Had she really been gone that long?
She was covered in sweat and tears, drenched in pain. Never had she felt so…
Her body began to tremble again, remembering her family’s death.
“Let go of me,” she ordered, pulling away from Jericho’s concrete embrace. She didn’t know who to hate at the moment - those people for killing her family or Jericho for making her watch.
“Are you okay?” Jericho asked, eyes raging with white-hot fire. He had seen the images with her, been with her the entire time, though she didn’t know it. He was as emblazoned by it all as she was, but he had to get her to calm down.
“No!” Toni said, snatching away and pointing at him. Her exposed breasts swayed as she moved, brown nipples pearled at the tips. “Stay away from me!” Her small feet stepped outside of the pentagram, unbalancing the power of the men around her.
Wet, long strands of hair stuck to the base of her neck and down her back. Her vision blurred with tears and sweat.
The men stepped back to give her room, realizing that she was like a cornered animal. They watched on quietly, hoping Jericho could somehow reach her before she did something stupid.
“It’s okay,” Jericho said, hands up where she could seem them. His voice crooned. “I won’t hurt you. I would never hurt you.”
Toni wiped her red, tired eyes. Weak from emotion, she managed to fight her fatigue. “Fuck you. You did hurt me. You made me see it.” Her voice cracked, and her lips turned up as she cried. “You made me watch!”
“We need to talk,” Jericho reasoned, trying to move toward her. The tattoo that once threatened to lift itself from his bronze skin now rested in his mountainous chest. Sweat ran down his neck and over his protruding pecs.
Even in her anger, Toni still found him deathly alluring, but not as tempting as he found her.
She was breathtaking naked, enchanting in the glistening perspiration that danced over her delicate brown skin. All he wanted to do at that moment was shield her from her pain, protect her from her fears. But she wouldn’t even let him near her.
“How do I know that you all didn’t kill my father? How can I trust any of you?” she asked, whirling around naked to face the men.
“Toni, you can trust us,” Jules said, grabbing a towel to cover her. His wide, muscular chest was covered in sweat as well. “We’re here to help you,” he said, trying to avoid looking at her voluptuous body. He might have been a good man, but he wasn’t a saint.
“I don’t want your help,” she sobbed, frown lines appearing above her brows. “I just want it to stop!” her voice echoed through the sunroom. “Can you do that?”
“It’s too late to make it stop,” Jericho explained. “But at least let us help you understand it.” The last thing he wanted was for her to leave in a state of hysteria. He might never get her back, if he did.
Toni was done talking. The entire house was caving in on her. Frantically, she grabbed her dress from the floor and ran as fast as her feet would take her out of the room.
“Go after her,” Lafayette ordered as he roughly slipped on his shirt. “She needs you now more than ever. But Jericho, control yourself,” he warned.
Immediately, Jericho ran out of the room without another word.
The other men left in the room, however, all stood stunned.
“I’m not sure it’s safe for her to be alone for any reason,” Jules pointed out. “There is no doubt anymore. She’s not just one of us. She’s the one.” He looked at his father and rubbed a hand through his soaking wet hair. “Damn, we finally found her.”
“It took long enough,” Lafayette said, wiping his hands over his face. “The prophecy has begun. We are at last in a new era.”
Jonas slipped on his shirt and wiped his face. “They are raw right now with emotion. I could feel it. Jericho was beside himself. I’ve never felt him so out of control. The bond is supposed to take place after they have wed.”
Jules shrugged. “I doubt they’ll make it to a wedding.”
“I doubt they’ll make it another hour,” Jonas warned.
“We have no control over it now. It’s up to them,” Lafayette said, walking to the window.
Chapter Nine
“Her tears shall envelope the earth below, and her cries will awake her forefathers’ promises. She shall give herself freely to the bond, and he shall lie with her and consume her whole, giving fruit that will leap forth with great power.”
The Prophecy
S earching for the nearest way out of the house, Toni headed out of the back door, down the stairs, and out to the lawn toward the mossy green trees.
Following behind her still naked, Jericho ran after her.
“Toni!” he screamed, powerful legs striding forward. “Come back!”
“NO!” was all that Toni could manage as she ran, the soft grass crunching under her feet, the wind at her back.
Disappearing into the trees, she threw her dress, unable to put it on as she fought with what she had just witnessed.
Down the winding pathway through the thick willow trees, she ran into the darkness, hearing the owls and insects all around her and feeling the moonbeam through the trees onto her bare skin.
Finally exhausted after half a mile, she stopped and looked up through the trees into the sky.
Feeling anger consume her, she screamed out and balled up her fists.
“DAMN YOU!” she said, falling to her knees. She felt herself shuddering as she gripped her sides. “DAMN YOU TO HELL!” she screamed, feeling her heart break into small pieces.
Within seconds, she could hear heavy footfalls behind her, and she knew that she wasn’t alone.
Jericho approached her from behind and stood silently watching her a moment before he spoke.
Even he had been surprised by her reaction to the visions. He was upset with himself that he had not anticipated her needs well enough.
Looking down at the grass below her, she wiped snot and tears from her heated face. Embarrassment fused into her anguish.
