When they walked into the lodge, Drew and Jordan were waiting for them, along with a man and woman he didn’t recognize. “You haven’t met Nick and Maggie yet; they’ve been gone trying to track down Richard and the coven that’s been threatening us,” Jake said.
Trevor’s stomach dropped, and when he looked over at Sarah, who had a death grip on his hand, her face was white. “I think we might be able to help you with that,” he stammered.
“Help us or hurt us?” Jordan asked. “Did you really think that I wouldn’t recognize you?”
Drew put his hand on her arm. “Give them a chance to explain.”
Trevor looked over at Sarah, then took a deep breath. “Sarah had nothing to do with this,” he said, then waited to make sure they all understood. “Richard sent me up here to find Serendipity’s magic and bring it back to him, but I was never going to do it. I knew that when I came up here that I just wasn’t strong enough to tell him that from the beginning. He threatened to take Gabe away from me, and I let those threats work.”
“So, you didn’t call him and tell him to come up here?” Jordan asked, her voice a little softer.
Trevor shook his head. “I hate him as much as you do. I hate him for turning me into a coward, and I hate him for what he did to Claudia,” he said. “That man took years of my life. I’m not going to let him take any more, and I’m not going to let him have my son. I’ll die before I let that happen.”
There was a long silence in the room, and Trevor held his breath, then Marley stepped forward. “I think there’s something you both should see.” Jake looked over at her quickly, a look of concern on his face.
“Sarah was never really a threat; she was just a way to flush the coven out,” Marley said.
He heard Sarah gasp. “You knew?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Marley smiled at her. “The spirits were kind enough to share that much with me,” she said. “Trevor was a bit of a surprise, but you, well, I saw you coming long ago.”
“I wasn’t going to tell Rachelle. I knew something was wrong as soon as I met you,” Sarah stammered. “And Melissa’s spirit isn’t here anyway.”
Marley reached out and took Jake’s hand. “It’s here, but not where anyone will ever find it,” she said. “Now, follow me. I think there’s something you should see. Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t see it when you were in here the other day.”
Trevor took Sarah’s hand, and together they followed Marley over to the oldest part of the mural. “Some of the paint has faded, but if you look closely, you can still see the lodge and the fire pit out front,” she said.
Trevor peered closer at the painting, then gasped when he saw eight figures, hands clasped around the fire, the air around them shimmering. He looked behind him at the three couples gathered around them, then back at the mural. “It’s all of you,” he said.
“And us,” Sarah said, pointing to the wall.
Marley nodded. “The two of you complete the spell,” she said. “With your power, Serendipity will be strong again.”
***Sarah***
Sarah knew the time had come to show them her paintings. She didn’t know why she’d painted them, but now she understood why she was here. Later, she’d think about how it had all happened, and what it meant for the rest of her life, but now wasn’t the time.
“There’s something I’ve been hiding from you all,” she said, her heart pounding in her chest. “Some paintings that I think you should see.”
When they came out of the lodge, she noticed for the first time that the camp was deserted. “Where is everyone?” she asked, thinking it was kind of spooky.
“We sent anyone who wasn’t necessary to town for the weekend,” Nick said. “I asked a few of the local shifters to watch my house and the kids for the next few days.”
“Do you think they’ll be safe?” Trevor asked. “I don’t mean to question you, but that’s my kid we’re talking about, and Richard wants him.”
Nick smiled at him, the first time he had. “I understand, but I promise you they’re perfectly safe, and if it comes to it, they have an escape plan, and no one is going to catch those kids in these mountains if they don’t want them to.”
Sarah squeezed his hand. “I’m sure they’ll be fine,” she said, not sure how she knew, but she did. “I promise.”
When they got to the studio, Sarah and Trevor went to the back closet and carried the first of the paintings out and set them on an easel. Sarah’s heart was pounding when she said. “There are six more; I painted them last winter.”
Marley stared at the first two paintings, then burst out laughing. “I knew you were hiding something, but I never dreamed it was this. These are wonderful. I want to see the rest.”
When all the paintings were lined up down the center of the room, they all stood staring at them, each with a happy smile on their face. “You’ve captured everything that’s special about this place,” Nick finally said, reverence in his voice. “I feel like all I have to do is step into the painting, and I’ll be there.”
Sarah felt herself blush. “I can’t take the credit. I painted these while I was asleep,” she said.
Marley looked over at her. “You what?”
“I painted them while I was sleeping,” she repeated, not sure why that was important.
Marley stepped up to the painting of the valley and ran her fingers over the canvas, then turned back to Sarah. “Each of these paintings is a doorway to the spirit world,” she said. “A place where spirits can cross over and come into our world.”
Sarah shivered. “I’m sorry, Marley, I didn’t know. I shouldn’t have brought them.”
Marley sighed. “As soon as we put all this behind us, you and I are going to have some lessons on magic and spirits. These paintings are going to save Serendipity,” she said, smiling at Sarah.
“I don’t understand. How will my paintings save us?”
