Witch Heart

CHAPTER NINETEEN

She went sttll, her breath whooshing out of her. Terror sang through her blood like vinegar — fiery, bitter.

Adam grabbed Tevan and pulled him bodily from her, just as his fangs brushed the tender skin where shoulder met throat. For a moment she lay there, drawing a shuddering breath of relief before pushing up from the floor.

Tevan and Adam had lain to rest all magickal law and had engaged in another old-fashioned fistfight. Tevan was a daaeman, and therefore bigger and stronger than Adam.

But Adam knew how to throw a punch.

He connected solidly with Tevan's jaw and sent the daaeman careening backward.

Claire sprawled on the floor, parts of her blood-spotted skin screaming with fiery pain, and gaped at Tevan knocked out on the floor. Adam turned, shoulders hunched, expression of absolute rage on his face.

Like something out of a nightmare, Tevan rose behind him and pulled him down.

Claire screamed and acted. Without conscious thought. Definitely without planning.

The elium, just the tiniest thread she'd pulled, exploded out of her, rocketing her into darkness.

"Claire?"

She came awake slowly, held and rocked in Adam's arms. Her wounds burned, but his warmth made it all right. Houses, was she still alive? The blast that had propelled her backward had felt like the end of the world and she'd only used the barest amount of the elium. Claire didn't want to imagine what it would be like to use more.

"Baby, are you okay?"

Her eyelids fluttered open. He sounded panicked. She raised her hand and touched his face. "I'm all right," she managed to whisper.

"You almost died, Claire. Fuck. The elium almost killed you. It was only my healing ability that brought you back." His voice sounded shaky, thin.

She hurt everywhere, but especially her chest where the elium dwelt side by side with her own magick. Nausea curled through her stomach and her head pounded. Her whole body felt cold and shivers wracked her.

Adam's fire magick enveloped her in an effort to stave off the deathlike chill the elium produced, but did little to improve the coldness that had overtaken her.

Claire tried to sit up. "Tevan. Kai. Where are they?"

Theo's strong hands pushed her backward, into Adam's arms. "The elium vanquished them, Claire. It zapped their ability to use magick, as well as ours. They seemed shaken that you'd been able to use the elium and jumped out of here."

She shook her head. "They'll be back."

"That's for certain, but maybe not for a while. It gives us a chance, at least."

"We couldn't use our magick for a time, either," Theo continued. "We thought you were going to die on us."

She tried to sit up again. This time, Adam helped her. She drew a deep breath and pushed away her pain and discomfort. Her head swam. "The other witches. Have you found them?"

"Take it easy, Claire," said Adam. "The demons poofed out of here and then we had to take care of you. We're going to look for them now, but we had to make sure you were okay first."

She tried to push up, but Adam held her firmly. "I'm fine. Let's go."

"Are you sure?" Adam looked doubtful.

"I'm feeling better," she amended. She stood with Adam's help and staggered forward. "We don't have time to lose."

The three of them headed out the door, Claire aided heavily by Adam but regaining her balance quickly. She had no choice. If the witches were out there somewhere in the woods, they needed help.

The charming vacation cabin that Claire would be happy to call home was now trashed. The floor was warped and distorted where Theo had altered it with earth magic and tried to drown Kai. Fire had burned in several places, leaving behind ash, cinder, and the heavy smell of smoke. Between her air magick and the combined daaeman magick of Tevan and Kai, almost all of the furniture was smashed beyond repair. Some of it was now beyond recognition as well.

To top everything off, the elium had apparently shattered all the windows in the cabin. Cool early morning air rushed into the room. At least it took the edge off the smoke smell. One had to look on the bright side sometimes.

Not far from the front of the cabin, they found an unlocked white cargo van. Kai and Tevan hadn't expected to be defeated, so they hadn't even bothered to hide it. Claire was betting the kidnapped witches were inside.

Adam stopped short. "Well, we didn't have go far."

Theo hesitated, then went for the van. "The Atrika jumped and just left them behind. I figured they were more valuable than that."

But they all knew the cold, hard truth. The daaeman had an unlimited supply of unsuspecting aeamon they could use for blood magick. They could just pluck them off the street and use their life force to cast finding spells. No one was safe, not her, not any elemental witch within the grasp of the Atrika.

Inside the unlocked cargo van, they found four witches bound, gagged, and lying on the floor. Only four. That meant six were still missing, presumed dead.

Claire's hopes plummeted to her toes. Four.

All of the four suffered the effects of a daaeman bite. They lay mute and staring, eyes wide open. Claire knew they could see and hear what was going on, but couldn't speak or move.

