Eternal Envy (The Seven Sin Sisters 2)

by Paloma Beck

  “You should know by now that I don’t like it soft,” Eloise answered him with a fluttering of her eyelashes. She looked like a little minx spread out below him. Small droplets of sweat made her unblemished skin glisten, her rich brown hair spilled over her face and her eyes gleamed with lust.

  Goddess, how had he gotten so lucky? Caedon pulled out until only the head of his cock remained inside and then slammed himself back into her.

  “Yes, yes, yes,” Eloise chanted and Caedon howled and moaned. He planned to take them higher than ever before. Together they would fly. He built a forceful rhythm and his own need multiplied. He couldn’t stop himself from indulging his power and using strength a human woman would never be able to accommodate, but his mate could take all of him.

  Eloise’s breathing sped up. She gasped out, “please, yes, Caedon, please, let’s…” and then lost her words when he shifted and hit the spot inside her he knew would push her over the edge. Eloise pushed back against him while he continued to pump in and out.

  When Caedon felt Eloise shudder and knew she was close, he commanded, “Wait for me this time. I want to come with you.”

  Eloise shook her head back and forth on the bed and arched her body into him. “I can’t. I can’t. I can’t wait…” Eloise spoke in broken sentences with her eyes closed.

  He needed her to focus on him. He paused his thrusting to give her a chance to calm down then gave a sharp slap to her outer thigh and immediately her eyes sprang open. While she looked shocked, and maybe a bit outraged, he felt the unmistakable rush of cream around his cock. His mate liked his rough play. Caedon nearly growled in exaltation.

  “Eloise, you will wait. Focus on me. Open your eyes and focus,” Caedon used a sharp voice to keep her attention. Then he leaned over to give her a gentle kiss on her forehead before resuming the same pace.

  “Focus, baby,” Caedon demanded when she almost closed her eyes. His palm slapped her other thigh and her eyes opened. “Keep your eyes open. Focus on me and we can come together.” Caedon continued his rhythm until he felt the sure signs of her tightening. He didn’t want to push her too far. Instead, he pushed himself in as far as he could get and groaned.

  “Okay, baby, let’s come now,” Caedon encouraged Eloise as he reached between them and pinched her clit. She screamed out her orgasm this time as her muscles gripped Caedon’s cock with extraordinary strength. It was a sound he adored. She drew out everything inside him. Caedon was out of his mind in love with this woman. He never thought he could be so gentle. He never wanted to be this soft with a woman until Eloise. She was his perfection, his true other half.

  While his thick cock refused to soften, he rolled to his side and took her with him. They were still joined intimately. And now their tongues tangled in the same image as their legs were tangled. Eloise nipped at him. Caedon nipped right back. The delightfully warm cocktail of their combined blood was an enticing blend. It was an amazing truth to know that while she provided him life through her blood, his blood brought her lengthened life as well.

  Caedon pulled back from their kiss just far enough to speak, his lips brushed along hers as they moved, “Sei tutto per me. You are everything to me, Ostinata.” He kissed Eloise chastely before again pulling away and looking at her. Humor was dancing in her eyes.

  “You tell me I am everything and then call me stubborn in the next sentence. I’m not sure how I feel about that.” Eloise crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave him her angriest face she could muster.

  “You love it. You love me. You know it and I know it,” Caedon loved the playful side of Eloise. He tickled her until her stubborn, angry face changed to laughter.

  * * * *

  Eloise found women of the Magdalena Circle insightful so she had been looking forward to spending the afternoon with Adelina, Layla, Angelica and her own mother. They were supposed to talk through the details of the Pronouncement but she planned to feed her curiosity.

  “So the next full moon is a still few weeks away. We have plenty of time to get ready.” Layla smiled at Eloise, “Do you want help?”

  “Of course she wants help, sweet child,” Adelina jumped in. She was the epitome of the family queen. Her strong personality only second to her giving spirit.

  “Adelina, I’m just suggesting that she may want to plan it with Caedon,” Layla explained.

