The Lightning Prophecy (The Lightning Witch Trilogy Book 1) (15 page)

“Oh, Delaney, you’re bleeding,” Reid said as he rolled off of me. His voice startled me out of my thoughts. I sat up without opening my eyes and my forehead connected with Reid’s chin.

“Ouch! Shit, Reid, I’m sorry,” I said, reaching to feel the knot on my forehead, but in doing so I whacked Reid’s chin, again.
Oh sweet hot sauce I am a mess
. “Oh God.”

“Woman, don’t move before you give me a black eye.” There was not an ounce of hurt or annoyance in his expression. There was, however, a glint of amusement in his gaze.

“I’m sorry. I’m such a mess,” I said. Then I caught the red spot forming on his chin and winced.

“You're just enough mess. Now, sit up let me look at your shoulder.” I sat up and stayed as still as possible. His touch was light as he looked over the wound.

“It’s not as bad as I thought was,” he said as he placed a light kiss on the skin just north of the wound. And, just like that, my heart kicked up a gear and began to thunder. He must have sensed the reaction I was having because he kissed me deeply. I pulled away and placed a hand over his lips as he came toward me for another kiss that would surely kick thing up another notch.

“Wait, let me go wash my collarbone off and get a few Band-Aids.” He quickly nipped my finger and shifted fully off me.

I ran off to the bathroom as not to be naked for too long. Yes, the man and I had just done some intimate things, but it was plain weird to walk around nude with someone else in my home. I cleaned myself up from our activities then turned the faucet on and splashed some water over the wound. After it was cleaned off, I saw it was just a bite. I would have thought the were would have ripped at it or gone for my throat
. That’s weird. Had he been trying to kill me?
If so, he was clearly the worst werewolf on the planet. Had he not been trying to kill me, then why attack? It made no sense. I found a few Band-Aids and placed them over the largest punctures. I found a white tank top that I slept in the night before and slipped it on. I also slipped on my black lace thong. Hey, it was all I had and would have to do until I found some shorts. Reid sat up against the headboard of my bed. He had no shirt on, and God, the sight of him made my mouth water and made me want to run my tongue down every part of him. I looked up to his face to find him smiling at me.

“You’re looking at me like I'm dessert,” he said, grinning even bigger.

I scoffed and said, “No, I’m just looking for shorts.” I turned around and began looking through the basket on the floor. I heard a groan from the bed.

“Don’t bother. It’s more I’m going to have to take off of you.” His tone was full of promise. I stood up and turned around and I knew my face had to be beet red because I totally forgot I had a thong on. I just mooned him. Ugh.

“Come here before I tackle you where you stand.” I smiled and slowly climbed up the bed. I made my way to him, crawling up his body, and stopped when I sat straddling him. I wrapped my legs around him, bringing us pelvis to pelvis and that when I felt him hard and ready against me.
Holy hot sauce, batman, but this man is inexhaustible.

“Reid, I don’t think I can…”

“Not now. But, later. Right now I want to hold you. Wait, is that Hello Kitty?”  

I looked down at my Band-Aids and sure enough they were. “Yeah, Troy...” I trailed off at the feel of his hand slipping under my shirt to draw circles on my back.

“I don’t think the were was trying to kill me.” His hand stilled at my words.

“No, I don’t think so either.”

“There’s something we are missing. I just wish I knew what it was.” I knew there was something I needed to tell him, I just couldn’t put my … Oh, Mil! I then in great detail explained everything that Mil told me, including the prophecy. He was so still; I sat back slightly to see his face. He looked angry.

“Reid?” I questioned lightly. God, I knew I should have told him. I just didn’t trust my gut. I let fear rule my actions and look where that had gotten me, a pissed-off werewolf.

“Delaney, why didn’t you tell me?” He sounded so hurt. It hurt my heart to hear that tone.

“I guess I thought it was so absurd I didn’t think it was relevant.”
And I didn’t trust you
, I didn’t say.

I couldn't meet his eyes. This was the same fight we had three weeks ago in reverse.
Dammit, I suck.
“I guess I thought it wasn’t true so there would be no reason for me to worry about it.”

Reid put a finger under my chin, forcing my gaze to his.

