by Anthology
But time was running out.
Gelsey bore the mark of the Sambucus coven in her aura. By binding herself to him in handfast, they had completed the first part of the ritual, but they must also gain the approval of the familiars of their people in order to make the marking permanent. That would be easier in some ways, since Gelsey had never claimed a familiar before—though he still couldn’t believe he’d been wrong about her relationship with the cat, Dorothy.
In other ways, however, the process would be more difficult. She seemed to have no clue how to use her powers, let alone wield them with the control needed to bond her magic to their coven’s protectors in the metaphysical realm. If he hoped to finish the deed tonight, Stephen knew he was going to have to get creative with another’s magic, a thing he always found easier when their defenses were down.
And what better way to lower defenses than to make his new wife come until it felt the world was dissolving around her?
“Ohmygod, ohmygod!” Gelsey screamed again, flinching and covering her face with her arms as the death riders swooped down upon them, as close as they could get without violating the protective circle.
“Gelsey! Stop,” he ordered in a low, firm voice, turning back to the woman in his arms and silencing her with a kiss.
She melted into him with a moan, meeting the tongue he swept through her mouth with a sweet caress. She obviously felt the same mind-muddying lust that surged through him every time they touched.
Nevertheless, she commenced freaking out exactly where she had left off as soon as he pulled away. “Motherfucking hell, Stephen! There are monsters, ghouls, something—”
“They’re death riders, spies for the Minos coven.”
“Get up, we have to get out of—”
“They won’t be able to breach the circle. We’re going to be fine,” Stephen said, rolling them over so that Gelsey was on top, straddling his legs.
Or they’d be fine until whatever Minos witch had sent the death riders showed up, but no need to share that with Gelsey. He needed her relaxed, not in fear for her life. He’d do the fearing for both of them. And he was afraid, for his life, for hers, but mostly of losing her before they’d had the chance to share those lives.
There was no way in hell he’d let the Minos take her from him, not when he’d finally known the thrill of basking in the rosy glow of her power, her heart. Gelsey was sweetness and sass on the outside and pure, loving, giving soul on the inside. Stephen had sensed they could be a love match, not merely a magical fit, from the day he first met her. It had been hell waiting to touch her, hold her, fearing for her life every time she was out of his sight.
Evidently that had made him…crankier than usual, made her think he didn’t desire her, adore her, when in truth she was the most entrancing creature he’d ever met.
And there was the “ridiculous skirt” comment, asshole. Obviously she didn’t take that one well, wouldn’t talk to you for days after.
It wasn’t Warren’s smartass voice in his head this time, just his own inner critic doing a fine job of reminding him what a fool he’d been. Neglecting to woo Gelsey properly had been a mistake—no matter how focused he’d been on saving her life—and there was no time like the present to start making amends.
“What are you doing?” Gelsey looked at him like he was a madman, but didn’t move to block his hands. He cupped her breasts and softly, reverently swept his thumbs across her tips. Her nipples hardened instantly in response, making him ache to take the pebbled flesh into his mouth, to suck that sensitive skin until she writhed on top of him, until he could feel liquid heat trailing down her thighs and—
“Sorry, Stephen, there’s no way I’m getting it on with something from a horror movie flying over my head,” she said, obviously reading his intentions. “Call me crazy, but I don’t find eminent death an aphrodisiac.”
“I’ve told you, we have nothing to fear from them.” Stephen continued to tease and pluck at her nipples as he lifted his hips, urging his aching cock more tightly to her sex.
“God, you feel good.” She closed her eyes and groaned, rocking her hips back and forth, gliding her slick center up and down his cock, coating him with her arousal. “What the hell do you do to me?”
“I make you crazy?”
“That’s for sure.” Her eyes slid open the barest bit and the edge of her mouth quirked toward a grin. “Half the time I couldn’t decide if I wanted to hit you or kiss you.”