  “Why would Caedon want to be bothered with this?” Adelina was bemused by Layla’s suggestion. Eloise just shrugged and smiled.

  “Well, if he’s anything at all like his father,” Angelica spoke up, “he can be a bit domineering.” After catching Eloise’s grin, she added, “Am I right, Eloise?”

  “You definitely are right but he has relinquished all control over this particular event to us,” Eloise agreed with Caedon’s mother. Last evening, Caedon and Eloise had discussed this though and she knew he had no interest in the plans. He just wanted it done. She suspected he would use the time she spent in preparation to work.

  They returned from Italy with his parents but with very few answers as to why his parents had been captured, who was behind the operation and just how much they knew. A recon back to the island turned up a searched house but otherwise no damage. The TEU was having one of the other government agencies go over it for any possible recording devices and whatnot, but Lucas and the other TEU agents working the mission weren’t hopeful for any clues. It was up to Caedon to uncover what he could through his channels.

  “Because the Circle of Magdalena is most powerful during the full moon, we celebrate our Pronouncements only on this day,” Eloise’s thoughts were broken by her mother’s explanation.

  “I read that there truly is a power exchange during the Pronouncement. It’s even more so than the blood exchange but very little is written about it.” Layla had read everything she could find on the Valendite Breed since mating with Madden and Anton. Before then, she’d had no interest at all and nearly drove their mother crazy in ignoring her Magdalena studies.

  “Yes, that’s true. The blood exchange does make it possible for our powers to grow, but at the Pronouncement, some of your powers transfer to your mate,” Angelica answered.

  “Is there a way to know which ones?” Eloise was incredibly curious.

  “It’s usually the gift most strongly evident,” Chiara chimed in. “For example, my gift of being able to transfer emotion from an item someone has left behind is what I shared with you father, Eloise. Tony used it often in his anthropological studies to learn how groups of people viewed their world.”

  “He also used it magnificently to help find us,” Angelica leaned across and placed her hand on Chiara’s arm. “Your family has given us so very much.” Both women’s eyes grew teary. No one spoke as they all considered how differently things could’ve turned out.

  “Oh, I am weeping again. All I do anymore is cry.” Layla reached for a tissue. Chiara and Adelina looked at one another and grinned.

  “Can I help?” Adelina asked her, still grinning. Eloise felt out of the loop somehow. Something had happened that she wasn’t able to follow.

  “I don’t see how you can…” Layla’s words were cut off when Adelina placed her hands over Layla’s stomach, closed her eyes and chanted softly.

  “Adelina’s gift is in healing. She can speak to the body, as she says,” Chiara explained.

  When Adelina opened her eyes and leaned away from Layla, she smiled over to Chiara and nodded her head. “Should we share the wonderful news?” The mothers were beaming.

  Layla gasped and touched her stomach where Adelina’s hand had been. “No. How? So soon? Are you sure?”

  “Would you really care for us to explain the dynamics?” Adelina joked.

  Layla paled and then Eloise understood. She leapt to her feet and shouted excitedly, “Oh my Goddess, Layla! You’re pregnant!”

  “Oh my Goddess, I am. I’m going to have a baby.” Layla looked stunned. Then she smiled at the women gathered around her, “I’m happy, truly I am, b
ut it’s unexpected. Madden said it can sometimes take years.”

  “It is all fated by the Goddess,” Angelica confided. “Men have no idea in these matters.”

  “That’s for certain. While the powers of a Valendite Breed are enormous, they cannot control this one thing,” Chiara shrugged, “Our Goddess determines life. She gives it and takes it.”

  “And it’s been said the Tre Adoro bond enhances your fertility. It’s likely you will have many, many children,” Angelica added. This news had provided such hope to the women sitting in this room. Eloise wondered how the others would feel. In this time of turmoil, would their concern overshadow their joy? She prayed to the Goddess not.

  Layla beamed. Eloise felt her excitement through their bond. “Go,” she encouraged her sister. “You want to be with Madden and Anton. Go. The mothers will help me.”

