by Quinn Loftis
“What do you mean?”
“I mean the fact that you told everyone you were going to sacrifice yourself for Jewel.”
“And?” She raised her eyebrows. Lucian rarely showed any frustration with her, but when he did, his reasoning was fair. He wasn’t one to complain without cause, so Peri made sure she gave him all of her attention.
“And don’t you think that’s something you should have discussed with me before you made the declaration? After all, we’re bonded. It’s not just your life you are sacrificing.”
Peri interlaced their fingers and sighed. “I didn’t think I had to discuss it with you. I know you, Lucian, and I know you’d lay down your life for any one of those girls, especially Jewel, after what she’s been through.”
“That may be, but we are a team, Perizada. Even after all this time, you still refuse to allow my help.”
A sting of separation echoed in the bond. Everything a wolf was, and designed to be, was unified. The function of the man and his wolf, the wolf and the pack, and the wolf and his mate, was meant for unification. Loyalty and dependence upon a pack were encoded onto the spirit of the Canis Lupus. The fae weren’t made like that.
Peri sighed. “I know. I know. But thousands of years of independence don’t magically disappear overnight. Cut me some slack.”
“I can do that,” he said, “if you promise you’ll try to at least remember to consult me on decisions before you make them, especially when they involve the word sacrifice.”
While the fae weren’t created to be co-dependent, she could bend for her mate.
“I’m consulting with you now,” she said. “What do you think we should do?”
“Before or after we play out that little vision I sent you earlier?” he asked.
With the trace of betrayal gone, desire flooded their mate bond, causing her skin to flush.
“Don’t change the subject. As a matter of fact,”—she pulled away from him and stuck her chin up in the air—“I don’t think you should be touching me at all.”
“Perizada.” He growled. “What are you talking about?”
She shouldn’t push his buttons. Really. She shouldn’t. But if she could hold back, she wouldn’t be the woman he fell in love with, right?
“Well,” she said, “the healers and their mates can’t perform the Blood Rites, otherwise the sacrifice will kill them both. And I’ve forbidden them to touch so they all remain pure so the spell to save them will have a chance at success. And Dalton and Jewel can’t touch each other anyway or the darkness inside him grows.”
“Your point?” He hissed in a completely un-Lucian way as his head tilted in a wolf-like manner.
Keeping her face as serious as she could, she shrugged one shoulder. “You’ve heard of leading by example, Lucian. It’s only right that if the wolves can’t touch their mates, then their fearless leader should abstain as well.”
“You’re joking.”
There was nothing sexier than her mate with glowing eyes looking like he wanted to teach her a physical lesson. He was mouthwatering when he was calm, but he was pure temptation when he was so close to the edge of sanity, and the epitome of passion when he went over the edge.
One more push ought to do it.
“I’m not joking.” She raised her chin even higher and turned away. “It would be a nice show of solidarity from you. Restraint will be good for me, too. Like I said before, I don’t need any distractions right now.”
“Peri, you know me as a patient man …” His breath was on the back of her throat, sending her heart racing.
“The most patient, which is why you shouldn’t have a problem fighting off your carnal desires for a while, at least until this all blows over.”
The breath on her neck was gone.
“So, you want me to keep my carnal thoughts to myself?” he said from a distance. “And keep them from flowing to you through our bond?”
Turning, she found him across the room. Keeping the distance as she’d asked. Peri frowned. “Yes.” She breathed.
The curve of his lips told her she was the bunny to this wolf, the prey to the predator. Her muscles tightened in anticipation.
“And if I begin thinking about running my fingers through your silky, white hair, then I should just keep that thought to myself?”
She thought about his large hands and the strands of her hair entwined between them. A semblance of the experience grazed through her white hair. “My hair is silky, isn’t it?”
“The silkiest,” he said before sending her an image of himself running a brush through her locks as they sat together in front of a fireplace, her naked skin glowing under the warm flames.
