Order of the Akasha: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Complete Series)

by E. M. Moore

  “Temporarily,” Travis said, “and…we still have our powers.” He made a flower shimmer into view between us. He plucked it out of the air and handed it to me. It had a long green stem with a rose head, but instead of the typical colors one would find, it was a glittery purple. It didn’t even need to catch the light to shimmer, it did it on its own as if its light came from within. Before I could tell him thank you, Travis continued. “It was more like a suggestion to stop. If they’d have really wanted to place us on suspension, they would’ve taken away our powers.”

  “They can do that?” I asked. I hated that there was someone else above me that had control over things I did. Back at home with Granny, I didn’t have to worry about that. Then again, I didn’t have as many powers when I was back at home with Granny. We were healers, locators, spiritualists, but not what we were now, nothing like we were now.

  “They did it to Jax,” Randy grumbled.

  “That’s because they could prove he’d done something completely against our nature.” I peeked at Travis when he grimaced. I hated bringing Jax up in front of him, but there was little I could do about it right now. “We didn’t do anything like that.”

  “Which is why they didn’t just take it away from us,” Gabe explained. “There have been Orders that needed punishment from something or other, so yes, they have had their powers temporarily taken away from them. At least Walter hasn’t done that to us.”

  “I bet we’ll still get the call,” Travis said.

  “But we’re not allowed to go on it?” Wonderful, I grumbled inwardly. I loved getting cramps I couldn’t do anything about and wouldn’t even be able to help with the reason I was getting the cramps.

  “Let’s just hope that it’s quiet with Dupre gone,” Travis said. “If something goes on, we’ll play nice with the Order and call them in. It isn’t worth having our Enforcer duties taken away from us over. They already know about Norah and they didn’t do anything to her.”

  That was true. They didn’t have any information for us either though, which was what I was hoping for. Then again, maybe they had it, they just didn’t share it. Why the hell did Walter ask what my relationship was with all of them? It certainly wasn’t any of his business unless it meant something in the grand scheme of things.

  “Yet,” Randy said, the muscle in his jaw feathering. “They weren’t exactly welcoming either. We don’t know anything more than we did this morning.”

  “He’s right,” Liam said. “They seemed as lost as we are on the subject.”

  Travis walked away from us and headed into the kitchen. “No one panic, okay? There’s absolutely nothing they can do to us or Norah because the worst thing we did was lie to them. So, let them teach us a little lesson. As far as I’m concerned, everything is out in the open now. We’re not hiding Norah anymore, so we don’t have to worry about what we say and do. They’ll let us sit for a week of not doing anything that we probably wouldn’t have gotten a call to anything anyway, and then they’ll let us loose again. Let’s be honest here. They need us. Salem is a major city for this type of thing and they need an Order here making sure everything is kosher.”

  I watched Travis as he moved around the kitchen, pulling out boxes of cereal and bowls for all of us. He moved with such energy that I finally understood the toll it had taken on him to keep me a secret from his superiors. Travis was definitely a rule follower, but he was willing not to do it for me. Even when he was being a jackass, he could’ve easily told them who I was despite telling his coven he wouldn’t. That meant he had to have been a little curious about me even from the beginning.

  “So, you’re going with the ‘play it by ear’ approach?” Gabe asked. He rubbed his forehead. “I don’t like this at all. I hate that we’re getting punished for this, for keeping our fifth safe.”

  “I don’t think it’s necessarily that we’re being punished for keeping Norah safe, it’s that we kept her safe from our superiors. That doesn’t build trust,” Liam explained.

  He had a point there, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that it had been the right thing to do. We needed to not tell them, but now that they knew, I also couldn’t shake the feeling that Travis was right. We would get punished for a little while, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Not at all.

  I met Travis in the kitchen and helped him pull out spoons for all of us. He bumped me with his hip as he went to the fridge for the milk. Things were going to be okay. I could feel it.

