by Milly Taiden
“Now only the four of us know, Wilson. And soon it will be only you and Cuzork here. Do you want me to kill this son of a bitch?”
Wilson stared at the king, fear no longer shivering his body. “No, I wish that he floats among the universes, never finding a home, never returning here, and never again able to wield the magic of this realm again.”
Cuzork’s eyes widened and panic crossed his face before he popped out of sight. Hamel climbed to his feet and put a hand on Wilson’s shoulder. “Wilson, with your ex-king banished, you are now the only one who knows how to use the magic. It’s up to you how you create your world.
“It seems Cuzork spent a lot of time on Earth becoming familiar with our way of life and came back here to re-create it. He saw the same pictures and movies I saw as a child. You can keep it or change it.”
Wilson looked deep in thought. “I will gather many who are knowledgeable and we will make a decision.”
Melinda smiled. “Wilson, I think you’re going to make a great leader. The lowly will inherit the land.” She stepped forward and the sun shined in her eyes. Just a sliver remained. “Hamel, we have to go now.”
He grabbed her hand and they hurried to the circle. Wilson waved. They waved back and Hamel said, “I wish for us to return to our realm.” Nothing happened. The two looked at each other. Hamel repeated, “I wish us to go back to Sefu’s shed.” Again nothing. Wilson still stood waving at them, with a goofy smile on his face.
“Hamel, why isn’t it working?” Her eyes glanced at the vanishing sun.
“I don’t know.”
“What do we do?”
The sun would be gone in seconds. The underside of her wrist burned. She hissed and lifted her arm to see what stung her. From under the skin, an image came to the surface. It was the same as the tattoo she’d received in one of her recent dreams. Sefu’s chant in the dream filled her ears.
Huenda sisi kujiunga ukweli wetu kweli.
Kuziba ulimwengu huu milele kwa yake mwenyewe.
Her eyes closed and the foreign words took over her mind. She repeated them over and over. She held up her hand to let the sigil shine upon the land. Just as the last ray of sun gave out, complete exhaustion once again overtook her mind.
Chapter Forty-four
Melinda opened her eyes to see the handsomest man she’d ever seen staring at her. Lying next to her, his hand brushed down her cheek. She leaned forward and kissed him. It was better than any dream. Though her Beach Man was really damn hot.
“Ah,” came an old, scratchy voice. “You both return this time. Good. The veil is closed. Time to go home.” Sefu stood and headed for the door.
Melinda and Hamel looked at each other then turned to the old man. “Wait,” they both said.
The witch doctor sighed. “What?”
Melinda didn’t know where to begin with questions. “What just happened?”
“You haven’t figured it out, young one?” Sefu asked.
“What if the demons come back?” Melinda asked.
The witch doctor shook his head. “No worry. You closed the portal.”
“I did? When?”
Sefu sighed again. “Your spell.”
Hamel joined in. “It was the words you mumbled to bring us back here, when my wish didn’t work.” He looked up at Sefu. “Why didn’t my wish work to bring us back?”
The old man leaned against the doorframe, thinking. “I would say the magic chose not to work.”
“The magic has a conscience?” Melinda asked.
Sefu laughed. “Of course. Magic is as alive as you and me. It chooses when to obey and when to do something else. A good witch doctor learns to keep magic happy. Always happy.”
She looked at Hamel sitting next to her by the fire. “So the magic decided I should do a spell instead of letting Hamel wish us back? What did the spell do?”
“Listen to the translation and see for yourself: May we join our true reality. Sealing this realm forever to its own.”
“That’s it?” Melinda said. “All those words to bring us here and seal the portal closed.” Sefu gave a nod. “One more thing, Sefu.” She pulled out the plastic tube with the serum. “We need to destroy this now. I wanted to wait until Monday, but I’ve changed my mind.”
“Wait,” Hamel said. “I saw you drink that. How is it here?”