Her own moan broke through the evoked romantic atmosphere, snapping her out of the image. “Definitely keep such thoughts to yourself,” she snapped.
“And if I begin to imagine myself slowly placing my lips on your ruby red ones, I shouldn’t share that either?”
A ghost of his lips rubbed over hers. His breath mingled with hers. Snapping her eyes to his, he still stood on the other side of the room looking too innocent for her liking.
“Nope,” she said flatly.
He sent her an image of them sitting on a blanket under a starlit sky, their lips a fraction of an inch apart.
“Stop it,” she said. “I know what you are trying to do.” His silver eyes swam in her mind’s eye, staring deep into her own as she imagined him putting his lips on hers. The pressure of his soft mouth had her trembling.
“And if I were to think about placing my hand … just here …” He reached out and placed his hand on the back of her neck and gently turned her to face him. How he crossed the room so quickly was lost on her. “And my other hand … I don’t know … here?” He placed his free hand on the small of her back and pulled her closer. “I shouldn’t let you know where I want to put my hands.”
“Keep your hands and your thoughts to yourself.” Her protest held no strength as he dug into her flesh with a grip promising pleasure.
“So, I should let you go right now, then?” he asked and then leaned forward, placing a small kiss on the crease of her neck above the collarbone. Peri shivered in spite of herself. She needed to pull away but her mate wasn’t playing fair. “Lucian,” she whispered as her head fell to the side, fully exposing her neck. He growled as his teeth latched onto her flesh.
Lucian understood his mate’s need to join the healers in their separation from their mates and he would allow her that … after. The fact of the matter was that he and Peri were mated. Their bond was complete and the need to reinforce the bond, to re-establish the bite on her skin, was as fundamental to him as breathing. He pulled her closer, angled her throat a little lower, and then sunk his teeth deep into her throat. Lucian heard her gasp and felt her arms wrap around him as she pressed closer.
“You are mine, female.” He growled into her mind. “And I am yours. I have need of you and, whether you want to admit it or not, you have need of me.” Her warm blood coated his mouth and his throat as he drank in her essence, loving that her scent was mingled with his own. He pulled back and licked the wound. Peri’s eyes were hazy with desire, and Lucian wanted to howl in victory as he stared at her. She was breathtaking in her passion. “Your turn, mate,” he said as he pulled her face toward his neck. “I need you, Perizada. And you need me.”
“Yes,” she whispered as she kissed his throat in the spot where she’d bitten him so many times before. A few seconds later, Lucian felt her teeth pierce his flesh, and he was lost in the euphoria of her bite. He could feel the warmth of her magic flowing over both of them, and her hands were everywhere even though he knew they were actually only wrapped around his neck. She was using her power to overwhelm his senses.
Lucian’s hands had a mind of their own as they began tugging at her clothes. He heard the fabric rip, but as soon as his hands hit bare skin, he didn’t care about the damage to her clothes. The only thing
he could think about was feeling all of her. His wolf was just as desperate as the man to be flesh-on-flesh with their mate. He finally had her all to himself, and he wasn’t about to give that time up without a fight, even if he had to fight dirty.
“Lucian.” Peri breathed out as she lifted her head from his neck.
“You don’t want me to stop,” he said as he picked her up and carried her to their bed. Lucian laid her down and continued pulling her clothes off until she was finally bare. His body immediately covered her own, and he didn’t give her time to protest. His lips followed his hands as he touched every inch of skin, reveling in the sounds she made because of him. No other could ever make her feel the way he did. No other would ever be able to satisfy her as he would, and he wasn’t about to lie and say he didn’t take great pride in those facts.
“You’re doing an awful lot of thinking for a man who is attempting to seduce his mate,” Peri said as she tugged at his clothes. A moment later, Lucian was completely naked. It made him chuckle anytime she used her magic to take her own clothes off or his. His mate was impatient and she was giving in.
