The Enchanted Crossroads

by Dora Blume

  “Okay, where are my weak points?” Leif asked. He mirrored my stance and was ready to attack me, again.

  “Nose, eyes, solar plexus, temples, oh and my absolute favorite, the groin.” I smiled wickedly at him.

  “Okay, let’s leave that spot alone. I may want to be able to use it later.” He winked at me.

  “You might want to have an ice pack ready. I’m showing you no mercy, like you’ve done with me for the past, oh I don’t know, five hours.” I circled him. He mirrored my movements, ready for me to strike.

  “Oh, I’ve been showing you mercy. You haven’t even seen what I can do, yet.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

  “Oh yeah, like in the bedroom last night? You had no mercy there either.” I licked my lips. He watched and I took the moment he was distracted to pounce. I dropped and kicked his legs out from under him. When he dropped to the mat, I jumped on top of him, holding his hands above his head. “Checkmate.” I grinned wide as I looked down at him.

  He smiled, “Mmm, maybe I just wanted you to straddle me.” His eyebrows rose as he looked at me with a satisfied smile on his face. He rolled us both so he was on top of me. His lips found mine. I could taste the sweat on his lips as we kissed. His tongue was hungry as it explored my mouth. He sucked my bottom lip before retreating. His hand slid up my top to cup my breast. His eyes were smoldering as he looked down at me. “Ready for a break?” He asked as he pinched my nipple beneath my shirt.

  “I need to be ready to fight.” My eyes were determined as I looked up at him.

  “We’ve been training for five hours. We need to take a break, gets some food. Maybe have a little fun. Did I tell you how sexy you look when you’re all sweaty and determined.” His mouth dropped to my neck and he licked, then sucked along the artery. I felt a twinge of desire down my body, and it surged between my legs. How was I supposed to get better at fighting if we took a break for sex every time we wanted to? I’d never learn to fight, and we’d never leave the bedroom. His hands lifted my shirt and his mouth clasped over my nipples. I moaned. Why was I even mad at him? He was so good at making me forget everything but the way his mouth felt on my body. He slid a hand down my hips, over my leggings and to the spot between my legs that begged for him. Damn, he was too good at this seduction thing.

  “Leif, we can’t take a sex break everytime you’re horny. I’ll never learn how to fight the Morrigans.” I moaned when his teeth scraped against my nipple, and he twisted it between his teeth. Damn, he was definitely going to win this fight.

  “Oh? Am I the only one who’s horny?” His fingers stroked between my legs and I let out an audible gasp. He pulled down my leggings, exposing my panties. He moved them to the side and moved his fingers along my sensitive spot. My muscles clenched involuntarily. When the strokes quickened, I bit my lip and stared at his beautiful dark eyes. He knew exactly what he was doing. He dropped his mouth next to my ear and bit and licked my earlobe. “I want to hear you say it. I know you want me. Tell me you want me. Tell me what you want me to do.” His breath skimmed down my neck. Oh God, I wanted him inside me. He knew it. He was toying with me. His strokes slowed to a agonizing pace. He knew I would never come like that. He was torturing a confession out of me.

  He licked my neck again. “Oh,” I cried as he quicked, then slowed again.

  “Tell me what you want, Kaira, and I’ll give it to you.” He kissed my lips again, hard. I didn’t want his mouth to leave mine. When His hand moved to my breast, I let out a sigh.

  “I want you, Leif. I want to feel you inside me.” My voice was filled with conceit. His eyes sparkled with victory. He shucked his pants to the side. He was ready. He gaze up into my eyes as he slid my panties slowly down my legs. He kissed his way back up, paying special attention to the spot behind my knees and on the inside of my thighs. He parted my legs with his body and rested his tip at my core. He looked into my eyes as he entered me. I gasped. Oh God, he felt so good. I began matching his thrusts with my own, and before I knew it, we were both on a race to the finish line. He felt so good, I tried gripping the mat below as my muscles clenched. There was nothing to grip, so I moved my hands up to his shoulders. I clutched at him as we both moved faster.

