Page 59 of Wildfire Witch

A beaked face peered at me upside-down. “It worked,” Aodhnait exclaimed.

The pain of existence returned too, reminding me I’d just had a close encounter with corrupted fire magic, and that there was…until recently…a hole in my chest. I sat up, but before I could poke the sore area, arms wrapped around me.

It was Ceridor, whispering his many nicknames for me over and over like a mantra as he peppered my face with kisses. Beside him fit Seth, who I drew in with an arm around his back. He wasn’t wearing a shirt anymore, and his hands found my belly…my very bare, ash-streaked belly. Not to be left out, Rusty held me from behind, kissing my shoulder down to the tattoo he’d left on my arm last night.

I sensed my connections to them stronger than ever, reinforced by glowing outlines of gold magic. I could’ve laughed, or cried, and settled for both as I tried to hold and kiss all three of them. There wasn’t a dry eye in the huddle we made on the ground. Well, the remains of my old home. Until Rusty lifted me to sit on his muscled thigh, my bare behind was resting on solid wood.

“I’m alive. I’m okay,” I murmured, feeling like I was reassuring Ceridor most of all. The shadows tarnishing his silver gaze were slow to clear.

“You’re alive,” he repeated to himself.

The kisses didn’t stop. I had a feeling my men would start stripping right here if we weren’t in the midst of haunted ruins. Someone’s hands were dipping lower, one cupping my lower belly, another over the curve of my ass.

“Guys,” I said breathlessly. “There are ghosts here. They’re probably watching us right now.”

Those touches froze, and Rusty growled. I clamped my thighs together.Oh yeah, that was exactly the vibration I’d mourned ever feeling again while on the other side of death. My dragon stripped off his shirt and three sets of hands worked together to put it on me. They didn’t even communicate; it was simply agreed upon that they didn’t want invisible spirits seeing my naked body. The shirt fit on me like a dress, stopping at my upper thighs.

“Is it my turn with my witch now?” Aodhnait asked dryly. I turned to look at her, restored to her prime with her full coat of crimson plumage and a long, sweeping tail marked with some white feathers. She blinked up at me with eyes full of white flame, and then we moved at the same time. She leaped, and Icaught her, pulling her into a hug overtop my chest, where her spark now served as my heart.

“Thank you,” I whispered. She didn’t have to bring me back, but here I was, breathing again because of her.

“I couldn’t live without you,” she twittered, nuzzling her head up under my chin.

I rocked her, enjoying her warmth from outside my body for once. “I couldn’t die without you,” I joked.

“Clearly.”

“I’ll make your sacrifice worth it. I promise,” I said more sincerely.

Aodhnait made a little bird trill. “I know. And your mates are seconds from sweeping you off your feet right now, so I’ll also say…I’ll take care of myself out in the forest for a bit. Whistle when you need me. Remember the one?” she asked.

I pursed my dry lips, trying to whistle. Someone else made the four-tone noise for me, which had been our signal to each other since we were young and silly growing up in Spells Hollow as it used to be. Aodhnait stirred, both of us turning towards Ceridor, who whistled the tune again without trouble. “Some people have all the talent,” I remarked.

He fixed me with a smolder. “Time to go?” he suggested.

“Time to go,” I agreed. Then I yelped when Rusty picked me up yet again, carrying me back to the car. Aodhnait rested in my arms in the meantime, in no hurry to fly off until the vehicle was in sight. “Are you sure you don’t want to come back to the motel?”

“Positive,” she said in her driest tone. “Don’t worry about me. I can breathe fire, remember?”

So could Lance, I almost wanted to say. But Aodhnait was a darling, while Lance…well, his body was almost unrecognizable when we passed by it. Rusty muttered something about taking care of it later.

I smiled to myself. Morfran’s curse would keep Lance’s ghost here, and I doubted the other spirits would be friendly when they learned why he’d died on the cursed ground.

“Go, have fun,” I said to her instead, petting the soft feathers down her neck. With one last nuzzle, she launched into the air, soaring straight for the healthy forest that bordered the outskirts of our former home.

“All right, where were we?” Rusty asked. He ran his tongue up the shell of my ear and got into the back with me still in his lap, layering nips down the side of my neck.

Seth got into the driver’s seat and Ceridor also slid into the back. For a moment, I was worried my dragon and fae would try to tug-of-war me between them. Rusty plopped me in the middle seat, where my legs had to spread between the raised space between the foot wells.

Rusty’s large, warm hand ran up one thigh, while Ceridor’s cool, practiced touch closed around the other thigh. Seth turned the car on, clearing his throat. “I’d appreciate if we saved the actual action for a place that’s not my backseat,” he commented.

“You never had fun in your car as a teen?” I teased. My hand tangled in Rusty’s short hair as I drew him in for a long, deep kiss.

Seth groaned, possibly watching from the rearview mirror. “It doesn’t fit all of us,” he protested.

“We won’t fuck in your backseat,” Ceridor said patiently, while also running his fingers up to my slit. I shivered as he rimmed my lower lips with a teasing touch.

I moaned into Rusty’s mouth when that touch found my clit and pressed a little harder than expected when we hit the first pothole. The dragon grunted in annoyance at the second and third rough jolt, breaking our kiss to work some magic on the road ahead of us.

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