Page 8 of The Arcane Taste of the Witchwood Boys (The Witchwood Boys #4)

Tanner

It takes Brooks and Marlowe almost nine goddamn hours to catch up with me. Maybe they fell asleep twice? Once from the charms, once from the lullaby. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m exhausted.

I’m also a very determined son of a bitch.

Massive trees obscure the skyline, giving me a warped sense of reality. On the one hand, it looks like I’m still in the Witchwoods. On the other, it’s like I’m back in the regular world. My brain doesn’t like the idea of those two things all mixed up. Nothing to be done about that, so I’m adapting quickly.

I’ve never been so glad that the Hag Wytch has the ability to sing the world to sleep. Kate saved us a lot of trouble. Cars are stopped on the road. A downed airplane sits statically in the blue sky. A silverback wolf pack is curled up in the front yard of the Pink Lady. Two worlds melded. Two worlds asleep.

Three-fourths of a coven awake and ticked off.

Seems like the coven rules supersede the curse rules: I was right about being resistant to Kate’s lullaby. It means we really do have a chance to break this curse.

It’s absurdly quiet. Only the weather is active. Nothing else moves or speaks or shrieks or squawks. It’s easy enough to track Kate with my hat’s ears. Easier still to track Brooks and Marlowe.

“Took you long enough, holy shit.” I turn around, standing on the roof of a car with house-sized glowing mushrooms all around me.

Brooks is wearing an eye patch over the ruined eye on his hat. His own eyes are red-veined and heavy-lidded, but his expression is a mirror of my own fractured obsession. He’s armed to the teeth with an arsenal of spell ingredients, fresh charms pinned to his hat, heavy satchels at his hips. Shadow antlers are stuck to either side of his hat’s cone.

Marlowe is … you know, he’s Marlowe. His unbuttoned jacket is slung over his shoulders, the black feathers at the collar catching the breeze off the Pacific Ocean. He’s got those wide, panicked eyes and that permanent scowl etched into his lips. His shadow is checking for Kate underneath nearby cars, in bushes, behind a fence.

With our North this close, it’s actually harder to get a read on her location with our coven bonds. I’ll keep using my ears. My tracking skills. If we have to, a locator spell.

“What the fuck?” Marlowe demands, storming up to me with his hands on his hips. See what I mean? First question out of his mouth, always. He glares up at me with dark eyes and gritted teeth, looking like he wants to kill something. Always frustrating when there isn’t an obvious villain to take that deep-seated rage out on.

The wolf ears on my hat press flat against the brim and my tails sway behind me. I know that when Marlowe asks what the fuck?, what he means is where is Kate?

“Report,” Brooks demands, which is almost a relief. I’m not in this alone. I’m not the only man here that needs Kate more than he needs air in his lungs. My jealousy is all but wiped clean. How can I be jealous when I watched Kate die? When I saw these men give up their lives alongside me to save her? “Just the basics. We can swap stories later.”

I hop down beside Lo as Brooks strides up to stand beside us. Looks moody. I bet he was hell to deal with for the last however many hours. Not sure how long they slept and how long it took them to prep and catch up. We haven’t traveled too far, maybe three miles in total. Kate is moving slowly, trying to outwit me rather than outrun me.

She isn’t going to win either way, but it does mean I’ve had some space to rest and recharge today. Even managed to swing by the house to grab some healing salve for my broken bones. Plenty of time to eat and take a piss. Kate’s making this too easy. Not the most difficult hunt I’ve ever been on, that’s for sure. Brooks and I once took down a pair of gore-bears, risking our lives when we had zero food rations left. That was tougher than this.

Tanner, you’re a filthy liar.

If I let myself think about how truly panicked I am, I won’t get anything done.

Wait until I catch her. Just wait. She’s the one that asked for this, to see what it looks like when I take my own leash off and let loose.

I turn and point at the Carson Mansion, that ol’ green Victorian house by the bay that Kate idolizes so much. It’s interesting that she came here, just like the previous Hag. I can’t decide if this means Kate is fucking with me or if the curse has taken over. Not that it changes anything.

