lightning witch 02 - lightning legacy (14 page)

"Real. You can't be real." Over and over between gasps of air.

“Shh, baby, I’m very real and very here,” I murmured to her. Her small form thrummed with energy. With every gasp and sob she sent a jolt of electricity through me. I steeled myself against the pain of each pulse of her power.
Has she gotten stronger?

I clutched her closer and ran a hand down her head, smoothing her hair and cooing to her. I told her how much I missed her. I told her that I would never let her go. I told her everything. I held nothing back from her. Belatedly, I realized she had gone still in my arms. This time, when I pulled back from her, she allowed it. I peered down at her face. Her gray gaze was glowing silver. Her eyes were puffy and rimmed with red. Her lips were swollen. I brushed a finger along her mouth and shuddered at the feel of her. Those lips. They were my drug and salvation. I dipped my head lower and brushed my lips against hers. I couldn't stop myself from taking her mouth in pure abandon.

She responded to me so sweetly, meeting me with equal need. Our tongues met, and there we sat, tasting each other as though we were consuming each other. My shaft stiffened beneath her, and I shifted her. As I did, my stiffness ground against her, and she gasped. I growled in response.

“Uh, so how about we get the two of you in the house? As much as I love a show and won't protest at all if y'all go at it, I don't need the neighbors calling asking about the white people making out on the lawn." Troy's voice seemed to crash through the fog in my muddled head.

I pulled my lips from Delaney's and rested my forehead against hers. We both sat there for a few moments, panting. I couldn't get enough of her. I wanted to consume all of her. I begrudgingly shifted her off of me and stood up, pulling her with me.

“How?” she questioned in a hoarse voice.

“Let’s get inside. I’ll tell you everything.”

The house smelled of fire and smoke. I raised an eyebrow at Troy and he shrugged in response. Then I felt it. Troy had power. A lot of power. I hadn’t felt this from him in the past. My eyes went wide. He felt like a witch. I tried to wrack my brain to recall if he had ever felt like this before. All I wanted to think about was the soft female I held onto.

We walked up the stairs to a small, yet lavishly decorated room.

“I’ll let you two be,” Troy said, closing the door.

"Troy wait," I called after him.

He paused and turned to me. I kissed Delaney on the forehead and pulled away from her. After a moment she let me go. I walked over to Troy and hugged him.

“Thank you. For being there for her when I wasn’t.” My words were choked with pain and regret. He hugged me back.

In a tone full of emotion, Troy said, "She's my family." He pulled away and wiped at his cheeks. "Making me cry. Now I have to go touch up my makeup." He walked away shaking his head.

I turned to face the woman sitting on the bed. She bit her bottom lip and looked so vulnerable. I had to pinch myself, praying this wasn’t another dream. I walked over to her and sat down, pulling her to me. We sat there, just holding one another, for what seemed to be hours.

“How?” Her voice washed over me, lighting just about every nerve on fire.

I told her about where I was taken, about how I thought she was dead until Mitch came, about the dream, about the coin, and about the escape on the new moon. I told her everything. She sat there listening, yet not responding. I hoped she was just numb with emotion. I put my hands on either side of her face and cradled her.

“I’m here now and I’m not going to hold anything back from you. Not one thing, Delaney.”

She closed her eyes, clearly trying not to cry. But soon tears streamed down her cheeks. Each tear seemed to flash and spark as it fell.

“Look at me,” I crooned to her.

She opened her beautiful gray eyes.

“I need you to see me when I tell you this next bit,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. I took a deep breath and said the one thing I needed to say to her. The one thing that my heart had been screaming from the moment she ran into me.

“I love you, Delaney. And I’ll keep you.” I couldn’t keep my feelings out of my voice. It pulsed with every syllable. My emotion seemed to give the words a heartbeat and breath. They were now a living breathing thing.

“I love you, too.” Her voice was a whisper. With her words, an emotion flashed across her face. Doubt? I was taken aback. I frowned down at her.

“What’s wrong?” I was slightly panicked. I’d just given her my heart and soul.

“What …” She paused as though she was trying to choke out the next words. “What did Mitch tell you?” Her scent hit my nose again and I smelled a scent I did not think I would ever get from her, not with me. Fear. Why was she afraid? I told her everything he told me. Her face lost all of its color and she wouldn’t look at me. I became racked with panic. Just what had Mitch done to her?

“Delaney, tell me what happened.”

She refused to meet my eyes. I put a finger under her chin and coaxed her to look at me. She looked so defeated. Her expression nearly broke me.

“Reid, please, I don’t want you to think worse of me.” Even her tone was defeated.

"Delaney, I could never have anything other than love for you. Please tell me." I tried to keep my tone even, but I was writhing with hatred for Mitch. I didn’t want Delaney to think it was toward her.

Then she told me everything. She told me how he made her hunt and that she actually enjoyed the running, but that the killing unnerved her. That made me smile as I too enjoyed it. Then she told me the rest. She told me how he kept her locked up. Then she told me of the two times she tried to escape. The beatings, though I could feel she was holding back some details. I wouldn't push her, not when she was so open with me. Then she told me how she allowed him to touch her in order to escape.

He had abused her. My beautiful Delaney had been hurt in ways I couldn't fathom. I had two very distinct feelings. First, was loathing. I loathed Mitch and my resolve to see him not only dead, but ripped to teeny tiny bits, strengthened. And second, was unimaginable pain. My heart felt like it died painfully, slowly with each word. He had hurt her, and I wasn't there to help her. She was trembling with each utterance. I pulled her closer to me. She softened into me ever so slightly.
I may not have been there to save her, but I'm here now, and I WILL put her back together.

