She couldn't back up any more. Oh, she'd underestimated Bear McDunphy. He was much smarter than she'd thought. "Yes."
"Mating me might give you the ability to create fire," he said slowly. "Interesting. Why don't you just mate another witch and get his powers?"
She sighed. Revealing secrets of any kind went against her very DNA, and pretty much everything having to do with witches that the rest of the world didn't know-was a secret. Yet there was no doubt Bear wouldn't cooperate with her until she gave him a truthful answer. Aye, she had to respect him for that. "When a witch healer mates a fire-throwing witch, both powers are subdued. They both get weaker instead of stronger."
"You sure?" He lifted both eyebrows.
She nodded. "Aye. It has happened twice that we've tracked." She definitely wanted the ability to throw fire and fight, to not be such an oddity. Especially in her line of work. "You've figured out my motivation." One of them, anyway.
"Have I?" he asked silkily, his hard stare going right through her.
Bollocks. He was beyond smart. So much for the good-ole-boy act. Just who was Bear? "Aye," she murmured.
"How many witch healers are there?" he asked.
"Not even ten that I know of," she said.
He lifted his chin. "That is rare, then. Your parents?"
"Were both healers," she said. "Lost them before I remember." She didn't have time to really get to know him. "My offer?"
"What happened to your parents?" he asked, completely ignoring her words, his eyes mellowing to the color of an expensive bourbon catching candlelight.
She shook her head, and more of her hair escaped the pin. "We don't need to bond."
He pulled on another tendril, and the pin dropped to the floor. Her hair cascaded down. He exhaled sharply.
"Uh," she murmured, pressing back.
"Pretty." He tangled one broad hand in her hair, his voice roughening even more. He leaned in and sniffed. "Roses."
She held perfectly still. Her body flared alive, and lava heated through her abdomen. "Bear? This is unnecessary. No bonding. Let's reach an agreement." Her voice remained level only through supreme effort.
He straightened, and his smile was almost lazy. "Baby? You wanna fuck, bite, brand, and mate . . . but not bond. Do I have it right?" His hold tightened.
Erotic tingles rippled along her scalp, and she couldn't help a small gasp. "That isn't quite how I'd put it, but close enough," she said primly. Her clothes suddenly felt too restrictive. The shifter was overwhelming her, and she needed to regain control. "Would you please step back?"
His grin widened. "We're gonna have to get a lot closer than this for your plan to work."
Bear. Naked. Over her. The images slammed through her brain so fast she could barely breathe. Her nipples peaked against her thin cotton bra. Maybe this had been a bad idea. "Perhaps we should rethink this."
He leaned in, his lips barely brushing her temple.
Her knees wobbled.
"What happened to your parents, Nessa?" he asked softly, his breath heating her skin.
She swallowed over a lump in her throat. "Ah, they were, ah, killed in a skirmish with a demon squad." Now witches and demons were allies. Life was weird. "I was raised by my Uncle Boondock-a witch who taught me to sew and shoot arrows by the time I was five."
Bear remained way too close. "Sounds like a character."
That was the understatement of the millennium. "Aye. He's a healer, too." She slapped both hands against Bear's naked chest and shoved. Hard.
He didn't move a centimeter.
Hard and smooth, his chest warmed her palms. What would he be like at full strength? Healthy and complete? She spread her fingers out and slid healing heat inside, seeking the damage he'd caused by defying physics and her laws.
Bear jolted.
"Let me show you," she murmured, stepping closer to him and resting the side of her face against his upper chest. Her hands moved lower, toward his solar plexus. She closed her eyes to concentrate and settled in, her body starting as she brushed against an obvious erection. Her knees almost gave this time. "Well then." She moved slightly to the side, her hands moving with her.
He sucked in air. "What are you doing?"
"Showing you." She concentrated harder, going beyond muscle, bone, and tissue. The need to heal lived within her, so she went deep looking for the damage. Beyond the physical. Somewhere else. A place fundamental to shifters, one below and behind Bear's heart. The damage there, the rips and gouges, made tears fill her eyes. In him, trying to help him, she shared his pain.