The mansion looks eerie with the mega-sized trees surrounding it, like a dollhouse. There are people inside, passed out on the floor, slumped over the tables. I haven’t come across a single soul that wasn’t sleeping. I’m convinced this isn’t a local thing. Nah, it’s a global problem.

It’s a dual world problem.

Not that I care. I’d live here with the boys and Kate forever if it meant being together. Kind of peaceful. I might like it if Kate wasn’t testing my goddamn patience.

“Been on Kate’s heels for the last thirty minutes. She went into the house, came back out. Went in again. She’s hiding from me somewhere, but I’m not convinced she’s inside at the moment. I’m guessing that she snuck out a window and found a spot back here.” We’re standing in the parking lot behind the mansion, and the only sound is that of the water lapping against the shore.

“She must really love that hide-and-go-fuck game,” Marlowe grumbles out, taking off his hat so he can mess up his hair with frantic rakes of his fingers. He tosses it back on, butterflies and bees falling off the edges of the brim and tumbling into the grass. Even the creatures that sprout from his hat are asleep. He cups his hands around his mouth. “When I find you, Katelynn, you’ll finally get the answer to that age-old question: which one of us really is the worst.”

My skin ripples with goose bumps, and I tease the edge of my mouth with a too-long tongue.

He isn’t wrong.

I’m willing to tie for first place in this game. Marlowe glances over at me, and the mood gets dark. It’s not that we’re attracted to each other, but he’s fun to play off of. Brooks, too. We’re as compatible sexually as three straight men could possibly be.

“Any clue where we should start?” Brooks murmurs, and I smile tightly. See? He’s not so bad. Brooks knows when to ask for advice. His red and black hair is stuck to his forehead with dried blood, and he looks absolutely dreadful.

“If we can get someone up in the air, I’ll flush her out.” I lift up my broom and swing it over to smack against the wooden handle of Marlowe’s. I appreciate the pair of them taking the time to collect two of the other brooms before joining me. The fourth is … yeah, probably still in the spot where Kate died. It can stay there forever for all I give a shit. We’ll consecrate a new one later. “Watch and wait.”

I unhook a deer hide from my belt. When I stopped by the house earlier, I made a few, quick modifications to it, and now I’ve got a falconry hood big enough to fit the Hag Wytch. Heh. A falconry hood big enough to fit my wife. Not your typical hood since it’ll cover her beak, too, but close enough. Last thing we need is to get bitten.

I show it to my boys, draping it over my arm to sign out the rest of what I need to say. Don’t trust Kate not to be listening in.

“ She was changing when I last saw her. Sprouting feathers. Trying to eat me. Could be that she’s not fully in control of herself anymore. We’ll put this over her head if that’s the case. If the Hag Wytch is anything like a real bird, losing her sight should give us a distinct advantage.”

Lo’s hat sprouts moss and shiny aubergine berries that might be belladonna. He nods as he scrubs his hand over his mouth to stifle a pissy yawn. I’ve never seen him so cold and angry. And that’s a lot coming from me, considering I ruined his life and nearly beat him to death.

“ OK,” he signs back, making the shape of the two letters with his right hand.

Brooks blinks the remaining eyes on his hat, all of them bloodshot to match his own.

“Good work,” he says to me, and as tired as he is, the compliment is genuine. He turns to Marlowe and gives a slight nod of his head, pointing up at the dense foliage of Witchwoods trees above our heads. They seem to have taken root in all the empty spaces. I haven’t seen any speared through buildings, but nothing is an impossibility at this point.

“Yes, sir,” Marlowe drawls lazily, but only because he didn’t have to hear those words the way I did, with the Hag Wytch throwing them back in Kate’s face. Definitely a story I don’t need to tell yet.

“Guide me, East,” Brooks grouches, the edges of his control slipping slightly.

I’ve seen him at his worst, lost in the wilds of the Witchwoods and choking me to death. Setting me on fire. I’m okay with tying for first place, but it’s possible that Brooks could win the award for biggest bastard in this fucked-up coven of ours.

“Sure thing, South.” I lead him around the house as Marlowe mounts his broom. I’m in search of open windows, my ears pricked for any aberrant sound. Brooks starts talking, but that’s fine by me. If Kate gets the idea that I can’t hear her as well over Brooks’ bitching, well, she’d be sorely mistaken and she’d also be caught.

