Since we had some time before sunset, we made dinner. We’d need our strength tonight and it was nice to have some down time.
Something I discovered that evening was that Miranda was a fantastic cook. We’d been eating pizza and sandwiches due to being busy that she hadn’t had the chance to do it since I’d arrived. Even if the meal wasn’t elaborate, which I appreciated given that fancy food tended to be small portions with weird sauces, they were still delicious. So much better than the sandwiches I usually lived off of.
OK, there were like four things I could cook really well, but Miranda didn’t seem to have to think about what she was doing. Then poof, like magic, this amazing-smelling dinner was before us. Tonight she’d decided on lemon herb chicken, these roasted potatoes, and a salad. Miller and I did the salad because we could at least cut stuff and we did do whatever else she asked us to.
After we sat down to eat, she asked, “Why do you think your mom kept your powers from you?”
Ugh. Wasn’t that the million-dollar question. “I don’t really know. She wasn’t around for me to ask.”
Her eyes widened and her fork paused halfway to her mouth. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think—”
“No, no.” I waved her off. “It’s a fine question. I just don’t know the answer. I worked through my grief a long time ago.”
Miller snorted and my foot shot out, kicking him in the shin like it knew just what to do.
“Damn,” he grunted.
Miranda watched the two of us, her eyes bouncing from me to him. “Why’d you kick him?”
“No reason,” I told her but then she looked to him and raised her eyebrows. She wanted an answer.
He gave her a small shake of his head. “No reason. I was just remembering some of the ways he worked through his grief and it made me laugh.”
“Like what?” she asked. Not like either of us didn’t see that question coming.
“Nothing important,” I told her then sighed and settled a hard glare on Miller. We really didn’t need to be talking about this right now. I’d worked through my grief when I was fifteen or sixteen by getting lost in a few girls. Whatever. I’d moved on.
“Oh,” she said nodding as if she totally understood. “That must mean sex stuff. I get it. You don’t have to tell me.” Miranda dropped her gaze back to her food and continued eating.
My jaw tightened and I wanted to punch Miller in the gut for making this a topic of conversation. I reached out and used my index finger under her chin to force her to look up at me.
“How about I tell you everything with that later?”
She put on a small grin and nodded. Still, I glared at Miller who mouthed Sorry. Yeah. I’m sure he was.
“Actually, this is more like the life I always wanted,” she admitted.
“Being a witch?” My face scrunched up. Nobody dreamed of that life.
She shook her head. “No. This.” She circled her hand to indicate the three of us. Friends.
I smiled back at her and reached my hand out to brush across the top of hers. “I’ve been needing someone like you, too.”
“Oh right.” She rolled her eyes but didn’t move the hand. “I’m sure you’ve got women falling all over themselves to be with you. You’ve seen yourself, right?”
That wasn’t entirely true but also not entirely untrue. But I chuckled at her thinking that was the case. Echo Valley wasn’t overly big to begin with. Most of us went to school together and we all knew each other which made it even more difficult to hide interest in one another.
“That’s not what I meant. I’m an orphan, too. Most people don’t understand and I’ve been alone for far too long.”
“Excuse me?” Miller interrupted what was a private moment. “Do I mean nothing to you? I thought what we had was special.”
Miranda placed two fingers over her mouth as she tried to stifle a giggle. I too had to chuckle.
“Oh, of course,” I said. “I forgot my first love, Miller.” Then I turned back to her. “But he also has known what he was since birth and can’t understand what it’s like to lose everyone in your family and then find out you’re actually a freak of nature.” When I glanced back at Miller, I added, “Thankfully. I love your parents and wouldn’t want anything to happen to them.”
They’d been the ones to take me in when I returned to Echo Valley.
“Of course,” he told me.
Miranda and I weren’t sitting far apart, so when she ran her fingers through my hair she didn’t even have to move out of her seat. She cupped my face and pulled me close.
“You don’t have to be alone anymore,” she said quietly, then she kissed me softly on the lips. Miller averted his eyes and kept eating as if this scene wasn’t playing out before him.
That was the best part of Miller. He was just there. Like furniture and nothing bothered him much. He cleared his throat then pushed up from the table, went over and set his dishes in the sink, then shuffled out of the room.
I heard him trod up the stairs then the door to my bedroom shut.
Any memory that we were eating dinner was gone. The soft kiss evolved into so much more.
I turned in my seat to face her as my mouth couldn’t get enough of hers. Then I reached out, with her still holding on to my cheeks, and yanked her chair closer until she was between my legs. I ran my hands up her back until I could grasp the hair at the nape of her neck and take that kiss even deeper.
Her tongue felt like silk against mine and I knew I’d never get enough of her. We stayed like that until it became obvious from the tightening in my pants that we needed to relocate.
I stood, bringing Miranda with me.
“We need to be somewhere else right now,” I said, but damn, did I sound breathless. Wasn’t I supposed to be leaving her that way? I was the one with more experience after all.
“Right,” she said, and it turned out I was leaving her that way. “Where?”
