Witchmate (Skeleton Key) by Renee George, Skeleton Key Page B

her orgasm erupted like a dormant volcano, explosive, messy, and destroying every bit of her ability to think coherently.
    A roar ripped from Keir as he thrust hard into her once, then again, holding her until every last bit of his climax was spent. When he recovered, he gently withdrew his softening shaft and collapsed beside her on the pallet.
    “You’re my mate,” he said as if that’s all there was to say on the subject.
    “It doesn’t change the fact that I had elemental magic dancing over my fingers.”
    He pulled her into the crook of his arm. “No,” he said. “It doesn’t.”
    “I’m not a witch, Keir.” She rose up and crossed her arms over his chest, resting her chin on the back of her hand. “I’m an ordinary person from an ordinary world where werewolves and witches don’t exist.”
    “But you are here now.” He stroked the side of her face. “In this world, those are the only two species that exist.”
    “Do you think that by coming here…somehow, that it has changed me?”
    He gazed at her appraisingly. “Maybe.”
    “Is there anyone who might know?”
    His eyes averted for a moment. “There are tales of the witch of the wood. The lore claims she is as wicked as she is old.”
    “How old?”
    “No one knows. But she lived in the times before the war.”
    Emma kissed his lightly furred chest. “Why did witches and wolves start fighting in the first place?”
    “Who knows why a war starts,” he said as if repeating the party line.
    “Did the wolves or the witches attack first?”
    “The war started the day my parents were killed in a vicious attack on Surrock, our capital city. We weren’t prepared for the assault, and the witches were without mercy. I was sent to live with his second, Willen Bodyn. His son’s Toland and Thadeus became my brothers. Willen guided me until I was old enough to take the reins as Domiscin . Alpha to my people. It feels like I have spent several lifetimes at war.”
    His eyes turned wistful, sad. Emma kissed him. “I’m sorry about your parents.”
    “And your parents?” Keir asked.
    Emma felt a mixture of sadness and longing. “I was put into foster care as an infant. My mother abandoned me at a gas station. I never found out who she was.”
    “Foster care?”
    “A system where unwanted children are cared for.” She’d been lucky that Mike had taken her in. He might be a hustler and a thief, but he never beat her or abused her. He taught her a trade and made her feel wanted, if not loved. He wasn’t the ideal when it came to fathers, but what she’d learned from her school friends was that most fathers, while they do the best they can, aren’t ideal.
    “I’m sorry,” Keir said. “The war has made orphans of many of our children. We have a similar system in place for replacement caregivers. My friend Toland’s parents took me in after my parents died. It’s hard when you feel like an outsider in a place that should be home…no matter how welcome people try to make you.”
    Emma realized Keir knew exactly how she’d felt. Mike had been awesome, but his place had never felt like home. She always had the sickening feeling that if she didn’t live up to his expectations, she’d find herself out on the street, true or not. But she also had another realization, she didn’t feel that way with Keir. In his arms, she felt safe, comforted.
    “Here, with you, I feel like I’m home.”
    Keir wrapped his arms around her shoulders and leaned his head forward to brush her lips with a gentle kiss. “Me too.” His voice was sleepy.
    “This can’t last, can it?” Emma asked. She couldn’t stand the idea of losing Keir. Not when she finally had someone in her life that she felt she belonged with.
    “Yes,” Keir said, drawing her closer, forcing her to lay her head down on his chest. “We’ll find a way.”
     

Chapter Eleven
    Aerina felt the child. As a master of all types of magic, she also had a connection to the existing forces in her