There was another silence. “What does this have to do with Sebastian?” Michael finally asked.
“Nothing, really,” Arthur said. “Sebastian is just a mild annoyance, something to be dealt with before the prophecy can come true, before the demons can be stopped for good.”
“Wait,” Vincent said, holding up his hand. “The eight of us are going to get rid of the demons?”
Arthur shook his head. “No, it will be your children that ultimately do that,” he said. “Someday, they will grow into incredibly talented shifters with the magical ability given to them by both Merlin and the Baxter witches.”
Gabriel felt Chloe tense up beside him, saw the look of apprehension in her eyes, and squeezed her hand, but she shook her head at him. “I need to go home,” she said, all the color draining from her face.
***Chloe***
“I’m sorry, Gabriel,” Chloe said, buckling her seat belt. “I guess I kind of freaked out a little.”
He leaned over and kissed her. “It’s okay, I don’t blame you,” he said. “I’ve been used to the idea of us together for a while; you just need a little time to catch up.”
“I never thought I’d find anyone, let alone have kids,” she said. “And certainly not shifters.”
“I guess I should have told you about that part,” he said, a little sheepishly. “It’s sort of the way things work.”
She shook her head. “It would have been nice to know.”
“Would it have made any difference?” he asked, grinning at her. “Be honest.”
It only took a second to answer him. “No, it wouldn’t have,” she admitted, then stuck her tongue out at him. “Okay, fine, you win. I guess it wouldn’t be so bad to have a baby with you, but maybe not right away.”
“That’s a deal,” he said, reaching over and taking her hand. “Besides, we have to bond first.”
“Haven’t we already?” she asked, feeling her connection to him pulsing in her veins.
“Not yet,” he said. “You’ll know it when we do.”
“What does it feel like?” she asked.
He grinned at her. “I don’t know. I’ve never bonded before, silly,” he said. “But I’m looking forward to it.”
She turned and looked out the window, wondering how her life had changed so much. Here she was calmly talking about bonding with a shifter, the book of shadows still calling to her, and now she was part of a prophecy. For a moment, she tried to remember her life before she came to Prospect Falls and found only emptiness and longing.
Looking over at Gabriel, she realized just how lucky she was and said a silent prayer of thanks to the universe for the love she’d found. But she understood that a love like theirs would require a sacrifice, would require her to do the one thing she didn’t want to do. For their love to survive, she’d have to do the protection ceremony; without it, Sebastian, Darrell, or both of them would destroy the valley and everyone who lived there.
She didn’t let Gabriel get out of the car when they got to the house. “I need to be alone tonight. It’s time I faced the book of shadows, and I have to do that alone,” she said.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his face full of concern.
“I’m sure. I’ll see you in the morning,” she said, kissed him on the cheek, and jumped out of the car before she could change her mind.
She felt his eyes on her as she climbed the steps and walked into the door, but she didn’t turn around, knew that if she did, she’d lose her nerve. When she walked into the kitchen, there was a young woman sitting at the table drinking tea, a plate of cookies on the table in front of her. She jumped up when she saw Chloe, splashing tea all over the table and nearly knocking her chair over.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Chloe said. “I didn’t know anyone was in here.”
“Oh, dear look what I’ve done,” the young woman said, running for the sink. “I’m Krissy, by the way. I’m here to sit with Emma Jean when she wants company.”
Chloe watched her cleaning up the mess, satisfied with the waves of positive energy that came from her and sure that Emma Jean was in good hands. “I’m Chloe. Thank you for coming to stay with us,” she said. “I wish I could spend more time with my grandmother, but it makes me feel better to know that you’re here.”
“I’d better go check on her,” Krissy said, looking at the clock on the wall.
“That’s okay, I’ll go,” Chloe said. “I haven’t seen her since this morning. Get yourself another cup of tea.”
When she poked her head into her grandmother’s room, she looked like she was asleep, and she started to back away, but then a familiar voice asked, “Chloe, is that you?”
“Hi, grandma,” she said, the word rolling off her tongue awkwardly. “I just stopped in to check on you. How are you feeling?”
“Never mind about me,” her grandmother said. “Have you opened the book yet?”
Chloe smiled. “You have a one-track mind,” she said. “And no, I haven’t, but I was thinking about doing it now.”
“Good, don’t let me keep you,” her grandmother said, closing her eyes. “I think I’ll just finish my nap.”
The sound of her gentle snores followed her out of the room, and her heart felt lighter as she climbed the steps. But the feeling didn’t last long when she saw the book had moved from where it had been hidden in the cupboard onto the middle of the table.
She crossed the room and looked down at the book. “I can take a hint,” she said. “Just be patient a little longer.”
After she’d changed into a pair of comfortable pajamas, she lit candles and burned some sage, then satisfied that she’d cleansed the room the best she could, she picked up the book. It felt warm in her hands, and she wanted to open right then, but she carried it across the room and settled down on the bed with it. She folded back the leather covering, revealing the brown leather cover, and slowly, she felt it’s magic begin to fill her.