“You tell me.” I wanted her to take me where she’d be most comfortable. Whether it be her bed in her room, or one of the rooms in the newly discovered part of the house, or fuck… the front porch. I didn’t care. I’d stay right here but didn’t think she’d appreciate that.
She bit her lips together and blinked four times, then took my hand and led me up the stairs. It wasn’t until she passed the first door to the new part of the house that I knew she was taking me to her room.
Truth be told, that was exactly where I wanted to go in the first place. That was where she’d spent her time. Her life. The new part of the house was beautiful, of course, but her room was her. And damn, she was beautiful.
Miranda shut the door behind us and I had to make an effort not to smile. There wasn’t anyone else in the house to see or hear us, but if shutting the door made her feel better, then so be it.
But this time… this time I was going to go slow no matter how badly I wanted to be inside of her. We’d been a little rushed before and that wasn’t happening this time.
She stopped in the middle of her room, as if she wasn’t sure what to do. I moved into her space until we were toe to toe and kissed her the way she’d deserved to be kissed a million times before I’d come along, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t grateful she hadn’t been. The idea of her with someone else burned my stomach, even though I knew it’d never happened. It was just an idea in my head, but I still hated it.
Slowly, I moved us toward the bed, removing an article of her clothing, then mine, and we kept going until we were both naked, her shirt and shorts forgotten alongside my jeans and T-shirt. Only then did I point to the bed and watch her climb on. I wanted to watch her do that a hundred times over.
Once beside her, I kissed her until we were both left breathless. Then I trailed those kisses down her neck, taking a detour at her breasts. They were there calling my name, so I gave them the attention they deserved, sucking one nipple, then the other into my mouth. When she moaned it shot right to my dick. If she kept that up, this whole thing migh
t be over before we got to the best part.
Every movement was slow and with purpose. Every touch gentle and done with love. This feeling of love inside me wasn’t at all what I’d expected when I came to town. But damn, she’d burrowed her way into my heart in days.
When I settled between her legs, my shoulders keeping her legs apart, I kissed and licked, sucked and nibbled because I wanted her to feel good not because of my own need or because I thought I was supposed to. No. This was all about Miranda.
Then her world fell apart and this feeling of pride formed in my chest that hadn’t been there before. It was a stupid thing to be proud of, I supposed, but damn, I’d done that for her. I’d made her go there. I’d given her that pleasure and fuck, I wanted to do it again and again.
But she reached for me and I wouldn’t deny her anything she wanted. I sucked and nibbled my way back up to her, then buried my face in her neck to give myself a minute to calm down. But honestly, I couldn’t wait.
Miranda brought her mouth to mine and kissed me hard, with a passion I’d never been a part of before. As she pulled me closer and closer, I pushed inside of her and it was like coming home.
I moved against her without any hurry to get anywhere. I wanted to revel in the feeling of her against me. The softness beneath me. Her nails scraping up my back. All of it. And when I knew it was about to end I didn’t change the speed at all. This was about her and me.
There was no rush to move from this hot little cocoon that we’d created. We had some time before the moon got where we needed it to be to do the protection spell we had planned.
Instead, I held her in my arms as she laid her head on my chest and drew little shapes on my skin with her fingertip.
“Is it weird that we feel this way about each other already?” she asked. “Or that I feel this way about you already?”
“We,” I corrected her because she’d been right the first time. “I have no idea. I’ve never felt this way about anyone, so I have no clue how long it’s supposed to take.”
“Never?” she asked.
“Miranda… I haven’t really had a long-term girlfriend so no. Never.”
“You’re more of a hook-up guy then?”
I sighed. Laying in bed with her naked wasn’t when I wanted to talk about this but I had told her I’d tell her all of this.
“Not exactly. Sometimes yes. When I was younger, yes. But more… friends with benefits or casual dating.”
She grew quiet but her fingers still trailed over my chest.
“You’re really good at all of this,” she said quietly before dropping a small kiss near my nipple.
“I don’t know about that,” I told her honestly. “I think maybe we’re just really good at this.”
“Pft. I’ve only done this once and it wasn’t exactly involved, so it’s you.”
“It’s not.” I moved her back, then gently pinched her chin, forcing her to look up at me. “It’s never been like this for me before. I think we’re just a perfect fit.”
Miranda gave me a shy smile, then used the tip of her tongue to wet her lips. “I’ll pretend that’s true,” she said. I went to correct her, but she giggled and I knew she was teasing me. “But I want to be able to give you what you give me.”
“You do,” I said seriously, to which she rolled her eyes.
“However, I’ve never done any of this, so you’re just going to have to teach me.”
It took a full minute before I understood what she was talking about. But when her eyes widened slightly and she raised an eyebrow, I totally got that she meant a blow job. “Baby, I’ll teach you anything you want to know.”
