“Stuffy earth witch privilege. Shut up,” I said, making him laugh.
“I’m just going to take it off when we get in the water anyway,” Logan muttered before peeling off his jeans to reveal that he was going commando.
Any retort I’d planned dried up in my mouth. I’d had no idea men’s asses could be so freaking enticing. I just wanted to rub myself against him until I came from sheer contact.
“Sea witches don’t play fair, do they?”
“You’re just catching on to that?” Logan turned around, revealing his tanned chest and an erection. I bit my lip.
“I thought we were going swimming.”
His lips quirked. For an answer, he lunged at me, sweeping me up, screaming, in his arms. He raced to the side of the boat and tossed me overboard.
I shrieked the entire way to the water, which enveloped me like a warm bath when I hit.
I surfaced, sputtering, to see Logan execute a perfect dive off the railing. He splashed into the ocean beside me. I screamed again when something yanked me under by the foot.
Afraid to open my eyes against the salt water, I kept them shut as I was dragged deeper and deeper. I kicked and flailed until the fingers around my ankle released and I was abruptly free. I clawed for the surface where I coughed up what felt like a gallon of sea water.
“You bastard,” I yelled, still coughing, when Logan surfaced beside me. He had something skimpy and bright green in his hand, which he waved around, flinging droplets of water all over me.
Horror struck and I grabbed frantically for my crotch. My bikini bottom was gone! How on Othala had he done that?
“You give that back!” I lunged at him.
He dodged backward, laughing, hold the bikini bottom just out of reach.
“Logan Reed, you give that back to me!” I yelled.
“I don’t think so.” He winked and disappeared beneath the waves.
I splashed around in a circle, searching for him. I couldn’t find him, but I did observe the Sea Cursed sailing away at a frightening rate of speed.
“Logan!” I choked on a mouthful of salt water and set out in a choppy crawl after the boat. I’d never catch it and we’d drown. I didn’t want to drown!
“Where are you going?” Logan popped up beside me, still clutching my bikini bottoms. Maybe I wouldn’t have to die bare assed.
“I can’t catch it. The boat!” I wouldn’t stop swimming, even as panic scrambled my thoughts.
“Demetria!” Logan grabbed me by the shoulders, and I shrieked, fighting him. Why was he slowing me down?
“Demetria, stop fighting. Listen to me!” Logan’s voice was so fierce, I froze. I forgot to even kick my legs and started to sink until he hauled me up and held me against him. “Silly. I’m a sea witch. Do you think I would let the boat get away?”
Relief, exquisite and golden, filtered through me. I buried my face in his wet neck, trying not to breathe in sea water. We floated together until my heart rate returned to normal.
“I don’t swim very well,” I said apologetically. “I’m stupidly afraid of the water sometimes. We live...lived on an island. How dumb is it to be scared of the water?”
“It’s not dumb,” he said gently. “Never turn your back on the sea. That’s one of the first things a sea witch is taught. But just remember I will never let you drown. Ever. Okay?”
I nodded. He kissed the top of my head as we bobbed in the waves.
It was peaceful floating on the ocean. Serene and calming. My fluttering nerves slowed. The sun stroked us with gentle beams of light that sparkled like diamonds on the water. I squinted against the brightness.
“See? This isn’t so scary, is it?” Logan breathed into my ear. His lips were wet with salty water.
I shook my head. Our legs brushed together as we treaded water. I knew if I ceased moving, he’d hold me up. Trust, pure and breathtaking, flowed over me.
“It’s not a spell,” I whispered to him. “It’s really love, Logan. I love you so much, and I know you love me. Whatever happens.”
His indrawn breath hissed across his lips. His heart beat so hard, I felt it through my wet tank top.
Translucent waves smacked against my back.
“Hold your breath and open your eyes,” Logan whispered, and before I could ask him why, we’d plunged beneath the surface.
Hastily, I held my breath, but I feared opening my eyes. Still, I knew I ought to. If I trusted Logan, I should open my eyes.
