by E. M. Moore
As soon as he left the room, the air in the house shifted. It went back to being my sanctuary again, especially being surrounded by my whole coven, each of the strings tethering us all together tightening when we moved in closer.
When Travis returned, Gabe finally spoke up. “I don’t like that guy.”
I bit down on my lip. That wasn’t the problem though, was it? This was about doing what was right and what was wrong, and we always had to try to do what was right, right? That’s what we were here for.
5
It’d been two days since Dean Reid contacted us about his family problem. We hadn’t come to a decision on what to do. Not because we didn’t want to help, but because his problem seemed to be on the outside of our jurisdiction. I certainly wasn’t Granny, so I couldn’t talk about all the spiritual stuff like she did in a way that would convince him to stay in the light. If we could find someone else…or I could sick Granny on him, but in death, Granny had a way of grating on people’s nerves. I could hear her now telling him to “suck it up” and “Boy, you better start doing what’s right or else”. None of that was particularly helpful right now. Mr. Reid needed an intervention, but by whom?
The djinn? That was a whole different story. He wasn’t doing anything wrong or else we would’ve been called. As Randy put it, we weren’t a one-stop-shop that dealt with everything magical. If I’d thought about it, I could’ve offered one of the all-seeing-eye bracelets I made at the shop to Dean. That might help get his father’s mindset back on track, and I knew for a fact they worked like a charm. Familiar-free I was, and I had nothing but the bracelet to thank for that.
As we stood at the bar, I checked the wrists on all my guys. My heart pounded in my ears until I realized they were all wearing theirs. I told them never to take it off. Especially Liam. I didn’t know if it was true or not, but I had an inkling that once you had a familiar on you, it was probably easier for others to attach. Not that Salem was swarmed by wandering familiars, but you never knew what would happen.
The house music shook my ear drums, and the multi-colored strobe lights refracted off the dancing bodies on the dance floor. It’d been Gabe’s great idea to go out tonight. He’d just won his football game earlier in the day and wanted to celebrate. Since we didn’t have to worry about any call screwing up the day for us, we went to Nan’s, the place we all first unofficially met one another. Back then, the house music and the lights didn’t get to me. It made it even more exciting to watch them from across the room as they celebrated Randy’s birthday. Tonight, though, when there were so many other things on my mind, it detracted from my thinking.
Gabe pushed a bottle of beer closer to me. “You need to get out of your head. Drink this.”
I shook my head, but he jutted out his lower lip in the cutest pout face I’d ever seen on a Brit before. “You know all you have to do is talk and I melt inside.”
He scooted closer to me on the booth we all sat in off to the side. His hand came to rest on my thigh. “Love,” he practically purred. The muscles tightened in my stomach and instantly, I was drawn into his every word. He leaned over, his teeth tugged on my earlobe briefly before he whispered, “Please drink with me. I want to get snockered and then have wild monkey sex with you.”
“Monkey sex?”
That drew the attention of everyone around us. Randy’s teasing grin made my stomach turn to knots. Travis just shook his head while Liam’s brows furrowed in concentration, more than likely trying to figure out what exactly monkey sex was, same as me.
“Right,” he said, his accent teasing and alluring all at the same time. “No inhibitions. Just you, me, several of our closest friends.”
Gabe was up for threesomes. I already knew that. He was always up for the passion of it all. He didn’t care what it was as long as we were all enjoying it, the more erotic the better. Like the time he tried to entice Liam to us when he was entering me from behind.
My face blushed red. Oh, here we go. I should know better than to start thinking about sex with my guys in public. It made for a difficult night.
“Perfect,” Gabe said. He pushed the beer toward me again and I slammed it. Smiling, he tugged on my arm and he pulled me toward the dance floor. With his hands on my hips at the outskirt of the floor, he urged me closer until we rubbed against one another, not quite close enough for my liking, but closer than was appropriate for a public setting. “You know what I love about you, Norah Darbonne?”
