Heart Mates (23 page)

He wrapped arms around her naked back and returned her kiss with glorious abandon.

Her wolf howled her pleasure. Her human rolled her hips, rasping her dewing vulva against his heavy denim ridge. The friction sang up her nerves, urging her faster. She rippled against him, her heart thudding to keep up with her racing breath.

He broke off the kiss. “Wait,” he panted. “I wanted to say—”

“No more talk.” She silenced him the most effective way she could—she plastered her lips to his and thrust her tongue into his dark mouth. Then, to compound his interest and keep him taking care of business, she yanked, pushed and unzipped until she’d fumbled open his jeans.

His erection sprang full and tall from the opening. She rose on her knees over him, took him in her hand and guided herself to perfection—

He grabbed her and flipped her onto her back on the couch. Spread her thighs and opened a hot, wet kiss on her pussy.

She shrieked. His fingers pressed into her flesh and his tongue slapped her clit. She howled.

“You want hard and hot, you’re going to get so hard and hot you’re going to spontaneously combust.” He shifted, sucking lightly on her clit while grinding his stubbled jaw into her swollen labia. She thrashed under his mouth.

He thrust a finger inside her. His gold eyes flew up to hers. “Damn me, Sophia. You’re already burning hot.”

“Me? What about you?” She ground herself against his finger. “More.”

He drove a second finger into her. He fell on her clit again with his slapping tongue and sucking mouth and masculine hunger.

She gloried in it, grabbing him by the ears and pulling and grinding harder. Her pearls rose and fell with her rapidly undulating chest, for the first time not staid and conservative, but provocative and sexy. Her nipples were hard as nuts beyond them.

His fingers rode in and out of her pussy and he changed to straight sucking until her clit was hard and aching and she thought he’d draw her entire body out through it. “Noah…stop sucking and fuck me now.
Please.
” She wailed it and somehow halfway through it changed to an eerie howl.

“You’re so aroused. So very beautiful.” His eyes were bright gold between her thighs. “Come for me first, my beautiful mate.”

“No, I want—argh!”

He’d latched onto her pussy and was sucking for all he was worth.

It was too much. She exploded in a sweet nova of bright stars. Too bright. She squeezed her eyes shut and thrashed against him as he tongue-whipped her clit and extended the orgasm.

Her wolf gloried in it. Her human was temporarily blitzed. She lay pliant as he shucked his pants. His erection had engorged to monstrous. He knelt between her yielding thighs and fitted himself to her. The head pressed and spread her.

She was suddenly aware of the size of him versus the size of her, a second after it was too late.

He drove himself into her slick sex. To the hilt.

She gasped down to her toenails. “You’re…big, face to face. Wait.”

He let out an intense groan. “Do you want me to stop?”

He was stretching her to her limits and beyond. She wriggled against him, caught like a butterfly. “Hell no.”

He smiled and backed off slightly. She gasped at the raw hollow ache in her pelvis. He surged forward again, filling her. And again. And yet again.

A wild need seized her. Her wolf driving her, she grabbed his hips and ground herself against him as if she could rattle his very bones.

His sexy grin exposed sharp, gleaming teeth. He began banging into her.

She yowled and met him thrust for thrust. His wolf was driving him too, joining them in a savage rhythm. Together they built higher and higher until she was lifted to a precipice in the blue heavens themselves. She grasped his shoulders, fingers digging into muscles so taut they were iron. “
Mine
.”

His gaze blazed into hers. “Mine,” he agreed, and thrust to the very core of her being.

Power flooded her. She came, soaring like a bird. He came with her. They clasped each other and flew together through intense shuddering, shock and aftershock.

As their panting began to slow, he raised himself to hold her face in one hand. His gaze was tender. “I wanted to go slower. To show you reverence and honor.”

“Showing how much I turn you on is good too.” She yawned. Sobered. “That can’t have been our last time. It’s too soon. I just found you.”

“Sweetheart. It won’t be.” He put his palm between her breasts. Took her hand and placed it over his heart.

It was an acknowledgment, and a pact.
True mates
.

If they survived the Witches’ Council.

If he survived the fight.

