Claiming His Witch (11 page)

She leaned back on her hands and looked up at the sky. “I know that feeling. Like falling for them would be the absolute worst and best thing ever. Like being with them would be the hardest and best choice in your life.” She looked over at me once more. “Like your entire future is right through that door, but if you open it, you have to lose everything you’ve ever known and loved.”

I crept closer, desperate to see Pup and yet intrigued by her view of my situation. “Like I’d have to give up my life to be a part of his and wondering how I could be so certain it would be worth it.”

She nodded. “Like you’ll have to mourn the loss of your family and friends being in your life while celebrating the amount of love you have for him.”

“I refuse to mourn for my sisters.”

“As I refuse to mourn for my brother, the only family I have left, and yet here we are.” She stood, pushing her blond hair back as the wind caught it. “My name’s Charlotte Andrews. I found out I was the mate to a wolf shifter just seven months ago, so I’m no expert. But if you ever need an ear, you can use mine.”

“Thanks. I appreciate that. And I’m Azurine Weaver, but everyone calls me Zuri.”

“Well, Zuri, I can guess that there are two men wide awake right now. One of the downsides to this whole extravaganza is the heightened senses these boys have. You lose your privacy and your ability to have a secret.” She glanced over her shoulder at the door to the cabin and sighed. “They’re probably getting a little cranky, waiting for us to join them.”

I looked over to the cabin where Pup was staying, butterflies taking flight in my stomach.

“What if he doesn’t want me here?”

Before she could answer, the door to Pup’s cabin opened and the man himself stepped onto the porch in nothing but a pair of tight-fitting boxers. The light of the nearly full moon highlighted the dips and curves of his muscles, the shadows deepening every ridge. He looked like a living statue, some long-dead warrior brought back to life and placed on that porch just for me.

Charlotte chuckled. “Somehow I think your question’s already been answered.” She grabbed my hand and gave me a smile. “I know how you feel, Zuri.”

“How do I know what to do?” My question was soft, quiet, yet Pup cocked his head as if he’d heard me. And maybe he had, though I doubted he’d be the one to help me find the answer.

Charlotte’s smile fell as the door to her cabin opened behind her, Rebel leaning his shoulder against the doorframe.
 

“I’m still trying to figure that out.” Charlotte pasted on a happy face and turned. The man in the doorway looked her over, inspecting her, before frowning and taking a step back into the darkness of the cabin. Charlotte followed him, shutting the door behind her with a quiet snick. Long after they’d disappeared, I stood, staring at Pup, frozen on the grass. He didn’t move toward me, didn’t try to tempt me or cajole me into joining him. He stood and waited, giving me the time to work through my thoughts. And when I did, when I knew that, for at least one night, he was worth the risk I was taking, I straightened my shoulders and took a single step in his direction. That one move brought a smile to his face, and my heart melted at the sight. No longer willing to wait, I rushed to him, reaching for his hand before I even made it to the steps.

“Hi.” I smiled as he pulled me into his arms. He was so warm, so hard and yet gentle at the same time.
 

“Hi.” His voice was deep and smooth, sending shivers up my spine. “It’s late. Why don’t you come to bed?”

I stepped back, out of his arms. The cold of the night air settled around me, making me curl in on myself as my doubts raged inside my head. “I’m not—”

“Not that.” He smiled and tugged me closer. Never pulling or demanding, he guided me inside the warm little cabin and shut the door behind him. With his hands on my hips, he directed me to the bed in the corner. “I’ll sleep on the floor if you like, but if you’re willing to share a bed with me, I promise to be a perfect gentleman. I just want you to lay with me.”

Perfect…he was perfect in that moment, giving me exactly what I needed and taking nothing in return. I nodded as he sat on the mattress and slid over to give me room. Craving comfort, I pulled my sweatshirt over my head, leaving me in nothing but a thin tank top. Before I could think twice, I unbuttoned my jeans and tugged them down my legs, kicking them off. Pup watched me, his eyes bright but not aggressive. He didn’t make me feel on display or uncomfortable. Instead, his watchfulness made me feel warm and safe. At home.

