“And I’m a human. A Howard. With responsibilities…” And I’ll die, someday… she could not utter those words. They carried too much pain. “I have only ever seen you as a man, William. I do forget that you’re not.”
These words chiseled into his icy heart, leaving behind a pang of warmth.
“Will I remember any of this?” she asked him.
“Yes, and no. It will be like a dream. You’ll know, somewhere deep inside that it was real. But it won’t be as vivid as a memory. You won’t remember the actions so much as the feelings you take away with you.”
“Will you remember?”
“Every detail.”
“That’s not fair,” she whispered. “I want to remember. I remember almost all my dreams now.”
“Perhaps then, you will remember.”
“If this is all an illusion in my mind,” said Melinda, “can I make anything happen that I want? Or are you controlling what we see, where we are?”
“I am a conscious visitor in your mind, Melinda. Everything we say, or do, for all intents and purposes, is real. But the illusion, the rest, is all from your mind.”
“Close your eyes,” she told him softly.
He obeyed. A moment later sucking in a startled breath when everything shifted, the very movement under his body changing. He was sitting on something firm, yet soft. A shock wave charged through him, a sudden warmth enveloping him.
Legs straddled his hips. A hand wrapped over his bare shoulder. Another slid up his chest. Heat. So much heat. An enticing burn.
He didn’t dare open his eyes. “I don’t know if I can,” he whispered.
“I’m not giving you the option.”
His eyes opened. Hungry.
His fangs pinched against his lips. Aching.
“We already have too many consequences to deal with once we go back,” Melinda lamented. “I don’t want to add more regret to that. One time, William. Just one time.”
He recognized the place she’d taken them. A bed of white floating on a vast sea. With nothing for miles but soft ripples of water. The moon and stars casting silvery shadows down over them.
“I saw this,” he muttered in awe of it.
“You did? How? It was in one of my dreams… of you,” she added shyly.
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m afraid I could not help myself. I slipped into your mind one night, by accident. I saw it. Just like this…” Except he’d had a beating heart. An impossibility. “Are you angry with me?”
She shook her head. Although the thought that he could peer into her thoughts on a whim made her nervous. More nervous than the fact that you’re sitting here on this bed, naked? With William… her inner dialogue ceased, icy lips claiming hers.
He could no longer stop himself. Passing the point of no return.
He’d give her this one moment. Give himself completely. Give himself freely.
She’d dreamt of him in this manner before, but this time he’d participate willingly. Accepting her love. Accepting that he was still capable of love. Believing for this one moment that he deserved her love.
Each caress of his lips carried his devotion. His tongue traced along her jaw, down her throat teasing the succulent flesh that tempted him so enticingly. Her vein throbbed against his tongue.
Melinda gasped, her body on fire. His icy embrace did nothing to cool her. The heat pooled to her core. Every touch, lick, caress, ragged breath, drew the fire deeper.
William leaned her back, his tongue sliding over the curve of her breasts. Her moan drew his fangs into a pinch, pricking at her flesh. He held back.
Not yet. Not yet.
His mouth lowered, nuzzling at the delicious hardened bead with his lips. So gentle. Teasing.
He nipped.
She gasped and moaned.
He took it into his mouth, sucking. Nipping.
“Oh. William.”
He released her with a groan, seeking the other. But he didn’t tease this time. He took. Claimed. His grip tightened around her.
Sparks ignited, rippling through every nerve.
Melting. She was so hot she was melting.
Hard ice branded her, threatening to forge inside her but instead William pulled back. He lay her back on the bed, sitting on his knees gazing down at her.
“Gods of this age, Melinda.”
She tugged at her lip; she’d never heard him speak in such a manner. Never seen the wild abandon in his eyes.
William needed to slow down, just a little. Stay in control.
The gushing of her blood.
The intense need in her moans.
The alluring smell of her…
Each delicious curve of her body writhing against him.
It made him drunk with need.
“William…” her voice was soft, uncertain.
“I needed to see you. All of you.”
It was all of her all right. His knees spread her legs open, keeping her from squeezing her thighs together. She’d never felt so vulnerable and safe at the same time.
His cool fingers slid up her thighs, his eyelids closed to half-mast with the look of unbridled need threatening to break free.
Her heart shot out that flutter that belonged purely to William.
Mine. He couldn’t help but think it. Here in this moment she was his. All his. Only his. He sank down between her legs, icy lips trailing up her thigh.
Melinda’s breath hitched. She tensed. She tried not to, but her muscles acted of their own accord.
“Melinda?” He glanced upward, reveling in the view.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. It’s just…” she leaned her head back letting out a timid breath.
“Tell me. Please.”
“It’s just that I’ve never… no one has ever…”
“Tasted you, like this?” He leaned down and kissed her. Gently. Sweetly. With reverence. Her entire body gasped at the pure ecstasy of it.
He ended it too fast and she let out a hungry moan.
“I admit it pleases me. To know I am the first to taste you like this.” It fed his hunger, and yet he’d never been so starving in all his life. “Do you wish for me to taste you again?”
