Chapter 26 Raven
Raven
Istood in a dark, windowless room. In the grate, a fire burned, sending bursts of sparks up a wide chimney. The stone floor chilled my feet, despite the heat emanating from the fireplace.
Candles burned in glass sconces on the wall, and a large animal-skin rug covered half the floor.
A bookcase stood against one wall, filled with dusty leather tomes and stacks of yellow parchment sheets, while near the fireplace, two wing-backed chairs sat facing each other with a chess set between them on a low table.
I didn’t know how to play chess, but a few pieces were in play, as if a game had started and never reached its conclusion.
I stepped away from the rug, even though the stone flags were unbearably cold under my soles. Knowing some poor creature had died to make a floor covering upset me. The thought of hunters chasing my bear made me want to kill someone, and my magic flared in response.
Taking a deep, calming breath and ignoring the rug, I cast a quick glance downward and saw I still wore the cotton shorts and tee I’d put on for bed.
Thank the goddess I wasn’t naked in this dreamscape. At least I assumed it was a dream.
Why had my dream brought me here anyway?
I didn’t recognize the heavy timber door to my left with a thick iron latch in place. Had my kitsune teleported me here somehow? I wasn’t sure if that was even possible, but I saw no sign of the cheeky familiar.
If this were a dream, it felt awfully real. Most of my dreams featured places and people I knew, quickly shifting from one thing to the next as my brain processed emotions and random thoughts. I was positive I’d never seen this room before.
I shivered and quickly pinched my arm, but nothing happened.
As my gaze swept across the room, searching for clues about where I was since this didn’t seem like a normal dream, the shadows slowly lifted, revealing a second door.
Some instinct told me I needed to step through that door, so, ignoring the voice in my head that warned me I was about to step into a serial killer’s lair, I moved toward it.
The latch was old and heavy, but the door opened easily, with barely a squeak.
As my eyes adjusted to the low light, I saw a figure lying draped in a blanket on a huge four-poster bed carved from a near-black timber.
Beautiful carvings covered the exposed portions of the frame, telling a story I couldn’t make sense of.
The person on the bed had long, thick brown hair, which suggested they were female, but a large, distinctly unfeminine pale hand hung over the edge of the mattress, the skin so translucent I wondered for a moment whether they were dead. Then I heard a faint groan.
“Come closer, little witch.”
Something about the melodic, seductive, distinctly male voice sang to me. Called to my magic. Unable to resist the command, I took a step forward. The figure raised his head, and two red eyes found mine.
The magic in my veins roared to life, causing the cold grate in the corner to burst into flames.
“Hurry, little witch, I don’t have long.” The sweet scent of decay cloaked the stranger and the bed, underpinned by the coppery taint of spilled blood.
“Who are you?” I asked, swallowing hard as my pulse quickened. Another step forward and my thigh brushed the thick, velvety fur hanging from the foot of the bed.
“I’m yours, little witch. Hurry.” The male shifted a fraction and tried to sit up before slumping back down with a groan. I should have been afraid, but everything in me screamed I needed to go to him. Heal him.
Shoving my doubts about this strange male down, I reached for his hand. The skin beneath my fingertips was cool, like marble. Surprisingly strong fingers curled around mine, tugging me closer. My heartbeat raced faster until it pounded so hard inside my chest I worried my ribs might crack open.
“So hungry,” the male whispered before, in a surprising show of strength, he shot upright and sank his fangs into my wrist.
The sudden pain made me flinch, but the pleasure that followed was so intense I almost collapsed. The male pulled hard on my vein, each draw of my lifeblood pushing me toward something I’d only experienced with my bear.
Arousal soaked my shorts and trickled down my thighs. I whimpered and cried out as an orgasm ripped through me, sending fire roaring up the chimney. Burning embers exploded outward and floated all around me as the male detached his fangs from my wrist with a deep, pleasured groan.
As I stood trembling, he licked the puncture wounds on my wrist with an obscenely long, pink tongue. A sudden image of what else that tongue could do sent more shockwaves through my core.
Goddess, what was wrong with me?
Before I could ask him what in the stars was happening, the room faded, and I opened my eyes to see an incubus staring at me.
“Where did you go?” he asked as I struggled to make sense of the most realistic dream I’d ever had. When I glanced down at my wrist, I saw no sign of a bite or blood.
I quickly pulled the covers up, realizing a fraction too late that my tee barely covered my breasts and, thanks to my erotic dream, my nipples were busy poking holes through the cheap fabric.
My shorts were soaked too, but at least Zane wasn’t a shifter, so hopefully he’d not be able to scent my arousal.
There was no sign of Kenji, thank the stars. The last thing I needed right now was to deal with his sarcastic commentary.
“Just a dream.” I scrubbed my eyes and then glared at him. “Why are you in my room? It’s supposed to have protective wards on the door.”
The incubus shrugged. “You invited me in.”
“No, I didn’t…” My brow scrunched in confusion.
“On the contrary. You petted me for hours in your bed, which, for the record, I enjoyed very much.” He smirked and stared at my tits with heat in his eyes while I tried to ignore the telltale bulge in his pants. A very large bulge. Stars above.
The uncomfortable throb between my thighs grew harder to ignore. Had someone hexed me with a lust spell? It was the only explanation. The only explanation I wanted to believe anyway.
Lust spells turned the recipient into mindless creatures whose only mission in life was to get laid. I’d seen the results after Willow cast a lust spell on a male who angered her. The poor human had woken up with some seriously terrible memories and a full quotient of STIs.
