by Bianca D’Arc
“That’s pretty amazing,” he said, his voice going contemplative. “I’ve never spent any time in this part of the country, so I guess I never much thought about how those folk might live.”
“My family used to be part of it, and I still can’t really imagine living that way,” she admitted. “I don’t think I could have been happy being denied a university education. Plus, I would have been married years ago and probably had a bunch of kids running around already.” She made a face. “While I have nothing against kids—and I want some of my own, for sure—I don’t really agree with starting so young and having so many in such quick succession. But that’s just me. I guess it’s fine, if that’s what they really want—and some do, I’m sure.”
Why was she talking about having kids? Kiki felt her cheeks heat with a blush because of the topic. Having babies made her think about making babies, and the last thing she needed to talk about with this man was any allusions to sex. For heaven’s sake! Jack was walking, talking sex on a stick! She didn’t need anything to help her imagine what it might be like to do the deed with him. On the contrary, she needed help not thinking about it.
Chapter Nine
Jack was charmed by the shy blush on Kiki’s face. She was, hands down, one of the most interesting women he’d ever met. She knew about a lot of things that he found fascinating, and the glimpse she’d given him into the beliefs and mysticism of the local farming communities was something he’d never expected. He had figured the Amish were somewhat fanatical Christians, and that was it.
What she’d revealed to him was that they had even older beliefs about symbols and portents. Her revelations had also told him a lot about her family and her own beliefs, which gave him hope that she wasn’t as narrow-minded as many human beings. There was clearly more depth to her beliefs and customs than he had thought.
Shifters, for the most part, believed in the Goddess. Maiden, Mother and Crone, She was the Lady of Light. She was the goodness in all creation. The infinite opponent of evil.
Jack was Her servant. Always had been. He and his brothers had chosen young to always be on the good side of the equation, and they’d spent most of their lives, to date, fighting the good fight. They’d joined the military and served in many far-flung places in the Special Forces. When they’d finally gotten out of the service, they’d continued to do what they could whenever they encountered evil.
That had been happening more and more in recent years. Change was coming to the world, and it wasn’t necessarily a good change. Just about everywhere the brothers had traveled, they’d come up against servants of evil trying to get away with something. Usually, their plots involved harming innocent people. When that came to light, the brothers always went into action.
As the last of the food he’d brought disappeared, Jack realized he soon wouldn’t have any further excuse for lingering in her presence. He had plans for later tonight. He was going to prowl the perimeter of the factory again, in his bear form. He hoped to venture closer and get a more detailed look at a few areas of interest.
That was later. Right now, he was enjoying his time with Kiki. She really was the most fascinating woman. She stood and put a kettle on while he gathered up the dirty dishes and brought them over to the sink.
“I’m making tea, but I can make coffee, if you prefer that,” she said softly, standing beside him in the small kitchen as they both worked.
“Tea is fine,” he told her as he began washing the dishes.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she objected as he grabbed the sponge and soap and began working on the tomato sauce stuck on the plates.
“It’s no problem,” he told her. “I’m the youngest, so my brothers always stuck me with these kinds of jobs. Honestly, washing dishes is one of the nicer things they made me do.”
She chuckled. “Let me guess. You were the one who had to clean the bathroom, too?”
He touched his nose with a soapy finger and winked at her. “Got it in one,” he said, congratulating her on her guess. “Anything gross or disgusting was my job when we all shared quarters. I’d like to see them get away with that nonsense now that they’re married, though.” Jack smiled at the thought. His new sisters-in-law didn’t seem like the kind of gals who would take any crap from his brothers.
Kiki worked quietly, making the tea, and brought out a big jar of honey. Jack’s mouth started to water. It was true about bears loving honey, and he was no exception. But this jar didn’t have any sort of commercial labelling on it. It was just a big clear glass jar.
“Is that local honey?” he asked, following her motions as she set everything out on the table.
“Better than local. It’s from my family’s farm. We keep a number of hives and collect some of the honey and beeswax every year. This is one of last year’s,” she told him proudly. He couldn’t wait to taste it.
“That’s great. I really love honey,” he told her. She would soon learn the truth of that when he put a giant ol’ dollop in the tea she was pouring for them both.
Jack finished with the last dish and put it on the drying rack, then wiped his hands and returned to the table. He sat opposite her, the big jar of honey between them, in pride of place at the center of the little round table. Kiki finished pouring the tea. Chamomile, his nose told him. He knew the plant, though he’d never had it as a tea before.
Kiki lifted the jar of honey and placed it in front of her. Both hands on the jar, she said some words. Germanic sounding words. Her eyes were closed briefly as the poetic words from long ago and far away spilled from her mouth.
Jack didn’t know what, exactly, she was saying, but it had the feeling of a prayer…or a charm. Some kind of benevolent blessing. He was intrigued as she opened her eyes and smiled self-consciously.
“Sorry. It’s traditional to say the bee blessing so they always come back.”