“Sorry about that. I’ll do my best to only drive you crazy in enjoyable ways from now on.” Stephen dug his fingers through her wild curls as she bent over him, taking his lips in a kiss that was as hot and sweet as any he’d known. “Now why don’t you let me keep a promise I made to myself?”
“What promise is that?”
“The one where I make you scream my real name when you come.” He fisted one hand in the hair at the base of her neck while the other smoothed down over her bottom. “On my cock.”
Wordlessly he unleashed a bit of his power, using it to lift Gelsey a few inches into the air and position his shaft at the entrance to her dripping sex.
“But I—oh…” He tunneled inside her before whatever words on her lips could escape into the night air, thrusting upward until he was completely encased in her tight, wet heat.
Goddess, she was tight, her pussy gripping him like a vise as he forced himself to hold still within her. He would have preferred to take more time, to lower his head between her legs and feast upon her cream until she shattered on his mouth, to gradually prepare her for penetration with a few warm-up orgasms. But time was a luxury they didn’t have. He needed to lower her defenses and summon the full power of his own magic, two feats more easily accomplished if they were making love.
“You feel even more amazing than I’d imagined.” He kissed her with the words, teasing her parted lips open even farther, mating his tongue with hers until he felt her muscles relax. Only then did he begin to circle his hips, gently nudging his pubic bone against her clit, coaxing another rush of wet heat from her core.
“You too. Unbelievable.” Gelsey moaned into his mouth as she caught his rhythm, grinding against him, her circles gradually growing larger until the base of his cock slid in and out of her pussy, intensifying the aching in his balls. He was seconds away from shooting himself inside her despite the monsters still shrieking above their heads, despite the fact he hadn’t come this quickly since he was a junior witch not old enough to vote at coven meeting.
He had to slow down, to make sure she found her pleasure first.
“What do you like, ah chumman?”
“Everything, anything,” she panted, beginning to ride him in earnest, sheathing him inside her again and again.
Well, that was incredibly unhelpful, and now he was even closer to losing control, his cock practically screaming with the need to fill her with his seed. Anything? Everything? What exactly did she mean?
Exactly what she said, man, now give it to her!
Gelsey’s breath came even faster as Stephen’s hands found her breasts once more, teasing and tugging on the erect tips before he took one turgid point into his mouth. He drew deep, pulling until he pinned her nipple to the roof of his mouth where he toyed with his captive with the tip of his tongue.
“God, Stephen,” Gelsey cried out, fisting her hands in his hair as she arched her back, giving him even freer access to her sinfully soft skin. Stephen licked and sucked, tormenting first one nipple and then the other until Gelsey’s rhythm became wild, frantic. Her eyes squeezed shut and her muscles grew tighter, trembling with the prelude to her release. Stephen took the opportunity to reverse their positions, rolling on top of her and immediately resuming his thrusting between her legs.
“Just Stephen, that is the only name you will scream when you come.” Stephen urged Gelsey’s legs around his waist and dropped a hand down between them, smoothing some of her moisture back to the tightly puckered ring of her ass. He pushed first one finger and t
hen two inside, mimicking the rhythm he’d set with his cock inside her pussy, riding her, fucking her with fingers and cock, faster and faster, until his own control was stretched to the breaking point.
She’d said anything, now he could only hope she’d meant it. Otherwise, what he’d hoped would drive her over the edge might just have the opposite effect. But she looked as if she was enjoying the way he touched her, her breath panting in and out of her slightly open mouth, the tip of her tongue darting out to dampen her lips before she arched into him and—
“Stephen, oh, fuck…Stephen!” Her pussy clamped down around him seconds later, her inner walls milking his cock, bringing the tension building low in his body to the critical point.
“Gelsey, my love.” Stephen forced his eyes to stay open as his orgasm hit him, cum pulsing from his body in fierce waves. The pleasure was nearly painful in its intensity, squeezing every last drop of fluid from his balls.
