Sorcha reveled in the feel of his lips against hers. They were firm and demanding and delightful. A distant part of her screamed to stop this nonsense immediately. She wasn’t planning to stay. This was a complication she scarcely needed. One which would make it far more difficult to walk away.

The arousal that had ignited earlier burned with a steady flame. She was intensely aware of every square centimeter of her body pressed against Tavin’s richly muscled frame. She could let go, mumble some lame excuse, and bolt for the upstairs room where the clothing chests were. A small bed had been tucked into a corner, and she was certain no one would care if she claimed it.

Sean hadn’t been exaggerating when he said the castle had an unprecedented amount of unused real estate.

But she didn’t want to leave. The magic she and Tavin had woven together linked them in ways she didn’t understand, but she didn’t question the knowledge.

He teased her back with his fingertips, inscribing small circles that flowed into bigger ones and then tightened again. His cock swelled, pressing into her belly. She ached to strip him naked, examine that magnificent body at her leisure. Her breasts felt heavy, the nipples hard as marbles where they were crushed against his chest. Liquid dribbled from her swollen labia, wetting her thighs.

Their scents—rain-wet greenery and herbs and musk—simmered around them. He ran one hand down her back and cupped her ass, snugging her against his erection. A decidedly male sound, like a big cat purring, rumbled from his throat, vibrating against her lips.

He rocked his hips against her. The rhythmic motion sent sparks shooting outward from her center. Her raven rose in her mind’s eye, wings spread, cawing its approval. Not that she needed an extra push, but she couldn’t live one more moment without touching him.

She moved a hand, insinuating it between their bodies until her fingers curved around his girth. He was long and thick, and the heat from him rolled through her like an aphrodisiac, crafted just for her. His cock jumped in her hand, and she squeezed it.

He groaned. The hand that cupped her ass dragged her skirts upward until he cupped her vulva skin-to-skin. Undergarments weren’t part of her nineteenth-century wardrobe, so she hadn’t bothered with them here, either. He rubbed her slick, hypersensitive nub, teasing it by sliding a calloused finger up one side and down the other.

Their kiss had deepened to infinity, their tongues tangling together as they sucked and bit one another’s lips. Her heart hammered against her chest, and breath rasped in and out until she felt dizzy, drunk with wanting him. She’d moved from squeezing to stroking.

He jammed two fingers deep into her, withdrawing and probing. Her hips writhed against him. She’d never been in quite this place before, where she felt she’d die if she didn’t come. Her legs shook, not willing to bear her weight any longer.

Tavin broke their kiss. Her mouth felt odd, naked without his slashed across it. Reaching between them, he pried her fingers from around his cock. “If ye do that much longer, I’ll spend, and I doona wish to. Not yet.” His green eyes bored into her, alight with desire.

She stroked the side of his face, loving the feel of stubble over skin stretched across bone. “Where can we—?”

Magic shimmered, turning the air around them liquid and glistening. She welcomed the touch of his power, almost as familiar as her own. The downstairs hall disappeared, replaced by a bedchamber tucked beneath the castle’s eaves, judging from the steeply slanted walls. A double bed adorned with a colorful wool blanket and piles of pillows sat beneath dormer windows. Another corner of the space held a small desk and chair. Empty shelves suggested the room was unused most of the time. Wooden beams crisscrossed the ceiling with whitewashed plaster between them.

“This is where I’ve stayed when I was here before,” Tavin said. “I believe it was part of the servants’ quarters back in the day, but ’tis quiet.”

She started toward him, intent on separating him from his clothing as expeditiously as possible, but he shook his head. “Sit.” He sank to the bed and patted the place next to him.

Confused and still hot enough to burst into flames with zero provocation, she joined him. Twisting so she faced him, she drew her legs onto the bed and crossed them beneath her.

He offered a lopsided smile. “Most men would call me a fool, tell me I should bed you and sort out the pieces later, but I stopped doing that a while back.” He hesitated long enough to take a measured breath. “I’ve not had time to totally dissect this, but the magical beings on the borderworld took advantage of what they considered our weakness.”

Sorcha frowned. “How is being drawn to one another a weakness?”

“Normally, it wouldn’t be, but in this case, something we’re not aware of—suggestion or outright magic—was in play. I’m attracted to you. Anyone with a child’s grasp of enchantments could pick that out of my mind. The orange monster needed our attention elsewhere. If we’d not been so engrossed with one another, we’d have noticed long afore the thing encircled us.”

