Apocalyptic Mojo (5 page)

She threw her weight sideways and they toppled off the cliff.

His scream and her laughter lit up the night all the way down.

Draigh saw his life flashing before his eyes as the mountainside whipped by. The witch had surely lost her mind. Her delight in his terror was proof of that.

Expecting to die a hard, fast death, Draigh was shocked when his fall was cut short by the silky spring of an invisible net.

They burst apart when they landed and the net grabbed them before they could rebound into the sky.

She lay on her back a few feet away, laughing as Draigh fought to return his stomach to its assigned spot within his gut and catch his breath. “You’re crazed, woman.”

His cranky accusation only served to make her laugh harder. After a moment, when she was able to stop laughing long enough to speak, she said, “You should have seen your face. Priceless.”

“Shut up.” Draigh began crawling, searching for the edge of the web. Grimly, he wondered if his scream hadn’t been a bit shrill. A little girlish. He was pretty sure his tonsils had locked up at one point. Surely he hadn’t shrieked like a virgin as he faced death? Frowning, he realized it didn’t matter, he’d never live it down.

His seeking hand found air and he grasped the edge of the web, flipping himself off and landing lightly on his feet. “Come. You’ve had your fun. Now we have work to do.”

She crawled on all fours toward the edge. Draigh found his body tightening as he watched her come. Her plump breasts strained the worthless scrap of leather that snugged her torso and the thick braid of dark hair slipped over her slender arms as she moved.

When his gaze finally made it to her face, he found her watching him with her bright-green gaze. Heat flared between them, though Draigh tried to shove it back behind an uber-thin veneer of disgust.

Even covered in zombie goo she smelled of jasmine.

He had to fight the urge to clasp her around her narrow waist and lift her to the ground, sliding his hands along her slender ribcage to cup the luscious bounty beneath that scrap of leather. The memory of the kiss they’d shared in the passageway deep within the mountain made his cock stiffen beneath his pants.

Much to his chagrin, she easily dismounted from the web without his help. Though he noticed she limped slightly and held one arm against her side. The wounds from her battle with the zombies weren’t life threatening, but it was certain she would be stiff and sore for a while.

They took off on foot toward Devil’s Glen as Draigh called the guide to track the rogue witch.

The blue lights erupted all around them, coming together and spinning in a funnel over Draigh’s hand. Unfortunately they never took shape.

“Well?”

“She has left this area. The guide cannot find her.”

“What exactly does that mean?”

He frowned. “I am not sure. She could be cloaking her presence of course. But it’s difficult to hide from the guide’s magics.”

“Or she could have really left.”

“She has no travel magics.”

“Wrong. She has no epoch travel magics. But she can shift from geographic area to geographic area. It takes a powerful mage to do it. But after seeing the army she created and threw away in that cavern, I’m starting to understand that Ms. Edwige is more powerful than we were led to believe.”

“It’s impossible for a mage to hide from the elders.”

“Apparently not.”

He scowled down at her.

She stared back, unblinking.

Draigh realized, with a start, that she believed the witch Edwige was operating, at least partially, outside the oversight of the council.

He shook his head.

They continued on toward the portal in silence. As it came into sight, the witch beside him sighed.

Finally she admitted, “Okay. I think it’s time to pay a visit to your Watcher.”

CHAPTER FIVE

“The Watcher cannot see us until morning.”

Ardith scowled. “What is he, some kind of banker?”

They stepped into the portal. Draigh lifted a heavy, dark-blond eyebrow. “Nay. He is not a money changer, he’s an oracle.” His tone of voice made his disgust at her stupidity clear.

Ardith expelled a breath. Last stop, Literalville. “So where do we go now?” The portal engaged and she soon found herself standing in Draigh’s rooms. “What are we doing here again?”

“I’ve changed my mind about making you use your own bath. I’m not letting you out of my sight. You can’t be trusted.”

He strode out of the portal, heading for the bathroom. “This time I’m showering first.”

Ardith waited until he’d turned on the water and she could hear it sluicing over his big body. She tried not to envision the long, thickly built perfection of his form in all its naked glory. The more she tried not to picture it the more clear the picture grew in her mind. Her lips dropped open as the hunter expelled a long groan of pleasure. Her pussy clenched with sudden need, her breasts swelling to discomfort under the unforgiving leather.

Then she got a whiff of herself and, looking down, saw the zombie ooze that coated her. It defied logic that she could think lustful thoughts with primordial ooze all over her body.

Ardith shook her head, disgusted with herself, and lifted her fingers to give the portal a new location. She’d return to her home and get cleaned up, then she’d visit Blackthorne and discuss her latest theory. If Edwige was operating outside the council’s purview, there were no constraints on her activities.

A horrifying thought.

Ardith completed her translocation spell and waited.

Nothing happened.

She tried again with the same results.

Then she realized, that bastard hunter had locked the portal to all but his own, unique signature.

Filled with rage, Ardith strode across the massive room toward the sound of splashing water in the bath. Anger carried her through the door, to stand before the shower.

