Witch Born - LJ Swallow Page 0,76
blood pulsing harder against my skin. The shadow that hovers around the edge of my soul—the one created and cultivated by my parents—thirsts for Dorian’s power as much as he does for my blood.
His words reverberate. Save yourself.
From Ravenhold. From Dorian. From death.
Grow your powers.
My awareness slips away from everything but the ache in my body and dark soul for Dorian. “And if I did?” I murmur. “What next?”
His breath strokes my cheek. “Next, we tear this world apart, Eloise.”
Dorian’s mouth closes over mine and I snap my eyes open in shock. Fisting my hair, Dorian pulls my bottom lip into his mouth and his teeth graze the sensitive skin. I wait for the sharp sensation, the taste of my blood, but I’m shocked again when the pain doesn’t come as he frees my lip.
Holding my hair tighter, tongue tangling with mine, Dorian engulfs me with a kiss deeper and harder than any I’ve had before. I’m overwhelmed in a way I never thought possible as Dorian’s indescribable mix takes over every sense. He’s right—something within us both aches to meet the way our bodies are.
This kiss weakens me as strongly as if he was draining my blood.
And I don’t want him to stop.
The pent-up frustration and anger with each other flow between us; the dark side of me who wanted him dead meeting his, and I hold his head in both hands, our kiss the battle that neither of us could win.
He pulls his mouth away and my lips smart. I’m mute as he runs his palm from my hair to my cheek and leans in again. “I promised not to take anything from you unless you asked.” Dorian’s lips touch mine again with every word he says. “So, say yes. Save us both.”
I’ve no choice—not because he’s weakened me, but because in a perverse reversal of fortune, this killer could save my life.
And I will be strong enough to take him down.
“Yes. But if you kill me, I’ll be really pissed off,” I say as I struggle for breath.
He grins at my joke, but this isn’t funny. I’m putting myself into his hands against all common sense. He trails kisses across my cheek, and each heartbeat brings me closer to the moment. I grip Dorian’s hair as he holds his face against my throat. As he dips his tongue into the hollow of my neck, my legs almost buckle.
The dreamlike trance I’m in prevents me hearing the loud voices until the door I’m slumped against pushes violently open. I’m knocked forward and land on top of a spread-eagled Dorian, our foreheads colliding.
“What the—”
He barely has time to say the words before he’s torn from beneath me and I tumble backwards to the floor.
Something thuds hard and I lift my eyes. Ethan holds Dorian high against the wall, hands tight around his neck.
“Get your hands and mouth off her,” he snarls.
“Ethan! Don't, I’m alright,” I call out.
Ethan turns his face to me, and I fight against screaming. The pupils in his emerald eyes are now slits, and it’s impossible to gauge his thoughts—or if he’s thinking at all. He holds himself differently too, and I swear his muscular back and torso are larger than usual. For a horrible moment I think he’s about to shift and tear Dorian apart.
But isn’t that what the Confederacy want?
My head aches from where I knocked it against Dorian’s, and I touch the tender spot on my forehead. Ignoring me, Ethan turns back to Dorian and pulls back his fist.
I swallow. How do I intervene?
“Put the fucking wards back up,” yells Marcus’s voice. “Get the witch out.”
Two large hands grab me beneath the arms, and I shout out as somebody pulls me backwards across the floorboards. I kick out and scream as I turn to grab the foot of the bed frame.
“Help her, you fucking moron!” shouts Dorian and hits out at Ethan.
The bed slides after me until the metal hits the doorframe. The last thing I see before I sink backwards is Ethan’s furious figure smack into an invisible barrier, his wild eyes meeting mine.
Mids circle me as I lie on the floor, and my panicked breathing grows as they lean over. Rough fingers take my face and tip my head from side to side.
“No blood,” says the basilisk mid in a gravelly voice.
“Good.” I tip my head to see Marcus facing off Dorian in the doorway and I pray for the barrier ward to break so Dorian could tear him apart. “Do