Witch Interrupted Page 21

  “Shut up.” Marcus had an uphill battle getting her into bed tonight. If he forced the issue, she didn’t want to know how her turncoat body would respond.

  But she did know how he would respond to certain types of questions. He might enjoy research, but there was another thing he enjoyed just as much.

  Talking about research.

  “After this afternoon’s tests, do you still think I’m half wolf?”

  He frowned at her, as if uncertain whether her interest was genuine. It was, but mostly she was stalling. “Your sensory input remains within non-wolf parameters. Your minor alpha ability is the only difference between you and another witch.”

  In his morning tests, he’d included several requests for her to “push” him to do things. She’d failed to budge him, though she could sense the aptitude lurking inside her like a half-cast spell—a whisper, not a roar.

  “What’s on tap for tonight theory-wise?” she asked, stalling more.

  Still hovering between her and the door, he picked up his smart phone and swiped to access his notes. “Tonight we’ll analyze whether your ability to access your wolf increases during intimacy. Sexual relations with a wolf shifter stimulate that side of a witch’s psyche until the wolf overwhelms. This we’ve known for eons. I believe an alpha’s increased strength helps them withstand the inundation of the lattice. The wolf simply becomes another tool in your arsenal. The more we kindle it, the stronger it will be.”

  They’d confirmed that the new thread she’d used to access her wolf magic, the alpha influence, was comparable to other threads in her lattice. Marcus said if he hadn’t been a lattice researcher he might not have noticed. She sure as hell couldn’t tell it apart.

  “You’re getting better, Professor. I understood most of that.” If she exercised the speck of wolf inside her, could she do more, like Marcus believed? “Let’s wait until I have more magic to spare. This time next week, I’ll be flush. I can cast all the chi spells you want.”

  “We’re not postponing sex for a week. We’re having it tonight. Now.” He raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure I trust you at full power.”

  “You’re keeping me drained on purpose?” Drained and chained. It would be humiliating if she didn’t understand his motivations. As it was, it just reiterated his lack of trust. “You do realize I’ll begin to refill faster, right? My combat bonus may already have been kickstarted.”

  “Take off your clothes,” Marcus said, not answering her question. “We have work to do.”

  She removed her glasses, but instead of setting them on the table, as if preparing to undress, she rubbed them on her shirt. He should at least try to be seductive. “What about next time?”

  Though his words had revealed his impatience, his tone remained even. “Since wolf magic is what overwhelms a non-alpha witch, next time we’ll supersaturate me with witch magic. My hope is that it will return me to witch state or provoke an optimal dual state where the witch and wolf lattices combine.”

  She’d never passed her magic to a witch who wasn’t a spell focal. She wasn’t even sure it was possible. His theories, pretty on the screen, seemed like facts their ancestors would already have hammered out. Granted, it had stunned everyone five years ago that witches who were resistant to transformation existed beyond rumors. But a wolf turning into a witch?

  Marcus was operating on a pipe dream. It wasn’t bloody likely that miracles would occur, angels would sing and his magic would come orgasming back to him. Nothing that positive ever happened to her or anyone connected to her.

  She merely had to remember where Dad and Tonya were right now to confirm that. She brought misery and destruction wherever she went. She didn’t need scientific method to prove it.

  “I know you’re probably thinking about Harry Travis right now,” Marcus said, as if it had any sort of logical connection to their conversation.

  “Amazingly, I am not.” She was thinking about Lars’s methods of torture and how she’d like to return the favor. Which settled things, in her mind. There was no way she was going to be in the mood to have sex tonight.

  “You’re probably asking,” Marcus continued, “why isn’t Harry a witch? I can answer that. When we last spoke, he and his wife weren’t attempting to convert him into a witch. I proposed it, but neither was receptive.”

  “The nerve. They didn’t want to have a threesome with you?”

  He huffed. “That’s not what I suggested. Either way, I’m focusing on transformed wolves,” he said with a glimmer of humor, “and I’m unaware if June has wolf magic. I can’t assume she does simply because you do.”

