Page 9 of Traitor Witch (The Deadwood #1)

Chapter Nine

NILSA

W hen Casimir yells, I’m so shocked that I jerk my hand from Rysen’s grasp. My eyes follow the blur of motion which is Cas’ body as he runs head first into the wall. The air in my lungs catches as I wait for him to slam into it.

But he doesn’t.

The ship’s hull springs open. Cas launches himself through in an uninterrupted dive straight into the ocean.

I lean forward, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever his shifter side is, but Valorean snaps the two pieces of hull back together again before I can get a look.

The whole ship rocks as if hit by a massive wave, and Nos sighs.

Damn, whatever he is it must be big if he moved the ship just by shifting.

“I’m sure he’ll tell you one day,” Rysen murmurs from behind me. “But Casimir’s beast isn’t something you want to see without being prepared. ”

Opal jumps from his arms as he speaks, slinking out of the room with her ears twitching.

“What is he?” I ask, forgoing all shifter etiquette in favour of satisfying my curiosity. “And what set him off this time?”

As one, the guys all look at Noster. The Seer doesn’t react until the silence makes it obvious they’re waiting for him to speak.

“Cas will tell you,” he mumbles, “He’s the only one whose beast you need to worry about, anyway.”

I work hard to prevent myself from asking what he means by that. I glue my lips together as I gather up the bowls from the table and head for the sink. Cas promised to wash them, but it looks like that’s my task now.

Running water on the ship is something I’m secretly grateful to Valorean for. The mage might be an ass, but his magic was the reason I had a gloriously warm shower this morning.

I’ve almost forgotten about Rysen until we’re the only two left in the room together. I’m hanging the towel over the stove when I feel his presence behind me.

My spine stiffens in that primal response that all prey has when they’re caught in the eyes of a predator.

I agreed to this. I’ve got to witch-up and deal with it.

I don’t have the guts to look at him, but I pull my hair to one side and arch my neck.

“Breakfast time?” I force a chipper note into my voice.

His growl sends a chill down my spine, but it also makes lower parts of me clench in anticipation. My nipples pebble into sharp little points and my mouth goes dry.

I hear him take a single, deep breath. “If you don’t want this…”

I turn around to glare at him, only to find he’s penned me in against the counter. “I made the bargain, I intend to honour it. So do it. Bite me. ”

The red which consumes his eyes is the warning not to mess with the vampire. But it comes too late. With one hand, he scoops me against him, putting my neck level with his mouth. One arm holds me underneath my ass, pressing me into the hardness of his body. The other fists in my hair, dragging my head to one side.

His fangs sink into my neck.

The sharp flash of pain flashes through me, and I brace myself for more.

The moment he takes the first draw of my blood, I melt. Something orgasmic flows through my veins, making my breasts heavy and my core clench with need. The erection I felt earlier grows impossibly harder, and I grind myself against him, seeking relief from the ache that settles in my core.

“Goddess,” I moan, my head falling even further to one side, making more room for him.

Rysen groans, taking another deep pull. His arms tug me closer and his hips thrust against mine. My hands fall onto his bare chest, fingers playing with his nipple rings.

I almost shatter. I can feel that edge approaching. One more pull and I’ll be gone.

My body cries out. I’m so close, and it’s been so long.

His fangs withdraw.

My mind, still foggy from arousal, can’t process the single, long lick he presses to the wound, or the sudden, cold space between our bodies. I blink up at him myopically, stumbling backwards.

Rysen curses as I catch myself on his arm.

“Sorry, Lady Solar, I took too much.”

The formal—and incorrect—address pulls me back to reality with the sting of a snapped rubber band. I’m panting, I realise. The vampire made me pant. I blush, my cheeks heating even as I curse the response. The Shadow of the Moon doesn’t blush, dammit.

And a Solar witch would never react like that in the first place. Shit.

I school my expression and hope like hell he misses the breathiness of my voice as I speak, keeping my eyes downcast.

“Was that… normal?”

He hesitates, moving me back so I can hold myself up against the counter before putting more space between us. I look up to find his eyes still red and crinkled with concern. They keep flicking between my face and what must be the bite mark on my neck, flashing between worry and possessive heat.

“I was too rough,” he grates, ignoring my question completely.

Hell no, I want to say, that was perfection. Or it would be, if he wasn’t leaving me hanging.

Before my year of celibacy, I chose lovers I knew would make sure I was thoroughly fucked, marked up, and aching when I was done with them. I don’t know a Lunar witch who’s only into polite, delicate missionary sex. Unfortunately, that isn’t something I can admit to Rysen. But I can’t let him think I disliked what just happened either.

I shake my head in denial. “You weren’t.” I take a deep breath, trying to clear my brain as I sweep my hair over the sealed bite mark. “Will you need to feed again before we make land?”

He seems to think about it for a second. “Yes. Val is heading for Port Evert which is two days away, perhaps longer if the winds aren’t favourable.”

Goddess, I’m not sure I’ll survive a repeat without embarrassing myself.

“How often… ”

“Every other day, but next time I’ll have more control.” He hesitates once again, then holds his arm out. “Would you like to come up on deck? Fresh air might help with the dizziness.”

I grimace, thinking of all that water. Inside the cabins it’s easier to ignore the ocean, but seeing it surrounding me for miles is too much to even think about without my breath hitching and my stomach knotting in anxiety.

At least a Solar can sequester themselves without arousing suspicion. I have to do something about the ache he’s awoken in my body before I feed him again or there’s a good chance I’ll jump the poor vampire and fuck him until we’re both satisfied.

