“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.
“You’re not going anywhere, Jessie. Not this time. You. Are. Not. Running. Away.” He rolled over her, tucking her body underneath his, the look on his face fierce and determined.
She scissored her legs, doing her best to get her knee to connect with his groin. “You can’t keep me here. It’s too dangerous. I don’t want to be here.”
“Bullshit. You’re safer here than out there on your own. Tell me what you’re really running from. What are you not telling me?”
She continued to struggle against his superior strength, doing her best not to think about the fire beginning to simmer in her body from his being pressed so tight against hers. Nope, she wasn’t going to think about the fabric of his shirt rasping against her peaked and aching nipples, or the throbbing in her sex that was already moistening at the mere thought of him touching her there.
“It’s not safe here. I can’t stay.”
“It’s safer here, this place is built to take care of us.”
Their struggling together must have turned him on as well, because she felt his growing hard on pressing down on her. An unbidden image of his long, thick length stretching her and filling her flooded her mind and a small whimper escaped her lips.
Magick stirred between them, a slow steady burn. His mostly, although remnants of hers remained. Her heart thumped an erratic beat in her chest as she continued to wiggle and fight to get loose. Arousal burned hot and bright with every move until she couldn’t stand it anymore. Sometimes being an insatiable half-breed drove her insane.
“Please, Noah.” Her plea was a husky whisper to her own ears. Their gazes locked, their heads just inches apart. Power, lust, and control warred between them.
“What? What do