Taking a deep breath, she reached out with a shaking hand and touched the cover, then when nothing happened, opened it to the first page. At first, the words were unrecognizable, written in a language she didn’t understand, but then they began to shift and swirl across the page, and when they stopped moving, she could read them.
As she read, she became aware of voices in her head, voices of the women who had come before, swelling until the many became only one voice. Lost to the words on the page and chorus in her head, she didn’t notice when the sun set and the moon filled the sky. She didn’t see the man on the sidewalk watching her window, or the dragon hovering silently over the house, but she felt the blood of her ancestors pounding in her veins, and nothing could have broken the wall of protection around her or the house that night.
Chapter Eighteen
***Gabriel***
Gabriel woke with the sun after a restless night worrying about Chloe and knew that he’d never be able to go back to sleep. He’d been thinking about her since he dropped her off, feeling like he should have stayed with her, but got up and made coffee, trying to be patient. But when his second cup was gone, he gave up, grabbed his keys, and headed for Baxter House.
The house was quiet when he got there; there was no one in the kitchen, but he could see that someone had been there; tea things were spread across the counter, and the unmistakable smell of cinnamon lingered in the air. He followed the smell up the stairs, where he found Emma Jean and Krissy sharing breakfast at a table pushed over to one of the windows.
Emma Jean’s face lit up when she saw him. “Gabriel, I was hoping I’d see you today,” she said. “Sit down with us and have some breakfast.”
“I can’t stay long, Emma Jean,” he said. “I came to check on Chloe; have you seen her this morning?”
“She’s probably still asleep; she was up very late last night with the book of shadows,” Emma Jean said.
“She’s probably upstairs,” Gabriel said. “I think I’ll just go and check on her.”
Emma Jean smiled at him. “There’s
nothing to be worried about,” she said. “But you run along; I know you won’t be happy until you see her.”
When he got to the top of the stairs, Chloe was curled up on the bed, the book next to her, and he stood watching her sleep, unable to move as he realized just how important she’d become to him. Everything had changed so quickly that there hadn’t been a lot of time to really stop and think about what he was doing, but then Chloe stirred and opened her eyes.
Instantly, he knew that was making the right decision; the warmth spreading through his body was evidence enough, and instincts aside, he realized that he was fascinated by the woman just waking up. She was smart and tough, but tender when she needed to be, and the magic that flowed through her was as pure as her heart.
She smiled at him. “The only thing better than waking up to find you here is if you’d been here all night,” she said. “I missed you.”
Body pounding with desire, he crossed the room, sat down next to her on the bed, and pulled her into his arms. She was warm from sleep and soft in his arms, her hair a tangled mess around her face, but she’d never looked more beautiful. When he lowered his mouth to hers, she melted into his arms, a soft sigh escaping her parted lips, and they didn’t speak for a long time after that.
The sun was streaming in the windows, and they were both hungry, but neither wanted to get out of bed. “We’re going to have to get up soon,” Chloe finally said with a big sigh.
“I suppose so,” he said. “I saw Emma Jean this morning on my way up; she said you opened the book of shadows last night.”
Chloe nodded, then sat up. “I found the spell for the protection ceremony,” she said.
“It’s all in here,” she said, flipping the book open.
Gabriel looked over her shoulder at the colorful pages she pointed to; there were words printed down the center, a poem of sorts, but what caught his attention was the illustrations the filled the rest of the page. “What’s all that?” he asked.
“Instructions for doing the spell,” Chloe said. “Things like what color of candles to use, what kind of oils, herbs, that kind of stuff.”
“So, you could do it?” he asked.
She nodded. “But it’s more complicated than just saying a few words; it has to be done at the right time and in the right place,” she said. “I haven’t quite worked it all out, but we’re supposed to go up into the mountains someplace to a lake and find this flower that grows only there.”
“Chloe, the mountains are covered in snow; nothing is going to grow up there this time of year,” he said.
She shook her head. “It won’t matter; we just need the moon to be full,” she said.
When he only looked at her in confusion, she said. “Maybe I need to back up a little, but we don’t have much time. You may have to just trust me on some of this.”
He reached out and took her hand. “If you say we need to go to this lake, I’ll take you, but we’re not going alone; that lake is one of the most dangerous places in the mountains, and witch or not, you are human.”
Chloe got a funny look on her face. “Umm, we might not want a lot of people hanging around tonight,” she said.
Gabriel narrowed his eyes at her. “What exactly are we going to do up there?” he asked.
Her cheeks turned pink. “It’s not my idea, Gabriel,” she said. “It’s part of the ceremony.”
He was only shocked for a second, the thought of what they might do later that night made his body throb. “If you’re suggesting what I think you are, you know what might happen, right?”
Chloe shut the book of shadows and set it aside, then turned to him. “I’m well aware that I might get stuck with you for the rest of my life, and I’ve decided that’s something I can live with. We all have to make sacrifices for the common good after all,” she said, grinning at him.
***Chloe***
She wasn’t ready when Gabriel lunged for her, and he managed to get his arms around her before she could escape. “Sacrifice is it?” he whispered in her ear, making goosebumps break out on her skin. “It didn’t look like much of a sacrifice earlier this morning.”
