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An Excerpt From: A BITE OF MAGICK
© Copyright
RHYANNON BYRD, 2004.
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave, Inc.
Susie MacIntyre was a wicked
little Witch, and Kieran McKendrick was about to
ride her hard and long.
It’d been one hell of a week, what with his cousin’s
Binding Ceremony and obvious bliss. Not that Kieran wasn’t happy as hell
for the man he loved like his own brother—but the enviable glow of pleasure
Lach wore these days was wearing him thin. He
hated to admit it, but he was losing the battle against the darkness within
his soul. Bit by bit, it was rooting beneath his carefree surface,
tunneling under his skin, making his bitterness all the more frustrating.
Bitterness he’d done well to shield from even those who
knew him best.
And though he struggled to deny it, Kieran could feel
the hard edge of its power, steady with intent, digging its claws into his
heart until he felt as if the burdensome organ would shatter from the
mounting pressure.
In short, it was a living, breathing nightmare, and he
was going to do what he did best to forget about it—if only for a few moments—and
screw the hell out of a hot little Cailleach.
[…]
Damn it, he was genuinely happy for the man. So why was
he so pissed off? Why was he so damn restless?
Maybe because he understood his own turn was coming—and
he knew only too well there wasn’t another Evan Hayes waiting just around
the corner for him.
Not that he wanted his cousin’s pretty little mortal
wife. Oh, he’d have fucked her in a heartbeat if she weren’t already taken
by his best friend, but he held no love for her beyond that of family.
She was Lach’s now. That was
it. End of story.
No—it was the connection they shared. Kieran marveled at
it—chewed on it during the long Scottish nights, trying to get a handle on
it.
It was an age-old question. How did a man know when he
had the right woman? Or Witch, in his case, as he avoided the gnach whenever possible. And he sure as
hell never screwed them.
But what was the sign for that kind of love? What did it
feel like? And where in the name of Saephus’
sacred battleground was he going to find a woman who could accept him as he
was, thorns and all?
He snorted to himself, thinking “thorns” was probably
putting it a little lightly—spreading it a little thin. He’d managed to
contain that primitive side of his soul for so long, but he could feel his
control weakening, like precious oil slipping between his fingers as he
tried to trap it within his palm. And when that tenuous hold was finally
lost, Kieran knew there’d be hell to pay.
Damn it, he should have heeded his father’s advice long ago
and embraced his birth curse, rather than battle the beast for absolute
dominance. His resistance had steadily become a weakness…a distraction…a
vulnerability—dangerous liabilities he simply couldn’t afford these days.
Things he could never afford, damn it, but certainly not
now. Not with a pain-in-the-ass mating curse just waiting to knock
him on his ass.
Before him, Susie spread her legs farther, raising her
knees higher, eyeing the bulge of his cock behind the fly of his black
jeans like it was gonna be her friggin’ dessert. She licked her lips, and not even the
sight of her pink little tongue had his blood racing. Man, he must be dead
inside. That—or bored outta his ever-loving mind.
Since when had nailing a gorgeous Witch become such a bloody chore for the McKendrick cousin known to fuck for days on end when
the hunger was riding him hard?
He nearly laughed at the thought, thinking that he and
his cousins were all pretty much known for their outrageous
sex-drives. They caught quite a bit of flak for it, too, but had learned to
take the good-natured ribbing in stride—except for Dugan, who was just the
sort that one didn’t comfortably tease. Something about those dark green
eyes, their intent expression of constant alertness, combined with the
title of Enforcer, tended to make him the kind of Magick
that most steered clear from. All, that is, except for his cousins, who
took an almost painful joy in pushing his buttons.
Susie gave a throaty moan, jerking his attention back to
the moment, though he was beginning to wish he’d never bothered coming here
in the first place. She was beautiful, aye, but somehow…not what he wanted.
Though what he did want, he wasn’t even sure he could say. Just…not this.
He watched as she eased back on her elbows atop the
black satin sheets, a lascivious pose meant to entice, and he tried like
hell to play along. The gods only knew he’d played the game enough times to
go through the motions, even if his heart wasn’t in it.
Huh—and wasn’t that the crux of the issue right there?
Wasn’t he waiting for his own turn to be cursed by the Council…simply
because his heart had never been in it?
“Come here, Kieran,” Susie purred in a seductive murmur,
demanding his attention as she trailed her blood-red fingernails down the
sides of her voluptuous breasts. “I’ve got something that’ll make you feel
all better.”
His black brow rose at the trite words. “Who says I’m
no’ feeling fine, Suse?”
[…]
The calm before the thundering storm.
Susie had already fallen thankfully quiet, but his ears
were still ringing from the keening pitch of her screams as they continued
to echo through the stillness of the night. He sighed, eyes stinging with
sweat as it dripped from his head in streaming rivulets, the physical
hungers of his body momentarily sated, if not completely satisfied. Arms
straight, his hands fisted in the bedding at her shoulders, he was careful
not to touch her anywhere but the warm, wet place where his cock impaled
her cum-soaked pussy. Blinking her into focus, he saw her eyes were now
closed, as if she already slept, and he grunted in relief, pleased to know
he’d fucked her into a sound enough sleep that he could easily get away.
He tightened his muscles, preparing to carefully pull
back his hips, when he felt the tingling at the base of his spine,
spreading up over his nape, pounding within his temples—and Kieran knew
he’d just landed in hell.
“No!” he roared, plunging involuntarily deeper,
waking Susie with his murderous bellow and burgeoning cock, pressing her
into the giving mattress as his body came down heavily against her own. “Oh
shit! Not now! Not now—”
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