Order of the Akasha: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Complete Series)

by E. M. Moore

  “Yes. And you are?”

  She hiked her thumb to the store next door. “Madame Serena. Medium, spiritualist, psychic guide.”

  She held out her hand, and I shook it. She looked exactly like the type who would introduce themselves as a medium, spiritualist, and psychic guide. I smiled neighborly anyway. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Sorry about looking in your windows. I’ve just been curious about what’s going in over here with all the work that’s been going on.”

  I shimmied around her and put a hand on the front door. “Hopefully it didn’t disturb you too bad.”

  “Oh no,” she said, laughing. “It was nice. I happen to have a thing for construction workers, so…” She lifted a shoulder and I full-on smiled now. Randy would look amazing in a dirty t-shirt with his sleeves rolled up, muscles bulging out, and dirt stains on his cheeks. He said he’d come visit me after his personal training sessions at the gym. Unfortunately, he’d left far earlier than the rest of us had that morning. “So, when are you opening?” she asked, pulling me out of my dirty thoughts.

  I looked up at the big sign that said next Monday.

  She chuckled nervously. “And I always hate it when my customers don’t read signs either. It’s a constant struggle. You’ll see.”

  We were stuck in a lull now. I really wanted to get inside and enjoy my shop by myself. To peruse it without the guys looking over my shoulder, to get to know every nook and cranny, but it seemed as if Madame Serena had other ideas. “How’s the medium business going?”

  “Just wonderful,” she said, gazing up at her own store with pride. “My mom had the shop before me, passed it to me along with her specialties.” Madame Serena did something in the air with her hands that looked something akin to jazz hands. Was that sign language for magic? I wasn’t sure. “You know something about that, don’t you?”

  She eyed me, her dark eyes twinkling. My hand itched to open the door and go inside, but there was something about the way she stared at me that unnerved me. “What do you mean?”

  “About powers getting passed down to you. I sense the same thing happened in your case, a grandmother perhaps?”

  Hmm. The guys had said this woman was a nut case, but she was pretty spot on at the moment. “Um, something like that. In my family, it’s a female line thing. My mother was a great witch, too. Voodoo,” I explained, looking again to the window decals Liam suggested we purchase to explain everything happening inside my shop.

  “Just wonderful, isn’t it?” Her hands came together in front of her, and she laced them one-by-one before stepping up on her tiptoes. “Well, I won’t keep you any longer. If you ever need anything, I’m right next door. Free reading,” she said, shrugging. “I do that for every new business owner on this street.” She turned and gave me a smile over her shoulder. “Have a good day now, Dear.” The bell above her store door rang as she pulled it open. She stepped inside, but then leaned back out, her shawl almost hitting the sidewalk at her feet. “That’s just one free reading, Dear. You understand.”

  “Um, yeah. Thanks.”

  The woman beamed and then finally stepped inside fully, the door closing behind her. Yeah, ‘kay. That woman was odd, but I couldn’t say she was a nut job like the guys thought. She was crazy, but there might’ve been something magical to her. I wasn’t sure she was exactly a fraud.

  I slipped the key from my jeans and unlocked the door before letting myself in. Turning around, I immediately locked the door and made sure the Coming Soon was still properly displayed in the front door and window. That was one thing Madame Serena had gotten right. People did not look at signs. There could be a sign announcing that everything on one shelf was five dollars and I would inevitably get the “How much is this?” question.

  One-by-one, I turned on the lights and made my way to the back of the store. Moving to Salem had been a big step. If it weren’t for who waited for me here, I would’ve been freaking out, but who wouldn’t be excited about what was happening here? Aside from the whole Dupre/Jay thing, I hadn’t been happier in a long time. I had a purpose, I had some hot men, I had…opportunities. Regardless of anything else anyone had in store for me, I’d come through it. Plus, I had the protection of myself, and four other insanely talented witches. I couldn’t be safer anywhere else. Going back to New Orleans became a non-option.