“Let me see if I can explain,” Marley said. “The spirit world is connected to our world by a thin thread; spirits can move in and out of our world on that string, but it limits their power to affect us. But if that string is made thicker, they can come through stronger, have a greater impact on our world.”
“So, I made the string thicker with these?” she asked, still not sure she understood.
“You did more than that; you opened a doorway that was never there—eight of them to be exact,” Marley said, looking back at the paintings. “When the time comes, and it will, we’ll have all the help we need.”
“But how does it work? I mean, how do we know what’s coming through?” Sarah asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach.
“You will call them,” Marley said. “Only you can do it. Only you can control the doors.”
“But I can only communicate with evil spirits,” Sarah objected, her legs weak with fear. “I can’t call up evil spirits; that would be black magic.”
Marley laughed. “Haven’t you figured it out yet? There are no evil spirits in Serendipity.”
When they all filed out of the studio half an hour later, Sarah could barely keep her eyes open, and all she could think about was a long nap. Marley seemed so sure that she could call out the spirits, but Sarah wasn’t. She’d been plagued by evil for so long, she was afraid even to try.
“I don’t know if I can do it,” she confessed as they walked along the deserted road to her cabin. “Marley seems so sure, but...”
Trevor stopped and put his finger over her lips. “For the next few hours, we aren’t going to think about that; we’re going to push all of that out of our minds, and I’m going to make love to you.”
She gasped as a wave of pleasure washed over her, and her insides tightened deliciously. “Trevor, do you really think we should? I mean, shouldn’t we be preparing or something?”
“Think of it as the ‘or something,’” he said, pulling her into his arms and kissing her.
There was no fighting the passion that ignited between them af
ter just that one kiss, and it wasn’t hard to let her body take over, to shut her mind off. Trevor scooped her up into his arms without even taking his mouth from hers and carried her into the cabin, slammed the door behind them, then set her on her feet.
Her body was throbbing, desperate for the touch of his hands, the feel of his lips, and for the first time, she didn’t hold back. She tore at his clothes, planting kisses on his neck, then his chest, as she stripped off his shirt and pants, then sunk to her knees. Taking him in her hands, she stroked him until he was groaning and throbbing in her hands, then leaned forward and took him into her mouth.
He gasped, threaded his fingers into her hair, and rocked his hips, moaning with pleasure, making her insides tighten and moisture form between her legs. “Sarah, that feels so good, but you should stop soon,” he said, his voice husky with pleasure.
“I just want to make you feel as good as you make me feel,” she said, looking up at him, then sliding her tongue along the length of him.
“You make me feel too good,” he said, pulling her to her feet.
He stripped her clothes off, and when she was standing naked in front of him, he slowly turned her around and pulled her up against his chest. Nibbling on her neck, he slowly slid his hand down her stomach and between her legs, then slid one finger between her folds and stroked her swollen, slick nib. She gasped and tried to turn around in his arms, but he held her there, then gently bent her over.
Chapter Twenty
***Trevor***
Trevor knew that he should slow down, that he should prolong Sarah’s pleasure, especially after what she’d just given him, but he needed to be deep inside her. Still rubbing her pleasure knot with his finger, he pushed her legs farther apart with his knees and guided his throbbing manhood between her moist folds. She was hot and wet, her sex throbbing against him as he thrust his hips, rubbing the sensitive tip against her.
When she thrust her hips up and spread her legs farther for him, he grabbed her hips and buried himself deep inside her, moaning with relief when her body closed around him. Sarah ground her hips into him, pushing him deeper, whimpering with need, so he thrust himself into her over and over until she began to tremble.
Close to climax himself, he wanted to drive Sarah over the edge, to feel her body trembling with his, so he leaned over and slid his hand between her legs. Then with one finger, he stroked her, her cries of pleasure driving him closer to the edge until he felt her body convulse and clench around him. With one final thrust of his hips, he tumbled over the edge, and together, they floated away on the passion they shared.
When he was finally able to breathe, he gathered Sarah into his arms. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t exactly how I planned it,” he said.
She let him pull her into the bedroom and down onto the bed and into his arms, then looked up at him, a silly smile on her face. “I’m not complaining.”
Her face was pink, but she didn’t look away, and in her eyes, he saw the love he’d been hoping for. He wanted to tell her how he felt, wanted to tell her that he loved her, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but he knew it wasn’t the right time. When he told her, he wanted it to be special, wanted it to be a moment they’d both remember for the rest of their lives, not filled with dark clouds like it would be now.
Instead, he pulled her closer and said, “I’ll have to be sure you never have a reason to.”
***Sarah***
Sarah snuggled deeper into Trevor’s arms, knowing that in only a few minutes, she’d be making a phone call that might destroy everything they’d built. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, but couldn’t quite bring herself to say the words, not sure what was holding her back.
When the alarm on Trevor’s phone went off, she jumped, then started to scramble out of bed, but he pulled her back in. “Five more minutes won’t make any difference,” he said, hugging her tightly until she relaxed in his arms again.
