by Abbi Glines
“Oh no,” I whispered, hating myself for drinking.
“He’s alone in there. She’s in Heath’s bed and Heath’s on the floor in his room,” he explained. I was relieved, but I had also made the sleeping arrangements complicated.
“He should have woken me up,” I said, now feeling guilty for more than just making Rathe uncomfortable.
“I wasn’t letting anyone wake you or move you,” Rathe’s response sounded firm. As if no one could argue with him. I liked that. I shouldn’t and I wished I didn’t.
“Why? Because having me sprawl all over you was oh so comfortable,” I replied, wanting to sound as if his response hadn’t made me feel giddy.
“It was nice, Catalina. I won’t lie. You were so peaceful. I liked you asleep on me and that wasn’t something I was willing to give up.”
Oh. My heart was racing now, and breathing suddenly seemed difficult. The way his voice had dropped when he explained it only made his explanation more exciting. I just stared at him, not sure what to say. I wasn’t positive my voice wouldn’t give away the effect his words had on me. Silence seemed to be safer. The privacy and the darkness made desires inside me stir that I had been doing my best to fight off.
He moved, sliding his hand back around my waist, pulling me close to him again. My body heated and the flush he was causing now had nothing to do with embarrassment. I was reacting to the attraction.
“It’s not even three yet. We have plenty of hours left to sleep. Stay with me.”
Ignoring that suggestion wouldn’t be possible. I lay my head down on his shoulder with hesitance. “I’m not sure this is what friends do,” I told him or me or both of us.
“It is,” he assured me, his breath far too close to my ear. I inhaled sharply and my skin hummed with pleasure. “Tonight, I had a date. One I couldn’t enjoy because all I could think about was someone else.” He lowered his head and his lips were so close to my ear they brushed it as he spoke. “Do you know who that was, Catalina?” he asked in a low husky voice.
I couldn’t speak. I did manage to shake my head a little.
“You. I couldn’t think of anything but you.”
My breath caught in my throat, and I wanted to run from this and cling to him at the same time. Every reason I should leave faded as he pressed his lips to my ear then moved to kiss my temple. “I just wanted to get back here, knowing you were here. Then I get here and you curl into me so sweet and soft. It’s exactly where I wanted to be.” His lips moved without breaking contact down to my ear then he shifted me, and he was kissing my neck, turning me until my chest was pressed to his and his lips were on my cheek. He was pausing, teasing, possibly battling with himself. I wasn’t sure but my body was so consumed with a greedy need to get more I didn’t care. I just didn’t want him to stop any of it.
With one easy shift, his hands were on my waist, and our lips were touching. Every nerve on my body caught fire when the tip of his tongue touched the sensitive flesh of my lips. I couldn’t inhale, my lungs were burning with the need of oxygen. My lips parted for him though without needing my help. They knew what they wanted and the taste was possibly better than the smell of his skin. I gasped, finally getting the air my body needed.
My hands squeezed his shoulders for support as I straddled him then I sank my fingers into his hair.
“Fuck,” he uttered the one word before his hand grabbed a handful of my hair and he began kissing me with a hunger that matched mine. My need to get lost in him was so wild that I pressed my body down onto him and felt the rigidness of his erection between my legs. That instantly lit a flame where the already sensitive nerves had been pulsing.
I moaned and kissed him with more excitement. The pleasure was teasing me with a promise of more. I wiggled slightly, causing us both to inhale sharply and still. His hand tightened in my hair, and he pulled my head back with one tug. His eyes held me with such a dark intensity that I should have been scared, but I wasn’t. I was crazed for him. The flash in his eyes as he saw my complete surrender had me close to begging. Consequences be damned.
My body and mind were now in one accord. No more battling what I craved and what I knew was right. I was giving in to this attraction to Rathe.
That acceptance was very short lived as was the heat spiraling between us. Rathe wasn’t giving in or acting on anything. Instead Rathe shook his head no with a firmness that I understood. There was no question to what he was refusing. It was clear.