  That hadn’t occurred to her. “No?”

  He inspected her from head to toe, leaving her wondering what he saw. Scruffy, depressed malcontent in desperate need of an army and open season on one Hiram Lars? Because that was how she felt. “I gather there’s a theory you’re just that perverse.”

  That startled a laugh out of her. “Thanks.”

  “Now, if you’re finished delaying, could we continue?”

  “What if I refuse?”

  He stared at her, and she stared back. Tension filled the air and sang in her ears like the whine of the Airstream’s generator.

  “I’d rather not find out.”

  Hell. A sour feeling in her stomach, she stripped off her clothes and tossed them as messily as she could onto his office chair. He’d already turned away to tap on his phone.

  “I’m having the first shower,” she declared. He didn’t answer. With a grimace, she stalked to the tiny cubicle and twisted on the pitiful spray of water.

  When she tried to close the curtain behind her, he stopped her.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she snapped.

  “Surprising you.” Curtain still open, he watched as the tepid trickle splattered on her head. “I’m turning off the water in thirty seconds.”

  Katie grimaced but decided it wasn’t worth arguing. She angled herself under the weak spray, wetting her hair and skin.

  The shower curtain rustled. She opened her eyes to see Marcus’s beautiful bare ass as he set his neatly folded clothing on the toilet. He turned, and of course she checked out his package. Large even when flaccid, his cock and scrotum nestled in dark curls. He reached toward her. She froze, but he grabbed a bar of soap instead of her.

  He stuck the soap and a washcloth under the dribble of water. “Five seconds left.”

  Halfheartedly, Katie tousled her hair to be sure it was wet. Marcus twisted the faucet off.

  “Is this a shower or a peep show?” She held out her hand for the soap. Did he think she wouldn’t wash behind her ears?

  However, instead of handing it over, he rubbed the washcloth up her arm.

  “Wait just a hairy minute.” She backed against the thin interior wall, but there was nowhere to go. Her shoulder bonked the faucet handle. “I’m capable of a big-girl bath all by myself.”

  He caught her wrist and scrubbed up to her shoulder. “It’s no trouble.”

  The stall was so small that when he stepped over the cubicle lip, his body almost touched hers. The soapy-rough washcloth crossed her chest and headed down her other arm. Rattled, Katie could do nothing but gape as Marcus lathered her forearm and then her hand, paying special attention to her fingers.

  For no reason she could understand, his precision woke a flutter of arousal in her. He washed between her fingers. Her palm. Her body piqued. He didn’t miss an inch, and she suspected that attention would translate…elsewhere.

  At that thought, she goose bumped all over, in spite of the heat of his body breathing down her neck. Literally.

  “You’re cold. I’ll go fast.” The washrag traveled along the underside of her arm and across her breasts. She glanced at his face, but he appeared to be deep in concentration. “Hands up.”

  Slowly, she raised her arms. Bubbles trickled down them, onto her ribs. He washed her stomach and then up, catching her other armpit. His skin wasn’t touching her, only the cl
oth, but she could feel the firm pressure of his hand steering it.

  “Turn,” he said.

  Steering her too. When she rotated, she deliberately pressed her bare hip to his lower half, where she hadn’t dared look again.

  He went from semi-hard to rock hard in the time it took her to obey him.

  “Ah-ah.” He nudged her away from him. “Don’t distract me.”

  He didn’t want to be distracted, did he? He shouldn’t have admitted that. She wasn’t going to strike up a conversation about science, either.

  Katie rested against the wall, plotting, while Marcus circled the washrag on her shoulders and back. Her breasts pushed against the glossy fiberglass. Her toes curled against the plastic floor, where the cooling water drained.

  “Don’t use your alpha ability until I request it,” he said as he washed her.

  “Okay.” She half meant it too.

  His ministrations reached the small of her back before the washrag disappeared. He twisted on the water and angled it at her head. “Thirty seconds.”

