Sinful Magic (31 page)

“I will.” She dropped her hand and walked away.

“That is amazing,” Roxy said. “She’s like a different person.”

Carla shook her head. “She’s a strong woman at her core. Her husband died suddenly, and she’s been raising Tyler on her own. She had to take in a roommate, and that turned ugly. She couldn’t get him to leave

so now she has a chance to start over. She’s one of the rare mortals who can accept magic without being freaked.”

“Tyler’s a great kid,” Ailish said. “He was so worried about his mom.”

“That’s why you showed him self-defense.” Roxy had wondered since they’d just been kidnapped, tied up, and hurt yesterday. But now she understood. “To help him feel confident.”

“The boy wants to be able to protect his mom. We’re going to teach him how,” Ailish said.

“Wish I could help. I don’t know much about self-defense.”

“Coming tonight is a big help,” Carla said. “We’re going to need all the magic we can get to save Linc. We’re fighting bloodlust caused by a powerful curse.”

“Axel told me that Linc is right on the edge,” Darcy said. “He was sane enough to warn them not to release the chains with the two living witches still in the garage unit. They’ve tranquilized Linc, which slows down the process.”

Roxy listened carefully, trying to follow the logic. She knew about the sex-and-blood curse. She’d spent the first eleven years of her life learning about magic, witches, and the like. Additionally, she and Shayla had tried to learn enough to avoid their Awakenings. “We can’t cure bloodlust, can we? I mean if we could

”

“No,” Carla shook her head, her hazel eyes shadowed with regret. “The Ancestors and our knowledge chakras have shown us that. The only cure is a soul mirror. But the hunters can feed the sex part of the curse to push back the bloodlust.”

Her stomach tightened with a knot of dread. “And?”

“Roxy, your sex magic is so powerful, we all felt it yesterday and today when we worked with you in the condo. We think you might be able to bring out the sex part of the curse in Linc, overriding the bloodlust enough for him to get control.”

A sense of betrayal made her queasy. “You want me to have sex with him?” Exactly how was she supposed to do that? Summon as much magic as she could and make him want her? Then just

it made her shudder. Key had said he’d help her with her needs for her magic. She didn’t want to ever get so desperate that she

“No,” Ailish moved up between the two witches and touched Roxy’s arm. “Roxy, the three of us have soul mirrors. We know that’s just not

no. We wouldn’t ask that of you. Any magic that requires actual sex will be with Key.”

She nodded, and then remembered Ailish’s blindness. “Okay. I guess I jumped to conclusions.” This was her issue and she knew it. “What do you want me to do?”

Carla said, “We thought that if you could summon up your sex magic and then touch him, using your communication chakra, it might pull out his sex drive and override the bloodlust. Key will be here; he should be able to help you.”

She thought about that. “I’m willing to try.”

Carla lifted her hands in frustration. “I don’t know if it will work. Depends how far gone he is. Hunters are biologically very advanced. What I’m hoping is that feeding the sex lust will buy enough time for the brain to push back and heal.” She dropped her hands. “Sutton was blooded, and much worse than Linc. I was able to save him by calling him as my familiar. Our bond healed the brain damage. We don’t know who Linc’s soul mirror is, so this is our only shot at saving him.”

But no pressure, she thought. “What if it doesn’t work? What then?”

“Axel will kill him,” Darcy said quietly.

Roxy felt the worry in her words. She didn’t want her mate to have to do that. They all cared about this hunter. Linc was their friend.

Carla explained further, “They made the vow that if any of them go rogue, one of the other hunters will kill him before he loses his soul.”

A phone rang, and Ailish answered it, then walked toward the front door.

Roxy didn’t know Linc, but she did know hunters had pheromones that attracted women. “When I do this, won’t Linc need sex?”

“That’s why I’m here.”

Roxy turned to see the woman with Ailish. “Dee.” Ailish’s friend who cooked, drove, and did a variety of other things. But this?

“Linc and I are friends. I want to do this.” She wore cargo pants, a loose shirt, and a concerned frown.

Roxy heard the garage door raise and a truck pull in. No more time for pondering. “Let’s try it.”

Key drove through the town to Phoenix’s house. Axel sat in the back of the truck with an unconscious Linc. The last thing they wanted was the hunter to wake inside the cab and go apeshit with the bloodlust. The bed of the truck gave Axel more room to control the situation.

