9781618851307WitchsBrewShayNC (50 page)

Topaz
turned hot eyes on the Persian. There was something cold and calculating about
Maxine. She sure as hell wasn’t as sweet as his Celine. In fact, she was a
little scary, but damn she was hot, and she wanted him. Celine didn’t want him
and his pride had taken a beating.

Maxine smiled and pressed her mouth against his chest. “I
want you to teach me everything you know.”

Topaz groaned and clasped her tiny claws against his
chest. “Not a word to Celine about what happens between us.”

“My lips are sealed, big boy.”

Topaz picked her up and headed down the hall. “You know a
place where we can have a bit of privacy?”

She grinned and nuzzled her furry face against his throat.
“Of course.”

He rumbled deep in his chest. “I’m all yours, baby.”

“More than you know, big boy,” she said, her voice filled
with promise.

And though he knew he was making a dreadful mistake, Topaz
let his cock do his thinking. As soon as they were behind closed doors, he
lowered her to the floor, rode her down and was inside her before she could
make a squeak. For the rest of the day and into the wee hours of dawn, he spent
his time proving to Maxine he was the stud she believed him to be.

Dawn’s early light filtered across the sky. The sunny rays
speared across Topaz’ face, waking him. He sighed, stretched, and scratched his
balls. By the gods, he felt great! His cock lay nice and soft, his balls
drained. He didn’t think he could get a hard-on even if Celine went down on him
again. His body ached, but it was a nice, contented ache.
Celine?
Gods, even after mating numerous times with Maxie–and
indeed she was a worthy substitue–it was still Celine he wanted, still her name
he cried out when his seed erupted in her sister.

He turned and pulled the soft, furry body next to his a
little closer. “Celine,” he whispered, nudging her with his flaccid cock. “What
a night you gave me.”

“I’m not Celine, you big horny Alley Cat.” Maxine leapt
from their mating bed, hissing. “As many times as you stuck that big thing in
me, you still can’t get my name right?”

Topaz chewed on his lower lip and shrugged. “Guess not. I
have to go. I should never have spent the night with you.”

“You aren’t going anywhere. You’re mine, in every sense of
the word. Do you think I’m going to let you go to Celine and do to her all the
things you did to me this night?”

“I don’t belong to you. I belong to Celine.”

She smirked. “You have a funny way of proving it.” She
glanced down and grinned. “You still want me.”

“No. I don’t. I want my sweet Celine.” He crossed his big
paws over his rising cock. Shit. He hadn’t thought there was any life left in
it, but that was Beltane. It made you ready to mate whether you wanted the
person in front of you or not. “I have to get home to her. I want to bond with
Celine.”

“You’re bonded to me. I’m going to have your kits. That
makes you mine.You try to leave me and I’ll screech the palace down. I’ll tell
the guards you broke into my room and raped me.”

“You can’t rape the willing, Toots. I’m going.” He knew
immediately he’d said the wrong thing. The Persian rolled her eyes and he knew
she was just plain crazy. She hissed and snapped her sharp, pointy teeth at
him. She was going to be trouble, all right. Big trouble.

Maxine
now had ten of his kits growing in her sleek belly. His daughters. The
daughters he’d planned to give to his Celine. And Maxie, this beautiful feline…whom
he’d innocently mistaken for his Celine, and in a moment of weakness spent the
night with her, had turned into the pussy from hell!

In moments, seconds, she’d turned into a demanding,
deranged monster. Screaming, yelling, cursing, ordering him to dump his sweet
Celine and remain with her.
As if!

“You’re
my
bond mate,” Maxine snarled. “I refuse to
share you with Celine. I’ll tell her what you did to me. I’ll say you courted
me, swore you loved me, and shagged me again and again. She’ll despise you by
the time I’m through.”

Topaz
backed away from her. “Celine already despises me, Maxie.”

“Don’t
call me Maxie,” she screamed. “I hate it! You big dope!”

“What
happened to, ‘I love it when you call me Maxie? And I’ll never tell?’”

Maxine smiled insolently. “We’re bonded, you jerk. You
have to take care of me. I order you to forget about Celine and love me and
only me!”