When his hand slipped between them to cup her breast, she gasped, then tried to get away again. “Gabriel, we don’t have time for this,” she said.
“The more you wiggle, the less likely I am to let you go,” he said, slipping between her legs, then inside her.
“Oh, maybe a few more minutes won’t hurt, but then we really have to go,” she managed to say before her brain stopped working.
Chloe stood watching the last rays of sun light up the water. She’d been standing nervously looking down at the firepit by the lake for a long time, hoping she hadn’t missed anything. But as the last rays disappeared and the stars began to shine in the night sky, she felt her magic beginning to stir, heard the voices of her ancestors guiding her once again.
Right on cue, Gabriel stepped out of the cabin and began making his way down to her, devastatingly handsome, dressed all in black, her heart swelled and a wave of dizziness washed over her. She recognized it for what it was, and welcomed the feeling, letting it flow through her and fill her soul. When he reached her, he held out his hand, and she took it without speaking, no words necessary between them.
Together, they walked down to the lake, the air around them filled with expectation and crackling with their combined energy. When they reached the circle that Chloe had drawn in the sand around the fire pit, Gabriel kissed the back of her hand and let her go. Hands shaking, she walked around the circle, lighting the candles she’d buried in the sand, then went back and stood next to Gabriel.
He took her hand again, and together, they entered the circle as Chloe began the first verse of the spell. Gabriel lit the fire on her cue, and it leaped to life, bathing them in its glow as the moon began to rise over the mountains. From under her white robe, Chloe withdrew two small leather bags. She handed one to Gabriel, then opened the other and dumped the contents into her hand.
“Goddess of all that lives and grows, grant us your power this night,” she said, throwing the bundle into the fire.
When Gabriel’s followed her, the fire leaped higher in the air, and above it, a figure began to appear. “We seek the moonflower and the power of its petals to defeat the evil that has flourished here,” Gabriel said, his voice sure and strong above the roar of the fire.
The air around them began to shift, the trees began to sway, and the words, “You know what I require: the pact endures so long as you show me a true and pure love,” echoed in the night.
Chloe raised her arms in the air. “We honor the pact made so long ago,” she called out, then turned to Gabriel and nodded to him.
He walked around the fire pit and stood opposite her, his eyes alight with power and filled with what she could only describe as a pure lust, and her body clenched tightly, almost painfully as it washed over her. Taking short breaths of air, she tried to concentrate, knowing that the final words of the spell were the most important.
Almost breathless, she raised her arms into the air again and recited the ancient words, feeling them flow off her tongue as if they belonged to her. The fire flared to life again, then dimmed, letting the darkness creep closer, but above their heads, the full moon rose, brilliant in the night sky. Chloe lowered her arms and began taking one slow step after another toward Gabriel, who was walking toward her a feral look in his eyes, and her heart began to pound in her chest.
When they were only a few feet from one another, they stopped, and with only a ripple of the wind, a bed of moss appeared in front of them. Hands shaking, knowing that after tonight, she wouldn’t be the same person, Chloe reached up and unhooked the clasp on her white robe and let it fall to the ground. Dressed only in a thin white shift that was so sheer, it was nearly transparent, she should have been cold, but the heat in Gabriel’s gaze warmed her.
Gabriel’s eyes widened with pleasure, and he reached to unhook his robe, letting it fall in a heap at his feet before h
e slowly removed his pants and shirt. When he stood naked in the moonlight, she slipped the dress off her shoulders and let it fall to the ground, then raised her hands in the air.
“We offer this, the greatest of tributes to you, the goddess of love,” she said, then lowered her arms.
Gabriel, finally freed of the restraints on him, was across the mossy carpet and pulling her into his arm in only seconds. His mouth came down on hers in a demanding kiss as his hands roamed her body, cupping her breasts, then delving between her legs to stroke and tease. Gasping as the assault on her body drove her to higher planes of sensation than she’d ever known, she clung to him, helpless to do anything but let him have his way with her.
When he finally ripped his mouth away from hers, she was breathless and light-headed, her body throbbing with need. He looked down at her, his hand slipping between her legs. “You belong to me, Chloe,” he said, slipping his finger between her folds and stroking her. “I want to hear you say it.”
She moaned with pleasure but couldn’t speak as he took her closer and closer to the edge, then he stopped. “I have to hear you say it, Chloe; tell me what I want to hear,” he demanded, his voice harsh in her ear.
Her entire body flushed at his words, and the throbbing became almost painful. “I want you, Gabriel, I need you,” she panted, wiggling her hips against his finger and whimpering.
He threaded his hand into her long black hair, pulled her head back, and slammed his mouth down on hers, then began to stroke her again. When she was gasping, her nails digging into his shoulders, he leaned down and whispered. “Not yet, my wild beauty; you can have your satisfaction when I have mine.”
Chapter Nineteen
Guardian Dragons of Prospect Falls: (A Paranormal Shifter Romance) Page 47