“Listen, just because we think this prophecy thing is shit doesn't mean some psychotic prick out there doesn't believe it’s real.” His tone was firm and his eyes steady. God, I hadn’t even thought of it that way. I thought this prophecy was bullshit, so I never thought someone would really believe in it.
I really am a moron.
I was so stupid, that’s what this whole thing was about. I shifted off of Reid’s lap. I needed to think and being so close to him made things all foggy. He reluctantly let me go. I scooted off the bed and began to pace.

“What are you doing?” Reid raised an eyebrow in question.

“I’m baking a fucking cake. I’m pacing. I think I’m having a revelation.” I kept pacing.

“By all means, keep pacing. Your ass in those panties is making my mouth water.”

His remark only made me falter slightly. This attack wasn’t about killing me. I think that’s pretty clear. This whole time the prick was killing witches knowing they were powerful, but he may not have taken the time to find out what all of their powers were. According to the prophecy, I did look like the likely person, as my powers to control lightning have never been seen before. What did Mil say, the God of Thunder made a child from his storm? Or some craziness.
Oh shit, and there it is
.
Why didn’t I see it before?
I stopped pacing and turned to Reid.

“Reid, it was a test.”

“What do you mean?”

“The attack tonight was a test. I think he wanted to find out what powers I had.” Reid sat in bed, unmoving. He was giving what I said serious consideration. After a few heartbeats I saw when what I said sunk in and he realized what I was saying.

“Holy shit, Delaney, we are close! We have to be. That would be the only reason this asshole even knows about you. I didn’t hear of any attacks on the other witches. He must know we are closing in and he wants to be sure he has it right this time.”

“He knows I am his last chance,” I said, knowing it was true. It had to be true. It was the only thing in this whole messed-up situation that made any sense. He sprung out of bed and grabbed his pants, and was shoving a foot in when he looked at me questioningly. “What are you doing, big guy?”

“We have seven, no, six days to get this guy,” he said, buttoning his pants and making his way to the door of the apartment. I didn’t stop him. He’d be back.

I heard the door to the apartment open. “Shit.” Then I heard the door shut.

I stood by the foot of the bed with my hands on my hips, tapping one foot.

“You let me get all the way to the door without reminding me it’s the middle of the night?” Reid said, coming toe to toe with me.

I looked all the way up his bare chest to his handsome face and smiled shyly. “I knew you’d be back.”

He placed his hands on either side of my neck and put both thumbs under my chin, angling my face to his. “Delaney, we have six days to figure out who this guy is. I will not risk you in this.” He moved a thumb to my lips, tracing each curve. I parted my lips slightly and kissed his thumb.

“I know. I don’t want to risk you either. But tonight, let’s just focus on us.” After the words left my lips I knew that’s what I wanted too. I stood on my tiptoes and guided his face to mine. We stood there just kissing, tasting, and learning each other.

“Let’s get in bed, Delaney,” he said, panting. He stripped off his pants, revealing just what he wanted to do in that bed. I began to take my top off when he said, “No, keep it on.”

Oh God, was I wrong about his intentions?
I felt heat rush to my face in embarrassment.

“Sorry, I…”

“Hush,” he said, covering my mouth with his in a brief kiss. “I want it off, but I want to be the one to take it off.” He sat on the edge on the bed and pulled me between his legs. He slowly lifted my shirt up over my head and tossed it to the floor.

DELANEY’S SKIN LOOKED
like a mix of cream and honey. Her skin felt like heated silk. I traced along the line of her spine. Even in her sleep she shuddered at my touch. Just this little bit of her exposed, her naked back made my cock twitch. She had been a virgin at twenty-six
. How does that even happen anymore?
Well, I guess it wasn’t that surprising, mainly because she had been slipping mild bolts of electricity through me all night.

I placed a kiss at the base of her spine above her luscious ass just before I slipped out of bed. I needed to make a quick call to Mitch and clue him in to how close we were to nabbing this guy. I needed to get Mitch back down here so we could put pressure on him and see if we could force him into making a mistake.

I crept to my discarded gray athletic shorts laying on the floor. I slipped them on and turned to view the sleeping form on the bed. God, she was beautiful even when she slept. I slinked to the front door and slipped out.

“Saldana.” Mitch sounded out of breath. But, over a phone, who really knew.

“Mitch. It’s Reid, you need to get your ass down here.”

“Reid,” he said in a steady tone, “you are not my alpha. You do not give me orders.”