"She's not here." Theo's voice was ragged from more than just the recent battle.

"I see that." Adam sat down heavily. "Lots of them aren't here. That means… Ingrid… shit." He looked up at Theo. "I'm sorry, man."

Intense sorrow enveloped Theo's face for a second and then was gone. Like a cloud passing over the moon. His expression steeled into businesslike resolve. "Let's get them untied. We can grieve Ingrid and the others later."

Together they freed one witch at a time and got them into the cabin. Other than almost being daaeman food, they looked no worse for wear. Not even a bruise marked them.

James was the first to rouse. He rolled to his side on the bed where they'd laid him and put his hand to his reddish blond head. "Fuck… me." He fell silent, then rattled off a string of curses.

Before they barraged him with questions, they allowed him some time to rouse and recover. Claire snuggled back against Adam's body, which was taut with tension. He eased his hands down her upper arms and embraced her, laying a kiss to the top of her head. The circle of his arms gave her safety and strength.

After they'd dealt with the witches, Adam had stripped her clothes off and treated her burns with both his healing ability and good old-fashioned antiseptic and bandages. She would probably bear some scars, but at least she'd not lost her life.

Yet.

Theo returned from the living room where he'd been using earth magick to clean up the battle site as much as possible. Leaning against the wall, he crossed his hands over his chest and waited, as they all did, for James to recover and tell them what had happened.

As they waited, the other three witches began to stir. They'd brought in glasses of water for each of them and a little bread. They probably hadn't eaten for a couple days.

Finally, James sat up and dragged in a few deep breaths through his nose and into his powerful chest.

Claire leaned over, took a plate of bread and a glass of water and handed them to him. He pushed them away.

"You should," she insisted. "It will help you recover from the venom and we need you strong."

He hesitated, then accepted the glass and plate with mumbled thanks. He drank the water down and took a couple tearing bites of the bread. They didn't want to give them anything more substantial until the effects of the venom had completely worn off.

"They killed them," James finally gasped, setting the plate on the mattress beside him. "They ambushed us right on the other side of Wisconsin, after we'd all met up again. I think they'd been following one of us. When they attacked, they killed two of us right off. The rest of us beat them back, retreated, but they followed. They kept coming and coming all night long until we were too weak to fight anymore. When the dust cleared, two more of us were dead and the rest of us were mute and paralyzed. They left us in the middle of the woods while they went to get the cargo van and then came back for us."

James rubbed his shoulder and winced, looking over the other three witches, who were groaning and sitting up. "Where are Ingrid and Tom?" His voice was flat. He probably knew.

Theo shifted against the wall, grief passing over his face. He said nothing.

"You didn't see what happened to them?" Adam asked.

James shook his head, his face ashen. "They took Tom first, Ingrid the next day."

Claire pursed her lips, not wanting to say the words out loud. But it was her responsibility to do it. "They used the witches for blood magick, James. They used their life force in finding spells to locate us." She paused. "To locate me."

He stared at her for a moment, then lowered his head and closed his eyes.

So Ingrid had been killed in a spell-casting, not in the battle. Claire glanced at Theo, who was staring at the floor in front of him, hands thrust deeply into his pockets. She snuggled back into Adam's arms and he laid a gentle kiss to her temple.

"You're Claire… right?" asked a diminutive blonde with a sharp chin. She winced on every word, her hand pressed to her head.

"Yes, I am."

The woman's gray eyes went flat and hard as gun metal. "So you're the reason for all this."

Claire flinched.

"Look, Andrea," Adam said, pulling Claire against his chest. "I know you've been through a lot, but shut up. Okay?" His voice shook with anger.

Andrea looked away from him.

"I feel every death like a weight on my soul." Claire licked her lips. "I–I can't even—"

Andrea kept her head turned away. "I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to say that. I didn't mean it. I'm just… pissed off. Pissed they took six of us. Pissed we weren't better, stronger, faster." She lowered her head and a tear dropped into her lap. "Pissed I've lost my friends."

The other two witches finally recovered enough to speak. They nibbled at bread, sipped water, and talked about what happened until it grew late in the day.

All of them were shocked by Ingrid and Tom's death and Claire watched each realize in turn how close they'd come to the same fate.

They stayed at the cabin. Relocating — running — was silly since the Atrika only had to snag another witch from the street and locate them anyway. The assaulted witches needed rest. They needed food, a bath, and sleep—sanctuary. So did Claire, Theo, and Adam.