Melinda rolled her eyes. “Hamel, my body was here with yours. When I came back, I was in the dream world. What you saw is what I wished you to see. It was to trick the demon into thinking there was no serum. I’d hoped he’d give up his plan and go away. It didn’t quite happen that way, but he believes it’s gone, which is all that’s needed.”
Sefu came around the fire to her and took the vial. He opened the top and chanted over it. He then poured the liquid into the fire. “It is done.” His chin rested on his chest. “This old man is tired.” He shuffled toward the door again. “Take her home, cat, and bind her to you. She is the one. Mate.” Once out the door, he walked away, not looking back.
Alone with Hamel, she smiled and took his hand. “Have I mentioned that I love you?”
He brought her hand to his lip for a kiss. “I’ve prayed to hear those words for a long time, my love. I love you more than you know.”
She couldn’t help the grin creeping onto her face. His brow rose. “What’s in that devious head of yours, love?”
“Shift for me, transformer.”
He laughed. “I can’t. I have to take my clothes off so I won’t tear them.”
“But in the other realm,” she started, “you had clothes on when you shifted.”
“Magic, my love. I didn’t want my junk hanging out for everyone to see.”
She nodded. “I see. So go ahead and shift.”
“But, darlin’, I’d have to strip.”
Melinda licked her lips. “Yeah, that’s the whole idea.”
Hamel jumped to his feet and held a hand out to her. “If that’s the case, then I know of a great little bungalow that has a great bed.” He pulled her into his arms from her sitting position. She loved being wrapped in him, safe and loved. She tipped her head up and his hot, wet lips bore down on hers. God, she loved this even more.
She had a ton of questions about shifters, but that all could wait. Like Sefu said, she wanted to mate. Being bound to this man was the best thing that could ever happen to her.
Nothing would hold her back.
Chapter Forty-five
Inside her two-room love shack, the air was hotter than the middle of summer. After the last several hours of insaneness, being held in Hamel’s arms was the most sensible feeling known.
She took a deep breath and let out her feelings. “I love you.”
Finally. She was able to express to him how she felt. If only he could see inside her. Her words had an incredible effect. He was on her, kissing her hard, branding her. He pushed her back on the bed, caressing every inch of her body. He cupped her face and allowed her to see the same things she felt mirrored in his eyes.
“I love you, too.”
To hear him say the words made her heart flip. Emotion clogged her throat. She threw her arms around him and kissed his neck. She inhaled the scent of her man and the passion burning between them.
“Bite me, Hamel. Bite me, my love,” she whispered.
He growled and dropped to seal their lips together. She widened her thighs to allow him easy entrance into her body.
He didn’t enter her, much to her disappointment. Instead, he kissed her neck. Then he slowly licked his way down her chest, circling first one nipple, nipping the little bud with his teeth and sucking so hard her pussy quivered. Then he moved on to the other and did the same until she writhed under him, whimpering for more.
She gripped his hair in her fists, squeezing and loosening her hold depending on how his lips moved over her.
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He growled into her belly, licking his way around the indentation of her belly button. Her sex grasped at nothing. She needed him inside or she’d lose her mind.
He glanced up from between her legs. Her breath reeled. Sandpaper clung to the inside of her throat. He inhaled and licked his lips, and she almost came.
“Melinda?”
“Hmm?” She couldn’t speak past the knot in her throat. His look was so hot and possessive she felt melted onto the bed.
“I love how you smell.” He licked a cool, wet trail from clit to slit.
Her body wound into a ball of tension with the feel of his tongue swiping at her entrance. He slid two fingers on either side of her clit, massaging her. Dear god, he was amazing.
The two fingers speared her sex and curved to rub her upper walls and G-spot. Her knees shook. She sucked air hard and moaned. He flicked his tongue into a quick motion that made her promise him the world. A sharp, husky gasp later and her whole world exploded.
