by E. M. Moore
“I know you’re planning on going to that family—the Reid’s. Be careful. There are those who have one toe in the dark and one toe in the light. They straddle the line between what’s right and wrong, and you never know what side they’ll come down on.”
“Do you know about familiars? Anything at all?” I asked, not wanting to wait for a trip to the Reid’s to get an answer. Liam needed us now, not later. “Any rumors or fairy tales? You never know what might help.”
She shook her head. “I always lived within the light. I thought it best never to think about the dark, so I’d never have a reason to wonder.” Her shoulders lifted and then fell back down as if she was actually breathing. “I’m sorry you have to go through this, Norah. It’s not the life I wanted you to have. It’s the life I wanted to protect us from.”
And she was nothing if not overprotective in life. “I understand. Being an Enforcer means I have to think about these things though.”
“Not just that,” she said, her gaze focusing on me. “It’s these boys, too. You’re not just doing your job when it comes to helping Liam. You’re doing it to protect the ones you love. That’s just about all we can do with this life to make it perfect. I did my part and now you’re doing yours. I’m proud of you, Norah Girl.”
A small smile split my lips. “Thanks, Granny.”
Her gaze narrowed. “Don’t make me take that back.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The wisps of clouds rolled in, pulling her away from me. I didn’t bother holding my hand out this time to try to touch her. It wouldn’t work, and I’d just leave myself with heartache. The room returned to normal, and I shut my eyes, knowing I was still sleeping, but understanding it was real all the same. If she’d told me before she passed that she’d be visiting me in my dreams and that it would be more real than real life, I would’ve thought she was going nuts. The truth was, I was happy she came to see me in any way she could. Though I was old enough to be on my own, and had been for years, that didn’t mean I didn’t want someone by my side to take the journey with me.
My eyes fluttered awake, for real this time. The room came right into focus, only proving that when Granny came to see me, though real, it was just a dream come true. Those things did actually happen.
I propped myself up on my elbow and smiled down at the still sleeping Travis. He looked the same as in the dream. His bare chest on full display, I almost smirked when I realized Granny hadn’t said anything about it. She commented on my lack of clothes, but not his. Probably because she liked it. I slipped the blanket down, and down further. Every inch it lowered, it revealed the dips of his abs, the shadows his muscles created, then finally, that v that led south. No wonder why the guy was a cocky asshole. He had what most women would call the perfect body. Not too slim, not too big, but generously muscled and sculpted.
I pulled the blanket down a little further, his cock head just revealing itself. He was hard under there. I peeked at his face, wondering if I’d woken him with my perusal of his body, but no, he was still asleep, the corners of his lips tilted up as if he was in some sort of good dream.
I could show him a good dream.
Trying not to move him too much, I inched lower, taking the blanket with me. He was just perfect, standing at attention, as if he was calling to me.
I gripped him in my fist, making small movements upward. He fidgeted, and I smiled. My smile grew as I leaned forward, licking his tip. Mmm. I closed my eyes, doing it again and again. He moaned, and I peeked at him. His eyes were still closed, but his hips came up in slow but sure pumps.
God, yes. I placed my lips around him and urged him into my mouth.
He made a soft moan which only egged me on.
I took all of him inside, fisting him into my mouth. His eyes flew open. He stared down at me in awe, and I smiled, pulling up and then back down over him again.
“Jesus fuck, Norah.” His hands came to rest in my hair, his eyes zeroing in on mine as I took him in my mouth again. In the air, his cinnamon and my sugar mixed, creating an almost aphrodisiac as I worked him upwards. He made small movements into my mouth. When he lifted his hips, I slid a hand under and played with his balls, fondling them until he was short of breath.
“Tell me when,” I told him.
He nodded. “Close,” he said, barely able to get the words out.
I quickened the pace, easing him in and out of my mouth with my lips securely locked around his hard ridges until his hips never went back on the couch cushions.
“Now,” he said. “Fuck, now.”