“I would say attempting isn’t the correct description. I would say, lovely female, that I have succeeded in seducing my mate.”
“Less talk, wolf.” She growled. “Less talk, more touch.”
“As my lady wishes,” Lucian said as he focused his full attention on her body. He couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face as she pushed his hands where she wanted them. So demanding, his mate, but he wouldn’t change her. And he was happy to let her think she was in control, for now.
Minutes turned into an hour, and an hour turned into two as he indulged his mate’s every thought and desire. Lucian left no inch of Peri’s body un-worshipped, and when she was convinced she’d had enough, he proved her wrong by teasing her until she was begging him for more. When Lucian was done loving his mate, she was going to be pissed because she was going to be too exhausted to truly be angry at him and too sated to regret it. When he gave her one last deep kiss and breathed in her satisfied sigh, Lucian decided she’d had enough.
“Maybe it is you who has had enough,” Peri purred at him. Her fingers drew lazy circles across his chest and his wolf rumbled with contentment.
Lucian chuckled as he tucked her against him. “I could never get enough of you. But I worry if we keep going, then you will be completely worthless to your charges. My goal was to recharge us both, not put us both into carnal stupors.”
Peri raised up on her elbows, giving him a tantalizing view of the tops of her breasts. “Carnal stupors? Really?”
“What would you call it?” he asked, raising his eyes from her chest to her annoyed gaze.
“Sex coma?”
Lucian pursed his lips as he cupped her jaw. “That is crass.”
She laughed as she pulled away from his hold. “It is accurate and a very real risk. And you are correct. I am pissed that I am not angry with you. I’m also irritated you were right. I needed you. Thank you.” Kissing a line down his bare chest, she stopped at the sheet.
“That was hard for you, wasn’t it?” he asked.
Peri picked up her head to look at him. “What? Admitting you were right?” Her eyebrow rose in a sarcastic challenge he wanted to meet with a bite to her white skin.
“Admitting you were wrong,” he corrected.
She shook her head. “I never admitted I was wrong. I just admitted you were more right. There’s a difference.”
“Of course there is,” he said, shaking his head.
“I need to get back to Jezebel’s to check on Jewel and Anna, then I’ll see how our friends at the veil are getting on. Hopefully, they’ve managed to crack Volcan’s spell and open the damn thing,” she said as she crawled from their bed. He didn’t have time to enjoy the view of her glorious body because she was dressed by the time she was standing. Damn fae magic.
“Then, I’ve got to figure out how we are going to get out of this mess for good. Thad needs to de-spell those pages for us, and translate them. But it’s up to us to perform the spell and keep everyone alive. I need to be sure all the details are worked out before the ritual begins. Which is going to require a blood sacrifice, something important, but also not kill anyone. You figure that out for me and then we can continue attempting to drive ourselves into that carnal stupor thing, as you called it.”
Lucian groaned. “Don’t worry, my love. You have a centuries-old djinn helping you, Jezebel, and a gypsy genius. Between the four of you, you’ll be able to come up with something. And I will hold you to that promise. You owe me a carnal stupor.”
“You better hope we can figure it out. Otherwise, this fantasy carnal stupor will be something you will be pursuing on your own with pruny fingers from all your cold showers.” With a wink of her pale green eyes, a stream of cold air glided over his skin, causing goosebumps to appear.
“You are a cruel, cruel woman who needs to be spanked.” Lucian dragged the covers up to his neck to ward off the magic.
“You like it.”
“Spanking you? I’m beginning to think it is definitely something I could find pleasure in.” His eyes followed the dips of her curves with a renewed hunger.
“Watch it, wolf. I might not turn you into anything unsavory because I like your hands too much, but that doesn’t mean I can’t find other ways to make you pay,” she promised.
“Of that, I have no doubt, my love. Now be on your way and be safe. I love you.” Using the bond, he placed a cracking slap on her sultry backside. With a jump, she rubbed the offended area with a laugh.
