Broomstick Breakdown

Chapter Six

Sophia recovered quickly from her fright when she realized the beast in front of her was only a wolf and not a demon. A wolf she could handle, even if this one was huge with bright green eyes that seemed somehow familiar.

“Shoo, you overgrown mutt,” she said as she waved her hands. She could have sworn the wolf’s eyes rolled in mirth, and instead of leaving, it sat down.

Well, that wouldn’t do. She wasn’t stupid enough to try and walk around it and give it an easy target. Her body still thrummed with magic from the ceremony, so it was a simple matter to pull some into her palm to flick at the wolf, intending to sting it on the nose and send it scampering.

The power, however, when it came in contact with the shaggy beast didn’t even startle it, and now the fear came creeping back. What kind of creature is this that my magic doesn’t affect it?

The hairy wolf’s form began to shimmer as another shape began pushing through. Not waiting to see what it turned into, she whirled and ran, her only thought to head back to the clearing and hopefully run into some more senior witches with more powerful magic. She didn’t get far before steel band-like arms wrapped around her midsection and lifted her, which left her feet pedaling in midair.

That didn’t stop her from kicking and thrashing. “Let me go! You don’t know who you are messing with.”

“Oh, I know exactly who and what you are,” said a velvety and familiar voice.

Sophia froze. “Aidan?” Impossible. I spelled him and watched him drive away. Then the deeper realization hit. “You’re not human!” she accused.

His arms loosened, and she whirled around to glare at him. Even her annoyance at his deception couldn’t stop heat from spreading through her limbs. He came back. And without a stitch of clothing! Sophia’s blush warmed her cheeks, and she made sure to keep her eyes trained on his face and not the wickedly tempting expanse of naked flesh standing within reach.

“No, I’m not human, and you’re a witch.”

Okay, so we both hid what we are. The more important question is why did he come back? Knowing he was a shapeshifter explained why her spell of forgetfulness hadn’t worked. It didn’t explain, however, why he went along with her commandeering of him as a chauffeur in the first place. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you.”

“Why?”

“For the same reason I drove you. You’re my mate.”

Sophia could have caught flies, her mouth dropped open so wide. “No way.”

“Yes way.” He smiled at her again, his teeth flashing white. “Now, do you mind if we go discuss this somewhere more comfortable.”

She could read his meaning in his eyes, and her cleft moistened in response. As if sensing her arousal, his nostrils flared and his eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. Sophia took a step back and shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I’ve read about shifters and this whole mate thing. You want to get me alone so you can bite me and make me your sex slave. Sorry, but I am so not doing that.”

“Mmm. My sex slave, eh? You make it sound like such a bad thing.” His wicked grin made her nipples tighten, and it took a lot of willpower not to tackle him and ravish his naked body. Willpower didn’t stop her aroused sex from leaking down her leg, though. Talk about distracting.

“So, you don’t deny you want to mark me?” She tugged at her anger, her indignation, anything to fight his erotic pull.

“Oh, I want to mark you all right, sweetheart, and not just with my teeth. But don’t worry, when I do bite you, I promise you’ll enjoy it.”

“But I don’t want you to.”

“Your body says differently.”

Sophia stamped her foot. “Lust has nothing do with this. Sex is something I can walk away from. You forcefully binding me to you isn’t. I won’t allow it.”

Aidan’s face darkened. “So, I guess it was okay to spell me and force me to take you here?”

Sophia winced, then straightened as she realized he was trying to make her feel guilty. “That was different. I used you for one day, yes, I admit that. You’re talking about a heck of a lot longer. So, the answer is no. Now go before I call my sisters.”

He shook his head. “I’ll leave, but you’re coming with me.”

Sophia opened her mouth to scream and call her sisters for help, but he clamped a hand over her mouth. You’ve got to be kidding me. How dare he!

She bit him, hard, but he didn’t even flinch. The sound of ripping fabric filled the air as he tore a strip from the sleeve of her robe and a moment later he stuffed his makeshift gag into her mouth and tied it in place. She glared daggers at him, but he just shrugged unapologetically.

“You’ll thank me later.”

Then the jerk slung her over his shoulder. Initially when her face brushed the naked-scorchingly lickable-skin of his back, she forgot to breathe. But common sense returned quickly and she pummeled his bare back and kicked her feet. He responded with a firm whack to her bottom.

He spanked me! Enraged, she went nuts on him, but several more resounding slaps on her ass later, she finally gave up. Not only had she not managed to even come close to escaping his iron grip, her ass now throbbed painfully-even more disturbing, her pussy throbbed too. With pleasure.

Oh, I am going to make him pay when I get free. Angry words and intentions, and yet her body still betrayed her, pulsing with heat and arousal.

Aidan didn’t know he was going to kidnap her until Sophia flat-out refused to even consider being his mate. Usually a reasonably level-headed man, he went a little crazy-maybe he’d blame it on hormones like the women in the pack did.

