Chapter 15
“Thank you for buying me dinner tonight.” Cece rubbed her hands together in an attempt to warm them as she smiled awkwardly at Briggs. “I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome.” Briggs leaned against the kitchen counter. Despite how cold the house was tonight, he didn’t at all look like the frozen Popsicle Cece felt like. Leaving the warmth of Briggs’s truck for her tundra of a house was an exercise in torture.
“Did you have fun?” he asked.
“I did. Tori and Judd are funny, and I think Rosalie is someone I could be good friends with. Once,” she waved vaguely, “this craziness is all over.”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “There hasn’t been an attack for a few days now. Maybe they’ve given up?”
He shrugged. “Or maybe they’ve realized how dangerous it is to attack you in public.”
She sighed. “I’ve been doing some research into my father’s family, and if I reach out to them and arrange to meet with them, maybe -”
“No!” Briggs straightened, a low growl erupting from his throat. “You are not to contact them, little witch.”
“It could help,” she said.
“Or it could make it easier for them to kill you.”
She paled at his bluntness, but he didn’t back down. “They tried to kill you and your mother, and your aunt was so afraid for you that she contacted you from beyond to warn you. Trying to reason with them won’t work.”
“You don’t know that,” she said. “Hell, we don’t even know for certain that it’s them trying to kill me or that the mugging and car accident weren’t just coincidences.”
He glared at her. “You’re not dumb, Cece. Why are you pretending to be?”
“It’s not dumb to hope that your family isn’t trying to kill you,” she snapped. “They’re the only family I have now and, maybe, if they know that I’m a blood witch, then…”
Damn. The cognitive dissonance was real.
“So, you’re okay associating with people who will only accept you because they find out you’re a blood witch?” Briggs asked. “Unconditional love doesn’t work that way.”
Shame walloped her over the head like a sledgehammer. Her aunt was dead, and she was completely alone, but was that any excuse for accepting people like that into her life? Was she that pathetic and desperate for family? The answer seemed to be yes. Even worse, Briggs had her pegged.
Her face burning, her hands both ice cold and blazing hot, she inched her way toward the kitchen doorway. “You’re right. I promise I’m not usually like this, I’m just tired and worried and… not that I’m excusing my behaviour because I…”
She took a deep breath, wishing like hell the look Briggs was now giving her didn’t reek of pity. “I’m gonna call it a night. Good night, Briggs.”
“Good night, Cece.”
Twenty minutes later, she was tucked into bed under a mountain of blankets, her freshly brushed teeth chattering wildly despite the flannel pajamas, hoodie, wool socks, and knitted hat she wore.
She wanted to cry, but the possibility of her tears freezing to her face was frighteningly high. It was cold enough in her room that if she couldn’t hear the furnace clanking and groaning in the quietness as it laboured to do its job, she’d suspect it had finally died.
She stared at the plants hanging from the ceiling.
Despite the cold, none of them seemed to be affected.
Bright moonlight lit the room with a cold glow, and she could clearly see her plants.
They were lush with bright green, healthy-looking leaves and vines, and she didn’t think she imagined that some of the longer vines were moving gently despite a lack of breeze.
Their movement soothed rather than frightened her, and she watched them for several minutes, her eyelids growing heavier until she could barely keep them open. Something brushed her face, and she opened her eyes, smiling happily at the pothos leaves that were stroking her cheek.
“Hi, pretty girl,” she mumbled, tucking herself a bit deeper under the covers. An English Ivy vine trailed across the blankets, tickling at her ear before tracing her forehead. Cece giggled before staring sleepily at the heartleaf philodendron creeping across her chest to pat her cheeks gently.
“You’re good girls,” she murmured. Thinking the plants knew she was upset and were trying to soothe her was crazy, but she still found their presence and their touch comforting. A certain polar bear shifter’s giant warm body would be better, but a girl couldn’t have everything she wanted.
A small smile lifted her lips, and she whispered Briggs’s name before sleep claimed her.
Cece was cold. She was always cold, but this was worse.
This was a ‘kicked the blankets off the bed’ breath-stealing cold.
Caught in that area between wake and sleep, Cece reached blindly for the discarded blankets, grunting in surprise when her arm wouldn’t obey her command.
