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  “Be careful, little witch. I might bite you in return.”

  I grinned at him, my teeth closing over the spot again before I sucked his thumb into my mouth and swirled my tongue over the tip, just as I would with his dick.

  “You want to tease me, huh?” he asked, his tone dark and dangerous. “Bite me and urge me on until I fuck you so hard that you ache for hours afterward.”

  I merely stared directly into his eyes and purposefully lifted a hand to my neck, giving him an answer with my body rather than my voice.

  As I intended, he watched as my finger skimmed over my throat and chest, dancing over my nipples. I cupped my breast in one hand and pinched the tip lightly between my thumb and forefinger.

  His gaze heated even more as I lowered my hand, sliding my palm across my abdomen and down to my center.

  I slipped a finger over my clit, sucking in a breath as my own touch skated over the sensitive area. I never took my eyes from his face as I pressed one finger, then two, inside my own body.

  A noise ripped from his throat, part growl and part groan, before he lunged for me. Macgrath shoved my thighs apart, lowering his shoulders between them, and he watched as I thrust two fingers in and out of my pussy.

  He stopped me a moment later, slipping my fingers free from my body and sucking them into his mouth.

  With a low growl, he yanked my body further down the bed in order to press my clit against his waiting mouth.

  I stiffened as his lips wrapped around the sensitive flesh and suckled. Then his tongue flicked me hard and I saw stars.

  I grabbed his head, holding on for the ride as he licked and sucked at my clit. One long finger moved into my body, followed by another, and the muscles in my thighs tensed.

  I rocked against his mouth, my breath short and choppy as he rapidly drove me toward an orgasm that promised to tear me in two.

  As the pleasure intensified into near pain, the tension inside me snapped and I came hard. I couldn’t breathe as my body convulsed.

  As the spasms slowed, he laved my clit once more, making me shake with each slow, glide of his tongue.

  Finally, my body relaxed, melted more like it, into the mattress. My muscles were loose and uncooperative and I panted as though I’d just run a mile.

  Before I could catch my breath, Macgrath loomed over me, his green eyes shining in the dim morning light. He wiped one hand over the back of his mouth as he stared down into my eyes then his gaze flicked to my neck.

  Without thinking, I tilted my head to one side, offering my neck to him. He groaned and reached between us to shove the waistband of his shorts down.

  I lifted a hand to cup his erection, wrapping my fingers around him firmly. His body jerked as I stroked him slowly, rubbing my thumb over the tip. I wanted to give him the same pleasure he’d given me, but Macgrath shook his head as though he read my thoughts.

  “Next time,” he declared. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  I didn’t have a chance to try and talk him into reconsidering. He reached between us to guide his cock inside me.

  I helped him, running my fingers down his length as he slid the head inside my body.

  It stung at first, my body unused to the invasion. It had been years and even after my orgasm, it was still a snug fit.

  Macgrath pressed deeper and paused to pull out slightly before he thrust once more.

  I wound my legs around his hips as he slid the rest of the way into my body. It ached but in the best way possible.

  I must have tensed or made a noise because he hesitated, looking down at me for a long moment.

  When I finally felt my muscles relax around his cock, he asked, “Better?”

  “Yes.” I reached up and pulled his mouth closer. “Now kiss me.”

  I felt his lips curve as they brushed mine. As his tongue slipped into my mouth, he withdrew from my body in one long, slow slide and then thrust inside me again. His motions weren’t hurried and he drove deeper into my body with each movement.

  I felt a tingle between my legs again and knew it wouldn’t take much for me to go over the edge once more.

  Each sensation was more intense than the last and they were building, taking me higher and higher.

  I raked my nails down his back and sank my teeth into his shoulder as Macgrath used his body to create a firestorm of pleasure inside me.

  A moment later, I felt his lips close on my neck and his fangs sink into my flesh. The first pull of his mouth on my throat was echoed in my clit and it was too much.

