Page 3 of Witch's Betrayal
1
DEJA
Waking up sandwiched between two men became increasingly easy to get used to. I raised my head in search of my third and heard a distant rummaging in the kitchen. Ah, Sal was making tea. Or conjuring up some delicious food. I laid back down, not ready to leave the warmth of the two still in bed with me.
Both of their eyes remained closed. I turned to face Ash, still unable to get enough of him after missing him so much. Up close with my hands against his skin, it was easier to tell he wasn't human. He was simply too perfect, and not only because of his angelic features or marble-carved body. Even the texture of his skin was slightly different than a human's.
I turned to Raum laying on the other side of me. His arm with the raven tattoo draped across my hip, as it tended to do when we slept next to each other. He breathed softly with his mouth parted, looking all too adorable and human. His raven black hair spread out across the pillows, intermingling with my hair. A light splatter of freckles stretched across his nose that I didn't notice before. I wanted to count and kiss each one.
He and Ash couldn't have been more different from each other, and yet neither more perfect for me.
I began pressing light kisses to Raum's nose. He started stirring by the third one.
"Mm, who's giving me little witch kisses?"
"It's me, Sal." I tried unsuccessfully to lower my voice to Sal's rumbling timbre.
Raum laughed as he pulled me closer, removing me from Ash's arms.
"Soon you'll learn to glamour as any one of us and then that'll be a good prank."
"I learn from the best," I murmured, snuggling my face against his neck.
His warm palms slid across my back as his mouth found mine, drinking me deeply without a care in the world for my morning breath. I shivered as his fingers trailed across the tender flesh of my ass. He left bruises there the night before, but this morning he held me as gently as a kitten.
"Now that all your memories have returned to you," he murmured against my forehead. "Tell me who you were when we first met."
"Jezebel," I answered without missing a beat. "Not my finest hour when it came to bringing humans to our side, but I was still learning."
"I disagree, my little witch." Raum toyed with my hair. "As Jezebel, you were the first and only woman I fell in love with."
"That's sweet," I said, kissing under his jaw. "But did you forget that I died from being thrown out of a window?"
"You died in many creative ways," he said casually. "I made bets with Ash and Sal on the different ways your mortal body would die."
I gasped. "You did not!"
His shoulders shook with laughter as he hid his smile in my hair. "We did."
I pouted and he kissed me, still smiling. His chocolate eyes sparkled with that familiar mischief, never letting on if he was serious or joking.
"But the important thing is," he continued. "Thousands of years later, everyone still knows who Jezebel is. Even if they don't know the whole story, everyone knows what she represents. She's still part of the culture." He propped his head up on his arm, still looking at me and grinning. "That's what you're so good at, little witch. Even if you don't live forever, you make a permanent mark on history. One that the cross-bearers can't erase or ignore."
He had a point, even if that death was particularly un-glamorous and embarrassing. According to legend, Jezebel had been trampled by a horse and her hands were eaten by stray dogs after her tumble from the window. What a way to go.
"I like it when you stroke my ego," I told him with a smirk.
His grin grew even wider. "You know what I like you to stroke?"
I batted my eyelashes in fake innocence.
"Your hair?"
"Eh, that's okay but try again."
"Your back?"
He began kissing a hot trail down my neck.