She then opened the jar, and the delicate scent of wildflowers and fruit trees wafted to his sensitive nose. The honey smelled like the purest sunshine to him. He couldn’t wait to taste it.
“I’ve never heard of a bee blessing,” he said, just to buy himself some time so he didn’t make a fool of himself over a tablespoon or two of honey.
“It’s one of those things from the old country,” she told him. “I don’t know where it all started, but my brother looked it up one time and told us that there was a famous bee blessing found in the Vatican Library. They said it was written in the ninth century and had come from the monastery in Lorsch, Germany. It’s similar to ours, but I think the language has drifted quite a bit from that Old High German version in the Catholic book.” She offered him the jar and a big spoon, talking while he refrained from taking too much. “There’s an Anglo-Saxon charm that’s similar, that they say keeps honey bees from swarming. I like that one because it refers to the bees as victory-women, which some have interpreted to be Valkyries or shield maidens. I like that idea.” She smiled. “All those lady bees wearing little horns and brandishing a sword as they go about fighting the good fight every day.”
“The sword being their stinger and the horns, their antennae?” he asked, puzzling out the image she painted with her words.
She grinned brightly at him. “Exactly!” He handed the jar back to her, though he really wanted more of that scrumptious honey. “All those little warrior women, buzzing around, doing their jobs and bringing home the bacon.”
“Or the pollen, as it were,” he said, smiling at her over the rim of his steaming tea cup as he raised it to his mouth.
It smelled great. Slightly magical but wholesome and good. The steam alone stroked his senses with a gentle flow of garden magic. That’s when it came to him. If he had to describe Kiki’s nascent magic as anything, he’d call her a garden witch.
Or, maybe, it was this house and the honey and herbs in the tea that was making him think that way. So far, Kiki hadn’t shown him that she had any magic of her own to call on. She knew a few basic charms, but those were things anybody c
ould do. The magic in the salt ward and the honey blessing wasn’t coming from the caster of the spell, but from the ingredients put into them. The salt. The honey. Those were the tangible forms given power by the spoken words. The magic was in them, not coming from the person saying the words.
Real witches and magical folk gave of their own power, or consciously siphoned it from other places and formed it to their own will. Good mages took the power from the natural things around them, with permission, from the elements of earth, air, fire and water. Timeless things. Powerful things that would lend their strength to a mage of good will.
Evil folk took power from dark places. They sought it from other realms where evil ruled. They forcibly took it from other people, who they drained dry of both magical power—if they were mages—or blood. Sometimes, both.
Blood magic gained its power from the murder of innocents and was one of the most heinous of all acts. Black magic was the power of deception, cloaked in mystery and hidden from all until it snared its victim. They were two sides of the same dark coin. Something Jack and his brothers had fought against most of their lives.
Jack didn’t sense any of that here. No, this golden honey carried the power of the sun and the little female warrior bees Kiki liked so much. The tea, too, was wholesome and filled with the happy, calming influence of that little unassuming chamomile flower. There was no danger here.
Jack took a sip. The magic of the honey burst on his tongue, soothed by the calming chamomile. A perfect combination.
“This is delicious,” he told Kiki, as their eyes met over the rims of their cups. “Did you pick the chamomile yourself?” He’d noticed the strainer filled with loose tea. That wasn’t store bought.
“It’s from our farm, too,” she told him, smiling. “We keep an herb garden in the back by the kitchen door. There’s a tea section filled with plants and flowers that make good teas. There’s a medicinal section with plants that can be used in home remedies. Then, there’s the cooking garden, with the usual herbs and spices. We try to grow as much as we possibly can, and we never use pesticides. Everything is organic, though we do use some modern machinery for the larger fields, unlike most of our neighbors.”
“Sounds like paradise,” he said.
“It is, in a way, but it’s also kind of isolated,” she admitted. “I mean, I loved growing up there, but I’m not sure I could handle doing nothing but farm work, day in and day out, for the rest of my life. I suspect I’ll eventually settle in a little town somewhere and keep a garden for my own use, but a large farm is full-time work, and I’ve already been there, done that.”
“Would you keep bees?” he asked, curious.
She nodded, sipping her tea. She put down the cup, and her eyes went dreamy. “A few hives, definitely. A small hen house for a few chickens. If I had enough space, maybe even a horse or a few alpacas.”
“Alpacas?” Jack laughed at the thought of it.
“They have the softest, warmest wool, and no lanolin. You can just shear them, clean it and spin it. Easy-peasy,” she explained. “And they’re really cute. A neighboring farm to ours raises them, and I’ve always wanted to have a few of my own. They’re herd animals, so you can’t have just one. You need a few so they don’t get lonely.”
Leave it to Kiki to worry if the livestock got lonely. She had a tender heart that he was really coming to appreciate. He finished his tea, sorry that the last of the sweet honey was gone. It had revived him and calmed his senses at the same time. He felt refreshed and grounded. Definitely ready for what he had to do later that night. But first, he had to take his leave, which was getting harder and harder by the moment.