Chapter Twenty-Two

They dressed and retreated to the main office. Sophia sat on a couch. Noah sat holding hands with her—he refused to let her go.

She said, “So Jayden mentioned there was something about you that I should know—”

“Shh.” He nodded at the door. “Company’s coming. I’ll tell you later.”

Mason and Jayden joined them, leaning against the walls, both of them staring out the office door with its clear view of the store’s east window. Neither spoke but a muscle worked in Jayden’s black-stubbled jaw.

The sex, Noah’s warm body and the temporary lull made Sophia relax. Then the tension and exertion crashed down on her, and she could barely keep her eyes open. She broke the silence to wake herself. “Where does the Challenge Fight take place?”

Mason said, “The field in back.”

“In broad daylight? Aren’t you afraid you’ll be seen?”

“The field’s shielded.”

“What if the shield fails?”

“It can’t. It’s anchored to four talismans buried in the soil. They continuously refresh the spell.”

“Oh.”

They were silent again. She slumped against Noah. She was painfully exhausted and he was so warm…

She stiffened. “What about Noah’s poison? If it’s not gone, will it interfere with the fight?”

Jayden answered. “Some. It’ll slow him and make his movements stiff. But if the hex is gone I’ll be able to leach the poison.”

“And if not?”

Noah said, “I’ll have bigger troubles than a little stiffness. Don’t worry, Sophia.” He rubbed her shoulder. “I’ve faced bigger opponents before.”

“Over a hundred pounds bigger?”

He didn’t answer.

They were silent again. She finally dropped off, dozing in Noah’s arms. Her dreams were troubled. She was being chased by a horde of tiny wolves with mustaches. They’d just gotten their needle-sharp claws into her when she startled awake.

Noah was napping with his head canted back at an angle that wouldn’t have been comfortable for a contortionist. She eased him down onto the couch, lay next to him and pillowed her head on his chest. They both slept better then.

Mason woke them as the windows brightened with predawn. Sophia sat up and yawned. Jayden was leaning against the wall, seeming negligent, but his black eyes were sharp on Noah. Next to Jayden, Mason watched Noah outright, not trying to hide his anxiety.

“Don’t worry.” Noah sprang to his feet as the first rays sparkled on the glass. “I feel fine. Better than fine. I feel exactly like my old self—” His form blurred and the tiny rat dog King popped into being standing on the couch cushions next to her. “
Yip
.” He snapped it off as if it were a four-letter word.

“Yap, yap!”

That wasn’t Noah.

Sophia swiveled to where Mason and Jayden stood by the window, bright sun streaming enthusiastically through the glass…only Mason stood there.

“Yap!”

Her eyes adjusted—down. Next to Mason quivered a very angry, black-haired miniature poodle.

She stifled a totally inappropriate laugh.

“Shit,” Mason said. “What happened?”

He took the words right out of her mouth. “Jayden’s spell not only failed—I think it rebounded on him.”

“Hell.” Mason drove fingers through his hair, paced, then spun and flung a hand at the furiously yapping poodle. “Now how will he reverse the hex?”

“He won’t.” She pumped iron into her spine. “I will.”

Noah leaped in front of her, his little shaggy brows lowered like thunderclouds, his angry yip slicing through Jayden’s barking. She could almost hear him saying,
Not for me you won’t. You’re not putting yourself in danger for me
.

“Noah.” She took his cute doggie face between her hands. “Either I do this or you fight Ivan as an undersized dog. Your pack is at stake. So unless there are other alternatives—”

“Yip!” He jerked out of her hands to turn to Mason and growl.

Mason winced. “Uh, sorry, Noah. No.”

“You can understand him?” she asked. “What is he saying?”

“I don’t understand the words, but I know what he’s saying.” Mason’s face reddened. “He wants me to challenge Ivan.”

“And you won’t? Just because you don’t want to be alpha? Or are you too scared? I can’t believe it. You’d let Noah stake his life against—”

“Sophia, no, that’s not it. I
can’t
fight Ivan. I’m, uh, his bond-brother.”

Noah sat abruptly on his little hindquarters. He stared at his big lieutenant with surprise and consternation.

