Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered (5 page)

“True enough. But no, I’m not sleeping with Brian. I might. I’ve considered it. Don’t tell Lex— he’ll have an aneurysm.”

“No kidding.”

I hadn’t met Brian Dannaher, but I knew he was the third chronicler living in the area. I liked Michael Black well enough, and Simon was…well, I didn’t hate his guts. If Marie liked Dannaher, he must be okay. Though her taste was questionable—she had pink hair, after all.

Marie set her sandwich down. “That wasn’t what I wanted to tell you. After I dealt with the alchemist kids, I had a call forwarded to me from an old summoner couple. Grandparents. They hadn’t heard from their son and his family for a few days and wanted me to check up on them.”

“Doesn’t sound like guardian business.”

“It’s not. Not usually, anyway. Their council wasn’t answering their calls and…” she trailed off, wincing.

“And?” I prompted.

“They didn’t want to call you. Family’s faerie-blooded.”

I frowned down into my bowl of cereal, listening to its soothing crackling as the milk tried to drown it. “They say why not?”

“Yeah,” she replied, but didn’t elaborate. Marie didn’t have to.

I’d heard it often enough, ever since my first day on the job. Most magicians didn’t want to work with me. For one, I was a kinslayer. Killing your own didn’t bother magicians as much as it used to, but the sad fact was we were still outnumbered by the straights, and historically magicians got twitchy about killing each other (with the exception of sorcerers, vamps, and shifters, who are special cases). Even though my dad deserved a death sentence, the kinder, gentler opinion was that I should have spared him. Shown some sort of mercy that would prove to the world that I was a good person.

I dropped the spoon and then rubbed my face with my hands. “What happened?”

“I looked the son’s place over. No sign of him, his wife, or his two kids. Looks like they were snatched during breakfast. Food still on the table and everything.”

“Kids. Fucking hell. How can they justify torturing kids?” Disgusted, I pushed my bowl away.

“Same way everyone else does. They don’t think of us as people, or of those kids as kids. We’re just things to dissect, like worms or frogs.” Marie shrugged, picked up her sandwich, and took another bite. “No sign of who took them, or where they were taken. As usual.”

“Damn. Did you tell the grandparents?”

“Yeah. They didn’t take it well. Are you gonna talk to Lex or let him sweat his tantrum out?” she asked, and I sighed.

“He’s got a right to be mad.”

“It’s not helping anything, is it? It won’t make Simon find the spell to free you any faster,” she pointed out.

“Right. Are you sure you two are related? You’ve got way more sense than him.”

Marie laughed and grinned. “He got all the muscle. The rest of us got the brains.” She popped the last bite of sandwich into her mouth, and I rose to dump the cereal down the garbage disposal.

“Hey, do you know anything about this?” I pulled the flyer with the tiger on it out of my pocket and held it out to her. Marie nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Were you going to mention it?” I prompted.

“No. You’ve got enough on your plate to worry about right now.”

It was true, but it wasn’t a problem I could avoid. The witch council was responsible for this particular pain in my ass. They’d approached one of Maureen’s grandchildren, Riley O’Driscoll, and told her a sob story about how I was the evilest thing since Darth Vader, and convinced her to take the Titania position away from me. There was a time when I would’ve been more than happy to hand the job over to one of Maureen’s kin, but that was before I’d jumped through all sorts of hoops to win it. Hell, I couldn’t quit even if I wanted to now because I’d sworn to do the job and quitting would make me an oathbreaker. Plus Riley was an untrained witch, and now she was a brand-new shapeshifter. She didn’t even have the good sense to be ashamed of the fact that she was infected with wild magic. No way she could handle my job, so apparently we were going to duke it out for Titania at some point, winner take all.

Marie shrugged. “I’m gonna crash. I’ve got another long day tomorrow.”

“The real estate agent will be here in the morning,” I reminded her.

“No problem. I’ll set my alarm. G’night.”