But no matter that this was by far the best sex of his life, he had to stay focused, had to summon the familiars. The death riders had grown silent, which could only mean they must have made contact with their master. A witch of the Minos coven would be upon them any minute. If the familiars’ magic had not intertwined with her own, if they had not solidified the mark, Gelsey could still be taken by the dark ones.
“Over my dead body,” Stephen growled, reaching out, calling to the familiars on the metaphysical plane with every last ounce of his magic.
No one would take his wife, not now, not when he was certain of the love she felt for him, and of the love he felt for her. Gelsey was his, forever, and no cult of evil would ever possess her. The familiars would come, they had to come, had to see the amazing untapped potential in the little witch who was only now opening her bright green eyes, looking a little dizzy with pleasure.
“Yes!” He shouted in triumph as threads of green and gold light traced through the edges of Gelsey’s aura.
The dragons, longtime familiars of the Sambucus coven, had arrived. Now Stephen only had to wrap Gelsey’s magic around those strands of gold and green and she would be safe. Or as safe as he could make her, considering they would still have to do battle with a black witch. The protective circle would not hold against Minos magic. They would have ten, maybe fifteen minutes once the attack on their sanctuary began. He had to be ready to make every minute count.
“I appreciate the enthusiasm,” she said with a husky laugh, “but what—”
He began to chant the ancient words, the spell of binding and commitment, of sacrifice for the coven and allegiance to the magic of the gray. His hands played over Gelsey’s body, retracing the symbols on her chest until they glowed a deep rose in the fading light.
“Stephen?” she asked, eyes worried though her lips parted in a gasp of arousal as his fingers teased across the tips of her breasts. “What is—”
“Nothing, my love, nothing.” Stephen silenced her with a kiss, slipping his tongue into her mouth, tasting and teasing, ignoring the surge of arousal that threatened to make his cock rise from between his legs, no matter that he’d come less than a few minutes past. Gelsey did things to him, amazing, carnally wonderful things that would unfortunately have to wait to be explored more thoroughly at a later date.
“Wait,” she said, pulling away from their kiss, the rosy glow fading away as her natural defenses engaged. Damn it! He would have to find a way to distract her, to make her aura vulnerable to him once more. “Talk to me, Stephen, I—”
“I’d rather taste you if that would be amenable to you, love,” he said, hoping he had time to bring her to the edge again. He spread her legs with firm hands at the back of her knees, getting his first glimpse of what had to be the most gorgeous, perfect pussy on the Goddess’s green earth. The lips of her sex were the palest peach, surrounded by tight auburn curls just a shade darker than those on her head.
“But we just—I mean—I don’t really feel—”
“Tersus.” Just a single utterance of the cleansing rune caused a swift wind to sweep over them both. In seconds they were cleaner than freshly washed babes. That should assuage any concerns she might have about him tasting her after they had just made love. Stephen spread the petals of her sex with his hand and lowered his mouth.
He was inches away from discovering the flavor of his new bride when her hand fisted in his hair, tugging him back several inches. “Stephen, what the hell is going on? Those…things are still up there! This isn’t the time for oral sex.” She blushed, a bright red that made him grin no matter the danger they were in. “I never thought I’d utter those words in my life, but it’s getting darker and—”
“I would explain everything, Gelsey, but there isn’t time.” His grin dropped away as he realized the dire truth of his words. “This is necessary, highly necessary.”
“Kissing me…there is highly necessary?”
“Highly.”
“I think I love you.”
He grinned and lowered his face, just a few inches closer. She allowed it, her hand loosening its grip in his hair. “I know I love you.”
Gelsey’s eyes widened, what looked like the beginnings of tears making them shine. “You’re serious. You’re really serious.”
“As the grave,” he confirmed, those words reminding him how little time there was to waste. He needed Gelsey’s defenses down once more so that he could bind the magic of the familiars to her aura, making her Sambucus coven for the rest of her life.