This man had seen her at her worst, seen her worst secrets and experienced them with her. How could she face him now?
But Jericho couldn’t think of any other place he’d rather be than by her side.
“Baby,” Jericho said, standing directly behind her. He inhaled a deep breath from his sprint and put a hand on his side. “Are you alright?” he asked again. “Please, you’re scaring me.”
She laughed sardonically at his question, even more so at his warm term of endearment.
“Who could be alright after something like that?” Sniffling again, she wiped her face and sulked. Her shoulders drooped downward, mirroring her inner defeat. “My entire family is dead at the hands of those…witches. And here I am in a house full of more witches, who have just reduced me to rubble. No, I’m not alright, Jericho. I’m nowhere near it.”
“We’ll find them. We’ll bring them to justice,” Jericho promised, unsure if he should touch her. His extended hand toward her, but he quickly snatched it back, fearing she might shy away. “And we did not reduce you to rubble, we simply…enlightened you. We made you stronger whether you realize it yet or not.”
Toni didn’t need any more smoke blown up her ass.
“I may be ignorant to all of this, but I’m not a weak woman. I want justice. It was my family that those bastards murdered. It’s my job to finish this.”
Jericho gazed at the back of her head, feeling protective of her. “I won’t let you do this alone.”
She rolled her eyes – not at him – but at the idea of taking on a coven of witches alone. Who was she kidding? She needed all the help that she could get.
“My mother was an angel,” Toni said casting her gaze toward the thicket of trees in the distance. She smacked her lips and shook her head. “An angel.”
“I know,” he said, kneeling beside her. “I was right there with you through all of it. The visions don’t let you see anyone else in the spirit world. You must
take the journey alone, but I was right there the entire time.” He bent beside her and glanced at the side of her face. “For what it’s worth, I’m very sorry for you.”
She softened to his words. “Thanks.”
Rubbing her hair, he tried his best to soothe her. He felt her body trembling and quietly casted a spell to warm and protect her from the outside elements.
“I can’t even process what I’ve seen.” Tears welded in the corners of her eyes, prickling at her sensitive skin. “My father. My mother. My…” she whimpered, “my sisters. They are all gone. I’m all that’s left. I’m alone.”
“You’re not alone,” he said, pulling her into his embrace. To hell with if she rejected him or not. He knew what she was going through was hard, but it was important to know that she had people who cared about her. He cared for her.
She could scarcely feel his bare skin, or the heat coming from it. Still, she slinked up beside him. His familiar intoxicating scent filled her nostrils, and she felt safe for the first time in many hours.
The migraine from before started to work on his head, but he ignored it for the moment, glad to see her inner-core thawing to his touch. “I’ll keep you safe. I promise.” He kissed the side of her soft neck. “And my word is my bond, Ms. St. John.” His words lingered close to her ear and her heart.
“Dauphine,” Toni corrected. “My name isn’t St. John. It’s Antonia Dauphine.” She knew that now after her vision. She knew that he knew it as well. “I was named after my father, Antonio Dauphine. No boys, so he had to give his name to me. The oldest girl.”
“Very well,” Jericho said, voice lulling her. “My word is still my bond, no matter the day, no matter the hour or the situation.” He smiled at her. “No matter the name.”
Toni’s eyes flitted over to him, and she hated herself instantly for the magnetic pull she felt.
She glared into the heat of his blazing eyes with contempt and confusion. “You don’t even know me, Jericho. Or maybe you do considering you just saw my life flash before you, but the point is that I don’t know you. That puts me at a serious disadvantage here.”
Jericho lost his composure slightly. “Whatever you want to know, I’ll tell you, Toni.”
Voice flat, she shook her head and wiped her eyes, swollen from crying for so long. “It’s just that simple, huh?” It was a rhetorical statement, considering nothing in her life was simple.
Yet, Jericho replied.
“Yes.” He swallowed hard and glanced off for a second, trying to find the right words to make her believe him. “Whatever it takes, I’ll do it. I just don’t want to lose you.”
Toni flinched at his words, as they hit her straight in her heart.
“Why are you helping me?” she asked bluntly. “Why are you doing any of this?”
Sitting on her knees, she waited for a response. If he said the right thing, it was very possible that she would allow herself to continue to fall head over heels for him. However, if he said the wrong thing, she would stop this circus in its tracks.
Jericho watched her lips as they curved around her unspoken words. He watched her eyes light up with hope, and he could hear her heart nearly beating out of her rib cage. He couldn’t deny it any longer.
“Because you’re mine,” he said simply. His face was fixed in seriousness.
“Yours?” She gave a humorless laugh to hide her own, very raw emotions. But the fact that he didn’t blink made her grasp the gravity of his proclamation.
Running a hand through her hair, she tilted her head. “You can’t be serious…right?”
“I’m very serious.”
He thought back to his vision from earlier at the hotel, her wearing an all-white, long-flowing wedding gown, standing beside him, here at this house.
“Tell me you don’t feel it,” he said, brushing a cool hand over her hot flesh. “Our connection is supernatural, more powerful than mere physical attraction.”