So I did. Instead of stinging blackness, the sea glowed with a greenish-blue light. We were suspended in a giant bubble of ocean. We floated suspended within it and it rolled over, taking us with it in a gentle, gliding flip. Logan’s eyes were two shades deeper than the sea. My black hair drifted like a mermaid’s. I wanted to float like this longer, but my lungs burned for oxygen. I pointed up toward the surface and Logan shook his head. He opened his mouth and sucked in what I thought must be a lungful of water, but when he exhaled, no bubbles emerged. My eyes widened.
Did I dare? Did I?
I took a tiny, experimental breath expecting water to rush down my throat and choke me. Instead – miraculously – it was air.
Logan was right. He would never let me drown and this was how. His magic. His glorious, sea-witch magic.
A grin of sheer delight spread across my face. The bubble revolved, suspending us upside down. I spread my arms and legs and spun. I couldn’t stop smiling.
We rolled through the waves in our bubble. Time slipped away. At times I didn’t know if I was looking up toward the sky or down into the depths. Logan was with me, and that was all that mattered.
My head broke surface, and shocked, I sucked down air. The air tasted different up here somehow. Less salty perhaps.
“Ready to go make dinner?” Logan surfaced beside me.
My stomach growled on cue. Just beyond Logan, the Sea Cursed bobbed serenely upon the waves. Logan swam toward the stern and the small diving platform attached to it. He climbed onto it and held out a hand for me.
“I’m not coming out until you give me my bikini bottom, please.” I extended hand and gestured imperiously. He’d someone managed not to lose it in the sea.
“I love you, earth witch, but if you want this thing, you’ll need to come take it from me.” Logan scrambled up the ladder onto the deck of the boat.
Laughing, I hauled myself onto the diving platform. I rested on my stomach for a moment, enjoying the gentle ebb and swell of the waves. Othala, this was pleasant.
Something heavy and wet smacked onto my bare ass. I squawked in indignation.
“You did say you wanted your bottoms back.” Logan leaned over the railing to grin at me. “What do you want for dinner?”
“I don’t care, but let me pick those pole beans. Whatever we have, we’ll have those too.” I debated putting on the damn bottom and decided against it. Maybe the sea witch had the right of it after all. Who needed bathing suits?
Chapter 19
“A volcanic mountain rises from the sea.” I drew a chalk line from the railing to the deck. “Molten lava erupts.” I completed my half of the circle.
“The wind scatters smoking ash.” Logan began his chalk line. “Rain hits the lava, hissing.” Logan closed the circle.
Naked, I waited for Logan to sit on the edge of the bed. I knelt between his legs and took his cock into my mouth. He drew in a sharp breath and threw back his head so he could stare at the star-strewn sky.
The wooden deck pressed into my bare knees and the balls of my feet. I curled my fingers around the bottom of Logan’s shaft and squeezed as I licked and sucked.
Logan threaded his fingers through my hair, forcing my head down.
“That’s it, earth witch. That’s right,” he murmured.
The talisman heated the skin between my breasts, thrumming to the beat of my heart. An ancient, primal excitement built inside me, growing bigger and more powerful with every breath I took.
A sea breeze tickled the back of my neck and down m
y spine. The rhythmic thud of the waves against the hull produced an almost hypnotic sense of peace within me. Logan tasted of salt and sea water. I licked my way down his cock, then back up again before taking him into my mouth so I could suck.
Logan shuddered, sweat dripping down his face generated more by his magic than by exertion. In contrast, I was bone dry, on fire from within and without, part of my earth magic.
Together we encompassed everything – earth, water, fire, and air. The world around us was the world within us. We spun together, faster, higher, hotter, until every breath seared, every sound magnified and the elements wove around us, tying us together in a circular chain until I couldn’t tell where Logan began, and I ended.
Logan gently tugged my arms, drawing me up so I could straddle him while he still sat on the edge of the bed. I lowered myself onto his straining cock, inch by slow inch, throwing back my head so my hair brushed the tops of his thighs and his knees.
I moved the talisman around so it hung down my back then pressed my breasts against Logan’s sweaty face, reveling in the feel of his beard stubble against my skin. He licked circles around my nipples before taking one between his lips and sucking. I moved faster, up and down, gasping out his name.