“And taken measures not to end up trapped.” She closed her teeth over her lower lip. “Where are you going with this?”

He switched to Gaelic. “Ye mean why are we talking instead of loving?”

She looked down, embarrassed he’d seen right through her question. “Something like that.”

“A greater magic, elements beyond us both, made certain we found one another for obvious reasons. Our magic is a perfect match and incredibly powerful. ’Tis a wee bit of a reach, but if there are divine beings in play who want us to be together, it follows other elements would be just as invested in us being dead.”

“But the borderworld was an arbitrary pick.” Sorcha wrapped her arms around herself, chilled by the implication. At least the sexual haze that had clouded her mind was clearing.

“Was it?”

“I don’t know.” The words came hard.

“Nor do I, but it dinna feel accidental we were targeted.”

“It was because the trees misinterpreted my actions, thought I meant them ill,” she insisted.

“That might be true. Or not. ’Tis just as possible they looked within you and found impatience and hubris and took advantage of both.” The corners of his eyes crinkled. “None of us are perfect, and our faults were nearly the death of us. The lesson, hard-won as it was, is we canna afford to let our guard down.”

Tavin placed a hand on her thigh and went on. “I’ve learned to trust my instincts over the years. And now, I’m asking you to trust them as well. I doona know what ye have in mind for your future. Ye’ve been on the run your whole life. If we make love, and I’ve never wanted anything more than I want to take you to my bed, I suspect ’twill reinforce our magical bonding.”

“Hard to see how we could be solider than we are.” She was making light of his statement because she saw what lay behind it, and it frightened her, meant a commitment she’d never faced before.

He tightened his grip on her leg. “I’ve chosen to be alone. You’re the first woman who’s ever made me question that choice.”

“It might be why you understand me. Alone was easier than leaving a piece of my heart every place I ended up. None of them were planned beyond jumping far enough ahead in time—or backward—to stymie Rhea for another few months.” She took a ragged breath. “I wasn’t under any particular illusions about how important I was to her. I’m sure she had other priorities—lots of them. But when things slowed down, or she got bored, she remembered the half demon who had Roskelly blood.”

“Aye, ’twould have been a simple enough matter for her to locate you.”

Sorcha nodded agreement. “It’s why I figured she was toying with me, using me as a diversion. She could have tracked me every single time I ran, but she didn’t.”

“Mmph. Mayhap your demon blood made it harder than ye think.” He scooted closer to her. “I doona wish to talk of your Black Witch grandmother.”

“Great-grandmother.”

“Aye, same difference. I came within a hairsbreadth of taking you standing up in the downstairs hall. I want you that much, lass.”

The same breathless desire roared back. “We can make love. Sort the fine points out afterward.”

He moved his hand from her thigh to cupping the side of her face. “The first part of what ye said is accurate. I’m not sure how much latitude we’d have sorting anything once we’ve consecrated our magical bond with our bodies.”

“It’s kind of who I am, though.” Sorcha leaned into his touch. “Might be the demon part, but I jump first and figure it out later.”

“Kind of like ye did today when ye’d have run into the corrupt arbor?”

“Exactly like that.”

“Ye’d love me even if doing so cuts off your usual escape hatch? Because it will.” His expression had turned solemn. Her answer meant everything to him.

Sorcha swallowed hard. Now was a time for absolute truth, even if it cost her the man sitting so close his sheer masculinity was tantalizing—and overwhelming. She craved him with an intensity that stole her wits.

But did she yearn for him enough to sacrifice her freedom?

“You can’t know what will happen if we make love.” Sorcha was grasping at straws, but she wanted Tavin’s arms around her again, the press of his mouth on hers, and the weight of his cock in her hand and buried in her body.

“Not in any normal way, yet I do. Will ye join your life with mine, lassie? ’Twould mean significant changes—for us both. The first few months, or even years, might be rocky.”

“We could keep working together, deploying our combined magic, without that extra step.”

Tavin nodded. “We could—and we will—but the longing that throws us into one another’s arms willna go away. ’’Twill be a fine torture to have ye so close and yet not. Worse still to know ye’re plotting your exit. This time, ye’ll not be forced to flee. When ye go ’twill be because ye wish it. Rhea canna stand against Druid and witch power combined. ’Tis why she comes with reinforcements and runs when the going gets dicey.”

