The Wolf and His Earth Goddess

by Maia Dylan

  “As I said before, I am a chosen Elemental daughter and warrior for the goddess Olwen, and the element I can manipulate is Earth.” Micah remembered her tattoo and was about to nod when her eyes suddenly blazed. Her normally beautiful green became vibrant and shone with an unnatural fire. If he hadn’t known better, he would have sworn she was a shifter. Then she held up her hand and made these intricate patterns in the air.

  “Shit!” Ryan yelled and Micah turned to see what had happened when the earth beneath him rolled and he landed on his ass, right next to his brother.

  “Fuck me,” Micah whispered as he watched some of the river boulders he had put in his yard suddenly start to float off the ground. When they dropped, he felt the thud vibrate through the ground below him. Then everything was still and quiet, and when he looked back at Casey, she was still standing on the porch, but her eyes were back to normal and she was no longer doing that one-handed sign language thing she had been doing. She was just standing there with her hands in the back pockets of her jeans, staring at them with a “well what now” look on her face.

  He and Ryan scrambled to their feet. “Okay, then baby, you’re an Elemental,” Micah said as he walked up the stairs and took her in his arms. When she let out a breath she had been holding and he felt her tremble in his arms he realized she had been afraid of his reaction. “Hey, if you can handle my wolf, I can handle you being able to make the earth move. Hell baby, you’ve been doing that for me all night anyway.”

  “Awww, come on, man! Have a fucking heart and give me a break!” Ryan groaned from the yard, throwing his hands in the air. Casey snuggled against his chest and giggled at him. “You have convinced my skeptical ass that witches and magic exist, Casey. Now, I have to go and question those three men and see if we can’t get more of an idea of where this Aeron might be.”

  Casey suddenly stood straight. “Ryan, you captured those men by yourself?” Ryan made a pfft noise and the look on his face said clearly that he had and she shouldn’t have thought anything to the contrary. “Can I talk with them?” Micah growled, not liking that at all. “I need to ask them when they were contacted. When did this start? I only have a three-month window. I think I have until the end of spring, but I may not. If my time started on March 1st, then I only have until May 31st to work it out and it’s already April 20th. I’m hoping it’s three months from now, because so far I got nothing.”

  “Well I’m coming with you.” Micah walked into the house, grabbed his truck keys, and walked back outside. Ryan was already climbing into his work truck. Casey was waiting for him beside his truck. “Come on, baby, let’s go start unraveling this mystery.” She grinned at him as though he invented fire and his wolf preened on the inside. The human part of him was pretty damned pleased as well.

  Casey couldn’t believe how quickly Micah and Ryan had accepted her story. She guessed when she knocked them on their asses it was too hard to ignore, but she had expected a little more resistance. Perhaps they had been more willing to listen because they were shifters. Either way, she was just excited to have more than just her mom helping her to work this all out.

  Guilt suddenly assailed her when she thought of her mom. She really needed to call her and have a conversation. Micah pulled up beside Ryan in front of what she assumed was the police station. She jumped down from the truck with a giggle. Micah threw her a questioning look. “Just wondering why men insist on having such huge tires on their trucks that people like me need a stepladder to get in and out of it.” She grinned.

  “Well, baby,” he said as he stood right in front of her, slid his hands under her arms, and lifted her straight up until they were face to face. “It’s so we can get our hands on our women as often as possible.” Then he kissed her smiling mouth. Slow and tender at first, but when she wrapped her arms around his neck, tilted her head, and opened for him, he dove in again, claiming her once more.

  “Micah Winters!” The sound of a scolding woman reached her ears and Micah suddenly ripped his mouth from hers. “You put that woman down right this second! I brought you up better than that.” Oh dear lord, she was about to meet his mother and she had just been sucking face with him! Micah lowered her, and she was very tempted to use her powers to make the ground open up and swallow her.