But rage didn’t have a chance when faced with the incredible reality that was a naked Draigh.

Steam surrounded him, filling the room with moist heat. The hunter stood wide legged under the dense spray of water, his hands resting against the tiled wall beneath the shower head.

His head was bowed and he seemed to be enjoying the heated pulse of the water driving over him—lovingly molding the chiseled planes of his frame.

Ardith realized she was holding her breath. The sweet spot between her legs pulsed with pleasure as her gaze slipped appreciatively over his back and the cut of his narrow waist, caressing the firmly rounded protuberance of his fine ass. Her gaze skimmed down the bulging cuts of his muscular thighs and calves and then upward, to appreciate the well-developed geography of his arms and shoulders.

He was massive and hard…every part of him.

Ardith wondered what he was thinking about in that shower.

“Are you just going to stare at me, or are you coming in?”

His head came up and his gaze slid in her direction. Hunger lit his icy-blue gaze, such hunger that Ardith took an alarmed step backward.

“I-I’ll wait.”

He looked away, his head lowering again, and Ardith started to take a breath, to turn away. A massive hand snaked out, faster than her eye could follow, and grabbed her wrist, yanking her under the water and against his broad chest.

Ardith gasped at the feel of the massive, hard cock trapped between them. She closed her eyes, overcome with lust as he pressed it against her.

“You are a trying woman,” he told her, his lips barely an inch from her ear. “But I find it difficult to ignore you.”

Ardith’s pussy contracted as he slipped a hand down her back and cupped her buttocks, pressing her even more tightly against his thick shaft. She swallowed a moan as his lips touched her ear, his tongue sliding out to trace its edge.

She wanted to be flip. Needed to distance herself from his charms. But she wasn’t sure she had breath enough in her lungs to pull it off. She tried anyway. “That’s funny, I don’t have any problem ignoring you.” The words came out sounding strangled, without power.

Predictably, he laughed them off.

Draigh slipped a hand into the waistband of her skirt and flicked his wrist, ripping it down the middle. “You have a funny way of showing your disinterest.” His hand slipped down her belly, dragging the soggy silk of her panties away from her pussy. He slid a thick digit along her already-slick folds.

Ardith was swamped by a wave of lust so overwhelming her knees started to buckle. She’d have hit the floor of the shower if he hadn’t been pressing her into the wall with his body.

He inserted a knee between her thighs and spread them for his pleasure. She was like a rag doll, unable to form a coherent thought or travel down a path other than the one he forged. His busy fingers slipped along the folds of her pussy and circled over her clit. Her pleasure built. With a mix of horror and wonder, Ardith realized she was going to come.

She shoved weakly at his hand. “No. Stop.”

He complied. But when he did, she almost cried out from the loss of his touch. She needn’t have worried. He merely reached up and tore her bustier open, baring her breasts to his hungry gaze.

Ardith tried to tug the edges together again, but her efforts were halfhearted at best. Her body thrummed with a need she hadn’t experienced for months. Maybe ever.

“Oh gods,” he groaned. “Such perfect breasts. Plump and pale, with rosebud nipples.” He licked his lips as if he would taste her, then seemed to realize she was still covered in goo.

Draigh grabbed a bar of soap, dwarfing the oversized green bar in his massive hand. Ardith shook her head, her hands finding the well-sculpted planes of his wide chest and pressing unenthusiastically . “I can take my own shower. I don’t need…”

His hand slipped over her breast, skimming the silky soap across a rigid nipple. She slammed her mouth closed to restrain the groan that wanted to emerge as a result of his touch. The hunter’s soapy hand slipped over her other breast and down, to skim across her belly. He turned her into the water to rinse her breasts and then dipped his head, engulfing one of her nipples in velvet heat. Ardith gasped, arching her back to push her breast more deeply into his talented mouth.

She found her gaze sliding down his body, to the enormous, rigid shaft bobbing before him. She slammed her eyes closed on a moan.

Draigh’s mouth left her breast and she opened her eyes again, finding her gaze mere inches from his pecs. The hot water sluiced over his perfect pecs and streamed from the rigid buds of his nipples. Ardith’s gaze locked onto those perky, brown buds, her tongue sliding across her lips in anticipation of tasting them.

Draigh’s big, warm hand slipped downward to lather the swollen folds of her sex and Ardith lost her battle to withhold a heartfelt groan. Her head fell back to rest against the tile wall behind her and her eyes closed on a wave of pure delight.

He turned her and skimmed the silky bar over her buttocks, sliding it between her cheeks. Ardith gave up trying to fight it and widened her stance, moaning. To her chagrin, she found herself wishing he’d return to her hungry mons to work his soapy magic.

When Draigh’s lips dropped to her shoulder and he nipped her, Ardith thought she’d moved too far beyond reason to pull herself back. Her body was strung tight, her pussy throbbed with helpless need, and her breasts felt swollen against the cool tile. But then she felt the thick head of his cock against her pussy lips and panicked, the reality of the situation slamming into her.