  He draped the washcloth over her shoulder. Katie rubbed her front, knowing he was watching, and lifted her breasts into the stream. Water trickled between them. She added a shimmy for good measure. “Can you get my back?”

  He hesitated, but his bare hands, his fingers, stroked her curves through the suds. Katie bit back a sigh. The soapy water trailed between her buttocks, tickling and popping. When he reached around her to clean the suds off her front, she leaned against him.

  Yes. Full contact. His slick, hot body towered over her, his cock rubbing suggestively. His big hands cupped her breasts and pulled her tighter against him. He closed his fingers on the tips as the water rained down her front.

  Funny—that part of her was already rinsed.

  He twisted her nipples. Pleasure shot from her breasts to her pussy. She wriggled her ass, and his cock jerked. He hissed through his teeth. Whatever reluctance she’d felt about sleeping with Marcus again—however he wanted her—disappeared.

  “Grab the top of the stall.” His voice had roughened, revealing his involvement.

  She thought about disobeying. She didn’t like him assuming he could boss her around, in bed or out of it. At the same time, it might be better to save the clash of wills for something major. Sex could take her mind off her cares temporarily.

  He turned the water off, and his voice rumbled in her ear. “Katie, I gave you an order.”

  “Is it for science?”

  “Of course.” Which was not what she wanted to hear. “Everything I require of you has a documented purpose. Grab the top of the stall or there will be consequences.”

  Like what? He’d make her memorize the quadratic formula? As short as she was, Katie had to reach high, above his head. Her fingers gripped the cold, metal edge of the cubicle.

  He retrieved the soap from the narrow holder. Lathering his hands this time, he rubbed her hips. Could he stay scientific? She held her breath as he eased two broad palms down her thighs. When he curved between her legs and up, his fingertips discovered her pussy. The air gusted out of her in a hum.

  “This part needs extra attention,” he whispered. With one hand washing her, flirting with her clit, he held the soap behind her and slid it between her ass cheeks. Up and down he washed her, jiggling and rubbing. Toward her pussy and back again. Katie couldn’t tell which hand was more talented as sensations trapped her in place. The smooth end of the soap paused at her anus. Wiggled. Explored. What did he…

  He pinched her clit and pushed the soap. Katie’s knees nearly quit working. “Marcus, let’s go to bed.”

  The soap thunked to the floor. “Sixty seconds.”

  Despite a great reason to hurry, he rinsed her slowly. He cupped a hand between her legs, sluicing away suds. His thorough cleansing made her want to writhe. Madness whispered at her to jump him and force the issue, as he kept threatening to do. She was the alpha here, not him. When he finally unhooked her hands from the shower rim and let her face him, he flicked off the water and proceeded to nonchalantly soap himself—and his big, hard cock—as if his eyes weren’t as pale as an opal.

  As if he were in complete control of his scientific process.

  As if he weren’t thinking of pitching his stages and charts and fucking her right here against the flimsy shower wall.

  How could he be so aroused and so calm at the same time? She watched his hands on his body, admiring his taut abs and the hollows of his hips. As she stood there, he took his cock in one soapy fist and pumped it. Four times. Five. He muttered something and exhaled.

  His cock grew larger as he masturbated. Oh, Goddess. That was a show. She wanted him. Her pussy throbbed for him. He could help her forget everything. But as soon as she reached for him, he stopped.

  “No.” He turned the water on and rinsed.

  “Don’t you need to be stimulated too?”

  “Stop asking questions.” He splashed the now-cool water on them both, and she shivered. “It will ruin the surprise.”

  He twisted off the water one final time. Droplets had splashed all over the tiny bathroom. He stepped out backward, grabbed her arms and hoisted her out of the stall. After he set her on the Airstream’s dry floor, he gazed down at her for a long moment.

  She tried to eel out of his grasp, but he held her without effort. She swallowed nervously. “What are you staring at?”

  “You.” With a quick tug, he slung her over his shoulder as he had when he’d kidnapped her. The resemblance ended there. For one, they were naked. For another, his hand splayed across her ass possessively.

