Page 25 of Hellish Witch (Playing with Demons #3)

Chapter 24

T he softest silk draped me, rubbing lightly against my bare skin with every breath I took.

A heated band wrapped around my waist. It pulled me into a firm heat at my back, and everything in me melted.

“Mmm.” A contented sigh escaped as I snuggled closer to the delicious warmth cocooning me. I reached up and pulled the silky blanket tighter.

My fingers brushed wispy layers, and I frowned at the ticklish glide.

“Happy birthday, sweetness,” a husky voice whispered in my ear. “If you keep fondling my wings, though, I’m going to think you want another present.”

My eyes almost bugged out of my head. Harsh sunlight blinded me, and I hissed, slamming my lids closed.

A low chuckle rumbled the muscular chest at my back. “I’ve never had someone hiss at me for suggesting morning-after fun.”

My cheeks blazed. “No… I…uh…was hissing at the sun.” I finished lamely, wincing at how dumb that sounded.

Killian’s warm laughter soothed my embarrassment. He nuzzled into my neck, his mirth tickling my skin as much as the messy strands of his inky hair.

My grin put the rude sun to shame. I’d dreamt of this moment for years. In more ways than one.

It was finally happening.

After making me come over and over last night, between feeding me mouthfuls of sweetness, rich with power, his tail had finally deflated enough to slide out from inside me. He’d carried me to the shower in the tiny adjoining bathroom, and we’d both cleaned off under the weak spray of tepid pink water.

Sleepily washing each other in the early hours had been strangely more intimate than what we’d done in the bed. I’d been left speechless as the playboy incubus tended to my every need, drying me off and tucking me into bed before cuddling up next to me without a word.

After the realm-shattering pleasure and the tender way he’d treated me afterwards, hope sank its claws deep into my heart, even though I knew it was a terrible idea.

Killian pressed a gentle kiss against my neck. Fangs brushed the delicate skin, and I shivered in sleepy delight.

“Clearly, it’s not helped your love of early mornings,” he rasped. “But at least last night should keep you topped up for a while.”

I jolted like he’d stabbed me.

My chest cracked open, all that dumb hope draining out in a rush.

The embarrassment he’d staved off seconds ago came flooding back with a vengeance.

It was all about feeding .

Of course it was.

He was the one to suggest my dark magic might be lashing out because it was hungry.

I’d lost control of my powers, and it had drained me. I must have looked terrible after killing those orcs and hurting those hybrids, since he’d put me straight to bed before deciding I needed energy too.

Last night didn’t mean a thing.

He was doing me a favour.

That stupid hope I’d been nursing for years seared to ash.

All the signs had been there from the start. I’d just been too stupid to heed them.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to protect this kingdom.”

“You shouldn’t touch me.”

“I’m here to make sure you’re not doing something reckless.”

“We’re not friends.”

I took every emotion rattling inside me and crumpled them into a tiny painful ball I could stuff deep, deep down. “You didn’t have to feed me last night,” I said, battling to keep my tone even.

He stilled, every muscle taut against my back. “I’d do anything for you, Eve.” He cleared his throat, shifting away from me and letting the cold air rush between us. “I have to.”

He had to.

A man had made me a fool. Again.

When would I learn?

Nobody actually wanted me. Not like that. Especially not him.

To my horror, moisture blurred my vision. I clenched my jaw against the sob building behind my fangs and carefully slipped out of Killian’s arms, rising from the bed without looking at him, and padding to the en suite.

“Eve?” Confusion saturated his lilting tone. “What’s wrong?”

I closed the flimsy door behind me with a soft click. “Nothing… Just…cleaning up.” My voice came out steady, and I mentally applauded myself for getting something right when it came to the incubus.

One thing was clear though.

Nothing like this could happen again.

An awareness pulsed in my mind, pulling me to a stop. The odd sensation lit up with the flickering sense of something moving closer. Two of them. Both dangerous but not out for blood.

Not yet.

My brow scrunched up as I puzzled out the weird intuition. It pulsed with the static evidence of magic.

Though, how could I just know something like that?

Killian halted beside me, watching my face with a carefully neutral mask.

We’d left the inn after a tense breakfast in the main tavern area and hiked all day in an awkward silence since. The Bloodwood stretched for miles as we followed the pretty river towards the forest’s edge.

The inn was only a day’s hike from the portal, but you never knew what dangers lurked around it. Crossing in either direction was risky. We’d planned to camp just inside the forest’s questionable safety tonight and then cross the open plains to the portal at first light when it should be quietest.

A faint growl rumbled through the woods.

Killian cocked his head, eyes pinned the direction the noise came from, but I already knew who it was.

Death stalked towards us on four paws and a bad attitude.

Cookie’s eyes glowed her eerie blood-red, and she flickered her tufted tail in the air like a literal red flag.

