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And then, we were at the ravine, and down and up the other side, and into the yard. Grieve didn't stop, though, not until we reached the porch and I suddenly found myself standing in front of the screen door. Rhiannon was on the other side, waiting, and she opened the door and yanked me in. Grieve followed.
"Have Kaylin and Leo made it back yet?" I asked, a little breathless from the trip.
Rhiannon shook her head. "Not yet." Her face was flushed, and she blew a strand of hair back from her eyes as she nodded to the living room. "Chatter's in there, Grieve."
"Give us a minute, would you?" I put my hand on Grieve's arm. "I need to talk to you."
He followed me into the kitchen. A fervorish light in his eyes broke through the sullen expression lingering in his face. He glanced over his shoulder and then turned back to me. "What is it?"
"Grieve." I took a step toward him. "Thank you. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for letting Chatter help us."
"I had to. I can't let her hurt you, and yet I can't break free of her spell." Grieve gazed into my eyes. "Cicely, I'm so torn between duty and my heart. You make me break every instinct my body pushes me toward." His voice cracked.
And then I was in his arms, seeking his lips. "I love you, Grieve. I always have. I can't help it. You're my enemy but I need you. We need each other."
"How can you be so sure?" he whispered roughly. He wasn't smiling, but the faint curve of his lip was more than I could bear. "How can you know we aren't making a mistake that could cost you your life?"
"I don't care. I know you're dangerous--to both yourself and to me. But we are linked . . . and I don't think there's anything we can do to stop it." I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him to me.
His hands slid over my back, over my ass, leaving a trail of sparks wherever he touched. I sought his lips.
One hand fisting my hair, he darted his tongue between my lips as he fastened his mouth on mine. His touch was silk and fire as the kiss raged through my body, soaking into every pore, every inch of my skin. I moaned softly as he slid one knee between my legs and pressed me back against the counter.
I closed my legs around his, feeling the muscles under his jeans, feeling the power wrapped up in his taut, lean body. He held me fast, his lips moving from my mouth to my cheek, then to my neck where he raked his tongue over my skin, setting off a new series of explosions. His teeth grazed the soft skin there, and I felt a thin trickle of blood run free as he nipped lightly. When his saliva hit the raw skin, a growing warmth sucked me under, spreading through my system like a dark drug. And yet, I had no sense of being a bloodwhore, of being used.
Breathing heavy, I pressed against his chest as his hands slid under my shirt to cup my breasts. He rubbed his fingers over my bra as he lapped the thin trail of blood dripping from my neck. The soft slide of his tongue against my skin both irritated and aroused me--there was a sandpaper quality to it, a slight grating and I couldn't get my mind off what it was like to feel that tongue elsewhere.
My wolf growled, low and with pleasure.
Grieve reached for my buckle and I let out a whimper. "Not here, not in plain sight, please."
He quit tugging on the belt. "I forget. The Fae aren't modest about sex. But Cicely--I want you. I want you now."
Reason hammered against the fog. There was a group of Indigo Fae out to kill us, and here we were, standing in the middle of the kitchen, making out.
"Stop--please, just for now. I need to make sure Kaylin and Leo make it home safely." I pushed against his chest. Damn it, I didn't want to stop, not even though I knew he was tasting my blood. I wanted to strip him right here, pull him down on the floor, and fuck his brains out.
He struggled for a moment to hold me, but then lifted his head, his platinum hair falling forward to graze my face, and let go, trembling as I stepped back. A drop of my blood remained on his lips, and his eyes were glowing.
"You taste so good. I want you--all of you, again and again."
His teeth showed, needle-sharp and brilliant white, but I had lost my fear. Whether it was shock from the close call, or just the feeling that we were inevitable, I had to trust that he was on our side--as much as he could be.
I shivered, suddenly cold. "I . . . oh, Grieve, I don't know what the fuck I'm getting myself into but I love you."
Before he could respond, I pulled down my shirt, turned, and darted into the living room. Rhiannon was sitting beside Chatter on the sofa and they looked up at me in unison, Chatter with a worried expression on his face, Rhiannon--questioning.
"Have Kaylin and Leo gotten--" Before I could finish, there was a noise at the door and I stiffened. A second later, Leo and Kaylin burst in, slamming the door behind them. Kaylin looked utterly exhausted.
"We lost them, I think. But they know where we live. We have to ward the house and the land. There's no other way to keep them out."
"We'd better start warding the land. I think we have a book about protection spells in that pile over there." I rifled through the stack until I found a grimoire dedicated to purification and protection spells.
"I think I saw something in here when I was leafing through . . . here it is. A spell for warding an estate. We'll need of lot of quartz crystals--they don't have to be large but they have to be spiked on at least one end. We'll need garlic . . . crap . . . a lot of garlic, and sulfur, and blood. Our blood."
At that moment, Grieve joined us, slipping his arm around my waist. I leaned back against him and he pressed his lips to my head.
"Cicely, do you realize your neck's bleeding?" Leo pointed to my shirt and I glanced in the bronze-framed mirror on the wall. A trail of red droplets slowly dripped from my neck down my right shoulder to stain my shirt.>"Hush," Kaylin whispered. "We can't be seen, except as a fleeting shadow here or there, but if they have anybody who has clairaudience, or who can hear the wind like you can, they might be able to pick up on us."