  Micah turned her to face the woman and moved so he stood behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist. He probably correctly interpreted the look on her face that said she was outta there. “Hi, Mama, Pop. What are you guys doing in town?” Oh great, his dad too. She looked at the older couple and could see Micah in them both. He had his mom’s eyes but was built like his dad, tall and muscled with dark hair.

  His dad just folded his arms and stood back, letting his wife do all the talking. She was not overly tall, but she had an air of authority that no one denied. “Don’t you think for one minute that I can be distracted, young man.” His mom narrowed her eyes at Micah and then turned to Casey. Her face bloomed into a smile that absolutely shone. “My dear! It is so wonderful to meet you. Judging by my son’s behavior, I am guessing you are his mate.” Casey opened her mouth to say something but was suddenly plucked from Micah’s arms and engulfed in his mothers.

  “Oh, you are such a pretty young woman and look at all that beautiful dark hair! You call me Mama, baby. What’s your name?” Casey felt a little like Alice when she’d fallen down the rabbit hole.

  “Casey. Um, my name is Casey Rika.”

  “Casey, such a beautiful name for such a beautiful woman. You come with us to the cafe, where we can get to know each other a little better.” Micah wrapped his arms around his mom and pulled her in for a hug. His love and devotion for his mom was clear for anyone to see.

  “Mama, slow down! Don’t scare Casey away. I’m starting to like having her around. We have to go in and see Ryan for a little bit, but why don’t I bring Casey out for dinner on Saturday, and you can get to know her then.” He turned and looked at her. “Is that okay with you, baby?” Casey heard his mother’s sigh at his endearment, so she grinned and nodded.

  After more hugs and promises to catch up on Saturday, they parted ways on the sidewalk and walked into the station. The first thing that hit Casey when she walked in was that it was a huge open space and the holding cells were in the room against a back wall. Small towns obviously didn’t have a whole lot of other space to use for cells.

  She looked at the three men in the cells and saw them all do a double-take when she walked in. That told her that they knew who she was. Micah saw the move also and he snarled in their direction, making them flinch and look away. “OK, so they know exactly who you are, huh?” Ryan said from where he waited for them, leaning against the reception counter.

  “Apparently,” Casey murmured as she stared at them. They looked normal enough, but could they be from the Otherworld? She let go of Micah’s hand and walked over to stand in from of the cells, Micah immediately behind her and Ryan just to her side. “Hi guys! I hear you’ve been looking for me? And we might have even come across each other a few days ago?” She kept her voice light and friendly. It had the desired effect when the three men in the cells looked at each other in confusion and then at her.

  “I think you have us confused with someone else,” the smaller of the three grunted in her direction. She smiled sweetly at him, effectively throwing him off again.

  “No, I don’t think so. I think you know exactly who I am.” Dropping the smile, she felt her power rise and knew it was reflected in her eyes. She knew they were glowing and giving her a spooky, fire burning in her eyes look that had them freaking out. “But I don’t think you have a clue as to what I am.”

  Casey brought up her hand and began to weave the patterns she needed to shake the ground beneath the building just enough for them to feel it. Micah and Ryan must have recognized the move because they didn’t bat an eyelid when the room shuddered.

  “What the hell?” one of the taller ones squeaked. He looked around the room searching for help but realized it
was just them.

  “Now, before you make mad.” She barked a laugh that held no humor. “Actually I should say mad-der because shooting me? Twice? Really pissed me off. Not to mention my mate, who is standing right behind me, wasn’t overly impressed either.” As if rehearsed and on cue, Micah began to growl. No doubt with his eyes changed as well. All three men turned white and there was the distinct smell of urine in the air.

  “So I will ask you three questions, then we will walk away, and leave you to face the charges that are no doubt being laid against you. If you lie to me, and I will know if you lie to me, then your reckoning will be at my hands. Are we understood?” One of the men whimpered. “I’m going to take that as a yes. When did Aeron contact you and send you after me?” They flinched when she said his name, obviously concerned that she knew more than they had thought she knew.