“It happened when I first came, okay? I went through a joining ceremony that involved little sleep and a whole lot of alcohol. Next thing I knew Ivan and I were slapping cut palms together and I was pack—and his blood brother.”

The black poodle started huffing, either the doggie version of a belly laugh, or he was hurking a hairball.

Noah yipped at the poodle. Sophia looked to Mason for translation.

“He said, ‘You’re no help.’ Um, with a few more colorful terms added.”

“Noah, please.” Aunt Linda was missing, Gabriel was hundreds of miles away. Jayden had no magic and Mason was handcuffed by the ties of kinship. It was devastatingly clear.

It was up to her. “I’ll remove the hex.”

All three males started yapping at her.

“Because yelling works so well.” With a glance heavenward—praying for patience inevitably granted the need for it—she decided the issue by simply striding to the garage.

Mason followed automatically. Being queen had some perks. The poodle and rat dog followed more reluctantly, yipping and yapping at each other the whole way.

“Where’s your chalk?” she said. When Mason wordlessly handed her a chunk, she started refreshing Jayden’s circles.

Mason stood next to her, watching closely. “How do you know it won’t do the same thing it did to Jayden?”

“I’m warding against it.” She scribed a six-point star around the outer circle. Her movements were smooth, easy. Like riding a bike or swimming, it came right back.

“Won’t the poison try to leap the gap?”

“Yes. I’ll need your help to stop it.” She finished the star, stepped out of her banker pumps and took off her socks, then traced her bare feet with chalk. Even the dogs stopped arguing to watch what she was doing.

“What is that?” Mason asked.

“I’ve rigged a sort of cutoff switch. If you see that I’m losing control, push me out of these.” She pointed at the blue ringing her feet. “My power will automatically cut.”

Jayden poodle trotted over to sniff the chalk markings. He nodded and his tail wagged.

“Glad you approve.”

Mason squatted to touch the tracings around her feet. “How does it work?”

“It’s advanced element theory,” she said. “A witch’s power comes from within, but visualization of that power is usually attached to an element, either earth, wind, fire or…”

His eyes glazed over. Poor Mason.

She took pity. “I’m pulling earth power. Break my ground, and it breaks the line of power.”

“Oh.” His gaze cleared and he stood. “Got it.”

“Noah? I’ll need you inside the circles.”

The terrier yipped doubtfully. Even without words she knew where his concerns lay.

“Don’t worry about me. The hex will be contained by the star and Mason will break in if your poison tries to take me over. And the pain…” She didn’t like lying to him, but the pack needed him. And if he lost the fight when she could have made the difference, she wouldn’t want to live with herself, anyway. “The pain will pass. C’mon Noah, let me do this for the pack. Or if not the pack, let me do this for us. For our future.”

That finally did it. His jaw firmed. With a determined step he entered the inner circle, showing a profound level of trust in her, in the power and control of a witch he’d met only a few days before.

She blinked scratchy eyes.

Jayden barked. He seemed to be trying to tell her something. He poked her with his nose and barked again. It must be important.

She knelt, touched the white wolf brooch mentally and pushed her awareness outside her skin, accessing her wolf without shifting. She caught
layered
, then
backlash
and
rapid
and something like
tied at the tail
. Warning her against the rapid backlash of the poison? “I’ll work as fast as I can. Step back.”

She stood and closed her eyes, prepared to break her second seal.

To her surprise a third of her power, the power she’d given to Jayden, formed a lake at her feet, lapping at the shore of herself, waiting for her.

The lovemaking with Noah had apparently restored her more than she realized.

“Are you okay?” Mason said. “Your body snapped straight. Should I pull you out?”

“I’m okay. Starting the reveal.” She mentally reimaged the water into sweet soil beneath her feet. Pictured herself as a tree, her roots extending deep into the life-giving earth. Drawing power smoothly into herself, she flung her spell into the circles’ joined point.

Like Jayden’s earlier reveal, a column of power shimmered up from the concrete under Noah’s paws to the ceiling of the repair shop, rich brown because she was drawing earth magic. The power began to throb rhythmically. Her body throbbed in time with it.

But when she opened her witch’s eye, nothing beyond a tiny pulsing point of red, the remains of the poison, showed.

