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He was torn between two warring urges: Tear out of the cottage and put as much distance between himself and Jessie as he could, or get that thing away from her before it ripped out her jugular. Any sudden movement could trigger its aggression.
She would never see it coming.
She is a witch. What should I care?
At the thought, he gritted his teeth, baring them.
The lema hissed, showing fangs…as though protectively.
Jessie held the creature tighter in her embrace, effectively calming it.
What madness have I awoken to?He was enclosed with a witch and a lema, both of which made his instinct sing with violence and self-preservation.
Kill them before they kill me.
He shook the thought away. He needed answers before he passed judgment.
She’d managed to get him alone in the woods. Defenseless. For what nefarious purpose? Revenge? He imagined the mothers of little witches told their children, “Beware The Destroyer.” Just as dragon mothers told their children, “Beware of witches.” How many of their kind had he killed in his long life? Hundreds? Thousands? He’d lost count.
Would Jessie be among those numbers?
His chest twisted at the thought.
Memories of how she’d been with him last night invaded his mind. So soft. So sensual. So unbelievably passionate. He could still hear her erotic cries in his ears as he took them both to the edge of rapture. Had he truly made love to a witch?
The true horror of it hit him. Bile rose in his throat and he had to hold back a retch.
She had the gall to ask, “Are you okay?”
“Are you even human?” he spat back. “Did you truly arrive here from Earth?”
Her hurt look gutted him, but he buried the feeling deep. She’d just tossed him like a skipping stone. Through a fucking stone wall. Like it was nothing!
“Yes, I’m human. And yes, I came from Earth. I don’t know why, but things started getting weird when I got to your planet. I didn’t know what was happening to me.”
He began to pace. “So you’ve known this whole time you could wield magic? You’ve known and said nothing?” The betrayal burned.
“I didn’t know. Not really. Even when I began to suspect…something…I didn’t really believe it. But strange things kept occurring. Like the lights flickering when I was upset.”
“Aye. I remember that.” Hadn’t he tangoed with a hint of suspicion? Had he willfully ignored it?
“And the flowers. The fish. Those pixies. How was I to know any of that was abnormal until you told me. Then there was the blue fire in my hands. But it wasn’t until yesterday that I was sure.”
He stopped pacing and faced her. “Blue fire?
“When you broke into the ship, I saw my hand engulfed in blue flames, but I thought it was a delusion.”
He shook his head. How could he have missed that? Then he realized that the scent of burning metal would have overwhelmed any trace of magic, especially hers, which had a light, airy fragrance. Then he leveled her with a dark look. “What do you mean, you were sure yesterday?” Realization struck. “You’ve left something out about your encounter with the witch.”
She ducked her head. “I was afraid to tell you. I figured you’d be mad.”
“You figured right!”
When she flinched, the lema’s ears went back. Orik’s hackles rose. “Please put that thing down. I doona know that I can save you if it decides to attack.”
“It won’t,” she replied, so ridiculously full of confidence.
“That animal may look cute now, but it won’t when it’s using your esophagus as a chew toy. It’s a vicious carnivore that can take down prey a hundred times its size. We’ve hunted them near to extinction, yet their numbers continually bounce back. It is unsafe to be so close to one…even if it is purring for your touch.” It was doing more than just purring. The thing turned over in Jessie’s arms so that she could scratch its most vulnerable undercarriage, and when she did, one of its legs twitched as though in bliss.