  3

  I smiled at the college kid in front of me. He was cute, I’d give him that, but he was dumber than a box of rocks. How the hell had he gotten into Salem State?

  Travis nudged me with his elbow as if he could hear inside my head. Who knew, maybe he could. Walter certainly had.

  I should’ve just canceled all the employee interviews. Now that we were officially on suspension, I didn’t need help running the store. I could do it all on my own because even if I did get a cramp, I couldn’t leave anyway thanks to the Order superiors. Travis nudged me again, and that’s when I realized all three of us hadn’t spoken in quite some time. I was still shocked at the last words out of this kid’s mouth, so the interview was pretty much over. I stood, my chair scraping against the tile in the backroom where we’d set up a folding table to conduct the interviews on. Travis stood right after me, taking his cue from my actions. I held my hand out and the guy across from us stood. “Thanks so much for coming in,” I said brightly, not wanting to hurt the guy’s feelings and tell him he really had no chance in hell of ever working here because all he really wanted to do was to learn how to put spells on girls to get them to sleep with him. Hard pass on that one. “We’ll be interviewing throughout the week, so…”

  “Don’t expect an answer soon?” the guy filled in.

  Or ever, I thought while smiling.

  “Come on, let me show you out,” Travis said. He waved the guy out toward the door and then looked over his shoulder as they walked out, his eyebrows practically in his hair.

  The bell rang above the door, signaling the guy had left. I put my forehead down on the table and closed my eyes. Interviewing was exhausting. Was it so much to ask for someone responsible? I would even take ‘mostly’ responsible at this point. Just someone who could watch the store and make sure it didn’t get robbed and who could work the register. My expectations were low at this point, and I still couldn’t seem to find someone who would be right.

  Before I fell too far down the rabbit hole, I felt Travis’s presence. His fingers slipped around my shoulders and rubbed my tight muscles. I relaxed into his touch. He’d been so free and light-hearted after being put on suspension from the higher-ups, it kind of shocked me.

  “Mmm, that feels good,” I told him, hoping he wouldn’t stop.

  “I know,” he said.

  My lips cracked into a smile and even though I wanted to make a snappy comeback at him, I kept my mouth shut. He might stop massaging me if I did that. “Who knew interviewing was such hard work?”

  “I don’t think it’s supposed to be. It’s all the interviewees who are making it harder.”

  “I must suck at picking out applicants I think would be good.” He pulled me up right and continued his work while I let my shoulders go limp in his hands. “I should probably just give up. We won’t need an extra person in here for…who knows how long.”

  “We’re not going to be suspended for that long,” Travis said. “You’re better off doing exactly what you’re doing. You advertised part-time anyway, so you can just start using them little by little to introduce them to the store and train them until our superiors get their heads out of their asses and let us do what we do best. By that time, they’ll be ready to watch the store on their own.”

  I turned around in my chair. “Did you just say that our superiors need to get their heads out of their asses?” I asked, surprised.

  He grinned. “You must be rubbing off on me.”

  “I’ll say.”

  I st
ood up in his arms. His hands fell to my sides as he pulled me in. Mine and Travis’s relationship was newer than the others, but that didn’t make it any less fiery. As soon as he tucked me close to him, need stirred within me.

  Noticing the change, Travis dropped his voice and his gaze. “I locked up behind me for lunch.”

  “Lunch?” I asked. “What do you want for lunch?”

  He bent over, taking my bottom lip in his mouth and nibbling on it. “You.”

  I reached up, sliding my fingers up his neck and into his hair before pulling him down to me. While I kissed him, I remembered what Liam had started with me this morning. I closed my eyes and held my hands in front of Travis’s jeans. Thinking about the button popping through and his pants unzipping on their own, I put my energy into it. The sound of the zipper lowering made me smile. I reached up to deepen the kiss with Travis, but he pulled away. He looked down, both of us gasping at the full view of his erection. His jeans and boxers were around his ankles. Well, that had worked better than I thought. I stared at his silky skin, my desire growing.