I shook my head. With Gabe, I never knew what was going to come out of his mouth. It was best just to ride the wave.
His eyes twinkled, and I knew he was going to be sincere instead of making some sarcastic comment about my ass or something. “How wild and free you are.” He leaned in closer. “I love that you know what you want, and you go for it. I love that you’re not afraid to tell me or any of the rest of us exactly what you want down to the letter. That you embrace who you are is sexy as fuck.” He paused for a moment, his tongue grazing the outside of my ear. “Oh, and I also love that you’re a kickass witch.”
His hand trailed down my back, following the line of my spine. Goosebumps spread over my arms as he went. For a moment, I thought about putting a sleep spell over the whole bar, so Gabe and I could get down to business right there right now. His blue eyes danced with mischief as if he was daring me to.
Another body entered my personal space from behind. I tilted my head back, already knowing I’d see Travis there. His hips pushed mine right into Gabe’s and I groaned. Tilting my chin with his finger, he pressed his lips to mine in a heated, short kiss that only started my engines running for the night.
Maybe going to a bar and not having to think about anything else was a great idea. I could think of more than a few fun things to do pressed between these two men.
“I wish you had your skirt on,” Travis said, grinding his pelvis into me.
My hips pitched forward, sending me right into Gabe’s erection. Damn, these guys know what they were doing when it came to my body. I was with him one hundred percent. With a skirt on, Gabe could just sneak inside me right here. Everyone danced this close. It would be almost impossible to tell as long as I could keep the sounds coming from my mouth under control. I hadn’t been able to do that yet, but there was a first time for everything.
“What do you think, Gabe?” Travis teased.
His face softened as I looked up into it. His blue eyes sparked with energy, and magic, and everything that made me attracted to him. “I think we’re extremely lucky.”
When I pushed back against Travis, he was hard now, too. Peeking over at the booth we’d come from, I’d noticed Randy and Liam had both gone rigid. We all weren’t focused on our problems anymore, it was just the five of us.
Travis moved his hand around to my stomach and then lower. He got to my jeans and my breath hitched. Daring a look around, no one was even paying attention to us. They were all caught up in their own lives.
The zipper lowered on my jeans.
“Travis,” I breathed out.
He kissed my neck. “It was a neat trick you showed me earlier. Perfect for what I want to do now.”
The button popped next and Travis’s fingers inched just under my panty line. My legs quivered, and sensing my hesitation, Gabe pulled me closer. “I got you.”
Travis dared even lower, caressing over my hair and then to my clit. He pressed down, and I made a choked noise in the back of my throat. There were so many people around us. My heart galloped in my chest as if it was going for a long run but didn’t want to start out slow.
Travis’s teeth teased my neck. “Fuck, you’re wet.”
“That’s because you’re going to finger me in public,” I breathed out.
“Yes, I am. And Gabe’s going to kiss you senseless, and Randy and Liam are going to watch.”
I looked over at them. Their gazes were intense. They knew exactly what we were up to. Randy was barely keeping it under control, and I knew he had to be sporting the big
gest boner right now. I stifled a moan by biting down on my lower lip.
Gabe moved his hips forward, pushing Travis’s finger inside of me. “Oh God,” I said.
“You should probably start kissing her now,” Travis said, and before Gabe could even get his lips to mine, he started working his finger. He pulled it out, likely moving against Gabe, and then Gabe made another slow movement forward, pushing his hips—and Travis’s finger—into me. It was like they were connected, working in tandem to get me off in front of all these people.
All these people.
I looked around, my head falling back a little, but Gabe followed, closing the distance between all of us. I moved my hips against Travis’s finger. Gabe responded, using hip thrusts of his own, which only heightened the feeling. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him to me as Travis slid his finger in and out.
“Fuck, Norah. I’m going to feel you come right here in front of everybody.”
