Sorcha's Wolf (15 page)

“No, here, hold on and I will take us to where we left, or near enough,” she murmured. Abruptly the ground shifted under his boots and Sorcha’s soft body pressed against him as the world disappeared. When he opened his eyes—surely, the ground was solid by now—he groaned and steadied his feet on the welcome feel of the earth under his boots.

“What the hell did you do that for? Warn a man next time and what the hell—”

She laughed softly, the sound cutting him off more quickly than if she’d smacked him. Grinning she tossed her hair off her shoulder sending a burst of her sugar and spice scent his way.

“I did warn you—”

“You didnae—”

“Shh, I need to find the right herbs and if we’re to make this poison, I’ll need to do it quickly before we are found by Rage, right?”

He froze, halfway to hauling her back for a quick kiss.

Damn it.
Too many things were happening too fast. Changes he couldn’t keep up with, let alone judge if they were good or bad. Everything swept by too quickly. The feel of her under him, coming just from his mouth on her breasts. The soft frown on her face this morning. Bethany—now Moon—in the Fay Realm, hiding possibly. And now Sorcha searching for herbs to make a potion that would deny her the use of her powers.

Did she do it for him?

“Aye, but then we need to talk, after.”

She froze halfway to tucking a curl behind her ear. “All right,” she murmured much more subdued than she’d been with him before—even after he’d taken her like a teenage wolf in heat.

He shook off the regret. He’d make damn sure he satisfied her the next time. Hell, he’d make her come until she passed out from the pleasure. But for now, he needed to secure their equipment, make camp and aid her in making this potion.

“I need to go find out if our things are ash, but before I go, what can I do to aid you?”

She paused and turned back to him with a thoughtful look. “You can help by setting up camp. I’ll need to let the poison simmer for a few hours. Can you make a fire while I search for the right herbs?”

Poison
. The poison he’d asked her to take so he could trade her for his revenge. She was being reasonable. Level headed.

Then why did he feel like she’d tossed him from a mountain again?

Chapter Seventeen

Sorcha gathered all the herbs needed for the potion, still worrying over Alex, and now Bethany.
Blood Moon
. Why did everyone want to be called something other than their given name? Even if Blood Moon was one of her given names, and a cool one, Bethany had always been such a wonderful name. So sweet, just like the child.

She’d been in the Fay Realm for
centuries
. Ages of men.

Why did that make her throat ache for the small girl she’d once sung Gaelic songs to? Because Bethany had reached the same age she had when she’d first seen Alex. Had Bethany’s mate denied her?

The thought was so absurd, she wanted to laugh, but for that tightening in her chest and the sorrow surfacing every time she thought of Bethany.

Bethany was hiding. Hiding from a male.

“Do you think the potion will harm you?”

Alex’s voice after so long without hearing it startled Sorcha, so too, did his question. She dropped the spoon she was using to stir the noxious stuff and sat back to look at him. He appeared even more agitated than before.

“Will it? I swore to protect you, if you fear that, tell me now,” he demanded.

What to say? The truth, she supposed, or some of it. “Of course I worry. I’d be a fool not to.”

His brow furrowed in that way she’d grown to realise meant he wasn’t sure if she jested with him or not. “It will harm you? You fear this?”

She nodded silently. It might. She was making it after all, not some witch with who knew what kind of power and talent. She might make it right, while the other person had fouled it up and that was why she’d been able to break its power.

“Why? You’re making it, will that not aid you?”

“No, not entirely. The fact that I’m making it makes it worse. I mean, it might make a difference.”

Alex frowned thoughtfully at her. He’d set up camp, made the fire, found his precious pack which had given him a great sense of satisfaction she’d noticed, then he’d warmed a soup for them—from dehydrated vegetables—and had sat near her, not speaking. For hours, it’d felt like. She’d sensed him watching her the entire time. She’d nearly messed up the ingredients simply from his stare.

“Will you be able to break it, like you did before?”

She sat back on her butt and crossed her legs, before meeting his gaze. “I don’t know. Like I said before, if someone else made it they might have fouled it up—”

“You told me you broke it down by ingredients. Won’t you know the ingredients now?”

Surprised, she examined his logic. It was sound. She knew what she’d put in the pot, but still, a potion made with magic wasn’t generally broken merely by the recipe, but with magic. She had done it, but
how
had she done it? She’d been angry, so outraged at the witch using the child she’d nearly been unable to keep herself still. The witch had laughed, bringing back memories from the past, an encounter with an evil woman in the hills near her home and the missing ingredients had become clear.