Waves splashed against the boat as we dipped into a trough and back out again. I clung to Logan as we shifted on the bed – wrapping my arms around his neck, lowering my head so I could bury my face in his shoulder.
“Sea witch.” I gasped when he flipped me onto the mattress and straddled me, burying his cock deep inside me. I fumbled with the talisman and when I had it free, he lowered his head so I could drape the chain around his neck. The copper coin sizzled against his sweaty chest. He grimaced, but then kissed me, driving me into the mattress, both of us frantic with need.
Logan braced his palms above my shoulders to give him support as he plowed into me over and over.
I forgot myself in the fierceness of his thrusts. I clung to him, my eyes closed, as the world shrank to a pinpoint. Only me and Logan.
We kissed with a savage abandon that frightened even as it as exhilarated me. We needed something. Something.
“Come for me, Dem.” Logan panted in my ear before taking the lobe between his teeth and nipping so hard a star-bright burst of pain sizzled through my head.
I lunged up and bit his bottom lip. He laughed against my mouth, crushing me against him. He reached between my legs and found my sweet spot with his thumb. When he pressed down, I cried out, the wind and the ocean and boat and the heat lightning exploded together as I came in a sensuous rush. I tasted blood – Logan’s, from his lip. Had I really bitten him that violently?
He tensed, his jaw tight, and with a giant shudder, he came too, so hard he let out a half moan, half desperate shout.
The sheets beneath me were soaked with sweat. His. It ran off him in rivulets, pattering down on my face. Not sweat. Water. My sea witch. I loved him with a ferocity that swept through me like a hurricane.
He collapsed against me, his strength seemingly spent. I cradled him in my arms, drawing deep, salt-scented breaths waiting for my heart to slow down.
Logan rested his face against my throat for a moment before rolling over onto his back. He found my hand and twined our fingers together. We stared up into the stars, not speaking, yet we were exquisitely attuned. We even breathed in unison.
“I love you, my earth witch,” he said, breaking the silence as the night drew down around us like a shawl strewn with diamond glitter. “I’m yours. Forever.”
I squeezed his hand, too overcome with love to speak. Light-headed with happiness, I could only stare up at the darkness and revel in being alive and with him.
***
I woke to the sensation of Logan’s lips against the back of my neck. I slept on my stomach, my head turned to the side. The boat creaked and bobbed in the ocean, and somewhere, high above, a gull uttered a lonely, sharp cry.
“We must be close to Galveteen if I can hear seagulls,” I whispered as Logan played with my hair, combing his fingers through it so tenderly I wanted to close my eyes and drift off to sleep again.
“Within ten miles or so,” he answered. “We have to be close to cast the spell of Reutterance.”
All traces of sleep drained away. I sat upright, the covers slipping from my nude body, so I could gaze over the railing. The Sea Cursed rolled and swayed on white-capped waves. We were close enough to experience some of the outlying bad weather. No rain, but heavy gray clouds hovered above like drifting phantoms, shrouding the sun. Galveteen loomed against the horizon. We weren’t near enough that I could make out any landmarks, but closer than we’d been in three days. My breath stuttered between my lips as my heart accelerated.
“When?” I asked, turning to him for reassurance as anxiety nibbled at my nerves, eating its way into my churning stomach. Was I truly powerful enough to pull off this spell? What if I failed?
Logan nuzzled my cheek, tracing the leaping pulse in my throat with his thumb. “Any time you like, earth witch, but how about some breakfast at least? We’ll need all the strength we can muster.”
“I don’t know if I can eat anything. My stomach’s like a shriveled, hard ball.” I wound my arms around his neck wanting to be close to him – as close as I could get. He pulled me into his arms and held me, whispering comfort into my ear. I barely understood the words as panic scrambled everything inside me. Frantically, I tried to remember everything I’d read in the spell scroll, convinced I would never be able to do half the things I was charged with performing.
Thunder rumbled ominously, a long, resounding growl that spiked the hair on the back of my neck and arms.