  When I felt the familiar build, I gripped tighter. He smiled and leaned down to kiss me feverently. When I let go, I cried out. “Oh God, Leif,” as I rocked with pleasure. Shortly after, I felt him stiffen and moan. I watched as he bit his lip and rocked with his own pleasure. I skimmed my hand down the side of his face. I cupped his cheek in my hand and stared at him in wonder. How did I get lucky enough to bond for life with him? We would be together like this for the rest of our lives. I was in awe at the prospect of it.

  Leif narrowed one eye as he looked at me. “What are you thinking about?” he asked.

  “I was thinking about how lucky I am to be bonded to you.” I smiled. He dropped his head and captured my lips with his. The kiss was a slow build. He wrapped his arms around me, and we kissed, memorizing each others mouths. I could have kissed him for hours.

  “I believe I’m the lucky one.” He kissed me again. Then he held me against him in silence for a few minutes. We just enjoyed the closeness of each other. Finally, I let out a heavy sigh.

  “We need to get some food and get back to training. I’m serious about needing to be able to fight. I’m fighting for both of us now.” I ran my finger through the hairs on his arm.

  He clutched me closer to him. “I’ll make sure nothing happens to you. I will always protect you.” He breathed against my ear and kissed the nape of my neck.

  “I know but it shouldn’t always be about you protecting me. I need to be able to protect myself. What if something happens and you’re not around. I have to be able to take care of myself, Leif.”

  “I’ll always be around.” I felt him shrug his shoulders against my back.

  “Really? You don’t have your own responsibilities running the Minneapolis area? I haven’t seen you look at your phone once today. Don’t you have important things to do?” I asked. I thought it was weird that he was the head of the area, but I hadn’t seen him do a whole lot to lead. Plus, the only person I’d met so far was Haskell. Where were all the other Mages?

  “None of that is as important as you. Besides, Haskell’s taking care of it.” He kissed my neck again. I began to notice he would try to distract me with physical affection anytime he didn’t want to talk about things. His strategy had been working, but it wouldn’t work forever. I had him all figured out.

  “Leif, you can’t protect me forever. You also can’t be at my side for every second of everyday. You need to help me get strong enough so I can take care of myself. You have to admit that you can’t be there like you want to. It’s simply impossible. I know you want to protect me, but part of that is teaching me to protect myself.” I turned so I could look at him.

  “I don’t have to admit that. I’m never leaving your side. It’s as simple as that.” He said it as if he were certain he would always be there.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Leif, I know you blame yourself for not being able to protect your parents.” I could hear his sharp intake of breath at my words. I opened my eyes and looked into his wide eyes. I waited a moment before I continued. “I know you think that if you are always there, I’ll be safe. But you can’t live your life hovering over me. You need to be able to let me go do my own thing. If you try to stay with me twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, I’ll resent you for it. You need to trust that I will be able to protect myself. You need to teach me enough so I can take care of myself, okay.” I stared into his eyes. I could see flecks of brown and gold as I studied them. He had such mesmerizing eyes.

  He took a deep breath. He ran his hand down my hair and looked at me as if I were the air he breathed. “Okay, I know. It’s just really hard. I can’t even fathom losing you. When my parents were killed, I was devastated. It took me a long time to recover from their loss. I’m not sure I could survive a lo
ss like that again.” His eyes closed and his jaw clenched. I rubbed his arm.

  “You’re not going to lose me. We can do this together.” I reached up to kiss him. He still tasted like sweat. Somehow, I didn’t mind. We kissed and held each other. After a few minutes, Leif got up. He pulled me up with him.

  “Come on, let’s go get something to eat.” He smiled and grabbed my clothes, tossing them to me. He picked up his own and put them back on. Trying to get leggings back on when you are all sweaty is quite the feat. Leif laughed at me when I stumbled and almost fell on the mat. “God, you’re so damn adorable.” He steadied me as I somehow managed to get the leggings back over my thighs.