I knelt on the edge of the mattress and shuffled forward before lying down beside him. The bed was small, but there was plenty of room for the two of us as we cuddled in the center.
 

Pup dragged the blanket over us, tucking it in behind my shoulders. Once covered, he pulled me tight against his chest and wrapped me in his arms. The warmth, the feeling of comfort, the contact he gave me was better than any sleeping tincture the coven could brew. My eyelids drooped as Pup sighed into my hair and held me close.

“I’m so glad you came back.”

“Me too.” I yawned and squirmed in his grasp. Finally, my head found the perfect niche between Pup’s bicep and his shoulder. I snuggled into his hold, breathing in his earthy scent and allowing the late hour to settle over me

And then I surrendered to sleep.

I woke with a start, clinging to the woman who’d literally fallen into my life and taken ownership of my heart. She lay sleeping in my arms, her head on my bicep. Peaceful. Unlike when she’d shown up in camp the night before. Then she’d been a mess of tangled emotions, a woman in distress. I didn’t know what had upset her to the point that she’d left her home in the middle of the night to come find me, but I was glad she had. Having her here with me was exactly what I wanted.
 

I yawned and pressed my nose into Zuri’s hair so I could breathe her in. Find a moment of peace with her. I’d been on edge the night before, knowing she was out of my grasp. I wanted to shift and follow her scent through the woods to her home, but Rebel and Beast kept me busy with information on the den in Kalamazoo. I’d need to head down there later today, but for the moment, I was happily wrapped around my mate, and I fully intended on staying in this spot for as long as possible.
 

The K-zoo theft was the best-timed job I’d ever had because it had allowed me to find my mate. It was also the worst-timed job for the same reason. Though I was newly mated and completely out of my mind with the protective instincts that came with the presence of Azurine in my life, Rebel was expecting results. I needed figure out where the hell this Spook guy was and drag his sorry ass back to the camp for retribution. It would take me a day at most, maybe less if I got lucky on information. That wasn’t too bad.

But my heart lurched at the thought of leaving Zuri for that long. It was hard enough when she walked into the woods with those other witches. Then she’d been with her family, with others like her who would help to keep her safe. I knew I had to let her leave with them. Driving out of camp without her on the back of my bike was going to hurt like a bitch. I didn’t want to leave her behind. I hated the thought of not being here if she needed me again. But I couldn’t fail Rebel, not this time. So I curled around Zuri in the darkness and held her close while I could, breathing in her scent and basking in her warmth.
 

As the hours went from the darkness of predawn to the peachy glow of early morning, Azurine began to show signs of wakefulness. Her temperature rose, her breathing quickened, and her heart picked up its pace. After a few moments, her arms tightened their hold on me and her leg came up to wrap around my hip. All the way up around my hip. My erection practically cried at the unfairness of being so close to exactly where it wanted to go but unable to dive in. I did my best to think of things that would make him stand down, but he refused. Our mate was near, and he wanted to get at her.
 

Ignoring how badly I wanted to fuck her through the mattress, I kissed the top of her head and curled around her even more. If someone walked in, they probably wouldn’t even be able to see Zuri, what with the way I hovered over her. But I liked it, and my wolf liked it—our mate was safe and warm. That was all that mattered.

As I watched her peaceful face, she blinked her eyes open. At first she appeared confused, and her body stiffened in my arms. I was about to let her go when she finally lifted her eyes to meet mine.
 

“Hi,” she whispered as her body relaxed once again in my hold. Her voice practically made me whimper. I had such a need for her, a deep and endless craving. I could hardly hold myself back from my need to devour her. My dick was painfully hard after being pressed up against her soft girl-flesh all night, not to mention the way her position made him brush against the cotton panties covering her. Part of me wanted to tilt my hips away so she wouldn’t know how she made me lust after her. But the rest of me…

“Good morning.” I rolled us, ending with her upon my chest and straddling my hips. My dick resting between us. I didn’t move, just let her lay on me, her own weight pressing those soft curves against the part of me that was obviously happy to see her.
 

