by Pepper North
“Yes, droblin. I will never lie to you. I apologize for not telling you sooner. That is my secret talent. The one that I have hidden all my life,” he admitted, picking her up in his arms. He quickly contained her indignant struggles to get away. Sitting in the large chair behind his desk, he held her contained, perched on one hard thigh. When she started to yell, he simply covered her lips with one hand and magically silenced her before releasing her mouth.
Indigo stared daggers at him. She tried to remember all the things that had floated through her head that he now knew. Did he listen to her thoughts before she’d arrived? Her hands tightened into angry fists.
“I did not mean to listen to your thoughts. Consider for a moment what it would be like to hear everyone’s inner dialogue. Hundreds of millions of human-like minds bombarding you with thoughts every moment of the day. To keep my sanity, I created walls in my mind to protect myself. I maintain those walls unless there is some particular reason to listen to what someone is saying,” he tried to explain.
Her anger did not lessen. So infuriated that she could barely listen, Indigo only wanted to get away. His strength and magic preventing her just made her angrier.
“There is no one that I care about more than you. I would not invade your privacy unless your security were at risk. I have guarded against invading your privacy all your life.” Hagan paused, letting his words sink in. “I know you are angry, but listen to what I’m telling you. I have not listened to your thoughts.” He brushed his fingers over her lips, releasing them to talk.
“How did you know what I was thinking?” she accused.
“I used the clues you offered me and my knowledge of your personality and inner self. Remember, I have known that you were mine all your life. My insight into how you react and feel is on the level of someone who has been married for twenty-two years. I know you. Just as you will know me as well after a couple dozen years together as well,” he reassured her with hands running up and down her arms.
After several seconds, he added, “You grinned at me with the same expression that I gave you. It was easy to realize that your thoughts were the same as mine.” Hagan let that sink in before adding, “I will admit that I will always hear anything you think with great emotion—both positive and negative.”
“But otherwise, you’re not listening?” she skeptically probed.
“Unless I feel that you are in danger, I promise that I will try not to listen to your thoughts,” he promised. “There are times when your thoughts burst into my mind with a determination that I cannot ignore. If it makes you feel better, you are the closest person to my heart and being. Our connection will allow you to feel my emotions. Not in words but in sentiment.” Hagan took her hand and placed it on his heart.
Instantly, Indigo’s body was flooded with desire, concern, and a feeling of love that she had never experienced. Her eyes flew from her fingers, pressed against his chest to meet his adoring gaze. Indigo’s lips responded to the emotions and his expression, relaxing from the tight, angry purse to spread in a tentative smile. “I can feel what’s inside you,” she whispered.
“I’m glad. Soon our bond will be even stronger. Then, my power to read minds will be inconsequential between us. We will both perceive the other’s emotions and thoughts, not in an invasive way, but in an intimate way,” he reassured her.
“Like my grandparents were when I was a kid. They just looked at each other, and you knew they were talking to each other with their eyes. I loved that,” she smiled fondly at the sweet memory.
“We won’t even need our eyes to meet,” he answered as he watched her carefully.
“I understand.” Scrutinizing him, she asked, “Any other secret powers that you need to share with me?”
Laughing, Hagan released all his holds on her. “Other than the normal sorcerer stuff, I’m totally powerless.”
“Yeah, right.”
Chapter 15
“Let’s go look in my library. There’s something I want to share with you,” Hagan said, setting her back on her feet. “You lead the way, blueness. I want to see if you can find the room. It will change places each time or randomly stay the same.”
Indigo led the way to the hallway and hesitated. She looked at all the lights on the left where the room had been hidden, but she couldn’t find the symbol. Looking baffled, she glanced back at Hagan. “It’s gone,” she complained.
“It is still there. You have only checked one side. Look on the other side,” he suggested.
“But there are rooms that back up against this wall. There can’t be another room on that side!” she protested as she automatically started searching the scones for the sign. “It’s there!” she announced, bouncing lightly on her toes.
