by L.H. Cosway
She squealed and began trying to cast a spell to get away from him, but Roman cast one quicker, and her hands fell limp. He leaned close enough to whisper in her ear, “Relax, little witch, there is no use trying to fight it. I am stronger.” His hand travelled down her body in a possessive manner as though to taunt Theodore, who suddenly jumped down off the monkey bars.
“Let her go,” he demanded.
“I will once you do as I have asked.”
Theodore didn’t make a move, and Roman tightened the chain around Rita’s neck, wrenching a gurgled cry from her. Theodore’s eyes went black as tar, the dark irises completely covering the whites.
“You will regret this,” he seethed, but Roman made no move to release Rita.
Theodore closed his eyes and moved his hand, shifting Rebecca’s blood back through the tubing on her arms and inside her body. The box she stood on stopped moving, and the awful music ceased. Once all of her blood had been returned to her, she opened her eyes and blinked.
Strangely enough, the first person she recognised was Ira. She jumped off the box and ran to him. He picked her up, holding her safely in his arms.
A chill ran down my spine when Theodore’s eyes landed on me. “You, release Emilia from her restraints.”
“That I can do,” I said, hurrying to the older woman. I pulled a Swiss army knife from my pocket and cut off the duct tape, which sizzled as though it had been infused with magic. Emilia exhaled in relief once she was free, and I led her across the garden to the others. She reached for Rebecca, but the little girl held tighter onto Ira, refusing to allow Emilia near her.
What happened next went down so fast that if I’d blinked, I’d have missed it. Roman loosened the chain from Rita’s neck and my head went foggy as he transported us back to Cristescu’s house. When I could see clearly again, I was standing on the street in front of Alora. She leaned against the gate, staring at me in wonder. I smiled at her so big my cheeks hurt.
“Well,” I said, jokingly. “Am I as handsome as you thought I’d be?”
She smirked. “Shut up.”
“What? It’s a legitimate question. You said you thought I was handsome, but I’m not sure how good of a judge a pair of hands are.”
She glanced up at me now, her expression serious. “You’re very handsome, Finn. My hands are a fine judge.”
I took a step toward her, closing the distance between us until there was none left. “And you are so fucking beautiful it’s hard to look at you sometimes,” I told her in a low voice, trailing my fingers along her jaw. She sucked in a shaky breath, unable to make eye contact.
“We should go inside,” she suggested. I glanced around and noticed that everyone had gone into the house already.
“Yeah, we should. But first, how are you feeling? Any weirdness from the magic?”
“No. I feel fine. All this light is a little hard to get used to though,” she said, wincing slightly. “But I’ll adapt.”
I wrapped my arm around her middle and led her inside. It appeared that Emilia had simply replaced one pair of restraints for another because Roman was in the process of magically biding her hands with rope, so she couldn’t cast any spells. Tegan knelt on the floor hugging Rebecca.
“I’ll never let anyone take you ever again,” she whispered in her ear. “I promise.”
Emilia studied her granddaughter closely before exclaiming in shock. “Oh, my God, please tell me it’s not true. You’re pregnant!”
Tegan turned to her in surprise. “How do you know?”
Emilia scoffed. “It’s plain as day to see.”
“Yeah, well, it’s none of your business.”
There was a touch of something desperate in Tegan’s voice, and Emilia’s eyes lit up.
“You need me to help you, don’t you? You need me to teach you how to survive the birth.”
“Shut up. I’ll come and talk to you later,” Tegan said, dismissing her as she led Rebecca upstairs to her room.
“Emilia,” Roman said once Tegan was gone. “She is your granddaughter. Why do you treat her so disdainfully? You should be cherishing her.”
“Don’t you dare talk down to me. She has been nothing but rude to me since the day we met. Somebody needs to put manners on the girl.”
“And that person is you, is it?” Roman questioned.
“Ha! I have far better things to be doing with my time.”