  “H–He called us March 1st.” The smaller one stuttered. “Told us to come here and wait for you. He emailed us a picture of you so we knew who to look for.” Damn it! That meant she only had six weeks until May 31st to solve this thing.

  “You obviously provide a certain specialized service, shall we say. Where would he have found you?” It wasn’t like there was an Earth realm phone directory or the Internet in the Otherworld.

  “He said we had a mutual friend, and he paid upfront.” Okay, so Aeron had someone helping him on this side. She filed that away to think about later.

  “And my last question, and by the way, y’all are doing really well. Which one of you shot me?” Without hesitating, the two taller men pointed straight at the shorter guy, whose eyes widened and he lost all color. Micah growled louder in his direction.

  “Look for me soon, little man.” Micah’s voice was thick and garbled, his wolf closer than she thought. “You hurt my mate. I’ll be coming for you real soon.” Casey watched as the guy’s eyes rolled up into his head and he fainted. Feeling somewhat better about it all, she turned to her mate and his brother. Ryan was looking at her with a funny look on his face.

  At her questioning look he said, “Well done, Ms. Rika. Remind me never to piss you off, huh?” Then he turned to his brother and punched him in the shoulder. “You never learn with the threatening, do you?” Then he walked back to his office. Micah grinned and grabbed her hand to follow him, closing the door behind them.

  “So what did we find out playing Bad Wicca and Badass Wolf with those three in the cells, hmmm?” Ryan pulled out his notebook to make notes. “Short fuck is the one who shot you, so I can add that to his growing list of charges, and we only have six weeks to solve the first part of the prophecy.”

  “Yep, that about sums it up, and while we’re trying to solve the first part, I also have to be on the lookout for the other two Elementals I don’t know.” Casey saw the blank look from the boys and realized they hadn’t caught that part of her story. “There are four elements and four Elementals. There’s me and we know that my element is Earth, my sister and hers is air, but I don’t know water or fire. They should be drawn here over the next few months.”

  Ryan suddenly leaned forward. “Your sister…That would be Ariana?” The way he rolled his R when he said her name told Casey he knew her or had spoken to her. His thread of interest and hope told her a few other interesting things.

  “Yeah, Ryan, Ariana. How do you know her?” Ryan suddenly got busy straightening the papers on his desk.

  “Oh well, she called here the day you were shot.” He wouldn’t look at her. She looked over at Micah, who had a quizzical expression on his face that suddenly morphed into a grin that screamed gotcha.

  “She was the ‘concerned member of the public’ phone call you got that day, wasn’t she, Ry?” Micah asked. “Holy shit, you spoke to this woman on the phone and she convinced you to send me into the park to look for her sister?”

  “She was very convincing, Micah.” Ryan had gone red and was pulling his shirt collar as if he felt hot. “Besides, you know we don’t fuck around with reports of people lost in the park.”

  “She didn’t know where I was or even what I look like, we haven’t seen each other since we were five years old. I’d be interested to know what it was she said that convinced you.” Casey winked at Micah, who looked like he was moments from laughing out loud.

  “Oh fuck you both.” Ryan threw his pen down on the table and glared at them. “Her voice was fucking hot on the phone and I couldn’t say no, okay! Besides, it was only Micah who would be put out if you didn’t really exist.” Micah pointed and laughed as brothers do, and Casey smiled at him. He had a crush on her sister—that was so cute.

  “Well, you’ll meet her before autumn falls.” Casey couldn’t help the shiver of anticipation she felt too. She was finally going to have her sister and father with her. Then you add in her mom and her newly found mate and you had yourself one hell of a family unit. But she had to find the fire Elemental first. She was the next cab off the rank. With only six weeks until the summer months, Casey thought she was probably already here or damn close. But first, she had a riddle to solve, and for the first time ever she felt confident she would do it.

