Page 66 of Witchbane

I blinked, sending the fox and kitsune back, and opening my human senses to let the sanctuary Nick and Kiran had created roll back around us. The courtyard and castle reappeared. “It’s like those 3D viewfinder glasses Korissa has for her Xbox.”

“I like that game. I used to always pick the adventure with the sword rather than the mage,” Liam remarked.

“Nick got a sword from somewhere. Maybe you can make one.”

“Wouldn’t do me any good. Never used one. I can wield an axe okay, and lots of guns. I am not old enough or from the right place to know about swords.”

“My visions of you as a hot ancient warrior are suddenly shattered,” I teased.

“Right,” Liam said, as he dug his fingers into my hips to press his thigh into my throbbing dick. “‘Cause being stuck with me is a total turn-off for you.”

“What can I say? I’d do you a thousand times over and totally have your babies if I could. You’re that hot, Ulrich. Warrior or no. Wolf or no. Tattooed or no.” The binds around him marking him as mine, okay those were a big turn-on too. “The tattoos are super-hot.”

“Yeah? I seem to recall a thought about color and cake.”

The idea of licking cake off Liam covered in bright ink made me painfully hard. “Fuck. Stop turning me on like this.”

Liam laughed, the sound warming me to the core. “Sure. I’ll work on that. Maybe have it mastered in a century or two.”

He tugged me back inside and we headed toward the library, though I’d rather have dragged him to our room for a bit of foreplay, or a quick fuck against the wall. I’d welcome the challenge of creating magical lube. My mate thought getting home was more important. I didn’t disagree.

Chapter 18

We spent the day mostly buried in books. The handful of alchemy titles Nick had provided and a lot of fae magic stuff. I tried to draw out what I remembered which, while extensive, was minimal compared to the ideas of magic in general. I knew I was forgetting things because he’d bring me another book with a concept and I’d remember another symbol or book or association.

I did coax Liam to take an occasional break. He didn’t seem to mind the kisses, or when I closed our door and teased his cock to life with my mouth. As the sun began to set for the day again, I wondered how much time had passed in the mortal world. Distracting Liam worked to keep my own brain from sinking into despair about the fact we hadn’t really found a real answer to the portals yet. How to create them, control them, or direct them.

I could open them without trying. That was an odd bit of confidence in my gut. And thankfully I wasn’t opening them in my sleep. But I couldn’t quite tell how they pointed to where they did.

Liam’s worry began to trickle through our bond too. For the pack, for Korissa, and even about leaving his ex-wife and my mother in one place.

“It will be okay,” I said, trying to be reassuring. I was more than a little worried too. “It’s probably only been a few hours there.”

“Hopefully,” Liam agreed.

“I think it was a long time here, with only a few weeks back home. We’ll find a way.”

“We need to find the Volkov,” Liam said. “If he’s still alive.”

“Would Underhill have locked down his wolf?” Would he then have been left with only his human side? Or the demon that rode him? Was it a demon? Or perhaps some fae blight?

“Nick said he hasn’t seen any sign of him. He has a giant map that shows what is left of Underhill,” Liam said. “Maybe being human or not wolf helps him to hide?”

I remembered Nick mentioning the map. Maybe no one sawApabecause he was something else now? Would I be able to find him then? That left the terrible thought ofwhat if Underhill had changed him? I tugged out of Liam’s embrace and headed for the door to make my way across to the library. It was late, but obviously not too late for Nick to be awake. He was sitting at a desk in one corner, sketching it seemed.

“Can we look at the map?” I asked, peering through the giant room to find it. There was a table near the other side, huge and long. Was that it?

“Sure.” He got up.

“You don’t have to stop what you’re doing,” I said. “I’m sorry for us being in your space.”

He waved a hand dismissively. “It’s fine. Not like we get many guests.” He made his way to the giant table. The map looked like one of those old fantasy novel maps laid out with a battle plan. Only this map appeared burned at the edges, almost like it was burning even at this moment, with the table beneath it untouched.

“What is this?” I stared at the map, trying to understand what I was seeing. I could make out the outline of villages, perhaps the one we’d arrived at even as that was toward the edge and in the center was us, or at least a castle that I thought should be us. “Is this where we are?”

Nick came up beside me. “Yes.” He pointed to the castle. Then to the village out on the edge, which was near a portion where the paper was burning with that tiny blackened ripple, tinted with red, indicating it was hot.

“It’s burning, how?” I had a dozen questions, and didn’t know where to start. If this map was Underhill… that couldn’t be right. Underhill had to be a lot larger than this. The ice palace and the previous place I’d been with Nick, they weren’t anywhere on the map. Even the massive networks of streams were missing. Maybe this was a close-up version of the area we were in now? “Where’s the rest of the maps? Do you have more of the world recorded? Can I search them all forApa?” There had to be more.