“I might be able to break it again,” she offered, shrugging a shoulder. “I don’t remember the demons giving me the potion though. They said they put it in my tea—”

“A tea the fire demon brought you.”

She paused at Alex’s seething tone with the spoon halfway to the pot. He sounded pissed off.
At what? Her taking the potion?
“Well, the tea might have been in the potion, making it work differently.”

They didn’t speak for several minutes until the silence became uncomfortable. Right when she would have said something, she heard Alex clear his throat.

“And this concerns you.”

“Yes.”

“The antidote will still work, correct?” he asked.

“Yes, I believe so.”

That made his frown grow, she saw when she peeked over her shoulder at him. There were so many differences in him now. He was talking for one, but that wasn’t all. She could read him better. His expression had been so flat earlier, almost without showing a thing to her, besides irritation, but now she knew what to look for, she could read each emotion as it filtered across his face. Almost. Some still boggled her mind, but right now, she sensed he felt disturbed by this, the potion and his plan. Would he tell her more of his plan now? And if he did, what did that mean?

“The trap, what of the trap? And why did you say we would head to Braeriach?”

At first Alex didn’t respond, instead he hauled the backpack over and opened it, digging out a few things and setting them neatly next to him as he pulled more out. She’d noticed he was a careful person, both with their things—his really—and his gear. Every one of his weapons, from his broad sword to his guns, sparkled, and even though he’d changed back into his jeans and heavy hiking boots, he looked clean. Except for his tousled, rumpled dark-blond hair. She felt a stab in her chest at the thought of not seeing him run his hands through his hair again.

“We go to Braeriach because that is where Zith lives.”

Stunned, she stared at him. He pulled out the velvet-covered mirror, then a leather scroll case. Setting the mirror aside, he took the top off the case, tipped it and withdrew the scroll.

“This I got off a warlock in Dublin. He owed the pack for saving his family from a crew of Death Stalkers, before the current trouble.” Alex looked at her, and the intensity, the hard, driven look he wore broke her heart. He needed this—Zith’s death—so badly. “In it, many hidden locations are revealed, but Zith is as well.”

“But—” She paused, so shocked she couldn’t think of what to ask first.

“But I can’t go in there, alone, and kill him. I need him drawn out,” he muttered, his expression far off. His brown eyes narrowed on the map as if he could see the evil warlock. He caught her by surprise when he looked at her. “Why does he want you badly enough that he’d come out from his stronghold?”

The question threw her, more than the map, more than anything he’d done so far. Well, maybe not making love to her so thoroughly—she still felt the imprint from his tough hot body over hers.
Almost made love to you, Sorcha.
Didn’t matter, she still felt branded by him.

“Why does he want me? Uh, now you ask this?” She turned to the potion, stirring it too briskly so it bubbled and spluttered in the fire, popping and sparking where it hit the wood.

She felt Alex come up behind her, then his hand on her shoulder, turning her to face him. “Leave the potion. You said it needed to simmer.”

He settled his hand on her wrist and she dropped the spoon, letting him pull her to her feet. Nervousness blossomed in her stomach, making her fidget with her gown.

“He wants you badly enough that he’s willing to meet me, a Lykae, and trade you for a powerful pendant.”

“A pendant?”

Alex nodded and brushed her hair back from her face. He kept hold of a curl, she noticed, and her heart beat crazily. Focusing his attention on his hand holding her hair, he frowned. “Aye, a pendant. For this, he’s willing to provide these checks, and eventually, when he trusts me”—he glanced at the sunset—“on the full moon, he will meet me, showing me how to use the pendant in exchange for you.”

“Why? Why would he do this? Trust you like this? You’re not thinking, Alex! He’s going to trick you, worse, kill you, then he’ll take me and it won’t matter what he wants me for because I guarantee you it will be horrible.”

“I won’t let that happen. He won’t kill me and he sure as hell won’t get you.”

“How—”

“Shh, trust me. He wants you. He thinks I don’t know what I’m bargaining with.” Alex’s voice dipped lower and he cupped his other hand under her jaw, tipping her head to stare at her expression. “He believes me to be a dim-witted wolf, unable to comprehend your worth.”

The way he’d said that sent a shock through her body. She’d known the changes in him had been growing since she’d woken with him hovering over her, but this—to say this outright—cut through so many of her doubts she wanted to turn and kiss every inch of his face. Instead, she felt him wrap her hair around his fist, pulling her closer, and brought her with him back to the grassy slope where he’d been sitting.