  Blood rushed to her head. Warning bells sounded in her brain. “Is this necessary? The mattress is ten feet away.”

  “Yep.” He stalked through the trailer. Pausing at the bed, he ran a thumb between her ass cheeks all the way to her clit, twiddling her, testing.

  “Come on, I’m getting dizzy.” She pushed against his back, trying to squirm off his shoulder.

  His hand trailed from cheek to cheek as he rubbed, massaged and probed her. Her squirming increased as she became more aroused. His cheek, his lips, brushed her hip.

  As a subtle encouragement to put her the hell down, she kneed him in the ribs. He reciprocated with a smack on her ass, a swift, unexpected pain.

  Katie squealed out a protest. “Cut it out! I told you, I’m not a masochist.”

  “I don’t think I’m a sadist, but…” He did it again, his palm landing at the soft juncture of her legs. The sound of flesh against flesh was loud in the quiet room. She drew a breath to curse him. Another stinging blow sucked it out of her lungs. The third and fourth blows grew louder, harder, the pain lingering.

  “I rather like this,” he concluded, his voice a growl. “I think you do too.”

  His angle wasn’t the greatest, with her over his shoulder. She couldn’t tell how much of his enhanced strength was involved, but it definitely hurt. She chopped and punched him in the back every time he struck her, but her angle was ineffective too. His shoulder in her gut made thrashing and breathing a challenge.

  Between gulps of pain, Katie regulated her airflow enough to share her horrible opinion of his actions. Since one of his arms trapped her at the knees like an iron band, she couldn’t cause anywhere near as much damage as she wanted.

  She couldn’t free herself. She was completely at his mercy. No rescue, no escape.

  She could fight all she wanted, and he’d still fuck her.

  “I don’t care if you like it,” she said, trying to ignore the thrill that went through her. “You’re a—”

  Katie whooped, startled, as she sailed through the air. Her stinging ass hit the bed. When she lashed out at Marcus, she wasn’t holding back anymore—and it didn’t matter. He jumped her, trapping her arms. In another second, her wrists were handcuffed above her head.

  Her backside twinged as it pressed the mattress. Her ego twinged the same way.

  “These seem secure.” He rattled the cuffs. His body
loomed over hers, big and bossy. “Now, where were we?”

  “Nowhere.” She twisted and kicked to hide her titillation. “Let me go right this instant. I did not sign up for this.” Though if she’d known what it was like, she might have.

  “I appreciate you sharing your emotional response,” he said smugly, fending off a foot. “I’ll add it to the report.”

  She flexed both cuffed hands, displaying her middle fingers. “Put this in your report, asshole.”

  He laughed, reached down and cupped her pussy. She held her breath. One finger pressed between her folds to find her…wet. Wet and needy. “And this?”

  Her face flamed. “Why are you torturing me?”

  “Alphas like control.” He plucked her clit, and she nearly jolted out of her skin. “I’m taking it from you as part of the experiment. I’m taking charge.”

  He rubbed her gently, long enough for her to hope he was done proving his point. His fingertips felt so good, so knowing.

  “But mostly?” he said, pale eyes glittering. “I’m doing this because I want to. I liked dominating you, Katie. I liked it a lot.”

  “All right, I admit it. I’m turned on.” She blushed harder. “I don’t know why.”

  “You do know why.”

  “I can’t believe you spanked me. Jesus.” And that it excited her.

  “I can’t believe I waited this long.” His gaze feasted on her. Every inch of him gloated. “Stay.”

  As if she had a choice. “If you crack out ball gags or nipple clamps, I swear I’ll kill you.”

  From the side table, he grabbed the shaker for the chi spell. To her surprise, he shoved up her legs and spread her wide. His hot breath wafted across her stomach. Then he sprinkled the herbs onto her exposed flesh.

  She yanked up, trying to see. “Hey! You can’t just put…that’s a delicate area. Is that safe?”

  His tongue stroked her from end to end. Katie wheezed. Sensation exploded in her aching pussy. He swept around her clit, then over it, licking kava into his mouth.