Witches Be Burned: A Magic & Mayhem Novel by Stacey Kennedy Read Free Book Online Page B

aspects of his life—and he did it well. The bedroom was the only place she’d accept his dominance, and given that she’d just freely offered him the right to take charge, she knew his resolve wouldn’t last. It came as no surprise that his devilish smile appeared seconds before he lifted her bottom, positioning her on the tip of his cock. Her eyes had fluttered closed as she anticipated the fullness of him—the perfectness of him—sending her nearly clawing at him when a loud meow cut through the air.
    Then the kitten jumped onto the edge of the tub and meowed.
    Kyden cursed and pounced up, sending Nexi off his lap, causing a wave of water to rush over the tub. Nexi’s eyes widened and she shouted, “Oh, shit,” as the water was heading straight for her kitten.

Chapter 3
    The kitten hissed as if a rabid dog were chasing her down seconds before the water hit. She became entirely soaked, looking like a drowned rat. “Oh my God, look what you did to her!” Nexi snapped, stepping out of the tub and grabbing a towel as the poor kitty cowered in the corner. “Geesh, you would think you’ve never seen a kitten before.”
    Nude, aroused, and hot as hell, Kyden glared at the kitten. “Whose is
that
?”
    “Mine.”
    One dangerously annoyed brow arched. “Yours? As in you’re keeping it?”
    Nexi regretted not running it by him before she brought the kitten home. But it was just a kitten—or maybe a werecat or something else entirely—but still just a kitten of some kind, for cripes’ sake. “Well, I’ve seen her around a couple times and it seemed like she wanted to stick with me.” She picked the kitten up, drying her off quickly with hard rubs. “Besides, what if she doesn’t have a home?”
    “Easy,” Kyden growled. “
It
can find another one.”
    “I don’t think she’d appreciate being called an
it,
” Nexi mused, before glancing to the kitten, knowing that if she was staying she needed a name. As she stared into the kitty’s bright green eyes, the name came to her easily. The kitten’s eyes reminded her of something else she loved. “How about Willow?” Her eye color was the same color as the leaves of Nexi’s favorite tree. A tree located in the Witches’ Meadow—the grounds the witches used for training—where she would visit with her mother when Nexi was a child.
    “Like the name.” Kyden crossed his arms over his chest, which seemed to accentuate his beautifully muscular form. “Not sure about the cat.”
    Willow hissed at him.
    Nexi placed the kitten on the floor and laughed. “I think the feeling’s mutual.” Even now the magical energy coming off the kitten was impressive—big waves of power rippling across Nexi’s skin. “By the way, what is she? A shifter of some kind?”
    Willow hissed again.
    Looking not too pleased to do it, Kyden wrapped a towel around his waist, and Nexi sighed in longing that his body was now covered. There went great bath sex. “Familiars are—”
    A loud knock on the door cut him off.
    Kyden finished, “I’ll explain later.”
    Then came his lingering look of regret that swept over Nexi.
    Yep, sex was no longer an option.
That’d teach Kyden for drawing it out,
Nexi thought to herself. With a long, somewhat suffering sigh, he exited the bathroom. Curious who was at the door, Nexi grabbed her housecoat off the hook on the stone wall and hurried into the living room, with Willow following close behind.
    When she entered the room, Kyden had already opened their front door, and a strawberry-blond beauty peered in. Tears filled Zia’s baby-blue eyes, and Nexi bristled at the sadness oozing from Zia.
    As the leader of the witch coven in the Otherworld and a member of the Council, Zia, Mistress of Witches, was as powerful with her magic as she was strong in her character. She’d also been the witch who had helped Nexi fine-tune her witch magic since Lazarus’s death.
    “What’s wrong?” Kyden asked, with surprise in his voice.
    “The