But just then he wanted to savor all the more. He wanted to take her slowly and enjoy the tautening of their desire, that gradual build to an amazing climax. If he could hold back that part of him that wanted to own her every minute and whispered, harder, harder, more.

He knew she held back; that knowledge only made him want her more.

“Don’t you dare hold back with me,” he said as he kissed across her collarbone. Salt mixing with the water from the shower.

“You just got into a fistfight with four, no, five men, two of whom wanted to steal your magick and kill you and the other three who just wanted to kill you.”

He heard the fear in her voice and stopped, forehead to forehead with her.

“I’m here. You’re here. Let me love you.”

She nodded, tears in her eyes.

He pushed in that last bit, throbbing as her inner walls embraced him.

He pressed in deep and pulled out, over and over. She kissed up his neck, stopping to nip his ear and whisper, “You feel so good in me.”

Her nipples slid across his chest, slick, hard. She made small, rough sounds of need, his pretty, button-down woman. She snarled if he slowed down too much, urged him on as he kept her positioned just the way he wanted.

“You first.” He kissed along her jawline. Getting one hand free, he took her wrist and put her fingers where she’d need them. “Come all around me.”

He moved back to holding her ass and also thanked all the years of physical activity that he could fuck his woman up against a wall and not collapse.

She fluttered around his cock, then tightened. The muscles in her forearm corded as he knew she was making herself come. So. Fucking. Hot.

And the slow build was nearly over. Need took over as the pleasure she gave herself only made him hotter for her. Her body slickened around him as she made a soft gasp as he picked up the pace.

Faster and faster, harder and harder, until she arched and exploded around his cock and there was simply no way not to come. He bit her shoulder and pressed in hard, coming with a groan that echoed all round them in the tiled enclosure until there was no other sound but panting for breath and water hitting bodies.

He kissed her; the ability to be slow and gentle had returned, but her response was wilder than he’d expected, which he liked. A lot.

He put her down carefully and she kissed his chest over his heart, hugging him.

“Let me get your back,” she said quietly.

He turned and let her minister to him as he closed his eyes and let the comfort of the bond take over as well.

Chapter 18

“ARE you certain it’s the time to be making this trip, Meriel?” Edwina stopped Meriel in the hallway. She and Dominic would be heading to Bend for the next several days.

“There’ve been no more attacks since Tuesday. Nell has done a great job with patrols. Our people are safe. This is the man who is in every way, but biological, Dominic’s father. I want to meet him and Dominic needs to tell him face-to-face about all this.”

Edwina paused and took a deep breath. “You’re very exposed. It makes me nervous.”

Meriel smiled.

“I saw the way Dominic fights, Mother. He’s just as able to protect me as Gage or another guard. I have the magick part down. You can see his magickal skills improving every day. At the rate he learns, he’s going to be as easy with his magick as I am in a month or so.”

Edwina nodded curtly, but it was clear she approved. “Yes, he’s a very quick study. Helps that he’s naturally very powerful, but he has excellent concentration. He’s been a very good student. I wasn’t sure how he would be. He can be irreverent at times.”

After her interrogation of Dominic on the night he and Meriel ascended, Edwina had decided she would be the best person to teach Dominic. Whatever her mother’s flaws, being a good teacher wasn’t one of them. The two had clicked quickly and Dominic soaked up everything Edwina threw his way.

Surprised and amused, Meriel laughed. “Irreverent is a good way to put it.”

“The two of you are clearly made for each other in that respect.” Edwina sniffed. “You will call to check in. Your father worries about you and then he’s out in his garden all day and I can’t take him deciding to rip up more of my land for one of his projects.”

Meriel’s dad did have a way of dealing with his stress and worries through his projects. Edwina had ambition and drive. She was an intense person who ate stress for breakfast and dared it to give her a bellyache. Her father was more relaxed, but he didn’t cope the way his wife did. It made them a good fit as a couple, but Meriel could see how having your spouse always ripping up and rebuilding things in the yard might get a little annoying. Then again, she imagined her dad went out there to get away from his wife’s way of dealing with stress, which was to take care of things and order everyone around.

“I’ll call when I get to Bend. You have my cell and I’ll be sure you have Tom’s home number as well.”

Edwina nodded. “All right then. Tell Dominic I still expect to see him for our lessons at four on Monday.” She turned and walked a few steps before pausing to turn back to Meriel. “I think having this hunter train our people is a good idea. I’m charging you to create a committee to figure out how to get our people into these classes. I put some funds for it in your budget. I want this up and running as soon as possible. I assume you’ll be in contact with your aunt?”

Well. This was unexpected. Appreciated of course, but her mother had essentially just given the green light to something she’d argued against only a month before.

“Thank you. I’ve got some ideas on how to get started. I’ll definitely coordinate with Gennessee on how to get their people trained as well.”

“I spoke with Rebecca about the attack on Dominic on Wednesday. She is similarly putting energy into this project.” Edwina took a deep breath but said nothing else. Mostly likely it was that her aunt would see this as a much bigger threat than Edwina would simply because Gennessee’s territory was a far different animal than Owen’s was. More dangerous. Gennessee’s hunter team was fierce and well trained. Nell had long wanted to bring some of the basics of what they did into Owen’s structure but Edwina had resisted.

Edwina’s half-sister, Rebecca, was the leader of Clan Gennessee. Meriel’s grandfather had been married to Rebecca’s mother, but after she died in a house fire, he’d then met and married his bond-mate, who happened to be next in line to run Owen. It was sort of Jerry Springer territory, but they did manage to be a family.

This cemented the dominance of the entire western United States by the same family. Gennessee started when a small group of witches, including an Owen sister, chose to stay in California when the rest of the clan headed to Seattle.

Emily Owen had taken a name from their mother’s family, Gennessee, and they’d built their own branch of Clan Owen. Because of this, Owen witches would come to hold a great deal of power as the land recognized their magick and had connected with it over the generations. Owen witches, be they Gennessee or not, were the strongest in the world in their own territory and because the font included over twenty-five hundred witches, even outside their territory they were a force to be reckoned with.

Not that things weren’t complicated sometimes between Gennessee and Owen. But they would always hold together against an outside force.

“I’ll keep you apprised.”

“Of course.” Edwina nodded. “Be careful. Please.”

Meriel waved at her mother’s retreating back, smiling.

* * *

DRIVING south and then east toward Bend, Dominic felt freer the more miles he managed to rack up. She’d gone to work for a while, long enough to let him sleep after a late night at Heart of Darkness. Though she’d claimed otherwise. She took care of him like no one else ever had. And she’d just done it as if she always had. A little over two weeks and his life was totally different and, he couldn’t deny, totally better, even with the crazy business with the mages.