Authors: Ann Gimpel
“You can still save me, beautiful man.”
Duncan stared through the gloom at a goddess reincarnate. Titania, queen of the Faerie Court, beckoned to him through a shroud of silver hair. He fought a compulsion spell, stronger than any he’d ever known. Finally, just when he feared he was lost, he managed to tear his gaze away. The gate slammed into deep holes in the ground. Duncan half turned, gasping to move air past a thick place in his throat. His palms ached and he realized he’d clenched his hands into fists so hard, his nails had drawn blood.
“Come on.” Herself again, Colleen motioned to Bubba. The changeling glittered, shifted back into his gnome’s body, and ran to her. She gathered him into her arms and turned to Duncan. “Ready to leave?” Weariness underscored her words, but at least the madness had left her eyes.
“More than ready.” He reached for her hand. She grasped it and together they floated upward. He knew better than to try to deploy a teleportation spell from the bowels of Hell. It would boomerang right back at them.
It didn’t take long for Hell to eject them. The underworld knew who belonged there—and who didn’t. Colleen caught her breath as the enormous wooden entrance gates swung shut behind them. “Let’s get away from here,” she murmured as she shucked her small backpack, pulled clothes from it, handed Bubba’s to him, and dressed. “We don’t have to go far, but…”
“I understand.” Duncan nodded. He drew a ragged spell about them “How about if I aim for the nearest point where Earth coincides with this borderworld?”
“Fine by me.” Because the borderworlds weren’t static, they could come out anywhere, but it didn’t matter so long as they put some distance between themselves and Hell.
One of her fears had always been that the gatekeeper to the Ninth Circle would tire of his role as jailer and come after her before she’d cleared the underworld, demon in tow, shrieking, “Take it with you.” She had no idea what would happen if she refused, and she didn’t want to find out.
Colleen picked Bubba up again and moved to Duncan’s side. The changeling’s body shuddered against hers. “You were a hero,” she told him.
“This one was hard,” Bubba said.
Colleen nodded. The changeling was right. This had been the most difficult trip she’d ever made to Hell with a demon. Were they getting stronger? If that was true, she didn’t like thinking what it might mean for her, Roz, and Jenna. Duncan’s magic rose around them. A sun swept vista, dramatic counterpoint to Hell’s dusky atmosphere, appeared almost immediately.
She gazed at sagebrush, rolling hills, and dried, packed earth. “Thank God. No people.”
“I’m not sure why,” Duncan sounded almost as wiped out as she felt, “but it worked that way last time I left Hell too. Maybe the gods want to make certain mortals don’t discover too much about the kingdom of the dead.”
“Maybe so.” She sank onto warm earth, glorying in how alive the dirt felt against her body. Insects buzzed and birds chirped in the near distance. Bubba wriggled and she let him go. The changeling staggered a few steps away, lay down, and curled onto his side. He’d sleep until they were ready to leave, which was fine. He’d earned it.
Duncan settled into a cross-legged sit across from her, face serious. “First off, I’m ashamed about my poor showing when you escorted the demon down that hallway at the witches’ headquarters building.” He shook his head and the corners of his mouth curved into a disgusted moue. “I don’t fully understand what happened, but I couldn’t think about anything except…” His cheeks splotched with color and his voice trailed off.
“Getting laid,” she filled in for him. “Yes, I know. I’ve been there. The Irichna are incorrigible. They’ll use any tool they think will turn us into instruments that dance to their bidding.”
Should I tell him?
Colleen felt her face heat and figured she was almost as rosy as Duncan. “Er, it was me who made you come. Not the demon. I figured if you got it over with, there was at least a slender hope I’d still be able to bring you with us.”
Humiliation scored his features; lines formed around his eyes. “You would have left me behind.” At her nod, his jaw tightened. “I don’t blame you. You had a hell of a time with that thing. You didn’t need me mucking up the works.”
“Look.” She held his gaze. “I’ve been there. I’ve puked. I’ve nearly caved in to their manipulations. The first time I saw one, I was with a dozen other witches. I bolted. They had to haul me back and force me to face the thing. I was shaking so hard, it was all I could do to remain upright.”
Admiration kindled behind his eyes. “Even knowing that, you took a chance on me.” His lips curved into a soft smile. “Thank you.”