She half lifted off the bed and slammed back down, hitting the mattress hard. Electric currents racked her body. Wave after wave of pleasure filled each of her brain cells. It took a while before she stopped shaking.
A lone thought filled her mind: pleasing him. She lifted to her knees and grasped his cock. She could do this. This was her man. Her love. She wanted to make him as crazy as he did her.
“No, baby. As much as I’d love that, it can wait,” he groaned.
She ignored him and moved into a position where her shoulder brushed his thigh and lowered her head to lick the beads of moisture dripping from his slit. She sucked his cock into her mouth, twirling her tongue a full circle over the head. She was new at this but she wanted to make it good for him. Fuck good, she wanted it to be incredible.
After a few slow sucks, she pumped his shaft in her hand. The combination of saliva and precum allowed for easy gliding between her fingers. He was so smooth. So hot.
“That . . . feels . . . amazing.”
She grinned and sucked him into her mouth fully, relaxing the back of her throat to allow him a deeper slide, until she couldn’t take him any further.
“Fuck!”
She whimpered with his cock in her mouth. She increased the pressure on her grip and hollowed her cheeks to massage him better.
Soaring heat lanced at her pussy. Her arousal turned into desperation. Her bobbing increased in speed. Faster and faster until his cock was hot steel in her mouth. She groaned and slid him out of her mouth.
“Hamel,” she whispered breathlessly. “Please . . . make me come!”
“Oh, I will make you come, baby. I’ll fuck you raw, but first, let’s make you my mate.” His voice was so deep and rough she shivered. “Get on your knees and lean forward on the bed.”
She didn’t know she had it in her to move so fast. All talk of orgasms would get him anything. She flipped over to her stomach, lifted her ass high in the air and waited.
The broad head of his dick was slipped past her entrance and filled her. Her nerves stretched so taut she swore something inside her was going to snap at any moment. He propelled back and slammed back in with a groan. She whimpered and gripped the sheets in her fists. Holy shit! Now this, this was paradise.
“God, yes!”
Heat spread through her pussy, traveled up her body, and licked at her veins. The continuous skin-slapping drove up the bar on her pleasure.
He dropped on all fours, caging her with his body. Passion thickened between them like a warm blanket of need. With each powerful thrust her body slipped closer to the edge of the cliff she knew so well, the one that would bring her limitless pleasure. She was close. So damn close.
His breaths puffed by her ear. Each one a soft growl that made her bones melt. Her nipples grazed the bedding with each slide of his body into hers.
“Melinda,” he growled by her neck, “you’re mine, sweetheart.” He twisted his hips and his cock slammed into different pleasure cells. “Only mine.”
“Hamel . . .”
“No, baby. I’m never letting you go.”
Her orgasm took her by surprise. The knot inside her snapped. She gasped, and energy bloomed and washed through her. He struck, biting deeply into her shoulder. The sharp pain intensified her pleasure. She screamed. Another snap and she was riding the wave again. A breath later he was jerking into her, filling her with his cum, his claws digging into her hips and leaving deep scratches where he held her tightly to him.
Her lungs constricted. Hell, her entire body shook as mini aftershocks took hold. He kissed and licked at her bite wound. Each swipe of his tongue felt like a new bond between them. A new link she never thought she’d have with another person.
“Oh my god.”
He dropped beside her on the bed, pulled her into his sweaty embrace.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she mumbled.
“Mel, I need you to listen to me for a second. I know this is all new to you and you might have doubts about where we are going.”
She frowned. She did have doubts. Hell, who didn’t? But unlike her past relationships, she was willing to give this man a chance. He’d gone to hell for her and she was okay with seeing how things went. “It is going to be a bit difficult for the scientist in me to see things I have sworn my entire life are not real, but you know what? It’s okay. I can live with it.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice a low, gruff tone.
She slid up his body, brought her face close to his, and gave him a kiss.
