Witchmate (Skeleton Key) (3 page)

He nodded. “Sadly true.”

“Go,” Keir said. “Check on your brother. Be with Lis. I’ll admit, I’m jealous that you have a lover to be with after a day like this.”

Toland grinned. “I’m sure I could convince Lis to share our bed.”

Keir laughed. “Another time, perhaps.” He withdrew to his quarters, a larger abode near the middle of the compound. Once inside, he sat in a chair next to his bed and watched the woman sleep. What a strange and lovely being. Her hair was the color of golden oak. Her eyebrows were thick but arched as if someone had sculpted them. He stroked his thumb down the sharp curve of her high cheekbone and kept going until it rested over her plump lower lip. Her eyelids fluttered, and her eyes, definitely starry night blue, stared up at him like two jewels he’d give anything to possess.

She gazed at him, unblinkingly, her eyes widening with fright, her once peaceful face now on full alert. She scrambled backward on his bed until she hit the fabric wall. “Ow,” she said. Her voice was soft and feminine, and his cock hardened in response to her.

He leaned forward. “Who are you?”

“Uh-uh,” she said. Easing her injured back off the hard wall. She pointed a shaky finger at him. “Who are you? You’re definitely not a cop, because, damn, you’d stand out like a sore thumb.” She gingerly touched the bump on her forehead, and then recognition flickered in her eyes. “I ran into a tree trying to get away from—” Her eyes widened. “You. You were a wolf.” She covered her eyes. “I’m in Hell. This is
definitely
Hell.”

“I am a wolfkind—the alpha. Keir D’San,” he said. “What is a cop? And what is Hell?”

She sat up, and the covers slipped down revealing her soft, well-shaped breasts. Keir’s shaft throbbed as he tried to keep his gaze on her face.

Her expression turned from fearful to outraged. “Where are my goddamn clothes?”

Emma dragged the covers up around her breasts. The indigo blankets looked as if they’d be scratchy as hell, but they felt like the material used in baby blankets. Nevertheless, the last memory she recalled, she had been wearing pants, slippers, and a shirt. Now, other than her thong underwear, and wow, was she reassessing whether that had been a good choice, she wore nothing at all.

How had she gotten from inside Lucinda Mowry’s vault to being chased by a burning light in the woods and terrified by man-beasts? The man sitting next to the bed, he’d been there, waiting. Turning into creatures that should not exist. “I’m tripping aren’t I?”

“Tripping?”

“Yeah, you know.” Fear made her ramble. “Taking a ride on the shroom-wagon. Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Last dance with Mary Jane. Chasing the dragon.”

“What is a dragon? Why does the sky have diamonds? Explain a shroom-wagon.” Keir’s massive frame got closer as he demanded answers. “These are magic terms? Is your name Mary Jane or Lucy?”

“I’m Emma Watson.”

A look of frustration crossed Keir’s face. “You are babbling, woman. Lis should examine your head again.”

“Keir. It is Keir, right? I’m not really here. You’re a dream. Or I’m dead. Or I accidentally took some acid.” Mike had taught her that a clean mind was a sharp mind, but looking at this guy, with his long brown hair, his whiskey-colored eyes, and arms that could bench press a Mack truck, it was hard to keep it clean.
Nooo,
she thought.
He’s kidnapped me. Stop thinking he’s cute
!

“Why would you take acid? It would kill you.” He peered at her face. “You think you’re dead?”

“No,” she said. “I mean, yes. No. I don’t know!” Pain exploded across her back when she touched it against the wall again. “What the hell happened to my back?”

“Witch lightning,” he said.

“Is that some kind of super-secret electric fence-like deterrent? Oh my God! You work for the government, don’t you? I walked into some Area 51 kind of bullshit haven’t I? I’ll sign a non-disclosure privacy document promising to never speak of this on penalty of death if you please let me go.” She paused. “Maybe that explains the door. It’s some kind of portable wormhole.” Her eyes went wide. “Holy shit. I’m on another planet. You’re an alien! Or, oh my God. They did it. The government created their own freaking Isle of Dr. Moreau. Either way, fucking H.G. Wells was a goddamn prophet!”

He stood up, and wow-ie, the whole package was worth a second or third look. “You’re talking nonsense.” A statement which Emma couldn’t disagree with. “I’ll go get our healer.”

Emma was sure that was code for something bad. “Can I at least get a phone call?”

“We don’t have phone calls,” he said. “You should lie back down.”