  Leif ordered Chinese food, and I hung out on the couch while he checked in with Haskell. After the morning activities, I was seriously ready for a nap. I made my way into my bedroom. I grabbed some fresh clothes and took them to the bathroom. Maybe a shower would wake me up so I could make it through a few more hours of training. When I finished, Leif and Haskell were in the kitchen, pilfering through the little white boxes.

  “Man, didn’t you get any orange chicken? I love their orange chicken.” Haskell complained.

  “I got both sesame and general tso’s, you wanted orange, too? How much chicken do you need?” he asked. I walked up and took a spot next to Leif. He kissed my temple and took a deep breath. “Mmm, I love the smell of your hair.” he said.

  “You mean you love the coconut shampoo.” I smiled.

  “No, baby, the smell is all you.” he winked.

  “Could you two get a room or something? Or at least refrain from the lovey shit at the kitchen table. Some of us would like to keep our food down.” He rolled his eyes and focused on the boxes again.

  “You’re just jealous, you don’t have a girl of your own.” Leif said.

  Haskell’s eyes went wide. “I’m not jealous. Wait until you realize all the problems you’ve gotten yourself into because of her. First, it’ll be the little things. Like not ordering orange chicken because your girl likes sesame.” He gave Leif an annoyed stare. “Then, she’ll want new furniture in the house because the stuff you have is too masculine. Before you know it, everything around you has changed, and you’re running to the store to buy tampons because she just didn’t want to leave the house. I’m telling you man, it’s all downhill from here.” He shook his head and shoveled a forkful of noodles into his mouth. Two, clung to his chin before he slurped them up into his mouth.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “And you have a lot of experience in this area I presume.”

  I watched the surprised expression flit across his face before his features become stoic. “Actually, I do.” He squared his shoulders as he spoke.

  “So, who was your last girlfriend?” I asked.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” he said defiantly.

  “Oh, that long ago, huh?” I wiggled my eyebrows at him.

  “No, she was just a man-eating bitch. That’s all. Bloody hell, I knew this was going to be a mistake. Leif, call your girl off me.” Haskell looked to Leif.

  “Nah, man you got yourself into this, you get yourself out.” He continued eating his chicken.

  “Whatever, I’m going to eat downstairs. No, bloody people to bother me down there. See, this is why I love computers. They don’t talk back to you. When you get frustrated with them, you can shut them off.” He picked up his plate.

  “So, why don’t you just buy one of those sex robots then? You’d never have to worry about a girl talking back again. You could just shut her off when you were done.” I smiled.

  Haskell tapped his finger on his chin. “That’s not a half bad idea. Maybe I’ll put it in the budget for next month.” He gave Leif a pointed look.

  “I am not paying for a sex robot.” Leif said, matter of factly.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll write it up as robot assistant. No one will know I use her for sex.” He shrugged and wondered out of the room.

  “He’s quite the character isn’t he?” I looked up to Leif.

  “Oh yeah, he’s a riot. Today was one of his good days. He doesn’t do all that well with adjustment or change. You present both, and I don’t think he likes it. He’ll get over it soon enough though.” Leif shrugged. He rinsed his plate and put it in the dishwasher. He looked to me. “I’m going to make some calls. If you want you can go to the library and do some reading. There’s a ton of information in there that you need to start learning. Training is about more than the physical. You need to learn about your opponent as well.” He turned and walked down the hall. He was right. There was so much I didn’t know about being a Mage. I knew even less about Morrigans. It would be good to spend some time reading. It would be nice to know everything I was getting into as well. I knew I would need to give Hecate an answer soon. I wasn’t sure when she would be visiting me again in my dreams, I just knew she would. I wanted to fully comprehend what I was agreeing to.