  “How did you do that?” Travis asked.

  “I have ways.”

  He pulled me down for a kiss. “Teach me.”

  I stepped back a little and took his hand and placed it just in front of my chest. I had a front clasp bra on today. “Close your eyes and think about unclasping my bra.”

  Travis did as I said and within a moment, my breasts were freed, spilling out of the bra as the sides draped away. I gave him a smirk before pulling my shirt up and over my head, giving him a full view of his handiwork. His gaze heated. “It worked.”

  I slipped the straps off my shoulders and let the bra fall to the floor. Looking around, I realized that this backroom was getting about as much action as my bedroom was. Maybe we should put a cot back here. Or… Actually, no. I kind of liked it raw and heated like this as if we weren’t planning for it.

  Travis slid his hands up my thighs and up and under my skirt. He groaned when his fingers grazed my silk panties. Lifting, he picked me up easily and moved me toward the desk. He sat me down on the edge, his dick already right there, waiting. His cock grazed my core, and a moan slipped out. I didn’t have time to think about what had happened to my panties. They were suddenly not there but Travis was and who cared at that point.

  I reached around his back and moved his shirt up. I had a fascination with chests. Each of my guys was different, but hot all the same. Travis was all functional strength. He had a body like a farm boy. He worked for it, but not with weights in a gym, but with body weight exercises that made him lithe and muscular like a jungle cat. I needed to see him. His hand slid under my ass and gave me a quick squeeze. “Mmm.”

  He kneaded my bottom like he massaged my shoulders. He did it until I was pliable clay in his grip, and then he pressed a hand to my chest, working me back until my shoulders were propped against the wall. Slithering down, he moved my skirt up to my hips, exposing me in front of him. Pressing my knees apart, he bent even lower. “I want to taste you again. You’re like sugar candy.”

  His tongue darted out and instead of jumping at the contact, I was too relaxed to move. I was completely at his whim. His hands smoothed over my thighs and worked their way in. He dropped to his knees, moving forward and pressing his tongue against me before curling it up over my clit. I wanted to move against him, but I didn’t have the strength. “More, Travis,” I begged since I couldn’t show him.

  He complied. His lips grazed over my slit before he let his tongue roam and explore, always ending at my clit where he would play or nuzzle or rub. His touches were like individual shocks of electricity that went straight to my core. Before long, I was already breathing heavy and on the verge of coming all over him. He slid a finger inside, mixing it up and a new caress swept over me. He worked it in and out while his tongue slid up, teasing my clit. I lifted my hand and set it on the top of his head while I watched him work. It was erotic as fuck. Sensual and dreamy, just letting him do what he wanted, and he could still make me feel like this without any direction from me. He was so in tune with me he knew when I needed more clit work to bring me to the edge, but stopping just before, to make it that much more profound. God, I wished he could enter me and still lick my clit at the same time. That would be amazing.

  His hands worked my ass again, moving me forward into his touch on a rhythm that rocked me ever so closer each time. My orgasm was right there, hovering, and I was ready for it. I laid my head against the wall, and said, “Now, Travis.”

  He complied. He swirled up and around my clit, rolling the tip of his tongue over it again and again until I broke apart in his grip. He swallowed after licking me up, then stepped back, poised in front of me. He pushed inside, locking gazes with me as he did so. “Christ,” he said, his jaw locked. “I don’t know why I’m surprised every time about how good this fucking feels.”

  He rocked into me until the haze from my first climax wore off and I was already headed toward the second. I sat up, put my arms around his shoulders and sealed onto his lips for a scorching kiss. He groaned into me and then lifted before moving us a little further away and stumbling against the wall. He pinned me there, and I gasped. Completely suspended, Travis angled my hips until he moved inside me just as leisurely as he did on the desk. I stared up at him. There was no hint of strain on his face from holding me up, just pure lust and love. I bit my lip as he entered me, my back arching against the wall, stopping me from moving back any further.