Whatever the reason, he gagged her when she would have screamed her pretty face off and carried her struggling like a hellcat to where he’d parked his truck. He’d be lying if he claimed he hadn’t enjoyed smacking her full bottom, a practice he’d heard of but never partaken of before. He did note for future reference, though, the effectiveness of the punishment. Not only did she end up behaving, but her arousal spun around him in a heavy perfume. If only he dared seduce her like his body clamored to, but so close to her sisters, he didn’t dare. He needed to get her away from here so he could work on convincing her that pairing up with him wouldn’t be as horrible as she thought. Sex slave indeed. She didn’t seem to realize that the crazy desire she felt went two ways.

With her no longer fighting him, he made quick work of the distance between the woods and his truck. It amazed him actually in retrospect that no other witches had come across them during their disagreement. I wonder if my new friend, the dragon, played a part in that. Although it would have been funny to see what they thought of a naked man kidnapping a witch.

He arrived at his truck and opened the passenger door, then placed her on the seat. As he rounded the truck to climb in the other side, she used her unbound hands to open the door and she jumped out.

He sensed more than heard her cry of pain as the little idiot turned her ankle when she hit the ground. In seconds, he was by her side where she sat in the gravel, rubbing her ankle. She tried to shrivel him with a glare, but he shook his head at her.

“Stubborn witch, aren’t you? Did you really think you were going to escape?”

“A girl’s got to try,” she said sulkily.

He chuckled at her spirit then palpated her hurting ankle. His wolf, roused by the pain he could faintly feel emanating from her, paced in his mind unhappily. It stunned him that a mental resonance had already begun between him and Sophia, one that allowed him to sense some of her thoughts and emotions. It was a little disconcerting, especially the knowledge that their eventual mating would amplify it. A benefit or curse, depending on how you looked at it.

After he’d swung her into his arms, he perched her back on the seat and regarded her sternly. “Do I need to tie you to the dash, or are you going to sit there like a good little girl?”

She just scowled at him and crossed her arms.

He arched a brow. “I’m waiting. You haven’t answered my question.”

“I’ll stay, for now.”

Inwardly chuckling at her stubborn nature, something he admired-he couldn’t imagine being shackled to a weak-willed lily. He hopped into the driver’s side and started the truck. He locked her door with the master switch on his side, then dressed quickly, used to doing so in confined spaces, a skill all shifters acquired. He loved the way she studiously ignored him. He loved even more the scent of her arousal that, even as angry as she was, she couldn’t control.

He started the truck and pulled onto the road. Next stop, his cabin, where he’d have his work cut out for him if he wanted to convince her to be his mate.

Ah, the pleasurable things a man’s got to do for his woman.

Sophia kept her mouth shut and refused to look at him, but in the close confines of the cab, she couldn’t help but feel the heat radiating from him. Her treacherous body replied in turn by moistening her cleft and tightening her nipples. Dressed in only her robes, she felt her thighs rub together slickly and her tight nipples protrude beneath the cloth. She gnashed her teeth. I guess there’s no denying, even with his cave man tactics, that I’m attracted to him. But, dammit, it’s one thing to be attracted, a whole other to be his slave for the rest of my life.

Or so she’d been taught. As part of her magical studies, she’d learned about other beings, many of whom resembled humans, like shifters and the fey. They’d spent a whole week on shifters, with the different classes divided into lupine, feline, ursine, more commonly known as bears, aquatics, which the merpeople belonged to, and dragon, the rarest and strongest. Unlike what was shown in legends and movies, shapeshifting was not contagious, but rather it was a matter of genetics. One thing the media and other storytellers got correct was the fact that most of the shifters tended to live in packs where an alpha set the rules. All, that is, except dragons, who tended to be loners and few.

As she looked at Aidan surreptitiously, she wondered if this determined man could possibly be alpha for his pack. He seemed too young. However, considering that the position of pack leader was often based on strength, he definitely fit the bill. That and she had a hard time seeing him kowtow to someone else. Stubborn and determined to do things his own way, she really kicked herself for believing he’d actually fallen for her persuasion spell. All along the signs of his not succumbing had been there. Just look at the way he’d ordered her to bed and…

While squirming in her seat, she changed the direction of her thoughts-reluctantly, because the few moments they’d kissed on the bed had definitely left their erotic mark-back to what she knew of shifters. Maybe she’d remember something that would help her convince Aidan that mating with her was a bad idea.

Shifter hierarchy and history had proved interesting, but it didn’t compare to the mating aspect of their kind. Shifters bonded for life. No one was quite sure how the magic of it worked, but once the male marked his chosen one by biting her hard enough to draw blood, something happened. A twining of souls, some opined. Controlling magic, argued feminist others. Whatever the underlying factor, the end result was unanimous-the pair became utterly devoted to each other.

Not too bad-sounding until you read further and found out that while the men continued to live life as before, the women were kept tied to the hearth popping out babies. Infant mortality rates were high in the packs, which contrasted with how healthy the surviving babies were. Only the strongest children survived, so women, or breeders, as her teacher had sneeringly called them, were guarded closely and not allowed the freedoms of other castes.

