Amethyst Flame (Flame 2)

She nodded with a series of quick, hungry jerks of her head. “Vaughn, this is crazy, the way I feel about you. And if we had time—”

“I know. But I’ll make you a promise that if we survive the night, I’ll take you to bed and I will be thorough.”

He watched her eyelids fall to half-mast. “Will you bite me again?”

Once more his lips curved. “Anywhere you want me to.” He lifted a hand and caressed her breast, thumbing her peaked nipple. “It can be very erotic right here.” He ran his thumb in a circle.

She gasped. “I never thought I’d want a vampire to do these kinds of things to me.”

She closed her eyes. He could tell she was making a real effort to compose herself. She chuckled softly as her lids flipped open. “Wish we would have met in the real world.”

He thumbed her cheek and offered another kiss, though this one was gentle. “I’ve thought the same thing.”

She pulled away from him completely, but took his hand. “I’m not sure how this should work except that I need to recline and focus.” She led him across the room.

Stormy sat on his perch, watching him. On the left, was a cabinet with a lot of glass canisters and beyond that a work area with a cauldron, very witchy.

On the right, was her chaise-longue with lit candles arranged at the top. Despite all the evidence of her alter species, his instincts remained very distant, and in their place was an odd kind of acceptance.

He watched as Emma reclined, then waved him forward. He joined her, standing over her like a sentinel and maybe that was the point. Maybe he needed to guard her while she summoned powers she’d admitted avoiding most of her witch life.

Toby once more flowed around his ankles, purring and rubbing his whiskered cheeks against his jea

ns. He didn’t know how, but he could feel the cat’s approval of him. Again, he smiled. The whole thing was way beyond anything he thought he’d ever experience as a vampire.

As he stared down at Emma, at her long, auburn hair spilled over the purple velvet, he knew that if they both somehow miraculously survived, he’d never want to let her go.

~ ~ ~

Emma had meant to sink into her witchy spell right away, but she felt something surprising from Vaughn. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. His brows were pinched tight together. He didn’t look concerned exactly, more like aware. “Everything okay?”

“It is. You do whatever you need to do and tell me where you want me.”

“You’re perfect right where you are.”

“I can kneel.”

“Not necessary, at least I don’t think so.”

This time when she closed her eyes, she let her arms relax beside her body and forced her feet and legs to lose their usual ready-for-action tension. She turned her hands palms up and summoned her power again.

What came this time felt like a whirlwind. Her back arched off the chaise-longue and she heard Vaughn call out her name.

She opened her eyes and saw the triplets had returned and were flying rapidly around the room, but they weren’t laughing this time.

Something else was going on.

She panted through the waves of energy that kept hitting her, then forced herself to focus on the seat of her power, deep within her body. The carousel of images had returned but flew way too fast.

She suddenly felt Vaughn’s hand gripping hers.

She didn’t open her eyes this time, but an amazing thing happened because of Vaughn’s touch. The images slowed and began to move in a steady progression through her head, more like a movie now than a series of snapshots. She also kept Loghry in the forefront of her mind and pictured his mansion in Elegance.

She was sure she’d soon see either the wizard or his home. Instead, the images showed the inside doors of a large delivery truck, the kind that could carry furniture or large crates.

She didn’t understand why she was looking at a truck until the images slowly pivoted so that she faced the interior. Her heart constricted. She could see five teen girls huddled together, with a sixth unconscious on the floor. Each bump in the road sent more than one of them slamming against the hard metal sides of the truck. Groans of pain followed.

So where was this?