Wicked Thorne

by K Loraine

  I stiffen. Surely this witch can’t mean her harm. Not after everything they’ve experienced together. Natalie releases my fingers and steps closer to Sarah. The moment the two of them join hands, lightning crackles across the sky. The air snaps with electricity, sending the hair on my arms standing on end. The scent of ozone fills the air. Heavy magic.

  “Close your eyes, child. You have to be relaxed. That’s the only way this will work.” Sarah’s words are soothing and gentle. “Silas, do not ruin this for her. No matter what you hear.”

  Apprehension rolls through me like a wave. What is she going to do to her? “Don’t bring her to any harm, and I won’t have a reason to stop you.”

  I glance to where Cashel had been standing and sigh at the empty space. He isn’t ready. Not yet. But one day he’ll learn what it is to love another more than yourself. He’ll change his ways. He’s already started by helping me with these witches.

  Light appears between Sarah and Natalie’s linked fingers, a loud hum taking the place of the lapping waves at the shore. Then Sarah begins whispering in low tones I can’t quite understand. I should be able to make out the words. But now that I think of it, she’s probably using magic to mask them.

  Natalie nods, her lower lip trembling as a tear trails down her cheek. Then a burst of light fills the air and my witch tosses back her head, a scream ripping from her throat. Everything in me wants to stop this. But I’m rooted to the spot. I can’t move, not even if someone came running at me with a stake or the sun rose without warning. Sarah. She’s spelled me.

  A deep blue glow begins to burn in Sarah’s chest, dispersing through her veins in a tree of illuminated sapphire. Natalie screams, and Sarah cries out, the wind around them swirling into a tornado of power until I can’t see either of them. Martha sobs, her cries turning to wracking coughs, but she’s not my concern. I have to get to Natalie, see that she’s all right. She’s all that matters to me now.

  Everything around us is bright blue. It’s all I can see now, the light burning my eyes. My ears ring until I hear nothing but white noise. Then the world goes dark before my vision returns.

  “Natalie!” I shout, the bonds holding me in place breaking as the wind dies down and the world rights itself. Only my Natalie is crumpled on the ground, her body shaking, fingertips emitting showers of blue sparks under the light of the street lamp that wasn’t there moments ago. And Sarah is gone, Martha too. Lost to whatever spell Sarah did.

  I fall at her side, the cold stone digging into my knees and reminding me that my heart still beats for her. “Open your eyes, my love. Look at me.” I don’t ask her. I order her. She needs to bring me the sanity I so desperately want. “What happened? How can I fix this?”

  She blinks her large blue eyes at me and I see sapphire sparkling inside the irises. Power burns there that didn’t before. “Sarah returned us. We broke the curse.”

  A thrill runs through me. “How?”

  “I’ve seen it all. Every last detail, Silas. You hurt her. You left her for dead.”

  My stomach turns to stone. This is it. The moment she leaves me. “I did. I’ll regret it for every last moment of my life.”

  Then she reaches out and cups my jaw. “But she forgave you because she knew you tried to save her in the end. You are the reason the trials stopped.”

  “But we are the reason the trials began in the first place.”

  “Then you saved her. You helped me face my fear and come out the other side.”

  “Are you all right?” I ask, trying to change the subject.

  “I have her power now. She gave me everything she was. Her magic, her knowledge, her memories. I also know the kindness you showed Sarah. There was good in you before you could admit it. She saw it.”

  “The only good in me died when she did.”

  “That’s not true. If that were the case, you wouldn’t have come for me. You wouldn’t have kept from killing me. And you certainly wouldn’t have managed to make me fall in love with you.”

  That stops my heart for a fraction of a second. “What?”

  “I’ve fallen in love with the man I feared most. A Blackthorne vampire, heir to the throne, the forbidden son of the tyrant king.”

  “I understand what you’re getting at, you don’t have to rub it in.”

  “I love you, Silas. Whether you’re Silas Black or Silas Blackthorne, rightful king of the Blackthorne vampires. I can’t deny it’s true, and I’m done trying.”

  Pure elation runs down my spine at her confession. She may have witchcraft in her lips, but those spells she’ll cast on me and me alone.

  Epilogue

  Silas

  We stand together at the memorial for the accused witches in Salem, Natalie resting her palm over Sarah’s name. She sighs and whispers, light glowing from under her hand where it’s pressed to the stone. Then when she lifts her fingers, I see the remnants of a pentacle glowing over the place Sarah’s name is etched. The golden glow disappears, the pentacle along with it.

  “Where did it go?” I ask.

  “It’s not for the eyes of anyone who isn’t a witch. You won’t ever see it again. But any of us who visit her will see. She didn’t get the burial she deserved. None of them did. This is the least I can do.”

  I slide my fingers across her shoulders and tuck a lock of her dark hair behind her ear. She’s still the most breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen. “Are you ready to return to the world we know?” She leans into me, her heart racing rather than beating steadily. “What is it?” I ask.

  “Is this it? We broke the curse, I found my power, you atoned for your past. Are we parting ways? Am I ever going to see you again?” There’s such sadness in her voice. How can she think I’d leave her? I traveled through fucking time for her.

