Ascension: A Witch Hospital Romance (The Witches of White Willow Book 3) Page 2

  Fuck this man…he was addictive. And that was dangerous. Because he was also, totally and completely, in love with her.

  “Mady,” he gasped, then pulled her up so he could look her in the eyes. He ran his fingers over her hair, shifting some strands aside. His dick was still pulsing as he leaned down and kissed her, with deep, probing intensity that told her everything she needed to know about his thoughts and feelings. It was a kiss full of passion and possession. A claiming kiss.

  He’d done it before. And she melted every damn time.

  But that’s what happened when you hooked up with an older guy.

  He hadn’t said the words yet. She wouldn’t let him. But he’d made it very clear. She was the only one he wanted and he was willing to do anything to make her happy.

  He pulled back and his eyes were wet. Wet as in…tears. Big blue, teary eyes. “That was incredible, it’s always so incredible. You make me feel—I mean…you know I lov—”

  “Whoa there, big guy!” Mady put both hands on his chest and pushed as hard as she could. He didn’t resist, despite the fact that she had no chance of actually moving him with her hands. He took a step back, his cock slipping out of her, making her mourn her next words. “You know my rule about post-sex chatter.” And you know the quickest way to get me to run is to say those words to me.

  He always got overly emotional when they fucked. It was like he couldn’t help himself. He wore his heart on his sleeve and wanted her to know about it. That was just not something she was ready to deal with…because with those love words came other words. Words that would change her life. Nope, not going there.

  Instead of the puppy-dog sadness she had come to expect, he surprised her with a sheepish grin. “Right, no old guy lovey-dovey shit.” He put his hands on her hips and pulled her close so he could kiss her again.

  His lips were so soft and cushioned, and he really did know how to make her toes curl.

  “So how about this,” he said as he pulled away.

  Her eyes were closed, her lips still caught up in that kiss.

  “I’m riding solo in surgery tomorrow. I’ve got an interesting case, metastasizing boils. You want to assist?”

  Mady blinked away the shock of such an offer. She could barely think of the words she needed to say. “Do I want in?” She couldn’t help but beam up at him. “Hell yes I do!” And then her heart did that flip-flop thing that felt like something was terribly wrong but, Mady knew, was actually her real feelings slipping out. Croft was a teddy bear and she really didn’t deserve him.

  He had just gotten his surgical rights back after a rather unfortunate decision to help a family attempt to raise their daughter from the morgue. Or at least, that’s how the rumors went—she hadn’t actually heard the story from Croft. But she had firsthand experience with the zombies that had come crawling out from the morgue back on her first day as an intern, well before she’d even reconnected with Croft. Zombies that Hazel had taken care of with some of her snazzy super witch powers. In any case, he’d been undergoing punishment for months and was only now just getting permission to go back into the surgical suite.

  “Um…you think that’s a good idea? I mean, you just got clearance… Won’t you get into shit? I’m not officially allowed to assist in surgery and I wouldn’t want to be the reason you end up on the shit-list again.”

  He smiled back at her. “Awww. See, you do care about me.”

  She squirmed, she blushed. She opened her mouth to argue. He kissed her instead. When he pulled away, he winked, taking obvious delight in her discomfort.

  “Won’t get in trouble if we don’t get caught.” He waved his hand around. “Taking a page out of your book.” Then he pulled her onto his dick and nuzzled her neck. She moaned as he started thrusting, lost once again to that friction that hit everything just so right.

  “Come on, Mady, you too scared to take the risk?” he whispered against her ear, making her shiver.

  With a snap of her fingers, she used her magic to roll him onto the desk, the only way she could move the mountain that was Croft. Without breaking the stride he’d started, she rocked her hips. “No, big guy, I’m not too scared for anything.” She let her head fall back and moaned her way to her next orgasm.

  2

  “Was that Croft I saw sneaking out of here this morning?” Mady’s mother poured tea into her cup and motioned to the side where the Keepers were putting out a full buffet of food. “They prepared a big meal, probably thinking your big friend was staying for breakfast.”

