Sylvia Day - Spellbound

“Or I could taint Darius’s magic and push you too far.”

“Is that what you’re afraid of?”

Releasing her, Max ran a hand through his hair. “Among other things.”

Her eyes widened, then softened with love. “You’ve never been afraid before.”

“I never had anything to lose.”

She cupped his cheek and lifted to her tiptoes to press her mouth to his. Her tongue darted over his lips, leaving the taste of her behind.

“Don’t worry about me,” she murmured.

“I can’t stop it.” He caught her waist, felt how fragile she was. For all her power, she was soft and delicate. “I won’t make it without you, Victoria. You’re everything to me.”

“Max . . . ”

He kissed her, silencing the pleas that strove to weaken his resolve.

Victoria worked hard to accept Max’s decision, fighting the sense of foreboding that had her agitated. The last thing she wanted was to distract Max in any way from his hunt, despite her certainty that he shouldn’t go alone.

He slid the zipper up the back of her skirt, then ran his hands over her hips. His lips touched her nape and her eyes closed. She’d become so accustomed to being cared for, she had been lost the two days Max had been gone.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded, though it was a lie. He would take her to work, then disappear, and she had no idea when—or if—he’d be back. It wasn’t in her nature to accept not getting her way. Max was the only one who ever told her no. She’d learned to accept it, knowing the reward would be worth suffering the denial, but she couldn’t see a reward here, beyond hoping and praying that he returned to her alive and untainted.

His hand linked with hers, and in the blink of an eye, they were around the corner from the St. John. She was struck once again by the breadth of his power . . . and turned on by it. Max wielded his magic so easily. Effortlessly. And carried the weight of it with an air of command that was sexy and devastatingly attractive.

“Keep your guard up,” he said quietly.

“Yes, of course.”

He kissed her forehead, her eyelids, the tip of her nose, then finally her mouth. He smelled wonderful and looked even better. Tall and powerfully lean, his broad shoulders hugged by tailored Armani. The black three-piece suit complemented his dark hair, framing a sculpted face that still made her breath catch when he smiled.

“Stop worrying,” he admonished.

Overwhelmed by fear for him, Victoria caught him by the tie. “Refuse the hunt. Don’t go.”

“Victoria—”

“They can send someone else.”

“I don’t want them to send someone else.”

She froze. “Why? Did the High Council threaten you? Did They threaten me?”

“No.” He cupped her nape in his hand and his silver gaze slid over her face. “Hunting is what I do, Victoria. You’ve always known that.”

“Yes, but there will be other hunts. You don’t have to take—”

“None this challenging.”

She stared at him, her breath quick and her pulse racing. “You’d choose this hunt over me?”

“Don’t.” His face hardened. “I am who I am. You wouldn’t want me any other way.”

“I want you alive!”

“You want a predator, just like you. You ruined every Hunter that stalked you before I came along. Ruined them and tossed them aside.” He caught her by the arms and lifted her onto her toes. “I hunt and I catch. I caught you. I’ve kept you. And I’ll come home to you. Don’t try to leash me, kitten. I won’t have it and you wouldn’t want it.”

I love you.

She watched his eyes close as her words drifted through his mind. I love you back.

Max wrapped her up in his arms. He held her close and she didn’t care that they were embracing on the street with people walking by. She didn’t want to let go.

“Come on,” he said finally, pulling back. “The sooner I get started, the sooner it’ll be over.”

“You already started.”

His chest expanded on a deep, slow breath. A silent admission.

With his hand at her elbow, he led her around the corner and came to an abrupt stop. Victoria stumbled into his side, gathering her power to face the threat. It wasn’t what she expected.

She wasn’t what Victoria expected.

Petite and voluptuous, the blonde waiting in front of the St. John was clearly expecting Max, as evidenced by the wide curve of her pink lips when she saw him. The tension that gripped Max’s frame in response made Victoria’s claws extend and a low growl rumble in her chest.

The woman was a witch. A powerful one. Victoria could feel the magic pulsing off her. Wearing towering stilettos and a sleeveless blue wrap dress that matched her eyes, the witch was being eyed appreciatively by every man within viewing distance.