  Chapter 5

  Earth comes first, as spring takes hold

  To altar the future and watch it unfold

  A key must be found to unlock the door

  Or Aeron and carnage will reign once more

  Damn it! She was never going to solve this damn thing! She had been in Freedom Springs for almost three weeks and only had three weeks left in her window of opportunity to get it solved, and she was no closer to solving the fucking thing. The weather was definitely getting warmer, taunting her that spring was coming to an end and summer was just around the corner. She hadn’t found the bloody fire element either which she must admit was starting to worry her.

  Both Ryan and Micah had been so helpful, researching and trying to work it all out with her, but nothing so far. Nothing was going right! She laid her head in her arms. And to add to it all she was going cross-eyed looking over all these damn books and Internet pages. She was way behind on her writing but had explained to her publisher that she had a family issue that needed her urgent attention so she had a stay of execution there.

  The only thing that was damn near perfect in her life was her relationship with Micah. He was everything she could ever hope for in a partner. So sweet and attentive, funny and seemed to want to make a career out of taking care of her every need. He was also hotter than hot holy hell, fucked her exactly how she liked, when she liked and where, and he exerted just enough dominance over her that her pussy wept whenever she thought about him.

  They had played around a lot over the last month. He had tied her up with silks, played around with her ass, and even spanked it on occasion, but she had yet to convince him to actually take her in the ass. They had tried once, but she had flinched at the burn so he had stopped and was now dead set against hurting her, refusing to try again. She knew exactly what needed to happen—she needed to be stretched to accommodate him. Her man was not exactly small in the cock department. But he wouldn’t hurt her for the world.

  So she had taken matters into her own hands and had been using a series of butt plugs that she had purchased online. He had no idea that she had them, or that she had been working her way up to the one she guessed was closest to his size. And he sure as hell didn’t know that she had plans for him tonight. She was going to seduce him and then let him find the butt plug that she would put in after her shower. The things a woman had to do to get her man to fuck her ass!

  Speaking of which, she had just over an hour before he was home. Time to put “Operation Casey convinces Micah to fuck her ass” into action. Grinning like a fool, she headed for the bathroom. Forty-five minutes later and she was in the kitchen putting the final touches on their dinner, dressed in one of his T-shirts that she liked to sleep and lounge around in. When he pulled up outside, she grabbed two beers from the fridge and waited by the kitchen counter for him.

  He spotted her as soo
n as he walked in and dropped his work pack on the floor in the foyer, kicked of his hiking boots, and strode straight for her. He got this really intense look on his face whenever he saw her for the first time in hours, one that had her heart beating faster and her pussy pulsing. When he reached her, he placed his hands on the counter on each side of her, effectively caging her in his arms and then he kissed her. He always seemed to take her over in that moment, and she shivered, her nipples hardening to points.

  “Mmmm, hey baby.” He growled as he put his face in her neck and inhaled. “You smell delicious.”

  “Hmmm, so do you, like the forest and man.” She hugged him tight. “My man to be exact.” He pressed harder into her and she could feel his erection pressing against her stomach.

  “Damn straight I’m your man.” He started nibbling on her neck and she tilted her head to give him more room to maneuver. “Although dinner smells great, I think I’d rather have you right now, and we can grab a snack in bed later. Sound like a plan, love?” Casey grinned. That was exactly what she wanted to hear. She pushed him back a little to make some room, and then she grabbed his hand to pull him with her up the stairs.

  She had set the scene in the bedroom for seduction. She had turned the bed down, pulled the curtains, and set some candles burning. She had also placed some lubricant on the bedside table, which he of course spotted straight away. “The room looks beautiful Casey, but what’s the lube for?” She made him stand in the middle of the room while she backed up to stand at the foot of the bed.

  “I want tonight to be special, Micah. I know we decided to wait to complete our mating until after we have this stupid prophecy solved, but I need something from you tonight that I am not sure you will give me.” The look in her eye must have told him what she was wanting, because he winced and went to move forward. “No, stay where you are, I have a deal for you.”

  Micah grinned. “I do love your deals, so what’s this one for?”