At least someone would sleep well tonight. I rinsed out the bowl and put it into the dishwasher, tapping my fingers against the granite countertop as I debated what to do. I could go to bed, stare at the ceiling, and pretend to be asleep when Lex finally came in. Or I could go downstairs and try to make peace, risking the chance of just making things worse and one of us sleeping on the couch.

I chose the riskier option and headed into the basement. I opened the door and was greeted with a blast of Nine Inch Nails. Wincing, I shut the door behind me and made my way down the stairs, the music thrumming louder with each step. When I reached the bottom I paused at the sight of Lex, and my throat tightened so much that it was hard to breathe. He was across the room, working with the heavy bag, glowing with sweat and temper. Lex was angry all the time, and it killed me that I had no way to fix it. Every time I tried to talk to him, it ended with him being frustrated and me apologizing profusely, with no progress and no resolution.

Covering my ears, I crossed to the stereo and killed the noise. Lex whirled at the sudden silence, and I held my hands up.

“Don’t shoot, it’s just me,” I joked. He nodded, his hands on his hips, and I forced myself to keep my eyes on his instead of on his glistening, bare chest.

“What’s wrong?”

“Marie’s home. She got a call about a missing summoner family. Hunters got ’em, parents and two kids. No sign of where they’ve been taken.”

Lex shook his head in disgust. “Anything else?”

“They were faerie-blooded, and they didn’t come to us for help,” I admitted. Lex slugged the heavy bag and I flinched. Guilt gripped my stomach, and I was glad I hadn’t eaten the cereal. I imagined it wouldn’t be as tasty on a return trip. “I know, it’s my fault, and I’m sorry.”

“It’s Harrison’s fault.”

I nodded, running a hand over my braided hair. “It’ll be better after the bond’s broken. I’m sure people will calm down once it’s official that I’m 100 percent vampire-free.”

“If that ever happens,” he muttered. I barely caught it, and I frowned.

“I’m sure Simon and Mac will find a counterspell. There has to be one somewhere. Or they can make one up.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Okay. What did you mean?”

“You’re gettin’ more friendly with each other,” he replied.

“Really? I question your definition of
friendly
.” I folded my arms across my chest, offended by the idea.

“You finish each other’s sentences,” Lex pointed out.

“Because he’s invading my brain, not because we’re BFFs.”

“So after you’re free, it won’t bother you if your Silverleaf cousins kill him?”

I paused, squirmy at the idea. Sure, I threatened Zach with death all the time, but more out of habit than real venom at this point. Then again, the world would probably be a better place without him…or would it? He was looking out for us in his own twisted way. Harrison wanted to protect our people from the hunters, and our people needed protecting.

“He’s more useful alive,” I argued.

“He isn’t alive.”

I scowled, not in the mood to get into this at the moment. “Are we going to fight about him again? That horse is dead, quit beating it already.”

“We’re going to keep fighting until he’s out of our lives. Permanently.”

“Is that really necessary? I love you. I married you. He’s just…a parasite. Like a tick or a tapeworm.”

“And parasites need to be exterminated.”

True enough, though for some reason I didn’t want to admit that. “I’m more concerned about exterminating the hunters before they exterminate us.”

“We can take care of the hunters.”

“By ourselves? No way. There’s too many of them. This will only stop if we work together. Everyone’s trying to handle them on their own—that’s why they’re picking us off. Now they’re taking kids. Who knows what they’ll do next.”

“You know what they say about what happens when you lie down with dogs,” he said.

“You can’t use that cliché because you let the dogs sleep in the bed.”

Lex cracked a smirk. “I suppose so. But my dogs don’t have fleas.”

“Half the time they’re dirty and they smell like the river. So your analogy fails. Besides, clearly Harrison has cooties, not fleas, and he’s not allowed anywhere near our bed. Ever.” I hoped I was convincing. I sure felt like I was. Lex nodded again and looked away, and I could tell from the crease of his brow that something was still bothering him. “What’s wrong?”

