Page 59 of Witchblood

Apanodded. “Right.” He looked up toward the corner bedroom that faced the purple field and my camper. “I think I’ll sleep there. Tomorrow we’ll have tea and speak of important things.” He blinked as something dark flickered through him, only it was swallowed just that fast. Then he turned and headed toward the house. Oberon followed but threw a meaningful glance our way. The Volkov was scaring everyone lately.

Liam carried me toward the camper. “Carl is right; our tie is less muddled when it’s just us. You’re worried. Probably about Sean. He’ll be fine.”

“I’m worried about everyone. Dylan, Sean,Apa, Oberon, your pack, Nicky…” I let out a long sigh. “I am so tired.”

“I’d lend you energy if I knew how. The mating is new. It will take some getting used to.”

“What about the kitsune?” I asked him. “You have books about it?”

“Mythology mostly. So it’s probably about as accurate as most legends of werewolves are.” Meaning not at all. “Asking the fae for anything isn’t recommended, but Robin may know more. He might have met others like you.”

Kitsune. A fox spirit. That sort of made sense. “What about the cold fire?”

“I know as much as you do. But we can start asking around. Researching. Perhaps Oberon and your father know more than they let on.”

I recalledApatelling Oberon to research my family when I was an infant. If that had been real, did that mean they had known all along? HadApataught me to suppress it subconsciously? I was too tired to rationalize it all.

We approached the camper and I reached out to touch the side, running my fingers along the shiny edge as we walked to the door. I opened up my senses to the wards easier than I ever had before. I could see them in my mind, almost like cuts of paper layered one over another, edges smoothed down in places, loose in others. It was a bit haphazard, and that was okay since it felt familiar. The wards stretched around me, expanding from my touch out and over Liam, recognizing him as part of me. I didn’t even need to change the wards, they just recognized him as a part of me. He hesitated a moment at the door, but carried me right through, no shuddering and closing off of his senses that I could tell by looking at him.

Robin lay curled up on the bed, a ball of warm fur. The second he saw us he jumped up and darted across the room to tangle around Liam’s legs. His low growling mews brought tears to my eyes. Liam carried me to the bed and set me down.

He closed the main door and the rarely used inner door, locking them both. He then began shutting all the blinds, leaving only narrow dots of moonlight filtering through the slats. There were blackout curtains too, but he didn’t pull those. Instead he crawled into bed beside me. He wrapped his arms around me and spooned against my back.

I felt Robin jump up on the bed, march around our feet for a minute, before finally settling down to lie against my shins. The sense of calm settled over me like a wave of warm water, soothing the last of my worries. Right that minute, we were safe.Home, my gut told me. Even if it was just my little camper. In Liam’s arms, with Robin safe and close, protected by wards, I shut my eyes and let sleep take me where it would.

Chapter 26

Erotic dreams weren’t something I experienced often. In fact, it was so rare, that I thought it strange to be dreaming about sitting on a beach, sipping iced lavender lemonade from a cup with a tiny umbrella sticking out of it, and feeling like I needed sexual release right that second.

I’d never even spent time on a beach. So the idea of relaxing on one was almost foreign. And my body was keyed up, engine running at full speed, which was something I could only recall from early puberty. The intensity of the feeling made it hard to sit still.

Touching myself in the dream did nothing to ease the need. In fact, it seemed to get worse. I groaned. The warmth built between my legs, cock pulsing with heat, and I panted with desire. Someone needed to touch me. My body ached with it. Only in the dream I was alone.

That wasn’t right.

My brain slowly shuffled through memories as it sought an explanation. I opened my eyes while it was still sorting to see my pillow, with a tan hand wrapped around it attached to an arm that stretched over the top of me. Tan skin, yet still lighter than mine. The arm was muscular and sprinkled with light blond hair almost imperceivable to the eye. It made a great anchor. Settling my soul in peace even if my bodyneeded.

Liam.

His breathing was steady and deep. Sleeping.

Dammit. Just because I woke up needy didn’t mean I was going to jump him. Having experienced that a time or two in my life, I knew waking up with someone pleasuring themselves with your sleeping body, wasn’t the stuff of romance. It was actually somewhat disturbing. Not that my experience with men was vast. Maybe Liam liked that sort of thing. I didn’t really know him well enough to make that call.

He left no wiggle room under his arm for me to try to reach down and quietly take things into my own hands. The need burned in my groin like a fire begging to be quenched, and hell if it didn’t make it even worse to know that it was Liam who was wrapped around me. Liam who touched me. Liam whose body was pressed to my back. His scent and presence that surrounded me in blissful safety and happiness.

The need hadn’t gone away when I awoke like it often did with dreams. And this wasn’t normal morning wood. I couldn’t feel Robin at our feet anymore, and didn’t hear his breathing. Had he left? I hoped he was gone or he’d be getting an eye full.

Liam’s soft breaths told me he was deep into sleep. As much as an alpha could sleep deeply. With the perpetual threat of being attacked for his place in the pack, alpha’s were in general light sleepers. Now that he was mated, and in tune to my emotions, I was surprised he wasn’t already awake, boring a hole into my backside with his cock. The idea made my hips jerk. I swallowed back a cry and fought to keep still.

Pale rays of light filtered through the edges of the windows. Was it really morning? Why was I so rock hard?

What if I woke him slowly with a blow job? I’d read about it in books. Been told I gave a great blow job, but never had it reciprocated. But the idea of touching him like that, before he’d given me consent, just made my heart hurt. Never would I violate Liam’s trust like that. Hell, I felt weird about just being held by him at that moment and being so turned on while he slept, oblivious.

I sucked in a deep breath and tried to think of non-sexy things. Pie crust with no butter. Lemonade without the lavender. Burnt baked goods. But all I smelled was vanilla and cardamom. Liam’s warm body wrapped around me made me throb. Fuck.

Liam tugged me closer, arms like steel around me, but body warm and pliable. “What?” He mumbled into the back of my neck.

“What, what?” I asked quietly, trying my best not to jump him. He was tired and deserved sleep too, even if I was irrationally horny.