on to me.”
Carefully, I climbed up the platform and opened the cage. Uncertain, Phaedra draped her arms around my shoulders. I didn’t give her the option of stepping down. Instead, I picked her up and held her against me.
“Don’t look at them,” I whispered.
“They want to eat me,” she said.
Damn. So did I. I pushed those thoughts out of my mind and got her out of the cage. The crowd closed in. I pushed them back, letting just enough of my wolf out to drive them away. Phaedra hid her face against my chest. Her hair brushed my nose. She smelled so damn good.
I tore through the crowd and reached the back hallway. Finally, I got her free. I kicked the door behind me and ran up until I got to the Marigold Suite.
It was only then, after I burst through the door and closed it behind us, that I put her down. Phaedra wouldn’t let go. She kept her face pressed against me.
“It’s okay,” I said, my voice ragged. “You’re okay. It’s over.”
Finally, she looked up. Her eyes went big. Her lips parted. She looked so vulnerable and yet so strong all at once.
“Are you?” I asked. “I mean...are you okay?”
She didn’t answer. And I didn’t let her go. Then, something bubbled up inside of her. She craned her neck and pressed her lips to mine.
Lightning went off inside my head. My wolf raged. My heart short-circuited.
“I want you,” she whispered. “I think I need you…”
I felt her. All of her. Her bikini fit her like a second skin. I could sense the heat between her legs. My own need bulged between mine. In all of it, as the crowd devoured her with their eyes, she’d kept hers on me. It was as if...she’d danced only for me. I thought it. I sensed it. But now, she’d just confirmed it.
“Phaedra…” I said.
“I’m not high,” she said. “I swear. I’m just...I...need.”
I kissed her back. With her still in my arms, I made my way to the round bed. Wicked thoughts tore through me. I wanted to spread her wide. I wanted to tie her down and make her beg for me.
I laid her down. She slipped her hands around my neck and pulled me to her. Her tongue darted in and out. I slid my hand between her thighs. Oh, yes. She was hot and wet and ready. It hadn’t been for show. It had been for me.
“Are you…” I couldn’t form the rest of the sentence. It was all of it. The day. My wolf. Phaedra.
She arched her back. She slid her hand down, caressing my back then over the curve of my ass. One finger. That’s all it would take to slide her panties out of the way. God. I wanted to dip one inside of her. I wanted to torture her in the way I knew I could.
“Yes,” she whispered. “God. Yes.”
It was like she knew what I was thinking. She was thinking it too. Her pulse thundered in my ears. I felt my own magic rising. My wolf. The little bits of me that held my mother’s magic too.
“Archer!” The voice crackled in my ear. “Get your ass back on the floor!”
J.C.
Shit. He couldn’t see us. But he could hear everything. He knew what I was just about to do. I quickly switched off the mic.
I rose. Phaedra lay beneath me, gasping. She blinked hard and quickly recovered.
“I...I’m sorry. I don’t know what…”
We stood there. Both of us shocked at how quickly our lust overcame us. It felt magical.
And that’s when I knew it wasn’t real.
“I have to go,” I said. “Are you...you’re sure you’re okay?”
She recovered. Nodded.
I hated to leave her. God. I hated not touching her. But J.C. waited for me two floors up. And I couldn’t risk his trust or destroying what I came here to do.
8
Phaedra
For the next ten days, I danced for the crowd at the Golden Taurus. J.C. gave me a taste of stolen wind magic for the first three. All of it from Rose Kilgore. When I let myself, I could feel her despair. See the bottomless black void she found herself in. And there was nothing I could do to help. What I could do was try to find a way to stop J.C. from making another witch suffer her same fate.
Archer stayed at my side, keeping the club patrons from getting too close. No one had touched me since that first night in the cage. Not even