Whoa. The fuck was that?
He knew outside of this case I had nothing over him, as I did not want to be in a pack, nor did I have some delusion of grandeur of taking over one.

He went to Atlanta to see if one of his pack had betrayed him. I was guessing that’s why he was on edge. I had never been in a pack much less dealt with the headache that was being an alpha. So, I had no idea what he was dealing with. But, I would kin it to a family member betraying him. That thought softened my tone.

“Mitch, I apologize, but I do need you down here. Did you figure anything out up there?” My tone was as even as I could manage, as my temper was always hot despite rationality.

“I’m sorry. It’s been a long-ass night. No, I had a few pack members who did not show up so I hunted them down, questioned them, and they are being punished for their disobedience. But other than that, unless they are lying I didn’t turn anything up.” I heard whimpers and whines in the background. “What’s up? Why do I need to be in a burning hurry to get back there?”

“I had a conversation with Delaney. She relayed a ton of information she learned from her great aunt.”

“You gonna make me beg?”

I went on to tell Mitch everything Delaney told me about the witch history and the prophecy. I then explained how we thought this guy was testing Delaney and how we thought we might be closing in on him.

“Christ, Reid, you discovered all of this last night and are just now calling me? What the hell was so damned important you couldn't call me?” He sounded so hurt.

I was fucking Delaney within an inch of her life. I had some Earth-moving and soul-shattering sex with Delaney. Yeah, I didn’t think any of that would really work as an appropriate response. Clearly while I was trying to come up with something, anything, to say, I left the line in silence for too long.

“Reid? You didn’t,” Mitch said.

This was not like me. I did not just hop into bed with someone, much less someone involved in a case I was working on.

“Damnit, Reid! You better not let this interfere with getting this asshole. And I was going to ask her out.”

The thought of Mitch taking Delaney out made me want to punch something. Mitch and I had been friends for some time, but I did not want him anywhere near Delaney. It was not that I thought something would happen between them. It was the wolf; clearly he was being pulled toward Delaney despite my misgivings about the situation. I liked her quite a bit. But, putting myself out there to get hurt, I just didn’t think that was something I could do, not right now. Well, if that was true then I wouldn’t care if he did anything with her. And yet here I am about to break the phone because of the thought of him asking Delaney on a freaking date.

“Mitch, just get down here. And don’t think about asking for details. I know you were about to,” I said in an even tone.

“You’re no fun at all. I’ll leave here in about an hour. So, I’ll be there in five hours. I say let’s go see her aunt. Maybe she knows more about this than she told Delaney.” I heard a car door shut and an engine start up.

“Yeah. We have six days. Mitch, we cannot let this guy get Delaney.”

“Agreed.” The call was disconnected with that.

My head was honestly reeling with thoughts of Delaney
. How do I feel about her? Do I love her?
My body thought I did, but my head was trying to talk some sense to my heart before it leapt out of my chest. Would my life be empty without her in it? Yes. I knew I felt strongly for Delaney. Now I just needed to figure out what to call this emotion.

I snuck back into the apartment to wake Delaney, who was still asleep. Every bit of me wanted to crawl up beside her and nuzzle her neck. I walked over to her face and knelt down to kiss her nose. She didn’t ever stir. Damn, the girl could sleep. I pushed her brown hair out of her face and stroked her cheek.

“Delaney, it’s time to get up. We have work to do.”

She groaned and flipped over, giving me a complete view of her naked back and ass. Christ, this woman had power over me that no woman should have. My cock jumped to attention without consulting my brain. I couldn’t help myself. I grabbed her soft flesh. She let out a soft moan.

“Reid, not again, or I won’t be able to walk,” she said sleepily.

“Then you better cover your ass because,” I said, squeezing her ass harder, “I am having a hard time concentrating.”

With that she rolled over and blinked up at me. Her lips were slightly puffy and her eyes were a bright storm-cloud gray. She looked like she had been thoroughly fucked. The thought made me smile.

“Why are you smiling?” she asked, reaching for my lips with her thumb.

Nipping at her thumb, I said, “Because you look good enough to eat. And if you don’t get out of that bed, you’re going to be what's for breakfast.”

“Not the best motivation, but I’ll get up.”

