by Eve Langlais
I came, and as I did, I nipped at her lip. Just a tiny bite. That’s all that was needed in that moment. All I needed to make her mine.
We made love a lot over the next few days. Ordering in room service. Ignoring the stop we made at Atlantis to instead cuddle.
I believed that everything was perfect. It never even occurred to me to speak of the future. There would be time enough when we reached land. Except I found myself stunned when I woke to find the ship already docked at our final port, the bed beside me empty, the note she left me maddening.
Thanks for all your help. You really are amazing, but you deserve better than being forced to love a witch because of a spell. I took the locket. You’re free.
~Jane Davey
No. No. Oh hell fucking no. She didn’t.
I jumped from the bed and took time to only throw on some pants, but by the time I made it to the topmost deck, Jane was already gone.
And my very loud roar made the morning news.
18
Jane: Love spells suck.
I left. I had to. Despite all the pretty words and epic sex, I knew deep down that Oz didn’t really want me. It was the spell in the locket making him do it. Ignoring the fact that magic didn’t work on shifters; apparently, the love kind did. Had to be. No way could a guy like Oz love me.
It made me ridiculously sad. Especially since I’d gotten a taste of what love could be. I missed him the moment I left.
I cried as I took the locket I’d brought home with me and soaked it in a brine of vinegar and holy water. It would dissolve any lingering infatuation on his part. Pity, it couldn’t do anything about my heart.
It still wanted Oz. Wanted to hear his laughter as he played a naughty prank on his sister. Then his chuckle as he played with my body.
I missed the way he sprawled across the bed and forced me to snuggle him. Such a chore. Despite his devil-may-care attitude, he was actually an intelligent man who’d taken his family’s fortune from the brink of middle class and turned it into an empire for…hair products. Mousse. Shampoo. Hairdryers. Once I got over laughing, we actually spent some time discussing ingredients. It seemed that witches did have something to offer a shapeshifter, an intimate knowledge of herbs. Especially a combination I knew that could help reverse balding.
But we’d never collaborate on the revolutionary Janey Tonic. Because I’d left.
Not because I didn’t love him. I did with more heart than I thought I had. But that same love wouldn’t let me hold on to him because of a spell.
I did the right thing. Which got me a nasty-gram from Lucifer in Hell.
You’ve just been demoted from the third circle to the fifth. Grow a pair.
~Your Dark Overlord.
PS. Do you have a spell that makes a baby sleep long enough that I can diddle my wife?
I moped.
Alone, I might add. Grandma had apparently rekindled things with Shax. So she was off making my mom a baby sister and me a new aunt. I was sure my therapist could help me bleach that concept from my mind. Eventually.
Since sitting around the house sucked, and I needed a job, I was working on a spell to re-write my ex-boss’s memories so I could at least get a decent reference. I neglected my garden due to the downpours. It hadn’t stopped raining in Seattle since my return, and probably wouldn’t for years to come considering my heavy heart.
A knock on the door had me frowning, especially since I felt that strange quickening of my pulse. Impossible. The spell on the amulet was dead. I glanced over at the bucket just in case.
Nothing from it, and yet I was being tugged in the direction of the door. I approached it, and my palms hovered over the thick wood.
“Who is it?”
“Your mate.”
The deep timbre of Oz’s voice had me blinking. “How did you find me?”
“I followed my nose.”
Flinging open the door, I confronted him. “No way you followed it to me here.”
“It helps that I have connections. Although, it wasn’t easy. You’re unlisted.” He loomed in the doorway.
I couldn’t help but step back, overwhelmed by the sight and scent of him. Pure perfection. Longing rose in me, and a faint euphoria that he’d come. Then reality settled in. Remnants of the spell obviously still drove him.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“Funny, because I was going to say the same to you.”
He stalked into my home, and it filled with his presence.
“Whatever you think you’re feeling, it will fade. Soon I would guess since I’ve dismantled the spell.”
“Good. We don’t want any misunderstandings. Mundane authorities don’t like it when they find their population mauled to death.”
“Er. What?” Had he come here to kill me?
“Meaning if that locket ends up in the hands of another, I will get it back. Again and again, until you accept the truth.”
“What truth?”
He sighed. “Are you really going to make me spell it out? I love you, Jane Davey.”
“You only think you do because of the locket.”
“I didn’t have the locket when we met. Or the first time we kissed.”
“Which is why it was easy for the locket to ultimately twist your emotions,” I admitted, not without sadness. “You’ll get over it.”
“I will not get over it. You are everything I’ve ever wanted in a woman.”
“I’m bitchy.”
“Assertive. I happen to like a strong-minded woman.”
My heart had started beating again, a flutter of hope inside. But I just had to be me and argue. “I make it rain when I’m sad.”