Icy silence elapsed between the two of them, and I cast Alora a ‘this is incredibly awkward’ glance. She shot me a little grin, and I tried to hide my elation at the fact that she could actually see me now. I wanted to know everything she was thinking, everything she thought about me.
“I saw how you looked at Theodore’s daughter,” Emilia said to Roman, breaking the silence. “You want her.”
“She is a powerful witch, too powerful for her age,” Roman replied as if that explained his attraction. Emilia snorted.
Cristescu, who had been standing by the window the entire time with his arms folded over his chest, absorbed the back and forth between the witch and the sorcerer.
“Roman,” he said, uncharacteristically polite after the way he’d demanded he get out of the house earlier this morning. “Might I request that you bind the house with magic to prevent Theodore from getting inside? He’s going to move against us after today, and we need to be prepared for when that happens.”
“It would be my pleasure,” Roman answered and swiftly left the room.
Cristescu strode toward Emilia and stopped in front of her. She watched him with wary eyes as he levelled her with a sincere look.
“I apologise profusely for all of this. It pains me to restrain a beautiful and powerful witch such as yourself, but for the moment, we must take every precaution for our safety, and your allegiance has not yet been solidified. I will put you in a comfortable room, and you will be provided with food and anything else you might need. Please, call for me if you require anything.”
Okay, I had to admit he was good. The defiance in Emilia’s posture dissolved. She didn’t smile at him, but she was no longer scowling.
“Thank you. I appreciate being treated with respect,” she said with a sniff.
“A lady of your fine standing deserves nothing less,” Cristescu replied smoothly as he helped her up off the sofa. “Come, I have had a room set up for you. You will be able to rest there.”
“Your brother really knows how to charm the ladies,” I said to Delilah once they were gone.
She stood next to Ira. “Ethan understands how essential it is to leave people with their dignity. He also knows the right things to say to earn their trust.”
“He should become a politician,” I joked.
“Well, he kind of is one now, isn’t he,” she said before motioning Ira to follow her from the room.
I was grateful to be alone with Alora once more and pulled her swiftly into my arms. She gasped in surprise, but I muffled the sound with my mouth when I kissed her.
“Want to get out of here for a while?” I asked, breaking the kiss, and she nodded fervently.
Outside, it had started to rain. We found Roman walking circles around the perimeter of the house, golden magic streaming from his hands and wrapping around the building as he muttered an incantation. He seemed to be deep into it, so we made sure not to distract him from his task.
I’d only known him a day, and he might’ve been a little eccentric, but there was something about Tegan’s grandfather that made me feel like he was one of the good guys. And staying good when you had power like Roman’s was no small feat.
I led Alora to my van and helped her into the front passenger seat. Having spent the last few days assisting her with every little thing, I was having a hard time getting used to letting her go it alone.
I had her seatbelt in my hand as I secured it around her waist. “Sorry. Old habits die hard.”
“It’s okay. It’s nice to know someone cares enough to help. Still, I’m glad to have my sight back.
I’ll need to thank Roman personally once things quieten down.”
I slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. “Oh, yeah, and how would you do that?”
“Well, normally if you’re a seer like I am, the best way to thank someone is to tell them something you’ve seen about their future. However, I’m not sure how much a sorcerer his age cares about stuff like that. It’s mostly humans who fret over what’s going to happen to them.”
I pulled away from the house and selected a random direction. I didn’t really care where we went, so long as I got to spend some time alone with her.
“He’s certainly old, but I’m sure he wouldn’t say no to a little prediction.” I paused as I considered her. “So, since I’ve helped you these last few days, do I get one, too?”
She arched an eyebrow. “Who’s to say I’ve seen anything of your future, Finn?”
“Well, have you?”
She glanced out the window at the world passing by. “I might have.”
Something in my gut twisted at her hesitation. “It’s bad, isn’t it? That’s why you don’t want to tell me.”