  Mady felt her cheeks heat and slumped farther into her chair, hiding behind the patient’s medical chart Croft had left for her to review. Well, it’s not like they’d been quiet the night before. “He had to go.”

  “Stealing away like a thief in the—”

  “Mother.” Mady shifted the chart down so she could peek over it. “He has surgery this morning.” Surgery that he’d asked her to join. Her first ever. Nothing to do with the mind-blowing sex and his undying love for her and everything to do with the fact that she was one of the best fucking Healers at White Willow and deserved an opportunity to show her stuff. Yeah, totally believable.

  A smile spread on her lips at that thought. He wanted her to join him in surgery! She picked up her cup of tea to hide her smirk as she lowered the medical chart.

  “Oh good goddess, he’s letting you in on it, isn’t he?” Her mother shifted her glasses to the top of her head, capturing her silver-streaked hair under its arms and sweeping it back. No matter what she did, every move Mady’s mother made was elegant. Even without makeup, her nails dirty from an early morning of gathering herbs no doubt, she was still the most beautiful woman Mady had ever seen. “That sweet boy is so lovesick it’s sad. He’d follow you to the Scrub and endure that hell just to stay close to you.”

  “Mother, it’s not like that.” But Mady couldn’t keep her smile contained. Surgery! Today! Metastasizing boils! She’d only ever read about those in one of the older Healer texts she’d studied. She sipped the scalding tea and continued to beam like a fool.

  Her mother rolled her eyes. “Isn’t he just off of probation?” She dropped her glasses back down onto her face and resumed scanning the book she held in her hand. “As far as I know, interns aren’t allowed to perform surgery. Given what I’ve heard about Mother Stone, I doubt she’s changed the policy since she’s arrived. You’ll likely get caught and then he’ll be in even bigger trouble.”

  “Mother Stone is in meetings all day.” Mady had sense enough to kill the shit-eating grin because ultimately her mother was right. If they got caught, Croft would be in deep shit, maybe more than she would be. “There are too many surgeries scheduled today so Croft is working in the old wing. No gallery for Healers to watch and it’s far enough out of the way that I won’t attract attention. Besides, I’m just observing anyway.”

  She was so not just observing.

  “Mmmhmm.” Her mother cocked an eyebrow but didn’t look up from her book. “And what about Yara?”

  Mady winced. Right. The Sin Eater, her perpetual assigned guardian. Fuck. “Mother…this is really important. Can’t you… I mean… Yara loves to work with you in the garden. Couldn’t you ask for her help today? Keep her busy?”

  Her mother’s eyebrows shot up higher and she flicked her gaze up from her book once again.

  “Today is my day off. If she comes looking for me at all it’ll be a social call anyway.” Mady leaned forward. “Mother… Mom, please, this is important to me and I may not get another chance to see boils like these.”

  Her mother studied her for a full minute, a storm raging in her eyes. “Metastasizing boils?”

  Mady nodded, her smile slipping back in place.

  Her mother’s face relaxed into defeat and she let out a long sigh. “Fine, okay, I’ll distract your Sin Eater. But this is the last time, Mahdyia! I mean it! Yara is a lovely girl but she’s always trying to offer me a cleansing and you know how I feel about that.”


  Mady nodded. Yes, that was a thing Yara liked to do when it came to her mother. For some reason, the Sin Eater felt that Mady’s mother really needed a ceremonial cleansing. Even though her mother had no curses clouding her aura or ailments to speak of, Yara still thought a cleansing would be good as a protective measure. Mady’s mother strongly disagreed and refused to accept it. Something that baffled Yara to no end. When your whole life was devoted to taking sins away from other witches—a service that was coveted by most witches, in fact—Mady figured it was hard to accept when a witch just wasn’t that into it. Mady was pretty sure that no witch had turned a Sin Eater down when it came to an offer to help, even if it was preventative. But Mady’s mother didn’t like the burden sin eating had on the bodies of the Sin Eaters. Yara’s sin-eating scars were fearsome things that had taken part of a hand as well as her nose. Like the rest of her kind, Yara paid a price for each cleansing and Mady’s mother wanted nothing to do with causing Yara more pain and suffering.

