by India Kells
“No!” Ian’s outburst made her remove her hand quickly as if caught right-handed. Which wasn’t completely untrue.
Naked, still standing above her, Sera’s eyes lingered on his body. The ink snaking around his shoulders and muscled arms made him look like an ancient warrior.
The werewolf moved fast, grabbing her wrists above her head and pinning her down as he settled between her legs. Gone was the civilized man when, without warning, he entered her in a swift move. She wasn’t quite there yet, but the man, the pain and the desire coursing through her made her ride the discomfort almost instantly.
It was a breakneck pace, one that would have made her cry out in agony if not for the strength spell. And as pleasure rose, Sera realized how much the shifter had been holding himself back for her.
Ian tensed above her, his body corded as his orgasm took him. Sera prayed it would ease some of his pain a bit, if not completely.
Still supporting himself with one arm, he moved the other to the side of her head. At first, she thought he would stop, utterly spent, but he didn’t. Instead, he started moving again. Smaller strokes. Sera moaned, feeling him even bigger inside her. And that’s when she remembered the knot.
Now free to touch him, she ran her hand up his arm, scratching the skin, loving the way he groaned at her harsh touch.
Without breaking contact, he kneeled between her legs and pushed her knees up, bearing herself even more to his gaze. Blushing furiously, she was about to force her knees shut again when his hands caressed the inside of her thighs making their way to where they were joined. His touch was impatient and rough when he touched her clit, but she arched in his touch. He resumed his thrusts, increasing in speed and force as she reached her orgasm. Her voice sounded raw to her own ears. With her head still buzzing, she felt Ian pulling out, the knot having lessened enough, before he twisted her around. Now on all fours, he penetrated her again, his movements strong and purposeful, his mouth near her ear as his muscled body engulfed her with heat.
“You’re mine, Sera. Don’t you dare forget it. I can’t get enough of you, never will.”
Adrenaline and lust were intoxicating. Still floating on pleasure, it seemed to increase as he spoke, his voice rasping on every nerve ending, his words igniting her body like wild fire once more.
“It’s Pheme, it’s her scent, not me. It has poisoned you somehow.”
“No. She may have made me lustful, but it’s only you I want. Can’t you see it? Can’t you feel it?”
He slammed into her as he spoke, and Sera could only moan her answer.
“It’s your body I crave, your scent. If I could, I would rub myself against your skin all day, and bury my nose between your legs all night.”
It was instinctual, she bared her neck to him. She knew it was a submissive posture in his world, but she couldn’t help herself. Even though all of him touched all of her, she needed more. It was like a torment.
“Ian, please.”
“Tell me you desire me too, my body, my wolf, as much as I crave you. When you come around me, Sera, it’s never enough. I want more. All of you. Give me your heart and your mind too, love. Shatter, and promise me to do so every night again with me.”
Sera gripped the comforter with both hands and pushed against his thrusts, desperate for more friction, her skin feeling so tight right now, she couldn’t stand it.
“Ian!” But he ignored her plea. Accelerating, the speed was maddening once more, but it was as if she couldn’t reach the tipping point.
“Allow me to be with you, to come over and over inside you as you scream, and I lose myself to the world, Sera. Please.”
Was he begging her? But for what, exactly? She couldn’t think, let alone speak. The only word she could force out of her lips was a yes.
When she felt Ian move behind her, disengaging himself from her, she emitted a low, frustrating scream. She may have been the one wanting to help him, but she was the one in a frenzy. Ian lay down on the bed, and grabbed her hips in his hands, lifting her up to straddle him. Frantic, Sera reached between them and positioned his cock before plunging down on him with a sigh.
The position was unusual for a shifter, but the thought dissolved quickly in her head. She was in control and she intended to make the most of it. Placing both hands on his chest, her hips swayed. The werewolf beneath her hissed, keeping his grip tight on her waist.
When she looked at his face, Sera realized his intensity had changed. It wasn’t a fight against madness anymore, it was a deep determination that she had never seen in him. His power fed her own and it was strange to feel their magic intermingle that way.
