Page 82 of The Fearless Witch

Celeste stepped away from the vampire, and in the blink of an eye, she was running toward me. My first thought was that she’d embrace me, so I tried to dodge, but that’s when I realized I was falling. She caught me right before I collapsed on the ground, grunting under my weight until Roman pulled me off her.

I looked down at my body, wincing at the sight of all those punctures over my flesh. As if the strain from merging with the shadows wasn’t enough. With so many curses, I was lucky I wasn’t already falling apart…

“Fuck,” I grumbled, glaring at the bits and pieces of the demon scattered over the ground. “I wish he was alive so I could tear him apart again!”

“Can you get us back?” Roman asked, his fingers gripping my arm tighter. “I don’t particularly want to carry you both through the stone serpents and the forest.”

I thought about telling him to fuck off, but it felt like too much effort. Hoping my body would have enough strength to get us to safety, I caught Celeste’s shoulder and pictured Roman’s mansion.

The cave disappeared and Celeste’s sharp gasp was the last thing I heard before we landed in a big, bright room and my knees buckled. They caught me, holding me between them like a weak child. I tried to steady myself and pull away, but they only gripped me harder.

“Isn’t he a Prince of Hell now?” Roman asked with an exasperated sigh, but even I could feel the tension in his voice. The burning in my veins had returned, no longer suppressed by the adrenalin and the power rushing through them before. “Wasn’t he supposed to be stronger, not weaker?”

“I don’t know! I’m not that adept in Hell politics,” Celeste shot back. “But if I have to guess, it probably has something to do with the fact that his body was cursed over twenty times. It’s a miracle his vessel is still in one piece!”

“I don’t care about his body, let him go back to Hell. Your deal with him is done, he can—”

“You’re back!” a familiar voice spoke and Roman and Celeste finally stopped arguing like I wasn’t there. I managed to lift my head just as Malakai appeared in front of us, staring at me with a horrified expression.

“What happened to him?” he gasped, reaching toward me but stopping just short of touching. His gaze lingered on something on my chest, and his throat bobbed.

“We won,” I groaned. I waited for the triumphant feeling from before to return, but all I could feel was pain. Pain and burning.

Malakai blinked in surprise, but then he smiled tightly.

“Of course you did,” he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Now let’s get that poison out and you can tell me all about it.”

I nodded, too tired to speak, and tried to take a step toward him. Roman finally let me go, but Celeste’s hands lingered until Malakai wrapped his arms around me and picked me up. The thought that this was too fucking embarrassing crossed my mind, but then it was gone, devoured by the flames that had spread everywhere.

My head fell on his shoulder while he walked with a quick, purposeful step. The world swirled in and out of focus, and another thought filled my head.

I hadn’t heard Cyrus speak for a while.

I tried to call him, but even in my mind, it felt like I had no strength to make a sound. So I did something I hadn’t done in centuries. I slept.

Chapter 32

Roman

“Master! Where have you been? We thought…” Chester blurted, trying to keep up with my pace after running into us in the corridor. I hadn’t bothered calling for him or checking on the others. I didn’t care if the world had ended while we were gone. All I cared about was that Celeste was back with me, that I could count her heartbeats through our intertwined fingers, and that I could feel the bond tying us together. “Master, are you hurt? You’re covered in blood and—”

Celeste tugged my hand, and I finally stopped, holding back my snarl as I turned to face the human. He was panting, and for the first time in a while, he looked unmistakably old.

“We are not hurt, and the blood is not ours. Is anyone dead or dying?”

Chester’s brows creased together. “No, but—”

“Then it can wait,” I said in a tone that allowed no objections. “We are going to shower and we are not to be disturbed, understand? We can all reconvene in the morning.” I looked him over again, noting the deep shadows under his eyes and the distant, bleary look of his gaze, and added, “Get some rest. That’s an order.”

We walked the rest of the way in complete silence. The moment we were alone in the darkness of my room, my restraint vanished. I didn’t care about the blood on us. I didn’t care about my healing injuries or the bruises and cuts on her body. I didn’t care that we had just watched demons fight for dominance in the heart of Hell and survived. I needed to feel her, to taste her, to kiss her. I needed it now, before we ran out of time again, before she was torn away from me or… I from her.

She kissed me back with the same urgency, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me against her. Her breathy moan got me so hard, I squeezed her tighter so she could feel exactly what she was doing to me. I didn’t even bother breaking our kiss as I strode into the shower and turned the water on.

I snarled in frustration when my fingers got tangled in her soaked top, so I dragged my nails through the fabric, ripping every piece of cloth off her. Angry welts appeared on her skin where I pressed with more strength than I should have, but she just groaned while she stripped my half-torn shirt. Discarding my clothes faster than I had ever done in my life, I trapped her between me and the wall. My hands roamed over her naked body before my mouth followed, lips tightening around one of her hard nipples before giving the other the same courtesy. As I moved lower, her fingers tangled in my hair and she arched her back until my breath ghosted her core.

An impatient whimper tore from her, but I ignored it in favor of trailing my teeth teasingly over her hip. Her blood brought back the hunger I had been suppressing for weeks and I hummed in delight as I slid my hand under her thigh, raising her leg to rest on my shoulder. I pressed my lips over one of the larger veins before tapping it with my finger.

“Here,” I whispered, looking up to make sure she heard me. She was already staring, eyes half closed and mouth parted while her heart sang the most beautiful song in the world.

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