When she got up she was completely nude. And my God her body could make a dead man twitch. All I could do was stare at her as she walked over to me. She flung her arms around my neck and pressed her lips to mine in a firm kiss. I kissed her back with interest, the feel of her naked breasts against my naked chest sending blood rushing to my cock.
Ugh,
this was not helping my motivation to get this day started and it was already after 10 A.M. She pulled away as though she knew we needed to stop before we ended up back in that bed.

“I’m going to take a shower then get dressed. Will you make some coffee for me? I fear if I invite you in we won't leave.” She turned and sashayed her pretty little ass to the bathroom. I had a sneaking suspicion she wiggled it a little more just for me.

About twenty minutes later she came out with wet, slicked hair. She wore short jean shorts with a white lace tank top and under that tank top was a light-blue spaghetti-strapped shirt. The hem of that shirt ended about three inches shy of her waistband, showing three inches of lace-covered skin. This female was a man’s wet dream. I handed her a mug of coffee.

“Well, what do we do today? I feel like we need to put the pressure on,” she said, breathing in the scent of her coffee.

“Mitch should be here in about four hours. How about you call up your aunt and see if we can drop by. I think that is going to be the best place to start.”

“Did he find anything with his pack?”

“No, but I think we need to focus on this area and protecting you.”

With that last bit she choked on her coffee. I knew she would be pissy over that last one.

“What? Why? I do not need a babysitter,” she said indignantly.

“No, you need someone around just in case. You will be with myself or Mitch at all times.” Mitch with her, yeah, that was not going to happen. “Preferably me.”

She raised her eyebrows at me and smiled. “A tad jealous, are we?”

Hell fucking yes I am.
But, I sure was not going to admit that to her. “Maybe.”

She set her coffee cup on the table and crossed her arms over her chest. She looked cute when she was gearing up for a fight. Her lips set in a hard line and her brow was pinched.

“Reid, what are we? I mean, what is this?”

The question hit me like a ton of bricks. I honestly did not know what to say. Did I want a relationship with her? Did I want to claim her? Was she my girlfriend? A girlfriend. The thought made me shudder. How the hell did I answer that question? I could love her. I looked into her searching gaze. There was variability there. This question was important to her and it was to me.

“Delaney, let’s just take it day by day. I enjoy being with you. We do not need to label this.” While that was the truth, it felt wrong to say. I felt like I was lying.

Her face was absolutely unreadable. For a few heartbeats we both just stood there staring at each other. Did I want her to have a reaction?
Ugh!
I was like a teenager with this woman. I had no idea what I wanted.

“I’m going to call Mil and tell her to expect us.” She turned her back to me.

I was such a shit head. Could I not just say,
I really care for you
? Hell I may love you. How hard was that? But, no, I let her walk away.
Such a chicken shit
. I shook my head in self-disgust.

“Hey, Mil. Are you up for having guests? I thought I would bring a few friends by…” There was a pause. “Yes, Mil, I’ll think about moving. We should be there in about five hours.” Pause yet again. “Oh okay, bye.”

“Everything okay?” I wondered.

Delaney wrinkled her brows at the phone then looked up to meet my gaze. “Yeah, she said she would be there, but had to go because the carpet cleaner was at the door.” We both just stood there looking at each other and then without any words spoken we busted out laughing.

“She’s getting her…” Delaney spoke between gulps of air and sobs of laughter. “...Her carpet cleaned.”

“What are we, seven?” I said, having a hard time halting my own laughter. Finally, after the laughter calmed, I said, “Hey, let’s go to my hotel room so I can get clothes. We can review the files to kill time before Mitch gets here.”

Delaney gave me a smile and said, “Let’s do this.” But, there wasn’t the spark of joy her smile normally held. And I was the one who did that. I was such an ass.

SO WE KNEW
all of the witches that were killed were once registered, but at the time of death they were not. So, I would say the killer thought the witch he was looking for was once registered but no longer. None of this made sense because Delaney had never been registered. It seemed like this guy had a list and was just going down it one by one. It couldn’t be that easy, could it?

“Delaney, how much do you know about the Coven?”

She put the file she held on the bed and thought about the question before she answered it. “A fair amount, why?”

“Do they have a record of all of the witches who were once registered and now no longer are?”

“I am one hundred percent sure they do. The Coven keeps meticulous records. If the Coven is anything, they are all up in people’s business. That’s why Mil and I moved so much. The Coven’s reach is impressively intense.”