The moment served to bring Ardith out of her lust filled haze. She surged away from the shower wall and turned, pushing hard against his chest. “Stop. No. I want you to go.”

When he didn’t immediately back away, she glared at him. “Leave now, hunter, or I won’t be responsible for where my next volt of witch fire ends up.” She dropped her gaze meaningfully and Draigh blanched, one large hand covering his enormous hard-on before he could stop himself.

But then he grinned. “You forget the place is warded against your magic. Besides, you’re only prolonging the inevitable, witch.”

Ardith grabbed the soap and turned away. “You’re delusional, hunter. I’d rather sleep with a zombie.”

She ran the soap over her body, holding her breath in the hopes he would leave. Ardith knew if he touched her again she probably wouldn’t be able to stop herself from reacting.

A moment passed. And another. She still felt his gaze upon her body. Finally she turned, glaring, and found herself alone in the bath.

Perplexed and cranky with unfulfilled lust, Ardith took her time soaping up her hair and body, lingering with wishful attention on the parts of her body he’d inflamed. And when she finally stepped out of the shower she found a thick, soft robe waiting for her on the chair beside the door.

When had he brought that? Oh god. Had he seen her touching herself?

She sighed, pulling the robe over her aching body, and went to brush her hair. Despite her body’s traitorous reaction to the prehistoric male in the next room. Ardith knew she’d barely escaped making a huge mistake.

Sleeping with the hunter would have made their current assignment impossible. It would also have destroyed her credibility with the other mages. Her kind considered hunters their enemies.

She had to complete her current assignment and get the hell away from him. The first thing she needed to do was get Sirius back. He wouldn’t have let her make the mistake she’d almost made.

Having made that decision, Ardith felt better. She felt good enough, in fact to acquiesce to her growling stomach and go in search of whatever was filling the hunter’s chambers with such delectable scents.

If she couldn’t quench her most overwhelming need, at least she could fill her empty belly.

~
A
M
~

When anticipating meeting the famed Watcher, Ardith had pictured a gnarly, gnome-like creature crouched on a tall mountain, bent over a silvery pool of mercury. But when Draigh fired up his guide and brought them to the Watcher’s part of the world, she was shocked to find herself standing on a wide beach with sparkling white sand and green-blue water as far as the eye could see.

The sun still crouched orange and spectacular behind a soft gray horizon as their feet touched the warm sand. A wide orange and gold trail seemed to leak from the lazy sun and spill across the dark waters frothing against the beach.

The sound of the tropics coming awake burst around them, joining the constant drone of the ocean smashing against land.

Ardith grinned. “The Watcher’s a beach bum?”

Draigh lifted a single, dark-blond eyebrow. “Not hardly. Come.”

He headed toward the palm trees lining the beach. Ardith reluctantly followed. She liked the beach. “Where are we going?”

In response, Draigh lifted his gaze to a thick ribbon of gray climbing the sky in the distance.

“Is that smoke?”

“Yes.”

“He scries with fire?”

The hunter snorted. “Not exactly.”

She frowned. “Can you possibly be more tight-lipped?”

“Not really.”

They fought their way through the jungle in silence for an hour before she tried again. They’d stopped to rest and Ardith thought it was possible she’d never felt so uncomfortable in her life. She was hot, covered in sweat and smashed bugs, and she itched all over.

Her braid was heavy on her neck and back. It stuck to her like a scratchy rope in the heat. For the first time in her life, she longed to cut it off. To make things worse, when they’d stopped by her place on the way so she could replace the clothing he’d ripped to pieces in the shower, she’d dressed in her usual black leather. She’d started out wearing form-fitting black slacks and a blouse with a leather jacket. Needless to say the jacket had been discarded about five hundred palm trees earlier. The blouse was soaked through with sweat and she had the sleeves rolled and the tails tied at her midriff. At that point she was seriously considering ripping it all off and going starkers.

The only thing keeping her from it was the realization that he’d enjoy the show too much. “You could have told me we’d be in the tropics. I would have worn something more conducive to traipsing through hell.”

He flicked her a glance. “If you didn’t always dress like a trollop you’d be more comfortable right now.”

“He speaks. And surprise, I’m already regretting it.” She slapped at a massive mosquito, grimacing at the guts and blood coating her fingers. “What the hell do they feed these things?” She wiped her fingers on a wide leaf with water pooled around the center vein. “How much farther?”

He didn’t respond. She started forward again without looking up. “Damn it, hunter. Talk to me…umph.” She ran smack into him. He’d stopped and was looking toward the sky. Ardith followed his gaze and gasped.

A massive, black peak rose before them, its sides striped with molten fire the color of the sunrise. The thick gray smoke he’d shown her from the beach billowed from the flattened top of the volcano. A nearly constant stream of lava bubbled over the craggy edges of the peak and everything for half a mile from the base was dead, charred or covered in a thick layer of black soot.