Instead, it stayed firmly tucked against her side.
As her body slowly receded from the depths of sleep, she tried to move her other arm, a thread of panic floating into her brain when it, too, stayed glued to her side.
She could feel the soft material of her flannel pajamas against her palms, and she frowned when her body bumped against something.
What was happening?
A sudden drop, like she was riding a roller coaster, made her gasp, and her eyes flew open. She stared in numb astonishment at the ceiling. Instead of seeing dozens of hanging plants, she saw the cold white plaster of the hallway ceiling.
Blinking rapidly, she stared at her body, another sharp gasp escaping her lips. She was wrapped from shoulder to knees in thick green vines, their leaves vibrating lightly as - oh holy shit - the vines carried her down the hallway.
She turned her head, staring at the floor a few feet below her as her body bumped into the wall.
“Watch where you’re going,” she muttered, a mildly hysterical laugh slipping from her mouth. The leaves and vines shuddered as if acknowledging their mistake before continuing down the hallway.
She craned her head to stare behind her, breathing out a quiet, “Holy fuck.”
Dozens and dozens of vines - philodendron, various pothos, ivy, hell, even the string of pearls and string of dolphins had gotten in on the action - trailed from her body down the hallway and into her bedroom.
As she watched, even more vines slithered out of her bedroom, their ends blindly sliding along the floor and the wall and waving in the air.
They made contact with Cece’s body and immediately wrapped around her, joining their sisters in carrying her.
“I’m dreaming,” she whispered as she stared at the ceiling again, her body swaying in the cool air as the vines squeezed tighter at the sound of her voice. “Wake up, Cece.”
Instead of waking up, she was carried relentlessly further down the hall. Briggs’s bedroom was on the right, the door wide open.
“Hey,” Cece hissed when a few wayward vines sliding along the wall dipped into his room, “don’t go in there!”
The vines carried her into Briggs’s bedroom, and she stared wide-eyed at the polar bear shifter lying on the bed.
His body looked comically large in the queen-sized bed, with his feet sticking out from the bottom of the sheet and hanging over the edge, and his body taking up most of the mattress.
Despite the cold, he had just the sheet pulled to his waist, and his face and naked chest were lit with cool moonlight.
Even with the supreme weirdness of the dream, Cece stared greedily at him, soaking in the absolute beauty of his body.
He was sleeping on his back, one arm flung above his head, and his big chest rising and falling steadily.
Dark hair covered his upper chest, and his flat stomach looked hard with muscle.
She stared at his gorgeous face, for once not being reduced to a few glances so that he wouldn’t catch her staring and see just how much she wanted him.
Her brain cataloged every perfect laugh line etched around his eyes, the fullness of his lower lip, the dark stubble covering his jaw that made her think of whisker burn on her inner thighs.
The vines shuddered again before carrying Cece to the bed, hovering her a few inches over Briggs’s body.
Okay, this dream had officially wandered into complete fuckery land, but she had no idea how to wake up. And with Briggs’s beautiful, mostly naked - or, God help her, maybe he was completely naked under the sheet - on full display, did she really want the dream to end anyway?
The vines tightened around her when Briggs’s eyes blinked open. He stared at her, the sleepiness dissipating quickly as he said, “What the hell?”
His sleep-roughened voice sent a surge of wetness to Cece’s pussy, and hardened her nipples. The vines surrounding her immediately let go, and she shrieked when she dropped like a sack of potatoes directly onto Briggs.
His pained ‘oof’ as she landed on him sent embarrassment radiating through her, and she rolled off his body immediately.
She made another soft shriek as, too late, she realized how close to the edge of the bed she was.
Her hands flailing, she made a mad grab for Briggs, her fingertips just scraping his chest as her body began to fall.
His big hand wrapped around her forearm and yanked her back to safety before she could fall. Her body sprawled halfway on top of his, her heart crashing against her ribcage, she stared at Briggs. “I….oh my god, I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Did I crush you? I think I crushed you. I’m so…”
Her voice faded as the intoxicating feel of her magic pulsed in her veins. She bit her lip, her body arching against Briggs as lust and magic intertwined until the world narrowed to just the feel of Briggs’s warm, solid body beneath hers.