“Rhea is precisely why I can’t stay. If I do, I’ll place everyone in danger. So far, no one has died on account of her perverse fascination with me. I’d like to keep things that way. Looking at that side of the coin, it almost doesn’t matter I may not be good lifetime partner material.” She glanced away from his direct gaze.

“I may not be capable of a long-term commitment, either.” He turned a hand up pragmatically. “Some choices requires a leap of faith. Speaking of choices, ye can make them for yourself, but ye must allow others to decide their own futures. I canna see anyone chasing you away for fear your presence will draw the wrath of your Roskelly kin. From the sound of it, this group dealt with plenty of that long before you showed up.”

“Why does everything have to be so convoluted?” Sorcha jumped from the bed. She couldn’t stand being so close to him. It did crazy things to her mind. Made it next to impossible to think.

“The important things are never simple, lass. We both could use a spot of rest.”

She folded her arms beneath her breasts. “Why aren’t you trying to talk me into…” Her tongue stumbled over the word marriage, so she tacked, “this,” onto the end of her sentence.

“Would ye really want me to?”

She shook her head. “I guess not. I have to think about what you said. About what I want, and about what I can offer you.” Sorcha walked closer. “And you need to think long and hard about me. My father was a demon, the horn-and-forked-tail version. I have no idea what that would mean if we had children. Beyond genetics, I have a temper, and not a whole lot of patience.”

“I’ve noticed. I’ll take my chances.” He smiled softly. “’Tisn’t about me. I made my choice when I held you in the car and told you I wanted all of you. Naught has changed about that.”

She opened her mouth to tell him she didn’t deserve anyone as decent as him, that she’d done some pretty horrific things in her life, but everyone had baggage. He saw something in her that she didn’t see in herself. If she could latch onto how he viewed her, she might be less critical.

Not just of herself, but of others too.

Sorcha studied her feet, unsure and conflicted about how to finesse such a major alteration in the way she understood the world and her place in it.

She had no more words, so she drew magic about herself and teleported to the manicured gardens behind the castle. Dawn was breaking, a thin, gray line across the eastern horizon. She walked along gravel paths, her mind a jumble. The raven swooshed from her, flying ahead. For want of a better plan, she followed it.

A lagoon with swans came into view. She crouched on its bank watching the graceful birds paddle to and fro. They pair bonded for life. It was touching, tender, and felt totally unrealistic. The raven settled on her shoulder, fluffing its feathers. “What should I do?” she asked her familiar.

“What do you want to do?” it countered.

“I don’t know.”

Footsteps crunched not far behind her. Sorcha sprang to her feet, hands extended, magic at the ready.

“Stand down,” Gloria called. She came into view wrapped in a black woolen cape. Unbound red hair cascaded past her waist.

Sorcha slowly lowered her hands and faced her sister. “You being out here can’t be accidental.”

“It’s not. Walk with me. Movement loosens the tongue.”

Sorcha snorted. “What if I don’t want my tongue loosened?”

Gloria rolled her blue-green eyes and repeated, “Walk with me.” Compulsion accompanied the words, enough that Sorcha fell into step next to her kinswoman. “Better.” Gloria angled a glance her way. “What happened tonight?”

“That’s a fairly general question,” Sorcha began, hedging as she sorted which parts she wanted to share.

“Let me put a finer point on it.” Gloria’s words were brusque. “You and Tavin were gone for hours. Where’d you go? Once we’ve got that part nailed down, what just went on between the two of you?”

“I’m not seeing where it’s any of your business.”

The raven pecked the side of her head hard enough to hurt.

“Your familiar doesn’t agree with you,” Gloria said. “Christ, woman. I’m offering you an opportunity to talk. It would be easier for me to drag what I’m hunting out of your mind.”

Sorcha drew back. “You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, but I would if I deem it important, and this is.”

“I like Mother’s approach better.”

“The one where she ignored you?” Gloria’s tone hacked at Sorcha like a dull knife.

“Yeah.” Sorcha stopped walking.

Gloria rounded on her and thumped her in the chest with an index finger. “I care about you. She didn’t. Why the hell would I have taken the trouble to chase you down out here if I didn’t give a crap?”

“But you barely know me,” Sorcha protested.

“You’re blood. And my sister. It’s good enough for me. Now talk.” Gloria started walking again.