  A part of Mady was a little paranoid at just why Yara thought her mother might need protection but any time she asked, Yara told her that one never knew when the wind would blow a sin their way. Weird words that always made Mady shiver. Neither she nor her mother dabbled in dark magic so there wasn’t any need to worry about sins coming their way…right?

  “I promise, last time,” Mady said, her smile back in place as she pushed her chair back. “I better go get ready. Surgery starts in an hour.” She kissed her mother’s cheek and inhaled the rich scent of flowers and dirt. “Thank you, Mom.”

  Her mother patted Mady’s hand. “I’m only agreeing to this because you called me Mom.”

  Mady kissed her again. “I’ll try harder.” Saying Mother was a tough habit to break after years of conditioning.

  “My sister was a difficult woman to please,” her mother said, referring to the fact that Hazel’s mother had insisted Mady not only call her Aunt, period, but that she refer to her own mom as Mother, only. Formal all the way. And Mom, or Mommy, or Auntie for that matter were just not going to fly in the Knight residence.

  Mady nodded. The hardest woman to please. Hazel knew that best but Mady had intimate experience with her aunt’s idea of discipline.

  “You’re the best, Mom, love you!” Mady gathered her medical chart and quickly left. She had to change into her scrubs and get over to the hospital before Croft got things started without her.

  “Good luck, sweetie,” her mother called after her. “Stay out of trouble!”

  Croft had a small team of Stewards—Pagans who had limited spell-casting ability—working with him to prep the surgical suite and Mady blended right in among the group. She had on her scrubs and a surgical cap that covered her hair, which she’d tied into a tight bun at the base of her neck. Half of her face was covered by a mask and she was wearing magically enhanced goggles that allowed her to see the power flow of the curse causing the boils. To anyone glancing in on them, she was just one of the surgeons—a colleague assisting Croft.

  The afflicted witch was male, mid-fifties and in a magically induced coma. He’d been brought to the hospital by his family but no one knew the origin of the curse. They’d found him unconscious at the front door of their house, unresponsive and convulsing. That had been three days ago. Since then, the boils had not only appeared but had spread, attacking his stomach and intestines with ferocity. Whatever the cause, all signs pointed to something ingested.

  It was rare to see a curse like this last this long. Usually the host wouldn’t survive beyond a day or two. It was such a unique case for that alone but that wasn’t the only reason. The curse was one that seemed to be calcifying the patient’s organs with some kind of magical compound. When Mady looked at the x-rays, it was as though the patient was growing branch-like spikes all over his stomach. It was bizarre and of course, would be deadly. The biggest concern was that one of the spikes would puncture any number of vital organs surrounding the stomach. Best case scenario this would lead to uncontrollable bleeding, worst case excruciating poisoning. You never did know with curses like this.

  Croft’s plan was aggressive but simple—cut the spikes and cauterize with witch fire. He’d do the cutting, she’d do the cauterizing.

  Once the bulk of the Stewards had left and the two of them were set up, he positioned himself across from her, the patient in between them on a surgical platform.

  “You ready?” His voice was muffled by his mask but she could see her own excitement mirrored in his eyes.

  She smiled back at him before realizing he couldn’t see her mouth. “Let’s do this!”

  Croft had already worked a few spells to keep the patient stabilized, and the three Stewards left behind were there to maintain the human-crafted machines that monitored the patient’s vitals. Witch bodies didn’t behave the same way as human bodies did, so traditional human surgical methods wouldn’t cut it completely. They were using a standard, run-of-the-mill ventilator because it did as good a job as any spell could without the magical energy expenditure. They also had equipment like an intravenous and a heart monitor hooked up, but that’s where the human element stopped. The magic floating around was palpable. Despite the fact that the Pagans’ power was limited, everyone in the room was contributing magically to keep the patient stable and alive. The Circle of One was pumping energy to the Healers, available for the taking when needed. Mady felt giddy at the sight and feel of it all. She could sense the ebb and flow of the power in the room and it almost made her dizzy. It was so damn exciting and exactly what she needed to be doing. Surgery was her calling, something she’d known since childhood and she’d been itching for a chance to prove herself.