My legs quivered at his words. I was so wet; his finger must’ve been dripping. Doing something like this in public was more than a little arousing. I wanted to come in front of all these people, like we were sneaking around in plain daylight—or with lasers glinting off us every once in a while. Same thing.
Travis pushed his finger inside and then hooked it. I made a soft noise into Gabe’s mouth, but he ate it up. He pulled away just long enough to stare down at me. “That’s right, Baby Girl. Take what we give you.” He ground his hips into Travis’s hand again. His jaw clamped down as a roll of pleasure went through him.
“Yes,” I said, loving the way his face looked. I didn’t want to just take pleasure, I loved that they were having fun, too.
“We’re going to need some place private after this,” Gabe ground out.
Travis moved faster. My head fell back on his shoulder and Gabe kissed my neck, following the curve that led down onto my collar bone. The halter top I had on gave him plenty of access to skin and he took advantage of it. I pressed my lips together as Travis’s moves became more urgent.
“Pull her legs apart,” Travis ordered.
Gabe snuck his knee in, pulling first my right leg out, then my left. Travis pushed up on my ass, giving him a better angle. I let out a low moan that Gabe quickly silenced with one of his fierce kisses.
Travis took most of my weight now as Gabe just moved forward urging us all together. “That’s right, Norah,” he whispered.
His other hand tracked over my belly and I stiffened. He knew me, and he knew what I wanted. As soon as he touched me there, I was going to come apart. I pulled Gabe closer as my knees went weak. His scorching kisses pushed me higher and higher until Travis’s thumb grazed over my clit.
I came. Hard, and fast.
Travis swore as my pussy clenched around his finger. Gabe took every sound I wanted to make and kissed it away, keeping me from sharing with the world what I’d just experienced, but at the same time, prolonging the orgasm until I just shuddered in their hands. We danced to the end of the song, Travis keeping his finger inside until the last notes sounded. Then, he carefully pulled it free, rearranged my panties back up, followed by the zipper.
“Allow me,” Gabe said. He reached for the button and pushed it through the hole until I was all wrapped up nicely again. Then, he let his hand drift down, pressing over my swollen lips in a promise for more.
I looked around. No one was the wiser until my eyes laid on Randy and Liam. Their eyes were rounded and the muscles in Randy’s forearms were prominently displayed as he gripped his beer bottle fiercely.
“Another dance?” Travis asked.
I tested my own weight, making sure I could carry myself. I was sure I needed a trip to the bathroom to freshen up. “Rain check?” I asked. I turned around and kissed him on the lips. “Thank you for that.”
“My pleasure.”
Then, I turned to give Gabe a kiss. “We should dance more often, and not just if that happens. You’ve got some moves.”
He winked. “You haven’t seen all my good moves yet, Love.”
I couldn’t imagine what else he had in store, but I was a willing participant.
I winked back and excused myself to go to the bathroom. Dodging people as I went, I finally got to the back hall. It was one of the dingiest areas in the place, or maybe that was because it was one of the few places that was well lit. Writings littered the wall. Some in sharpie, some in highlighter. Reaching out to touch it, I immediately pulled my hand back. Who knew what kind of gross things were on the wall? If my guys and I could get away with fingering me on the dance floor, I was sure other people did more than that right here against the wall. It was in the back after all. A ways away from everything else.
I pushed the door to the ladies’ bathroom open. The glaring white light from the fluorescents above made me blink. Stepping into one of the stalls, I was right. I was completely soaked down there, but thankfully, it hadn’t gone through my jeans. I cleaned up as best I could and then walked out. Fixing my hair in the mirror, and rearranging my shirt, I finally felt put together enough to go back out there to face my guys. A fleeting thought about strip clubs entered my mind as I pulled the door open, a paper towel in my hand. I turned to throw it away and when I turned back around, I stopped mid-stride.
