The Seduced

by Cheyenne McCray

  Victor finally gave in, obviously respecting her need for a few days to gather herself before she joined him in Salem.

  After her conversation with her father, she found herself being swept down to the new shop, Enchantments, and into the kitchen where she was hugged, exclaimed over, and bombarded with thousands of questions.

  She was fed real food—cooked by a part Elvin witch named Cassia—and plied with fruit drinks. Everything smelled so good and tasted even better. Dumplings, ambrosia salad, asparagus with toasted pine nuts, honey-nut bread, and so much more was spread out on the table before her.

  By the time she had finished eating, Copper’s head spun and she was so exhausted she could hardly keep her eyes open. Cassia seemed to be the one in charge and she told Tiernan to take Copper upstairs and put her to bed.

  Tiernan scooped her up and she gave a squeal as she insisted she could walk on her own. But with Silver leading the way, she was taken from the shop to the apartment building and into a vacant apartment with a wonderfully soft bed.

  When Tiernan left for his own apartment next door, she wanted to fall face-first onto the bed and pass out. Silver insisted on helping her get out of her clothes first. Copper was wrapped up in a nice satiny robe and then put to bed like a child and tucked in.

  The last thing she heard was Silver’s voice saying, “Don’t you dare leave me again, Copper.”

  Copper snuggled into her pillow and murmured, “Don’t worry, I won’t,” before everything faded away.

  15

  She was in the passageway. Walls crowded in on her as she moved. Smells of damp earth, sulfur, and the stench of rotten fish crawled up her nose. She sniffed again. Wolfsbane, too.

  Down, down, down the tunnel she walked. She kept waiting for the blood to come rushing toward her, but all her wand light showed was more of the passageway ahead.

  Confidence rose within her. This wasn’t so bad. Nothing she couldn’t handle. She was a witch. A gray witch.

  She frowned. Ahead of her was a corner, red light bleeding around the turn. The glow blended with her golden wand light and turned it to a foul shade of crimson.

  Is that—is that a being with flames for hair?

  No. That was crazy. Nothing was there.

  Yet her confidence drained away, and her heart jumped back into her throat

  When she rounded the corner she came up short. She was on a narrow pathway. Below her was a massive cavern with stalagmites and stalactites jutting from ceiling and floor. She’d never seen such an incredibly huge place.

  The walls were hewn of rough stone that glistened in the now crimson light of her wand. The entire cavern was bathed in red.

  She started down the pathway. The trail was smooth and her jogging shoes didn’t make a sound as she crept forward.

  This place was old. So very, very old.

  Her journey seemed to last forever. She walked. Walked. Walked.

  Goddess, why is it taking so long?

  And there! Those dark shapes again. She knew what they were. Knew it. So why couldn’t she quite grasp it?

  The shapes blended with the darkness and she pressed ahead.

  Finally she came closer to a massive stone door. An ancient door that had stood for thousands and thousands of years—she didn’t know how she knew, but she did.

  Red light seeped from cracks around the door, the same red that filled the cavern and blended with her wand light.

  Intense pressure emanated from the door—as if something fought against it and tried to get out. The mere thought made her skin crawl. Whatever it was, she couldn’t allow it to be freed.

  She gripped her wand tighter. Her heart pounded faster. What could she do?

  Her gaze moved to the floor and a chill iced her spine. She stood in the middle of a circle. A circle ringed by a larger circle. Within the two, crude runes were etched into the stone floor. Familiar runes, but nothing like the spiritual language of the trees, the Ogham. Nor were they as beautiful as Elvin or Fae runes.

  No. These were evil.

  And then her gaze dropped to see what was beneath her very feet. She was standing on an eye. A lidless eye. It moved, glowing a deep red.

  Her breathing came shallower. Her limbs weakened. She wavered, felt herself begin to lose consciousness. Through her hazy gaze she stared at the eye.

  The red of the eye was blood.

  And the eye was draining that blood from her.