Colleen bit back a snort. “You came very close to making me sorry.”
“I’ll do better next time.”
Her eyes widened at his words because she understood there would, indeed, be a next time. “Does that mean you’re still volunteering to help? I thought surely after…well, after actually coming into contact with those bastards—”
“That I’d exit stage left with a bunch of convenient excuses?” he cut in. Duncan edged closer and took one of her hands in his. “I’m not that easy to get rid of.” An odd expression flitted across his face, but it was gone before she could interpret it. “And I’ve never fancied myself a coward. How could I live with myself if I fled back to my nice safe life, knowing I left you to face those…abominations by yourself?”
She bristled and tried to draw her hand away, but he held fast. “Bubba and I, along with Roz and Jenna, have been doing just fine. I don’t need crumbs from your table.”
He tipped her chin with his other hand so she had to look at him. “Well now, you don’t have a choice in the matter. It’s not
crumbs from my table
. You’re an amazing woman. I haven’t been able to think of anything but you since you emerged from that curtain at the rear of your shop.”
Her stomach did an odd little flip-flop. “What exactly are you saying?” Her lips trembled. She smushed them together, hoping he hadn’t noticed.
He brushed a knuckle over her mouth. “I’m starting to care about you, Colleen. A lot. I admire your courage, and your mind. You’re beautiful and strong and fearless. I can’t tell you how panicked I was when the Irichna bit you.”
“My animal forms have power. It took me years to discover just how much.”
“I noticed.” He tightened his hold on her hand. “You can heal yourself.”
She nodded. “Most of their poisons don’t bother me, either.”
“Like I said, beautiful, strong, and fearless.”
His words sent shivers racing down her spine, but she shook her head. “Scarcely fearless. It’s just I’ve figured out how to function when I’m so scared I can’t see straight.”
“Doesn’t matter.” He caressed her lips again and then moved closer. His mouth hovered over hers and she understood he was giving her a choice to push him away, to say no. His warm breath soothed and excited her at the same time. Despite a tiny voice telling her that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, she tilted her mouth upward.
He closed his lips over hers in a kiss so sweet and so electric, it set her soul ablaze with all the feelings she’d denied for most of her adult life. Colleen wound her arms around his neck and pulled him close. She opened her mouth to his questing tongue and sparred with it, enjoying the taste and feel of him. He had a musky, exotic scent that eddied about them. It stoked her lust and she inhaled hungrily, anxious for more of what felt like an aphrodisiac.
He wrapped her in an embrace and held on as if she were the only thing that mattered in the world. From time to time, he lifted his mouth from hers and murmured Gaelic endearments. At least she supposed that was what they were, since she didn’t speak the language, beyond what she needed to cast spells.
Heat rose in her nether regions; her nipples pebbled into peaks. Duncan drew her onto the sandy ground so she lay next to him, never breaking their kiss. He ran his hands down her back and cupped her ass, pulling her close. She felt the hard length of him press her thigh and positioned herself so she could rub against him. Desire pierced her, so hot and yet so sweet, she didn’t fully recognize what she was feeling. She understood sex, pure and simple, but this felt like the beginnings of ever so much more. Duncan wasn’t a man she could simply fuck and forget.
Alarm bells sounded deep in her mind. She wriggled away, gasping and panting, as she tried to sort her jumbled thoughts. “Can’t,” she managed.
He reached for her, green eyes blazing with desire. “Why not? You’re scarcely a maid.”
Colleen rolled to her hands and knees and then tucked her legs under her and sat, trying to ignore the insistent throbbing between her legs. “That’s not it. I never cared about any of them.”
A soft, slow smile spread over his face, intensifying his beauty until she had to look away. “It’s more than just caring about you.” His breath hitched. “If I were honest, I’m falling in love.”
The alarm bells rang louder. She held up both hands, palms out. “No. Not a good idea. What I do is dangerous. I may not be alive next month. Hell, I may not be alive tomorrow.”
“Colleen.” He moved close enough to drag one of her hands out of the air and enclose it. “You don’t get it. I want to share your life. All of it. Today was a proving ground. I’ll face down the Irichna with you. And I’ll do my damnedest to get some of my people to help. Gene splicing is a two way street. We can take back the sequence we foisted off onto you.” His expression turned thoughtful. “It would be a hell of a lot quicker than the three of you who are left trying to make new witches, and then waiting for them to grow up.”