The more time he spent with Kiki, the more he wanted to spend in her company. She was like a slow-acting drug he was quickly becoming addicted to. He stood, pushing back his chair and taking his empty tea cup to the table. He had to leave now. It was almost time for him to start his other mission of the evening.
“Just leave that in the sink. I’ll wash up, since you so kindly took care of the dinner dishes,” she said, standing and coming up behind him while he was at the sink.
He turned, and she was so close. It was a tiny kitchen, after all. He took her cup from her hands and placed it carefully on the counter beside him before acting on the instincts that were clamoring for him to take her into his arms. He moved slowly, so she would see him coming a mile away and could stop him with the slightest movement, if that’s what she wanted.
Kiki didn’t move away. In fact, she stepped closer to him. Much closer.
As Jack wrapped his arms loosely around her waist, she leaned into him. Something clicked home in his heart and soul. Some sense of perfection he’d never felt before. She smiled at him, and it felt like his entire world had been lit from within by the sunshine in her heart.
Regardless of the fact that Kiki was human, with no discernable magical powers of her own, she was magic to him. Everything about her felt special and new. He would have to examine the bubbly feeling in his body later. For now, he wanted to kiss the living daylights out of her while he had the chance.
Jack lowered his head and matched his lips to hers, and then, the magic really began.
Kiki loved the way Jack kissed her. She’d been craving another one of his amazing kisses all day. It had been an altogether strange day, and she still wasn’t sure what to think about everything that had happened at lunch and after, but she knew one thing for sure. Even if he was some kind of crackpot—which she didn’t really think was all that likely—Jack certainly knew how to kiss.
His hands went to her waist, one dipping lower to cup her ass. She leaned against him, enjoying the hard, hot feel of his body against hers, through their clothing. His other hand rose upward, along her spine, caressing her back as his lips claimed hers in a kiss that tasted faintly of the sweet honey of her home.
It had never tasted so good.
She kissed him back, her hands shaping his shoulders then rising up into the short strands of hair at the nape of his neck. He was so powerfully built it was a pleasure just to be free to touch him. She was used to brawny men who worked farms in her area, but she had never seen a man so well put together as Jack. He was like something out of a fantasy. Like one of Michelangelo’s sculptures come to life. Only bigger. And more muscular.
He was so warm she could feel the heat of him through the fabric of his shirt. She yearned to have nothing between them, but she didn’t know if he felt the same. His kiss spoke of passion, but it also held a modicum of restraint. She didn’t know why she thought that, but she wasn’t surprised when he drew away by slow degrees, ending the molten kiss before it could go much further.
To say she was disappointed would be the understatement of the millennium. She hadn’t been with many men, but her body was fairly screaming at her to take Jack by the hand and lead him to her bedroom.
She couldn’t, of course. Not when he was pulling away. Shutting her down before she could even work up the nerve to really get going.
“I’ve got to go.”
Was it her imagination or did he sound annoyed by the very idea?
“You don’t have to,” she told him, daring greatly. She had no idea where this newfound boldness had come from, but she liked the feeling of empowerment it gave her.
He lowered his forehead to rest against hers. “Yes, I do.” He sighed, and she could feel the regret in the tension in his muscles. “You’ll never know how sorry I am to go.”
She tilted her head. “Not as sorry as I am.” She was getting brassy now. She liked her new bold ways.
He’d lowered both hands to her butt, and now, he pressed his lower body to hers, letting her feel the excitement he couldn’t hide. She sucked in a breath. Wow. He really was a big boy…all over.
“I can’t hide how much I want to stay, but I came here to do a job, and to do it, I have to go.” He sounded so full of regret, she had to smile. Then, his words started to penetrate.
“You’re going to do som
e investigating? At this hour?” She frowned up at him. Kiki didn’t like the sound of that at all. He was going to be putting himself in danger, she was almost certain of it.
“No better time to catch them with their pants down than when they aren’t expecting it,” he replied, removing his hands from around her waist. “I also have a ton of reports to go through, and they’re waiting for me back at my hotel. To top it all off, I have to report in to the home office. It’s three hours earlier where they are, and they want daily updates.”
“Whatever you have planned,” she said, her hands on his chest as she began to draw away, “promise me you’ll be careful.”
“I’m always careful,” he told her, winking as she stepped away from him.
Why was it so hard to let him go? She’d only known him a couple of days. Why did it feel like she was practically losing a part of herself to step away from his tall, hard body?
“I want a promise in return,” he said, reaching for his leather jacket, which he’d hung around the back of his chair earlier.
“What kind of promise?” she asked, meeting his gaze with a bit of suspicion.
“Just…” His voice dropped low, his expression serious. “Stay inside tonight. Lock all your doors and keep away from the windows. Whatever is going on at the plant isn’t something straightforward. It’s devious and tricky. Don’t fall for it. Don’t let anyone in here, and you should be safe. The garden alone will probably be enough of a deterrent, but you never know.”