The Family Spells: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance

by C. M. Stunich

  He lifted his head and opened his eyes, meeting my gaze dead-on, and in his, there was a lust, a fire, a wild ardent heat that I couldn't deny any longer. It was thick in the air between us, so thick that I felt like I couldn't breathe. My nipples were so hard beneath my dress that they hurt, and each small movement I made sent white-hot pleasure shooting through them and into my core. My muscles ached to hold onto Hex, to take him into me and make him mine.

  Something was happening between us in that moment, and I couldn't seem to stop it.

  I removed my right hand from his shaft, and held my palm over the cauldron, drawing a pentagram in the air above it. The spell circle hung in mid-air, emanating that vibrant carnal glow. I lowered my palm and the pentagram went with it, the magic seeping into the brew. When I took the chalice and filled it, I could sense the power running through my veins. I handed it to Hex, and he drank deeply, a crimson drop trailing from the corner of his mouth and down his throat.

  As soon as he swallowed it, he tossed the chalice aside, and reached out for me, taking me by the wrists, and pulling me forward. I did not resist.

  Once I was close enough, Hex grabbed me by the hips and pulled me onto his lap, so that I was straddling him. My arms went around his neck of their own accord, and I found myself falling even deeper into those eyes. Magic was still running hot and wild through his veins; I could see it as I looked at him, all of that energy that I had just unleashed.

  My eyes felt suddenly heavy, too heavy to open, and they seemed to close of their own accord as I moved in and brushed my lips against his. Hex moaned as our mouths connected, so much more ardent, more carnal than our kiss had been the night before.

  During the night walk, our kiss had been almost innocent, exploratory. This was anything but innocent or exploratory. No, this was a sinful claiming, a joining of bodies, wild energy rushing through me like a storm. Hex must have felt it, too, because his hands moved with a fervor I hadn't seen before, pushing my dress up, tearing my panties off. The fabric came apart with a snap.

  Hex growled at me, talons protruding from the tips of his fingers and digging into the sensitive flesh of my hips. I moaned again, half in pain and half in pleasure. I could feel his shaft, hard and quivering beneath me, and I rocked my hips forward to take advantage of it. The tip of his shaft met my clit, and pleasure rocketed through me. It was almost too much, all of this madness. I knew I was making a mistake, and yet I couldn't stop myself.

  Those beautiful tattooed hands of his slid back to cup my ass, squeezing my flesh in two inked handfuls. Our kiss increased in passion, like a fire tearing through a forest, burning everything in its path.

  I knew for fucking sure this would burn me.

  I lifted up on my knees, and Hex pulled me forward, so that his shaft was lined up with my opening. Slowly, with our gazes locked, I began to lower myself down. Hex, though, he didn't seem to be able to wait any longer, and he pulled me down hard against him.

  The joining of our bodies was fucking glorious, the sensation that rippled up from my loins into the rest of me, I could not get enough of it—and neither could Hex. I rode him fast and hard, my arms wrapped around his neck, my lips pressed to his. We kissed, and groaned, and moved together like animals in the throes of a heat.

  But it had been so long since Hex had had sex, that he seemed unable to wait. He stood up with a wild snarl, and I could feel the skin on his upper back splitting as his demon wings emerged, splattering blood all over the walls of the shop. He threw me down on the chaise, burying himself inside of me with hard, almost violent thrusts. I cried out, but purely in pleasure, loving the thick, heavy feeling of his cock inside of me. It was as if we been designed to fit together; he was just long enough, just thick enough, to take up all of me, to fill me completely.

  Every movement of his hard, muscular body, rocked my clit in such a way that I felt my orgasm coming out of nowhere. It hit me like a bolt of lightning, tearing through me in a violent, almost uncomfortable sort of way. I could feel it in every inch of me in my nipples, in my core, in my clit.

