Page 64 of The Most Wanted Witch

“Whatever is there, I can’t feel it.” He sighed as if frustrated he couldn’t get a read on it.

He looked back at the spot and back to me. Another thing piling up, not making sense, like so much else. It seemed that the more information we got, the less we knew.

“Either way, we need to get going. There’s a storm coming.”

I held up my bare hand. “It feels calmer than ever.” The air felt colder, but the constant wind had gone away for maybe the first time since I’d been in Xest.

“That’s how you know a storm is coming. The calmer the wind, the worse it’ll be.” He looked in the direction we’d come, his eyes narrowing. “This isn’t good.”

I turned around. “Where’d the door go?”

Bautere walked across the snow until he was standing beside us. “Heard you were in these parts.”

“You told Tippi that there was something wrong with this place. I wanted to check it out, and then our door disappeared.” Hawk waved to the place it had been.

“Magic has been acting weird in this area for a while now.” Bautere raised his head in the air, his nostrils flaring. “You’re not going to be able to get back, not with the storm brewing. You’ll have to stay the night with me.”

Before we answered, he turned and began walking back in the direction he’d come from. With no options, Hawk and I followed. It was better than getting stuck in a blizzard. Xest’s weather wasn’t kind on a good day. There was no way we’d make it back on a bad one.

There was a fire, but it barely warmed the area. I bunched the furs around me again, trying to trap every smidge of body heat. It was a losing battle that I’d been fighting for a good hour.

I had my back to Hawk, who was on the next pile over. He wrapped an arm around my waist and dragged me up against him.

My instinct to push away lasted a half of a second, maybe even less, because that was how long it took to feel how warm he was. My thoughts soon shifted to how I could maneuver myself closer, without literally draping myself on top of him. I settled for mounding up the furs around me and him, barricading his heat in.

“Just so you know, this doesn’t mean we’re on good terms,” I said. “I’m only sleeping next to you because it’s cold and it’s a necessity. Same reason I’m talking to you. Only as needed.”

“Noted,” he said, his eyes remaining closed.

I maneuvered slightly so that my head was in the crook of his arm. If I was going to sleep next to him out of necessity, it made sense to get as comfortable as possible. He was like being pressed up against a wood stove that was continuously pumping a slow heat.

“How is it that you’re warm when I’m freezing?” I put my hand on his side because there was no other place for it, and if there was a sudden attack, warm fingers functioned better. Again, it was all about survival.

“I’m a shifter,” he said, as if that in itself explained it all.

“And?”

“I have two different cells trying to occupy the same space at all times, almost warring with each other for dominance. That generates more heat.”

“Oh.”

He hummed, not sounding interested at all. I closed my eyes, trying to let sleep come the way he seemed to have managed. Finally warm, the sound of the storm blowing outside, I was snuggled up to a man I hated most days.

So why couldn’t I stop thinking of sex?

I closed my eyes, shifting a bit, trying to get comfortable, moving my leg slightly over in my quest to sleep comfortably. I’d never noticed men’s legs before, but he had the kind of thick, muscled thighs that were hard not to notice, especially when you were right up against them.

Hate him or not, he was a good-looking man. It would be hard to deny that. I was a hot-blooded woman who hadn’t had sex in a long time. Of course I’d be attracted to him.

I needed to think of something else so my heart slowed and my breathing normalized before he noticed. Although he was probably asleep already, he was so still.

“Tippi…” His voice was guttural, drowning me in testosterone.

I tilted my head back so I could see his face. His jaw was tense and his eyes were blazing as they looked at me.

“Did I wake you? I was just trying to get comfortable.” My voice didn’t sound right. Probably because my heart still hadn’t stopped racing.

His chest nearly rumbled before he rolled over, taking me with him. He molded himself to my body from his lips, to his chest, to his hips, where his leg found purchase in between mine. For all my big talk, all I could do was arch and moan as his tongue delved into my mouth. Logic was gone, replaced only with need. I gripped his hair, keeping his head close, wrapping my free leg around his.

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