“You can say that here, now. But when you’re standin’ next to him, and he’s tryin’ to push his will over yours, can you say it then?” he asked.

“He hasn’t tried anything like that since the art gallery.”

“Or he just got more subtle about it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You let him drink from you with no argument,” Lex snapped.

“Because there was no point in arguing. He’s a vampire. Blood was going to happen, and I just wanted to get it over with.”

“Well it’s not going to happen again. You’re
my
wife. He doesn’t have a right to anything from you. Not blood, not sympathy, not a damn thing.”

I was in complete agreement with that statement, so I did the most sensible thing I could think of—I stomped over to him, grabbed him, and kissed him. “I love you,” I reminded him sternly. “Only you. I married you, remember? That whole soul mates thing?”

“I know. I love you too.” He took my face in his hands and kissed me, rough and possessive and completely toe-curling. Lex glanced past me toward the stairs, and I grinned.

“Marie’s gone to sleep,” I said.

“Good. Are you okay?”

“Sure. I’ll be better if you get naked.”

Was I healthy enough for frolic? Probably not, because I had a lot more healing to do, but I was willing to give frolic a try if it meant reconciling with my husband. Lex grinned and reached for the buttons of my shirt. It quickly became a swath of black fabric draped over the treadmill, followed by my bra. Lex was an expert at unhooking my bra with one hand. I fumbled with the buckle of his belt and then with the fly of his jeans. We managed to remove the rest of our clothes clumsily, but without injury, and next I was flat on my back on top of a pile of exercise mats.

“I love you, Cat,” Lex murmured as he kissed down my body. I sighed happily when he reached my breasts, teasing my nipples with his hands, tongue, and teeth. He paused, his hands skimming over my side, and I flinched. A dark bruise stained my skin where Rousseau’s sword had wounded Zach.

“You could kiss it and make it better,” I suggested.

“Are you sure I can’t kill him?”

“This is not appropriate naked conversation. Have I mentioned lately that you have very handsome eyes?”

Lex grinned. “Good save.”

“The smile’s very attractive too,” I added. I kissed him to punctuate my statement and wrapped my arms around him. His skin was slick with sweat from venting his frustration against the heavy bag, but it didn’t bother me. Normally I wasn’t a fan of sweat—especially my own—but on Lex it was kinda sexy in a “whoa, abs really
can
glisten” kind of way. The man was built like a Greek god. Me…well, maybe I could qualify for one of the more curvaceous marble statues. Lex was chiseled. I was rounded.

He kissed me hungrily, and I held him close as his cock slid inside my sex. I shivered, not from cold but from the feeling of completeness. No one else felt as right as he did. Maybe it was from being soul mates, but I’d loved him before I’d known that. He said he’d felt the same way about me, and I considered reminding him of it, but the idea fizzled as my brain melted.

Lord and Lady, the man felt so damn
good
. I murmured his name and moaned my approval. He held back, moving slowly and gently to avoid aggravating my injuries. We both wanted more than that—ravishing was usually on the menu after a Harrison-related incident—but this would work. It was a slow burn that built with every stroke, every whispered endearment and passionate kiss. I gasped when I climaxed, and he followed a few seconds later. Lex rested his forehead against mine, and we stared into each other’s eyes. Like I said, he has very handsome eyes, a lovely shade of light blue, like a summer sky. We’d have cute kids, if and when we ever got around to that.

“Are you all right?” he asked again. “I wasn’t too rough?”

“I feel fabulous,” I assured him.

Lex nodded and then glanced toward the bathroom door. “I should shower.”

“We should shower,” I corrected with an impish smile.

“I like that idea.”

Chapter Three

Instead of being awakened by the alarm clock, the sound of my cell phone’s ringing dragged me awake at six in the morning. I grabbed it, resisting the urge to huck the annoying bastard against the wall, and answered it.