I’d never felt as lost as I did in that moment. I continued to stay very still waiting for an explanation or him to resume making me lose my mind. I wanted to misunderstand his shake of the head. The seconds that past were only a few, but it seemed an eternity. Self-doubt was creeping in and the fire that had gone from a smolder to full blown flame in seconds was doused.
“We can’t do this.” Although his voice sounded thick with regret, the words were still the same. I moved. I no longer wanted to crawl all over him. The exact opposite. I wanted to get away from him. The fact I was straddling his lap so brazenly had become embarrassing. His hand let my hair go as I shifted and I was able to quickly move from his embrace. The room was cold without the heat from our bodies. I wrapped my arms around me in a protective manner and glanced around for my shoes. I didn’t know what else to do or say. This was a first for me. I had only ever been intimate with one other boy and that was so long ago. I wanted to leave, but should I leave without Duely? My safety no longer seemed that big of a deal. If I had to choose between the stalking warlock and staying here with Rathe after… after what we had almost done then I was leaning toward the warlock.
“Catalina,” he said my name with a firmness that commanded attention, but I didn’t look at him. I just needed a moment to get myself together. To feel less vulnerable and emotionally exposed. I felt raw. “I’m sorry. I started… things,” he said the words as if he truly meant them. I believed him. We were supposed to be friends. He’d been clear on that but I was a female, and I’d been there willingly, climbing all over him with very little encouragement. I couldn’t blame it on him.
I saw my Vans tucked under the ottoman and bent down to grab them. Again, I wasn’t sure if I should go. Leaving here in the middle of the night alone was currently a bad idea, but it seemed to be all I could do. Besides, I didn’t know if the disappearing stranger was dangerous. He was just an unknown and that’s what concerned me. I wasn’t weak. Anything else outside needed to fear me. I had never walked around in fear before and the oddity of it was an annoyance.
Kamlock’s didn’t fear. I wasn’t proud of that name, but it was something to remember right now. I was far from helpless.
“You can’t leave,” Rathe said. “It’s late. Take my room. I’ll stay out here.”
My head snapped up at that offer to look at him. His regret was clear and that was even more of a reason for me to get the heck out of here. I had seen regret before on a guy. That memory burned in my gut, and it should have been enough to keep me from being stupid tonight. I was glutton for punishment. This was proof. I was leaving.
“I’ll be fine. Tell Duely I’m going to my house tonight,” I said then slipped my Vans on quickly.
“Catalina, please don’t leave. Talk to me,” he said the last three words as if that was the last thing he wanted to do. He didn’t want to be the reason I left in the middle of the night and was then possibly abducted or raped. There was no reason for him to be concerned about that but he didn’t know just how safe I was from any lurking criminal out there.
“I think we talked enough, Rathe. Don’t you? I’m going to leave and end this awkwardness. Trust me, I’ll be fine,” I stopped before I started ranting. My desire to call him names that he probably didn’t deserve reminded me how naïve and inexperienced I truly was. Damn hormones and his pretty face.
“If I hadn’t stopped us, we would have messed everything up,” he said, as he stoo
d up. I sure hoped he didn’t think he could keep me from walking out that door. I’d hurt his masculinity a bit if he attempted it.
“You’re right. We would have. Thanks for having the will power to stop us.” I sounded angry or bitter and tomorrow I’d wish I had acted more mature about it.
We stood there in the darkness with nothing but the moonlight coming through the windows lighting the room. Neither one of us said anything. I studied his face for something to make this easier but all I saw was the regret. That hurt the most.
How was I the only Kamlock woman in history to be the one to get hurt by men? We were born to cause the pain. We were the heartbreaking gold diggers. Kamlock women didn’t get turned down. Except for me, it seemed. Not being evil meant being vulnerable. I took in the look of Rathe’s disheveled hair and the expression on his face. Even Rathe’s rejection couldn’t make me want to be like the other women in my family. I’d choose to be rejected over and over by men than to end up like my mother.