My familiar blinked into sight. He huffed at the sight of the incubus. “No sex while I’m around. It’s in the Witch Code of Conduct. We familiars are easily traumatized.”
“Pretty sure you’re the one traumatizing me.”
Kenji ignored my complaint and shuffled his way under the blanket over the foot of the bed until all I could see was his black nose.
“Wake me when it’s time for breakfast,” he ordered before a snore vibrated through my feet.
“I brought you a gift,” the incubus said as Kenji’s snores grew louder. Was there a rule in the Witches’ Code of Conduct that banned the killing of one’s familiar? I hoped not, because if he carried on snoring for what remained of the night, I might need to end him.
“Gift?” My brain misfired on all cylinders, sluggish as hell. Too sluggish to make sense of the incubus’ words. Why would he bring me a gift?
“A phone.” He pulled a sleek metal device from his pocket and handed it to me. The device felt warm and light in my hand. I stared at the black glass screen, confused about why he’d given me such an expensive gift.
“Touch it, and it’ll come to life.” From the incubus’ smirk, the double entendre was deliberate.
“Um, thanks?” My gaze drifted down and caught on a smudge of black across his wrist. Was that blood? It sure smelled funky enough to be blood. But not red enough to be human, witch, or shifter blood.
He caught me looking and stood. “Gotta clean up. Be seeing you, pet.”
Part of me, okay, one specific part of me, pouted in disappointment when he didn’t kiss me before blinking away from my room. But I shoved that thought down. I had more than enough problems right now without adding a crush on an incubus to the list.
My magic didn’t agree, however. The minute the incubus vanished, the tugging sensation in my chest pinched painfully. Like it did whenever I walked away from my bear. And also Alar-dick.
I just wish I knew what it all meant, and why the goddess had given me a bed-hogging kitsune who snored like a troll paralyzed by a sleep enchantment.
With a sigh, I settled back under the covers and pressed the glass screen on the phone. It lit up, showing me a picture of the incubus in a sultry pose, lying back against black silky pillows, shirtless, with a smile on his handsome face.
I almost dropped the phone in shock. What the…? Okay, so this was him pranking me. Once I figured out how, I would change the photo to something more respectable. Like a flower or something.
Ignoring my racing heart and clenched sexy bits, I peered at the screen. When I opened the contacts list, I saw two phone numbers. One for ‘care bear’ and the other for ‘sex god’. I didn’t need a crystal ball to know who that was.
Deciding the incubus had messed with me enough for one night, I hit ‘call’ on my bear’s number. He answered almost immediately, his gruff voice a delightful purr down the connection.
“Do you like the phone I got you?”
I struggled to make sense of what he was telling me. “Um, what?”
“The phone,” he replied patiently. “The incubus said he’d make sure you received it.” I hesitated, but the silence that followed lasted several long seconds until a low growl told me he’d figured out what I already had. “He better not have done anything while he was in your room!”
“No, he behaved himself,” I blurted before my bear lost his temper. “But he told me the phone was a gift from him.”
“That lying fuck.” I heard glass shattering in the background before he huffed in annoyance. “I should have known he’d take the credit.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m just happy to have a phone.”
Maverick grumbled a bit more before sighing. “Now I can talk to you outside of gym class. Things will be easier once I can claim you as my mate…” His voice trailed off. “Until then, we need to be careful with things as they are currently.”
“As they are?” I repeated, not sure what he was getting at.
“There are a lot of powerful mages pushing for segregation of the species. These assholes think shifters are beneath them and look down on relationships between witches, mages, and shifters.”
“That’s ridiculous!” It was a horrifying idea. We were all magical beings. Yes, some of us had less power than others, but that didn’t make them inferior. Just different.
I thought back to Demelza’a hateful comments about the magicals that came from the islands and realized she was one of those who believed anyone other than a witch or mage was inferior.
“It is ridiculous, yes, but we live in a society that views power as the most important measure of a magical. Sadly, the extinction of the vampires created a power vacuum, which put the mages in control of the Supernatural Council. The shifter leader is trying to stop them from pushing through laws preventing cross-species mating, but it’s only a matter of time before such rules are enacted. ”
We both fell silent as the ramifications of that sank in. If cross-species mating became illegal, I’d never be able to call Maverick my mate. I curled up with the phone pressed to my ear.
“That makes me sad,” I admitted eventually, not knowing what else to say. The thought of such a thing happening was too awful to contemplate.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
My eyes drifted shut as I listened to him breathing in my ear, and I wished he was here with me, holding me close and making me feel safe.
“It’s okay.” A deep yawn escaped. Dawn was less than an hour away, but if I closed my eyes, I might catch a power nap before my alarm went off.
Maverick must have heard me yawning as my mind drifted. “Sweet dreams, little mate. I’ll see you in the gym later.”
His use of the word mate sent a little fizz of happiness through me. While I’d mostly deflected or changed the subject when he talked about me being his mate, I had to admit, I liked the idea of having someone, a family, of my own.
And besides, my bear was hot. Really hot. What witch wouldn’t want a bear all of her own?
Except… if the mages had their way, the only mates on the menu would be mages. But I shoved the negativity down.
“I hate gym class,” I muttered as Maverick ended our call. Some witches were fitness freaks. I was not one of them. However, as much as I hated gym class, I didn’t hate knowing I’d see my bear again soon.
A smile touched my lips as the phone slid out of my grasp and I sank back into a dreamless sleep.