Forbidden Magic (5 page)

“That’s all I can tell you,” she said softly. “My father will kill you if I tell you any more. As it is, he’s threatening Eli if I don’t do what he wants me to do.” Ram took all that in and spit out the truth that had hung between them for months. “You’re not mortal.”

She crossed her arms over her waist for long seconds as if protecting herself. Then she dropped her arms and asked, “How long have you known?”

He shrugged. “Not sure exactly. Sometimes you move too fast with extraordinary reflexes and occasionally, I’ve caught glimpses of an aura of light around you.”

“My and Eli’s mother was mortal. My father is not. I’ve been doing all I can to fail him so that he’d strip out my other side and let me just be mortal. But he isn’t going to allow that.” Her eyes filled with bright pain. “He’s powerful enough to destroy Eli, and he’ll do it. I can’t let him.

I have to convince you.”

A surge of red-hot rage raced through him. Adrenaline pumped, his heart pounded, his veins swelled with it. He wanted Ginny with a blazing hot need, but he’d never have her. Especially now that his touch came with a mood killing shock of pain. Her father—whatever he was—

wanted that for his daughter? Hatred for that bastard battled with protectiveness for Ginny.

The same protectiveness that he’d felt all those months ago after Phoenix had rescued her and Eli from rogues. The rogue witch hunters had shot Eli twice; and were threatening Ginny with a knife to get Eli to kill a witch.

Ram had arranged the safe house for the brother and sister and stayed there himself as protection. He had expected hysterics or tears from Ginny. Instead, she had been calm and determined in forcing her brother to rest and heal. Her strength attracted him instantly.

Later she sat by her sleeping brother, and Ram walked in. Ginny hadn’t heard him. He’d seen her face was streaked with tears as she stared at nothing, saying,
Heal him. Isn’t it enough I
watched him shot and you wouldn’t let me help him
?
How much pain does he have to suffer so
you can feel my emotions
?
How much, damn it
! A quiet sob had racked her shoulders.

Ram had felt her grief and anger, her utter rage and helplessness, and he’d wanted to rush in and kill what was hurting her.

But he’d had no idea what it was tearing at Ginny. Hell, he still didn’t. Her father could be anything. Not mortal didn’t exactly narrow it down. But if he had the prick in front of him right now, Ram would have found a way to kill him.

Knowing what he did now, Ram suspected she’d been talking to her father that day. Clearly the man, or god, was cruel to Ginny and that was shredding Ram’s control.

Enough. He was not ruled by emotions or desire. He took one measured step back so her hand dropped and they broke contact. “No. Your father may be threatening Eli, but I’m a threat to you.” And she to him, but that was his problem, not hers. “I don’t know what the fuck this bird’s,” he said, slapping his hand on his chest to indicate the thunderbird tattooed beneath his shirt, “problem is, but it’s getting worse.”

“You won’t hurt me,” she insisted, her eyes wide with conviction.

He shook his head, refusing to let her sway him. “You’re too trusting of me. But I know better.” She had trusted him with her kiss, and it had taken all his formidable will to end it.

Her shoulders dropped, and her eyes muddied with shadows. “You’ll save the witches though. Don’t let them suffer. Please.”

It took iron control not to soften toward her. “You know I will. One more question though.

Why is it so important to you?” With all she had going on, she was worried about three witches she didn’t even know?

Furrow lines appeared between her eyebrows as if a memory hurt. She rubbed her forehead as she answered, “When I touched Shane, I saw him cutting a witch to get her blood. Felt it.” She sucked in a breath and dropped her hand. “I felt his high from her blood. And the poor witch…” Her whole face tightened. “I’m forbidden from doing anything, and when I try anyway, I’m punished. But this time I negotiated to—”

“You’re
what
?” Ram cut her off, his voice strangled with the need to kill. Her father
punished
her for trying to help? What the hell? Who was that son of a bitch and just how hard could Ram kill him?

She squared her shoulders. “That doesn’t matter. I won the right to help you save them. I need to do this much.”

“Let’s go.” He turned and strode halfway through the club, knowing she followed him. Then he stopped, unable to let it go. “Ginny.”

She paused midstep with her easy grace and met his gaze. “Yeah?