“Try making Stretch,” he reminded her.
Nodding, she turned to look at the wall. As she raised her hand to draw her stuffie’s shape, she studied the wall. With each gesture of her hand, the blank wall became more transparent, revealing the large wooden door more and more until it stood in front of her as she drew on the tail with a final flourish! Indigo held her breath as with a spine-tingling creak, the door opened.
“I did it, Pappa! I did it!” she celebrated, dancing around in front of him.
“You did, indeed. Very good, droblin. I am proud of you,” Hagan said, sweeping her up in his arms to give her a celebratory bear hug.
The thrill of accomplishment and the praise of her sorcerer combined to make Indigo happier and prouder of herself than she had been in a long time. She beamed at Hagan and threw her arms around the immense sorcerer to hug him. Or, at least embrace all of him that she could wrap herself around.
Indigo pressed a quick kiss to his jaw before turning around to peek into the somber library as Hagan pushed the creaking door open. Shivering, she looked back to him, making sure it was okay to come into this scary-looking room. It had a musty scent that she recognized. That was the smell of dust and old paper.
Hagan smiled encouragingly before he blew a gust of air into the room. Candles began glowing from wax-dripped holders all over the library. Bookshelves of ancient-looking tomes lined the wall ahead of her, and a massive desk dominated the room in the center. The shimmering lights pushed the shadows into the corners, upgrading the room from a scary place to an area with lots of character in her mind.
“Everything in this room is protected. Even my power of reading minds is blocked by the spell infusing this room once it is locked,” Hagan explained. “It is a very special room and was constructed to be very secure.
As long as her Pappa was inside with her, Indigo was okay with the room. She didn’t want to think about having to open the room alone and hide in here. Pushing that from her mind, she wiggled in Hagan’s arms wishing to get down to explore. She paused when his large hand squeezed her reddened buttock firmly to remind her to behave.
“I’ll be good. I promise. You said you wanted to show me something,” Indigo blurted to distract the sorcerer who raised one warning eyebrow.
“Come sit on my lap,” he instructed firmly as he walked over to the massive chair to take a seat. Holding her in place with one hand, he marked his place in the enormous reference books in front of him before he methodically finished clearing a space. The seriousness and care that he took in guarding his studies spoke loudly to her even in his silence.
He did, however, gently bounce her on his knee as he was completing his tasks. Indigo smiled, aware that he was paying attention to her as she was waiting. That smile grew wider when he finished and kissed her on the temple.
“Now, blueness. I am ready to show you something important.” He moved his fingers in a very complicated pattern.
Indigo had time to think briefly that she was glad she only had to draw Stretch when a slot into absolute darkness tore through one of the library walls, pushing all other thoughts from her mind. She shivered as she watched something begin to float through the opening. It drifted slowly toward the desk in front of her and settled sile
ntly on the wooden surface.
Leaning forward, she looked down to see a large flat stone with twelve small, raised domes arranged in one larger circle. She remembered seeing this sign before. “I’ve seen this. A man tried to deliver something to my apartment. He left a sticky note on my door with this symbol on it. Then, it appeared again on the trucks that tried to abduct me.”
“I will need to share this with the other sorcerers when we discuss the events that preceded your transportation here,” Hagan murmured as he made a mental note for himself.
Indigo scanned the design carefully. She hadn’t noticed that symbol. The one in the center-a lightning bolt jagged across the stone. Something was threatening about that symbol. She knew that it was not a good sign. Indigo shivered again.
Eight of the smaller circles glowed different colors. Indigo’s eyes traced each one from the first to the last: purple, light gold, greenish-brown, deep red, white, pink, pale blue, dark gold, and four stone-colored opaque disks. Her hand reached out automatically to touch it as if drawn toward the stone. She jumped as Hagan’s hand quickly pulled her fingers away.