  I bit down harder on his shoulder, drawing blood, as the climax roared through me. Nothing else existed but that moment of ecstasy so intense that it was nearly agony.

  Macgrath’s body plunged into mine, hard and fast, as he rode me through the pinnacle. As the pleasure waned, I felt him in my mind then, our connection immediate and strong.

  He rolled my mind, using his power to intensify the sensations once more, and I came again, nearly screaming as the paroxysms rocked my entire body.

  His movements grew frenzied and lost their rhythm.

  He slammed into my body one last time before he shuddered against me and I knew that he wasn’t lying before.

  I would ache for hours after he was done with me.

  As he collapsed on top of me, magic swelled around us. Heat enveloped our bodies, followed by prickles of pain on my arms and legs, as though I were being poked by a thousand needles all at once.

  A blinding pain seized my head and I cried out. I heard Macgrath’s own groan of pain and knew he was experiencing the same thing I was.

  I held onto him tightly and let the power wash over me. As the wave peaked painfully, I heard the resounding crack echo in my head.

  The curse was broken and the pain it released was beyond my wildest imaginings.

  Years were stripped away, lifetimes torn apart, as the walls around my mind and heart were completely destroyed. Two realities collided and it hurt.

  I remembered everything.

  He was Alaunus and he was mine. I loved him more than anyone else in the world. I couldn’t live without him. He had once been the son of an important man, respected and admired in our village. I had been the outcast, a widow with healing abilities. The villagers often asked for my help in private but shunned me in public.

  Yet I endured it because I wanted to help those in need. I cared about them even as they treated me as an oddity.

  I remembered our daughter and the joy I felt when I conceived her. Tears gathered in my eyes as numerous questions were answered. My pregnancy had frightened me when I recognized it for what it was. I had woken on the bank of the stream two thousand years ago, frightened, alone, and with no memories. Then within weeks, I discovered I was pregnant and I couldn’t remember how or who I’d loved. Was I married? A widow? It was terrifying to not remember.

  And the villagers, who had been so kind and compassionate with me at my unexpected arrival, had turned on me. I was unwed and pregnant. They assumed my memory loss was a pretense to prevent them from judging me. And when my little girl died within minutes of her birth, only one woman had comforted me. She had taken the baby and buried her while I lay in my bed, delirious from grief and an infection. By the time I resurfaced from the feverish hallucinations, it had been a week and the woman had moved on to another town. The villagers had shunned her as well. Because she helped me.

  The scars that I had thought long healed were reopened anew, bleeding and raw. The loss felt fresh once more.

  Our daughter had died and I hadn’t known who her father was. He’d never had a chance to hold her, to kiss her sweet face. He’d been denied the short contact that I’d had with her.

  And the fault lay with Rhiannon.

  She had done this to us, used her power to curse us and send us to another realm. And even then, she wasn’t done. She had followed and watched us from afar until the time was right.

  My grief tangled with my rage, gathering in the pit of my stomach. The magic that s
wirled around us now was a combination of his and mine, twisting and closing in on us like a hurricane. Yet we were within the eye of the storm.

  Macgrath—no, Alaunus—lifted his head and stared down at me, his eyes like two green flames, brilliant and hot. He looked ferocious, furious, yet as grief-stricken as I felt. Rhiannon had taken us from our home and cost us lifetimes together.

  Alaunus and I had wandered this world alone for two millennia, always seeking something more and never finding it.

  “It’s you,” he murmured, his gaze searching my face. “You’re truly here.”

  I touched his cheek with trembling fingers. The emotions filling me were overwhelming and uncontrollable, and my mind was just as chaotic, overloaded from trying to process everything that was happening.

  “And it’s you,” I whispered. “It’s been so long.”

  He looked down then, his hand going to my belly. “Our daughter. Did she survive the curse?” he asked.

  The tears I’d been holding back streamed from my eyes. I shook my head. “She didn’t live more than a few moments after her birth.”