In the dim light of the small hall, a figure stood in front of me. It was no person. At least all of it wasn’t. It had hair over its large thighs and chest. Little tufts that sprouted in some areas more than others. Moving up, his back was a hunched though his shoulders were wide with scarce fur coating them. I swallowed when I met its gaze. A monster. Its teeth glinted in the light. The light flickered overhead, lighting and then relighting the figure, but it was still the same every time. Thick, dark eyebrows lay atop wide, large eyes. The lips were thin over the sharp fangs. He bared his teeth, and I took a step back. Inching closer, my hands came forward in an immediate reaction. “Sleep.”
It only blinked. Son of a bitch. My magic hadn’t worked.
It took another silent step forward. I inched along the wall. It hadn’t made an aggressive move toward me, so there wasn’t anything I could do. With my back completely against the wall, I scooted down it until we were face to face. His eyes flashed, and a deep growl came up from its throat.
Djinn.
I knew it. He looked almost exactly like the picture Liam showed me from the Order book. Why couldn’t it have come as The Rock? And what the hell was the djinn doing here in the first place? I didn’t call it.
He let me move around him until I turned, mixing in with the crowd, and even forcibly moving people away from me so I could get to my guys quicker. I was stronger with them. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the djinn slip through the crowd quietly. The people didn’t even notice as he stepped around them, his eyes fixated on me.
I kept going, not even looking to where I was going until I ran into a hard body. Randy. Thank fuck. I threw my arms around him and he immediately wound his own around mine. “Djinn,” I said, sneaking a peek behind me.
Randy’s muscles tensed. He looked up. “Shit.”
Then, the rest of them were there, too. I could feel them come in close, hovering around us like we did best. Stronger together.
I turned, more confident now that they were all there. We faced off right in the middle of Nan’s. The djinn held back though. It eyed me, then moved outward, taking in the rest of my coven until bam, it just disappeared. The bar moved along beside us as if nothing had happened. My heart was in my throat and I blinked at the spot where he’d just been, but he wasn’t. The djinn was just gone.
I faced the rest of the guys. “What in the fuck was a djinn doing in here?”
“The Reid’s?” Liam asked, voicing what I was sure was on all our minds.
That was the only djinn I knew, but what the hell had it meant by coming here and finding me? What was the point?
“Fuck if I know,” Randy said. “I knew we shouldn’t have gotten mixed up in the Reid’s shit.”
&
nbsp; “We haven’t though,” Travis said. “We didn’t make a decision yet.”
“Yeah, when has that ever stopped anything from happening? Let’s just get back home and beyond the wards.”
We were already walking toward the exit when I said, “If the wards even help. I tried to put him to sleep, but he just blinked at me.”
“Great,” Travis said sarcastically. “I love it when our magic doesn’t work.”
A pit opened in my stomach. A djinn. A powerful family, and now my magic was on the fritz again. What in the actual fuck?
6
Randy leaned over me while I sat on the couch. He rubbed the back of my neck in small circles. “You okay?”
I shivered just thinking about that ugly thing. “I’m fine,” I grumbled, upset at the way I’d handled things back at the bar. I was stronger than that. Who cared if he didn’t react to the sleep spell? I could’ve tried something else. I didn’t have to run to my coven just for protection. I was Norah Darbonne for Christ’s sakes. For all that inner monologue, there was something else though. The djinn had just looked creepy as fuck. He’d looked like the monster reincarnate I’d been convinced was under my bed as a child. The same one that got me so scared, Mom had to come in and lay with me until I’d fallen asleep.
Another shiver racked me, and Randy pressed his fingertips deeper into my skin. “Talk to me.”
“It’s just that he was so gross.”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice dropping into a low husk. “He was a nasty looking thing.”
“I’ve never seen a monster like that before. Dean said his djinn came to him in human form, so is that the Reid’s djinn or not?”
Randy pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I don’t know but I plan on finding out.”
Liam held up a hand. “Before you do that, I feel as if I need to bring up the fact that we’re not allowed to do any Order business. Walter forbid it.”
“Fuck Walter,” Gabe said.
I looked up at him, surprised at his outburst.