Page 107 of Soul of a Witch

Just as I’d hoped, he smiled after I put it into his mouth. Scrunching up my nose at the combination, I grabbed another bizarre duo of foods.

This time, my fingers brushed against his lips as he took it. He kept his eyes closed as I lowered my hand, his arms coming up so he could grip my hips. Taking a sip from the wine bottle, I pressed closer to him, bringing our mouths together. He drank from my mouth like it was a holy fount, messy and desperate, wine dripping from our chins as we parted, and I breathlessly laughed.

He opened his eyes, and they reminded me of the calm quiet depths of the deepest oceans.

“Thank you,” he said.

I was quite certainIshould have been the one thanking him for going to all this trouble. Looking at him curiously, I said, “For what?”

With a heavy sigh, he closed his eyes again and leaned back. The sun kissed his skin, turning that pale flesh faintly golden. With the soft, airy tone of someone on the verge of sleep, he said, “For giving me peace.”

37

Everly

“Come now, darling, is it really so bad? How would a sensitive little thing like you survive torture, if just a little rope makes you whimper?”

“I didn’t — whimper —” I huffed, my chest straining against the ropes and against gravity itself to draw in a breath. “Igrowled. There’s — there’s a difference —”

Like a perverted, raven-haired bird, Callum bent his body to the side, turning his head upside down as he looked at me. It was a mockery of my current position: reddened face dangling toward the floor, my body trussed up in ropes as I hung, mid-air. One leg was extended up behind me, the other bent so my foot rested close to my opposite knee. My arms were bound together behind my back, and even my hair had been pulled into a ponytail and tied.

“You’re right; there is a difference,” Callum said sagely. “The difference being that growling at your torturer is very naughty.” He straightened up, clicking his tongue in disapproval as he snapped his fingers to the music. We were in the piano room, the fire keeping my naked body warm as Frank Sinatra crooned from the record player and the piano magically played along.

Callum caressed his hand down my extended leg until he reached the curve of my buttocks. He patted my cheek like one would affectionately pat a horse, before he whipped his palm down with a sharp, stinging smack.

Sucking in my breath, I hissed, “I can’t solve your puzzle if you keep distracting me!”

He circled me, clawed feet falling heavily with every step. “Yes, darling, that’s what we dirty demons do. We distract, we redirect, we trick, lie, and corrupt. And I’m afraid that if you don’t solve the puzzle, you’re doomed to hang here forever. Although that certainly isn’t a problem for me.” His claws scratched along my thigh, and he kissed the reddened marks they left behind. “You look beautiful in my ropes.”

God, how I longed to dissolve into submission, to beg him for pleasure, to whimper with abandon. Instead, I grit my teeth and tried to concentrate on the wretched puzzle he’d placed beneath me: a silver ball within an enclosed box, holding a maze of tunnels I couldn’t see. I had tosensethe maze within, focusing my magic to guide the ball through to the end.

But focus was nearly impossible when Callum kept touching me.

“I’ve never encountered a temptation as delicious as you,” he said. His nose brushed against my thigh as he inhaled softly, slowly. His hands slid between my bound legs. Every inch of me trembled with tension as the ball rolled aimlessly within the puzzle box. “You smell like heaven.”

“Callum —!” My words dissolved with a strangled sound as his forked tongue lapped over my clit. The ball thumped uselessly within the puzzle box as my brain dissolved, pleasure rendering me incapable of guiding it any further.

“Mm, you’re failing your task, witch.” His words were groaned between my legs. “I’ll have to punish you for that.”

Holding my breath, I waited for what he would do, but nothing happened. He’d suddenly gone completely still.

“Don’t stop,” I gasped desperately. “Please, Callum!”

But he darted toward the door. Swinging slightly from the ropes, I tried to look at him upside down. “W-what are you doing?”

He waited at the door, as still as a statue as he listened. “I heard something,” he said.

In the space of a few seconds, the ropes dissolved from my body, Callum caught me before I could hit the ground and turned me right side up, setting me on my feet. Then he was at the door again, head cocked to listen, nostrils flaring as he sniffed.

Dizzied by the sudden movements and still reeling from all the sensations, I immediately sunk into a chair. “What did you hear?”

He held up his finger, and my heart clenched. That look on his face was all too familiar; there was danger nearby. My hands tightened on the arms of the chair, magic rushing through my limbs and immediately bolstering my attention, bringing the world back into focus.

“Who’s out there, Callum?” I whispered.

“A demon,” he said, his voice soft. He turned his head, his black eyes pinning me in a heavy stare. “Stay here. Wait for me.”

He slipped out the door, shutting it quietly behind him. The music kept playing, the piano softening as my worry grew. Callum could handle himself against any adversary; I’d seen him take down Juniper’s demon easily. But it had also been a demon — Lucifer — who had separated the two of us, who had been strong enough to take Callum away from me and hold him captive.

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