  His eyes closed and he lowered his forehead against mine. “What was her name?” he asked, his voice so soft that I could barely hear it.

  “Calla,” I answered.

  A small drop of water hit my cheek and I realized that my strong, hardened vampire was crying for the child he’d never even seen.

  It broke me.

  I cried out, sobs escaping me in harsh exhalations, and the power surrounding us exploded with the force of our emotions. The entire house shook from the magic that left our entwined bodies. The beautiful life we could have had together had been stolen. We had been stolen from each other. Holding each other close, we mourned all that we had lost and all that we never possessed.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Macgrath

  The world stopped as I held Ava close. Even though I remembered her as Aveta, the witch I’d loved so long ago, she was no longer that woman to me.

  She was Ava. Fierce, independent, and funny. Before Rhiannon cursed us, she had been independent but insecure in some ways. She never understood why I wanted her heart.

  Her body, she gave freely and willingly, but her heart she had always guarded viciously. It had taken so long to break through. Years.

  Yet now, even after all that happened, the woman she had become was confident enough to trust her judgment and open her heart to me.

  It humbled me.

  Our daughter was lost, gone forever. I’d never even laid eyes on her.

  It hurt more than I expected considering it happened nearly two thousand years ago.

  Yet, in my heart, it happened yesterday.

  I felt as if all this time I’d lived two lives—one that ended when I lost Aveta and another that began when Rhiannon cursed us.

  Those two lives had merged and it hurt. My heart and my head throbbed as aches assaulted me. The physical pain in my temples was nothing in comparison to the heartbreak ripping at my chest.

  “Alaunus.” Her voice pulled me back from the brink. My name on her lips was both beautiful and excruciating.

  Just as she was no longer Aveta, I was no longer Alaunus. Not completely. While remnants of the human man remained, he seemed like a distant memory rather than the person I’d been.

  “Don’t call me that,” I demanded, my voice breaking. When she flinched, I tried to explain. “I—” I swallowed hard. “I’ve been Ewan Macgrath for so long now that I can’t be anyone else.”

  “I understand,” she answered, her voice soft, gentle. Her hand rested on my neck, warm and tender. I knew she did. I could feel it.

  Now that my memories had returned, I recognized that tone. She had used it to soothe me when I was upset about my father and his expectations or with her. She had once been gentle, kind, and now that I had enough years of watching humans, downtrodden. Her life and the way the villagers had treated her, it had taken a toll.

  In this time, my Ava was stronger, fiercer, and no longer shackled by society. She was free and awesome to behold.

  I rested my forehead on hers, closed my eyes, and focused on breathing. Our bodies were still entwined but my cock was soft and had slipped from her. Just feeling her skin against mine helped calm me.

  As my thoughts settled somewhat I realized that I could feel Ava. Not merely physically, but in my head and in my heart. We shared a connection of mind and spirit. We had since Ava created me.

  My eyes flew open and our gazes clashed. Now that I could think clearly, the memories were sharper. I was able to make sense of the thoughts and images that flashed through my mind.

  “Rhiannon took you from me,” I murmured. “She took our child from me. She took everything.” I knew my eyes were glowing. I could feel the heat behind them, the rage. “She will die for what she’s done,” I snarled.

  The fury that gripped me was out of my control. It was wildfire, a flaming maelstrom two millennia in the making.

  “Ewan.” Ava’s voice barely broke through the wall of ire that surrounded me. “Ewan, please. You’re hurting me.”

  Her words and their meaning pierced through. I blinked, returning back to myself. The storm was still inside me but it was no longer controlling me.

  I realized that my grip on her waist was painfully tight. I released Ava and stared down at the handprints I left behind. The bruises were already turning purple. She hadn’t even whimpered when I made them but I knew that it must have been excruciating at the time.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I whispered. I wrapped my arms around her and rolled over, bringing her body on top of mine. I placed my hands over the bruises and let a bit of power slip from me. Just enough to heal the broken blood vessels and tender flesh.