  * * *

  Copper screamed out loud. When she stopped, her breathing came hard and heavy and the darkness seemed oppressive. The dream—it had been even more terrifying than the times before.

  Dazed, she expected to see the rock of her shelter above her, feel rock beneath her along with the dried grass, vine, and leaf bedding.

  But no—she was in a soft bed, wrapped in clean sheets that twisted around her as if she’d tossed and turned in her sleep.

  Relief flooded her. She was home! She was in San Francisco.

  Yet that knowledge did little to push away the fears still gripping her from the dream.

  She was in the strange apartment that Silver had arranged for her to live in. Even though she was happy to be back where she belonged, she felt so alone.

  A strange thought occurred to her. It was the first time in a long while that she had woken without Tiernan’s body fitted snugly around her like she had those nights in the shelter in the Otherworld prison.

  A knock sounded at the front door, startling Copper. She sat up in bed and her heart beat a little faster. The clock beside the bed said two a.m. Who could it be?

  The knock again, this time louder.

  Copper stumbled from the bed, almost tripping in the tangle of sheets, and hurting her bandaged foot a little. She managed to rid herself of the sheets and sleepily staggered from the apartment’s bedroom to the front door. She peeked out the peephole and saw Tiernan in the lighted hallway.

  A rush of pleasure came out of nowhere, and she quickly unlocked the door.

  He pushed his way through and grabbed her by the upper arms. “Are you all right?” he asked, the dim light from the hallway showing concern on his features. “I heard you scream.”

  Instinctively, Copper wrapped her arms around his waist and she pressed her face to his hard chest. He wore a black robe that was open down to his waist and she felt his warm skin against her cheek. He smelled so good—of male and shampoo, and the clean scent of crisp linen sheets. With his mussed hair, he must have been sleeping.

  Tiernan pushed the door closed behind him, enveloping them in near-darkness. The only light came through a window from one of the streetlights outside the building.

  He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug. “Are you all right?” he repeated, his voice husky with worry.

  She nodded against his chest and sighed. “It was just the nightmare again.”

  He slipped his large hand into her hair and pressed her tighter against him. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “Okay.” She started to draw away, but then she gave a little cry and her world spun as he scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the bedroom. He’d been doing that a lot lately.

  Save for the bedroom, the apartment was empty of any furnishings, because it was new and because Copper had just arrived. There had been no time to find anything to fill it with.

  When they reached the bedroom, the streetlight peeked through the blinds, leaving stripes across the bed, giving them enough light to see by. He stepped over the pile of sheets she’d left tangled on the floor. He laid her on the middle of the bed, then scooted himself next to her so that they were facing one another.

  “I felt lonely when I woke up without you.” Copper reached up and stroked his stubbled cheek. “I missed having you wrapped around me while I slept.”

  “I missed you, as well,” he said softly. He turned his face to her palm and kissed it, sending a shiver through her. “Tell me about this dream.”

  Copper sighed and moved her hand f
rom his face to his chest to stroke the satiny material of the robe he wore.

  “It started out similar to the other dreams, but it went further and was different.” The memory of it made her throat dry. “This time there was a huge cavern, and on the other side of it a door and a circle with evil runes. And an eye made of blood beneath my feet.”

  Tiernan pressed his mouth to Copper’s forehead, his lips firm yet soft at the same time. “Whatever it is—if this is truly a vision—we will face it together. You will not be alone.”

  She smiled, feeling a sense of warmth and comfort at his words. She clenched her hand in his robe. “Thank you,” she said just before she reached up to kiss him.

  Immediately, his mouth took hers in an expert kiss, biting her lower lip and causing her to sigh. They slipped their tongues into one another’s mouths and Copper savored the masculine taste of him. The day they left Otherworld—was it only yesterday?—she’d reveled in being with him, and she wanted more. So much more.

  She moved her hands up to his neck and pressed her body against his as her kiss grew more frantic, more needy. Tiernan matched her movements, his soft groans mingling with the tiny mewling sounds she made as they kissed.

