Page 7 of Halloween Hunt

That’s when it starts, right in front of me. I hear the pop, then a crack forms, racing out from the center before branching out and splitting the mirror into four. I lower my eyes. “I can also break mirrors by looking at them. I’m cursed. I need to break the curse.”

I turn to face him and lean in, lifting onto my toes until I can brush my lips over his. His beard tickles my skin, and his lips are cool on mine, but he doesn’t respond. He stands there like he’s made of stone. My face heats as I lower back down. This was a mistake. All this talk of vampires and magic and him being nice threw me off balance.

“What was that for?” he says softly, brushing a strand of hair off my face and tucking it behind my ear.

“To break the curse. Kisses break curses…don’t they?” Had all the fairy tales lied to me?

“That wasn’t a kiss.” His voice is low and gravelly and does something to my legs because they go weak like I need to melt into him.

“Yes, it was. You didn’t join in.” I’d cross my arms, except he’s still holding my hand, and pulling it free seems rude when he’s helping me. Or is he laughing at me? It’s hard to tell when half his face is hidden behind a beard and makeup and horns.

“You think you’re cursed and that I need to kiss you to break it?”

“You think magic and vampires are real,” I counter. Lust and annoyance rise within me. What is he doing to me? Around him, I feel like a candle flaring to life. Like I’m going to burn up.

He considers me for another heartbeat, and I expect him to burst into laughter. I don’t expect him to grab the back of my head with his free hand and claim my mouth.

There’s no other word for it. His kiss isn’t a tentative get-to-know-you kind of thing. It’s hard and hungry and demanding. His tongue sweeps over the seam of my lips and I open my mouth, submitting to his invasion. I’m sure that if I pushed back and demanded to be released, he’d let go. But I don’t shove him away. I grasp the fur around his shoulder and pull him closer, needing to feel every inch of him against me.

The metal of his armor presses against my breasts. His fingers thread through my hair, tilting my head so he can consume me more easily. I glimpse us in the broken mirror. The warrior claiming the careless witch.

What kind of witch is dumb enough to be bitten by a vampire?

Me.

And now I’m hiding in the bathroom with a man dressed as a trow, whatever the fuck that is.

He pulls back as though catching his breath. “How’s that curse now, witch?”

“Um…” I stare up at him, not sure what to say. I didn’t feel very cursed when he was kissing me. No, I feel very much alive. Like magic is running through my veins instead of blood. I lick my lower lip. Now is the time to be bold and fearless and not like me. “It might take more than a kiss.”

6

Kov

Imay not be a shifter, but I can smell her heat. Her desire. The leather of my pants bites into my cock. Now that I’ve tasted her, and I’m close enough to hear her heartbeat, I don’t want to hunt the vampire. I don’t even want to return to the party.

I want her.

I know she isn’t cursed, but her magic is coming in. And I was right: from the signs, her blood line is fae. They hate witches, they think they are corruptions and should be fed to the vampires. On a hunt, the only thing the fae are good for is killing vampires. They usually kill the witches too.

Andrea is lucky I found her. While I had noble intentions of saving her, they have been left on the other side of the door. I want to claim her as mine. Unlike the fae, trows value halflings as they bring other magic to our community. Female halflings are even more valued because there are so few trow women.

“More than a kiss?” I lean in close so I can whisper in her ear. “And what might that be?”

I want her to say it, so there can be no misunderstanding. So that if the Court asks questions about the hunt, I can answer with truth in my heart. I will not be banished to become a vampire because of a witch who doesn’t believe in magic and fairies.

I saw the doubt in her eyes, even though she smiled and nodded as we talked. Like most humans, she’s forgotten about fairies. She’s forgotten the rules. She’s forgotten how to be safe around vampires. I’m glad I haven’t lied, and that I told her what I am, and what she is. If she has chosen not to believe, then that is not on me.

Her breathing quickens, sweeping over my cheek, then her hand is skimming over the exposed parts of my chest, then lower still to the laces on my pants. Her nails run over the fastening on the way down, and her fingertips skim over the aching length of my cock on the way back up.

She wants me to fuck her, thinking that I’ll be able to break the curse and take the magic in her blood. The vampire could, but he’d kill her in the process.

I’m still holding her injured hand, so I bring it to my lips and kiss her palm. “What do you want, Andrea?”

I use her name this time.

Her eyelids flutter.

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