  Hex was not finished though, and as he licked and sucked on my neck, as he teased my lower lip between his teeth and kissed me with carnal ferocity, he continued to thrust his pelvis into mine. Our bodies met with a loud, wet smack, and I found that I had lost all rational thoughts. My hands slid up his back and over the bloody lengths of his wings. He loved it, too, nibbling on my ear, groaning, kissing me so deeply that I felt like my mouth was forever going to be marked.

  My legs wrapped around him, pulling him closer, dragging him deeper into me. Hex fucked me so hard, so fast, so relentlessly that I soon found myself screaming into another climax.

  The demon-witch hybrid took me completely, until we were both consumed by the heat and fire between us. Our magic was so sympathetic that when it came together in such a wild storm, it rattled pictures on the walls, knocked glass bottles to the floor and shattered them. The store was going to be a mess after this.

  Hex’s body tightened up, all of those beautiful, inked muscles hardening as he grunted and buried himself deep, finishing inside of me with a sound that was hardly human.

  As my body fluttered and clenched around his, he shuddered and gave one final thrust before collapsing on top of me with a groan.

  For a moment, everything was quiet, everything was still, and I held the man that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was my soulmate, deep inside of me. The only sound in the shop was the sound of our combined breaths, and the pounding of our beating hearts.

  I held Hex close to me, his warm breath feathering my hair against the velvet cushion of the chaise. I looked up, past his horns, horns I hadn't even realized he'd sprouted, and I stared at the ruby red splatters of demon blood on my ceiling.

  As if he were simply waiting to catch his breath, Hex exhaled sharply and then pushed up and away from me. Our bodies separated, and a small cry escaped my lips as I struggled to sit up. I didn't bother to fix my dress or cover my toppled witch's hat from the floor; I just sat there and watched as Hex frantically buttoned and zipped his jeans. He looked up at me with pure panic in his eyes.

  "Is the …" he started, glancing back toward the purple curtain as if he expected someone to be looking in on us. Our familiars were out there, but they were simply extensions of ourselves, and more than likely … they’d have also gone through a mating of their own. Oftentimes, when witches made love, so did their familiars.

  "Is the spell finished?" I asked, feeling that white-hot river of passion and connection flow away from me. I glanced away from Hex because I couldn't bear to look at him in that moment. "Yeah, it is."

  He hesitated, but only for a moment. Even though I wanted him to, there was no part of me that thought he was going to stay. A few seconds of silence passed before I heard his boots crunching across the broken glass toward the curtain, and then out to the door. The lock was flicked, the front door was opened, and the last thing I heard before he left was the merry jingling of the bells.

  My relationship with Grace had always been predicated on one rule: we could date or have sex with our soulmates, and that was it.

  From the moment I heard of Hex’s existence, I knew it was a possibility that she’d end up in bed with him. Fuck, we'd talked about it briefly last night, after the pumpkin patch. There were no secrets in our family; it was one of the things I loved most.

  But holy witching hell.

  "I'm going to murder that cocksucking son of a bitch." Spectre stepped in front of me, holding up his palms to show me that he didn't want to fight. But hell if I weren't lookin’ for one. Hex had moved my wife to tears, the selfish fuck. Besides, what sorta monster could be with my Grace and not feel anything at all? I’d be damned if I let him treat my mate like a quick, easy fuck. "Get the hell out of my way," I said to Spec. I could feel my wolf inside of me, pacing behind my rib cage. He was hungry too, a real goddess-damned beast. And you know what he wanted to eat? That fucking piece o
f demon shit.

  "When has your anger ever done you any good?" Argent drawled in that infuriatingly calm way of his. He was sitting outside Grace's sister's house, on her wraparound porch with the wooden swing. Grace had been so jealous that her mother had gifted their grandmother's house to Suzanna that I'd sent her away on a weekend trip with Spec and Argent while I built her a porch and swing of her own. "Obviously, Grace is upset enough as it is, so calm down and take a minute."

  “Guys, I’m … okay, really. I’m just sorry it happened. The magic got the best of me.” She looked up with watery, green eyes, and I almost lost my shit. “Can you forgive me?”