  I moved into the back storage room and decided to start my day there. Merchandise had been shipped and delivered while the workers were in here arranging the store and they’d left the back to arrange as I wanted. Randy had put up the racks of storage shelves that I’d need, but I wanted to put everything away myself so I knew where everything should be. It would be easier to do inventory that way, as well as stocking the front. After opening all the boxes up and seeing what everything was, I decided to set up the backroom much like the store. Everything near the front of the store was on the first set of shelves and then I moved my way to the other side of the room.

  With all the lifting, bending, and stretching up onto my tiptoes, I was sweaty in no time. I took the hair tie I kept around my wrist and put my hair up to keep it off my neck. Then, I grabbed some water from the water cooler station Gabe had wanted me to put in. I’d thought it was strange, but since I was actually using it now, I approved of the idea. I’d have to tell him so when I saw him next.

  Gulping back my second paper cup, I hadn’t noticed that a figure moved in behind me. Hands grabbed around my waist and pulled me backward. I gave a startled cry, but relaxed when I looked down and saw the peek of ink. “Jesus, Randy. You scared the shit out of me.”

  He chuckled low into my neck. “Didn’t the bell go off?”

  I tossed the paper cup in the garbage and grabbed onto his arms. Peeking up at the small box over the doorway of the backroom, I frowned. A bell was supposed to go off back here when someone came in the front. That way there would never be someone alone in the front of the shop. “No, it didn’t. That’s weird.”

  “Oh,” he said. “So, does that mean no one will disturb us if we help ourselves to one another back here?”

  His hands moved up my torso to cup my breasts. “No,” I said, a little breathless already. “That just means we won’t have any warning if someone else decides to come in.”

  He squeezed my breast, and I bit my lip. “Hmm. I don’t care either way. It’s not like we haven’t had an audience before.”

  Or been the audience either, I thought.

  I tilted my head back and lifted my arms to clasp around Randy’s neck. Kissing him once on the lips, I turned in his arms. He was so addictive. As big as he was, he made me feel, not small, but protected, whenever I was with him. As if nothing would ever come between him and I. I ran my hands up his forearms to his shoulders and moaned as he deepened the kiss. “You’ve been naughty, you know that, don’t you, Norah?”

  “Oh?”

  “Mmm,” he said, his lips vibrating against my cheek as he kissed his way to my neck. “You spend time with Gabe, and Liam. Don’t think I didn’t see that look on his face this morning. It made me jealous as fuck.”

  I caught his chin with my hand and forced him to look at me. “You know you can have me whenever you want.”

  He picked me up and set my bottom down on the desk behind us. “Now, that sounds tempting.” He spread my legs open and stepped inside them. “In the middle of the night?”

  He arched an eyebrow, and I nodded eagerly.

  He brought his hand up and pressed a thumb to my clit. “What about in the morning before I go to work?”

  I liked my sleep, but if it felt anything like this, and it always did, I’d make an exception. “Even then.”

  “What if you’re working with a customer and I just want to bend you over the counter and slide inside you?”

  What was wrong with me that public sex sounded enticing? Nothing, I reminded myself. Absolutely nothing. Just because I was a woman didn’t mean I didn’t like all the naughty stuff, too. “What about christening the b
ackroom?” I suggested.

  Randy nipped at my neck and groaned. “I don’t have a lot of time before I have to head to the tattoo parlor.”

  “I assure you I don’t need time, and trust me, you won’t either.”

  The zipper on my jeans lowered, the sound sending chills through me. He pushed the sides apart and then lifted my ass off the desk to pull my pants and panties around my bum and down my thighs to my ankles. His finger probed the apex of my thighs before teasing my sensitive skin there. My head fell back.

  “This is the sweetest honey right here.”

  “Maybe you should taste it to make sure.”

  “God, you’re fucking killing me. You’re nipping right out of your bra, Norah. It’s like one big tease.”

  “It doesn’t have to be a tease.”

