Embracing Magick is out tomorrow. It’s Book 3 in The Witch Blood Chronicles, and I wanted to share a teaser with you. It’s a Carmella and Vritra scene, and I have to say, I’m kinda in love with the dynamic between these two.
*If you haven’t read the other books then SPOILER ALERT*
*whispers* Go buy them now…Handy Author Page Link
Teaser
I heard it before I saw it—an errant arrow whizzing straight at me. It was as if the world slowed down into slow motion. I needed to dive out of the way, but my feet were rooted to the spot. Vritra was a blur headed toward me. He was doing the shift move thing I’d done unwittingly. And how was there so much time to think?
The arrowhead hurtled toward my heart. My skin prickled and my armor erupted covering my skin just as the arrowhead slammed into me, propelling me back into the door. A flash of embers filled my vision, and the arrow fell to the ground with a chink.
Vritra gathered me up into his arms, his scent filling my head. The doors swished behind us as he carried me out of the room. My armor melted and his skin kissed mine. Heat crawled up my neck. I’d just made a complete tit of myself. How would the demi-gods take me seriously now?
“I’m okay. You can put me down now.” I tried to wriggle out of his arms. But he only held me tighter.
A sharp pain lanced through my chest cutting off my breath.
“Just stay still. It’s okay.”
“It hurts.” I looked up into his face, but his jaw was tight.
He carried me into his chambers and through to his bedroom.
“Wait, what are you doing?”
“You’re hurt and I need to heal you.” He laid me on his bed.
I tried to sit up but the pain held me down. “What’s wrong with me? I thought the armor deflected the arrow.”
He perched on the edge of the bed, and usually all that bare skin would have distracted the fuck out of me, but the pain in my chest was intensifying rather than abating.
“Vritra, what’s happening?”
“They were shooting armor piercing arrows. They don’t break the armor, but send a pulse through it which damages the organs within.”
“But I heal. I can heal right?”
He pressed his lips together. “Yes. But maybe not fast enough.”
If I could come back from almost death, I could do this. “The skein. I need to tap into it.”
“Do it.”
Closing my eyes, I sought the connection to my power, the shining threads that linked me to the skein. There they were, all glowing and shit. I pulled on them, drawing power into my body and directing it to my chest. Heat crawled over my skin—pleasant and healing. The pain lessened. It was working. But there was ice beneath the heat, pressed up against it, battling the healing effects.
“The bruise is blooming again.” Vritra said. “The power isn’t being channeled fast enough.”
“I don’t understand. The skein saved me from death.”
“Yes. But you’d just unlocked your power so there was probably a huge reservoir waiting to be unleashed. The backlash is what helped you heal so quickly.”
He was right. There was no backlash this time.
“Miss Hunter, do you trust me?”
“Dammit, Vritra, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Carmella.”
His amber eyes were bright in the gloom. “Carmella, do you trust me?”
“Yes.” The pain was flaring again. “Please, just make it stop.”
Vritra gripped the neck of my vest and yanked. The materiel gave way with a rip.
“What…”
“Trust me. I’m going to touch you now. I’m going to put my hands on your chest, and I’m going to lend you my power. We’ll do this together.”
My heart, it was going for my heart. “Do it.”
His warm hand pressed down on my chest, covering the spot between my breasts. Our gazes locked and the heat simmering beneath my skin intensified. The skein flared and my asura power unfurled. The ice gradually began to melt, and the pain steadily decreased until I was breathing easy again.
Vritra’s shoulders sagged and he tucked in his chin, breaking eye contact.
I was okay.
It was over.
“Thank you.” I placed my hand over his.
He raised his head, fixing his gaze on our hands. His fingers flexed on my skin, thumb sweeping across the top of my breast. It was difficult to breathe again, but this time for a completely different reason. We were alone in his room—both half naked—and he was touching me. He hadn’t touched me intimately since the night in the vault when we’d fought in dragon form and woken up naked in each other’s arms. He hadn’t propositioned me or made any kind of advances. Relief should be my primary emotion, right? Wrong. Instead, I craved his touch and the look in his eyes that said he wanted me just as much as I wanted him. If not for Paimon haunting my dreams, this thing between Vritra and me would have been pretty clear cut. But until my heart and my body were on the same page, it wasn’t fair to make any decisions.
But what if that never happened?
If you haven’t preordered, then you can do that now. Book goes up to full price on the 17th November. Click them image below and grab yours!