“Is it going to hurt me?” she asked, looking back over her shoulder at the strong, magical being behind her. She sensed that there was some reason that he was keeping her from touching the stone.
“I understand that you will feel a zing as you touch it. Nothing painful but almost like a brief electrical spark,” Hagan reassured her. “Do you see the symbol in the middle?”
“Yes,” she nodded. Her eyes were drawn to the lightning bolt.
“Exact copies of this stone were discovered in twelve sorcerers’ gardens at the same time. Each began glowing purple when Violet, Garrick’s droblin, touched the stone. Prior to the stone appearing, the other twelve sorcerers and I knew each other but were not friends. The Sorcerers of Bairn are solitary creatures. We do not trust each other because of the magical theft and attacks that have occurred throughout history.”
“Did you say that someone named Violet touched the stone in her garden, and everyone’s began to glow purple?” Indigo asked, caught by the parallel between the other droblin and herself.
“Yes. All the droblins who are connected to this stone have color names: Violet, Marigold, Hazel, Sienna, Pearl, Primrose, Sky, Amber, and you,” Hagan confirmed.
“There are four unlit circles,” Indigo rushed to point out.
“Yes. For the four droblins who haven’t yet touched a stone: Indigo, Scarlet, Jade, and Rose.”
“When I touch the stone, everyone’s stone will begin to glow blue?” she guessed.
“Yes. There have also been attacks on the droblin who touches the stone. So far, the sorcerers have worked together to defeat the evil that is trying to stop the twelve droblins from all existing together at the same time. Since the stones began to glow, the sorcerers have been studying our ancient resources. We know something is going to happen that will likely change our world. Others outside of our united core are trying anything possible to prevent it from happening. As we have been trying to stop them,” Hagan explained.
She could tell that he was trying not to scare her while at the same time underlining why it was vital for her to heed his words and follow his directions. Indigo leaned back against him to distance herself from the stone. “What kind of attacks? Has anyone been hurt?”
“There have been attempts to eliminate the droblins,” he confirmed. “We have been stronger and craftier than those against us. The droblins themselves have assisted greatly. When we discovered that the attacks had begun before the last droblins’ birthdays, they began working together with the sorcerer whose droblin is next to arrive to warn her.”
“That piece of paper stuck between the forms in my pile at work! They did that?” She pulled the image of the paper up into her mind. Mentally counting the lines again, her eyes flew open. “Eight! Eight droblins have arrived before me. The same sentence was written eight times on that mysterious warning: Do not trust anyone until your Daddy can protect you!”
“It was their way of warning you. And thank goodness they did,” Hagan exclaimed. “Your last days away from me were treacherous. I could not get to you, and you couldn’t get to me. Thank goodness you were smart and heeded their warning. If you had opened that door…” his voice trailed off.
She shivered against him. As bad as it had been to experience the attempts to get to her, she couldn’t imagine how bad it had been for a powerful sorcerer to be completely powerless. “Do I have to touch it now?” she asked, meeting his eyes.
“No, blueness. You do not need to touch it at this moment—but soon,” he answered. Without hesitating, he gestured for the stone to rise and leave the study.
Instantly the atmosphere seemed to lighten. Hagan smiled at Indigo. “Shall we get out of this dusty study and go play in your nursery?” he suggested.
“Yes. Let’s leave this room. But I want to do something else,” she answered as he stood and began to carry her from the room.
“Ah,” Hagan looked at his droblin with delight. “What would you like to do? Go play in the garden?”
“No. I want to bond,” she answered, capturing his surprised gray eyes with her blue ones.
“Do you know what that means?” he asked with a smile.
“I want you to make love to me,” she said evenly.
“This is not a step that we can undo, blueness.” His eyes studied her face, trying to make sure she understood the finality of the bonding.
“I’m counting on you to make it worth my while,” she said seriously. Her lips tilted up slightly at the corners. She held her breath, waiting to see how he would react.
That same breath came gushing out of her as Hagan lifted her high into the air and tossed her toward the ceiling far above his head. As she came down, he turned her body to drape her over his shoulder.