  His hot mouth slid down my neck as he pinched my nipple. “I just spent hours around a bunch of women who think they’re hot shit when they’re nothing compared to you. All I could think about was what you were doing, and if you were okay, and yes, how I’d love to feel your sweet pussy around me again.”

  I placed my hands just under the hem of his sleeveless shirt and worked it off. His muscles bunched underneath my touch, alerting me to just what my touch did to him, and vice versa. From the very beginning, Randy had been the one to catch my eye. It was lust at first sight. Who wouldn’t want to crawl on top of this hunk of a muscled, tattooed man with a glimmering nipple ring? Speaking of…I bent over and ran my tongue over his piercing, taking it in my mouth and sucking it until Randy cursed. “I said you were a tease.”

  “Punish me, then.”

  “You’d like that too much.”

  “You have no idea, cowboy.”

  He nipped at my ear. “I think I do.”

  I slid his athletic pants down until his cock jutted out. It was like instant panty-melting hotness. If my underwear weren’t already off, they would’ve been liquid on the floor.

  His hand tweaked my nipple again and I let out a low mewl. “One of these days, I’m going to take my time with you,” he threatened.

  “Please don’t let today be that day. At least not now. Maybe later?”

  I ran my hand up and down his cock, not that he needed any help. He was already hard as a rock and just waiting to be used for the pleasure of both of us. “Fuck, Norah. If I slide inside you right now, I’m going to be late.”

  “I still think you’re underestimating your sexiness. You should stop doing that and just start fucking me.”

  I played with his tip, and he sucked in a breath. I could tell he was at war with himself, and maybe it was awful of me to try to break him, but I couldn’t deny how much I wanted him right then. Always wanted him, actually.

  Just before I thought I’d gotten to him, a tug started in my lower stomach. It pulled and pulled until a searing pain ripped through my midsection. I released my hold on his cock and doubled over. “Sweet Lord, ow.”

  Randy pulled away. “Norah? What’s wrong?”

  I clamped my mouth tight together and groaned. “My stomach.”

  His eyebrows pulled together. Damn, that concern in his eyes did nothing to stop the still surge of heat that was between us. It only made it worse.

  Then, his eyes widened, and I stilled.

  “Shit,” he said.

  Oh, fuck. I didn’t like the sound of that. “What?”

  8

  Randy had us both dressed within a minute, his hand holding his phone to his ear as he helped me from the store. I leaned my weight against him. Unfortunately, once I looked past the whole sexy business, this feeling did seem similar to something else I’d felt. It wasn’t as bad before. This pull was like nothing else; for lack of a better word, horrid cramps.

  The pull. Toward dark magic.

  “Do you feel anything?” Randy asked.

  I wasn’t sure who he was talking to, but my guess was Liam. Or whoever would pick up if Liam hadn’t.

  “Something. I can’t be sure though. Faint, if anything. Definitely not like before.”

  Randy paused for a second as he took out his own key for the shop and locked up behind us. “I’ve got my bike. I’ll text the address when we get there. Call the others?”

  Randy hung up, slipping his phone in his pocket and then putting his arm around me as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do. I tried not to look as if I was in that much pain as we slipped past the shop windows, including Madame Serena’s where she greeted customer’s inside.

  “You think it’s the pull?” I asked, finally, my teeth still clamped together.

  “I don’t know what else it could be. Can you feel it taking you somewhere? When you think about directions, does it make you want to go one way more than another?”

  Shit. It did. Fuck me. Why was I the only one feeling this? If Randy felt it as intensely as I was, he’d be gritting his teeth right now, too.

  Up ahead, I spotted Randy’s bike. I pointed to it. “Stay straight and then take a right.”

  His face softened and paled at the same time.

  “What do you feel?” I wanted to cross my fingers. I needed him to feel something like I was feeling. I didn’t want the sole responsibility to fall on me.

  He rubbed my shoulder. “One thing at a time, Norah. Let’s just get to this place to see what’s there. You tell me where to go, okay?”

