Page 24 of Familiar of the Witch

I didn’t have his harness to secure me but we wouldn’t be flying far. Bastion waited until I’d grasped the tufts of hair at the apex of his back then launched himself forward, gaining speed before his wings snapped out and started to lift us.

In a minute we were high in the sky, above the grey wet clouds we’d pushed through. It was weird: I knew that clouds are made of water but they looked so fluffy and white that I didn’t expect rain to hit my skin as we’d ploughed through one of them. A fine mist clung to my face and clothes. Then we broke through the bank of grey and the sun beamed at us. Above every grey day, a glorious one waited.

We didn’t fly for long before Bastion dived back down. I squeezed his body tightly with my legs and silenced the scream that wanted to tear out of my throat. Exhilaration rushed through me as we ploughed back through the soggyclouds. Finally he landed lightly and expertly on top of the Coven roof.

I slid off his back and he shifted to human. I couldn’t help but beam at him. ‘That was awesome.’

‘You prefer it without the harness?’

‘I don’t know. I think last time the circumstances weren’t great, so I wasn’t exactly focused on the ride.’

A smirk tugged at his lips. ‘If you liked that ride, just you wait.’

I huffed. ‘You’re all talk. My lips remain unkissed. I’m beginning to think you don’t even like me.’

In a second he was on me, his body pressed against mine. He shifted his hips and suddenly I could feel something hot, hard and huge against my hip. ‘Oh,’ I said, eyes wide.

‘Oh,’ he agreed. ‘Having you ride me is – stimulating. Don’t think me cold or unaffected, Amber. I want you so much it is distracting me, but we can’t afford distractions, not now.’ He stepped back. ‘Let’s go and get this bloody rune off me.’

He grabbed my hand and tugged me into the Coven’s tower. He was a man on a mission.

Chapter 21

Luckily we didn’t encounter a soul on our way in. Bastion entered the code to my apartment, unlocked the door and the scent of home welcomed me. Something in me eased.

‘Have you got some healing potions handy?’ Bastion asked.

‘Of course.’

‘Good. I’ll do it in the bathroom. Bring the potions.’

Do what in the bathroom? I hastily pulled out my strongest healing potion from the fridge, grabbed some brushes and followed him. He was moving the bathroom mat to one side. Without a hint of self-consciousness, he kicked off his boots and socks, unbuckled his trousers and pulled them off. He still wore tight black boxers and I tried hard not to stare. He folded his clothes neatly and stepped into the bath.

His eyes flashed gold and his right hand shifted into his talons. With a glance at me, he rolled up the bottom edge of his boxers to expose the rune on his inner thigh and I suddenly realised what he was going to do. Before I could object, he used his talon to slice off the flesh of his inner thigh. The runed flesh fell to the bottom of the bathroom and blood poured from the wound.

‘Bastion! I could have just painted anezro!’ I complained.

Before I could approach him with my potions, he shifted into griffin form to start the healing process. I gaped a little at the sight of a huge griffin squashed into my bathtub. ‘Why did you have me bring healing potions?’ I asked in exasperation.

‘Just giving you something to do,’ he explained cheekily.

I was amused – but then I realised it wasn’tmyhumour I was experiencing buthis. My eyes widened as I stared at him. ‘I can feel you!’ I gasped.

‘I should hope so. I’d be disappointed if I’d just sliced off a pound of flesh for no reason at all.’

Bastion shifted back to his human form and stood in my shower wearing his black T-shirt and boxers. I let my eyes rove over the muscles of his thighs; not a mark remained of the gruesome wound that had been there moments before.No wonder griffins were such fierce warriors; with healing like that they hardly needed to fear any wounds, bar a killing blow.

‘Amber, if you don’t stop staring at me like that, I’m not going to be held responsible for my actions.’

I felt the stirrings of arousal: his, not mine. ‘We have time,’ I murmured. ‘Come and be irresponsible with me.’

‘Temptress.’ Bastion reached down, grasped the bottom of his T-shirt and peeled it over his head. He stared at me, his gaze hot as he saw me admiring the hard lines of his chest. ‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘Let’s be irresponsible – but after we’ve cleaned up here.’

He turned on the water on and washed away the blood. I felt the skin under my collar grow hot as I watched him scrub the bath. Honestly, something was wrong with me: there shouldn’t have been anything remotely sexy about Bastion cleaning my bath.

I grabbed the superfluous jars of healing potion, took them into the kitchen area and put them back into the fridge. I held the fridge door open for a few moments – I needed to cool down.

Bastion padded out after me, still in his boxers and nothing more. I appreciated his lack of clothes; the man was model-fit. Ihoped I wasn’t visibly drooling as I watched his corded muscles flex and roll when he moved.

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