“Then I’ll have to make sure you’re deliriously happy.”
I blinked at him, and it poured outside as tears trembled in my eyes. “Please stop making this harder than it has to be. You don’t really love me.”
“You are being deliberately dense.” He lifted me, hands gripping my forearms and raising me until we were at eye level. “I love you and not because of any damned spell. Or have you forgotten what I am? I’m a lion shifter. I was never charmed into anything.”
I pointed out the fallacy with facts. “You said you loved me after you got the locket from the sharks.”
“Only because I never had a chance to before. Or have you forgotten our short courtship?”
It was starting to sink in that he wasn’t here because of magic. A tremulous smile managed to tug my lips. “I don’t know if I’d call that courting.”
“Then, perhaps we need to start over. Jane Davey, would you do me the honor of joining me for dinner?”
He still held me, his strength not just in his hands but also in his personality, his character. I stared into his eyes. His beautiful orbs. I looked at his mouth. His decadent lips. “You want us to go out in public?”
“Yes.”
I shook my head. “Can’t.”
He frowned. “Why ever not?”
My lips curved into a smile. “Because the cops in this city give tickets out for acts of indecent exposure.”
“Are we going to get indecent?” There was such a hopeful lilt to the query.
“You have no idea.” I kissed him. The poor wall in the front hall would never be the same.
Since we had to make up time, we ordered in for the next three days, and it was only as I left him in the shower so one of us could remain clean that I bumped into my grandma walking in through the front door, bright sunlight chasing her.
“Where have you been?” I exclaimed, tucking my towel tighter. “I barely saw you on the ship, and then when the cruise was done, you just left me a note saying you were off on a mission with Shax. What kind of mission?”
Grandma waved a hand. “Not important. I’m guessing by the fact you’re not alone that my love spell worked.”
I snorted. “Not exactly as you planned. The locket had nothing to do with it. I ended up with Oz, the lion shifter.”
“I thought you mig
ht.”
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
Grandma tittered. “Oh, please. It was obvious from the moment you met that you were going to end up together.”
“Then why didn’t he have the locket from the beginning?”
“Because he’s a shifter, Jane. Really, use your head. The spell wasn’t able to work directly on him, so it created situations to bring you together.”
“You mean all those incidents…”
“Brought to you by the wonderful magic of yours truly.” Grandma preened. “You’re welcome.”
But, more importantly, it dispelled any lingering doubt that Oz truly did love me. I really was his mate. I flung my arms around Grandma’s neck and hugged her tightly. “Thank you.”
The next time I hugged her was at my own wedding, on the same ship where I’d met Oz while anchored over DJ’s Locker. My dad walked me down the aisle, scowling every inch of the way. My mother spent the ceremony sobbing from the massive clam shell brought on board specially to keep her moist.
Grandma danced the night away with her demi-demon beau and caught the bouquet.
As for me… I twirled in the arms of my husband—and mate—wearing a brand-new blue dress, borrowed pearl earrings, and an old locket with a picture of Oz and me inside.
Who needed magic when we’d found love?
Epilogue
A honeymoon on a tropical beach with golden sand.
I snuggled my lover, happy as could be, moonlight bathing my backside. My naked backside.
Finally, I understood why sex in the open could be fun. There was something naughty about it, the wicked exhilaration of possibly getting caught. It reminded me of the hedonistic pleasure I got dancing nude around a fire.
Even better, apparently, my dad now grasped why I’d disliked him and Mom going at it everywhere.
A wave washed over us, gurgling, “Get a room.”
Maybe later. First, I had to make sure the night we conceived our child under a full moon with both Oz’s goddess and my dark lord’s blessing was something to remember. And how did I know it would happen tonight? Grandma had given me a charm, and I knew better than to doubt her magic.
But I could have killed her when we later found out that it was twins.
This is the end of Jane’s story but keep reading for a sneak peek at the next Hell Cruise story.
During the maiden voyage of the Sushi Lover…right about the time Jane was getting ready for that first breakfast.
Sasha, a passenger on a cruise, woke up in her room aboard the ship. Hungover.
Still fully dressed atop the comforter but wearing something new.
A ring.
On her left hand. The stone set within the white metal was huge!
It was then that she had a brief recollection of saying “I do” in that all-night chapel beside the casino and kissing a dude that had her hyperventilating.
“Oh, dear God. I think I got married.”
What Sasha doesn’t know, but is about to find out, is that during that drunken wedding, she became the Bride of the Sea Monster…and it will take a whole lot of convincing before she’ll accept his love.
For more fun in the Welcome to Hell world see EveLanglais.com
Afterword
For more Hell book see EveLanglais.com.
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