Surprising her further, he settled her between his thighs and wrapped his arms around her middle, holding her loosely, but with her back to his front, as close as they could be still dressed, she thought with a hard shiver of anticipation.

“Did I please you last eve?” he asked quietly against the nape of her neck.

She felt a blush heat her cheeks and tried to make sense of him. He didn’t allow her the time, but shifted her so he could meet her eyes with a concerned expression. When she nodded, suddenly shy around him, he lowered his head and brushed his lips along her hot cheek.

“Good, because I want more. Will you give it to me? More?”

Confused, she didn’t know what to say. When she didn’t say anything, only nibbled her lip, Alex said, “Did you not know I’ve been waiting for hours to get you in my arms again?”

She shook her head mutely.

“I went too fast last eve. A man can’t wait if he’s wanted a woman for too long.”

“You said you were relieving our stress.”
This had to be a dream.

He shifted her again and growled low when his thick, hard arousal slid right between the cheeks of her butt.

“Aye, I did say that. But did you no’ notice I barely lasted a few moments?” He brushed another kiss to her cheek, seeming pleased he was making her blush deepen. “Woman your ass is a dream come true.”

He
was a dream come true.

Can this be happening?

“I want more.”

“Not for relief?” she asked, cursing herself silently for asking such a revealing question.

“Only of the hard on you’ve given me since I first saw you.” He stroked his hands along the outside of her ribs and hips, around to the front of her thighs, then slowly moulded them to her front until he reached her breasts. Once there, he cupped them reverently and stroked his erection in a parody of sex along her ass. “Can you no’ tell, woman, the difference?”

“The difference?” she managed to say past the lust making her breathless.

“Aye, between a man out of his mind for you and a man seeking mere satisfaction?” He caressed her breasts, and grunted, she thought, in satisfaction at the weight of them. Too soon he released them, but before she could protest, he cupped her mound possessively through her gown. It felt like her heartbeat increased to light speed. When he shifted one hand, and found her clit, her head fell back against his shoulder. Pleasure tingled down her inner thighs and back along a hot path to her breasts. He massaged her perfectly while he trailed hot kisses along the side of her throat, making it impossible for her to think clearly. “You’re wet for me. Readying your lush body for my cock, eh?”

Every word he spoke was so powerful she felt close to shuddering in an orgasm just from hearing him talk to her like this. He might have shocked another woman with his coarse words, his earthy desires, but she’d waited centuries for him. Each word he growled against her hot body reassured her. Something warm and wicked unfurled, snaking its way up her body.

She felt powerful, strong and sexy all at once.

She arched her back, rubbing her butt along that long, thick column and reached behind her head to grip his hair, nipping at his jaw, so aroused when he cursed out roughly, she squeezed her thighs around his hand to keep from coming.

“Oh, aye, I think I will be ready, wolf, do you think you can handle me?”

Alex nearly tossed Sorcha to her hands and knees and mounted her at her sexy little tease. Her accent, the lilting quality of their homeland broke free along with her passion. She was hot, so sexy and fiery he felt his skin burning whenever he touched her. But now, she’d turned bold, reaching back and tugging his head to hers while she nearly drove him to spill in his trousers with her lush ass rubbing hungrily along his shaft.

“Jesus, you please me. So hot, you’re so damn beautiful.” She was all he’d ever dreamt of in a woman. Beautiful, aye, but beauty wasn’t only in her appearance. Sorcha was stunning—inside as well as out. Caring, tender, funny, intelligent, she rocked him and tossed him from every direction. He should have known, should have seen from the first he could never look into her emerald eyes and not give her everything she wanted. “I’m going to handle you until you’re begging for me to stop the pleasure, eh?”

She moaned against his mouth. The sound rocked him. He’d be damned if he let her want for anything. He dragged the velvety material of her gown out of his way at the same time as he devoured her mouth and rocked against her lush ass.

When he finally found her pussy, she was slippery with need, so wet for him he nipped on her shoulder and surged upwards with his cock while he drove one lucky finger deep inside her core. She raked her nails along his scalp and tightened her silky thighs around his hand, rubbing against him with a low cry. That quickly she burst into an orgasm. He nearly joined her. Her thighs trembled and she released her hold on his hair to clutch his hand, holding him there as she trembled in his arms and sobbed his name.

“Alex, oh, Alex, please!”

He twisted her onto her back, then frantically tore at his belt and quickly shoved his jeans open. His shaft sprang free, hard enough that it strained straight out from his body seeking the womanhood hidden behind her fiery curls. He bit back a groan at the torment.