  Layla kissed and hugged everyone and rushed off to be with her mates.

  “Okay, Eloise. Where should we begin?” Chiara asked. And with all the attention now firmly on her, the planning was underway.

  * * * *

  Eloise looked around contentedly at her sisters surrounding her. The flames from the fire pit in the center of the stoned patio flickered across their faces, each so beautiful. The mood was more quiet than usual, her sisters more relaxed. Maybe it was the wine they’d been drinking since before dinner. Eloise was just so grateful to all be together. So much had changed in the last few months. She was beyond happy but still needed this connection with her sisters. Tomorrow would be for Caedon and their Pronouncement but tonight was for her sisters.

  “Two down. Five more to go,” Paige spoke into her wine glass but each sister heard the softly spoken words and turned in her direction. She noticed and acted surprised they had heard her. But the sisters knew better since near perfect hearing was something they’d each come to live with. “What? You act as if this is such a shock. It’s the prophecy.”

  “It’s love,” Gracie insisted.

  “Love is a fairytale. We are a prophecy,” Paige quipped back. “We will each take a mate and it won’t be long now. Prophecy says the seven born to the seventh shall complete the link. And it shall be one after the next in quick succession.”

  “Oh Goddess, Paige, will you stop it,” Amelia untucked her legs from beneath her and sat forward in her chair, her anger rising. “You cannot judge the emotions of others. To each her own.”

  “She’s not judging emotion. She’s stating fact and the fact here is that whether we like it or not, we are this prophecy; so love or not, we’ll be mated,” Gemma explained.

  “Ok, Paige and Gemma, I’ll give you prophecy but you have to agree that there is a piece of that prophecy that relies on love, a connection, romance…” Layla mused.

  “Romance? Are you kidding? Even you tried to fight Madden,” Paige stood then and paced. “You’re going to romanticize this now, aren’t you?”

  Layla remained relaxed in her seat while trying to explain, “I was hesitant. I’d never felt many of the desires you take for granted. They were all so overwhelming and I was afraid. But when I opened myself to Madden, and then to Anton, I let them love me.”

  “That is so romantic,” Sadie grinned and reached over to touch Layla’s arm.

  “Romantic is this chunk of diamond on her finger,” Paige added.

  From the other side of Layla, Gemma reached for the diamond ring and moved it so the flames glittered off the many facets and sent fragmented light dancing through their circle.

  “How he gave it to her was even more romantic,” Eloise tacked on with a wide grin.

  “How about you, Eloise?” Layla attempted to get the spotlight off her, “What does Caedon do that’s romantic?”

  With a blush that nearly turned Eloise as scarlet as her wrap, she shook her head with a Cheshire grin. “I tell no secrets.”

  “What? You were always trying to get the details out of Layla and now you clam up when you’ve got something good to share,” Amelia taunted her.

  “Let’s just say Caedon doesn’t do romantic. His idea of romance is a text with xoxo at the end.”

  “Right. Definitely wasn’t romantic how he carried you out of the vineyard when you sprained your ankle,” Gracie teased.

  “Or when he growled at Donovan when he touched you to check out your ankle,” added Paige which caused every sister to break out laughing.

  “I bet he’s like that in bed, too,” Gemma inquired, “What do they say, domineering in the head, dominating in the bed?” Another round of laughter ensued as Eloise blushed. Goddess, she was glad for the low lighting.

  Eloise loved her sisters even when she wished they weren’t so intuitive.

  * * * *

  Caedon stood in the middle of a large circle formed by flower petals in the same grove in the Santucci’s vineyard where Madden, Anton and Layla had held their Pronouncement. His and Eloise’s families surrounded him. Everyone most important to Eloise was here in this grove filled with the sweet essence of flowers everywhere. Swirls of pink, fuchsia and purple flowers floated from the branches of nearby trees. Tiny white twinkle lights brightened the grove in the early evening glow of twilight, the traditional time for a Valendite wedding. It couldn’t have been any more perfect.