He went to push me away, but I gripped him tighter. His eyes widened as I flicked my tongue over his tip catching his cum as it flowed into my mouth. He pulsed inside me, his orgasm drawing out, as he chanted my name. When he finished, I swallowed what I had and then licked him before placing the blanket back over him and resuming my position next to him.
I laid my head on his beating chest, playing my fingers over the area where his heart beat the loudest.
“Are you serious?” he asked. “That’s that?”
“I just wanted to say good morning.”
“It’s not morning. We’ve barely slept, Norah.”
“Oh, then maybe ‘happy sleep’? I’m glad you stopped being a douchebag for a whole day, so we could finally do this. It was a present for not being an asshole. Yeah, that’s what it was.”
His green eyes flared, and a teasing grin pulled at his lips. He moved on top of me and kissed his way down my chest, pausing to play with my breasts. “I wish you hadn’t made me come, I would’ve liked to be inside you again.”
“Oh, you wish I hadn’t given you a blow job? Really?”
His grin widened. “Okay, I’m only partly lying. That was the absolute best way to get woken up. What I’m saying is, I wish it was still physically possible to pleasure you with my cock. You’ll just have to settle for my tongue.”
He parted my legs, and I grinned as he kissed a trail over my stomach to the area between my legs. His nose nuzzled me as he licked, just barely taking a taste. “Mmm, sugar. Sweet.”
His mouth sealed onto me. My hips pitched forward as I dug my fingers into the cushions. He went for it right off the bat, not easing into anything. He pushed his tongue inside me, dipping in and out and then trailing upward over my clit.
“Oh fuck.”
“I know you like that.”
Even though I wanted to wrap my fingers into his hair, I kept them gripped into the cushions, wanting him to be in charge of this. He was doing a damn good job already. He wrapped one of my legs over his shoulder, then the next, then almost completely disappeared between my legs. He sucked, licked, kissed me there until I screamed. Then, he kept going, my cries urging him on.
“Yes. Tell me,” he demanded. “How fucking good are we together?”
“Oh fuck,” I said, my head dropping back. He was right. “So fucking good.”
“Tell me how good I am.”
My eyes bugged out of my head. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
He pulled his tongue away. “No.” He gave me a quick, teasing lick. “Tell me how good I am.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you.”
He teased me again, licking me slowly but surely only around the areas he already knew drove me wild. “You want more?”
I nodded, pushing my hips up into him.
“Tell me.”
I swallowed my pride and locked eyes with him. His were like molten emerald and flashing with mischief. I smiled because, really, this was all just a game. A game I would’ve played, too. He could be in charge in the bedroom if he wanted to be. “Travis, I want you on me, licking me, entering me. You feel so good.”
“I’m…?” he said, flicking his tongue over my clit.
“So fucking good,” I said. “Give me more, please.”
He did. He buried his head in my pussy again, giving me everything I wanted.
“Yes,” I urged hi
m on. “God, you feel so good. Oh, Travis. Fuck, yes. Please. More.”
He rewarded me again and again until words escaped me. I could barely breathe. I was so close when his tongue flicked out against my clit and it was all I needed. I came. Hard. He didn’t relent as I screamed his name. He kept at me, prolonging my orgasm until my body felt like Jell-O.
He crept up my body, his dick stiff against me. I reached down to it. “You’re hard. Thank God.”
I widened my legs, and he pushed right inside, his body slumping over mine. “Oh God. This might take a while. I wouldn’t mind living in here, anyway.”
I didn’t know if it was the angle, or just the fact that Travis and I were together, but my body was all hyped up and ready to climax again. I grabbed his ass, helping his movements. “Travis. I’m going to come again. Oh my God.”
He hissed in a breath, his strokes determined now rather than just lazy and exploring. “Say that again.”
“I’m going to come.”
“Fuck, Norah.” He angled his body over mine as he started to tremble. “You feel so fucking good.”