“Yes, we’re bonded.” Topaz winced at the very thought of
being stuck with this she-cat from hell. “In that, I have no choice, you
conceived my kits.” Boy, had she!

“I
certainly did,” she said in a pleased tone and rubbed her belly. “You did me
well. I’m full with your babies.”

“It
wasn’t something I planned, Maxie.”

“Planned
or not, you willingly stayed with me and put your kits in me. You knew the
risks. I’m yours. And you’re mine.”

“I
might be yours, but you’ll never own me. I have a choice as to whom I give my
heart. And I can assure you, I haven’t given it to you, nor am I very likely
to. I don’t love you, Maxie. I’ve had my fill of you. You were great for a one
nighter, but I don’t want you again.” He slid his gaze up and down her sleek
body, his look contemptuous. “At heart, you’re a tramp, Toots, a cheap thrill. I’m
willing to bet you’d ride any male Ally Cat just for a cheap thrill. I
certainly would never choose to keep you over my Celine.” A sneer curled his
top lip. “I’ll love and provide for the kits I’ve given you because they’re a
part of me, and I don’t turn my back on what’s mine. But never will I love you.
And I’m warning you, Maxie, stay away from Celine. You hurt her in any way, and
I’ll choke all nine lives out of you.” He whirled and stormed away, muttering,
“Jeez. Show a pussy a little fun and right away she turns into a witch.”

The noose was going to strangle him. Next thing, he’d be
coughing up hairballs. Big hairballs. Sure as the Fates laughed, Maxine was
going to give him misery. She’d rat on him. He smacked himself in the head. And
gods, what had he been thinking giving those rats to her. He’d caught them for
his one true love. Damn him for being so horny! How was he ever going to
explain any of this to Celine? She’d never forgive him for mating with Maxie.

She certainly wouldn’t forgive the proof of his infidelity
if she ever saw his daughters Maxie would deliver in six weeks. Hell, Celine
already distrusted him. There was no way she’d ever believe him innocent of any
wrongdoing. The truth was Maxie had seduced him with her sweet resemblance to
his Celine.

But Celine would never believe it, not with Maxie carrying
ten
of his kits. Oh, yeah, he was in
real deep ca-ca. Ca-ca, hell! He was swimming in shit up to his neck and
drowning. There was no one to toss him a paddle. And damn if he didn’t believe
Maxine would bust her pretty little ass to inform Celine he’d shagged her.

What
was he going to do?

Topaz stormed through a door with little regard of where
he was going and slammed it behind him. He had to think. How was he going to
keep Maxie away from Celine? How was he ever going to keep his daughters tucked
away so Celine never found out about them? There was no way, short of murdering
Maxie and the kits.

He was through the room and half-way into the next chamber
before it hit him. Eerie quiet. Murky shadows—a threat of danger leaping out
and surrounding him.

The
strong, musky scent of stale sex coated and burned his sensitive nostrils. His
eyes watered. He gagged. “What a horrible stench!”

Before
he could halt his next step, he tripped and fell forward. Topaz pushed himself
up on all fours, staring down at the thing he’d tripped over and landed on top
of.

His
throat closed up. He couldn’t breathe.

His
body shook with violent tremors.

Topaz
scrambled backward, lurching unsteadily like a spider missing a leg. He
blinked, trying to adjust his vision to the semi-darkness in the chamber.

Finally,
he inhaled, then slowly exhaled. “What the hell?”

As
his eyes adjusted to the deep shadows, Topaz bellowed a long, single-worded screech.
“Fuuuck!”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Because
Dorcas Hoar was the first of those pleading innocent to
confess, her execution was delayed.

~Salem Witch Trials

September 21, 1692

Sanctuary

Talon’s
fingers trembled as he thrust them through his hair and paced the floor of the
apartment above Saylym’s shop. He knew that she’d open her store any minute.
She had to.

He
told himself she had to, but uncertainty gnawed at his soul. She
didn’t
have to. There was no law that said she had to do anything that was her usual
routine. Damn it! He couldn’t bear this, couldn’t stand being apart from her.
Her anger and hatred was killing him. Somehow, she’d crawled inside his heart
and taken it away from him. He loved her.

