Page 102 of Bad Witch

Whatever it was that Fender, Roman, and Zari were seeing, I was not. There were no bright colors, only the glow from the fire that burned in the middle of the clearing offered light from the darkness.

Fender swayed, holding me to him tight. His eyes were glowing red in the darkness now, his body moving in a languid way, his cock hard, digging into my stomach as he moved.

Roman and Zari were wrapped in each other’s arms, swaying as well. His hands were on her butt, and he was kissing her neck, while her head was thrown back. I didn’t know what their relationship was, but I had to stop this before it went too far and the two of them did something they wouldn’t in other circumstances. It wasn’t easy. Fender didn’t want to release me, but I managed to extricate myself from him. I grabbed Zari’s hand, and she laughed and shoved Roman away.

He fell back with a booming laugh, something I’d never heard from him before, falling to the ground. Fender collapsed back beside him, and they watched us with rapt attention. Fear gripped me. There were things, things I couldn’t see clearly moving in the shadows. This place wasn’t safe. But I had to buy us time while Kurgan found the weapons and got back to us, and I needed him to help me get them out of here.

Zari swayed her hips, striding toward Roman, and he watched her with hungry eyes as she danced for him. There was no missing how aroused he was, because he wasn’t trying to hide it. Zari danced faster, to a beat I couldn’t hear, and Fender grabbed for me, hauling me back to him, pulling me onto his lap.

“Fender?” I said. “You’re not yourself. You need to come back, you need to fight this.”

He laughed. “This is paradise, we’re in paradise, peaches. I never want to go back.” He nuzzled my throat. “Kiss me, kiss your male.”

Beside us, Roman and Zari were making out, and there was no stopping them, no matter how many times I called their names. She undid his pants. Oh gods, what the hell was I going to do? In the shadows, cries and groans filled the night. Whatever they were, they didn’t sound like beasts, not totally, and they were doing things, things I didn’t want to see.

Zari cried out beside us. I fought Fender’s hold and scrambled to my feet. His hands weren’t bruising, but they were relentless. I grabbed Zari under the arms and hauled her off Roman. It wasn’t easy, she was strong, but I was determined. My job was to protect, and Zari didn’t know what she was doing right now.

“What are you doing?” she said without heat. “I need him.”

Roman grabbed for her.

“Zari,” I called. “Wake the hell up.”

Her focus was only on Roman. She didn’t even bother fighting me off, even as I somehow managed to wrestle her to the ground, she just crawled toward him, shoving at me every now and then like I was some mild annoyance.

Fender called my name, his tone odd, impatient. “Tempest. Come back here,” he said as he gripped his erection over his jeans and squeezed at it.

A creature, humanoid in shape but appearing to be made of shadow, crawled out of the forest and over to him. It crawled up his leg, and he smiled at it. “There you are. I missed you.”

No. NO. I couldn’t hang on to Zari and stop that thing, whatever it was. I released her, and she crawled back to Roman, climbing on top of him as I ran at Fender and kicked the thing climbing on him, off. “Mine,” I yelled, or more screamed, the sound born from out-of-control terror.

It hissed and fell back, but not far enough. I frantically searched the clearing. More of them were closing in—and then the sound of a flute echoed through the darkness, coming from deep in the forest.

Pan’s flute.

He was coming. Oh goddess, help us.

The shadowy forms crawled to each other, their bodies writhing wildly as Pan’s flute grew louder, getting closer, until there was an orgy of shadowy beings moaning and grunting all around us.

Panic filled me as I kicked and shoved at them, forcing them off Zari and Roman, shoving seeking hands off Fender. They wouldn’t stay back.

The flute music was a chaotic melody, but somehow I still heard Pan’s hooves hitting the earth as he neared us, it could be nothing else.

Kurgan burst through the trees on the other side of the clearing, a huge bag on his back, and the unmistakable sound of clattering steel. He was bleeding, his skin raw, deep cuts all over him. “Run,” he snarled.

“This place, it’s affecting them, and I can’t get through to them.”

Kurgan snarled, kicking and stomping on several of the shadowy creatures that dared touch him. His eyes glowed red when they landed on his sister, gyrating on top of Roman. With a snarl, he waded through the bodies, hauled Zari off the other hound and, ignoring Roman’s growl of outrage, tossed her over his shoulder. Then he stomped to me, and even after seeing him do it with Zari, I never expected him to snatch me off my feet as well. But he did, he tossed me over his other shoulder, then he broke into a run.

Fender and Roman bounded to their feet instantly, roaring and snarling, and made chase. I guess that was one way to make them move, but I didn’t know what would happen if they caught up to us.

Kurgan ran so fast the forest was a blur. Zari struggled against him, punching him hard in the back and demanding he let her down, but he didn’t let her go. Fender and Roman were sprinting after us, but they were still under the influence of whatever hold this place had on them, and I could tell Fender was having trouble with his leg, but he was ignoring it. I dreaded to think how much damage he was doing to himself. But it wasn’t only Fender periodically crashing into trees or falling. Roman did his fair share of that as well. It was like they were drunk, which was in our favor with how heavy a burden Kurgan was carrying.

Somehow, despite carrying a huge sack of heavy steel weapons, Zari and I, and suffering blood loss from various wounds that had continued to leak, Kurgan maintained his speed. The massive hound’s sheer, brute strength and determination was something I’d never seen in anyone before

I don’t know how long he’d been running, when I finally felt a tremble of strain shake his colossal body. Hours, definitely. My stomach hurt, I felt sick, and my head pounded. I wanted down, badly, but if he let us down, Fender and Roman would catch up for sure. They were slower, but not that slow.

Zari gagged and threw up, not for the first time, I assume from the effects of this place as well as the pressure to her stomach while upside down.