“You’re going to come, too?”
He nodded, his face strained.
I held steady as he pumped inside me, moaning as he entered again and again. “God, I’m so close.”
His hand came between us and rubbed against my clit. Stars exploded in front of my eyes as I clenched around his cock. He moved his hand to poise himself over me, rocking into me two more times before he, too, cried out again.
He lowered himself on top of me, claiming my mouth as we wrestled for breath. My chest thumped against his and his matched my rhythm.
He kissed me thoroughly, then pulled away. Hid disheveled hair gave him a black halo. “I’m not sure how to move on from that,” he teased.
I caught my lip between my teeth. I really liked this Travis. The one who opened up to me. The one who told me about his friend and his sister.
I ran my hand through his hair and laced my hands behind his neck. “Just don’t go back.”
“I promise.”
16
Travis was a sleeper. As in, he just loved to fall asleep after sex.
We’d worn one another out, but sleep didn’t come to me like it did him. I couldn’t keep Liam out of my head. Granny had said she knew I was going to the Reid’s place. The thing was, we all weren’t going to get in there, and no matter what they tried to tell me, I was the only one who they didn’t know. I had a better shot at getting into that house and coming out with the book and they knew it.
I slipped off the couch, pulling the blanket around Travis and tiptoed upstairs. Randy and Gabe were both asleep in their beds. I wondered what they saw when they came into the house earlier. Did they get a peek at what Travis and I shared? Was everyone now aware that we were fully a coven more than we had ever been? Shit, I thought, as I looked in on Gabe. We needed to tell them all what his grandfather said. It couldn’t be avoided now I’d made it official with everyone.
Instead of focusing on that, I pulled on a tight pair of jeans and one of my most revealing shirts. I had the start of a plan in my head. I knew it wasn’t a great one, but it wasn’t a terrible one either. Finding the keys to the Jeep on the counter in the kitchen, I plucked them off and walked out the door, pulling it shut behind me. We needed to find Liam, but we also needed the solution ready when we did get him back. Channeling him, I looked up Reids with a Boston address and found one that looked promising. I pulled up the street view to make sure it was the type of house a rich person would live in. It was. It was basically a mansion, so I dropped it into Google Maps and pushed Directions.
Once I started the Jeep, I pulled out of the driveway as fast as I could. I wanted to be gone before any of them realized I’d left. If they needed me, they could call my cell phone. I didn’t want to alert them until then. The truth was, they’d shit on my idea. They were wrong though. They’d make decisions out of worry for me and not what was actually a good idea.
The drive from Ipswich to Boston was further than Salem to Boston. This late at night, however, the roads were clear, and it took me a lot less time than it would have had I tried to make the journey during rush hour.
Like we did when we were following a pull, I parked down the street from the house. The Spanish style mansion loomed in front of me in the distance. We weren’t right in the city of Boston. We were on the outskirts next to a lot of nice houses. These people were loaded and flaunted it. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the car door open and decided to do a walk by. I could just pretend I was anyone. Alone. At night. Taking a walk.
I shrugged and did it anyway. An iron gate blocked off the driveway. I could see that much even before I got that far. A four-foot stone wall outlined the perimeter of the property, too. Several of the other houses on the street had the same thing. My confidence wavered. Both of those would effectively keep me out of the house tonight.
A whistle pierced the air. Not the kind that called dogs, but the catcall kind. I turned to find the whistler just as I crossed the pavement of the driveway. Sure enough, there was a guard just on the other side of the iron gate staring at me. A smile curved my lips. I knew the outfit would come in handy, I just didn’t know how until then. I pointed at me, pretending to be coy. The guard nodded. I moved closer, standing just inside the circle of light from the streetlamp above. “Hi,” I said, cozying up to the iron gate.
The guy moved closer. He was magical, but I couldn’t tell if it was inherited like a Natural or learned through Wicca. It didn’t matter, he didn’t have much magic at all. Probably not even enough to clue him in to the extent of mine. He pulled the hoodie of his sweatshirt down, revealing a head of dark hair and thick, black eyebrows. “Hey there.”