She twisted her mouth into a wry grin. “No shit. Not that any of us ever got anywhere close to having babies.”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t appear your witch ancestors did, either. The ones who died didn’t leave progeny, or at least not many. Why?”
“At first they did, or there’d have been even fewer of us. At least potentially, we live a long time, nothing like the Sidhe, but still…” She shifted to a more comfortable sit, but kept holding his hand. “Think about it. How could any of us be out of the action for the nine months it would take to be pregnant? Let alone the years it would take to care for a babe?”
A familiar sadness flashed through her. For the first time, she dared to acknowledge it. Before, she’d always shoved it aside as an indulgence. She scrubbed the heel of her free hand up her forehead. “I suppose I never expected to live out a witch’s four or five hundred years.” She winced, but kept going, determined to tell Duncan the truth. “I didn’t even think I’d live long enough to risk becoming a mother.” She leveled her gaze at him. “Today was hard. Harder than it’s ever been. I’m not certain I would have had enough power to teleport Bubba, the demon, and me into Hell and fight with it too. If you wouldn’t have been there, today may well have sealed my doom. Depends how generous the gatekeepers were feeling. Sometimes they’ve helped me.”
He nodded solemnly. “We’re not certain quite why, but the Irichna have gotten much more aggressive—and stronger too. That’s one of the reasons I searched you out, although I was shocked by how few you were once I found you. We, witches and Sidhe, need to work together. I’ll impress that on the Sidhe council. The days when witches alone could hold Earth have passed.”
“Yesterday, I might have argued with you. Today, not so much.” She paused for a beat, so used to being alone, it was a struggle to ask for help in any form, let alone consider accepting it. When she’d hatched up her idea to bring Duncan along on today’s journey, she’d simply assumed he’d decide dealing with demons was too hard …
He quirked a brow. “So you set me up to get rid of me?”
“Yes. No. For God’s sake, stay out of my head!”
“But it’s instructive to know what you’re thinking.” He tightened his hand around hers and she started. She’d nearly forgotten he was touching her.
“My thoughts are a jumble. I’m not sure what I’m thinking.”
Duncan narrowed his eyes. “I know what’s in your head—and heart.” She opened her mouth to protest, but he shook his head. “Let me finish. You’re a lot like me. Stubborn, willful, determined. I’ve never been one to let anyone close enough to either help me or hurt me. You’re the same way. It’s why we’ll make a good pair. We understand one another.”
She did a quick soul-search and recognized wisdom in his words. Colleen glanced up and was snared by his gaze. She tried to look away, and then realized she didn’t want to. Being lost in Duncan’s beautiful green eyes was exactly where she wanted to be.
“You’re right that I’m torn,” she murmured. “Part of me wants to snap up your offer and another part is scared to death that once I do, I’ll be vulnerable and lose the edge I need to be effective against the Irichna.”
“Maybe we’ll be stronger as a pair.” Something danced behind his eyes: a challenge.
She rose to it instinctively. “I’m willing to find out.” Colleen clapped a hand over her mouth. “I can’t believe I just said that.”
He grinned. “I can.”
•●•
Duncan scooted closer and wrapped his arms around Colleen; she leaned into him. The feel of her firmly-muscled body was unbelievable. He buried his face in her rich auburn hair and inhaled the jasmine-rose scent of her. He held her for long moments, letting the rest of the world drop away. They’d have little enough in the way of time to explore one another until the demons were banished. She wrapped her arms around him and turned her full lips up for a kiss. Because he couldn’t resist, he closed his mouth over hers and explored her mouth with his tongue.
His cock hardened, reminding him of his earlier fall from grace. He wanted Colleen with all his heart and soul, but he wanted their first lovemaking to be perfect, not a byproduct of having survived by the skin of their teeth. He chuckled. Nothing like a near brush with death to drive libido.
She pulled away from his kiss. “What’s so funny?” Her mouth was soft, eyes dreamy with heat-lust. She reached between them and cradled the bulge of his erection in her hand. He groaned and pushed against her, wanting nothing more than to strip off her pants and bury himself deep inside her body.