  “Are you mad, woman? I am bonded with you.”

  “I don’t want you to stay with me because of that. I’m powerful enough now, I’m sure I can break—”

  “No. Even if you can, I don’t want that. I want you forever.”

  “But…how can we make this work? I live in Portland. You’re in—”

  “I will come to you. Wherever you are, I will be.”

  “You’d really move to Oregon?”

  I shrug. “I have lived in many places, but I haven’t had a reason to plant roots in centuries. I want to plant them with you.”

  “And what about the other Blackthornes? Won’t they want something from you if they know you’re near?”

  “Perhaps. Things have changed drastically since I’ve been gone. We’ll face that when we come to it. For now, all I know is I want to be with you.”

  “You’ll have to meet my sister.”

  “And what will she think of you bringing home a vampire?”

  She chuckles softly. “She’s going to call me a hypocrite and then ask if you have any brothers.”

  “I’ll have to disappoint her. I am an only child, the black sheep of my family, and I can’t vouch for my cousins. Lucas is a bit of a rake. Cashel is…well, a traitor like me.”

  “Because?”

  “That’s his story to tell. But he and I are not so different than I once thought we were.”

  Her eyes widen. “Oh.”

  I pull her close. “But sometimes it takes abandoning what you thought you were in order to find what you really are. I am better because of you.”

  “You were better before me. You saw the wrong your family was doing and tried to stop it.”

  “And if I hadn’t, I’d be the one wearing the Blackthorne crown. Who knows what I’d have dealt the witches over the centuries. I shudder to think.”

  Those bewitching eyes of hers lock onto mine and she offers me a soul searching expression. “Don’t discount the man you are. You nearly died for us. You gave up your family for us. That’s not a small thing.”

  “And still she died. They all did. There was nothing I could have done to stop it.”

  “You ended it. You from the past. You from the prese
nt. You. So stop feeling guilty and kiss me already. I’m tired of waiting for our future.”

  The challenge sparking in her eyes sends a rush of need through me. “Shall we return to the hotel so I can begin our future tonight?”

  A grin spreads her lips. “I’ll do you one better.” Then she places her palm on my chest and the two of us don’t so much disappear as the world melts away and regenerates around us. The hotel suite is exactly as we’d left it after checking in. Dark, intimate, quiet. She makes short work of my clothes, stripping them off me in frantic movements. When I’m bared to her, she uses a flare of power to send sparks of light into the air above us. Stars cover the ceiling and cast her in a cool blue glow.

  “You are so striking like this, in the dark with nothing but starlight highlighting your features,” I murmur. How did I get so lucky? After centuries alone, magic brought us to each other.

  “And you are so…God, you’re everything.”

  My chest tightens at the emotion in her voice. Then my breath catches when she sinks to her knees and runs her palms up my thighs until she reaches my jutting erection. Her palm encircles me and she begins slowly stroking from root to tip. I gasp and my fingers tangle in her hair.

  “What are you doing?” I ask, unable to keep the hope from my voice. She’s never taken me this way, and I want it more than I want her blood.

  “You know exactly what I’m doing.”

  A grin turns up the corners of her mouth and then she fucking bites her lower lip. Red and full and begging for my cock, her lips tease my threadbare self-control. She leans in and presses a kiss to my hip, her long hair brushing the crown of my length and sending desperate need crashing into me. My balls ache with the desire for release. She moves her head until she hovers just over the tip. Her tongue darts out and she tastes the drop of arousal that she caused. It’s torture and heaven all rolled into one.

  “Fuck, Natalie. You’re wicked.”

  “Well, I am a witch.”

  My answering growl is cut off when she engulfs me in her mouth and all I can focus on is wet heat and the sensation of her tongue along the underside of my cock. My fingers tighten in the silken locks of her hair and she moans, the vibration running straight to my balls. Bloody hell, I’m already close. I can’t come yet. Not now. I want to be inside her, pinning her to the bed, watching her writhe beneath me as she clenches around me.

  She moves over me, taking me deep, letting out those moans as she goes, and I swear to Christ I’m the luckiest man in the world. But my climax is bearing down on me like a damn freight train and if I don’t stop her now, I won’t get what I want most—her cries of pleasure.

  “Stop, sweetness. I can’t take it.” Gently, I tug her away, bringing her to standing so I can remove her clothes and savor her curves.

  “I wanted to make you—”

  “You will. I promise. But I want us to come apart together. I want to look into your eyes and tell you how I adore you.” My chest constricts and I force out the words I’m desperate to admit. “How I love you.”

  Her eyes fill with tears. “You love me?”

  “Didn’t you know?”

  She shakes her head. “You didn’t…after I said it…I thought—”

  Fucking hell, she’s right. I never told her because I was so caught off guard by her confession. “I…I never said it,” I whisper. It wasn’t because I don’t. It was solely because I could never find words to truly express the depth of my feelings for her.

  “You didn’t.”

  “Then allow me to tell you precisely how I love you since my actions haven’t shown you. I faced my past for you, became the man I’ve been destined to be because of you, was willing to die to see you live. All the while, I loved you.”

  Her lips tremble and she whispers, “Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom.”

