Immortals After Dark 04 - Wicked Deeds on a Winters Night

her head hard, and her eyes narrowed. “ Never by you.” She appeared utterly unflinching. “Get off me, or I’ll scream.”
    Apparently, the young witch could deny her desire for her enemy.
    At that moment, he wished he had that talent.

21

    M acRieve ran his hand over his mouth. At length, he drew away from her, sitting back against the cavern wall, one knee raised.
    Pulling the shirt back together, she sat up as well, then waited long moments until he finally said, “I am weary, Mariketa. So damned weary. I’ve suffered for long enough without this added torment from you.”
    “Oh, I’m tormenting you because I won’t sleep with you?”
    “I’ve got a force inside me—a strong one—screaming that you’re mine. Just tell me, are you making me want you like this?”
    She bit her lip—she didn’t know! “You really think there’s a chance I could be your... mate? You only get one.”
    “There might be ways around that,” he said in an impassive tone. “I will no’ be angry if you admit to any trickery now.” At her expression, he amended, “I’ll be ireful, but it will blow over. I doona hold grudges.”
    When she looked away without answering, he exhaled. “Mariketa, have you ever felt your way was lost? So bewildered you dinna know up from down any longer?”
    Right now. She was bewildered by this sudden change in his demeanor, and found herself nodding.
    “I have no’. Ever . My path has always been clear to me. Everything in black or white. Now, nothing is as it was.”
    “Like what?”
    “Like how I was dreaming of you every night and fantasizing about you in the days I was out there fighting to get my mate back.” Seeming ashamed, he glanced away, and the firelight cast his profile in shadow. “The pain from my injuries was nothing compared to my guilt.” He gave a bitter laugh. “ Always the bloody guilt. You canna understand what it’s like to feel nothing —nothing but that.”
    He stood and paced. Almost to himself, he said, “Or what it’s like to know you’re no’ whole and never will be.” He ran his fingers through his hair, then stopped to meet her eyes. “Then with you, everything looks different—feels different—and I... damn it, Mariketa, I want it. So bloody much.”
    He crossed to her, clasped her upper arms, and pulled her to her feet. Gazing down at her, his voice breaking low, he said, “Doona bring me back to life only to destroy me once more.”
    The depth of pain and confusion in his expression shook her. And even after everything, she felt sympathy for him. “Look, what if I tell you everything that I know—only the truth—and you can decide what’s going on? I’ll lay it all out there for you, because I don’t understand it.”
    He gave her a quick nod, then released her arms to lead her back by the fire. As if he was her host, he waved her to sit on the pallet. When she did, he eased his towering frame down, sitting to face her.
    “Okay, MacRieve, I can vow to the Lore that I did not consciously set out to make you believe I’m your mate. I have never enchanted anyone. My friends could work over their teachers from the first grade on, but I never had that ability.”
    He began to have a hopeful light in his eyes, so she hastily added, “But then I was never a seeress until the tomb either.” At his questioning look, she explained, “In any coven, there are members from each of the five castes of witches. That’s why we stick together, because the collective whole is so strong. Well, I’m supposed to have powers from all five castes—the powers of a warrior, conjurer, seeress, enchantress, and healer—but I haven’t been able to tap into or harness any of them. Then tonight, I somehow knew you were coming. So there’s the seeress part. When I attacked you and killed the incubi, there was the warrior. Just now, I conjured that reflection.”
    “And you healed yourself as well. If you enchanted me, you’ve done five out of five.”
    When she nodded, the obvious hope in him grew dimmer. “Then what about the night of the Hie assembly?”
    She frowned. “I did nothing that night.”
    “If you did nothing, then why could I no’ take my eyes from you? There was a bloody vampire in the area, one I’d fought, and still I was struggling with everything I was to keep an eye on him and no’ to stare at you.” And he’s up...
    When he crossed his arms over his chest with a knowing nod, she blurted out, “The night we kissed, I