She hurried to correct me. “No, that’s not it. It’s not bad. It’s just kind of, well, personal.”
I glanced at her sideways. “I can deal with personal.”
She bit her lip, which I noticed was a nervous tick of hers. “It actually involves me.”
Now I grinned big, glancing from the road to her. “Really? It must be good then. Come on, don’t leave me hanging. Tell me.”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment, then finally replied, “Remember when we first met? When I said I’d heard your voice before?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I heard it in a vision I had when I was sixteen. It’s rare that I see something that’s about me, so I always held onto the memory of it. That, and it was one of the few happy things I’d seen.”
I liked the sound of a happy ending. It’d certainly make all the crap we’d been through lately feel like it was worth it. “Oh?”
Alora stared down at her lap. “I was older in the vision, in my late twenties or early thirties, and I was laughing and running through a country meadow.”
I swallowed as I listened to her description, waiting with bated breath for her to finish.
“I was being chased by someone, like, in a playful way,” she continued. “It was a man with an accent I wasn’t used to hearing, an accent just like yours. He was calling me, teasing me that he was going to catch me. Finally, I was caught up by a pair of strong arms and hauled into this completely loving embrace. That’s when the vision ended. Now that I’ve heard your voice, Finn, I know undoubtedly that the man was you.” She paused, swallowing thickly before finally meeting my gaze. “It’s why I felt so comfortable with you from the beginning. I wouldn’t typically share a bed with a man I’d never met, but with you, it was okay because my vision had shown me that we …” her voice broke, thick with emotion. “That we ended up together,” she finished in a whisper.
Overcome with feeling, I pulled over onto the side of the road and dragged her from her seat onto my lap. Framing her face in my hands, I looked between her eyes, trying to figure out if she was playing with me. All I saw was complete and total honesty, and I knew she was telling the truth. This beautiful woman saw me in her future. She saw the two of us being happy together, and I couldn’t help feeling stunned. I’d never been more hopeful.
“You really saw that?” I asked as I ran my lips over her silky soft cheek, and she sucked in a harsh breath.
“Yes. I’m not sure what it means exactly—”
“You know what it means,” I cut her off. “It means we belong together.”
“Finn, those are awfully committed words to be saying to a girl you hardly know.”
“I trust in your sight, Alora. Neither of us knows what road is going to take us to that place you saw us. It could be a road full of pain and strife, but so long as I know that’s where we’re going to end up, I can be happy. I’ll go through all of it just to get there, to that little spot in the country where we’re together and finally at peace.”
She blinked, stunned by my words. I might’ve been a little bit stunned by them also. I didn’t know I had it in me to be so romantic.
Moving her so that her legs were astride my lap, I ran my hands up and down her thighs.
“I like touching you,” I said in a gravelly voice before dipping my mouth to her neck. “Do you like being touched by me, Alora?”
“Mm-hmm,” she mumbled. “I do.”
“That’s good.”
Pressing my lips to her skin, I trailed kisses from the spot below her ear down to her collarbone. She sighed, and both her hands clutched my shoulders tightly. I was so hard I worried I might be scaring her a little, but she only moved against me, seeking friction. Moving one hand to the back of her neck, I pulled her mouth to mine, licking inside her lips with my tongue.
I’d forgotten how relieving it was to just lose myself in a woman. I was always so on edge, always waiting for the next disaster to hit.
Moments later, my hands were under her top, pulling down her bra and palming her breasts. Her hands lifted my shirt up and over my head, throwing it onto the other seat. I wanted this to happen. In fact, I needed it to happen. However, I didn’t want to make love to her for the first time on the side of the road in the front seat of a van.
I wanted her in a bed. More importantly, I want her in my bed.
I groaned, knowing I was going to have to stop this now. The problem was, she felt way too good to stop. She started fumbling with my belt buckle, and before I knew it, she’d slipped her fingers inside my pants, palming my erection.