“Little witch,” he groaned.
She kissed him. How could she not when her magic demanded her to? His lips were warm and firm, and they opened immediately when she pressed her tongue against their seam. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and traced the tips of his fangs as he growled deep in his throat.
Her magic flared within her, that beautiful green light so addictive as it hummed through her veins. Images of lush green grass flooded her head, and she moaned softly.
Briggs flipped her onto her back, his big body pushing between her thighs, demanding she open for him. She spread her thighs wide, grinding against his thick erection as he took her mouth in a soul-searing kiss that sent another hot pulse of magic through her.
She clung to him as they kissed, tongues twisting and teasing, and both of them gasping for air when they finally broke apart.
Her hands glowed with green light, and Briggs glanced at the vines that were twining and waving above their heads.
They wrapped around each other, creating a thick canopy of vines a few feet above their bodies.
His hands stilled on her body, and Cece moaned her disapproval as Briggs said, “Are we about to be attacked by plants again?”
“No.” She slid her glowing hands over his chest, reveling in his warmth. “They’ll leave you alone if you do what I want.”
“Are you trying to scare me, little witch?” he asked with a small grin.
Her magic pulsed, making the vines shiver all over before a few slithered down to wrap around Briggs’s wrist. They tugged his hand to Cece’s breast, and another soft growl escaped his mouth.
“I don’t need your help.” He bared his fangs at the vines, and they retreated.
“Briggs,” Cece moaned. Her body was on fire. She needed Briggs, needed him to take her puny excuse for magic and turn it into the powerful, inescapable force it wanted to be.
He slid his hand under her hoodie, grunting in irritation at the added layer of her pajama top underneath it.
She cried out, her back arching and her nails sinking into Briggs’s broad back when he pushed past her flannel top, and his big hand cupped her naked breast. Her nipple was a hard pearl against his palm, and he squeezed and kneaded her breast as he kissed his way up her neck.
“I’ve wanted to touch your pretty tits for so long, little witch,” he growled into her ear. “Need to have your perfect nipples in my mouth.”
“Yes,” she moaned, her body arching when he plucked at one stiff nipple.
“I can feel your magic,” he said. “And it feels so fucking good.”
He rolled her nipple between his fingers as she rubbed herself against his hard cock. He kissed the sensitive spot below her ear and nuzzled her throat before licking his way back to her ear.
A green light glowed from the vines above them, bathing them both in its soft glow. Briggs pinched her nipple gently, his fangs peeking out from between his lips as he said, “Do you want to be fucked, little witch?”
“Yes,” she moaned. “I want you to fuck me, Briggs.”
He nuzzled her neck again, his warm breath awakening another deep pulse of her magic. She clung to him, her hips rocking frantically back and forth as Briggs traced the waistband of her pajamas.
She lifted her hips, silently urging him to pull her pants down and scowling at him when he didn’t do what she wanted.
“Briggs! Fuck me!”
The vines shivered above them and slowly descended, unfurling in the cold moonlight as they reached for Briggs. He lifted his head and growled fiercely at them, his fangs gleaming and his blue eyes darkening to brown.
The vines retreated immediately, and Cece glared at him. “Fuck me, right now!”
He nipped at her throat, his voice a low growl. “Gonna make you mine, little witch. Gonna stuff you full of my cock and watch your magic change the world.”
“Yes,” she gasped as his hand slid inside her pants and another bright pulse of magic flared to life inside her. “Give me what I need.”
His fingers grazed across the short patch of hair at the top of her pussy before they both heard the sound of breaking glass. Briggs froze, a growl rising from his throat, as he stared out the open door.
In a flash, he had broken free of her grip and was out of the bed, striding toward the door in just his sleep pants, not even stopping to put on a shirt. “Stay here.”
She sat up in bed, staring blankly at the empty doorway as her magic pulsed inside of her, hungry and desperate for what only Briggs could give them.
She waited only a few minutes before she slid off the bed. “Fuck that nonsense.”
Her magic a sharp and needy hum inside of her, she stomped after Briggs. She would destroy whatever was down there and then take what belonged to her.