Toni couldn’t deny it. Since the moment that she had laid eyes on him at the hotel, she had felt her life changing its course.
“I feel it, too,” she said, touching his face. “It’s like I’ve known you my entire life, but I don’t know you…I don’t know anything but what you’ve told me.”
“I’ve told you more than I’ve told most. I’ll tell you everything, if that is what you want. I have to warn you, it’s going to take a very long time to get to know all about me, considering, I’ve been alive more than most, but I’m willing.” He rubbed through her hair. “I think I love you, Toni,” he confessed, shocked that he could even admit it aloud.
Love was a very strong word for her, and one hard to understand. It always had been, especially feeling for so long that she had been abandoned by the people in this world who were supposed to love her most.
However, she was slowly starting to understand, not just what love meant but how it worked.
It required action.
Her father had loved her. Her mother had loved her. Her sisters had loved her. The nun at the children’s home had loved her. Her adopted family had loved her. And up until this day, she had walked in darkness, ignorant of how much they had sacrificed for their love.
No more.
No more…pretending.
No more…walking in darkness.
No more…doing everything alone.
A knot formed in her throat. Emotions from her visions made her heavy. Fighting through it, she tried to explain.
“Words are hard, Jericho. I write them for a living, sure.” She shrugged. “That’s easy, especially when it’s someone else’s affairs. But spoken words, my personal life, promises… all of that is much harder for me. Trust is not my greatest strength.” She exhaled a breath that left her deflated but knew that she must make him understand. “Actions speak louder than words for me, especially as a kid who was adopted. If you think that you love me, you’re going to have to show me. All I can promise, is that I’ll always meet you half way.”
Jericho’s eyes narrowed on Toni in bewilderment. She was such a strong woman, until, he had not expected such a candid answer but greatly appreciated it. He could see that despite every reason to close up and run away, she was choosing to open up to him.
“Are you giving me permission to show you?” he asked, voice husky and low.
Toni could feel herself losing control, but there was no part of her that wanted to stop it.
“I’m begging you to show me, Jericho,” she said, barely above a whisper.
The way that she said his name made his migraine explode. He had to have her, or he would literally go mad.
All these long years of being alone.
All these long years of wondering if anyone out there could have a truly lasting effect on him.
And now here she was.
This woman.
This damn, irritating, sexy woman.
“Show me,” she repeated, torturing him with her demand.
The concrete erection he was cradling between his thighs at that moment exposed his wanton desires. He had to have her.
Pulling her mouth to his with a firm hand, he laid a slow, seductive kiss on her lush lips, the fervor of his emotion coming out as he held her in his embrace.
The sound of his lips against hers, teasing her as he sucked her bottom lip made her body quiver.
“You’re so beautiful,” he croaked, throat dry from the night’s air. He couldn’t believe at that moment, she was willing to give herself to him, but there was no way he was going to protest.
He drew her closer to him, connecting with her body, feeling those perfectly, pearled nipples atop heavy breasts finally pushed against him. They were pert and impertinent, begging to be sucked and worshipped.
“Damn you, Toni,” he moaned in ecstasy. Why did she have to taste so good?
The warmth of his skin ignited a fire inside of her, and she released a moan that made silk drip from the head of his penis.
His smell was intoxicating, so full of lust an
d heat until she wanted to use her tongue to lick it off him.
A hard kiss locked them together, bound them to their deed. It was wrought with passion, even mingled with fear, but the truth of their intentions was no longer hidden.
When he felt her turn to putty in his arms, his tongue roamed her mouth – that little space that had created so much havoc until he rendered it harmless.
He kissed her like he had never kissed a woman before, languishing the in the slow, natural progression of their descent.
Under the bright moon and in the darkness of a black night, they shed their sensibilities for the first time.
Jericho was liquid sex in her clutches. His masculinity permeated the air.
She wrapped her brown, limber legs around him, allowing him to hold her tighter.
The brush of her naked sex against him sent a wave of tingles over her skin.
Throwing her head back, she felt him as his hot mouth trailed down from her lips to her shoulders. There he left a sweet kiss on her collarbone.
She tasted like vanilla, sweat and the sweet dew of promise.
Jericho was insane.
Toni was afraid.
God, it had been so long since she let a man touch her like this.
But despite her inner desire to fight him, her carnal nature emerged. Nothing drove a woman to desperation more than a hard shaft at her center.
She could feel his rippling muscles as they tightened against her and the long stem of his meaty sex between her thighs.
Her body clenched at the thought of taking him inside of her, and she creamed from within her flower out to the layers of her secret.
Jericho could feel the crow on his chest. It was starting to come alive. He fought, if not demanded, it stay put.
She smelled like…sex.
She tasted like…sex.
She felt like…sex.
“Let me have you,” Jericho begged, words falling short of his emotion. “I need you.” The migraine exploded in his head, erupted over like brain matter into his soul, and he felt himself crippled in pain. Still, he kissed her. “Don’t fight me, Toni.”
His words unhinged her. Everything about him unarmed her.
Warlocks: The Creole Coven (The Laveau Coven) Page 11