With a sigh, she ran her hands over my pecs and down my arms. Once her fingers hit my elbows, she reversed her path, lighting me on fire from within with nothing more than a few strokes of her hands. I flattened my hands against her back and did the same, sliding them up and down her soft skin, relishing all the skin-to-skin contact.

I moaned and closed my eyes when she scraped her nails over my nipple. She chuckled and did it again before leaning over to place a single soft kiss to the center of my chest.

I pushed her hair back over her shoulders and smiled. “Did you sleep okay?”
 

“Better than ever.” She sighed and laid her head on my shoulder, her hair tickling me suddenly the most erotic thing I’d ever experienced. I held back a growl even as my hips flexed of their own accord. She rode the movement, her own body arching into me.

But then she groaned.
 

“I have to go home.”

I growled and whimpered, unable to hold it back. I didn’t want her to leave. I wanted her to stay with me. I wanted her to keep rubbing me, to lay with me, to let me run my hands over her body. I wanted every moment to be with her, but deep down, I knew I needed to follow her lead. If Rebel and Charlotte had taught me anything, it was that the woman needed time to accept the relationship. The depth of the mating bond wasn’t something they could relate to. This was no “Hi, I love you. Let’s get married” thing; it was more of a “Hi, you’re mine. Don’t ever leave my sight” thing.

Which sounded supercreepy when I thought of it like that.

I didn’t want Zuri to feel trapped or suffocated; I just wanted her with me. But she had a life elsewhere, one with family and friends she cared about. I couldn’t steal her away from all that. I sort of envied Gates his finding a mate in a shewolf—at least Kaija understood how a mating worked and accepted him from the start. Zuri may not have been human, but she sure as hell wasn’t a shifter, either. She could easily refuse our bond and, in the end, me.
 

Another whimper escaped me as I thought of her possible rejection, this one a little louder than the first. Zuri glanced up at me, her brows pulling together.
 

“Am I hurting you?”

I shook my head, hiding my inner angst, and tightened my arms around her. “No, never. I just don’t want to admit our night together is over.”

She regarded me a moment before dropping her forehead against my chest. “I know. I don’t want to leave you, either.”

Inside, I danced a happy jig as my mate revealed her want to be with me. Outside, I pulled her closer and bent to kiss her head again. She hummed her approval.

“The Fates led me to you, Pup. I can feel the connection between us, the thread bonding us. And I trust you, whether that’s a smart decision or not.” With a huff, she raised her head and looked me in the eyes. “But my coven believes you and your friends are witch hunters.”

“We’re not.” My eyes bore into hers, my face serious.
 

“I know that. They don’t. And they wouldn’t believe me when I tried to tell them. They were all certain you were the enemy, and that you tricked me into feeling something for you. As if you worked some kind of mojo over me and voilà—instant witch in your pocket. They were burning black candles last night, for Pete’s sake.”

It was my turn to look confused. “What do black candles have to do with anything?”

She snorted. “You have a lot to learn about witches.”

I rolled us again, ending with her solidly underneath me. Her thighs were still spread around my hips, putting me exactly where I wanted to be…almost. Because as much as my dick was anxious to get to know her better, my mouth was suddenly even more so. Looking down at those eyes, that smile, the way her skin looked so golden against my white sheets—it all made me hungry for her. I was desperate for a taste.

“Will you teach me?” I ran my nose up her neck and under her jaw, inhaling her scent. Her breath stuttered and her pulse flew, making me need to do it again.
 

“Yes.” Her word came out practically on a moan, and I suddenly had the impression we were talking about more than lessons in her heritage. I pulled back slowly, searching out her eyes as my lips rested a breadth away from hers.
 

“Yes?” I asked once I held her gaze. She nodded but then frowned.
 

“Morning breath.”
 

I shook my head slowly, not breaking eye contact even as our noses brushed. “Don’t care.”

“No?” A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, revealing a dimple I’d never noticed. Small, almost hidden in her left cheek. I wanted to lick it so bad.
 

“No.” I dropped my head slowly, not wanting to read her wrong or push her too far too fast. But she held my gaze confidently, looking ready. Willing.