Page 32 of This Coven Won't Break
The backs of my knees hit the bed, and I fall onto her mattress. I barely have time to miss the heat of her before she’s lowering herself after me, leaving a trail of kisses down my neck that makes me squirm with desire.
I hook a finger in her belt loop and tug her hips to mine. She pauses for a second, braced above me on the bed, then leans down for another kiss. This one is quick and hard, and then she’s trailing her lips across my collarbone, obliterating every other thought in my head.
She kisses me like she wants to remember every second.
She kisses like she wants to forget everything else.
Her hand slides beneath my T-shirt again and trails up my rib cage, stopping at the edge of my bra. I don’t want her to stop. I want so much more. So when she pulls away and meetsmy gaze, a question in the rise of her brow, all I can manage is a brokenyes.
And then we’re in new territory, testing our boundaries to see where they match. Lips against skin usually hidden beneath our clothes. Legs tangled together, pressing our bodies as tight as they’ll go. My magic is wild and free, currents of air slipping along exposed skin and getting tangled up between us.
When her fingers reach for the button of my jeans, I’m tempted. So tempted I almost beg her to keep going, but I don’t know when her parents will wake up, and I don’t want to rush. Not our first time.
“Soon,” I promise, guiding her hands back up above my waist. “But not tonight.”
We kiss until our lips are numb. Learn the places that tickle and the ones that make us shiver. We kiss until we forget what we’re hiding from.
11
MY PHONE BUZZES WITHa series of texts, the vibrations against my thigh pulling me out of sleep. When I wake fully, I find myself wrapped in Morgan’s arms, but I still feel cold.
My entire body is sore from the fight with Alice. It seems like weeks have passed since her fingers were around my throat, but it’s been less than a day. Less than a day, and yet so much has changed.
I reach for my phone. It buzzes again as I unlock it.
GG:How’d it go?
GG:Did you recruit the vampire?
GG:Hannah? Come on. I’m freaking out over here. Are you okay? Are you still at the hotel?
GG:Did you and Morgan have fun???
Gemma’s texts make me smile, and I glance at Morgan sleeping peacefully beside me. Last night wasn’t the romantic hotel getaway that Gemma’s implying, but it was the first night we fell asleep like this. I listen to Morgan’s soft intake of breath as the early morning light highlights the dusting of freckles acrossher face. I want to reach out and trace each one, want to brush a finger along her full lips, but I don’t.
Instead, I text Gemma and try to ignore the guilt and anger playing a percussive duet against my rib cage.
HW:Vampire?
Gem’s response is swift.
GG:She needed a code name.
GG:And don’t think I missed that little deflection. Can I assume you two had a good time in NYC?
HW:Not exactly. I’ll fill you in later.
The onlygoodthing about NYC was everything that happened before Alice’s show. I still can’t believe the Hunters drugged Sarah. They almost drugged Morgan and me, too, and despite what anyone says, it’s my fault. I’m the one who posted the picture that led Riley right to us. And if I wasn’t so reliant on Morgan’s power to access the elements, I might have stopped them faster. I might have saved Sarah’s magic.
I don’t know how I’ll explain any of this to Mom.
Fresh worry forces me to slip out of Morgan’s bed. I need to get home before Archer or Sarah call my mom and she freaks out that I’m not back yet. I leave Morgan a note on her desk so she doesn’t worry and try to use air magic to see if her parents are awake. The ease I felt last night is gone, and I give up when my hands start to shake. The frustration is almost enough to make mescream, and as soon as I’m in Alice’s rental van, I text Cal and ask if he can meet up later.
I can’t keep fighting this on my own. I can’t fail anyone else the way I failed Sarah.
He doesn’t answer right away, so I drive the rental back to my house. Mom wasn’t expecting me home until this afternoon, so I cross everything that she’s still asleep. With any luck, I can slip in, grab a quick shower, and head to Cal’s before Mom wakes up.
The lock clicks, I ease open the door, and—