Alpha padded between a pair of darkwood oaks behind her, easily twice the size of the slender hellcat.

A relieved breath escaped me. I was grateful to see them both in one piece, but for some reason, the sight of the hellcat eased something inside me. Some twisted knot that had tangled my insides without me knowing.

“What are you both doing here? Are you okay?” I asked, shaking out the ache in my hand. I’d been clenching hard enough for my short claws to puncture my palm.

Cookie slunk gracefully closer, a being of shadow and deception more than happy to ignore my frantic questioning. She perched in the centre of the worn path, cracking twigs and fallen leaves beneath her weight, and started grooming herself without a care in the realm.

I tensed as Alpha continued past her, worried she might take the opportunity to pounce while his back was turned.

He yipped, the sound almost like an affirmative.

I managed a tight smile back, some of my anxiety lessening with the distance between them. “I’m glad you’re both okay, but you shouldn’t be here. It’s too dangerous, even for a fierce predator like yourself.”

Alpha preened under the compliment, wagging his tail like a puppy rather than a fully grown hellhound capable of tearing me to shreds with massive paws of hell-fire.

He stepped close, bringing the tops of his triangular ears level with my chin, and nudged my palm with his damp nose. I obliged with a small smile, stroking the immense beast. Ragged scars interrupted the smooth perfection of his glossy fur, but they didn’t detract from his beauty.

“Your coat is looking so shiny today,” I cooed.

An irritable hiss broke the peace, and I frowned at the death kitty.

She arched her back, hissing again at the pair of us, eyes flashing the colour of freshly spilled blood.

Hellcats and hellhounds weren’t known for being overly friendly. With anyone. But especially each other.

Tension froze me in place.

Alpha assessed the angry hellcat, her tail tuft with its hidden stinger snaking side to side in aggression. Her eyes narrowed on us, and her claws unsheathed to full razor-sharp daggers.

At a head smaller than Alpha, she was sleek beside his intimidating bulk but no less dangerous.

“Cookie…” I trailed off. “What are you doing?”

She swiped a paw in my direction, as if to say, “Defending what’s mine.”

I arched a brow, sure I was misreading her intent. This connection with animals was strange, but a part of me felt I truly understood the evil fluff ball.

That didn’t mean the psycho made sense.

I shifted on my feet, fighting the urge to laugh nervously, and tried to distract the beasts. “Anyway… What happened after I…left?”

What other way could I describe being knocked unconscious and airlifted out for everyone’s safety?

I was also asking a hellhound a complex question.

Even I was side-eyeing myself.

Killian held his brooding silence, oddly unfazed by me having another conversation with animals.

Alpha looked at Cookie, then back at me. He barked low a few times, tossing his head in the direction they’d emerged from.

“So…all those captives are back in our kingdom? And the unicorn too?” I asked, trying to puzzle out if I’d understood him right. “They’re safe?”

He yipped like he agreed.

Relief swam through my middle, short-lived as another thought snuck in. By now, the story of what happened would have spread through the kingdom. That something was horrifically wrong with me. That I attacked innocents. People who’d already suffered so much.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, pushing the words past it. “Good. That’s really good.”

Guilt strangled me, along with the fear of how different things would be when I returned.

If I returned.

“And Rex and Zoella… They’re not mad?” I asked.

Alpha shot me a stern look.

“Right. Right, of course they are.” I held up my hands in surrender. “But they found my letter? They’re staying home?”

He gave the barest nod, and I blew out a steady breath.

I’d set out on my own a few days ago to protect others. Now I just had to figure out how to ditch the furry duo and my reluctant babysitter.

After last night, it was more important than ever to get away from Killian.

His sense of loyalty to my brother was unbreakable. I knew he felt he owed Rex for saving his life and taking him in all those years ago.

But the things he was willing to do for his twisted sense of duty were too much.

He’d only just stopped bleeding this morning after days of constant pain and injury. Most inflicted by me.

He’d even pleasured me to keep me safe.

The reminder burned. My pride stung, but also the guilt of forcing him to do something he might not have really wanted to cut deep.

Was that why he hadn’t actually fucked me? Even though I’d made it clear I wanted everything he had to give.

I’d hurt the enforcer again and again.

Enough was enough.

Alpha and Cookie wouldn’t cross the portal to Earth. They were creatures of Hell. What reason would they have to hop realms? Alpha’s place was by Zoella’s side, with his growing pack in the Bloodwood, not getting closer to the hunters who’d hurt him for years, and who knew what that mercurial hellcat was thinking, even following me this far.

“Let’s keep moving,” Killian grunted, jerking a snowy wing down the path. “You can chat with your furred friends while I set up camp. We’re going to need all the rest we can get to cross those blood-soaked plains.”

I fingered the hilt of the knives strapped to my hips, an idea percolating in my brain as I stepped in front of Killian.

The noble bastard would continue to follow me.

Unless I forced him not to.