She watched, not with complete displeasure, as he walked out of the room. He wore tight leather pants that hugged his muscular ass, boots, and a sleeveless black leather vest that showed off his very large and well-defined arms. She spotted her bag in the corner on a wicker-like woven chair. Carefully, because her head felt like a ripe melon on the verge of cracking open, she got up to retrieve it. On the way back, she snatched her T-shirt from where it lay on a table and slipped it on. Instantly, she regretted the move. The shirt stuck to the burns on her back, and Emma had to stifle a cry of pain. She opened the pack and rummaged through, excited when she found her phone.

How could aliens not know about technology? Hah! Without hesitation, she texted Mike, “CAUGHT. UNSURE OF LOCATION. HELP.”

The text kicked back as undeliverable. “Shit!” She had zero signal, just like when she’d been in the vault. She tucked the phone back into the bag. Her small brick of plastic explosive and the three detonator wires and blasting caps were still in the bag as well. Why would they have let her keep such a volatile substance? She couldn’t believe they wouldn’t have searched her belongings. Unless… this was a test?

They might have replaced her items with fakes, trying to see if she would use it against them.
You have a one-way ticket on the crazy train, girl.
How had she gotten into this mess? Her captor was huge. He had to be at least six and a half feet tall. She was scrappy, but at a little over five feet tall, she was definitely no match for him. The only thing she knew for certain was he hadn’t tried to harm her…yet. Though, she still couldn’t shake the snarling image of the monster he’d become.
I must’ve been really out of it
. She’d been bug-zapped twice by the sheet of electricity. The pain would have made anyone a little crazy. She put the explosives back in the bag. No sense in poking the bear—uh, wolf.

Speaking of the wolf, Keir came back into the room with another large man in tow. This guy was shorter than Keir, and he had long blond hair. He wore leather pants and boots, but instead of a leather vest, he donned a cream colored shirt that fit him snug across the shoulders. When he approached her, she could see several spots on his shirt that had been stitched by hand. Had she been kidnapped by a traveling show? She’d have guessed bikers, but there weren’t any patches on their clothing. Bikers had a tendency toward pride when it came to their affiliations.

“Are you guys professional wrestlers? I haven’t seen this many long-haired, well-built men since watching professional wrestling on Friday nights with Mike.”

“Who’s Mike?” Keir asked. His gaze held an intensity that made Emma uncomfortable as he waited for her answer.

“None of your business.”

“Your mate?” Keir persisted.

“Mate? As in roommate?”

“As in lover.”

Emma felt her stomach lurch. “Ewww! Mike is a like a dad to me. I’d never. Yuck.”

She didn’t understand the relief she saw in Keir’s face, but she certainly recognized it. “This is Lis, our healer. He tended your wounds while you were unconscious.”

“So I can thank you for taking off my clothes?”

Lis shrugged. “It was easier that way.”

“Easier for who?” Emma gripped the edges of her T-shirt. “I’ll keep my clothes on this time if you don’t mind.”

“If she’s fighting this hard, Keir, she’ll be fine.”

“I think her mind is soft.”

“My mind is hard,” she told him. She knocked on her temple with her knuckles. The movement added to the pounding headache. “Hard as a rock.”

“Yes,” Keir said. “I agree. You may have rocks in your head.”

“What? I don’t have—” She caught the mischievous look in his eye. “Oh. You’re messing with me. Fine. Have your fun at my expense, but when my lawyer gets here, we’ll see who’s laughing then.”

“Lawyer?” Lis said.

Keir shrugged. “I told you she was talking nonsense.”

“I’ve had enough. If you’re a cop, charge me. If you’re a kidnapper, tell me what you want so I can arrange it. And if you’re some good Samaritan, thanks all the same, but you can point me the way out of here? Are we still in the St. Louis area?”

“I didn’t understand any of that, did you?” Keir said to Lis.

“I understood the part about her wanting to go.”

Keir turned his gaze on Emma. Saint Louis was unfamiliar. Could it be she wanted to go to Sanlousis? The seat of the witch government? He shook his head. Surely, not. If she were aligned with the witches, she wouldn’t be stupid enough to expose herself. “Sleep tonight. Rest and heal. If you want to leave in the morning, you will be free to go.”

Emma gave him a suspicious look. “Really?”

“On my honor,” Keir said. “You are a guest, not a prisoner.”

Lis gave him a side glance.

“She’s not a witch, and she’s not one of us,” Keir said to him.

Lis shrugged. “You’re the alpha.”

“Yes, I am.”

As the healer left, Emma assessed Keir. “What is this place?”

“You are in the Korridan Forest, my territory.”

“Territory?” There were several forested areas like Meremac State Park and Katie Trail near St. Louis, but she’d never heard of Korridan Forest.

He quirked a brow. “Where are you from?”