For the rest of their lives.
Stephen pressed a soft kiss to the inside of Gelsey’s thigh and then turned his entire attention to the slick pussy inches away from his mouth. His first taste of her salty heat made him moan. She tasted even better than he had imagined, hot aroused female and something sweeter that was all Gelsey. His cock surged between his legs and he couldn’t help but drive his stiff tongue into her core, once, twice, coating it with her addictive nectar.
Only then did he pull away, teasing through every shining fold of her pussy with his tongue, gradually increasing his pressure until Gelsey moaned and arched toward him, her body begging for more. With a groan, he moved his tongue to the delicate bud of her clit, flicking across it again and again, kissing and sucking, building his own desire until he wanted nothing more than to move over Gelsey and drive between her legs, sheathing his aching cock in her slick heat once more.
But this wasn’t about his satisfaction. The magic had already been summoned, he simply needed Gelsey relaxed and willing to take it.
“Come for me, Gelsey, I want to taste you when you come,” he murmured against her slick flesh before driving his tongue into her core once more.
“Stephen,” she whispered, her voice strained.
Gelsey’s hands fisted in the blanket beneath her and her legs churned restlessly on either side of him. She was close—he could feel it in the way her aura vibrated against his, full of sexual energy—but not quite close enough. He had to intensify her pleasure, bring her to completion before they were discovered.
He spread her legs a little wider with a nudge of his arms and slid two eager fingers into her pussy, jaw clenching as he felt how hot she was, hot and tight around the digits he drove in and out of her molten core. His cock twitched against his stomach, protesting being left out of the fun, but Stephen ignored the arousal fisting low in his body, slowly driving him insane. Instead, he moved his attention back to Gelsey’s clit, suckling the nub into his mouth as his fingers fucked her harder, deeper. Her hips arched toward him, every muscle strung tight. Stephen took the opportunity to rake his teeth over her clit, sending her over the edge.
“Yes, god, yes!” She screamed as her pussy contracted around his fingers, coating him in her arousal.
Immediately, Stephen visualized twining the rose of Gelsey’s aura with the green and gold of the familiars’ energy, braiding the two, plaiting them so tightly together they would never again be twain. He had just finished with the last of the strands and was pulling away from the add
ictive taste of Gelsey’s pussy when the graying light of dusk was suddenly plunged into the black of full night.
Their enemy had arrived. Stephen leapt to his feet.
“I will break the circle, Joseph, then you must destroy them. There will be no mercy this night for the wretches of the gray.”
Correction, their enemies had arrived. The woman who had spoken was not one he recognized, but the name Joseph was familiar enough. He was the Minos coven’s executioner, a man with a thirst for blood that even the black witches considered excessive. His magic was not as strong as some, but his penchant for violence made him a more than worthy adversary. Stephen reached out with his mind, searching once more for Warren, but was met with nothing but mental silence.
He and Gelsey were on their own.
Chapter Four
“Glinda?” Gelsey asked as she scrambled to her feet beside Stephen, doing her best to cover her nudity with strategically placed arms. She was still dizzy from the effects of the two best orgasms of her life and almost certain she was seeing things, but the woman with the blue fire pouring from her hands looked a hell of a lot like the costume designer she had replaced a little over a month ago.
“Glinda?” she asked again when the woman ignored her, apparently too fixated on whatever she was doing to the red line around their blanket to speak when spoken to.
“You know this woman?” Stephen asked.
“She was the first costume designer. The one who left Dorothy behind when she was fired,” Gelsey said, the part of her that was still thinking clearly remembering Stephen had seemed interested in the cat before he had pounced her with a skill and enthusiasm unlike anything she had ever known.
And said he loved her, mustn’t forget that little bombshell. Even now, facing what she suspected were two of the very bad guys she’d always feared, she wanted to turn to Stephen and ask him to say the words again, to look at her with those eyes that made her believe every word was true.