Page 9 of Rise of the Witch
Nox stood and slid his handgun from its holster, releasing the safety and taking aim in one smooth motion. “I hope you weren’t too attached to your pet swan, witch,” he grinned wickedly, finger pulling back on the trigger.
“No, Nox!” Asa barked, panic flashing across his pretty face. “She’s ashifter!”
Nox growled, quickly pointing his weapon away as Anthia rose from the ground in human form, violet eyes still trained on the man before her as she edged toward me. The rage on Nox’s face was quickly aimed at me as he hissed, “You almost let me shoot ashifter,you evil bitch. Do you have any idea the bureaucratic shitshow that would’ve caused?”
He was going to shoot Anthia...
The realization of what almost happened made me half-collapse against my friend as she wrapped an arm around my shoulder and guided me away from the seething man. Asa appeared in our path, his pale blue gaze running over me as if checking for injuries. “Are you both all right? I am so sorry on Nox’s behalf. That was completely uncalled for…”
“It sure as hell was,” Anthia brusquely interrupted, shoving past him with her free arm. “I don’t know who you men are,” she called over her shoulder. “But I suggest you find somewhere else to be for a while before I shift again and bite your dicks off.”
I didn’t see Asa’s reaction, but I could somehowfeelthe men moving away from us as we continued toward the hut. Once inside, Anthia sat me down at the bench closest to the stove, immediately pouring warm water from the kettle onto a rag to wipe over my forehead. My mind somehow felt both foggy and razor-sharp as I breathed evenly and focused on her face. Starting with her eyes, I noted how they stared at me in concern from under her curtain of platinum blonde hair; moving along the curve of her jawline, my gaze traveled down to her lips, and only then did I realize she was talking to me.
“...thenerveof these men, waltzing onto sacred land like they own the place. Typical humans! And then to try toattackyou after you sograciouslylet them live, hmph!” Continuing to angrily mutter to herself, she turned to the hutch and started busying herself with preparing a cup of tea before abruptly changing the subject. “Anyway...what I was coming to tell you was that I talked to Mr. Harbison—that client I told you about,” she clarified, glancing sideways at me. “First of all, he was ecstatic about the new batch of dream tea but, more importantly, he mentioned there have been rumblings in the occult community recently about unusually high instances of communication with the dead.”
“You convinced him to disclose that information to you?” I mumbled, accepting the mug of fragrant liquid, impressed with her power of persuasion over a human.
Anthia chuckled and winked. “Well,first,I convinced him to try a few sips of the dream tea...to loosen him up a little.”
Smiling, I took a sip, sighing in pleasure as I tasted the chamomile mixed with rose and a hint of lavender, thankful that my dear friend had arrived when she did. It wasn’t long after I’d accepted my role as Yaga that Anthia and I first met. She’d fallen into a hunter’s pitfall trap and broken a wing, making her unable to shift. After nursing her back to health, Anthia revealed her true nature to me, officially ushering me into the closely guarded secret that the forest was full of shifters like her. Of course, I was already aware of the forest’s various supernatural beings—including the Baba Yaga, past and present—but shifters were notoriously reclusive and distrustful of others.
Understandably so, with all these trigger-happy humans around!
Shuddering again, I recalled Nox almost shooting Anthia after so threateningly advancing on me. I wondered if part of my response to him was due to the trauma I’d experienced in my human life, but that had been so long ago, I rarely thought of it anymore. Many men had attempted to intimidate me over the years, which usually didn’t end well for them, but this was the first time my body had responded like it did—like I wanted to run from Noxandallow him to catch me. It didn’t make any sense; I found everything about the ogre abhorrent, including his unwillingness to share the tiniest bit of information…
“‘Thia,” my eyes widened as an alarming thought surfaced. “How do you think Asa knew you were a shifter?”
She blinked at me in confusion. “The buttermilk blond with the marble cheekbones to die for?” Registering my nod, she slowly exhaled, tapping her nails on the wooden surface of the hutch. “Hmm...I’m not sure. It’s fairly difficult to tell us apart from other humans or animals when we’re in one form or another unless you really know what you’re looking for. Most humans don’t even know we exist...” Glancing at me sharply, she asked, “Do you have any idea where these men came from before finding you?”
Rising to my feet, I snarled through clenched teeth, feeling the energy of the forest fluctuate in response to my rising anger. “I don’t, but I aim to find out whether they like it or not.”
Chapter 8
Asa
Following Tan deeper into the forest, I couldn’t help worrying about the woman we’d left behind in the cabin. There was no denying Vasi was a powerful creature, and whatever sacred area of the forest we’d managed to wander into was clearly under her jurisdiction. But I knew trauma when I saw it, and Nox had triggered something when he went after her so aggressively.
I cared about that man like a brother, but, at this moment, he was lucky he’d taken off in the opposite direction. Witnessing fear flash over Vasi’s breathtaking features—terrorhe’dput there—made me want to bury him six feet underground.
What the hell is wrong with me?
It was strange enough to feel so violently protective of someone I’d only just met, but more unsettling was how incrediblyattractedto Vasi I was. Sure, I could appreciate the opposite sex, but this woman captivated me to the point where she was all I could think about. The way she spoke, how she moved, and of course, how she looked. She was a tiny thing, only coming up to my chest, but every inch of her was soft, curvy perfection, and I wanted to feel her wrapped around me like a second skin. When I first saw her at the thermal pools, materializing in the steam like a glorious vision, I’d almost spun right around and headed back into the forest because suddenly experiencing feelings likethat—for a woman no less—after months of feelingnothing…
I can’t fucking breathe right now.
“You okay, Ace?” Tan’s lilting voice brought me back to the present and the small clearing we now found ourselves in. Exhaling slowly, I stared at the ground for a few moments before starting to sweep my gaze over the man that was as familiar to me as my own reflection. Traveling up his legs, I momentarily paused on the sizable bulge in his pants before allowing my focus to wander along the chiseled muscles visible beneath his thin shirt.
By the time I reached his hazel eyes, Tan’s concern had turned to amusement as he clearly recognized the desperate need on my face. “Is there...anythingIcan help you with?” he teased, licking his lips as he advanced, backing me against a large boulder on the edge of the clearing.
I need to not feel like this.
I need to not feel anything.
Placing one palm on the rock behind me, he grasped the back of my neck with the other hand, tightening his grip just enough for my body to immediately relax into his touch. A groan of appreciation escaped me as our lips met, his hot tongue running along the crease of my mouth before demanding entry, teeth nipping as he took over—just like I needed him to.
Grinding against me, Tan moaned as his rigid dick rubbed mine through the layers of fabric separating us. I gently pushed him away, overtly adjusting myself to direct his gaze to where my hand cupped my hardening cock. He didn’t immediately drop to his knees as I’d hoped, instead, lowering his head to languidly kiss a trail up my neck, frustratingly slow.
“Please,” I whispered, hands on his shoulders to push him away again. “I need your mouth on me…”