“Yes. I’m sure. Things might be weird and we will surely have differences of opinion, but the point is that this isn’t just any other relationship. I believe in us. I know it sounds strange, but I do. Something inside me is pushing me to trust us. I won’t fight it.”
He sighed and hugged her hard. “Thank god! I couldn’t imagine trying to figure out how to live in two different places.”
She chuckled. “We’ll adjust. Because we love each other, we’ll make it work.”
“I’ll do anything for you. Anything.”
He loved her. She knew he did, but hearing him say that just calmed the tiny worry in her mind. No other words were needed. The feelings bombarded her heart, coming through their mate link. It would take time to understand this, but knowing Hamel loved her as much as she’d come to love him made any issue seem insignificant. Everything was going to be fine.
“I love you, my Mel. My beautiful mate.”
“I love you, my sexy transformer.”
Keep reading for a preview of Milly Taiden’s next A.L.F.A. novel
MATING INSTINCTS
Coming soon from InterMix!
“Do you know who I am?” Amerella Capone stomped her foot on the floor of the First National Bank of Las Vegas. Several people standing in line for a teller looked at her. A few pointed and laughed. She lifted her chin and ignored them.
The bank attendant’s face paled. Amerella was not waiting any longer to get into her safe deposit box. “I am the great-great-grandniece of Alphonse Capone. You know? Al Capone.” Even though Al hadn’t taken much interest in Vegas, some of the Capone family did, moving down when other mob families began paying attention to the city.
“Y-yes, Ms. Capone. I’m s-sorry, Ms. Capone.” The poor kid sweated bullets. He couldn’t be a day over twenty. “I’m sure the senator will be done talking with the manager any second now, and he will let you into the vault. In fact, let me go check.” The young man dashed away as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself.
Amerella plopped onto a hardwood chair in front of a desk, next to the side door that led to the room with the safe deposit boxes. It was already six o’clock, and she hadn’t done any shopping yet. She hated that she had to go to the bank every time she dipped into her savings. Being a trust fund baby wasn’t all it seemed. She had a cha
in wrapped tightly around her neck, controlled by her guardian, Uncle Giuseppe. In a month, when she turned twenty-six, she would come into her inheritance and be free to do whatever she wanted.
Like buy an island on the equator and disappear.
The glass doors in the lobby swung open, and several men wearing ski masks ran in. The first robber fired a machine gun at the ceiling.
“All right! Everyone on the floor, now!”
On the floor? Was he shitting her? She looked down at her snug, short skirt and high heels. With full breasts, hips, and thighs, she’d never be able to get back up. Luckily, since she was so far to the side of the tellers’ central location, she was hard to see from the lobby. Maybe she could just scoot farther to the side.
She rose slowly from the chair and shuffled toward the door. Right behind her came a squeaky voice. “He said everyone on the floor, lady.” In fact, that was a very familiar squeaky voice. She swiveled on the ball of her foot, and while the robber’s eyes grew large, Amerella’s narrowed.
“Joseph Albert Lanzia. I’m so telling your mother.”
The slim, young robber lowered his hand gun. “No, you can’t, Aunt Amerella. She’ll be so mad at me.”
“And so she should be.” Amerella placed her hands on her hips, careful not to mess up the manicure she had done before this. Even though Joey wasn’t her biological nephew, he’d grown up calling her his aunt. “What do you think you’re doing robbing a bank, Joey?” she whispered. “Do you know how much trouble you can get into?”
Joey glanced over his shoulder, and then back to his aunt. “I know, Aunt Amerella. But I didn’t have much choice.”
“What do you mean?”
The leader screamed more commands and handed bags to the tellers behind the booth. Joey moved in front of her so she couldn’t see what was going on—or to keep the others from seeing her.
“I don’t mean nothing, Aunt Amerella. Just stay hidden.” Joey was younger than the attendant who tried to calm her a few minutes ago. Oy vey. Kids these days. Ha, listen to her—thinking like an old woman when she was practically a kid herself. She’d grown up fast in the last four years.