Without a word, I turned around and went to pick my purse up from the table beside the front door. When I opened the door, he didn’t say anything. No more begging me to stay. No more argument. He wanted me to leave. He just couldn’t admit it.
A door opened somewhere inside, and I sighed, knowing we had woken one of the others up. I wasn’t going to argue with any of them. I didn’t want to explain why I was leaving. They had all seen me laying on Rathe asleep before they went to bed.
“Where you going?” Duely called out to me. I was glad it was him.
“Home,” I told him quietly without looking back. His hearing was excellent. Then I walked out the door and closed it behind me.
“Are you going after her?” I heard Rathe ask.
“She’ll be safe. At least from anything out there that can hurt her,” Duely replied with a touch of sarcasm in his voice. He hadn’t been worried about my safety with the warlock after all. He had that stupid idea in his head I was special or something more. I could see souls of those passed on, I could control the weather sure, but the only other thing that made me stronger than the rest of the Kamlocks was I could experience emotions such as sympathy and love. I had a heart. That was not a super power. If anything, it made me weaker than the others. Tonight was an example of just how weak it made me. “The only thing you need to be concerned about is Heath’s reaction when he finds out you made her run away in the middle of the night,” Duely added. I rolled my eyes and kept walking away from the mistake I’d made tonight.
Seventeen
The Disowning
The darkness had always calmed me. Even as a child, nighttime was my favorite. The quiet, the beauty of the stars, the comfort of being alone. Going home didn’t mean to me what it did to others. I preferred the night and earth to being inside that house.
Standing in front of the house, I stared up at it, wishing my life had gone differently. A million times I’d wished my father had lived. I wished I had been old enough to protect him. To keep him safe. The way my mother could have if she’d tried.
Slipping off my shoes I left them on the front steps of the house then sank my feet into the cold damp grass. The connection sent a bolt of energy through my body. I soaked in the recharge. Walking around the house, I inhaled the sweet scents of nature. Closing my eyes, I didn’t need to see to find the path to my circle. It drew me toward it. The soil beneath my feet was my guide.
My steps went without pause until I stood in the spot that was mine alone. Here I didn’t feel lost. I didn’t have the connection Heath and Margo had with each other and their parents. I didn’t have family surrounding me. I would never have a romantic connection with someone. Tonight I’d forgotten that for a moment, but Rathe had reminded me. Reality had hit as it often did and the pang of loneliness had stung from somewhere deep inside me.
I felt stronger here.
I wasn’t alone here. I had a connection to something others didn’t. It was as if ancestors who weren’t cold, hateful bitches were with me. I was positive I didn’t have Kamlock ancestors who weren’t shallow dark creatures, but here, I had someone. Something. I just didn’t know what it was or why I had this when the others didn’t. My sisters had mocked me when we were kids and I’d mentioned it to them.
The idea that what surrounded me out here was my father’s side of the family wasn’t possible because I had only seen one of them- Annabelle. She was my ancestor, but it wasn’t the same as when she was near. This was… powerful. It held something. It had energy that ordinary humans didn’t.
Whatever I had out here, it had kept me sane in this life I had been born into. With my eyes closed, I tilted my head back and the unity I had warmed my skin. My feet lifted from the ground, and I rested suspended under the stars. I called to no power, I asked for nothing, I pulled no energy, I only accepted the harmony. The breeze stilled, and I knew the animals that had been nearby would flee, leaving the area around me completely void of life other than mine. Not even Annabelle came out here or near this area.
Time was of no importance and neither was anything else. It was in this serenity that my pain, heartbreak, sadness didn’t exist. There was no ache in my chest. This was my void. My time of worship when I gave what I was to the earth and allowed it to control me.
When the night began to close, I opened my eyes, and slowly, I was lowered back to the ground beneath me. With a deep breath, I released the pain of yesterday, the rejection of hours ago, and the sadness that came with the life I led. I had lost a dear friend and that was my excuse for my weakness around Rathe. It wouldn’t happen again.
