Page 17 of Magic Hunted
“Is this what she wants, Savvas?” Ashir growled.
My panther purred inside me with a resounding yes. She liked being naked in her mate’s arms as he held me against his chest as though I was precious. As though Imeantsomething. I was so tempted to give in to the bond just to know for a second what it felt like to be wanted. That they chose me of their own free will, but that could never be because nothing about this situation was ‘free will’.
Savvas pulled back, his hands splayed and trembling on my back. His curls were a riot over his eyes that lit with inner heat and the knowledge hit me that he waspretty. His refined brows arched above bright eyes that burned with his heart. His straight nose was poised over full lips that were wet and swollen from our kiss. A kiss I should never have had because now I only wanted more.
“I’ve already told you the truth. I’m spelled. What you feel is a lie.” My voice was husky, thick with the need that throbbed through me. I forced myself not to react to the stabbing pain shooting from my abdomen because of the lie.
The grimoire released glittering sparks, urging me to give in to the bond, but I thought of my mother forcing the sword into her stomach, clenched in her two shaking fists. The look of agony on her face as the grimoire’s magic took her away from me. Her red blood had poured from her wound, soaking the living room rug as she fell into it after her last breath. The grimoire had cost me everything. I would not let it take more from me.
Savvas picked me up and strode to the stream. I clung to his muscular shoulders as he stepped into the water. “What are you doing?”
“It doesn’t take much to understand your distrust. You were Titan’s slave.” His eyes drifted to the studs lining my collarbone as his voice cracked. “He’s done unimaginable things to you. Things I would gladly have saved you from as your mate. I would protect you with my life.”
My blood ran cold. This was exactly what they would do. Because of the bond, danger already enslaved them.
“Savvas, put me down,” I said, trying to work my way free from his grip, but his large palms held me too easily.
“You’ve fought all your life, Haera, now you’ll have to learn something new,” Ashir said, following us into the stream, Dias close behind.
He sank us into the water to my breasts, sitting on the bed of the creek and locking me in the dip between his chest and thighs. My nipples tingled in the cool water, igniting my heated skin. “And what’s that?”
Dias scooped water and poured it over my shoulders as he settled on my other side, rubbing off the mud and dirt on my skin. I shivered at the gentle touch that I shouldn’t enjoy. “That not everyone is your enemy and you can trust us. To see the difference between a genuine bond and the magic you think is forcing you to feel it.”
Magicwasforcing part of this. I’d have to let them think it was Titan’s. In the end I would get through to them. It would be the seed of doubt I needed, but right now I was taking far too much comfort from their touch. The grimoire perked up, flooding my system with arousal and something else. Something subtle, yet powerful enough to blast through the defenses I’d depended on to survive.
I was not the woman who caved at the first taste of kindness. Of understanding. Of kind words and empathy, and yet I was because my muscles loosened. My hand splayed across Savvas’ chest, feeling his heart hammering under my touch. I leaned against him, accepting the cage of his arms and the unspoken protection they offered as they caged me between them.
I shouldn’t give in like this, but when Savvas banded an arm about my shoulders, the weight of it was strangely soothing. Dias ran his palm over the stretch of my back in long, slow strokes and Ashir skimmed my calf, washing away the grime on my skin. Their touch should be forbidden.
Ashir hummed, a deep, low sound of contentment that bled into me. Shouldn’t I feel what it could be likejust this once?
I was caught in an invisible web as strong as the spiders that caught birds the size of dinner plates in the jungle. These alphas were just as deadly. They didn’t have venomous fangs, but they rendered me as immovable as any prey.
I hadn’t been touched in so long. Not so gently or so carefully. I didn’t seek touch from anyone. This was the very thing I’d tried to avoid and now I comprehended what I’d missed out on, I was starved. Touch could quickly become my drug of choice.
Savvas’ rigid cock brushed behind me and I gasped, the warmth bleeding into the chill of reality. I planted my palms on his chest and pushed away from him, but his arms snaked out before I could drift away from him and he gently tugged me back against him.
“Don’t do this.” I sank clenched fists below the surface of the water so he couldn’t see how wound up I really was.
“We’ll never do anything you don’t want us to. You’re safe with us,” Savvas said. He brushed his damp curls off his forehead, the water dripping from his forearm and back into the stream. “I would like to help you wash.”
“I can do it myself,” I said.
Ashir’s full lips curved and his eyes sparked with mischief as he leaned in. Mischief that wanted to make me smile in return. “But it’s so much nicer when someone helps, don’t you think?”
“I don’t enjoy anyone touching me,” I said, bringing my legs up to cover my body, the half lie tasting like ash on my tongue. I didn’t like touch that caused pain and gods knew I’d had that sort of touch for most of my life. Someone had once held me gently. I’d known what it was to be loved and cherished, even if the memories had faded. The soft touch of my mother and fathers were burned into the fabric of my soul.
Ashir’s smile disappeared and he was serious again. He pressed his hand to my chest, his palm searing my skin. He had to feel how hard my heart was racing. How much I was spinning out of control. “You’ve been so deprived of kindness that it’s difficult to trust. You need someone to show you that touch between mates is freeing. Healing. Please, Haera, will you let us touch you as you should be? We promise not to do anything you don’t want us to.”
My eyes prickled as instant heat rose up my throat. How many times had I dreamed about being touched? Of someone offering to share my pain? Did they know they offered me the very thing I’d yearned for since the day my life had shattered into a million painful, irreparable shards?
I blinked away unshed tears, refusing to let them fall. To let them see. “You don’t understand.”
Ashir moved so slowly I could track his every movement. I froze, muscles locked as his fingers inched toward me, his fingertips brushing my hair from my cheek. His touch left a tingling trail across my skin. “I understand more than you think. We recognize pain. It’s not that different from ours.”
His fingers slid into my hair and firmed, a tremor working through his arm. “You’re our heart. The center of our pack. Let us in. Please…”
I understood their pain, the devastation and the same hope that dogged me. I knew how humans, both magical and non-magical, treated shifters. How Titan had made an example of them to keep the pack in line. How they begged Titan for supplies and scraped together things needed to keep their people alive and safe. I might have stayed in the shadows, but I didn’t hide from their harsh reality. I couldn’t. My job as Titan’s spy ensured I saw the worst of what went on in all the territories and to all shifters.
