beneath him.

Houses, that probably excited him.

Huge hands closed around her neck, closing off her screams of agony. His body braced, preventing her from thrashing, hitting, and scratching in her frenzy to be away from the burning.

His head lowered, fangs extended, toward her throat.