I moved to leave my circle when my gaze lifted to meet my mother’s bright green eyes glowing in the pre-dawn as she watched me. She was several feet away, her long red hair flowing free down her back. With the breeze catching the silky strands and the moonlight on her pale skin, she appeared every bit of the magical being she was. Nothing about her was ordinary.
I said nothing to her as I walked closer, waiting on her to say something. Explain her presence. This was not her time of day. She liked her sleep. She was out here for a reason. She sensed my joining with the earth but that wasn’t unusual. I’d done this since I was a child. If she wanted to taunt me or criticize me for not doing what she wanted then she’d have waited until another time. Her rest wouldn’t have been interrupted for me.
She was nervous, and I wondered why. The glow in her eyes was a show of sorcery. She was on guard and ready to cast at any moment. I didn’t feel any danger around us. I saw no reason for her to be so edgy and alert.
“You need to leave here,” she called out to me.
“What?” I asked, unsure I heard her correctly.
“The force around this house was placed here for you. Zephyr came yesterday to see if the girls were in any danger. I told him about the man you saw at the wedding and the barrier that he couldn’t cross. He brought two more warlocks with him. No one can break it nor do we know what it is.” She inhaled deeply, and her eyes flickered as if there was sunlight in the darkness causing it. “You refused the circle of three. You rejected the power of the charmed that was to be your destiny. Now, you need to go. Leave this house and don’t return.”
I wondered if this was Zephyr’s idea to get me to break and agree to the power of three. Threaten to send me away by claiming the stranger was after me. It sounded conniving enough that my mother had come up with it, but I would bet, she had help with the details.
“So, you’re kicking me out of the family?” I asked in shock. Did they think I would fall for this? When had I ever given them a reason to think I was so gullible?
She said nothing.
“How is this all about me? Did the spell speak to Zephyr? Tell him it was here to protect me?” I asked, wondering how far she was going to take this. I knew my mother would do anything for the power of three but this wasn’t something I ever expected.
The snarl I rec
ognized on Persephone’s otherwise perfect face meant I’d pissed her off. She wanted to scare me into bending to her will. I wasn’t going to give her any ground here. I didn’t back away from her. Instead, I took two steps in her direction, making it clear I was not a child she could control. She didn’t move, but her eyes flashed a warning. As if I was suddenly an enemy instead of her daughter.
“There is sorcery and there is something that passes the darkness. It’s an eclipse, Catalina. A voodoo that black magic isn’t strong enough to contain. Your soul calls out to it. I feared it would one day. My hope was that you’d stop being a selfish brat and accept the gift of three. That your sisters joined forces would cleanse you of the other. Time has run out.” She pointed a single finger at me. “You waited too long. You wouldn’t allow the Kamlock gift to save you. Now he knows. He isn’t searching for you any longer. He found you.”
I took another step toward her, and this time, she backed up. “What are you talking about? What voodoo? Who has found me?”
She took several more steps back away from me. I saw the terror in her eyes and I wondered, once again, what could terrify my mother. “Is it the stranger from the wedding? Is that what this is about? He is after me and you know who he is? Or is this a trick to get me to give into the power of three?” I was starting to think this was more than a manipulation. Did she truly believe someone was after me and might harm her?
She shook her head. “No. That’s over. He’s here. There will be no power of three this generation. My choices years ago cursed it, and now, it’s back to haunt us all.”
She was talking too fast for me to make sense of all the stuff she was spewing. She was becoming hysterical. “You want me to take my things and leave here? Not come back? You no longer desire the power of three that your daughters would possess? I find that hard to believe,” then I added, “Where do you expect me to go?” it wasn’t that I hadn’t planned on leaving soon, but not at this moment, without a job. I had money saved but not enough to make me feel secure. I also didn’t plan on leaving with my mother demanding I go, immediately.