She laughed again and slapped my chest, the sound loud in the quiet room. Then she snuggled down into me and I didn’t ever want to move.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Miranda
Reluctantly, Luken and I had to get up and get dressed. Though he made it very difficult by pulling me to him every other minute. It took longer than it should’ve to get dressed, but I wasn’t going to complain one bit. If a man like him, who looked like him, wanted to distract me, I was all for it.
Though we did eventually get dressed. As we made our way down the stairs, Luken called out for Miller to come with us and to grab the potions we’d made. We were out into the backyard by the time darkness had set in.
Somehow I felt comfortable and confident. Getting used to that feeling was going to take some time. But now I had white magic and Luken on my side and if this worked the way I thought it was supposed to, I’d have the council to back me in the future as well. Because I wouldn’t go dark.
This all gave me the confidence I’d never felt growing up. At least not since losing my parents and moving in with my grandmother.
When we reached the grass, we made our circle out of the chalk Grandma had in huge sacks in the attic. Though we put it into a large jar to make it easier to carry. Something about this was very familiar.
A sense of déjà vu too real to ignore took over.
“I think I did this with my grandmother once,” I said but wasn’t entirely sure if I was saying it to Luken and Miller or to myself.
But he nodded anyway. “It’s an old protection spell that works on whoever is inside the circle. Makes sense she’d want one, especially after you arrived.”
I had to wonder how it had gone wrong, how she could’ve been killed despite it. I made a mental note to ask him later. We needed to concentrate on the task at hand.
With the circle marked and the candles burning, we set out to say the spell we’d worked on upstairs.
“Uh, what’re you two doing?” I asked.
They glanced at each other then at me. “Watching you do the spell,” Luken said.
“Shouldn’t the two of you be in on this?”
“We can protect ourselves,” Miller countered.
I cocked my head to the side and narrowed my eyes on them. Without having to say a word, they stepped inside the chalk and moved in behind me.
“We’re going to say this three times,” Luken said as he brushed a hand down the back of my arms.
The three of us stood inside the circle that we’d sprinkled with herbs… I couldn’t remember which ones now but I assumed this would become like second nature to me. I focused on grounding myself, then took a deep breath and began chanting the spell. Their voices joined in though they didn’t need to read the spell off a piece of paper the way I did. I’d scribbled it down on a small scrap paper because Miller insisted I never take my family grimoire out of the attic to do spells. If I was traveling or moving, yes. Otherwise, it stayed put. The white candles burned a red flame and the chalk circle began to change. The flames that shot up from where the chalk had been almost had me stop the spell but Luken settled his hand on my lower back so I kept going.
Through the flames, I watched as Taylor and Ashley stepped out from behind the greenhouse like they’d been waiting this whole time for me to come outside.
They were chanting… Latin? Greek? I couldn’t make it out but it wasn’t English. A spell of their own, I assumed. I couldn’t make it all out. They were staring at me but not really. It was more like a trance and their eyes were pointed in my direction.
Luken had said he thought I’d started us on the path to this very showdown and at least we were a little prepared. I shuttered at the thought of what it’d been like to do this alone without him and Miller by my side.
“Don’t stop,” Luken called out over the suddenly loud fire.
I refocused, regrounded, and they did to. It was like I could feel them pulling from the earth as I did. We kept in time as we continued the spell. Chanting the words as he’d told me. Saying them and meaning them until we were done. Once we were, I began to step through the flames, but Luken stopped me.
“You’ll never make it outside the circle,” he said. “Douse the flames.”
But how? We hadn’t brought anything with us to put out a fire.
Then I remembered tha
t the weather was tied to my emotions. Or rather my emotions could impact the weather. So I concentrated on all the loss in my life. The parents I’d never known. The grandmother I could’ve had a better relationship with minus all the secrets. All of it.
That was when the tears came, along with the rain. As I cried, the rain fell and the flaming circle fizzled out until it was gone.
Ashley and Taylor’s eyes widened but their’ mouths kept moving and I looked at Luken.
“Talk to them,” he urged. “He killed your grandma but the rede barring the use of magic from being used to hurt someone offensively wouldn’t have applied to her then because he was trying to hurt her. We’re just lucky he made it home before dying. That was probably your grandmother’s doing. His casket was surrounded by magic which means he was marked with it but I don’t know exactly what she did other than make sure he couldn’t get to you. Maybe we could end this without anyone getting hurt.”
“Then what?” I asked.
“Then maybe we could work something out. Or not. But you should try. That’s the way with love and light. To avoid breaking the rede and committing yourself to white magic, you have to try.”
I took a deep breath. I was going to have to do this. I walked away from Luken and Miller though knew they were there for me no matter what. They’d back me up.
Luken would protect me.
Once I was close enough for the twins to hear me, I called out, “This is how your father died.” No way in hell was I getting too close. “After a confrontation with my grandma. Do you think your dad would want this for you?” I asked.
I held my arm out to them so they could see the angry skin there.
“This happened when I tried to hurt you at the diner. That was an accident but if you do this, I will be forced to hurt you. The Mather line will end but magic will be around forever. You just won’t be part of it.”
Witch of Warwick (Dark Coven Book 1) Page 16