  To her satisfaction, he was hard against her belly. She desired him so badly she wanted to pull apart his robe and take him now. No matter what, he was hers for tonight.

  “You are so beautiful.” He trailed his lips along her jawline to her ear. “What do you do to me? It is as if you are seducing me with your magic.”

  She laughed softly. “I’m willing to seduce you any way I can, but I think what we’re doing is making magic together.”

  “If you say so, little fire.” His brogue drove her mad with desire and she tried to keep her voice steady as his lips reached her throat. He found her pulse at the curve of her neck, licked and kissed the skin. “Right now you are the beat of my heart, the blood rushing through my veins.”

  Copper sighed and melted at his words. “You really do know how to sweet talk a girl.”

  He raised his head and kissed her soundly before saying, “I do not think I am the one who started this seduction.”

  “Okay, I did.” She gave him a playful grin and slid her fingers over his length that was covered by the satin of the robe. “And I’m not finished with you yet.”

  Tiernan groaned at the feel of Copper’s hand on him. His thoughts turned only to pleasuring her, to being deep within her. Once again he could think of nothing save Copper.

  He palmed her breasts that were like ripe peaches in his hands. She took her fingers from around him and pulled apart her own robe so that her breasts were bared. He sucked in his breath and pinched her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers.

  “Yes.” Copper could barely catch her breath. “Squeeze them harder.”

  Tiernan had no problem complying and pinched each hard nub tighter. He would do anything for this beautiful witch.

  She sighed and slid her hands into his hair. “Suck my nipples.”

  He was used to being in command, in control, but at this moment he could only obey her orders. He scraped his stubbled cheek down her soft chest to the sensitive place between her breasts.

  She clenched her fingers tighter in his hair. “Suck them hard.”

  He laved his tongue over each nipple and she gasped and arched toward his face. When he slipped one nub into his mouth and sucked, Copper pressed him tighter to her breast. While applying deep suction to one of her nipples, he flicked his tongue over it, then bit down.

  “Yessss!” Copper hissed with pleasure. “Goddess, that feels good.”

  Tiernan scraped his stubble across her soft skin as he moved his mouth to her other nipple and sucked it as hard as the first one. He couldn’t believe how good she tasted, how responsive she was to his touch. She squirmed beneath his mouth, holding his head tight to her breasts with her hands in his hair.

  Copper saw bubbles of magic, like what had happened in Otherworld. Gold bubbles that lingered between the two of them.

  Sex magic.

  Somehow her hurt foot didn’t even bother her. If sex made the pain go away, she was all for it.

  He slid his fingers deep into her core and she rode his hand.

  The gold bubbles around them grew in number. She sighed with pleasure. “You’re so amazing. I want all of you again and again.”

  “Come for me,” he said in a growl against her chest. “I want to feel your climax, little fire.”

  Copper writhed. So close to orgasm, so close. When he pressed his thumb against her nub, she gave a small cry and shuddered in his arms. More gold erupted as she gave herself up to the sensations.

  Her head swam as she pushed herself up to a sitting position while Tiernan reclined on one elbow. Glittering gold magic still sparkled around them and she batted a couple of bubbles away from her face.

  Slices of yellow light spilled across Tiernan’s face through the blinds. His look was intense, fiery. His robe had come undone and he jutted out from the opening of the cloth.

  Copper slipped her own robe off and it slid down her shoulders and arms to the bed, and she was bared to him. Memories of the times they’d been together were heady, only making her want him more and more.

  Tiernan’s mind filled with the vision before him. Her hair was mussed, her eyes heavy-lidded with desire. Gold bubbles glittered in the air between them. As they had before, they added to the intense need he had for her and made it difficult to restrain himself. Was she using her magic to make him feel such an incredible need for her?

  He pushed himself up to sit facing her. He shrugged off his robe and tossed it onto the floor.