ADAM CAME AWAKE TO THE SMOOTH SLIDE OF Claire's hand over his thigh and lower stomach. Despite the excitement of the night and despite how far his mind should've been from such things, his body reacted to her touch. He wanted nothing more than to pull her down against him, roll her beneath his body, and caress every one of her curves carefully, methodically and thoroughly.

He wanted one night of freedom from all this mess to spend with her. Just one night to completely immerse himself in her body, her scent, just her. One night to assuage this deep ache he had for her, to sate himself, and subdue it forever.

Instead, he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him for a quick, deep kiss that only teased him. Having her near him and not being able to completely indulge himself was the worst kind of torture. "What's wrong?"

Her lovely full lips parted. "We need to get out of here before the others wake up. You and me, alone. The Atrika will track me, Adam. I don't want to be responsible for any more deaths."

"Claire, if this is about what Andrea said—"

She shook her head. "It's not. This was on my mind long before she brought it up. I understand the nature of Theo and the other witches; they'll fight until they die."

"It's a fight worth dying for. I saw what the elium did, Claire. I felt it. It's important we keep it from them."

"And we will, but we can do it without endangering the others."

He pulled her up, tucking her against his body, and kissed her temple. "You're not used to having friends or allies, Claire. I understand that. You're not used to having people want good things for you, to protect you. Just relax now, okay? We need their magick to help guard you from the demons. Leaving here takes that away and endangers you. We'll teach the remaining Coven witches how to use their power against the Atrika. Protecting you means we protect ourselves. So, please, just try to sleep a little now."

Claire's body lost its tension. She sighed and he felt the echo of her weariness and stress through his own body. "I don't like this."

He laughed a little — a soft, low, raw sound. "What's to like?"

Around them the sound of the sleeping witches' breathing filled their ears and the shadows cast by the firelight danced on the walls. There were only two bedrooms, so Adam and Claire had given up their bed to the other witches in favor of bunking down on the cushions from the couch and some folded up blankets. They were both so weary they hardly noticed the lumps at all.

Claire moved against his body and he gritted his teeth, his cock hardening. She slipped her long leg between his thighs and her hands under his shirt to smooth over his chest. The blanket covering them rustled with her movement.

He rolled her over and beneath him, then parted her thighs with his knee and settled himself between them. As he slanted his mouth across hers and slid his tongue between her lips, he ground his hard cock against her sex to show her what she was doing to him.

Claire sighed into his mouth and rubbed her sex up against him aggressively, causing delicious friction along his shaft beneath their clothes. It broke the last thin thread he had on his control. Fire jumped in the center of him in response to his arousal. "Are you trying to push me, woman?" he growled against her lips.

"I need you right now, Adam," she whispered back.

She didn't have to ask twice. He reached down and yanked her pants down to her ankles and savagely pushed her panties down and off under the cover of the blankets. All the other witches were sleeping, but even if they hadn't been sleeping, Adam wasn't sure he could've stopped. The scent of her, the movement of her silken skin against his, it all made him crazy.

Claire fumbled for the snap and zipper on his jeans, apparently desperate to feel him inside her. It seemed that foreplay wasn't what she had in mind. When he touched her sex, he found her ready, silky and slick, her clit blooming against his palm. His hands shook he wanted her so badly.

Adam spread her thighs and pressed the head of his cock into the entrance of her sex. Claire sighed and moved her hips, trying to lodge him deeper. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her as he pressed farther into her. The slick satin muscles rippled and pulsed along his shaft as he hiked inside her.

Her hands found the flesh under his shirt as he began to thrust in and out of her, setting up a rhythm that would send them both into pleasure fast and hard. This was urgent sex, a joining driven by the need to connect.

He placed a hand to her hips and angled the head of his cock to brush against her G-spot deep within. It wasn't long before she whimpered and her body tensed. As the muscles of her sex milked his cock during her climax, she sank her teeth into the skin of his shoulder to keep from crying out.

Pleasure exploded through him just a moment later and he shot deep inside her, kissing her deeply to muffle his own groans. He collapsed on her, careful not to crush her, and buried his face in the sweet-smelling curve of her neck. His breath came fast and hard as her fingers stroked through the short hair at his nape.

Together they lay tangled for a long time, the low, dying light of the fire flickering over them and the gentle sounds of sleep coming from the bed above them. Adam didn't want to pull from her body. He liked it too much when they were joined. So he remained buried within her even after his cock had gone flaccid.

Fuck, he was growing to care for Claire a lot.

Finally, he rolled over and adjusted himself. Then he pulled her against him, wordlessly. She tucked her head beneath his chin, face against his chest, and eventually fell back to sleep.

Adam tried hard not to think about what a perfect fit she was in his arms.