The feel of her slender fingers wrapping around my thick length almost undid me.
“Baby,” I murmured, but she didn’t stop. She kept on moving her hand up and down, and I closed my eyes from the pleasure. Jerking off never really did it for me anymore, but having Alora touch me was like starting anew. I felt like a randy teenager who was going to come within seconds.
I pinched at her nipple and fisted one hand in her long hair, kissing her with urgency and feeling the need build inside me. I could tell that she was excited, too, because her breathing was all erratic and her cheeks were flushed. Her lush lips seemed to have become even softer, more pliant. I couldn’t get enough of her taste.
When she broke the kiss and whispered, “Come for me, Finn,” in my ear, I couldn’t hold back any longer. I blew my load in her hand, and she smiled against my lips. I grabbed a box of tissues from the glove compartment to clean up, and she curled herself around me. Holding her in my arms, I closed my eyes, and a feeling of contentment took over.
“That was … embarrassing but incredible,” I breathed, kissing her hair.
“Why embarrassing?”
“Because I’m a thirty-one-year-old man and I haven’t come from being jerked off by a woman in a really long time.”
She stared at me, and I wondered if I said something wrong. “You’re thirty-one?”
Ah, so she wasn’t aware of our age difference. I laughed self-deprecatingly. “Should I be worried by the shock on your face, or should I take your surprise as a compliment that I don’t look my age?”
“Um, I guess I just didn’t think you were that much older than me.”
“Is it a problem for you?”
“No,” she answered quickly. “Of course not. You just took me off guard.” Now she smiled. “Actually, I kind of like it. It’s sophisticated to go out with an older man, right?”
“Way sophisticated, Goldy. All your girlfriends are going to be, like, totally jealous.”
She punched me playfully in the chest, and I pretended she winded me. “Stop making fun.”
“Sorry, no can do. There’s something you should know about me,” I said leaning close to her.
“What is it?”
I let my voice drop several notches lower when I answered, “I’m a massive te
ase.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, amusement tugging at her lips. “Shut up.”
I was about to say something else when there was a loud thump on the hood of the van. It was raining so I had to turn on the windshield wipers to clear the glass. When I did, I saw Marcel standing in front of the vehicle. He was dripping wet, his long grey hair straggled around his face—and there was a massive bloodstain smeared across his hemp shirt.
15.
Tegan
The atmosphere in the house settled down once Roman brought Emilia and Rebecca back from Theodore. I sat in the living room, nibbling on a selection of cream buns and scones that Alvie had bought for me (yeah, my appetite was still crazy strong), when a loud ruckus sounded from the front door.
I jumped up just as Finn burst into the room, dragging a rain-soaked Marcel by the scruff of the neck.
“Evening, Tegan,” he greeted. “I brought a visitor for you.”
My mouth curved into a little in a smirk as I eyed Marcel. I held the plate out to him, my tone casual. “So nice of you to stop by. Scone?”
Marcel shook his head, his usual confidence gone. He looked scared and desperate.
“I need your help,” he said, and it sounded like he sacrificed a good deal of pride just to spit those words out.
“Evidently. Is that your blood or someone else’s?”
“It’s not mine. It’s Michael’s.”
“Michael Ridley’s?” Finn asked, stepping forward. Alora hovered by the door, watching Marcel closely. She looked like she was trying to figure out if this was a ruse. I was wondering the same myself.
“Is Michael dead?” Alora questioned.
Marcel glanced at her and nodded solemnly. “Yes.”
The tension in Alora’s shoulders dissolved when she heard this, and I understood why. I’d be relieved too to know my kidnapper was dead.
“Theodore killed him,” Marcel went on. “He flew into a rage after Rebecca and Emilia were taken. He said it was Michael’s fault for allowing himself to be overpowered. He was being completely unreasonable. Everyone knows that there’s no way for a mere warlock to fight off a sorcerer of Roman Patel’s power.”