“Yes,” Melinda answered in a rush of breath. He kissed her again. Not so gentle this time. Longer, deeper, his tongue soaking up the length of her. He groaned, stretching her open.
It was so good. So electrifying. She could not get enough.
And then it was too much. More intense than anything she’d ever experienced before. Her inner voice screamed in the joy of the moment, and then she realized her outer voice was too.
William did not relent. He held her writhing body plastered between the bed and his devoted mouth. Melinda’s body seized for a moment, a thrilling spasm taking her.
His fangs ached, nuzzling her thigh. Not yet…
His lips rubbed across her skin, upward over her stomach. Drinking in the lust layering her skin. He went higher, between her breasts, licking up her neck to her chin.
Their gazes met.
Melinda looked at his reddened lips, swollen from tasting her. She always thought it would be gross to kiss someone after they’d been down on her, but she found it was the opposite. She lifted her head grasping at his mouth.
Ice steeled at her entrance.
He seemed hesitant.
She shivered.
“Is my body too cold for you? This is your dream, Melinda. You could make my skin warmer if it displeases you.”
“No. No. I want all of you, as you are. Not some watered down, safe version of you.” Her eyes stared at his fangs. To prove how badly she wanted all of him she licked his fangs, her tongue tracing the sharp points.
The provocative nature of the act threw William over the edge.
“Please,” she begged him. Her head fell back onto the bed. His emerald greens stared adoringly into her baby blues.
“I love you. I love you so much that sometimes I think… I think that my dead heart will start beat
ing again.” He couldn’t hold anything back. If this was their one moment, he needed tell her everything.
Everything but that… his mind reeled. His life would end when hers did. There was no other way for him now. But she did not need to know this, for him to prove how much he loved her.
Unshed tears filled her eyes. She wanted so badly to say the words back to him, but they would not leave her tongue. He saw it in her gaze. Felt it in her touch.
William pushed into her with a strained groan, gently stretching her. She gasped and arched up into him as he filled her. In every manner possible. She clung to him, desperate for it to go on. For the real world to disappear so they could stay here, forever, just like this. So broken. So broken… that’s what waited for her when she woke up.
A few tears trickled down her cheek. William kissed them away.
Although broken, at this moment Melinda never felt more whole, alive, and free.
“Give me all of you, William. I need all of you.”
A growl flitted through his teeth.
With a long blink, penetrating black eyes ravaged her neck, hungrily.
She opened for him, the throb of blood under her skin inviting him in. She shuddered when his tongue licked along the vein as if trying to taste it over her skin. His fangs ached to sink in. Needed to. So close… another minute more.
His right hand ran up her cheek to the top of her head, fisting in her hair. He pulled at her, opening her neck even more. Exposing that delicate vein he needed to drink from. His left hand gripped her thigh pulling her body into each icy thrust. Each push deliberate and deep.
An overwhelming euphoria started to build. Melinda closed her eyes letting it build. “William… Oh. William.”
With a coarse breath he thrust into her core, releasing himself. Filling her. While his fangs plucked at her neck with a sting as they pierced her, and took from her. He fed with reckless abandon. It felt real. Tasted real. But this blood would not ignite his cravings later. Melinda, so open and vulnerable underneath him. This would ignite a dangerous craving he had no idea how to control.
When he finally pulled out of her neck, he shot backwards to his knees throwing his head into the air. He licked his lips. Caressed his teeth, sucking off every last drop of her. The red slick coated his throat, seeped into his veins and shot living essence into him.
Melinda let out a gratified moan, her breath heavy. His bite set her body afire with more pleasure than she ever thought possible. She gazed up at him, a smile breaching her lips. What an incredible sight, to see William like this. He was so open. And free. Don’t think about it ending, her inner voice pouted and cried.
His head fell forward, his dark gaze taking in every delicious inch of her. “I am not ready to leave this illusion yet.”
What she really heard was, I’m still hungry, and I’m going to take, and give, until you beg me to stop or we are forced to return to the real world.
Her soft stare, filled with longing and sorrow, tore at him.
If he could see it, he’d swear a fissure was forming across her heart, filling with grief. Already mourning the loss of them.
Melinda took him in. Soaking in every detail. Engraving it into her memory with a silent prayer that she not forget. If nothing else, when the real world came crashing back in and she finally awakened and left this illusion, she would know deep in her soul how much William loved her.
With a mixture of forlorn sadness and the need for him to fill her, she pulled his body back down.
He was everything she wanted.
She was everything he needed.
But it was only a dream, and nothing more.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Charlie Howard shot bulbs of light out of the palms of his hands, taking away the darkness. All was quiet except for their heavy breathing. They listened outside, but heard nothing, almost as if when the door in the old tree closed, the outside world closed with it.
They allowed relief to wash over them. They had succeeded. Everyone had made it out alive. William had gotten to Melinda, and he was healing as well. Riley hadn’t killed him. Hadn’t killed any of them. And most importantly, Eva Jordan was dead, and the Feyk had not accessed the power source.
It had not been easy. And there was a heavy price for their success, including the loss of Emily’s father. But they’d done it. And the Demon Isle was safe again.