“Really, Katelynn? You’re wasting our time like this?” Brooks kicks a deer skull across the ground, shattering the bone to dust. Huh. Yeah, he isn’t just upset, he’s so wildly furious that he’s letting his stoicism slip. “Do you want to be a man-eating owl forever? Why am I here when I should be writing the spell that’ll break your curse?”

My wolf ears shift in separate directions, sweeping the house and the yard around it.

I know that Kate came into this parking lot, but she could’ve slipped away when I first spotted Brooks and Marlowe. Still outside though? Or back in the house? I should be able to hear her heart beating or her feet scuffing against the ground, so where the hell is she? Did she use a spell of silence on herself?

It’s possible.

Kate is almost as headstrong as I am.

“You betrayed your coven, North,” Brooks says finally, like he means it. He doesn’t. “I should strap you to a stake and fuck you in the flames as punishment.”

I pause. My right hat-ear twitches. There. A very slight exhale. Kate is somewhere in the house and holding perfectly still. Keeping her heart rate slow. That breath was an involuntary response to Brooks’ words.

“ Second story,” I sign, and Brooks signals his understanding with a rapid blink of the eyes on his hat. He moves to the right while I head left; Marlowe continues to circle lazily around the mansion on his broom, shedding black rose petals as he goes.

There’s a tree beside the house, one with branches that would make it easy to climb. I notice a bit of the bark has flaked off beneath the lowest one.

A smile taints my lips.

I hum and Brooks hums back. We’re used to hunting without talking. Nothing new here.

He heads for the front door while I climb up the tree, scaling it within seconds and hopping into a small, octagonal room with burgundy carpet. There’s a man draped over a desk, his broken phone on the floor beside him.

I don’t make a single sound as I creep out of the room—seems like it’s an office—and into a long hallway with oil paintings covering the walls. Dark wood on the lower half, gold wallpaper on the upper. Dim and dark and musty.

There’s a poisonous spider the size of a small dog on the floor, also asleep. Yet another delightful gift from the Witchwoods. I step over it, listening for the tiniest creak, the smallest shuffle, the shallowest breath.

I spin and kick the nearest door open, encouraging it to slam into the wall with enough force to crack the plaster. I stride into the room and pause, hands on my hips. There’s only one window in here, and I make sure to never lose sight of it as I scan the space.

Four-poster bed. Little round game table with chairs. Vanity with a mirror. Antique wardrobe.

There’s a couple in the bed, naked and twined in the sheets. Pretty sure they’re still locked together. Witchwoods-induced cock-warming. I hope they enjoy the kink as much as Kate and I do.

Quiet as can be, I sneak up on the wardrobe, grab the handles, and yank them open with a creak of hinges.

Kate’s wide-eyed face peers back at me in horror.

Ah-hah. My hackles raise, my mouth waters, and my cock stiffens with blood and heat.

She screams, but there’s nowhere left to run.

I caught her.

I caught her, and she’s mine .

“I’m going to fucking devour you.”

I snatch Kate around the waist as she spills from inside in a rush, trying to surprise me by throwing a spell in my face. It puffs out in a pink powder, a cloud of sweet-scented dust. Smells like a lust spell. Kate has no idea what sorts of things we stuck to these damn hats, and it’s cute as hell.

Didn’t need to hit me with that one though: I’m already there, deep in lust and drowning.

I throw her over the table, and she shrieks at me—still more woman than bird which is a relief.

“Tanner, goddamn you!” Kate is flailing and kicking at me, but despite breaking my fingers, she’s still averse to hurting me as badly as she could. What a sweetheart. I don’t deserve her. Kate’s cheek slams into the table’s surface as I pin her arms behind her back, my pelvis pressed to her leather-clad ass. She tries to squeeze me between her wings, but joke’s on her because I like it. “What part of I’m going to eat your intestines if you don’t let me go did you not understand?”

I ignore her, yanking her pants over her ass as she lets out an outraged little gasp. Shoving my own pants down my hips, I slot the dripping head of my cock against her slippery pussy. I’ve always enjoyed a good hunt, but following Kate? Especially when I know she wants me to catch her?