“Come on.” Logan nudged me gently. “You grab the first shower while I get the coffee going.”
Coffee and showers sounded so mundane. Too commonplace on a day that was supposed to be extraordinary to a degree few people ever experienced. Yet, both drew me. I was sticky with dried sweat, and coffee would settle my jangling nerves. Maybe I might even be able to eat some toast. With honey, perhaps.
I allowed Logan to lead me by the hand to the wheelhouse. He gestured for me descend first, and I did, hurrying off to the shower.
I ate my toast and drank my coffee while wrapped in a towel. What did an earth witch wear while casting the most important spell of her life? A dress? Surely not shorts and a tank top. Definitely not in a bathing suit. Nude?
I couldn’t ask Logan. He’d eaten while I showered, and he was now singing to himself in the shower stall, his voice reverberating.
“The spell of Reutterance now is cast, and Galveteen Island is saved at last. Fifty years until the bright lightning strike that marks the witches, earth and sea alike.”
“That’s not how that nursery rhyme goes.” I leaned my head into the tiny bathroom. Logan peered out from behind the shower curtain, his hair soaped with lather.
“That’s how we sing it in Seawall South,” he said. “How do you sing it in Seawall North?”
I cleared my throat, unsure I wanted to share my singing voice. Mine was not as good as his. Still, he’d asked and I’d brought up the whole subject.
I opened my mouth and sang, “Seeking spell cast across the waves even as Galveteen is saved. For fifty years we all must wait. Sea-cursed witches can’t escape fate.”
Logan snorted so vigorously shampoo suds flew around the room. “That’s such crap. I like mine better.”
“Me too,” I said. “Sing it again.” By the third rendition, I was singing along with him.
When he climbed out of the shower, I handed him a towel, and he vigorously scrubbed himself dry.
I followed him into the cabin and watched him sort through his clothes. Black pants and a black shirt he left unbuttoned. Bare feet.
“Should I shave?” he asked, drawing his fingers along his beard stubble producing a rasping sound.
“No.” I shook my head. “We need to get this over with.”
He smiled at me. “Get dressed then
.”
“Why black?” I gestured at his clothes, trying not to grimace. My dislike of black clothing was bound tight with my fear of being branded a witch. Yet, I was a witch. Why was I letting this irrational hatred boil through me? Still, the thought of wearing a black dress made my throat ache with angry, terrible tears.
“We always wear black to cast big spells. I don’t why. Just seems appropriate,” Logan said. “Black is mystery, ancient. The unknown.”
“But our magic isn’t black, is it?”
“Isn’t it?” he countered. “Created from a weird space we can’t see or find on a map or with a compass, yet it’s always with us and within us. Sounds like ancient, unknown mystery to me.”
I bit my lip.
“Wear white. Wear what you want, Dem. You didn’t grow up with our customs, and I know you hate black for some reason. You need to focus on the spell, not what you’re wearing.”
“Black is for witches,” I whispered. I took a deep, steadying breath. “I used to wear black all the time until Amanda’s party when we pretended to be witches, and I made the earth move. I didn’t want to be a witch. But that’s what I am. And you’ve showed me that witches are good. Noble. They protect people and Galveteen. I’m not going to let some old, stupid, unformed fear rule me.”
I stalked to my side of the bed, knelt, and pulled open all my drawers. Deep within one of them I found a long black dress. Sleeveless. The cotton fabric hung in pleated crinkles. I let the towel drop to the deck and pulled the dress over my head. It slid down past my shoulders, breasts, belly, and came to rest just above my ankles. Four black buttons marched down the bodice. I undid all but one.
“I love you, earth witch.” Logan’s eyes shone with such adoration, I wanted to bathe in his regard, fill myself up with it so I could cushion myself from the fear still scrabbling around in my gut.
When he held out his hand, I took it, and together we made our way above deck. We were really going to do this. We, the earth and sea witch marked by Othala, were poised to fulfill our destinies and save Galveteen Island.
Chapter 20
Sea Cursed: An Adult Dystopian Paranormal Romance: Sector 13 (The Othala Witch Collection) Page 21