  Their patient was enveloped in a cocoon of a spell to keep him unconscious. His skin was ashen and the beep beep of the heart monitor kept a steady rhythm. While he was stable for the moment, that wouldn’t last for much longer by the look of him. The curse needed to be reversed and that had to start by carefully extracting the spikes that were embedded inside his body.

  They’d been pumping an anti-curse serum into him from day one but now were adding anti-infection potions and also dosing him with pain relief via a voodoo doll. The Pagans were exceptionally good at that particular form of pain management. Mady recognized the smell of several key herbs being used to manage the various complex layers of spells. Witch hazel, elmwood, dark grass and boxelder. White Willow had a greenhouse with all of the relevant healing herbs and plants, but Mady was intimately familiar with all of them because of the time she’d spent in her mother’s garden. The mingling scents were potent but comforting.

  “You want to make the first cut?” Croft held a scalpel out to her. It vibrated with a hum of magic.

  Her smile, that he couldn’t see, widened. “Where do I start?” She took the blade, marveling at the ice-cold feel of the metal on her skin. This was a dream come true and she wished she could savor the rush longer.

  Croft pointed to the x-ray. “The spikes that are causing the most trouble are along that side. You’ll need to cut from sternum to belly button. A light touch, not a lot of flesh here to open and no fat to speak of. So be careful, okay?”

  Mady’s smile faded as reality sank in. Do not fuck this up! She readjusted her hold on the blade and remembered what it was like to dissect the bodies that had been used for training purposes when she’d been in her surgical prep course over the summer. While a witch’s deceased flesh was stiff and leathery to the touch, it didn’t take much to slice it with a well-sharpened, magically imbued blade. A live witch’s skin was even more delicate.

  Her hand shook slightly. Right, go gently. She willed her fingers to stop quivering.

  Croft put his hand over hers and helped her position it just right. With a slight push, he guided her hand down so that the tip of the blade was angled to pierce. “Break the skin and the knife will know what to do. I’ll start layering a counter curse just in case the boils react to our magic signatures.”

  She flicked her eyes to hi
m. “Okay, got it.”

  He nodded once then let her hand go.

  She sucked in a deep breath. Closed her eyes for a second. Piece of cake. She opened her eyes and let her breath go.

  There was a slight pulse of something rolling just under the patient’s skin. She frowned and narrowed her eyes. Had she just seen that, right? With a delicate probe, she attempted to tap into his system with her powers. Her unique gift, when it worked right, was to detect ailments and diagnose medical problems. It was a natural gift and not an exact science, but something she had been trying to hone now that she was an intern. A lot of what she did still involved gut instinct.

  She felt a current of…what was that? Poison? Toxin? She concentrated on that feeling, tracing it along a path of—

  “Mady?” Croft’s voice held a note of frustration. “We don’t have a lot of time here. You need me to do it?” He moved his hand as if to take the blade.

  Mady refocused. Right. Surgery. This guy had a curse with boils that grew spikes. Nothing more than that. And that was enough on its own.

  She pushed the knife down. Blood welled. The vibration of the blade tingled her fingers and suddenly it was moving, parting skin, exposing blood vessels, then organs, then black pulsing spikes and she was nothing more than a conduit and a guide, moving the blade down his body.

  She marveled at the sight of it all. Pulsing organs, blood pooling, spikes shuddering, rippling with some malevolent force. Oh goddess! “Croft, it’s sentient. It’s going to strike!”

  The spikes contracted and then stretched, piercing outward, sharp tips ripping into organs, bursting blood vessels, annihilating arteries. But Croft was working quickly, his hands practically inside the patient as he slipped the blade along the outer edge of the base of the spikes, fighting with the things that were suddenly very much alive and reacting. She’d only ever read about this kind of thing happening. A curse that was free-thinking, able to adapt to different scenarios and anticipate moves that were designed to end the curse’s life.