“I know I could never say the words to you and make it official, my beautiful witch, but I need to give them to you.”
Sera blinked, her usually sharp mind blank, her body flooded with sensation. At the sound of his voice, she was spellbound.
“I willingly bond with you, my beloved. And forever I will lay my life at your feet and offer my heart to your care, as I can only breathe when I’m with you. You’re my life and mate. Soul bonded for eternity.”
Tears flooded her eyes as she heard the mating vows. He was offering them to her, now, as he was vulnerable, when he could never do so as he’d already given them in his lifetime to another.
Fiery need and intense love swamped her, and her mouth moved even before she realized it.
“I willingly bond with you, my beloved Ian. And forever I will lay my life at your feet and offer my heart to your care, as I can only breathe when I’m with you. You’re my life and mate. Soul bonded for eternity.”
For the rest of her days, she would remember the expression on his face when he sat up, matching the movement of her hips, beat for beat. When his lips touched hers, she gripped his shoulders like a lifeline and that’s when she shattered. It was too much. Everything seemed to intensify. The pleasure of her orgasm, the feeling of their bodies gliding one against the other, how full her heart felt, as if it was about to explode...
And when Ian’s fangs pierced her skin, it was as if pleasure crested again. Every cell of her body caught fire and, for a brief instant in time, Sera was gone, consumed by flames. Blood filled her mouth and she drank as if she had been dying of thirst her entire life. Her brain registered that she had bitten Ian’s neck too. Her curiosity was trying to take it all in, and her body simply shut down, satiated and content to just be with this man for the first time in her life.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sera wanted to remain in the incredible bliss for a moment longer. She wished so hard to curl up against Ian and fall back asleep, with only the smell of him on her. But it wasn’t to be. They were in a strange building, in a strange bed on the opposite side of the continent with a goddess on the other side of the door.
Raising her head, she saw Ian sprawled on the huge bed, snoring like a baby. At least, he was pain-free now, the goddess’s pheromones, or whatever that was, out of his system.
Pulling a sheet over his body, Sera crawled out of bed. Ian must have exhausted himself, as not a muscle on him twitched. However, every one in her body screamed not to move. The strength spell had vanished, leaving the usual soreness. And even if she winced a little, she wouldn’t have changed the last hour for the entire world.
With one last look at Ian, she summoned clothes on herself and kicked her butt to get out of the room. Daylight was slowly declining, giving a softer glow to the posh apartment. Finn was lying on the couch, still out of it. It was at the kitchen counter that she found Pheme. Gone was the bright pink, replaced with a more casual cream cashmere sweater and slate gray pants.
In front of her, a bottle of white wine and a half-drunk glass. Her blue eyes were lost in her memories.
When she approached, it broke the goddess’ reverie and she straightened, her smiling mask firmly in place.
“There you are! And here I thought you and your handsome wolf would be gone for the entire night. Well, what I heard made me think that. Wine?”<
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Sera nodded, and she sat on a stool facing Pheme on the island as the goddess fetched a glass. After pouring the white wine, Pheme raised her glass.
“To favors!”
Sera smiled, but she wasn’t fooled. “To truth.” And lightly tapped her glass against hers. The goddess winced at her words, which was a good sign.
Without breaking the eye contact, Sera only touched the alcohol with her lips before putting her glass down. Having been fooled once, there was no way she would blindly trust her again.
“Now, about our agreement. I feel you should owe me one more, because you’ve drugged my friends. But as I’m a good sport, I’ll let it slide, if as you said, you can answer my question.”
Pheme looked properly contrite, and Sera guessed it was the best she could expect of any goddess. “I’m sorry. Usually humans are not keen on helping unless they are coerced or forced. And when I knew it was you coming here, I couldn’t take the risk of you denying me.”
Sera sighed. “Well, what’s done is done. First impressions suck.”
Pheme gave her a half laugh, but didn’t answer.
“Why do you say you acted that way because it was me? What have I that’s so special?”