Whack! Indigo reared up to glare at the back of his head. “No spanking, Pappa!” she said, sternly.
With a laugh, he started jogging down the hallway. Whack, whack, whack! “No telling your Pappa what to do, blueness!” he teased.
She relaxed over his shoulder, realizing that these swats were not as hard as her punishment spanking had been. She grinned at his back before reaching out one daring hand to deliver three spanks of her own to the firm flesh that moved so enticingly.
The world suddenly spun on its axis as Hagan quickly lowered her body onto a large soft bed. “Spank your Pappa, will you?” he asked with a grin before dropping to his knees on the floor beneath the foot of the bed. Quickly, he unfastened her unused diaper and dissolved her t-shirt from her body.
“Hey! I liked Stretch,” she protested the loss of the shirt with her stuffie’s picture.
“I’ll make you a few more… dozen,” he answered, allowing his eyes to drift over her exposed body.
Indigo’s breath froze in her lungs as Hagan’s eyes met hers. The absolute passion that radiated from his gaze pushed her arousal to an instant inferno. She watched his mouth lower to press a kiss to her bare mound. At the feel of his lips on her now so sensitive skin, she felt slick fluid answer his caress. She lifted her hips to get closer to his mouth.
Instantly, one large hand spread against her abdomen to press her firmly to the soft surface. With an evil chuckle, Hagan began to kiss her, moving up her body, sending ripples of sensations through her skin. At the edge of her ribcage, Hagan’s kisses paused as that restraining hand lifted. His warm fingertips slowly began drawing a line down the center of her torso.
Holding perfectly still as his touch tingled down her body, Indigo responded urgently as his fingertips skimmed the beginning of her cleft. “Please, please!” she begged, urging his fingers to drift closer to her core as she attempted to curl her pelvis upward.
“Droblin, do you wish my fingers to touch you here?” he asked, brushing his fingers along the sensitive lips.
“Yes! Please!” Indigo wrapped her hands around his shoulders to tug his body up. When his lips fastened
around one beaded nipple, her fingers released his body to cradle the back of Hagan’s head and hold him to her breast. Her gaze rolled up to the ceiling as his mouth sucked.
Overwhelmed by the exquisite assault on two sensitive areas of her body, Indigo splayed her thighs to allow him to caress her as he wished. She held her breath as those firm lips released one nipple to kiss their way to the other. His mouth began to nibble and suck at her other peak just as one questing finger began to push into her body.
“Hagan!” she moaned as that one finger glided from her body only to be replaced by two. Her lips tried to rise again as his digits began to widen her tight passage to allow him to enter her without pain. The stretch of her body, combined with the warm feel of his mouth around her, made her squirm restlessly.
He released her nipple to begin moving up the cord of her throat. Indigo moaned in pleasure as his fingers began to withdraw to circle and tap against her clitoris before gliding back deep into her body. When his lips kissed along her jawline, she eagerly pulled him close for a deep kiss.
With a swift motion as he caressed the sensitive bud at the top of her vagina, Hagan reversed their positions to balance Indigo on his pelvis. A simple flourish of one hand erased his clothing, leaving them skin to skin. The powerful sorcerer removed his caressing hand and pulled his droblin against the base of his rigid shaft.
Lifting and lowering her body against his erection, Hagan groaned when one of her hands wrapped around the head of his penis. Indigo smiled at that sound. She wanted to bring him pleasure. She lifted up on her knees slightly to try to scoot backward to lean over to taste his body.
Her sorcerer had other ideas in mind. As she rose, he lifted her body and fit her tight opening to his tip. “Go slowly, blueness,” he cautioned as he began to allow her to lower her body around his erection. The transfer of power shifted back and forth between the two. Indigo, easily distracted from her earlier plans, tried to sink quickly around Hagan’s thick shaft while he held her hips tightly to prevent her from going too fast.
