Wild and Free by Kristen Ashley
He found her three living rooms down. He also found her alone, not with Jian-Li or any of the other women. She was standing at a window, staring out, completely oblivious to anything, including him walking into the room.
“Bao bei,” he called when he was close.
He watched her jump in surprise and turn to him.
“You okay?” he asked.
She kept her face aimed at him, but her eyes slid back to the window.
When he made it to her, he looked out and saw three dark gray columns of smoke heading straight up to the sky through windless air from beyond the dense woods that surrounded the sides of the compound.
He knew what those were. Those were the ultimate end to the dead golem. An end that included certain body parts that had been hacked to shit and then far removed from their mates, especially the heads, all this being burned to ash.
“They might have had women,” Delilah said softly, and Abel looked back to her to see her head again turned to the window. “They might have had kids.”
“And if they’d succeeded, there is no ‘might’ about what they were gonna do, which was something we couldn’t let them do. At all costs.”
“At all costs,” Delilah whispered to the window.
“Pussycat—” he started, lifting his hand to curl it where her neck met her shoulder.
This again got him her eyes. “Are you okay with all costs?”
He didn’t understand the question.
“What?”
She turned fully to him and rested her hands on his abs. “You took lives, honey.”
Now he got her. More than got her.
She was reflective and looking out the window because the bodies of men who likely multiple someones had loved were being reduced to ash. She was also reflective and looking out the window because she was worried about his state of mind.
“I’m good,” he assured her.
She wasn’t assured and he knew this when she tipped her head to the side and asked, “You sure?”
He slid his hand to the back of her neck, pulled her closer, and bent to her.
“I’m sure,” he said, soft and firm. “And you’re going to be good too, seein’ as Moose returned, he’s fine, and he’s waiting in living room three for you.”
Her eyes lit in a way he liked at the news Moose was back and they started dancing in a way he liked even more at his comment about living room three.
“Which one is that, then?” she asked.
“I’ll take you there,” he offered.
“Awesome,” she said softly, and he used his hand at her neck to pull her around until she was at his side. Then he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and started guiding her to the door. “We should officially number them so there’s no confusion, you know, seeing as it seems we’re gonna be here awhile,” she went on as she slid her arm along his waist.
“We’ll do that after you welcome home Moose and I get your dad and Jabber so they can do the same.”
She looked up at him and said, “Right on.”
Even as they walked out the door, he bent and touched his mouth to hers.
Her arm curled around his waist gave him a squeeze and her eyes gave him a smile when he lifted his head.
Then he took her to her friend and found her father and Jabber and took them to Moose too.
It ended up being after training when they officially numbered the living rooms.
There were twelve.
* * * * *
Yuri
Yuri was annoyed, and thus, he didn’t speak.
“Yuri?” his father on the other end of the phone called. “Did you hear me? I want you to report in the minute you secure the implements.”
But Gregor didn’t want Yuri to report in the minute the implements were secured. He simply wanted him to report in.
“I’m not one hundred anymore, Father,” he replied drily.
“I’m aware of that,” his father returned even more drily.
“I’ve got a coven of thirteen witches who Aurora has shared are quite powerful at my back,” Yuri reminded him of something he’d told him but moments before. “However, as per their plan, which they’re quite adamant I follow, they are the ones who are in the most danger.”
And this was true, as Barb had told him, and he believed her.
Which meant Yuri was concerned.
He might not be Barb’s favorite being, but he had to admit, he held some regard for her if only for the fact she adored her daughter.
Though, it was more.
She might not like him, but he couldn’t help but have some affinity for her, considering she was not only Aurora’s mother, she was also taking her life in her hands to assist with this mission. Not to mention the fact she could be quite amusing when she wasn’t being irritating.
But the truth of the matter was, Yuri was mostly concerned about Aurora.
He’d learned she was only twenty-seven years old. She was brave. She had what she referred to as “juice,” something he’d witnessed repeatedly, and she was far from stupid. However, if something happened, this would affect Yuri’s future plans of fucking her, which he was very much looking forward to.
But it wasn’t only that.
If something happened, it would mean a world without the witch Aurora living in it, and Yuri didn’t like the thought of that at all.
It was Gregor’s turn to be silent.
“It’ll all be fine,” Yuri told him.
“After this is over, I’d like to meet this Aurora,” Gregor stated, and Yuri sighed.
It was rare when he envied humans. However, this was a time when he did.
His father had had centuries to get to know him and could likely correctly predict any move Yuri made before he made it. More, Gregor could read into subtleties no human parent had enough time or experience to read.
This meant that Yuri had not shared Aurora’s pull on him, but his father had read it.
“There’s a great deal to do before such a meeting can occur, not only securing the implements, but also in locating Abel’s brother,” Yuri reminded him.
“Of course,” Gregor muttered just as a knock came at the door.
Yuri moved that way, speaking. “I’m to leave shortly to meet the coven. I should let you go.”