“Columbia, Missouri, but I’m in St. Louis on business.” She looked around the sparsely furnished room without any modern conveniences. It was lit with oil lamps and candles, no electricity. Maybe this was a campsite. It certainly wasn’t an alien base on another planet. Too much of this place reminded her of home. Sorta. She’d never been a nature girl, and right now, she felt as if she were in a Robin Hood movie. Regardless, she was going to assume she was still on Earth and that she’d walked through a door manifested by the vault. It had probably been a built in exit in case the owner accidentally locked herself inside, and it opened into the forested backyard area because … well, who knew with rich people? They were eccentric.
I bet I’m not that far from the mansion. 

“Do you know where the Mowry house is?”

Keir gave her a blank look.

Okay. Does not know Lucinda Mowry.
“How close are we to the city?”

“There have been no cities since the fall of Luer D’San in the Battle of Surrock. That’s when my people took to the woods.”

Emma eyed him suspiciously. “The last I checked I was in Missouri. And there are several cities. St. Louis, Kansas City, Jefferson City, Columbia, Springfield. You get the picture.”

He narrowed his gaze. “I’ve never heard of this Missouri. Is that across the sea? Did you travel by boat? If so, where are your companions? A skinny girl like you couldn’t have survived a trip like that on your own.”

“First,” Emma said, her indignation rising. “I’m not skinny. I’m wiry and agile. Second, I think I’m not the only one who hit my head. And what’s all this talk about werewolves and witches? Oh, Jesus. You’re one of those cos-play LARPers or something, aren’t you? Is this one of those medieval fairs?”

“I don’t understand these terms.” He peered at her, his expression concerned. “Perhaps Toland was right. You suffer from a birth defect—one that affects your eyes and your brain.”

“Sheesh. You guys really take the whole role playing shtick to the extreme.” The monsters she’d seen last night or hallucinated, had reminded her of her favorite horror films. But, hel-lo, those were not real. “Look. Just admit that you like pretending to be a werewolf, and we can move on to some reality, please.”

Keir’s gaze intensified. “What do you know about werewolves?”

“Oh, the usual. Full moon, silver bullets, get turned with a bite or a scratch, blah, blah.  C’mon dude. I don’t believe in this shit.” The motto Mike had drilled into her at an early age popped out of her mouth. “It’s not real until you can see and touch it.”

He smiled again and spread his hands in a gesture of openness. “See and feel as much as you want.”

The bulge in Keir’s leather pants was hard to ignore, and Emma’s line of sight kept drifting south. Her skin warmed. Why was she so drawn to this guy? She was sure it had nothing to do with his piercing amber eyes, the masculine square jaw, his wide kissable mouth, and a body that would make a Greek god jealous. Nope. None of that.

He chuckled as if knowing the effect he had on her, and her mouth went dry. “Stop that,” she said.

“I have never truly wanted, Emma Watson, until today. For the first time in my life, I know what it is to hope for something that may be beyond my reach.”

Emma gulped, the tension in her winding to the point of snapping. “And what do you want for?”

Keir took her hand and leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss on her fingertips. Her belly flip-flopped. He shifted his eyes up and met her stare. “You are the most beautiful, exotic creature I have ever seen. From the moment I picked you up in the forest, I have had but one thought on my mind.”

Her eyes widened. “What’s that?”

“I want to bathe in your scent, caress your skin, feel your nakedness pressed against my flesh. I want to warm you with my heat until your passion kindles, igniting a fire in you that matches my own. I want to kiss your mouth.” His gaze drifted to her lips. “Your breasts.” His eyes pivoted southward. “And your sacred vessel.”

God! Emma’s “sacred vessel” throbbed with traitorous desire.  She didn’t know if she’d be able to take much more of his “wants” without moaning. Fuck, this man was sexy as hell.

“I want to make love to you, Emma Watson fe Columbia, Missouri, until your body blazes with pleasure. I want to hear you beg me for more as I thrust myself deep inside you. I want to hear you scream my name as I plant my seed in your womb.” He reached out and plucked a stray hair from her face. “I want,” he said, his voice breathless and hoarse. “You.”

“This is so crazy,” Emma whispered. Her nipples were hard nubs of excitement. Holy crap, this man did caveman
sooo
well. “You’re nuts.” But maybe she was too because she was actually considering letting this Robin Hood wannabe dude ravish her right here in his cabana in the woods.

“I’m not crazy,” Keir said. He leaned close, and Emma shivered as his breath warmed her skin. “I’m
Domiscin
fe San, leader of the San fe Sang, blood wolves of the Korridan Forest, and I am asking you, Emma Watson, to be my mate.”

“Uhm…” He dipped his face to hers, his lips skimming the surface of her mouth, and setting her brain on fire with lust. She dropped the blanket, but before she could get her arms around his neck. Keir broke the gentle kiss and stood up. “You can decide in the morning if you want to stay or go.”