His thighs were on fire, his gut churned with worry for Linc, and the dragon was shifting restlessly. What did Dyfyr want?

And where the hell was his brother? Had he been there at the storage units? Too much a coward to face Key?

He had to find and kill him.

And he had to help Roxy gain enough power to talk to Dyfyr and find out how to get that Tear out and save her life, so Wing Slayer could give them immortality. His chest tightened at the thought of failing. He couldn’t fail.

He couldn’t lose Roxy. Damn it, he thought viciously, she’d made him feel too much. He was falling for her, coming to care about her so deeply that she was vital to him.

She believed in him.

He’d never known what that felt like. Not like this. When his claws had come out and he’d nearly scored open her chest, she’d soothed him and healed his hands after he’d smashed off the claws. She refused to believe he’d hurt her. And then she’d let him touch her again. He’d had her in his bed, sliding so deep into her body, it felt like he was touching her heart.

She believed in him.

Key just didn’t know if he believed in himself.

He pulled into the circular driveway of Phoenix’s house, rolled down his window, and pressed his palm to the security plate that would open the garage. Once the door was up, he drove in.

Right now they had to do what they could to save Linc. Then once he and the dragon were calm, he’d go to Roxy and they’d work on her magic and reaching Dyfyr. He turned off the ignition, got out, and ignored the pain from the gunshots.

Axel was already on his feet with Linc slung over his shoulder. He stepped up on the side and jumped down.

Guess the hawk didn’t need help. Key didn’t say a word, seeing the grim set of Axel’s square jaw. Without a soul mirror for Linc, hope was slim.

“Knife out,” Axel said. “If he wakes and gets near one of the women

”

Key pulled out his knife without needing to hear the rest. He walked ahead.

The garage door to the kitchen opened. Sutton stood there, his eyes steel blue, his knife in his hand. “Down to the gym. Phoenix is there. We’ve set up restraints.”

When Key was even with Sutton, he said, “It’s bad.”

The big man’s chest expanded, then he gave a slow nod. “Witches have a plan.”

“We could use a miracle.” Key stalked into the kitchen, intending to hit the stairs down to the gym, but the distinct honey-almond scent stopped him.

Whipping his head to the left, he saw the four witches and Dee. They were standing by the refrigerator, probably where Sutton had pushed them back. “Roxy. What are you doing here? Damn it, how did you get here? Liam is—”

Axel came in and strode down to the gym.

Sutton stopped by Key. “I brought her and made sure she was safe.” Then he took Carla’s hand and they went down to the gym, followed by Ailish, Darcy, and Dee.

Key was peripherally aware of them all. When Roxy was near, all his senses went on high-alert protective mode. He would hear a whispered threat against her from the other side of the house. But his gaze was on her, drinking in the sight of her. She was wearing jeans and a high-neck T-shirt that covered the necklace. He was worried about Linc, and still buzzed from the adrenaline of the fight, and edgy as hell. He didn’t dare touch her. “Are you feeling okay? You were pale this morning.” How long did they have to free her from that Tear?

“I’m fine and I want to help. The plan is—” her gaze suddenly narrowed, going straight down to his thighs. “What happened?” She walked to him. “Oh, Kieran!”

Her scent was filling his chest and chasing out the cold detachment he needed to stay in control. “The bullets are out, it’ll heal.” He’d checked and bandaged the wounds to keep the blood out of his way.

Her witch shimmer began to darken. “Damn right it will. Go sit in a chair.” She gestured toward the big kitchen table and then shifted back to him.

“Not right now, I’m still on adrenaline overload and don’t want to touch you.” Shit, that came out wrong. “I mean that I don’t want to risk the dragon claws coming out.”

“You don’t have to touch me, just go sit down.” When he didn’t move fast enough to suit her, she added, “If not for me, then for Linc. I’m going to try to save him, and I need your help with my magic. But if you stay like this, all I’m going to feel is your pain.”

He took one look into her green eyes, saw her diamond-hard will, and knew he wasn’t going to win this argument. He walked over to the table, pulled out the chair, and sat down.

Roxy knelt between his thighs and started unwrapping the bloodiest bandage first. As she exposed the bloody hole with the ragged edges, surrounded by red angry skin, she blanched. “Kieran. You walked on this?”

