Ialmost cried when she walked away. They were manly tears, strong tears. Maggie reached into a small brown pouch on her belt and rummaged around. My eyes grew big as she stuck her whole arm in it. Maggie wasn’t completely powerless.
“Got it,” she cried and wielded a blue tiger’s eye.
I didn’t dare think about where she had to put it for it to work. I prayed it was my chest. As Maggie’s hand floated downward, I braced until the crystal rested right above my dick.
“Draw it into your sacral chakra.”
Spoken like a true witch. My Nightmare drew in the power of the crystal and my body finally gave up the magic. I covered my cock in an automatic gesture. No one better touch me for a week. She took the stone off me and inspected it, her mind working.
“I still have magic to use.” It sparked along her darkened fingertips and into the crystal.
Emotions warred in my chest. She still had magic to spare because the thready mate bond attempted to fill her up no matter what. It wasn’t overflowing, but she didn’t drain herself to human levels again. Perfect. I just handed another weapon for her to use against me. I tolerated her assassination attempts only because they turned me on hotter than the seven hells and sweeter than the six heavens.
Now, she could really hurt me.
“You’re going to have to learn some control,” I said, not unkindly.
“You sound just like my sister,” she snapped anyway.
“Evie isn’t always wrong. Forgive yourself even if she can’t. You see how you charge up as a witch, right?”
“Why didn’t sex do this before?”
“We’re compatible. That generates all kinds of magic.” I wouldn’t say Mates. The words wouldn’t form, for as much shit as I gave her for not being able to talk about her feelings.
I put my hands on her shoulders. “What happened to you is not okay. You don’t deserve punishment for a cockwaffle’s assault.”
“Is that what you are? My punishment?” The last question came out a bit breathless and I stiffened at her tone. I wasn’t prepared for the needy way she said it. A spurt of love emptied into my shadowed heart. I would be anything for her, even that. Even when she didn’t deserve it. We were so complicated. Impossible even.
No matter how much I wanted to give her everything, we were going to burn bright and explode.
That didn’t sit right for the first time. Stupid bond gave me ideas. It wouldn’t have been able to latch her if we weren’t Mates. But no Elven Kingdom would be ruled by a witch. A half-breed like me proved bad enough. Everything in me resisted, but we barreled toward the day when I would have to break her heart.
Chapter 10
Noth
Tell her we love her.
I understood I looked insane wrestling with my Nightmare as I lay in bed, doing my best not to wake Maggie. For a half-Nightmare, sleep didn’t come easy.
Tell her the way we love her outlasts darkness, dreams, and desires.
Leave me alone,I snapped at him.
We need to give her everything.
He had been hounding me relentlessly since I had woken up in a sweat. He thought waxing on about her was better than trembling over my dreams. Sometimes moving around, wrestling with my Nightmare, tired me out enough to sleep again. More often my memories won. But today, restraining him until first light only made me morejittery. He didn’t mean to, but he surfaced my own nightmares on occasion, to purge them from our system. For every one he outed, more frightening aspects of my imprisonment kept appearing. Who could have guessed the smell of wooden crates would be something I would grow to hate?
I watched Maggie sleep for another half hour, trying to calm my nerves. She was beautiful in a way I couldn’t quite describe. For every impulse to split her in two with my cock, I wanted twice as badly to brush the hair from her face without waking her. Her scent in our nose, the radiating warmth of her, was pure torture. Last night, I vowed I wouldn’t drag her deeper into this only to break her. I had to get her home for both our sakes.
I wouldn’t think about the fact that I had already delayed this little side quest too long. All the calamity waiting for me over the horizon kept me energized enough until Maggie woke on a soft sigh. The sound made me want to pin her to the bed until she opened her lake-blue eyes and they sparked fire.
“Like what you see, pervert?” she said from her nest of blankets.
I did, very much, but I also needed the Calix. Annoyed with myself for letting her distract me, I attempted to put the proper distance between us again.
“I clearly didn’t wear you out enough if you can still mouth off.”