  Ava sighed and relaxed against me, her forehead resting in the curve of my neck.

  “Better?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  My anger was leashed. For now. But I knew I would need to find a way to release it. Preferably upon the witch that deserved it. Rhiannon deserved to die for everything she had done, the people she hurt.

  My cell phone chimed. I ignored it, but Ava glanced over.

  “It’s Callum,” she muttered. “You should probably answer it.”

  I grunted, reaching out for the device.

  “Yeah?”

  Callum’s voice was hoarse when he replied. “Could you call off your pet witch please?”

  I sat up, one arm still around Ava. “She’s with me. What are you talking about?”

  “Let’s see, she has long curly hair, a vampire, and a wolf with her.”

  To my surprise, I was able to smile. “You mean Kerry? She’s harmless.”

  Callum groaned. “She has you fooled if you truly believe it. Please call her off before she kills us. We’re at the end of the driveaway.”

  “On my way,” I replied, climbing out of bed. My body was still vibrating with anger and my thoughts were dulled by the rage. I would have to remain in control until the time was right. I consoled myself with the knowledge. “Callum and Marcus had a run-in with Kerry and the others. I need to go out there.”

  Ava nodded and rose as well. “I’m going to check on Savannah,” she said as she walked to the bag in the corner that held the clothes Kerry packed for her.

  I dressed in a blur of motion then approached her. She was still naked, but held an armful of clothing. I put my hands on her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

  “Someday soon, this will all be over,” I murmured. “And we will have a chance to discover each other again.” The promise of time with her still wasn’t enough to ease the ache in my chest completely, but it was a start. Only the knowledge that Rhiannon had been punished would be enough to remove it forever.

  Ava lifted her hand and placed it on my chest. “We will.”

  A shadow moved across her mind, but I didn’t have time to ask her what was bothering her. After two thousand years, a few minutes wouldn�
��t hurt.

  I brushed her mouth with mine. “I’ll be back shortly.”

  She nodded and I watched her face as I gathered my magic and focused on the point where Kerry’s power was the strongest. I was surprised that I hadn’t felt it earlier. It throbbed around her, ripples of magic reaching all the way to the house. Damn, the witch was more powerful than I realized. Almost as powerful as Ava.

  Ava and I stared at one another as I traced out of the room. Her bright lavender eyes remained in my mind as I appeared at the end of the driveway.

  Immediately my anger at Rhiannon was forgotten because my first instinct was to laugh. Kerry had used her magic to plaster them both to their car. While they could trace short distances, their ability wasn’t as strong as mine. They preferred to drive or fly, which I never understood. Flying wasn’t natural. There wasn’t a lot that could kill a vampire, but falling thousands of feet and crashing to the earth in a fiery explosion sounded like something that would manage the task.

  Callum and Marcus stood facing their car, their bodies completely stuck to the metal. Their arms were up as though they’d lifted them to show they meant no harm, and their faces were squished against the roof of the vehicle. Callum’s phone sat on the roof, not far from his mouth.

  Kerry and Finn turned to look at me. Harrison was in wolf form and he sauntered over to Marcus and lifted a leg.

  “Pee on me, shifter,” Marcus growled. “And I’ll skin you and wear your fur as a hood.”

  Harrison’s eyes narrowed and he growled back but he didn’t urinate on my offspring. I could swear he was smiling as he sauntered away, his wolf tail high in the air.

  “Kerry,” I muttered as I approached the witch and her vampire mate. “Finn. What’s going on?”

  Kerry glanced at me, a wicked smirk on her face. The witch was enjoying this.

  “These two set off the perimeter wards. Instead of staying put, they drove further onto the property and activated the protection spells.”

  “So you decided to glue them to their car?”

  She chuckled. “That was the spell. It stopped their car and when they got out, it kept them, uh, close.”