“I think I will retire to my cabin to pray,” I mumble, keeping my eyes trained on his feet, hoping my flushed skin won’t give me away. “Perhaps another time.”

Rysen doesn’t bother to hide his disappointed look, and I feel a little guilty for deceiving him as I leave the room, tempering my usual strut into the demure, measured steps of a Solar.

RYSEN

I silently curse myself a hundred different ways as I watch my mate flee the galley in a whirlwind of white robes. I knew feeding from her would be sexual, but I was supposed to be treating her gently, like the precious gift she was. Instead, I rutted against her like a teenage vamp caught in bloodlust.

I’ve scared her with my sexuality, and that makes me lower than dirt.

What are the Goddesses thinking, creating a Solar witch to be the mate of five red-blooded, horny immortal males? They might govern over matters of life and fertility, but they’re also notoriously celibate .

Our Solar is a tiny, strange little thing to top it all off.

I should have stopped her. Convinced her to let the matter drop and gone back to feeding from the mugs of blood the crew donated.

I’m too big, too brutish, to touch someone so delicate. I was bred for war, not matehood.

I slam my fist into the wall, then grimace as the wall reaches out and jabs me in the solar plexus for my troubles.

Val hates it when I hit the ship.

I channel my energy into finishing the dishes for my mate instead.

Why have the Goddesses cursed her with me for a mate?

Even now, when I should be berating myself for how I treated her, I can’t get the feeling of her out of my mind.

She’s perfect. Just the memory of her taste makes me harder than steel. Her reactions, her cute little moans—shit! I can’t get her out of my head.

I slam out of the kitchens and up to the quarterdeck where Val’s staring down a stony-faced Kier. The captain has his hands on his hips, his eyes narrowed, and I get the impression the argument’s been going on for a while.

“What the fuck did the witch mean when she said you were cursed?” the captain demands.

Kier shrugs, but Val isn’t buying it. Neither am I.

But I don’t expect him to just open his mouth and confess.

I’ve known this fae for centuries. In that time, he’s spoken maybe a handful of words.

“You could have said something,” I grumble. “Is it to do with your voice? Why you don’t speak?”

Kier hesitates, then nods.

“We could have searched for a healer, a witch, or even asked Nos. You could have been cured centuries ago!”

He shakes his head but still doesn’t speak. His fingertips have frosted over, the only indication he’s feeling anything other than mild irritation.

“We’ll ask Nilsa to help you,” I say.

Kier shakes his head just as Val yells, “Are you insane?” The captain turns his full glower on me. “That witch is the last person I’d trust to work magic anywhere near any of you.”

“She’s a Solar,” I say, “Committed to protecting life and healing.”

“So why the fuck is she accused of murder if she’s all innocence and sunshine?” Val grinds his teeth, his hands gravitating to the ship’s wheel as he speaks. “No, we’ll go to Alletta in Port Evert. She’s mad enough to be trustworthy. She can take a look and we’ll pay her price.”

Kier shakes his head. “Already asked. She refused.”

We both stare at him, and he shoots us a look of such exasperation that I grimace. “I suppose we’re idiots to assume you’ve not already tried every witch you could think of?”

“Tried, charmed, threatened.” He shrugs, and I get the sense we won’t get much more out of him.

That doesn’t stop Val from trying. He names almost every witch we’ve ever met, and some I’ve never heard of. But no matter what name he comes up with, Kier just keeps shaking his head to say he’s already tried.

I can feel the fae losing his patience as the captain rages on, but it’s only when our breath starts to mist in front of our faces that I intervene.

Val is a relentless bastard, but the last thing we need is Kier encasing him, and therefore the ship, in ice. I hold up one hand, silencing the captain, and turn to my oldest friend.

“How long have you been cursed?”

He shrugs again.

“Did it happen before or after we met?”

He still hesitates before answering. “Before.”

I took a step back. “Three centuries? ”

Kier’s older than all of us by a large margin, but usually that age gap seems insignificant. After a few hundred years, age becomes irrelevant. We’ve travelled together, fought together, and almost died together for so long that I've always seen us as equals.

All that time, he’s been keeping such a big secret from me.

Kier won’t look at me. He just frowns at the horizon, searching for answers in the blurred line between sky and sea.

“Nilsa will help,” I finally say. “She’s our mate. Surely that means something.”

Val scoffs again. “She’s your mate. Not mine.”

It’s my turn to snort. “Tell that to the boner you’ve been sporting since she came aboard.”

Vampires and mages are both impotent from the time we settle into immortality at twenty-five until we meet our mates. The only difference is my erection will eventually go away, Val’s will last until Nilsa claims him.

Of course, knowing Val, he’ll be insufferable until that happens.

We’re saved from his retort by Cas hauling himself over the railing. The shifter drips water all over the deck before flopping onto his back beside us and staring at the sky in silence.

“Good swim?” Val bites out.

“Fuck you,” Cas mutters, lifting his head to survey the deck with keen eyes. “Where’s Nos? Nilsa?”

His brother hasn’t come on deck with us, but Val’s link to the ship lets him feel where everyone is. He closes his eyes with a frown, opening them again seconds later.

“The witch is in her cabin, and your brother is hovering outside trying to get up the guts to knock.”

The disgusted look on Val’s face makes me frown, but Cas doesn’t notice as he pushes himself off the deck and heads towards the hatch.

“How much longer is her novelty going to blind you all to the fact she’s a dangerous stranger whom we know almost nothing about? She’s already turned half of our ammunition and the storm sails into fucking furniture, not to mention she’s suspiciously locked herself away in her cabin where she’s been carving Goddess-knows-what into my ship!”

I smirk. “What harm can one little witch do to five immortal males twice her size?”