Bound by Magick 4-in-1 Box Set (Pentacles of Magick) (26 page)

He cradled her head in his hands, watching her small, pink
tongue dart out and touch her lip nervously. He kissed that spot. “You are an
incredible woman, Jessica.”

“No one calls me that anymore,” she murmured.

“I will.” He crushed his lips on hers, drinking in her
eager, open response. His fingers threaded through her hair with a gentle tug,
angling her head for him to plunder her mouth with his tongue. The silky, thick
strands caressed his hands, making him yearn for even more of her. With
her tongue forcing its way inside him he wondered how her aggressive little
mouth would feel on his hard as steel cock, licking around the tip. Noah
moaned in her mouth at that thought as her hands grazed over his nipples,
squeezing the tips as she did.

* * *

Goddess, she loved the way the soft hair sprinkling across
his chest tickled her hands as she touched him. Just looking at him made her
sex ache with want, but oh, when his heat, his fire, touched her, her nipples
ached with desire. His husky moan shot straight to her pussy where her
juices coated her slit, waiting for his touch. As if knowing exactly what
she needed, his hands trailed down her sides until he pulled back enough to slide
them between her thighs, cupping her mound.

“Oh…Noah…” She needed more. Wanted his hands caressing her
breasts and clit, feeding her his heat.

When his fingers slipped through her wet folds she looked up
and caught his gaze. Her breath hitched from both the incredible sensation of
his hand as well as the intensity of his blue eyes as he watched her reaction.
He stopped just short of touching her where she needed and Jessie bit down on
her lip to stop her cry of protest. Instead he delved a finger deep inside
her, sparking delicious sensation along her sensitive tissue. Jessie
arched her back over the railing and let out a low keening cry of appreciation,
pushing her hips into his hand forcing his finger even deeper.

“Oh, yes…please.”

“Please what?”

She gulped in air. “Please—more—harder.”

Noah added a second finger and thrust them both harder into
her passage, setting off an electric shock that traveled the entire length of
her body. Pleasure soared through her as an orgasm built and her body trembled
with the force to hold it back. She could wait for him. But when his
thumb circled around her clit, she wavered in her resolve, trying to fight it.
His fingertip swiped and pressed against her sensitive nub with an insistent
pressure that forced her body to explode in his hand as she fell headlong into
the dark abyss of pleasure. Her hips rolled against his hand, riding out
the pleasure through one shock wave after another.

With his free hand Noah reached for the button and zipper of
his jeans. He savagely tore at them until he freed his thick, swollen
flesh. His fingers continued to stroke at a slow leisurely pace, spreading her
moisture around her opening before pulling them free and bringing them to his
mouth. She watched him lick and suckle all of her juice, groaning with a
husky deep tone.

“So, so sweet, baby. I can’t ever get enough of you.”

Jessie reached between them and wrapped her hand around his
stiff cock, squeezing with a tight and steady pressure. With every pulse of him
in her hand, her own inner walls clenched, driving her insane. He let his hand
fall as his head fell back. “Fuck, Jessie. That feels so good. Too good
even.” He returned his gaze to hers. “I want to fuck you.”

His hands grasped her buttocks so he could hoist her just
enough for an easier entrance. “Guide me in, baby, surround my cock with your
tight little pussy.”

She did, too. She swirled his head through the soaking wet
outer lips and paused just as his tip started to move inside. She moved her
hand from between them and Noah slid deep, penetrating her to the hilt. Jessie
exhaled into the humid air as the sensation stole her breath, his cock
stretching and filling her. Noah rested his head against her shoulder, his
heart beating a quick and unsteady rhythm against hers until he slowly withdrew
to the tip before slamming inside once again.

With each deep stroke he bumped against her plumped up clit,
sending jolts of electricity shuddering through her. Her legs trembled with
each stroke and she gripped his bulging biceps to steady herself. Sweat
broke out on her brow as her body hurtled toward the second orgasm building
inside. “Yes—yesss.”

His fingers dug into her ass with a bruising force as he
fucked her hard and deep. Stealing a glance at him, her nerves jumped at the
look of being lost in lust on his face. At that moment, when she wanted to
remember that look of joy forever, his eyes popped open.

“Come for me, Jessie, come now.” His urgent and throaty
words sent that extra shock of electricity through her body until she hurtled
over the cliff, free-falling into a wave of emotion and pleasure. In that
moment she was nothing but a woman that Noah desired and needed, not a creature
for him to hate. 