He fisted his hands around the wood seat in case his claws sprang out. “Yeah.”

She bent her head without a word and brushed her fingers around the edges with butterfly gentleness. Her magic began swirling around his thigh, then burrowing deeper and deeper until he could feel it all the way to the back of his leg. It also quivered through his insides until it seemed that it was trying to mark his soul. He closed his eyes, fighting not to inhale the dark chocolate scent. His blood heated and, naturally, he got rock hard. Linc was downstairs, fighting for his soul, and Key got a boner. Shit. Trying to keep his mind off Roxy and the rising rush of physical need taking hold, he stared at a wine bottle on the counter.

She took her hand from the wound, shifted to his other leg, and began unwrapping that bandage.

He couldn’t take any more and looked down at her kneeling there, her hair sliding forward to cover her face. “It’s just a cut. Leave—” He noticed the skin of her bare arms—her witch-shimmer was dull and spotted with red pain holes. “Stop!” He shoved the chair back and stood up. Fought to get his breath.

Roxy blinked like he’d struck her, then she stood up. “What now?”

He wanted to use his fingers to smooth that frown from her forehead. “I’m an asshole. I didn’t mean to yell at you; I just realized you were taking my pain. And I couldn’t touch you to draw it back to me.”

She lifted a brow. “Not true. You could have touched me. The only shackles on you are your own doubts. And frankly, I have bigger problems to worry about right now. I’m going to try to save your friend if you feel like helping. And after that, I’m just selfish enough to want to save my own life.” She turned and walked down the stairs.

Damn, that hurt worse than the gunshots. But could she be right? Could it be that he had enough control to stop anything Dyfyr might do?

Roxy looked down at Linc. He was out cold on the mat, lying on his back. Axel stood above his head with a firm hold on the chains binding Linc’s wrists. Sutton was at his feet, holding the chains around his ankles. Linc wasn’t going anywhere.

Phoenix stood next to her, his arms crossed over his bare chest, the twin tats on his biceps bulging. “You got a mean streak, Elf Witch.”

She rolled her eyes. “I should have known you all would hear us talking.” Once again, she was on an emotional roller coaster. All the blood on Kieran, and not just from his wounds, made her queasy. Darcy had told her what had happened tonight, but what if he’d had a wound she couldn’t heal? What if he’d died? Her heart’d cringed. She’d never felt this way for anyone.

“Every word,” Phoenix said cheerfully.

She looked over at him. “Got something you want to say? Spit it out.” Seriously, she was not in the mood. Yes, she got that Kieran had good reasons for not touching her, but she

damn it, it hurt. Dyfyr hadn’t hated her last night, he’d held her, stroked her with his wings.

“Nope. I’m good.”

She turned to look at the hunter.

He smiled. “Key needs you, Elf Witch. Not just short-term, but long-term. He needs someone who believes in him and doesn’t back down just because he’s a scary son of a bitch when he loses his temper.”

She

what? Phoenix liked her? She knew better than to say that to him. Key had told her Phoenix respected strength. “Maybe I’m a scarier son of a bitch when I lose my temper.”

His face blanked, and then he threw back his head and laughed. Finally, he regained his breath and said, “Doubtful. But I think you can tame the violence in Key and that freak show dragon he’s hauling around.”

“Dyfyr is not a freak show!” Her blood heated with outrage. “He’s a dragon, ancient and smart, but he doesn’t think like a man. He thinks like a dragon. When something needs to die, he kills it. Simple. He doesn’t get all twisted up in human morality. But he’s also fiercely protective, and he doesn’t like bullies. A dragon like Dyfyr is truly powerful and

” Roxy blinked, wondering where the hell all that came from. How she knew this stuff. Heat rushed to her face.

After a beat of stillness, Phoenix said, “Damn, Elf Witch, I take it back. You are scary.”

She felt strange, and a slight headache formed behind her eyes. “I don’t even know where all that came from.”

Carla put a hand on her shoulder. “Soul memory. You knew him from your past life. The bond between you and him was so strong, the memory is imprinted.”

The witch’s words grounded her, made her feel a bit more solid. “Okay, that’s a better answer then calling me crazy.”

Carla smiled. “You’re not crazy, Roxy.”

Axel cleared his throat and got their attention. “Where the hell is Key? Linc’s going to start coming around.”