Then there was one other fact. Supposedly although shapeshifters did occasionally breed outside the clans, the offspring in the case of witches tended to all end up being shifters. Or so the textbooks said. The low incidences of this type of mating made information more difficult to come by, because both sides tended to guard the purity of their bloodlines closely. Interspecies breeding was greatly discouraged because of the dwindling witch and warlock population. It was expected and encouraged that when a witch did choose to settle down, she would do so with a warlock and thus continue her magical line. Yet this didn’t make complete sense to Sophia since she’d heard rumors of witches who’d been born of a human and witch and who had more powers than full-blooded witches.

All the history and background info, good or bad, wouldn’t change the fact she wouldn’t marry a man after knowing him for only a day, hot in the sack or not.

Now if only she could convince him-and her body.

The darkness and the drive lulled her, and Sophia lost the struggle with her eyelids, waking hours later to full daylight and to discover her head nestled in his lap.

She scrambled upright, and her cheeks heated at his low chuckle. After scrubbing at her eyes, she looked around, not recognizing anything, not that this area was familiar to start with, but she didn’t recall a huge forest on the drive to the Covenhouse Inn. She’d obviously slept a while since the sun seemed to have moved past midday.

“Where are we?”

“Close.”

She pursed her lips at his oblique answer. “Close to where, smartass?”

“You’ll see.” With that enigmatic answer, he started to whistle jauntily while Sophia simmered.

Her stomach growled, and she wanted to die of embarrassment, but instead she got mad. “So, does your convincing me to be your slave include starvation?”

“Look behind your seat.”

Sophia craned around and saw a cooler. Lifting the lid, she found cold water bottles, packaged sandwiches, and fruit. “Nice to know you came prepared for your kidnapping.”

“Actually, I stopped and bought that and some other supplies.”

“While I was asleep?” Something was fishy. No way she’d slept through all that. She peered at him suspiciously and was rewarded with color blooming on the tops of his cheeks.

“I might have had some help with that,” he admitted. “I made a friend, a dragon shifter, while you were dancing naked. When I stopped for gas, he was already there waiting for me, and before you ask me how, I don’t know. Anyways, he wove a sleep spell around you to allow me to make it to our destination.” As he said this the road they were on went from pavement to packed dirt, and Sophia bounced and jiggled on her seat as he drove over the ruts.

“You mean you weren’t the only one spying on us?” she asked as outrage filled her.

Aidan shrugged. “Dracin and I weren’t the only ones. Apparently, there are a lot more shifters bonded to witches than I previously thought. Don’t worry, though,” he said with a mischievous smile. “You were by far the hottest witch there. I quite enjoyed the way you shook that luscious ass of yours and the way your tits jiggled. Maybe you can give me a private dance later?”

Shocked into silence at his words, she turned to look out the window. She wanted to feel angry he’d watched her, but instead she fought two vastly different emotions. Arousal because his words made her picture herself giving him an up-close and personal dance wearing nothing. The other emotion made no sense. It felt like jealousy-the idea he’d laid eyes on other naked women did not please her at all. Yet why should she care?

The bumpy road finally ended in a clearing wherein a log cabin sat. Rustic didn’t begin to describe the setting. Surrounded by woods, she noticed that the only sound she could hear was the ticking of the hot engine accompanied by bird calls. Sophia, a city girl at heart, didn’t like it one bit.

Aidan rounded the truck and helped her out, standing her on her two feet. Only when she put pressure on her ankle did she remember her earlier injury, but to her surprise she felt not a twinge. To test it, she walked around a few paces before whirling to eye him questioningly.

“Dracin healed you after he put you to sleep. He claimed a wounded witch would be harder to convince.”

Sophia snorted and turned back to face the cabin. She marveled at the actually quite large cabin. It had big, modern windows that faced out into the yard. A screen door hid the solid wood front door, which was unlocked. Aidan carried in the cooler, among other things, after just opening it and walking in. She was left alone outside.

She twirled to look for an escape and ended up sighing. Welcome to the boonies. Maybe I can hitch a ride with a moose. There would be no escape on foot, and judging by how long they’d driven on the dirt path with no other signs of habitation, she doubted he had any neighbors in proximity she could turn to.

“The nearest house is about a five-mile hike east, and if you’re looking for the main road, it’s southwest about seventeen clicks.”

“I hate you.”

“You just think you do because you’re horny.”

Sophia gaped at him. “I! Of all… I am not!”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, as soon as I get the woodstove ready for the night and the food put away, I’m going to take care of you.”

Sophia shivered involuntarily at his words, and all her hormones screamed yes as they flooded her pussy with moisture. “You’ll have to force me, because I will not bed you willingly.”

Aidan’s face tightened, and his words emerged clipped. “I won’t need to force you. You’re going to beg me to take you. Hell, I can smell your body’s desire from here already. So, anytime you’re ready, just say please.”

“I hate you!” she yelled at his retreating back as he took another load of stuff into the cabin.

“Love you, too, witchy.”

Sophia stamped her foot, her frustration over the situation nothing compared with her annoyance at the warmth his words created. She didn’t want his love. She wanted to go home and forget she had ever met him, even if he was more exciting than anyone else she’d ever met. If only he were a warlock, she would have jumped all over him. Heck, if he hadn’t stated his intention to bite her, she would have bedded him. More than once too.

But forever with a wolf? It would never work. Right?