His own words had faded to grunts and groans as he, too,
succumbed to the pleasure and exploded inside her, splashing her womb with jets
of release. For her it was a primal meeting of two people desperate for
some sanity in the craziness that surrounded them both, each providing shelter
for the other. When he collapsed against her, she listened to sound of
their lungs sawing the air in and out of their chests as they fought to bring
their heart rates to a normal level. 

The anger he had felt was now floating around inside her,
something she no longer had a defense for. Her demon side loosened but
never broke free, not strong enough to rebuild from the damage. Nausea roiled
through her belly as Noah slid from her body and released her to the ground,
holding her arms to steady her. She turned her head away, avoiding Noah’s
knowing gaze, not wanting him to see or feel her distress.

“No, Jessie, you can’t pull away from me now. I’m here and
I’m sticking.” She wrapped her arms around her waist, willing her stomach to
calm. “Talk to—” Noah pulled her arm and brought her around to face him.
“What’s wrong with your arm? Does it hurt? Holy hell, it’s glowing, the
branding…”

Alarm ricocheted through her as she looked down to see the
now familiar orange glow of the pentacle on her shoulder, with one distinct
difference than all the other times. The Reverend wasn’t here performing
his ritual and stealing her magick piece by piece. The heat in her brand
continued to build and burn, the pain close to an unbearable level. What was
going on?

“This isn’t right, Noah, it’s only been like this when Scott
performed his ceremonies with me, when he took my magick, under extreme duress,
I’d like to add.”

“My magick maybe? Whatever it is, I don’t like it and
have a damned bad feeling about it.”

Chapter Six

 
“It’s burning,
Noah, it hurts—I can’t—” She wavered in front of him, her eyes
rolled back in her head. 

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

She was going down and fast. He scooped her into his
arms and ran for the door, using his power to yank the damn thing off the
hinges in his hurry. He rushed into the bathroom and turned on the cold water,
shoving them both underneath the frigid spray coming out of the
showerhead. The cold liquid splashed directly onto the glowing brand,
popping and sizzling with each drop. It didn’t seem to have any affect on
it and he didn’t know how long she could stay like this before something tragic
happened. He sat her down on the seat behind him and dropped to his knees
in front of her. With the multiple showerheads in the stall, water still
cascaded onto her arm, but this way he would have his hands free to try and
help, too. He concentrated on the heat as he laid his bare palm across the
wound, taking it in as his own.

He gasped at the shot of darkness that struck through him,
fighting for breath as his lungs contracted. What the hell was this? His own
vision blurred as he concentrated on removing the heat, desperate to relieve
Jessie of her pain. The magick fought him, not wanting to let go of
her. Noah put his second hand on top of the other and pulled every shred
of power up that he could, chanting an amplification spell as he did. Long
painful minutes later the struggle eased and the heat leapt to his hand forming
a small sphere in his palm when he turned it upward. But, unlike the blue clean
magick he was expecting, he was faced with a sizzling red flame
ball. Demon magick. Holy Hell what had his uncle done to her?

He needed to get rid of this shit, but he didn’t want to
leave her like this, slumped against the wall unconscious, water pouring over
her. Assessing the seriousness of the burning, growing entity in his hand,
he decided she would be okay for a few minutes while he did what he had
to. He ran through the house to the back deck. Once there he quickly
flung the red ball in the air above the water with his right hand while his
left shot it with a blast of his stronger white magick. 

The sphere sizzled and burned larger than before until
exploding in a flash of white light that engulfed the house and cove. Noah
guarded his eyes and held his breath until the fine ash of the destroyed demon
magick drifted down on him. Now he needed to figure out what demon he was
dealing with and find the link between the demon and his uncle. Finally,
something tangible to sink his teeth in—demon hunting, his specialty.

He strode back inside the house, grabbing towels on his way
to the bathroom. He turned the water off and inspected her shoulder. It
was now cool to the touch, but it had darkened to a smoky black from the heat.
He pressed his fingers to her wrist, finding her pulse thready but strong, and
when he peeled her eyelids up to get a look at her eyes he found them still
dilated. Her body was stressed but she would be fine, he would make sure
of it. Taking her too thin body back into his arms, he carried her to his
bed. After toweling her dry he tucked her between the sheets, relieved
that her body had a pink and healthy tinge to it with some color returning to
her cheeks.