Peri’s features softened. “I love you back. See you soon.”
***
“Before you try to talk us out of it, let me save you some time and breath,” said Stella. She was staring daggers at Ciro, Kale, and Nick. “We’re doing it. Jewel and Anna need us. They’ve been out there this whole time without us. That shouldn’t have happened. We’re all in this together. They’re witches, so we will be witches, too. I’m not abandoning those girls to any more of Volcan’s torture.”
“No, no,” said Kale. “That’s not what we’re saying. We’re not going to try and talk you out of performing the spell. Volcan has to have his witches. We get that. We know we couldn’t stop you if we tried. Frankly, as gypsy healers, there is no way you could not help your friends, or anyone in need for that matter. It’s in your nature.”
“We just want you to understand what all it entails,” added Ciro as he folded his hands in his lap, his elbows balanced on the arms of chair closest to Stella.
“And how would you all know what it entails?” asked Stella punctuating the challenge of her question with an eyebrow raise.
“Peri came and spoke with us about it.”
“To you?” said Stella. “Why did she speak with you? We’re the ones about to go all ‘I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too.’”
“Peace, mate,” said Ciro and held up a hand. “Peri came to us because she thinks she has an idea of how to allow you all to become witches but not go all ‘I’ll get you, my pretty,’ as you so eloquently put it.”
“You mean we can let Jewel turn us into witches but not become evil?” asked Heather.
“Exactly,” said Nick. “And we asked Peri to allow us to speak with you all about it.”
“Then there must be a big catch. Otherwise, she’d be here and this would already be done.” Heather snorted, which earned her a nip on the ear by Kale’s sharp canines.
“Let us explain,” Kale said after removing his teeth from her ear.
“Ouch,” she said. “Do it again.” He did and she giggled.
Stella studied her hands, avoiding the play between the other couple. Watching their level of intimacy was causing her to feel pressure to behave in the same manner with Ciro. The giggles. The touching. The PD-freaking-A. She’d never be comfortable with that in a million years.
Peace flowed through he
r bond with Ciro. “I would never require more than you are willing to give, Stellina. You are still the star that guides us.”
Turning her gaze on him, she saw his dark eyes boring tenderly into hers. She trusted him, of course, but some walls weren’t easily toppled.
Ciro cleared his throat. “There’s always a catch when Peri is involved. Jewel and Anna have found out what it takes to become a witch. We know, now, why their attempts have failed.”
Stella shook her head, trying to clear it of the insecurity that was so pervasive a moment before.
“How?” said Kara.
“Finding out was easy, apparently. They just asked Anna’s mom,” Kale said, taking his mouth from Heather’s ear. All eyes, save Heather’s, turned to Kale, who only had eyes for his mate.
“Huh?” said Heather.
“Yeah, news flash,” added Nick. “Anna’s mother is a witch, and Anna didn’t even know.” Kara covered her mouth in shock, but Nick kept hold of the other hand.
“Ouch,” said Stella. “And I thought my family had issues.”
“Jezebel, that’s Anna’s mom, has always been aware of the supernatural world and how dangerous it is. So, she kept her true identity from Anna to keep her safe. I guess it didn’t work out like she planned,” continued Nick.
“The dangers of the supernatural world found her in a big way,” said Heather with a sad shake of her head.
“Regardless,” said Ciro, “Jezebel knew, not only why Jewel and Anna’s attempts at making witches have failed, but also, and maybe more importantly for our purposes, how a person might become a witch without turning evil.”
“And that’s where we come in,” Heather interjected.
“Aye,” agreed Kale.
“Well, go ahead, spill it,” said Stella rolling her hand for him to go on. It would have been easier getting tips dancing at the bar on a Monday afternoon than getting information from this crowd. Ciro growled in her mind, and she realized she couldn’t let that kind of sarcasm fly if she didn’t shut down the mental link first.