“What did I tell you? I’m single-minded, Kate, and there’s only ever been one rule.” My voice sounds normal enough, maybe even a little husky.

I slap her ass with my free hand, the other locked on her wrists as I keep them pinned to her naked lower back. Kate doesn’t need to know that I’m angry. That I’m worried. All she needs to know is that I love her, that I want her.

“You bastard son of a bitch!” she shouts at me, wiggling and succeeding in little except to rub my crown against her pussy. Even pushing it in an inch or so. We both go still, my balls obliterating my common sense and my brain.

Our shadows are fighting on the bedroom walls, shattering the glass on an old brass lantern. Shredding the blankets on the bed. Knocking pictures off the walls. My shadow subdues her horned one, mounting her while she flails and digs black witch nails into the floor. Ribbons of wood are clawed up, leaving deep gouges.

“A quick fuck will ground you a little,” I tell Kate, just a touch patronizing. “Don’t even pretend you didn’t miss me.” I let out a little whistle to let Brooks and Marlowe know that I found her. That I caught her. “Clever though, hiding in that wardrobe like you’re returning from Narnia.”

“Heading into Narnia, more like,” Kate murmurs, voice muffled from the way her cheek is pressed to the table. “Tanner, the gate—”

Not sure what she’s going to say. I don’t let her talk. I shove my hips forward, piercing Kate’s tight cunt despite her attempts at squeezing her legs together. My pelvis slams into her ass, and she makes a whimpering sound that has me devolving into an animal.

She fights me at first, even as I’m fucking her. The world is silent and sleepy, so the primal crack of flesh on flesh is loud. Kate is so wet that there’s a sucking sound with each push of my body into hers, my pre-cum and her arousal churning together.

Her hat is twisted around, the mouth of it opening, a long tongue sliding out. It whips back and licks a bead of sweat from my face as Kate groans, releasing the tension in her locked thighs. She can’t spread her legs, the leather of her pants caught just above her knees, but she relaxes for me, welcoming my cock in that last half an inch until I’m bottomed out.

It’s all a farce. Next time she sends her hat’s tongue for me, it wraps around my neck and starts to squeeze.

“Harder, Kate. Walk that dark line with me. Be as dirty and depraved as you want, honey. You know I love it.” My words are cut off as she tightens the wet, hot grip of that tongue around my throat. My vision blurs, but I don’t stop fucking. Nothing short of death will get me to stop, and Kate won’t go there.

She loves me too much.

The pressure on my neck ratchets up and then releases suddenly as Kate sobs.

“Tanner.” She’s crying, but she’s moaning too, rubbing her ass against me as that demonic tongue disappears inside the black leather of her hat. Still got those teeth on the brim, but I’ll be careful.

Marlowe lands on the roof just outside the window, and Kate makes another embarrassed sound at the sight of him. He looks like a monster when he squeezes his massive body through the wood frame, eyes black and metal mask fixed over his mouth. He keeps his broom held tight in his right hand, the brim of his hat wrinkling as he forces his bulk into the small space.

The steady fall of boots announces Brooks as he appears in the doorway, tight-lipped and unamused.

I give Kate just enough leverage to turn her head.

“Oh shit,” she moans, and Brooks’ jaw tightens with cold fury.

“Oh yeah, oh shit,” he breathes, lifting his emerald eyes to mine. “Good work, Tanner. Fuck her, but don’t let her come.”

“Let me go!” Kate howls, struggling against me again. Marlowe shoves the four-poster bed aside like it’s made of cardboard, yanking his mask down to reveal scowling lips. He storms over to the table and takes hold of Kate’s wrists for me, trapping her in handcuffs of inked flesh. I appreciate the move. Now I can slap her ass again. She goes nuts with the next crack of my palm against her flesh, kicking her boots back and trying to nail me in the shins. “You’re all bastards, you know that? Fuck you guys.”

“Oh, you hear that little growl in her voice, boys?” I ask, avoiding another flick of her hat’s tongue. Pretty sure it was going for my eye that time. I knock it off her head and leave it to settle on the floor. “Our North is mad.”