  “Nothing to forgive,” I snapped, standing at the bottom of the steps and looking up at Grace. She was sitting next to Argent and looking like she wished a hole would open up in the ground and swallow her. My heart friggin’ broke looking at her like that, like she just made the worst mistake of her life.

  When Spectre saw I had no intention of leaving, he backed away, and headed up the steps, so that he could kneel in front of our wife. She lifted her head to look at him, and smiled.

  "Seriously, I’m fine," she said, moving her gaze from him and directing it over to me. She made her smile a little wider, but I'd known her too long, loved her too long, to be fooled by that shit. "Really, I am. I just wish I hadn’t done it. I feel like I betrayed you guys."

  "Grace, it's okay if you're not fine. What Hex did to you, that wasn't right. And you know we don’t consider it a betrayal; we have an agreement with each other." I could hear the anger in Spec’s voice. Holy fuckin’ witch hats, I could smell it on him, but he didn't let it overwhelm him. He was good at that, controlling his emotions. "You're the one that's upset, so you tell us what you need us to do."

  We were all here to pick up the kids, but we hadn't even made it through the front doors. Grace had called us to pick her up, and as soon as we'd arrived, we all knew that they’d had sex. Shit, I could smell that, too, the proof of their wild rutting. It’d made me hard, too, but I’d never admit that. My jealousy wouldn’t allow it.

  Should've known the little demon fucker would mess it all up though. Never trust a goddess-damned demon, that’s what I say.

  "Nothing," Grace said with a sigh. "Let's … just get this over with, and I'll never have to see him again." The way she said it though, I didn't think she meant it. No, she liked the piece of sulfur-stinking shit for some stupid, unknown reason. I might've wanted to rip his throat out, but clearly Grace didn't share my opinion. “Three more days, and this will all be over.” She lifted her head and gazed out at the sunset, digging her fingers into the wood of the chair. “Just three more days.”

  But me, I was smart for an asshole, and I didn’t see this thing with Hex ending anytime soon.

  Gods-fucking-damn it.

  I didn't know what the fuck I was thinking when I sprinted out of the potion shop, and sped home on my motorcycle like a madman.

  There was no way in hell Lulu didn't hear me screeching into the driveway, pounding across the gravel, and opening the door to my apartment so hard that it felt like it might come off the hinges. But if she saw me right now, she'd know.

  And I didn't want anyone to know.

  I didn't want anyone to know how much I witching loved what’d just happened, how into that voluptuous which woman I was–I didn't even want myself to know.

  "You, my friend, are a fool," Connard growled as he stalked along behind me, still wearing his tiny helmet. I didn't bother to take it off; I was too busy tearing my clothes off and running for the bathroom.

  "Yeah, fantastic. You don't have to tell me that—I know I fucked up."

  Connard yowled as I turned on the shower and waited for it to warm up, leaning my back against the wall and rubbing my temple with one hand.

  "Well," he said, hopping up onto the sink next to me and batting at me with his paw until I took the gods-damned helmet off. I threw it on the floor and leaned my head against the cool tiles, closing my eyes and trying to rationalize what I'd just done. "I'm glad you know you're an idiot, but the issue I'm having is that you don't know why you're an idiot."

  I moved my hand away from my face, and stared at the cat.

  "So, you gonna give me an explanation or am I just supposed to guess?"

  I stood up straight, and tested the water with my hand. Thankfully, it was finally warm, so I climbed in and tried to wash off the mistake I’d just made.

  And yet … Grace didn't feel like a mistake. What felt like a mistake was going through with the marriage to Violet. That, and the cheating. I felt this horrible wash of guilt for what I'd done, even at the same time as I knew that I was interested in Grace in a way that I’d never been interested in any other woman before.

  The real question was: what the hell was I supposed to do about it?

  "No, fool," Connard snarled, jumping up to sit on the edge of the old clawfoot bathtub. "I am not going to tell you, and you are not supposed to guess—you are supposed to know. That's what concerns me." He looked up at me with those orange eyes of his. "You know what you need to do," he said, softening his voice slightly.