The wet strands of her hair fanned out across his pillow, so
beautifully. She looked good enough to eat all snuggled in his bed, and he
couldn’t wait to curl around her and bury his face in her hair, breathing in
her scent as he fell asleep holding her tight. His shoulders sagged on a
regretful sigh. The simple pleasures would have to wait, he needed to talk to
someone familiar with ceremonies that can transfer demon magick to a
witch.  That kind of thing was against nature and it amazed him how many
people did it anyways, be damned the consequences.

Unfortunately at the moment there were few people Noah could
trust not to be connected to his uncle. He would call Denn, there was no one he
could trust more and he would know someone with some information. Peeling his
wet clothes from his body, he hastily donned a pair of running pants, scooped
up his satellite phone from the chest, and headed to his office to make the
call.

* * *

“Seriously, Noah, what you’re describing is
dangerous. Only a crazy person would want to deal with a demon like that.”
Noah had been talking on the phone with Rena for over an hour now and
discovered that his brother Graelen’s mate had an incredible amount of demon
knowledge but a penchant for debate that made him unsure whether he would hug
her or hide from her when they finally met in person.

“Well, if I hadn’t been holding the demon magick right in my
hand after extracting it from her I might tend to agree. But it happened, so
now I need to know what kind of demon I might be dealing with and how I keep
her away from it.”

“This is new territory for even me. Normally a demon is
summoned with a witch’s power and the demon lends his much more powerful magick
if a bargain can be struck. You know they are quite selfish, but since they
love spending time on this plane, wreaking havoc, they are eager to
negotiate. But in nearly every recorded case, something always goes
wrong. I can’t understand the arrogance of the stupid witches that keep
trying.” She sighed.

“I hear you, babe. I see this far more often than I
should. Well, not exactly this, but demons and their tricks anyways.”

“Bottom line, Noah, it’s going to take me more time to find
out what’s going on here. What’s her current condition?”

“She’s still out cold but all her vitals are good.” He
looked at the screen above his desk where the security camera was focused on
his bed and the fragile woman resting there. Funny, he would have never
considered her fragile before, but this ordeal had changed her and she needed
his help. Now every protective gene he possessed was on high alert. For
her he would do anything, even lay his life down if it would save her from
whatever had happened or would. And his experience and instincts told him
that her involvement in this was far from over.

“Noah, are you listening?” Rena asked.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry. I sort of zoned for a second thinking
about what Jessie’s been through.”

“I get that she is your first priority, as your mate
should.”

“Wait, I didn’t say that, don’t go putting words in my
mouth. She is special, I’ll give you that, but this whole fated mates and
prophecy still sounds like a load of bullshit from a family past that is rather
questionable at this point. I’m not about to put a lot of stock into it.”

She laughed. “You will. I’m sure you can already tell the
difference in yourself and your power being around her, and I would be willing
to lay odds that the two of you are drawn to each other and having trouble
keeping your hands off each other, and I’m not much of a gambler under normal
circumstances. That’s just how much I believe in what’s happening.”

He snorted. What could he say? He’d never reacted to a
woman the way he did her. She twisted him in knots just being here, and truth
be told he’d ached for her every minute since she’d left him. Now she was
back—either through fate or something else didn’t really matter, they’d
been dealt a second chance.

Movement on the screen caught his eye as Jessie started to
stir. “I’ve got to run, Rena, I think she’s waking up.”

“One more thing, Noah, and it’s important so give it some
thought. If Scott branded her with demon magick, and it was able to channel
through her, who’s to say he couldn’t use that same connection to track her?”

Alarm shot through him at her words. Fuck, he should
have thought of that. Normally no one could find this place unless he wanted
them to, but if she had been turned into Scott’s personal GPS tracking device
they were screwed.

“Noah, are you there? Did you hear what she said? This
has me worried. Where are you and how secure is it?” Graelen had
commandeered the phone from Rena.

“Yeah, I’m here. I should have expected something like
this. Getting her off his compound had been far easier than I’d
expected. Shit! We are in a normally secure place, but that security
relies on being able to hide. If he’s tracking her, we aren’t hiding
anymore.”

“How long would it take the two of you to get out of there?”

“What difference does it make, where are we going to go he
couldn’t track her?”

“Then tell me where you are and we’ll all be on our
way. If we all put our brains and our power together like we are meant to,
then we should be able to take care of this once and for all. We’ll make a
stand.”