She couldn’t meet my eyes when she said, “I feel dirty and used. I’m so disgusted with myself.” Her words felt like a vice tightening around my chest. I have never been good with words, but right now I needed to say something to her and it had never been so important that I get it right.

“Delaney, I wish you could see yourself the way I see you.” My voice was strained, nearly hoarse. She looked away in shame.
Shit. I fucked it up
. I grasped her chin between my finger and thumb and coaxed her face up so I could see her and her me.

“You would see a woman who has been through so much pain and loss. You would see a beautiful woman who is so strong and vibrant that she will come out of the other side glowing. You’re not dirty. The one thing you are, is mine.” I took a deep breath, readying myself to ask her the one thing that I had been needing to from the first moment.

“I want you beyond this life. I want you longer than forever. I want you to be my mate.” My heart was hammering against my chest. Her reply was more than important; it was everything. It was what I needed to make it past this moment. She sat there blinking at me and not saying anything. Her eyes flickered from gray to glowing silver and back again.

“But I’m broken.” It was the barest whisper.

I pursed my lips. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m great at fixing things.”

She finally met my eyes. In them was the one emotion that nearly caused me to jump up on the bed and cry to the stupid gods with joy. It was hope. I could work with hope. She threw her arms around my neck and I pulled her on my lap and shifted her so she was straddling me. She tucked her face into my neck. Her heart beat against my chest like a wild horse.

After several moments she said, “I want to be your mate. I don’t really know what that means though.”

My heart swelled. I smiled at her. I cradled her face in my hands and pulled her lips to mine, falling in love with her all over again. She tasted so sweet I could drink her in. Her soft little lips parted slightly, and her wicked little tongue darted out to lap at mine. It drove me near the edge of my control. I stiffened under her drugging little mouth and pulled away. She was panting softly, and the air was filled with the scent of her arousal. It fanned my own to a near fever pitch.

“This is more than a marriage. This bond, Delaney, will go beyond this life. This binds our souls together.” I wanted to be sure this was what she wanted.

Without hesitation she said, “Good.” I couldn’t help but smile back at her.

“But what do I need to do?” Her tone was cautious.

“Well,” I said, bringing my face close to her ear. I kissed the smooth skin of her soft neck. She shivered. “First, I’m going to get you wet and ready for me.” I darted my tongue out and licked the same spot I kissed. Again her body trembled in response. “Then, I’m going to bite you right here.” I nipped her. Her breaths came quicker. “And when I bite you, Delaney, I’m going to be so deep inside of you, you won’t know where you end and I begin.” My shaft was so hard at that point it was nearing painful. She shifted slightly and a jolt of pleasure shot through me, causing me to growl in her ear. A small whimper escaped her lips.

“Then what?” she asked in a husky tone.

"Your beast will guide you, Delaney. You need to let her," I said as I began to run a hand up and down her side. When I got to the swell of her breast, her breath hitched. God, I knew I needed to go slow with her, but my beast was screaming for me to take her and take her hard.

She shifted again, grinding her sex against my rock hard erection, and I nearly tossed her to the bed. I raised a hand to cup her breast. Her nipple was hard against the material of her shirt. I wanted nothing more at that moment than to tongue her pebbled flesh. She arched into my hand, pressing herself more fully into my palm.

“Reid! Delaney! There’s someone here asking for you.” Troy’s voice seemed to break a spell. I could have killed him.

She was the one who growled this time. Then his words broke through the mental fog.
Someone is here? Shit, Mitch!
I stood up, causing Delaney to topple to the floor. Damn.

"Sorry," I said, offering her a hand. She took it and ran out the door and down the stairs. She clearly had the same thought I did, because I could smell the scent of ozone trailing after her.

I PULLED LIGHTNING
to my palms and raced down the stairs. I’d only been this Witch/werewolf hybrid for a few months and these scenes were a little new to me. My brain did not connect the dots that my nose had provided. I nearly plowed right through Troy, but stopped just short. His eyes went wide at the sparks falling from my hands. Then he put his hands on his hips and narrowed his gaze at me.

"What are you? The fucking welcoming committee? Dial it back there, killer. Take it from kill to stun, would you?" He had a look of horror on his face.

I stood there blinking at him. I reluctantly pulled my lightning back to my core. I felt a strong arm snake around my waist. I knew it was him, but I still stiffened. He shuddered at the residual charge left covering my skin. I still couldn’t believe what he had done to get to me. My thoughts slid back to everything I had done and had let happen to me.
How could he still want me? Why would he?

Then Reid did something that shocked me right out of my own head. He moved the hand that was wrapped around my waist to my face and he booped my nose. He actually put his finger up and tapped my nose. The gesture caught me so off guard I nearly stuttered.

In my ear he whispered, “You need to learn to use this thing.”

Did he really just boop me? I stood there blinking in shock. This werewolf, who was about as big as a truck, as manly as could be, just booped me. Then both his action and meaning hit me. I was ignoring what my nose was telling me all along: it wasn't Mitch. I didn't know who the hell it was; it wasn't him though. I tried to relax, but as of late I was finding that increasingly difficult to do.

“It’s Monique. From the Coven. I asked her to come,” Reid said, reluctantly letting me go.
Yeah, me too.
This was the witch I happened to call on the phone. We walked into the living room that was just across the walkway from the kitchen. There, standing in the middle of the cozy room, was a tall African American woman. My jaw nearly hit the floor with how stunningly beautiful she was. She wasn’t created, she was crafted, or maybe even painted. Each angle of her face seemed to be a swipe of a brush rather than the edge of a bone. Her hair was absolutely magnificent. It was wildly natural and had streaks of gold. She looked like a queen. I instantly hated her. Okay, no, but wow, she was pretty.