Gone With the Witch (7 page)

Gone.
Nowhere to be seen.

He launched himself from the coach.

Storm appeared in front of him. He jumped and yelled,
grabbed her, and kissed her. Fury claimed him anyway. He
pulled away and, hands on her shoulders, he
squeezed ..
.
with
care or fury or both. "What the hell did you think you
were doing?"

She opened her mouth to speak, and he kissed her
again. She wasn't dead. She wasn't dead. He couldn't get enough. If he ever did get enough, he'd have to kill her.

"Storm," Destiny called, lowering her hands from her eyes. "You still have it!"

"Have what?" Aiden shouted.
"Brass balls?
Or sawdust for brains?"

Destiny shrugged as if the answer were debatable. "Telekinesis," Destiny said.
"The ability to move objects—or stop an object—without touching it.
But she has to be pretty damned fired up to do it"

Aiden looked to Storm for
an
explanation.

"You heard her," Storm said, squeezing his arms. "You think
you're
mad."

Aiden pulled her against him. "I never wanted to strike a woman more. Why didn't you move?"

"You tricked me."

"You'd be dead if my engine hadn't died"

"Your engine didn't die. I
killed
it."

"You
could have been killed! Gone!
Finito!"
Out of his
life forever ... which is what he'd wanted, but he wanted
her alive, so she could ... and he could ... He felt light
headed.

Hell, he didn't know what he wanted, except
her,
alive ... and close ... this close ... for a long time.
Then he could have himself committed.

"When 'I looked up, and you were ..." He kissed her
again.

This time she cooperated, wove her fingers through the hair at his nape, which he loved, which she knew.

He pulled back and set her away from him, and when they stood a safe distance apart—safe being relative—he
ran a hand through his hair. "You witch! You scared the life
out of me!"

"Spell you, I was scared, too."

Aiden rubbed his brow with the fingers of both trem
bling hands. "Morgan," he shouted. "I can't believe you let
her do that."

"Let her? I didn't know what the nut planned.”

“Storm, where's Warlock?" Destiny asked.

"Don't you have him?
I. sent him to you so he wouldn't get
hit."

"You'd protect your cat but not yourself?" Aiden
snapped.

"To protect
your
baby," Storm answered in the same stinging tone. "Warlock?" she sobbed, and looked beneath the coach.

Aiden unclenched his jaw and looked
in
the coach.
"Your kitten's making himself at home, inside."

Storm wilted, and Aiden caught her in his arms so she wouldn't hit the pavement. "That was pure stupid. I take it you wanted me for something?"

"
A tour?"

"You risked your life for a tour? I don't think so"

She raised her chin. "You're right. I did it for a belief."

She didn't need to spell it out. She thought she could talk
him into driving off with her to follow the sound of the crying
baby she said she heard only around him. He didn't know
if inspiring the sound made him, or her, crackers. "I'm not
taking that t
ri
p with you," he repeated.
"Besides, dead engine.
Not going anywhere. I'll get a mechanic in the morning."

"I'd still like a tour," she said. "I've got a scary feeling deep down that when you
leave,
I'll never see you again."

"That's quite the sudden burst of sincerity," he said.
"I'm glad 'I don't believe it."

"I gave you reason not to believe me
. '
I understand, but give me a tour? 'I need to get my cat, anyway."

"You're certifiable, Cartwright."

"Probably, but you thought Harmony was certifiable be
fore she brought the castle ghost out of hiding, didn't you? And look at how that turned out."

"She's right," Destiny said, coming closer, Morgan behind her.

Aiden rubbed his chin. "Guess I'll have to give you that one. I wouldn't have believed it about the
Paxton
Castle
ghost if 'I hadn't seen it."

"My point exactly," Storm said. "Let me bring you to
the crying baby and—"

"Not
on your life."

"It was worth a shot" Storm shrugged and stood back to
examine the coach's exterior. "I love the size of your
dragon. At least let me see it."

Morgan fell into a coughing fit.

Storm watched him try to catch his breath. "You okay, Morgan?"

"I must have inhaled a bug:' he rasped, and Aiden
wished he'd leave, though he should want Morgan to stay and Storm to go.

Storm looked from one of them to the other and
shrugged. "Come on,
McCloud,
give me a tour of your dragon."

I'm furious with you" Aiden looked hopefully at Mor
gan for some kind of rescue. "You two want a tour?”

“
Sure," Morgan said.

"No," Destiny countered, backhanding Morgan in the gut.

