Anya Bast - Witch Heart

Andrea looked away from him.

"I feel every death like a weight on my soul." Claire licked her lips. "I–I can't even—"

Andrea kept her head turned away. "I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to say that. I didn't mean it. I'm just… pissed off. Pissed they took six of us. Pissed we weren't better, stronger, faster." She lowered her head and a tear dropped into her lap. "Pissed I've lost my friends."

The other two witches finally recovered enough to speak. They nibbled at bread, sipped water, and talked about what happened until it grew late in the day.

All of them were shocked by Ingrid and Tom's death and Claire watched each realize in turn how close they'd come to the same fate.

They stayed at the cabin. Relocating — running — was silly since the Atrika only had to snag another witch from the street and locate them anyway. The assaulted witches needed rest. They needed food, a bath, and sleep— sanctuary. So did Claire, Theo, and Adam.

ADAM CAME AWAKE TO THE SMOOTH SLIDE OF Claire's hand over his thigh and lower stomach. Despite the excitement of the night and despite how far his mind should've been from such things, his body reacted to her touch. He wanted nothing more than to pull her down against him, roll her beneath his body, and caress every one of her curves carefully, methodically and thoroughly.

He wanted one night of freedom from all this mess to spend with her. Just one night to completely immerse himself in her body, her scent, just her. One night to assuage this deep ache he had for her, to sate himself, and subdue it forever.

Instead, he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him for a quick, deep kiss that only teased him. Having her near him and not being able to completely indulge himself was the worst kind of torture. "What's wrong?"

Her lovely full lips parted. "We need to get out of here before the others wake up. You and me, alone. The Atrika will track me, Adam. I don't want to be responsible for any more deaths."

"Claire, if this is about what Andrea said—"

She shook her head. "It's not. This was on my mind long before she brought it up. I understand the nature of Theo and the other witches; they'll fight until they die."

"It's a fight worth dying for. I saw what the elium did, Claire. I felt it. It's important we keep it from them."

"And we will, but we can do it without endangering the others."

He pulled her up, tucking her against his body, and kissed her temple. "You're not used to having friends or allies, Claire. I understand that. You're not used to having people want good things for you, to protect you. Just relax now, okay? We need their magick to help guard you from the demons. Leaving here takes that away and endangers you. We'll teach the remaining Coven witches how to use their power against the Atrika. Protecting you means we protect ourselves. So, please, just try to sleep a little now."

Claire's body lost its tension. She sighed and he felt the echo of her weariness and stress through his own body. "I don't like this."

He laughed a little — a soft, low, raw sound. "What's to like?"

Around them the sound of the sleeping witches' breathing filled their ears and the shadows cast by the firelight danced on the walls. There were only two bedrooms, so Adam and Claire had given up their bed to the other witches in favor of bunking down on the cushions from the couch and some folded up blankets. They were both so weary they hardly noticed the lumps at all.

Claire moved against his body and he gritted his teeth, his cock hardening. She slipped her long leg between his thighs and her hands under his shirt to smooth over his chest. The blanket covering them rustled with her movement.

He rolled her over and beneath him, then parted her thighs with his knee and settled himself between them. As he slanted his mouth across hers and slid his tongue between her lips, he ground his hard cock against her sex to show her what she was doing to him.

Claire sighed into his mouth and rubbed her sex up against him aggressively, causing delicious friction along his shaft beneath their clothes. It broke the last thin thread he had on his control. Fire jumped in the center of him in response to his arousal. "Are you trying to push me, woman?" he growled against her lips.

"I need you right now, Adam," she whispered back.

She didn't have to ask twice. He reached down and yanked her pants down to her ankles and savagely pushed her panties down and off under the cover of the blankets. All the other witches were sleeping, but even if they hadn't been sleeping, Adam wasn't sure he could've stopped. The scent of her, the movement of her silken skin against his, it all made him crazy.

Claire fumbled for the snap and zipper on his jeans, apparently desperate to feel him inside her. It seemed that foreplay wasn't what she had in mind. When he touched her sex, he found her ready, silky and slick, her clit blooming against his palm. His hands shook he wanted her so badly.

Adam spread her thighs and pressed the head of his cock into the entrance of her sex. Claire sighed and moved her hips, trying to lodge him deeper. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her as he pressed farther into her. The slick satin muscles rippled and pulsed along his shaft as he hiked inside her.

Her hands found the flesh under his shirt as he began to thrust in and out of her, setting up a rhythm that would send them both into pleasure fast and hard. This was urgent sex, a joining driven by the need to connect.

He placed a hand to her hips and angled the head of his cock to brush against her G-spot deep within. It wasn't long before she whimpered and her body tensed. As the muscles of her sex milked his cock during her climax, she sank her teeth into the skin of his shoulder to keep from crying out.

Pleasure exploded through him just a moment later and he shot deep inside her, kissing her deeply to muffle his own groans. He collapsed on her, careful not to crush her, and buried his face in the sweet-smelling curve of her neck. His breath came fast and hard as her fingers stroked through the short hair at his nape.

Together they lay tangled for a long time, the low, dying light of the fire flickering over them and the gentle sounds of sleep coming from the bed above them. Adam didn't want to pull from her body. He liked it too much when they were joined. So he remained buried within her even after his cock had gone flaccid.

Fuck, he was growing to care for Claire a lot.

Finally, he rolled over and adjusted himself. Then he pulled her against him, wordlessly. She tucked her head beneath his chin, face against his chest, and eventually fell back to sleep.

Adam tried hard not to think about what a perfect fit she was in his arms.

They slept through the late afternoon and into the night. Thankfully, no demon came to interrupt their well-needed rest. Claire had made an educated guess — the Atrika needed even more time to recover from the elium than they did. When they all awoke, they made breakfast in the remnants of the ruined kitchen and the surviving witches all ate well.

Adam watched Theo lean against the counter and sip his coffee. He'd slipped back into being a ghost, not talking, not interacting much at all. Ingrid's death had affected him badly. Now that Adam had spent some time with the man, he knew him better.

The mood was somber in the kitchen as they ate. Claire perched herself on a stool near the breakfast bar and talked to the witches about how she would train them that day. Her words, quietly spoken, could not cut through the pall of grief that had settled over them all.

Adam's cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and flipped it open, walking away from the solemn group so he could hear better. "Yeah?"