Where was the hex?

“What’s going on?” Mason said.

“Earth magic didn’t reveal it. I’ll have to try a multi-element spell. Don’t worry—I’m still grounded with earth.” She stirred up a little water magic and splashed the hex.

The power swirling around Noah brightened with blue streaks—but the hex didn’t show.

She conjured up her wand, sparked red fire and pumped it through the circles’ join. The swirling smoke shimmered brighter.

“
Reveal.
” She blew the word into the containment on a puff of air. With the fourth element, the smoke suddenly glittered brilliantly, as if lit from within.

A tangle of magic was revealed glowing around the dog, a mummy’s windings of vivid purples, yellows, reds and blues.

She’d anticipated a complex, radically altered bur hex, so it took her a moment to realize what she was seeing.

“Your eyes are wide,” Mason said. “Should I pull you out?”

“No. It’s just that…it’s a simple wrapping hex.” Not hard to undo at all. Snip the magic anywhere, it unraveled. She wondered why Jayden hadn’t managed it. He seemed like a competent enough mage.

Deep in Noah’s flank, the poison flared.

No time to figure it out. She relaxed her grip on the multi-element reveal spell and pulled magical metal shears from the ground.

A wave of her hand sent the shears into the circle. They opened to snip the hex, like a steel Pac Man. Chomp.

But instead of cutting through, the shears
cracked
. Another chomp, they shattered. Bits of metal fell to the concrete, wavered and disappeared.

She stared, shocked.

“Sophia!” Mason. “What’s going on?”

“The wrapping hex broke the shears. But no way a wrapping hex could have that much power…shit.”

The poison surged toward her like an ocean wave.

Automatically she threw a wall of water magic up with her left hand. The poison hit with acid splashes, spurting over the water wall and spraying the edge of the containing circle. She lifted more power from the sandbox and poured it into both water wall and circle, until it was almost gone.

“Sophia, what’s happening?”

“
More power
.” She needed to break her penultimate dome.

She touched the metal inlays on her wand. “I sing silver, I sing gold.” As she chanted she stabbed the wand into the air, accessing the last of her earth magic and simultaneously stabbing a mental diamond drill against the magical seal.

Across from her, poison leaked, oozing along the chalk tracings. Pain bled into her soles. She pushed it aside to drill into her sealed power.

The funeral barrier cracked. Her hands began to burn. More pain bled into her feet. The cracks began to open. Her legs throbbed from the leaking poison. Her hands were on fire from the cracking funeral seal.

She clenched the wand so tight her fingers ached.
For Noah
. She bashed the diamond tip into the dome.

The barrier shattered.

The dome burst in a shower of glass. Power screamed along her veins, blasting into her hands, the second lock of her head-hands-heart spell.

Mason said, “Damn it, Sophia…”

Her palms swelled, her fingers puffed until her skin felt like cooked sausage casing about to explode.

She panted through the pain, tears sheeting down her cheeks. Clumsily fisting the freed magic, she fashioned a knife and flung it against the hex wrappings.

Feedback sliced her with agony, but the knife flew fast and true. It hit the hex windings.

The knife shattered into dust.

“Answer me!”

C-can’t.
She didn’t know if she spoke out loud or not.

She rapidly chewed her options. Direct power, no good. She waved the blade edgewise across the windings. The knife shooped off like a skate on ice—skittering a half inch
above
the hex.

The poison bulged containment like a can of botulism about to burst.

Poison ran in rivulets along the chalk. The main body fought behind her wall of water, pulsing,
pushing
, seeking a chink. Pain was eroding her concentration.

She could either fight the pain or cast one last spell.

Mason said, “If you don’t answer me, I’m pulling you out.”

She cast magic.

Panting, she let the death sacrifice burn her as she swept up a new knife with her wand. One last chance. Couldn’t cut it. Compact it?

Her hands were too swollen and burnt to work a spell. The pain had dulled to a dark ache, not good news, like warming before freezing to death.

“
Shrink
.” With the last of her concentration, she flung the spell at the hex.

It hit and rebounded straight at her.

Mason yanked her back. She stumbled out of her foot tracings, the spell zapping so close to her ear she heard it whine past.