Noah envisioned his tiny cove being invaded by his brothers
and their women. The loss of the tranquility would be
devastating. But his home had been designed as a defensible base, it was
probably a good as place as any to take on known and unknown enemies. He
would have to break his long held location silence and allow his family to come
here. “Hang on for a GPS screen shot. Feed it into your mapping system and
you should be able to pinpoint the location pretty quickly. For Denn, it’s
a half day’s trip, for you and Cash it will be longer. Probably a day and
half, maybe two depending on your flight and travel arrangements.”

Noah listened to the all too familiar sound of keys on a
keyboard tapping out instructions. A low whistle sounded in the phone. “You
really do know how to hide, don’t you? Still, we’ll leave here within the
hour. You can count on our arrival in less than twenty-four hours. What
will you do until we get there? Knowing you the way I do, I imagine you have a
plan in place for this kind of thing.”

“I have a few tricks up my sleeves.”

“Uh huh, okay, brother, until tomorrow stay safe. For
Goddess’ sake, don’t let the woman out of your site, our time is running out.”

Noah switched off the phone and looked at the woman on the
screen. She hadn’t gotten up from the bed, but her hands were threaded
through her hair, cradling her skull. His body thrummed again with the need to
touch her, to make sure she was all right as he turned off the screen and
walked from his office to the bedroom. The minute he stepped in the room
he caught her scent along with the familiar smell of fire. His
scent. Together the two mingled, weaving around her, his senses leaving
him a little short of breath and anxious to get close to her.

“Jessie, how are you feeling?”

“Tired, empty, and sick to death of your uncle.”

He swallowed his laugh, since him thinking she looked more
adorable than ever while upset and vulnerable like this might not go over very
well. “Is your head hurting?” He sat next to her and traced the bare skin of
her arms with his fingers till he, too, had her hair wrapped around his hand.
He massaged her scalp.

“I’ll be all right.”

* * *

“Do you remember what happened?”

“Yes. The brand…it activated. I’m somehow still connected.”

“He’s been using demon magick against you. Why didn’t you
tell me? We have a pretty serious situation on our hands.”

Jessie stilled, schooled her features in the hopes of
looking neutral to his words. He’d seen her magick? “Demon magick?”

“Yes, I got a handful of the hot and nasty red stuff from
your body through that mark.”

Hope went through her as she considered that maybe she could
get her magick back after all. “What did you do with it?”

“Destroyed it as quickly as I could. That stuff is
damned unpredictable and not something to keep around no matter how much
someone might want to look at it or study it.”

She nodded. What else could she do but agree with
him? The venom that he spoke with against demons and their magick made it
crystal clear that she’d done the right thing when she left him the first
time. He would never accept her if he knew the truth. Half witch or
not, she possessed the demon magick that so many feared. More than that, she’d
spent a lifetime trying to suppress it because she didn’t know how to control
it. Her mother hated her for having it, and she had never met her
biological father, which left her brother. She sighed long and
deep. She missed Jake. He had always stuck up for her, protected her
from hatred when he could, and in the long run she’d failed him by using the
one thing that made them different.

Now she was helpless to save him or herself. She
shifted on the bed, restless now to do something, anything, to fight this. If
she could find a way to get her magick back…

“Rena seems to think with that brand of yours and the fact
Scott has gotten his hands on some demon magick make him capable of tracking
you. If that’s true then it probably won’t be long before we have some
company out here.”

“What!?” She jumped from the bed and paced the floor. 
Run,
Jessie. Run
. “I have to get out of here. Now.” She looked down at
herself. Clothes. She needed some first. Her gaze traversed the room,
trying to remember where she had clothes. She had to go now. She
couldn’t wait. Couldn’t take the chance of being recaptured by Scott. Couldn’t
let Noah be hurt or worse because of her.

She ran for the door.

“Jessie—what the hell?”

She turned to the back of the cabin, remembering the boats
tethered to the dock. She could get away that way. Halfway to the back
door at a dead run she felt warm, strong arms wrap around her like bands of
steel, his body propelled against hers, tackling her to the ground. 

“Jessie. Stop. What are you doing? Where are you going?
What’s wrong?”

“Let me go, Noah.” She fought him with everything she had,
twisting and kicking her legs, desperately seeking some leverage to get loose
of his bear tight hold on her.