“Well, her South is pretty pissed, too.” Brooks leans down to get in Kate’s face, locking eyes with her while I rail her ass from behind. She’s clamping tight around me, pulses of hot, slick muscle on my cock. Milking the seed from my tight sack. This is a thank God we’re all still alive fuck and I don’t want it to go by too fast; she isn’t making it easy on me. “You do not protect us. You do not sacrifice yourself for us. You definitely do not run from your coven, Katelynn Poppy.

“ Stop trying to be the hero,” I add, because if she thinks she’s only getting a scolding from Brooks, she’s in the wrong coven. She’s in trouble with all three of us when, usually, she’s the favorite. Our compass points North. “You are not the main character.”

“Then stop making me feel like a main character!” she shrieks back at me, and my lips almost twitch into a smile. But no. Not after the shit she pulled.

“You were the one who said that I should do whatever I want, whenever I want.” I draw my cock out of her, rubbing the wet tip against her clit. “Usually, what I want is to take care of you. Today, you’re going to suffer.” I slap her ass with my dick, and then I shove it roughly back in.

“I hate you guys sometimes,” she moans piteously. Thrusting her ass back against me because she loves this and she can’t even pretend that she doesn’t. She’s thrilled that she ran and we chased.

“I’ll bet,” I murmur, but the words are affectionate. “Doesn’t matter what you feel. We’re taking turns on you.”

“I’m sure being used roughly by her coven is the chalice’s role for our next spell anyway.” Brooks snaps his fingers in front of her face. “Enjoy this as much as you can. We need to farm enough power to break the curse.”

Kate moans, turning away from him, forehead pressed to the table.

“Look at me now ,” Marlowe growls at her, fisting her hair with his free hand and forcing her to face him. He releases Kate to reach for his pants, shoving them down and fisting his cock. He keeps his other hand locked firmly on her wrists.

“Put it in my mouth, and Lo, I’ll bite it off,” she pants, contracting so tightly around me that I have to put in effort to move my hips. That sounds less like a threat and more like a warning.

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll wait my turn for that hungry pussy of yours, Kate.” Marlowe’s words match the expression on his face. He’s inhuman and brutal, red in tooth and claw. “Next time you try to run, you can do it with our cum dripping down your legs. Don’t even ask us for a contraception spell because we’re done. You don’t deserve one.”

“If she runs again, she’ll regret it.” My smile is ruthless as I grab onto her shoulder and yank her back to my front, pinning her ass with my hips. I hold her there so I can bite her in the neck.

Kate breaks out in goose bumps for me.

“Tanner,” she whimpers, and I nod against the side of her head.

“Yes.”

“ Tanner. ” Kate says my name like she’s casting a spell. She better not be. She’s worn away all of my patience and goodwill today.

She sweeps her wings in, cradling me between them.

Crippling relief flows through me, cooling just a little of that heat in my blood. A little.

“Goddamn it, Kate, you scared the shit out of me.” I shove her back down, and she lets out a small sound of surprise. Marlowe holds her again, so I don’t have to. With my hands free, I take hold of Kate’s hips and pound into her with all the finesse of a buck in a rut.

My fingers leave dents in her skin. My witch claws draw blood. I both hate and love watching her heal instantly in front of me. That’s a neat trick, but it’s also a one-way ticket to forever alone. I love her too much to let that happen.

I fucking come in her. I can’t resist. She’s so hot and sweet, and I’m so … nervous.

Because I still don’t trust her for shit.

First chance she gets, this hot ass wife of mine is going to try to run from me. I can warn her as many times as I want. Threaten her. Chase her. She isn’t going to stop running until we’re all safe. I want to fuck and fuck and fuck, but we have a job to do.

I slide my dick out of her, watching her sweet pink pussy clench over the space I left behind.

“Tanner,” she growls at me, annoyed. I grin as her contracting muscles push my cum out of her, dripping pearly and white down her thighs. There we go. Much better.

I’m beaming like such a cocky asshole when she glares at me over her shoulder.

“Take her,” Marlowe whispers to Brooks, holding Kate’s wrists in one hand and peering down at her with solid black eyes. His shadow has consumed the entire room, darkening all the corners and blurring all the details. “I’ll go last.”

Kate goes completely still when she hears him say that.

I don’t blame her. I would, too.

He’s got hell in his eyes.