Of Witches and Warlocks: The Complete Series

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Matching his pace, I crossed the room, meeting him in the middle. All sorts of thoughts tumbled through my mind—relief and anger being the most prominent.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, stopping just short of me, almost as if he were afraid to touch me. Uncertainty flashed over his face.

"I came to do this," I said. My emotions boiled over the surface, and I swung back and punched him in the jaw as hard as I could.

He fell back a step, his eyes widened in surprise, and he rubbed his jaw while he worked it back and forth for a second.

"What was that for?" He looked completely confused, as if I had suddenly sprouted two heads or something.

"That was for leaving me and going off on your own, you stupid jerk!" I yelled, my frustration overflowing,

"Portia, I was trying to protect . . . ," he started to explain, but I didn't let him finish.

"Don't you dare try to feed me that 'protect you' line of bull again! I have had it with you, Vance! I think I've proven, on several occasions, I'm not the one who needs protection!"

He watched me, his eyes growing wide in amazement over my emotional display.

"Wow! You're really angry!" he said, and it took me a second to realize he said it in my mind.

"Get out of my head!" I continued, shouting out loud. "You've lost the right to be there! You cut me off without warning all the time, only to step right back in whenever you want!"

I turned away in a huff and started toward Brad and Shelly, who were both looking very uncomfortable at the moment. Vance grabbed me before I could take two steps and swung me back around. He pulled me into his embrace with one arm while fisting his hand into my hair. He gave it a small yank, which caused my head to tilt back and he lowered his face, kissing me hard.

"I love you," he said, his words penetrating my mind as his lips ravaged mine, obviously not caring one bit that I had just told him to get out of my head.

I tried staying stiff in his arms, but I was having trouble resisting him. I missed him so badly.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to hurt you. Really," he spoke through our link, and I felt his tongue trace lightly over my closed lips. "I just wanted to keep you from any danger."

I stood still for only a moment before I was unable to fight it any longer. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I kissed him back.

We held each other tightly, our reunion becoming heated very quickly. I kissed him as if I hadn't seen him in years, instead of just days, running my fingers through his hair, over his face and down his neck—forgetting completely we had an audience.

His mouth moved from mine, and he began kissing across my cheek. Instinctively my head leaned to the side to give him better access, and his lips traveled down my neck. His tongue snaked out to lick seductively over the spot where he had bitten me before.

I flinched involuntarily.

Suddenly he let go, pushing me away and taking several steps backward.

We stood there staring at each other, our breathing ragged from our encounter, and I could feel the sparks flying between us.

"I need you to leave now, Portia," he said, his teeth clenched as he spoke. "You aren't safe here."

"Why? I'm not afraid of your . . . "