Amazing,
Aiden thought,
that might have been Morgan's fi
rst experience with foreplay.

 
"Honestly, Morgan, I'm beat," Destiny said. "As long as
Storm is still alive," she added with a hint of sarcasm, "and Aiden is going to give her a tour, take me home, will you?"

Morgan about stopped breathing when Destiny leaned
against him and gave him a simmering look.
"Home,
please. Bed," she added with a fake squeak, and Aiden hon
estly hoped his friend was halfway to first base, but he doubted it.

"I don't know," Morgan said.

"Effin' A, Morgan.
Just go." Aiden figured Morgan
needed to get laid more than he needed protecting from the
witch. "Go. You hardly need a tour; you designed the
thing."

Aiden shook his head at Storm. "Don't get excited. I'm not taking
you
anywhere, even if 'I could get the engine repaired in the next two weeks."

Destiny tugged on Morgan's hand and dragged him to
ward

Morgan swallowed his Adam's apple.
"Um, another
time,
Aiden."

"Wait," Aiden said, picking up Storm's pet car
ri
er and
handing it to Morgan. "You might as well take this so
Storm doesn't have to car
ry
it herself later
. '
I won't keep
her out too late, Destiny."

"Storm's a big girl," Destiny said walking away. "She can stay out as late as she wants"

"She'll be home within the hour," Aiden called, aware that his declaration and his desires hailed from different galaxies.

chapter
ten

STORM figured it was bad luck losing her clothes
an
d
Warlock's carrier, but she'd gotten this far, and she wasn't
going to let a little thing like no luggage or a motion-
phobic cat keep her from her psychic mandate.

Like Aiden, she watched Destiny and Morg
an
walk
down the street. Destiny leaned on Morgan, who shifted
the carrier so he could put an arm around her waist.

Well done, Sis.

Storm turned to Aiden. "May I have that tour now, please?"

"This really is a bad time for a tour," Aiden said. "You blew my engine. I might have to beat you."

Storm pressed her breasts against his tailcoat and
breathed in his spicy man scent, a blend that included
cloves and cher
ri
es. "Beat me, Big
Boy."

She raised her chin as Aiden ran a callused finger from her nose, over her practiced can't-deny-me-anything pout, down her neck to the crests of her breasts, the light of the blue moon shining on his silver and topaz ring. Topaz! A boon she hadn't thought to employ. Negativity did not su
rv
ive around joyful topaz, a quality she intended to harness.

Storm touched the stone of her aquamarine ring to the topaz on Aiden's so the two crystals would work together to enhance and transform their sexual energy into a vibration that could launch her on her psychic journey.

The aquamarine would harmonize them, reduce stress, in
voke tolerance, overcome judgment, soothe his fears, sharpen
her intuition,
an
d
enhance her clai
rv
oy
an
ce. The topaz would
induce relaxation, trust,
an
d
empathy between them,
an
d
keep
them receptive to love from a new source ... his child.

Aiden's hand hovered just above her breasts, as if he were unsure of his next move.

Any doubts
she
might have had about her decision to look for his child vanished in the face of their crystals' combined magick, never mind the magick taking place between them.

She took Aiden's hand and led him to caress her more boldly. As she did, moonlight reflected off the topaz and aquamarine together to form crosshatches of light, like a dance of stars, a beacon to light their path, emotional support on their journey,
an
d
favor from the spi
ri
ts.

As their lips touched, Storm added a silent spell to the simmering cauldron:

"Blue Moon, cast your light

On our travels in the night.

To find the babe crying,

In spirit, we are flying.

"Our path shall you clear

To a child we hold dear.

Love, bind the charm,

Protect all from harm.

"This is my will,

Aiden's resistance to still.

And it harm none,

So mote it
be
done."

"I should take you home," Aiden said against her lips.
"I think you should take me inside."

"I'm afraid—"

"I know. You were running scared."

"No. I should take you home for
your
sake, because through that door, I see a path of no return"

"The very path 'I choose"

"Bad idea.
C'mon, I'll walk you home."

"I'm too tired to walk. Drive me. You can park in
my ... driveway ... overnight."

"My engine died. I can't d
ri
ve it until a mechanic looks
it over. Besides, with that heart attack you nearly gave me,
you also gave me a good idea that you're willing to play

with
fire."

She cupped him.
"Fire?
Is that what you've been
hiding

in
here?"

"Go ... home ... now"

"But you promised." Appalled at the moisture filling her
eyes, Storm rubbed her cheek against his topaz and prayed for an attainment of goals.