  “Now who is seducing whom with Shakespeare?”

  She laughs and pulls me tightly against her. “I’m just taking a page from your book.”

  “It’s a good book.”

  “Yes, it really is.”

  Her lips brush mine, soft and slow, but the fire we’ve already ignited burns quickly, flames rising until the two of us combust. I grip her by the ass and lift until she has her legs wrapped around my waist and my cock is prodding insistently at her entrance. I need to sink into that tight heat she’s promised to only me. We fall onto the bed together, our mouths connected, bodies tantalizingly close. Then I break our kiss and watch her as I drive inside her. The little furrow between her brows and the soft mewl of want she lets escape spur me on. It’s not languid love we’re making here. It’s passionate, desperate, and filled with the promise of sinful nights between the sheets. When we both find our crests, we stare deep into each other’s eyes and say everything we feel with no words. Our bond speaks with nothing more than this, the two of us, joined.

  My witch has claimed me, heart and sin-stained soul. But because of her, I will live out my days until death takes her. When that day comes, I’ll meet the sun and join her in our next lives, because our souls are destined and we will find one another in the stars.

  The Coven thanks you for reading Wicked Thorne. You won’t believe what we have coming next. Want a sneak peek? Check out our website at midnightcoven.com.

  There are thirteen different books in the Cursed Coven series, each penned by one of today’s hottest paranormal romance authors. While each story stands on its own with a happily ever after, characters do tend to wander from book to book, and you don’t want to miss a cameo by one of your favorites.You can read the novellas in any order.

  The Coven will return soon with a twisted collaboration that will keep you reading all night long. Until then, turn the page for a sneak peek of Wicked Warlock.

  The magic continues with each witch who falls under our curse. Find your favorite now!

  Marina Simcoe

  Wicked Warlock

  A sudden loud noise from inside the suite made me shrink back. The floor under my feet seemed to lurch up before all went quiet again.

  Unsure what to do next, I went to lean my ear against the door, only to jump back again—the surface proved to be too hot to touch.

  Fire!

  Alarm shot through my brain, and I yanked my walkie-talkie from on top of the stack of clean towels then tossed it back on the cart when nothing but static came out of the device. My cell phone was downstairs in my locker, along with the rest of my stuff.

  It wouldn’t take long for this old building to go up in flames. The best idea was to get out as soon as possible. I turned toward the stairs with the intention of pulling the fire alarm on my way down.

  A deep groan reached me through the door of the suite. The sound was followed by more noise and cursing. Someone was definitely inside that room . . .

  “You need to get out!” I hammered on the door with the toe of my shoe, not willing to risk burning my knuckles.

  My worry spiked, as no one replied and nobody exited the room. What if they were trapped? Or hurt, unable to move?

  Quickly sliding my key through the slot, I wrapped my apron around my hand before pressing the handle down then opened the door while hiding behind it.

  No fire burst out, though. There was no smell of smoke in the air. I carefully peeked around the door.

  Semi-darkness greeted me. All the lights were off, and the curtains had been drawn closed on the large bay window. The interior of the spacious living room was illuminated by whatever daylight came through a perfectly round hole that seemed to have been cut out through the glass and the curtains on the window. Green-and-yellow lights curled and sparkled along the edge of the cut-out.

  “What is that?” I mumbled, stepping into the suite.

  There was no sight of fire or smell of smoke inside, either.

  “Fuck me!” A deep voice sounded right behind me, making me jump. “Who the hell are you?”

  “April,” I mumbled, cautiousl
y watching a dark, menacing figure by the wall rise to his feet. “I thought there was a fire . . .”

  Dressed in a thin, black coat that reached his knees, he drew the hood low over his face, then yanked the silk scarf up over his mouth and nose before I had a chance to see his face.

  “No fire. And why April?” The silk scarf now muffled his deep, rumbly voice.

  “I’mApril,” I clarified. “It’s my name. I work here.”

  “Right.” His eyes glistened from under the hood as he stared at me. With a grunt, he straightened then leaned side to side, stretching his back.

  Even if there was no fire, I remembered there had still been some noise and ground shakes. Also, there was that weird hole in the window.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. “Do you need a doctor? Should I call the hotel management? The police, maybe?” I darted my gaze around the room again, searching for anything else that would help me determine the kind of authorities I should be calling. There was something intimidating in the man’s size and the all-black outfit that concealed his face and body, making me anxious to get someone else to deal with him and whatever had happened here.

  “I was about to make a call,” he muttered, grabbing a cell phone off the side table by the couch, “but I got interrupted.”

  The hostility in his tone made me wonder if he was annoyed with mefor disturbing him, and I took a cautious step back to the door. Of course, he could be referring to some earlier interruption—maybe the one that had heated the door to his room, and possibly made that weird looking round hole in the window? What on earth could that have been, anyway?

  The phone in the man’s hand crackled with the same yellowish-green light as had just calmed down around the hole in the window. The licks and sparks of it ran around his hand and spread up his arm. With a curse under his breath, he tossed the cell phone onto the couch.

  “It looks like I will need your help, April.” He glanced up at me. “I need you to make a call for me.”