“It matters.” Her father punished her? Oh yeah, it mattered.

Then he turned and began to plan how to keep Ginny safe while keeping his hands off her and rescuing the witches.

Chapter Three

Ginny sat in Ram’s Range Rover, her fingers digging into the soft leather of the passenger seat. The six-foot-five man beside her easily dominated any space he occupied, but inside the cab?

It was overwhelming.

She glanced over at him again. His blonde hair was cut ruthlessly short, his face as harsh as his electric blue eyes, and his shoulders were nearly bursting from his t-shirt. He wore dark pants with his knife strapped to one thigh. Boots finished the look of raw jungle ability. There was nothing this man couldn’t do.

For seven minutes, she’d recalled the route from Shane’s mind and directed Ram through the early morning darkness of Glassbreakers, California. He easily followed her directions while coordinating with Axel and Sutton on the Bluetooth.

He turned, his gaze tracking over her. “This the place?” Tearing her gaze from him, she peered through the dark to the strip-mall car stereo shop.

Exactly as it had looked in Shane’s memory. Repressing a shudder, she answered, “Yes.” The noise of the loud pounding music coming from the shop would cover any screams from tortured witches during the day. And at night? The place was deserted. No one was around to hear any frantic calls for help. Looking back at him, she asked, “What now?” His face hardened to stone. “Axel and I will get the witches out.”

“But—” She snapped her mouth shut when the passenger door opened. Whipping around, she looked right into the light green eyes of her brother.

“Come on, Gin,” Eli said.

Instantly, she realized Ram and Eli planned to get her away from danger. Probably Ram had texted her brother. But she needed to be nearby to help Ram once he got close to the witch blood.

Panic bubbled below her breastbone. “No. Eli, leave!” She threw off her seat belt and grabbed Ram’s arm. When his eyes widened in surprise, she realized she’d moved too fast, and was clutching his arm with too much strength. But she didn’t care. “You don’t understand. My father. He’ll make Eli go rogue! There are witches in there, if he loses control and kills one, he’ll lose his soul.”

“Damn it, Ginny.” Eli’s harsh voice had her turning to look at him. “You should have called me! Told me that winged asshole hurt you. Again.”

She saw her brother’s blazing hot anger and knew that raw emotion would only feed whatever her father chose to do to him. She wouldn’t be the cause of Eli’s misery. “Go home, Eli. Please, one way or another, he’ll destroy your soul.” Her brother knew exactly what her father was capable of, but he was too stubborn to listen to her. She turned to Ram.

He flicked his gaze to Eli, then back to her. His arm flexed powerfully beneath her fingers.

“Take Eli home where he’s safe.” He leaned closer. “I will never risk your life. Never. Not for anything or any power in the universe. Neither will your brother. We’ll both die first.”

“Yeah, you will,” she snapped, realizing they were ganging up on her. Two big men, determined to save the ‘little woman.’ When even they should be able to see that she needed to save
them
.

Eli tried to take hold of her arm.

She shrugged him off. Focusing on Ram, she demanded, “But what about your souls? He’ll take Elis’s soul and toss it where Wing Slayer can’t get it. Maybe yours too. Is that okay with you?” She was shaking with outrage. She was screwed no matter what, but she was not going to let that happen to Eli. Or Ram. Eli had to leave, and she had to be here for Ram when he got near witch blood. Then he’d need sex.

He’d need her.

Ram didn’t move, didn’t flinch, didn’t even blink. “If it came down to that choice…then yes.”

She jerked back as if he’d hit her. “You can’t mean that.” He didn’t give an inch. “Go with Eli, Ginny.”

She had thought Ram would understand. Help her. Her eyes burned, but she refused to cry in disappointment and frustration. Somehow, she’d let herself believe Ram would see her differently, see her as a strong capable woman.

A partner.

Damn, she was an idiot. Look at her, already building romantic fantasies, already setting herself up for the heartbreak her father craved so badly.

Only years of practice helped her get her emotions under control. She drew her hand back and slid out of the Range Rover to stand. Then she looked back at him. “You’re as bad as my father, thinking that I can’t make my own decisions.” She slammed the door and left with her brother.

But she wasn’t done. Ram would need her.