The anger bled out of Sorcha. She started with the magical practice session, the joy and allure of sharing power with Tavin. From there, she relayed the borderworld that had nearly been the death of them.

“What do you think?” she demanded. “Is there some malevolent force out there hell-bent on making certain Tavin and I never get a chance to release the full brunt of our combined magic?”

Gloria slowed her pace from a half jog to a fast walk. “I don’t believe in coincidences, so something on that borderworld had it in for you.”

“Something as in?” Sorcha pressed.

“Demons pissed you gave them the slip is the most likely. Or maybe Rhea in conjunction with demons. You and Tavin will have to be damned careful, particularly when you leave Sean’s warded estate.”

Sorcha inhaled sharply, blew it out, and did it once more. Should she confide in Gloria? Or had she said enough? The raven nuzzled her with its feathered head.

“What happened after you and Tavin returned?” Gloria’s words were tinged with more coercion, almost as if she knew Sorcha would be loath to answer.

“Easier to tell you what didn’t happen. He didn’t bed me, but we came close.”

“Why’d you stop?”

“It wasn’t me, but him.”

“And? Don’t make me drag this out of you ten words at a crack.”

“He says if we make love it will consecrate our magical bonding, and we’ll be married or mated or something.”

“I agree. So, is that why he chased you away?”

Sorcha stopped walking. “He was the willing one. I’m who left.”

“Oho. I suppose you were out here hunting answers.”

“I was. Do you have any?”

Gloria’s harsh expression softened. “No, but let me tell you a story.” She walked ahead, and Sorcha hurried to catch up with her.

“A long time ago when Liliana was quite young, I’d moved to the States to avoid my Roskelly kin and make certain they never identified Liliana’s very human father. I was out walking in the Nevada desert one summer evening. It was warm and pleasant, and I walked farther than I normally did.

“Liliana was in a carrier on my back. She started making cooing noises, and I hunted for what had wakened her. I didn’t have to look far. Fae danced around a magical fire. Humans would never have seen them. It required magic to see beyond the veil they’d crafted.

“A beautiful man greeted me, welcomed my daughter and me. We remained for the night, and then the next day.” Gloria’s tone had softened, become wistful. “Days stretched into weeks, and weeks to more than two months. I knew I had to leave.”

“Why?”

Gloria stopped and extended one finger. “Liliana needed humans and maybe witches, but not Fae. The faerie folk weren’t constant. They might be here now, but they could vanish in an instant.” She extended another finger. “I worried what my Roskelly kin would do to Severin if they found out about him. At the very least, they’d make his life miserable. I loved him. I couldn’t do that to him. Or so I told myself.”

“Were you scared of making a promise you might not be able to keep?” Sorcha cut to the chase.

Gloria nodded. “It was the real reason, and I’ve had well over thirty years to regret it. I left, amid Severin’s protests. After a week away from him, I missed him so much, I returned to the desert to tell him I was willing to be his mate, but the Fae had left. I tried for years, cast every seeking spell I knew, but I never found him again.”

“Some doors only open once,” Sorcha murmured.

“Aye, sister. Ye’re a quick study,” Gloria said in Gaelic.

“Does Liliana remember your time with the Fae?”

Gloria shook her head. “And I’d just as soon things remained so.”

“You’ve no worries on that front from me.” Sorcha glanced at the sky. Night had departed, so it must be midmorning. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. If you turn Tavin down, make damned good and sure it’s for the right reasons, and not just because you’re scared to your bones.”

“Sorcha!” Tavin’s voice blasted into her mind.

“I’m outside with Gloria.”

“Get back to the house. Now.”

Gloria exchanged glances with her. “Crap. Sounds serious. I’ll get us back there. Teleporting is faster than walking.”

“Should I ask him what’s wrong?”

“And risk having someone overhear?”

“Sorry. Stupid question.”

“I’ll do the teleport part. You ward us. No telling what we’ll find. Last time a demon had broken through.”

“Got it.” Sorcha summoned power.

By the time Gloria’s spell swept them up, Sorcha had built what she hoped was a robust barrier around them both. Gloria’s story had touched her soul and cast the Tavin problem in a whole new light. She’d been so scared of anything that smacked of commitment, she’d totally overlooked how she might feel if he went away.

She’d always been the one who left. Never the other way around. She’d talk with him, tell him she was ready to take a chance on them. Right after they dealt with whatever the current problem was.