“Fine, Yuri. I’ll expect a call in a few hours,” his father replied.
Yuri didn’t reply this time because he smelled her before he made it to the door. He looked through the peephole, regardless, and saw her standing outside, her head turned, eyes aimed down the corridor, her mass of dark hair arranged in soft plaits leading to a loose bun at her nape.
She looked as if she was prepared to go on a date, not approach a volatile coven in a battle of magic that might have dire consequences.
Furthermore, he was meeting her and her sister witches. Why she was at the door to his hotel suite, he had no idea.
Except she was Aurora, vexing in a way he liked.
“Good-bye, Father,” he murmured into the phone.
“Until later, Yuri,” his father replied.
Yuri ended the call, then unlocked and opened the door.
Her little, curvaceous body jolted when he did, as if she wasn’t expecting him to answer.
“You’re here, my sweet…why?” he asked as greeting.
“Hey, Yuri,” she returned.
“Hello, Aurora,” he replied, then ordered, “Now, answer my question.”
She looked beyond him and asked, “Aren’t you going to ask me in?”
He had no desire to ask her in. They had important tasks to see to that night. They had no business being in a suite of rooms that included a king-sized bed and two double beds, not to mention two couches.
Nevertheless, it was Aurora, and he had less desire to leave her standing out in the hall. Therefore, he shifted to the side to allow her entry.
She took his invitation and moved in, graceful on another pair of attractive, but ludicrous in the circumstances, high-hee
He cast aside his reaction to her garments, shut the door, and inquired, “Do you have an assignation after our business tonight?”
She turned to him to give him startled but amused eyes. “An assignation?”
He moved into the suite while flicking his hand her way. “You’re quite fetching, Aurora.” He stopped several feet away from her and crossed his arms on his chest. “More fetching than normal. More, indeed, than need-be considering our business this evening.”
She lifted a hand and lightly touched a tendril of hair he had no doubt was not tucked in her attractive coiffure for the very purpose that it was more appealing curling around the skin in front of her ear. Appealing enough to make him want to touch it, curl his finger around it, and maybe tug it lightly just to see her response.
He tore his attention off the tendril and gave it back to her, prompting, “Aurora?”
She started before she wet her bottom lip, peering at him under the thick fan of her lashes, and whispered, “You haven’t kissed me yet.”
Bloody hell.
He sighed before he began, “Aurora—”
“It’s important you kiss me,” she stated on a rush, and he felt his eyes narrow.
“Pray, why?” he asked.
“We need that connection,” she explained.
“I beg your pardon?”
She made to take a step toward him, stopped, lifted her hands to her sides in a helpless gesture, and dropped them.
But she spoke.
“I need to be connected to you. The more connected to you I am, the better I can protect you.”
He needed to be connected with her as well, but not for that reason, nor would that be happening now.
“From what Barb has explained about tonight’s proceedings, it would seem you need to focus on protecting yourself,” he stated.
“You’ll still be there and you’ll still be in danger,” she returned.
“This is true, but you’re there to take care of me, as are your witch sisters, and beyond that, I can assure you, I’m quite adept at taking care of myself.”
“And I can take better care of you if we…” She trailed off, moved a step toward him, and began again. “Something’s happening between us,” she said quietly.
“No, my sweet,” he disagreed. “Something will happen between us after we finish tonight’s business. Before that, neither of us needs distractions.”
“But I—” she started.
“Want me to kiss you,” he finished for her. “Because you’re young, you desire me and tonight frightens you, so you came here hoping I’d give you something to see you through. And if the fates frown on us, the unspeakable happens and you don’t get through, at least you’d have something you wished to have before you die.”
“Okay, to put a very fine point on it…yeah,” she muttered, casting her eyes to the floor.
“Aurora, come here,” he ordered, and her gaze instantly came back to him.
She hesitated nary a second before she moved to him.
When she got close, for the first time, Yuri gathered her in his arms and brought her closer.
And he very much liked the feel of her there.
“Put your arms around me, my sweet,” he murmured when she seemed not to know what to do with herself.
She did as told, and when she did, he slid a hand up her spine to the back of her neck and around to the side where he stayed it, curled there.
“No harm will come to you tonight,” he told her quietly.
“Yuri—”
“No,” he stated, still quiet but now also firm, underlining his word by pressing the pads of his fingers into her flesh. “I will not allow it; your mother will not allow it. We will prevail tonight.”
“Okay, I believe you,” she replied in a tone that said she didn’t exactly, but she was trying. “Still, I don’t understand why you won’t kiss me.”
Yuri pressed the pads of his fingers deeper, bent his neck, and took her mouth, demanding and receiving access inside by gliding the tip of his tongue along the crease.
When he had her, she tasted better than he imagined—of honey, moonlight, and fear.
He ended the kiss moments after he started it, his cock already beginning to harden, opening his eyes to see hers closed, her lovely face dreamy, her breaths escalated, feeling her fingers clenched into his sweater at his back and her breasts pressed tight to his chest.