“Let’s all take a minute,” decided Jack with a heavy breath. “Everyone’s good? No immediate injuries we need to deal with?”
They were good. Other than minor injuries, being exhausted from the lack of rest, wired from the adrenaline, and yet ready to crash from the exertion.
The plan had worked.
They had prepared, and it had worked.
“So the four elements opened the door?” confirmed Charlie. “Earth, water, wind and fire.”
“Yes,” confirmed Jack. “It took years to figure that out.”
“There was something else though,” said Lizzy. “Something you did not reveal to the Feyk.”
“You caught me,” he told her, impressed by her quick-wittedness with the sneeze that stole the Feyk’s attention. “I hid the final step with the fire element so the Feyk would not see it.” He held up the palm of his hand where a small cut sliced across.
“Blood?” questioned Charlie.
“Blood of a living witch,” clarified Jack.
“So the Feyk can’t get in,” said Michael.
“They cannot,” confirmed Jack.
It was another win.
It only added to their relief.
Emily/Eva had to play her part well right now, if she was to succeed in her new plan. She’d successfully invaded the spirit vessel, Emily, and no one had noticed.
Michael turned to her, embracing her, as if never going to let go. “I’m so sorry about your father. I wish we could have stopped it from happening. I’m so sorry it took so long to get to you. And I’m so very, very glad you’re alive.”
Emily/Eva sniffled, embracing him back. “At least Eva is dead now. She can’t hurt anyone else.”
“No. She can’t,” he agreed.
He leaned back, taking her in. Needing to see that every part of her was intact and unharmed.
Eva held her weak smile, determined not to let the scowl she inwardly held, show through. A scowl that almost turned into a grin too cheerful for the moment when she thought about their reactions once they found out what she’d done, by taking over Emily’s body. She forced down the emotion. Swallowing it whole.
Even. Cool. Perhaps a bit numb and overwhelmed. She told herself this is how she needed to feel until the time to reveal herself. Her empathic boyfriend was most likely hard at work trying to get a feel for his girlfriend’s current state of mind.
Lizzy leaned back against a thick branch that twisted into the walls. She let out a slow breath. Charlie stepped over grabbing the top of the branch, which hung out over her head.
“You okay?”
She nodded. She shook her head. “I don’t know what I am.”
He nodded, understanding her completely. He eyed the injury on the side of her head and gently brushed her hair out of the way to take a look. The swelling was already going down.
“It’s fine,” she insisted. “Barely a scratch.”
His hand slid down her cheek, rubbing off a bit of dirt.
“You’re a, um, fierce fighter,” he said, in awe of her. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.”
“Apparently, you like that about me,” her reply teased softly.
He didn’t respond, stunned, as usual, by her forwardness.
“Your eyes are silver,” she explained, her gaze dancing in amusement. “Sort of telling.”
Charlie cleared his throat and pushed out a flustered exhale.
Michael grumbled under his breath, his emotions suddenly hijacked by Charlie and Lizzy.
Charlie cleared his throat again, stepping away from her. “Having an empath for a b
rother really sucks,” he muttered, passing Michael.
“Try always knowing when your siblings are turned on and get back to me…” he groaned loudly in reply.
Michael had a point there.
Charlie returned to his father’s side. “You okay, Dad?”
“Yes. All good.”
“So what’s the plan from here?”
Jack took a moment to think about it.
“I was hoping to do this as a family. Melinda isn’t here, but I’d very much like to take your mother home.”
Charlie and Michael agreed.
“Catherine is not too far in,” explained their father. His voice wavered a little.
“Should we stay here?” asked Emily/Eva, motioning to herself and Lizzy. Although Michael wasn’t about to let Emily leave his sight.
“No,” said Jack. “We should stick together in here.”
He led the way, showing them where to step.
Charlie’s light orbs hovered over their heads, brightening the way.
Just a few minutes later, they’d come to the spot. The place their mother, Jack’s wife, had met her untimely end. Her bones awaited them.
They looked on in hushed silence.
Jack leaned down and caressed her bones as if caressing his wife. “Dear, dear Catherine. I didn’t get to you fast enough. I’m so sorry I was kept from our family for such a long time.”
Michael’s throat closed up. Emily/Eva slipped her arm around him. Gotta keep up the front…
He grabbed onto her, holding tightly.
Charlie just let the tears fall.
He’d known this moment would be difficult. But he wasn’t prepared for the onslaught of sadness that came with it. He didn’t know how Michael was dealing. The emotion hung in the room like a wet blanket, threatening to suffocate them.
“God, I hate it when men cry.” Lizzy wiped her eyes. “Gets me, every time.”
Charlie snickered, releasing a bit of his grief.
Jack grabbed a thick branch hanging off the wall. He used magic to cut it down. He waved his hand over the wood, turning it into an ornate urn. He touched Catherine’s bones, with each touch, dust, replacing bone. He waved his hand over the dust and it placed itself into the urn.
Bite Me Baby! (Wicked Good Witches Book 7) Page 12