  “This skirt is hot as fuck,” Travis said.

  “I’ll wear it again,” I promised. If we were going to have sex standing up again, I’d make sure to wear it more often. I’d wear it every fucking day, actually.

  He moved closer, his pelvic bone massaging my clit and I let out a moan. He smirked, his fingers working their way between us as he rubbed in circles. He knew exactly how to get me off. He quickened his pace, matching his strokes with his touches until there was no end to the pleasure. I flew up high on a cloud and then yelled when he slammed into me, his orgasm overcoming him, which brought on my own. My insides squeezed him, and Travis let out a gasp of surprise as I milked more from him, sending him into another round of shuddering.

  He fell against me and the wall, his head slipping against it as he breathed in heavy. Slowly, he let my feet hit the floor, but we both held onto one another, too scared to see if we could stand up on our own.

  “I was wrong,” I said. “Maybe I like giving interviews.”

  “Me too,” he said, eyes gleaming. “We should schedule breaks intermittently throughout the day, so we can recharge.”

  I slipped my palm over his cheek and moved him down to kiss him on the lips. “I like the sound of that.”

  Travis backed away, rearranging my skirt. He bent over and handed me my lacey panties that he found on the floor by the desk.

  “Hey,” I said. “How’d you even get those off?”

  He wiggled his fingers. “Thanks to your new trick.”

  I was going to have to thank Liam for his ingenuity. We now had an awesome game to play with this new power. No clothes whenever I wanted. That sounded like a hell of a good time.

  The bell went off in the backroom and Travis stiffened.

  “I thought you locked the door.”

  “I did.”

  “Must be one of the guys,” I said, pulling my clothes on. Not that I cared if they saw me naked, or in what state we were in, but it was best not to poke the jealousy beast. Not when I had more interviews to do after lunch.

  Heavy footsteps sounded, and I recognized them right away as Randy’s.

  I pulled my shirt on and was just arranging my hair when he burst through the doorway. “We’ve got a problem.”

  His nose twitched, and he locked gazes with the two of us. Whether he knew what he just missed out on or not that wasn’t his focus right now.

  “Come on,” he said, his face pulling tight. “Close up the shop. We have other concerns right now
.”

  A heavy weight settled in my stomach. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. Always.

  4

  Randy was tight-lipped in the car on the way back to the estate. The only thing he said was that there was a situation we had to handle. A situation to Randy could mean anything, but he wasn’t the type to exaggerate. His feathering jaw was the only inclination I had that there might be a real issue.

  When we were five minutes out, our phones pinged with a text message. It was Liam. “Damnit,” Randy snapped.

  I peeked up at him while I read the text. A name popped out at me. “Dean Reid?” I asked to no one in particular. Travis was too busy reading the text on his own phone. It was Randy who met my eyes in the rearview mirror.

  “Yes. He’s at the estate. He wants our help.”

  “Okay, well, Liam is wondering if we should hide Norah,” Travis told him. “He knows Norah from the unsanctioned trip she took into Boston to try to get the Reids’ book. He doesn’t know if we want him to know she’s ours.”

  I shrugged. “It’s all going to come out anyway with the superiors knowing. Sooner or later, everyone who knows about the Order will know I’m the fifth, so why prolong it?” Besides, I wanted to know what was going on. Why would Dean Reid be coming to the Order for help? That didn’t make any sense. His family was one of the richest witch families in the area. Well, his and Liam’s.

  “Personally, I don’t want her there, but it has nothing to do with the fact that Dean is involved. I’ve heard things about that family and when they want something, they end up getting it. That doesn’t sit well with me when we’re talking about Norah.”

  “I have a mind of my own, Big Guy,” I told him from the backseat. The Reid’s weren’t just going to get me if they wanted me. That was ludicrous.

  “They have a lot of power,” Randy said.