  After a few hours, I began to wonder what was taking Leif. He said he had some calls to make. I glanced at the clock. He’d been gone for over two hours. I stood and decided to go find him. I popped my head in his office, but it was empty. I walked through the kitchen, the living room and he wasn’t there either. I looked to the stairs that lead down to the basement. I wasn’t sure what Haskell’s domain would be like. After the few conversations we’d had, I was a little worried about what might be down there. Maybe I should turn around and go back to the library. I took a deep breath. I was worried at what was taking Leif so long. If something was going on with the Morrigans or finding the other descendents, I should know about it.

  I began to descend the stairs. I heard heated voices as I continued down the steps. I paused, maybe I shouldn’t interrupt if they were fighting. “How do you know Morrigans have her?” Leif asked, his voice a little defeated.

  “I tracked her cell phone. It’s at Kaira’s apartment, yet there’s more than one heat signature. See, you know what those colors mean. She’s losing power. I don’t know what they’re doing to her, but it can’t be good. We need to get a team together to get her.” He paused and let out a breath. “I know you’re not a huge fan of Verities, but I think Kaira would be upset if you just let them keep torturing her friend. Plus, Hecate is going to be pissed because she was a specially appointed guardian.”

  “I know, I know.” Leif conceded. “Hecate will be more upset if one of the descendents is put in jeopardy over saving the guardian who was put in place to protect her.” His voice was firm. I could hear him pace the room.

  “So, what are you going to do?” Haskell asked.

  “I don’t know.” Leif admitted.

  “Bloody hell, mate. You need to do something. The longer she’s there, the more they’ll torture her. We need to do something.” Haskell’s voice rose. I could hear his frustration. I wasn’t sure if I should bust in on their conversation and give my opinion, or if I should run out to the car and head to my apartment myself. I took a deep breath. I waited for what Leif would say next.

  “How many can we send in from the city?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, five or six maybe. Everyone’s been swamped since there are so many Morrigans around. Not to mention the run of the mill demons we usually have to deal with. I can make some calls, see if anyone else is available, but I doubt we’ll get many.” I heard Haskell sit in what must have been a squeaky office chair.

  “See who we can get. We may not need to go there at all if we can get a few good Mages to go in and get her. It’d be better if Kaira was far away from this.”

  I closed my eyes. I wonder if he’ll even tell me about Shar. I stood and walked up the stairs. He promised he wouldn’t lie to me again. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t come to find me yet. I walked back to the training room. I figured I would work on something while he figured out the situation with Shar. Every part of me wanted to run out to a car and rush to save her. I knew I was no match for them myself. I figured I would work on channeling my fire power. I needed to be bet
ter at manifesting it and using it against someone. Cause when I was in battle yesterday, I sucked.

  I sat on the mat in the middle of the floor. I turned toward the metal bowl we were using the other day. At least if I threw a fireball in it, I shouldn’t burn too much. Plus, I could focus on my accuracy. I took a deep breath and thought about things that make me angry. Right now, it was Leif not telling me about Shar. A ball of fire appeared in my hand. I held it amazed that it didn’t scorch my flesh. It didn’t even feel hot to my skin. I pushed it out and toward the bowl. It landed in the bowl and fizzled out. At least I knew I wouldn’t burn anything. I kept at it, fireball after fireball, until I could control the trajectory and size. I felt much better about my ability.

  I stood and studied the room. There was a bullseye at the other side of the room. I walked to the shelf and noticed a bucket of small knives. It couldn’t hurt to try knife throwing. I shrugged and took the bucket to the middle of the room. I set it down and pulled out one of the knives. I use to play darts all the time. This shouldn’t be any different. I lined up my body, took aim, and threw the knife. It flew in the air and planted into the bullseye just to the right of the center. “Alright, not bad for my first throw.” I said aloud. I pulled out another one and lined up. I threw it and it landed between the bullseye and the last knife. “Even closer than last time.” I kept throwing them until I hit the bullseye every time.

  I heard the sound of clapping behind me. I whirled around and Leif was leaning against the doorjamb. “Nicely done. I guess you don’t need me for training after all. You seem to be learning all on your own.” His eyes looked at me with adoration.