  “You are beautiful,” she said, her voice breathy and her eyes wide. She reached up and caught a lock of his hair, twirled it around her finger and smiled. “Still a little wavy, but I think Silver’s shampoo got the worst of it. Although your hairstyle was quite, er, interesting before. I especially liked the Pixie artwork.”

  Tiernan gave a low rumble, grabbed her beneath the arms, and started tickling her.

  “No, no, no!” Copper squealed and squirmed, trying to get away from him, but he was far too powerful.

  He chuckled as he found other ticklish spots—the insides of her thighs, her knees, and the bottom of her uninjured foot. Copper was giggling so hard tears rolled down her cheeks and he could tell she was having a hard time catching her breath.

  She threw a pillow and it landed square in his face. He growled as he tossed it aside and she tried to throw another one at him. Before she could, he pinned her naked body beneath his weight.

  “Let me go, you big barbarian,” she said between gasps as he tickled her some more. “I swear I’ll get revenge on you!”

  He only laughed and braced his arms to either side of her head. When he looked down at her his laughter died away and so did hers.

  “My turn,” she said with a wicked gleam in her eyes. “I want to taste you. Suck you.”

  She had some kind of power over him, and he was helpless to stop her as she pushed at his shoulder. He shifted and straddled her so that his cock touched her lips.

  Her mouth was warm silk as she took him to the back of her throat.

  “You little witch.” He braced his arms against the headboard and eased in and out of her mouth as she sucked him. “Ah, gods. Being with you is what it must feel like to travel to Summerland.”

  She hummed and the sound vibrated throughout him. He came so close to the peak that there was almost no turning back. With effort, he withdrew from her mouth, aching so badly that he clenched his teeth to hold back his orgasm.

  Copper’s entire being was in flames. She was ready for him, and she was ready for him now.

  “Take me, Tiernan.” She ran both hands up his firmly muscled chest. “I want you inside of me.”

  A rumble rose from his chest and he straightened so that he was resting back on his haunches between her splayed thighs. He looked like a Viking of old with his wavy hair, his fine
ly crafted body, the fierce expression on his face.

  Tiernan positioned himself at her entrance. He grabbed her hips with both hands and slid deep inside her.

  She cried out at the incredible sensation. He was so thick and long and filled her so much she could swear she felt it all the way to her belly.

  Gold bubbles floated around them again as Tiernan began moving his hips, his strokes achingly slow. Copper moaned as she arched to meet every plunge. The magical bubbles added to the sensations she was feeling. Her skin felt so sensitive. She’d never felt so alive and free yet captive all at once.

  She wiggled her hips, hardly able to catch her breath with her orgasm building within her. The power of it was incredible. The golden bubbles intensified everything she experienced.

  Tiernan slipped his fingers in her folds and flicked her clit.

  Copper shouted, “Ohmigoddess!” as her orgasm exploded within. Some of those golden bubbles seeped into her skin, causing her climax to go on and on as Tiernan continued to take her. She couldn’t believe the fire in her body, the way her channel kept clenching and unclenching around him. It was like that one orgasm would never end.

  He pulled out and braced his palms to her sides so that his complete weight wasn’t on her. For a long moment he looked down at her. In the dim light from the windows and the golden bubbles of magic, she was able to see the untamed look in his blue eyes, his lust, his desire. Sweat glistened on his forehead and damp hair stuck to his skin.

  Tiernan’s senses reeled. He lowered his head and captured her mouth in a wild kiss that she equaled. It was an act of incredible self-control to keep from plunging again into her warmth and this time reaching his climax.

  He kissed her salty skin, flicking his tongue out, starting at her jawline, down her neck to her breasts where he bit each one in turn.

  Copper cried out. He lifted his head to see his fiery angel. Her hair was tangled and mussed from their wild bout of sex. She was breathing hard and her eyes were dark and heavy-lidded.

  He rose and hooked his arms under her knees, pushing forward so that her thighs were against her chest. She wrapped her ankles around the back of his head and he grunted as he took her deep.