But she knew that five minutes could turn into ten, and they both had phone calls to make. “I have to call Rachelle,” she said, untangling herself from his arms.
Trevor sat up and picked up his phone. “I guess we shouldn’t put it off any longer,” he said.
Sarah got her phone and climbed back into bed with Trevor, looked over at him, and asked, “Are you ready?”
He nodded and watched silently while she called Rachelle, but his hand found hers, and he squeezed. When Rachelle picked up, Sarah said, “I found her. That witch Marley has her soul in a magical box in the lodge.”
There was a long silence, then Rachelle asked, “Did she show it to you?”
“No, but I know where it is; she told me,” Sarah said, trying to sound excited. “I’ll give you directions, but you did say that you have a spell that will bring my magic back, right?”
“I thought that might appeal to you,” Rachelle said, her voice full of triumph.
“I just want my life to go back to normal, and get out of this awful place,” Sarah said.
“Good, then give me the directions, and I’ll come get you,” Rachelle said.
When she hung up, she turned and smiled at Trevor. “She’s more desperate than I thought.”
He picked up his phone and looked at it. “Let’s hope I can be as convincing as you were,” he said, then dialed the phone.
Sarah watched him talking to Richard, thinking that he’d missed his calling; he was so submissive, not at all like the man she knew and had come to love. When he hung up, she asked, “Do you think he bought it?”
“He was eating it up like ice cream,” Trevor said, grinning at her. Then his face got serious. “There’s no backing out now, Sarah. Are you ready?”
“I don’t know; it’s been so long since I used my magic,” she said. “I’m scared that something will go wrong and I’ll flood Serendipity with evil spirits.”
Trevor leaned over and brushed her cheek with his thumb. “The Sarah I know rode a horse in a downpour through a rushing river and then up a mountainside, and I know for a fact she was scared the whole time. But she didn’t give up; she kept going. I know that’s what you’re going to do now. I’ll be right there with you holding your hand and defending you until the end.”
Sarah felt his confidence in her filling her with power. The love and respect she saw in his eyes made her body hum, and suddenly she felt stronger. “They’ll be here soon, especially if they’re together,” Sarah said. “We’d better get dressed.”
Trevor grinned at her. “That’s better,” he said, then pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “Now let’s go protect Serendipity from the bad guys.”
They met back at the studio and silently moved the paintings over to the lodge and set them up in the middle of the room, then stood back and looked at them again. “They just look like beautiful pieces of art. It’s hard to believe they hold so much power,” Nick said.
Marley shook her head. “The paintings aren’t powerful. Sarah is,” she said.
Sarah smiled at Marley. “For the first time in a long time, I feel that way. Thank you to all of you for giving that back to me,” she said.
“We need you as much as you need us,” Marley said. “Okay, are we ready?”
The men nodded, then fanned out around the room, taking up posts by the doors and the windows, watching for Richard and Rachelle. “The guards around the valley are in place, but they won’t move in until they’ve come all the way into the valley, and they won’t attack unless I give them the signal,” Nick said from the front door.
“Jordan, are you sure that you want to be the one to greet your father? He’s not going to be happy when he sees it’s you and not Trevor,” Drew said, looking over at his wife.
“No, I want a front-row seat when he sees you all come out behind me. I can’t believe he fell for Trevor’s lie, that he’d think we’d all just leave Serendipity at the same time,” she said. “He must be getting desperate. I’ve never known him to make a mistake.”
There was mor
e quiet conversation, but Sarah tuned it out, instead focusing on the paintings and clearing her mind of everything but them. She and Marley had gone over and over the spell she needed to use, practiced it until she could say it in her sleep, but she was still nervous, afraid that she’d mess up and bring to life something terrible.
Pushing the doubts from her mind, she closed her eyes and tried to listen for the spirits. There was only silence in her head at first, but then she felt her body beginning to tingle, and a sense of suddenly being in a crowd washed over her. But instead of feeling panicked, she felt a flood of well-being filling her, and a wave of power that made her feel like she was floating.
She felt Trevor’s hand on her arm and opened her eyes. “They’re here,” she said.
The feelings faded, but her connection to the spirit world was strong. “I can feel them, just on the other side, and they want to help us,” she said, unable to hide the grin that spread over her face.
***Trevor***
They gathered at the front door, then Jordan led the way out. When her father saw her, she got the show she’d been hoping for. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked, his face full of shock and anger.
When he saw the rest of them file out of the building, one by one, his face turned purple. “Trevor, you will pay for this; you’ll never see Gabe again,” he roared. “I want Serendipity’s power, or your son is dead. All it will take is one phone call, and you’ll never see him again.”
Trevor stepped in front of Jordan and stared Richard down. “You can threaten me all you want, but that’s all those are: threats. Gabe is safely tucked away someplace you can’t find him. You see, I have friends now—friends who are willing to stand behind me,” he said, suddenly realizing it was true.
Mountain Wolf's Courage (Daddy Wolves 0f The Wild Series Book 4) Page 12