Then why hadn’t he told her?

Because he’d wanted to hang on to that last single, simple
thread of freedom—a damned fool, that’s what he was. He’d been wrong not to
tell her, and now it might be too late. There had to be a way he could make her
believe he truly loved her, but he had a feeling she wasn’t going to believe
anything he said.

He’d lost her trust, broken faith. It wouldn’t be easy to
win her back.

How
could he fault her reasoning? She was right. He hadn’t been as honest with her
as he should have been, but damn it, he’d been afraid of scaring her more than
she already was.

How
could he have known what would happen with her?

He
hadn’t suspected she was of royal blood. Certainly, mating with a royal-blooded
witch would be different than mating with common witches.

He
swore softly and checked the clock on the wall.

She
was late.

Saylym
was never late.

She
would be here. His mate wasn’t the kind of witch who would let personal issues
stop her from opening her shop.

Blast it.
He’d
known she had no knowledge of witch ways or of the locking process. And he’d
taken total advantage of her lack of information.

Would she be even angrier when she learned she was
pregnant? That he’d known she wasn’t infected and could conceive? He’d been
aware she was fertile. Yes, he’d known, but even he hadn’t anticipated two
children.

Talon!

Talon jerked at the sound of Topaz’s distress call. His
eyes narrowed with concentration as he tried to zero in where the big tom was
located.

What
in the world was the feline doing at the palace?

As
soon as he realized the location, he chanted:

“Full moon
and candles

Magic times
three

I summon the
power,

So
send me!”

Talon’s
long strides faltered as he crossed the palace grounds. His lips parted, and
worked to form words, but he couldn’t seem to voice a sound or form a single
syllable.

What
the hell?

He stood frozen, gaping at the sight of the obscene
slaughter that greeted him.

There was no one,
no one
—alive outside the palace
walls. Scattered across the outer grounds, as if they were so much refuse,
crisply charcoaled bodies lay smoldering in the early morning sun. The palace
guards, Talon noted grimly, recognizing traces of uniforms on the blackened
bodies.

Rubbing
a weary hand down his face, Talon felt utterly defeated. The entire Royal Elite
Guard protecting the outer grounds of the palace was dead. Slaughtered.

His
parents. Where were they? Had they also been hurled into oblivion? Burned as
the guards were burned?

Talon broke into a run, slipping on the marble floor as he
raced through the Grand Entrance. He took the wide staircase three steps at a
time, and then turned, racing down the corridor where the family’s private
chambers were located.

“Mother!
Dad!” Nothing. Not a hint of a response.

Stry’s room was empty. He slammed the door behind him and
moved slowly, cautiously down the corridor. Devil’s toenails! With everything
that had happened between him and Saylym, he’d completely forgotten about Stry
being missing. How could he forget such a thing?

He realized now he should have been more concerned about
Stry’s disappearance, but he’d thought, with Beltane heating up, that Stry had
most likely found a willing witch for the season and was hiding out with her.

Now he wasn’t so sure.

Where was he?

Had he suffered the same fate as the royal guard?

Terror speared through Talon as he stalked down the
corridor. His room, as well, was unoccupied. At least that was normal.

“Gods,”
he whispered as he entered Kali’s chambers. He couldn’t remember when his
sister had last been home from school or even if she was home at this time on
some kind of break. He rarely saw her any more. “Kali?”

No
reply. The room was deathly quiet.

Her bedchambers looked as if a whirlwind had spun around
inside it tossing everything about harum-scarum. Bed unmade. Clothes scattered
about the room, tossed willy-nilly over chairs, dresser, and bed. Shoes piled
in an assorted mass of colors and styles in a corner. Silk stockings draped
carelessly over the bed posts.

His nostrils flared as a mish-mash of perfumed fragrances
spiked the room with their heady aroma. Talon breathed a sigh of relief. His
sister might live in a pigsty, but for Kali, the room appeared perfectly
normal.

He was about to back out and close the door when he heard
a strange scratching noise and something from overhead plopped onto his
shoulder. He jumped, swearing violently as he pulled at the thing sliding down
his back.