  There was nothing else Eloise wanted that wasn’t before her now. She smiled knowing she would never again envy another person. She had everything she ever wanted. Excitement danced through her veins as she cast her eyes on the scene in front of her. Her powers tingled like electricity as she held herself back from running towards Caedon. She would follow the plan and walk steadily and slowly with her parents. She grinned knowing she couldn’t possibly walk much faster in the stunning heels she’d chosen for today.

  “You are exquisite, my beautiful daughter.” Chiara looked her usual stately self, sheathed in a plum dress with brightly sparkling jewels around her neck. She took Eloise’s hand and squeezed gently. Then Eloise looked to her father who stood on the other side. Tony took her hand and rested it in the fold of his arm so that they could walk into the circle as three. Her parents would present her to Caedon.

  Eloise turned her gaze straight ahead to where her mate stood. He didn’t make a single move as he watched her. Caedon would always take her breath away, no matter what he wore but it was enchanting to see him in the traditional clothing of the Valendite Pronouncement since she knew he preferred darker tones. His loose-fitting tan trousers and pearl white shirt draped from his body. The collar of his shirt was left purposefully unbuttoned to expose his neck to her as a sign of his willingness to give himself to her. The leather strips gave her ideas she shouldn’t be thinking about now. Later, maybe, she smiled at the direction of her thoughts.

  Caedon’s soft brown eyes captured hers. “What are you thinking in there? That was quite the devilish look.” He spoke to her through her mind.

  “Definitely not a thought for right now. Later,” Eloise promised and smiled brighter still. His smile back caused a delightful warmth in her tummy.

  She heard her sisters’ giggles. Of course, they were reading her thoughts. Never opting to give anyone privacy, they shared everything, and as embarrassing as that exchange might have been, Eloise wouldn’t change her connection to them. “OMG, you have such a dirty mind,” quipped Amelia. “You go, girl,” laughed Sadie. “Wow, just wow,” said Gemma. “I want details later,” added Paige. “Leave her alone,” admonished Layla. “Another sister down,” Gracie sighed. Anton’s grin grew wider and she heard his voice too, “I caught all of that.” He winked at her and her blush was scarlet. Her sisters giggled louder inside her head.

  Then they got serious as Eloise entered the circle and her parents placed her hand in Caedon’s before they moved to the circle’s perimeter with the others. Eloise stood alone with Caedon inside the circle. She took in the significance of this moment. Forevermore, this is how it would be—the two of them surrounded by those who loved them.

  Those present from the Magdalena Circle
called forth a lightly swirling mist to surround Eloise and Caedon. A soft chanting could be heard as Caedon raised his voice to speak for all to hear, “I am so honored to make this Pronouncement on behalf of Eloise and myself.”

  Caedon kneeled before her with his head bowed as a sign of his respect for her. Eloise followed him down onto her knees, careful not to catch her heels in the ground beneath them, and placed her hands in his to form an unbreakable link.

  The low chanting from the gathered women rose louder now. Smoke grew thicker and swirled in colorful patterns around Eloise and Caedon; they were alone within the haven created for them. Caedon used his sharpest teeth first to score his own wrist and then Eloise’s. Each drank from the other as they remained kneeling. They both sipped softly and then silently lapped the puncture points closed with their tongues. Caedon and Eloise remained staring at one another as they completed the ceremony. It was a communion of their souls. As the chanting grew louder still and the smoke ever more colorful, sparks of electric light burst from the circle. Eloise felt the current rush through her. Her eyes widened and Caedon reached towards her, his hands on either side of her face, and kissed her with every emotion swirling between them, within their veins and in their hearts.

  *THE END*

  About The Author

  Paloma Beck is an erotic romance writer in both the Contemporary and Paranormal realms. Happily married and living a life of total contradiction, Paloma runs carpool service for her three sons, volunteers in PTA and teaches religious education. Then in the moments when her characters talk to her, she journals their stories and they are anything but PG.

  Connect with Paloma on her website at http://PalomaBeck.weebly.com or on her facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/SevenSinSistersSeries.

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