  "I don't know shit," I snapped back at him, washing myself all over once, twice, three times. But I couldn't wash off my emotions, and it was fucking me up. I didn't know whether to be happy that I’d just slept with Grace, ashamed that I’d run out on her, or guilty that I’d cheated on a woman I didn't even love.

  What a clusterfuck.

  "Then I cannot help you," Connard said with a sigh, standing up and turning away from me. Just before he jumped down, he gave me a very stern look. "No, it's not that I cannot help you: it’s that I won't. I won't, until you get your wits about you. You forget that I know you better than anyone else. Hex, you are a good man who makes stupid choices. But I urge you—don't go through with this one."

  Con hopped down and left me alone in the bathroom with my thoughts, but that's not what I wanted. I wanted an answer to my problems, an easy solution, just like I'd had my whole life. No, no, I wanted an easy out. That's what I’d done my whole life, taken the easy way out. But now, here, with the most difficult decision I’d ever had to make sitting in front me … I had no goddess-damned clue what to do.

  I was so witching screwed.

  Against my own better judgment, I climbed out of the shower, turned the water off, and dressed in fresh clothes.

  “If you’re doing what I think you’re doing, then I’m out,” my familiar hissed, watching me grab my wallet and keys as I headed for the door. I ignored him completely because to be honest, I had no clue what I was doing.

  I walked out and slammed the door behind me, heading downstairs for my bike in the pouring rain, kicking the engine into gear and peeling out of the driveway as fast as I’d careened into it.

  Then I drove all the way over to Violet's in the middle of the freaking night. If the erection spell had worked, and I finally had a cock I could use … Well, I knew, I fucking knew, that if I screwed the demon princess tonight, I would never be able to go back to Graceley Spells.

  That's what I wanted, to taint myself, to make the relationship between myself and the witch woman impossible.

  No wonder I’d left Connard behind. This was such a stupid decision, he definitely would’ve tried to talk me out of it.

  I practically raced into the elevator, and then down the hall to Violet’s condo, raising my fist to bang on the glossy white surface of her door.

  "Hex, what the hell is going on?" Violet's hair was messy, and she was dressed in nothing but a see-through, white lace nightie with a thong beneath it.

  I didn't answer her, stepping into the apartment and forcing her back a few feet. I slammed the door behind me.

  And then I moved closer still, angling her toward the wall, and trapping her between my arms. With one palm on either side of her head, I leaned down like I was going to kiss her full mouth.

  "Well hello, Hex," she purred, smiling coquettishly at
me. She leaned forward, pressing her breasts against my wet chest. When her right hand moved to cup my junk, I didn't stop her, water dripping down my face, sluicing between my lips.

  I inhaled sharply … and Violet frowned hard.

  "What is it?" I asked, but my heart was pounding, and I already had an idea.

  I stepped back suddenly, as Violet crossed her arms over her chest, propping up full, luscious breasts that I was not interested in.

  Grace had been right: there was no spell signature on my dick because there was no spell. The reason I was hard for Grace and for no one else, was that I’d finally met someone I liked. That had never happened to me in all of my life. In those months before I met her, I was miserably unhappy and I hadn't even known it.

  I cursed under my breath and moved away. Violet tried to step toward me, but I backed up until I was against the opposite wall.

  Her demon tail swished in anger as she glared at me.

  "Hex, what the fuck? You’ve been acting weird as hell for the last two weeks, and now, you pound on my door in the middle of the night, act like you want to have sex with me—something you've never followed through with by the way—and then turn ice-cold all of a sudden? You can't do this crap to me without an explanation."

  My mind was racing, but I had no idea what to say. The guilt over cheating on Violet was tremendous, but at the same time, I wanted to break up with her.

  I ran my tongue over my lower lip, and lifted my gaze to hers, meeting her silver eyes dead-on.

  "Violet," I started, curling my hands into fists as I worked up the courage to tell her what I needed to say. "On Halloween, I have a spell to do. A big one."

  "What …?" she started, but I wasn't done. I had to finish this shit now, or I wasn't sure I'd ever have the guts to do it.