That brought the goddess to the present discussion instantly. “You are the daughter of Apollo. And let me tell you, it’s a feat. Not only did he not have many offspring, but all of them are male, which makes you unique.”
Sera pushed aside the knowledge of possibly having brothers and focused on the information she was given. For once, she hadn’t needed to fight for it.
“I still don’t understand. You speak as if I know of your world, of... Olympus. But apart from what can be found in books, I’m clueless. I’m the only daughter of Apollo, so what?”
Pheme placed her glass on the cool marble top and folded her hands. “Only females can receive the gift of Apollo. That’s the destiny of Delphi oracles.”
“Seers.” The words tasted bad in her mouth.
“Yes. But you’re more than that. You didn’t get his gift from being chosen, but from being born his child.”
The possibility of being caught and thrown as a seer into Delphi made her nauseous. Fiddling with the stem of her wine glass, Sera shook her head.
“I won’t be used against my will, and sent to Delphi without a chance of return. I’d rather die.”
Pheme’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “No! As a child of the gods, you can never be forced to do such a thing.”
Sera had to laugh at that. “Of course not, because as a child of a god, I have to die, chased and put down like a rabid dog.”
“What are you talking about.”
“Don’t play innocent. That’s one of your divine decrees that no child of the gods may survive. And if it’s not a decree then it’s something you all do for sport.”
Pheme shook her head vehemently. “There’s never been such a decree of law among us. Do you know how difficult it is for a god to have a child? When such a miracle happens, the child is a gift, bringing with him or her, new light on this earth, new gifts to humankind.”
“That’s not what Artemis told me.”
Pheme’s beautiful smile turned to a sneer. “Artemis is a tricky bitch. And she’s psychotic about her brother.”
Speechless, Sera pondered her words. The more she dug, the more it was difficult to know whom to trust. At her silence, Pheme rolled her eyes. “Think for a minute. You don’t appear to be dumb. What do your books say about demigods? Hercules, Hippolyta, Orion... they are well known and, although they may have been persecuted or cast out, they hadn’t had an easy life, but they lived and accomplished something. Same as you. Don’t think of gods as almighty beings, incapable of mistakes or misplaced emotions. We can be even worse than humans sometimes. You must forge your own path, decide what you want to do.”
“Artemis might have tricked me all this time. I can’t defeat Artemis. How do I tell her to fuck off? To leave me and my friends alone.”
Pheme shrugged. “Not an easy task, but until now, she had used the fact that you knew nothing of Olympus. It’s not true anymore. Remember, she may be powerful, but she’s not omniscient. At least not all the time. As I can use information for my own design, so does she.”
Sera nodded, trying to take everything in, her mind alert for a trap, or for opportunities. Something started to take form in her head, but she didn’t want to share it with Pheme. Trust could only be stretched so far. But she had one last question that could help her plan.
“If ever I need to contact a god or a goddess, such as yourself?”
Pheme’s smile returned. “You are always welcome here, Sera. As for the others, it depends on where they are in our known plane of existence. You can’t go to us if we are on Olympus or another divine land. If we are on earth, you have the possibility to reach us. If we don’t have a fixed address such as mine, they all have a particular ‘phone number’ to reach them. A trigger that will let you know where they are or that you want to talk to them.”
How could she be so sketchy and so clear with her information?
“I’ve heard that Artemis is on earth for the time being, if that’s what you’re asking.”
And the gossiping goddess made her entrance. Sera only smiled. “Thank you for your help, Pheme. And now you are asking something from me?”
All interested smile and amusement vanished from her made-up face. Nodding, she fiddled her expensive rings together in a definite gesture of nerves.
“Yes. You are the daughter of Apollo and, as you know, with it comes... certain talents. Some say that, as him, you can see the future, or link with people’s minds from the present.”
Sighing, Sera tried to find the appropriate words. “I only had flashes of possibilities. Glimpses. And as I didn’t know what it was, and frightened to be taken for a seer, I never used it. I pushed that talent so deep, never attempting to develop it in any way.”