“There you are,” the blonde said, walking toward them in a leisurely, seductive way, her waist-length hair swaying gently. “You always like to keep me waiting. Not that I’ve ever had cause to complain in the end.”

She ignored Victoria altogether.

“Jezebel,” Max drawled. “What are you doing here?”

“Once I heard your name linked with Powell and Barnes, nothing could’ve kept me away. A dual hunt like this comes once in a lifetime.” Her mouth curved and her blue eyes sparkled with feminine appreciation as they raked him from head to toe. “Considering how long we live, darling, that’s saying something.”

She stopped in front of Max and ran her hand down his tie, disregarding the fact that he was holding hands with another woman. He caught her by the wrist, which only made her smile widen.

“Jezebel, let me introduce you to Victoria. Sweetheart, this is Jezebel . . . an old friend.”

Victoria bristled, aware of precisely how good a “friend” Jezebel had been to Max. The sensual awareness between them was obvious, as was their chemistry.

You fucked that? she asked.

Sheath the claws, kitten.

Jezebel flicked her gaze to Victoria for the first time. “A Familiar. How quaint. I’d heard you’d paired with one, but couldn’t believe it.”

“Believe it,” Victoria growled, punctuating her words with a sudden gust of air that sent the blonde stumbling back a step to totter on her heels.

“Victoria,” Max warned. You can’t take her on, she’s too powerful.

I don’t care. She’s talking around me as if I’m not here!

She’s trying to get to you, he said grimly, and you’re letting her.

Jezebel laughed huskily and shook out her hair. “She’s not tamed at all, is she? Knowing you, Max, you find that a challenging form of entertainment.”

Victoria waited for him to say something in her defense. Instead, Max said, “Let me see Victoria to the door, then we’ll talk.”

If you head off with that bitch, I’m going to be pissed.

You’re already pissed, he retorted.

Max!

She felt a flare of magic that cut off their sharing of thoughts and her stomach knotted. He was changing. Worse, he was disconnecting from her in the process.

His perfunctory kiss on her forehead and briskly spoken I love you did nothing to alleviate the fear that she was losing him.

Victoria watched through the revolving glass entrance doors of the St. John as Jezebel linked her arm with Max’s and led him across the street. They made a striking couple—Max tall and dark, Jezebel petite and golden. There was also a natural familiarity in the way they moved together.

He’d been with her for a considerable length of time at some point.

Seething with jealousy and territorial possessiveness, Victoria turned on her heel and headed toward the elevators, determined to find out exactly how much of a threat Jezebel was.

Too easy,” Xander said, his eyes on the stiff-backed Familiar as she marched through the entrance of the St. John Hotel. An entrance he’d empowered with a spell that provoked restlessness.

Sirius’s head turned as he followed Westin crossing the street. He had more than a score to settle. He wanted to hit the High Council where it hurt, and turning their golden boy into a dark master would be a crippling blow. Westin had already done much of the work for them by breaching the Transcendual Realm. His aura was tainted by the effort. He should be rogue . . . hunted . . . But Westin always got away with everything. The Council was more afraid of losing him than keeping him.

“We’ll need more than that little run-in,” Sirius murmured. “We’ve got one shot at tainting that Familiar. If we fuck it up, Westin will know and take steps. We won’t get a second chance.”

“Got something in mind?”

“He needs to have a reason not to send Patridge off on her merry way. He’ll keep her close if he thinks she’s a target.”

“You want to take ’em both on at once?” Xander turned wide eyes to Sirius. “Now we’re talking!”

Sirius transferred to a point ahead of Westin and his hot piece of ass, lingering in half form in the shadows. Extending a ghostly hand—the shape formed by grasping tendrils of gray smoke—Sirius cast a spell that formed a dark puddle on the sidewalk. It writhed gently, ripples forming as it sensed its prey approaching. Xander joined him just as Jezebel Patridge stepped into the deceptively shallow-looking water.

She screamed as the water rushed up her body like a sleeve, greedily hugging the curves that Westin was intimately familiar with. A laugh bubbled up in Sirius’s throat—

Westin pivoted abruptly. Thrusting out both hands, he launched a ball of energy from his fingertips. It struck Sirius in the chest with unerring precision. It sent him spinning deeper into the shadows. Then farther, into oblivion.