I looked up at the house, pretending to be wondering what he was doing. “You just stand in people’s lawns and whistle at girls who walk by?”
He snickered, showing off a dimple. “Just the hot ones.” I gave him a look, and he shook his head. “Actually, no. I’m a guard. This is the Reid house.”
“Oh,” I said, grasping the iron bars. “I’ve heard of them. They’re like super rich, right?”
The guy nodded. “Loaded.”
“Is that why they have guards?” I asked, looking him up and down and forcing an interested face forward.
The guy moved closer. He unfolded his hands from around his chest and gripped the iron bar right below my hand. “One of the reasons.” He cocked his head to the side. “So, who are you? I’ve never seen you around before.”
“I’m new to town. Just, you know, out looking for people like me.”
I raised an eyebrow, and he nodded knowingly. “Well, you found one.”
No shit. “Yeah, I just moved from Louisiana. I heard there was a lot of people like me around here, but I haven’t found very many. Well, few who I actually care to know. Are the Reid’s at home? I’d love to meet them.”
A shadow crossed over his face. “No. They’re gone for the day. Out to some party on Martha’s Vineyard with all the other wealthy witches.”
I teased my lip and moved my hand up to graze against his. “Could be better. Maybe you can show me around the house?”
His eyebrows raised, but he looked interested. “The Reid’s wouldn’t like that.”
“Oh,” I said, shrugging. “That’s okay. I guess I’ll just come by some other time.”
I walked away, hoping my little act worked. “You’re leaving?” he called out.
“Well, yeah,” I said, turning around and walking backwards. “I’m looking for something fun to do tonight. Not talk to someone through iron bars.”
The bars made a low, groaning noise as he pulled them open. “Well, hold on.” I stopped, and the guy stepped out. “We can take a walk around the outside.”
I walked forward. “The Reid’s won’t mind that?”
“No, they wouldn’t like that either. They’re private people, but...” He shrugged.
“Rebel,” I said
, teasing as I brushed past him and beyond the front gate. That was one barrier down. Now I just had to get into the house, find the book, and leave. I shrugged, trying to play it light. “I understand, but what can someone like me do? I’m just here to try to make some friends who are like me. Normal people are so hard sometimes. You ever just want to put a mute spell on them?”
He laughed, loudly. “More than you know, babe.”
The urge to vomit crawled up my throat. I’d thought this would be easy, but ew. I wasn’t his babe. The four guys I had in my coven were a thousand times better than this guy. Not that he was all that bad, he just wasn’t them. “So, how old are the Reid’s anyway? They got any kids?”
“They’re like forty-somethings. Their ancestry goes back to the Salem Witch Trials, so they have deep roots in the area.”
“Wow,” I said, truly meaning it. That was a long time. They were most likely powerful witches. A shiver worked its way up my spine.
“And they have two kids. A teenage girl, and a guy who’s twenty-two. He’s cool, sometimes. I mean, he can be a dick, but most of the time he’s pretty cool.”
“Happens sometimes with people who have money, huh?” I said as we walked toward the main entrance. “So, what are they so secretive about?” I whispered conspiratorially. “Guards. Iron gate. Stone wall. Are they hiding something?” I raised my eyebrows a couple times. “I’m always up for some fun.”
The guy chuckled. He leaned against one of the stone pillars and smiled down at me. “I don’t really know. There are rumors though. Whispers they might dabble in something you might call questionable. I know there’s a room in the house we’re absolutely not allowed to go in.”
A muscle tugged in my stomach. That’s where the book was. I knew it. Of course they would try to keep their books about bad magic away from prying eyes. People like this guy would turn in or blackmail people like the Reid’s. “Ooh,” I said. “Scary. I’ve heard about people who dabble in that. My Granny always told me to stay in the light, but I often wondered…”