That didn’t dim the hope in the goddess eyes. “But it’s there!”
“Uh, did you hear what I just said?”
“Yes, yes, yes. I heard every word. But you can access it, right? You gotta try, please.” And taking a deep breath, seriousness returned to her eyes. “Please, Sera. Premonition, intuition. These are gifts that very few gods have. It’s precious, and dangerous... but I’m asking anyway because... because.” Tears shimmered in her eyes, turning her amazing blue irises into pools of sorrow. “Because it’s tearing me apart. And despite all the information, all the knowledge, all the millennia in me...”
Lowering her head in her hands, Pheme stayed silent for a moment. Sera felt the pain and regret from her, and it couldn’t be faked.
“I’ll try. I’ll do my best. But I don’t know if it’s gonna work. Know that. What do you want me to do?”
Swiftly wiping away the tears staining her cheeks and messing with her mascara, Pheme looked back at her, determined and calmer.
“I have a son. Goddesses are not renowned to be good mothers, and I think I was the worst of all. So many years, and so many times I wanted to reach out, but pride held me back. And now, I’ve lost complete track of him. And I’ve tried to find him, believe me.”
“How is it possible? There is no way you can find him?”
She seemed uncomfortable. “He’s a demigod, love. You may not know how yet, but you have the ability to stop that beacon from being visible to the gods and some creatures of the magical world too. That’s why I need your help. With your magic and your divinity that invisibly link all of us, I pray that you can find him.”
Sera licked her lips. It was a lot to ask. But her curiosity had always been stronger than her fear. And now that her powers were up again, she didn’t see how she couldn’t give her all.
“I’ll do my best. I don’t know how to do it yet, so it may take a little time.”
Pushing away from the counter, she stretched a little as she walked toward the living room. Finn was still lying as still as a corpse with
the final rays of the sun lighting the horizon. She felt Pheme moving behind her, but ignored the goddess, instead trying to calm her mind. Sera sat cross legged on the floor, facing the wall of windows.
Her breath slowed down, and her mind stilled until she found that familiar and peaceful place inside her. Naturally, her eyes closed, and she saw even clearer than before. As usual, the energy that made her heart beat mixed with the magic inside her. And deep down, there was that light. The one she ignored and feared for so long.
Strangely, there was a certainty inside her. An inner strength and confidence she hadn’t noticed before. Dismissing the thought, she focused on the task at hand. How could she find a man she didn’t know using the powers she’d never used before?
Sera knew the power of knowledge, but was also certain of the fact that magic wasn’t only about rules. It flowed like the wind, and could be as unpredictable and dangerous, but also soothing and inspiring. It was that knowledge that she would use. If unknowing of the direction, let the magic guide her sails.
At first, it was like a storm inside her. Different energies vying for control, but after a while they seemed to take their rightful pace and hum inside her, awaiting her command. Opening her mind, she realized that she could feel everybody in the room. Their presence. It wasn’t exactly visual, but it was similar to when she was seeing auras. Her own magic connected to their essence. Each of them was so different, unique. She couldn’t help but reach for Ian who was snoring in the bedroom. As she passed, she could smell him, taste him, feel the peacefulness of his slumber. Reassured, she returned to Pheme and twirled around her. The goddess must have sensed her as she looked around, as if trying to detect her.
It took a moment to detect the essence of Pheme, what made her who she was, a goddess, and what she suspected would help her link with her son somehow.
At first Sera thought she would continue to fly and find the person she was searching for, but instead, she returned to her body. Still seated with her eyes closed, something strange happened. Light flashed in her head at a dizzying speed. Her stomach clenched, the same way it did when she was feeling sick on a roller coaster. Panic started to set it, as she wanted to grasp for something more stable, but it only made the flashes go faster, as if she was spiraling out of control. Again, her training as a witch took over and some stability returned. The flashes of light slowed down enough so that she could recognize that they were images. Now, instead of fighting it, she opened up even more to her energy and the images stabilized in her head enough that they became alive.