And his cock continued to harden.
“That, my sweet,” he whispered, “is why I didn’t kiss you.”
Slowly, her eyes opened and the dreamy was still there, as was the moonlight and fear.
Enchanting.
She didn’t move away and he knew why when she breathed, “That was the best kiss I’ve ever had.”
Unfortunately, in their current situation and as short as it was, he could say the same and he’d had vast amounts more experience than her.
“Do you want more?” he asked, knowing the answer. He could see it, feel it, and smell it.
“Absolutely,” she answered.
“Again, Aurora, that’s why I didn’t kiss you.”
Confusion glided into her features as she peered up at him. “I don’t understand.”
“A kiss like that leads to other things. We need to focus our minds elsewhere. Now, you need to be very good; leave me and go back to your mother. As arranged, I’ll join you in half an hour.”
“Why can’t you just take me to go get Mom and the others when it’s time to leave?”
He dipped closer and slid his hand at her jaw back into her hair, against her scalp, under her soft, thick bun.
He also pressed his now-swollen shaft into her belly.
“Because,” he whispered, watching her eyes widen, knowing he need say no more. “Now, go,” he ordered.
She studied his face for long moments before she nodded and said, “Okay, Yuri.”
As he loosened his arms, she pulled from them, and he felt a curious sensation of loss when she did. He ignored it and turned to watch her walk to the door.
When she had her hand on the knob, he called, “Aurora.”
She turned back to him, and finally, Yuri addressed the real reason she came to him.
“I die before you,” he vowed, but he wasn’t done. “And I do not die tonight.”
Her entire demeanor calmed right before his eyes, and as he watched it, he felt another curious sensation, this being an odd mixture of pleasure and relief.
He felt something else curious (and wonderful) when she replied, “Right back at you,” before she disappeared behind the door.
* * * * *
Thirty minutes later, Yuri walked into Aurora’s charming bungalow and stopped dead.
“Bloody hell,” he muttered at what he saw.
Primarily, Aurora standing amongst a bevy of women, and gone was the delightful chignon at the nape of her neck. Gone also were the lovely garments she’d been wearing.
In their place were black jeans, a black turtleneck, her hair shoved under a black knit cap, and she even had black smudges marring the rose and cream of her face.
Her witch sisters were similarly attired.
Yuri, too, had on much the same outfit—a black V-neck sweater and black slacks—however, he’d donned them that morning as a matter of course.
“Are we approaching a coven or a terrorist cell?” he drawled, shutting the door behind him.
Aurora giggled, a sound that had a pleasant effect in two very different places in his body.
“This operation is covert,” one of the witches hissed at him. Yuri vaguely recalled her name was Jane.
“Indeed,” he murmured but decided to say no more.
“Right, let’s start this,” another witch, nam
Yuri wholeheartedly agreed with any plan that included him not going up in a ball of flame.
“As we finalized plans not twenty-four hours ago, I do recall them,” he assured her.
She sniffed and did it with her eyes on him as if she smelled something foul and it was emanating from him.
He sighed, walked further in, and pinpointed Barb with his gaze.
It was time to share what he’d decided between Aurora’s visit to his suite and his arrival at the bungalow.
“Aurora stays with me and doesn’t approach until it’s safe.”
“Yuri!” Aurora cried.
“Agreed,” Barb stated over her daughter’s cry.
Aurora turned sharply to her mother. “Mom!”
Barb turned calm eyes to her daughter. “Leave this to your elders.”
“I’ve got juice,” Aurora snapped. “I can help. I want to help.”
Barb completely ignored her and looked to Yuri. “If something happens to me, you’ll see to her.”
Yuri gave one short nod. “Until she dies.”
Barb immediately looked relieved and this was an expression Yuri didn’t much care for considering it told the tale of how uncertain she was about the outcome of that evening’s events.
“Yuri,” Aurora whispered, taking his mind off Barb and onto her.
She didn’t look peeved anymore. Under her black smudges, her face was soft, and around the delicate makeup still adorning her eyes, her gaze was warm.
“It wouldn’t be a hardship, my sweet, considering I’m a billionaire.”
Those warm eyes got wide and her lips parted.
Taking her in…fuck.
He was looking forward to fucking her.
“Centuries and nothing changes. Put a vampire in close proximity to a comely witch, shit happens,” an elderly witch, her name Yuri believed was Ruby, muttered. “I just hope this isn’t the beginnings of history repeating itself.”
“Considering I have a few centuries on you and I was actually alive during said history, incidents my father kept me privy to while they were happening, I’ll share that the dispute began when a witch accrued a vast amount of debt, found herself in dire circumstances, and spelled her vampire lover to dispatch those who held her debts. Alas, one of those had a wife who was also a witch. She cast a different spell on the vampire and this unfathomably ended with five vampires being burned at the stake,” Yuri noted.