  He handed me the helmet and then hopped on before holding his hand out to help me. I slipped on behind him, wrapping my arms around his stacked torso. The bike was becoming familiar to me now. It was no longer foreign, or scary, and exhilarating. It was peaceful.

  Randy started it, and my whole body vibrated in kind. He patted my hands. “A right up ahead? First one?”

  I nodded and then grimaced. He couldn’t hear my nod. “Yes,” I told him, raising my voice to make sure he could hear me.

  He did as I said, my hands tightening their grip as we turned down the next street. We stayed straight, whizzing past the now busy streets as Salem came alive, quite literally. The pain in my stomach subsided the closer we got. Thank God. I’d have to ask if that was normal. Could Randy feel this? Anything like this? Did he really need me to tell him where to go? Or was this just a test? None of this seemed normal.

  A niggle of a tug started just on the other side of my belly button. I looked around and felt a slight pressure, then relief, when I looked left. I double pumped Randy’s stomach and then said, “Take a left.”

  “Here?”

  “Yes.”

  My insides buzzed, tearing me up with the possibilities that lay ahead. Were we all getting the pull? Did that mean I was truly one of them? On the flip side of that, was Dupre or Jay waiting for us at wherever this feeling was taking us? I sure as hell hoped not. Not that I wouldn’t want the whole thing done and over with, but I really hadn’t planned on fighting today.

  I’d have to get over it since I was a member of The Order. Salem’s safety from black magic should be my only concern. It came before anything. I supposed. I’d really have to ask Randy for a rain check to finish what we’d started in the backroom. Preferably same location, same room, same position because, yeah, that was hot.

  “Here!” I yelled out as soon as the tug came on with a vengeance. I looked up, peering at the street we were on. It looked like most of the neighborhoods close to Historic Salem. Beautiful, quaint, old. Looking inside myself further, there was only one house that seemed to say anything to me. It was like a whisper in the back of my head. “The blue one,” I said, pointing at the house two down from us as Randy slowed the bike.

  He pulled the bike over and helped me off before getting off himself and kicking the kickstand down. Taking my helmet from me, he looked up at the unassuming house. “You sure?”

  “You really don’t feel it?” I asked, doubting myself. What if I’d just sent everyone on a wild goose chase? Was it my time of the month, and I was making up shit in my head?

  I did the calculations and dismissed that theory right
away. No. We weren’t close to that. At least I could save myself from embarrassment on that front. For now.

  He pulled out his phone and sent out a text.

  “Randy?” I watched him slip his phone back into his pocket and stare up at the house. His face was pulled taut in concentration, but there was something else there, too. Sadness, maybe? An intense interest, but also an uncertainty that wasn’t normal around Randy. “What’s going on?”

  “I think you got the pull, Norah.”

  “And you didn’t?”

  He shook his head, his eyebrows pulling in a little more than usual.

  Travis jumped into my head. I hoped to hell he’d felt what I just did. If he didn’t, he was going to hate me even more. He already thought most everything that happened lately was my fault, but now if I got the pull and he didn’t, he’d never forgive me, whether I could control it or not.

  Mistaking my feelings, Randy pulled me close and kissed me on the forehead. His hand rubbed small circles at the small of my back. “It’s okay. We’ll figure all this out.”

  As much as I loved feeling so safe and secure in his arms, I didn’t understand why we were still sitting outside on the sidewalk. If there was something going on in that house, shouldn’t we be checking it out? “Are we waiting for someone?”

  “All of them,” he said. “Liam contacted Gabe and Travis. We’re not taking chances with this one. Our magic has been so off that we need all hands on deck. It shouldn’t take them too long. They were all at the school. Just have to see how long it took them to get out of class, if that’s where they were. Liam was at lunch. Not sure about Gabe or Travis.”

  “Travis,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “He’ll understand.”

  Yeah. Okay. He had more faith in him than I did.

  The big Jeep pulled up a minute later, and Randy and I walked toward it. Travis got out of the driver’s seat and eyed me. “What did it feel like?”

  “Chill, dude.” Liam came around the other side of the car. “Leave her alone.”