And one way or another, she’d be there when that happened.

***

Ram kicked through the front door of the stereo shop at the same time Axel came in the back way. He was so juiced up on pure rage, he went cold with the need to kill.

No emotion. Just death.

Two men lunged up from the couch where they were eating chicken wings and watching a big screen. The smell of spicy barbecue sauce and fat didn’t cover the scent of blood.

Witch blood.

The two men weren’t witch hunters, but pure steroid meatheads. Hired thugs. They knew what was happening to the witches and didn’t care.

“These two are mine,” he called to Axel as his leader began moving through the space. He and Axel had fought together more times than he could count.

“You’re dead, asshole.” One of the meatheads said, raising a gun.

Ram launched himself, leaping over the food-littered coffee table, kicking the gun from the first man’s hand.

The second man fired his weapon. But Ram was too fast, twisting from the bullet’s path and landing upright. He snatched the knife from his thigh holster and cut the second man’s throat.

Then he turned to the guy holding his broken hand. Grabbing him, he snarled, “Who else is here?”

“Three more guards and two clients.”

Clients
? The word sickened him. “Axel, copy that?”

“The guards are dead,” Axel responded in Ram’s Bluetooth. “Let’s get the witches.”

“Right there,” Ram said even as he felt the guy in his grip shifting. A second later the tip of a knife penetrated right below his rib cage.

Ram reacted, snapping his body back from the blade and shoving his knife through the man’s chest and into his heart in one smooth move. He sliced up, shredding the still beating organ.

The prick’s eyes widened in terror, his mouth opened, but only a strangled sound came out.

Death blanked his expression.

Ram pulled out his knife, cleaned it on the man’s shirt, then dropped him. He didn’t bother looking back as he headed down a hallway, following the scent of witch blood.

Axel met him with one witch. She looked bad, clutching a blanket around her body.

The smell of her blood was fresh and Ram froze beneath the hot craving.

Axel’s eyes narrowed. “Get out, now. Key’s on his way.”

“No. Don’t leave,” the witch cried. “They are in those rooms,” she said, pointing to the two doors set in the hallway.

A muffled scream trembled through the walls.

Ram raced for the first door the other witch had pointed to, knowing that Axel would go for the next one. This was their job, saving innocent witches and killing the bastards that attacked them. Cut them for their blood.

Ram kicked the door with so much force it flew off the hinges. He swept the room with his gaze, instantly noting that it was essentially a large, cement shower room. Concrete floor and walls, big drain in the center, a shower head on a long hose. There were chains bolted into a wall.

The door had slammed into the man with the knife, knocked him cold. Both the man and door were on the ground.

The witch slumped in the manacles, moaning softly and bleeding profusely from gaping cuts.

At least six or seven of them.

The sweet and spicy scent of her blood saturated Ram’s entire body. His veins swelled and heated until he could almost smell his own body cooking with the need.

Witch blood. It would cool the burn. Give him so much fucking power
…

“No.” He shook his head once and shoved the knife in his hand into the holster. He strode to the witch hunter, wrenched him over to his back and smiled coldly.

The bastard’s own knife was stuck in his heart. Somehow when the door hit him, the force of it shoved the knife he’d been cutting the witch with into his chest and killed him. That was some damn fine justice. Ram glanced down at the man’s palm and saw his lifelines.

He died with his soul. He was their god, Wing Slayer’s, problem now.

Lifting his gaze, he went to the witch.
Too close
! His brain warned, but he couldn’t just leave her hanging there. Ignoring the warning, he grabbed the chains and snapped them with his hands.

Freeing her from the wall.

She only wore panties. He ripped off his bloody shirt and wrapped it around her, trying to cover the cuts. Then he lifted her gently.

She moaned again and that was the last thing he heard as her blood touched his skin. A buzz filled his head, energy and pleasure crackled through him. His muscles seized with an internal orgasm so strong, he shivered beneath the wild bliss and strength. He soared so high, so…

“Goddamnit!” The roar from the doorway penetrated the awesome ride. He whipped his head around, saw Axel, and a ferocious possessiveness ripped through him.
Mine. The witch blood is
mine
. He felt a growl rumble up from his chest.