by Mina Carter
The only items of real value were the crystal pendant and scroll sitting on the small altar in the corner of her bedroom. The words written in a scrawling Fae script on the scroll were the spell which allowed her to call her cleaning Wraiths into being.
After ten years of using the incantation, Tori knew it by heart. Evening classes in the Fae language had helped give her more of an understanding of the words she was using so… Her brow furrowed as she thought. If she changed the relevant words in the incantation…
Tori sat up in bed and looked over at the altar in the corner. Not a traditionally carved altar like her mother’s, it was more a small footstool with a navy velvet cloth over it. Small and easy to pack away in case she brought anyone home who wasn’t into the whole paranormal deal—people like Richard. It was why he hadn’t realized a lust potion wouldn’t work on her. He hadn’t known about her paranormal blood.
“Well, there’s one asshole who’s never seeing the inside of my bedroom,” she muttered to herself and threw off the covers to slide out of bed. Grabbing the robe off the chair, she padded over to the altar on bare feet and stood before it for a moment to study the contents. Small offerings of fresh flowers and incense lay to one side and on the other were her charms.
The large pendant sat in the middle of the partially unrolled scroll, both placed deliberately in the center of the altar. The chain wrapped around it with a lock of Tori’s hair trapped against the stone. Her hair and the words of the spell powered the enchantment. Holding her robe closed, she leaned forward and picked them up. The pendant held loosely in one hand, she flicked the scroll open and began to read…
“Thnall terantis Isskal,
Heran juris gerath,
Ceris teranis anak,
Heran Koras go-gothian totalis.
Aranath gosita terabi.”
* * *
Slumped in his new sleeping chambers in the domestic sector, Jacob didn’t expect the familiar tugging on the copper collar. Like all Wraiths in service, he wore a calling collar. It informed him when he was being summoned by someone in the mortal world.
Unlike a natural Wraith though, there would be no completion of service and ceremonial removal of the collar. Jacob was a spirit Wraith. He was bound and sustained by the collar, and if it was ever removed, his spirit would dissipate, scattering into the witching to be absorbed.
Nothingness. A fate Jacob had thought was worse than death, but after three years, he was beginning to warm to the idea. The problem was he couldn’t remove his own collar and commit suicide… More was the pity.
Turning on his side, Jacob punched his pillows to fluff them up and lay down.
Forcing his eyes to remain closed, he tried to get some rest. He needed sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a funfest filled not with the naked women he was used to, but feather dusters and mops. No more silk sheets for him unless he was washing them. Jacob groaned and started to count sheep. It didn’t work. The sheep turned into cleaning cloths and mocked him.
Great, even his subconscious thought he was a loser.
The familiar tugging on his collar had his eyes snapping open. Jacob sat up cautiously. He wasn’t due on rotation until the morning so what gave? The tugging became more insistent as heat blossomed out from his collar to fill his entire body. Jacob gasped as a line of fire streaked down the center of his chest and raced straight for his cock. He was hard in an instant, his balls tight with arousal.
“What the…” he whispered, looking around as though the walls of his cell-like room would provide the answer. They didn’t. The blank cream walls remained stubbornly devoid of information. The collar tugged again, and this time it felt like a hand around his cock. A hand that stroked and squeezed, urging him to give in and answer the call.
“This had better not be a call to clean the kitchen,” he growled as he closed his eyes and allowed the summoning to take him.
Chapter Two
Tori stood in the middle of her bedroom as the echo of the last word of the spell faded away. A word of power, it echoed in her ears for a moment before it rolled away into nothingness. She looked around the room, not entirely sure what she was expecting.
What she got was nothing.
“Huh, figures. Probably got it wrong anyway.”
Sighing, she wrapped the pendant up in the scroll and placed it down on the small altar again. Perhaps she needed to practice her Fae more… The words she’d substituted in the spell should have produced a male Wraith purely for her pleasure.
Knowing her luck, she’d said the incantation wrong, and she’d find Eric the nerdy librarian in her bed.
Tori turned, starting to unwrap her robe, ready to slip back into bed and at least try to get some sleep tonight. Halfway done, she stopped like a rabbit caught in the headlights.
There, standing by the side of her bed, was a Wraith.
“Oh my.”
Tori’s hand stole up to her throat. There were Wraiths and there were Wraiths.
Tori had seen a lot, but she’d never seen one quite like this.
He was gorgeous.
Solidly built, his toned muscles shimmered in the light from her bedside lamp as he moved, lifting his hand to beckon her toward him. Like the rest he didn’t speak, but unlike the others Tori didn’t have to try and catch a glimpse of what he looked like out of the corner of her eye.
He had grey eyes, the color of moonlight, that smiled at her as she approached.
Awe swelled in her chest. She’d done this. She’d called this magnificent creature into being, and she couldn’t quite believe it.
“You came from my imagination?” Unbidden, her hand stole out to touch his arm. Questing fingers found warm flesh and she jumped. “Oh! I expected you to be cold.”
He didn’t say anything, just looked down at her. Moving slowly as though trying not to startle her, he reached out and laced his fingers through hers. Storm grey eyes held hers as he lifted her hand to place it in the center of his chest.
“Oh.”
The strong beat of his heart thudded beneath her fingers as they spread out across his chiseled chest. She’d never considered Wraiths might have anything as mundane as a heartbeat. Why should they? They were creatures of moonlight and magic. Her attention moved over his shoulders and down.
A pair of jeans hung sinfully low on his hips and a tantalizing glimpse of darker hair arrowed down to disappear under the denim. Denim tented at the crotch, the thick ridge of an impressive erection pressing against the fabric, desperate for release.
Tori couldn’t help a small chuckle. “Pleased to see me…unless that’s a permanent state for the kind of Wraith you are. I don’t know. I’ve never done this before you know. You’re my first.”
* * *
Jacob’s cock swelled another couple of inches at her admission. He was her first?
Her first what…lover? No, the way she looked—all luscious curves, that mass of red hair and those exotic cat’s eyes—there was no way in hell she was a virgin.
Which was good from his point of view. Jacob was an experienced seducer but there were some situations he had zero experience with. Men and virgins, for example.
Thankfully he’d never been summoned to a situation with either. He wondered about that—perhaps the summoning knew what Wraith would best suit each assignment. His pondering took a back seat as he pressed a kiss against her knuckles.
Speech was forbidden. Possible, but forbidden, and if he tried it he’d be dragged back through the veil so quickly his eyeballs would rattle in his head. Jacob didn’t bother to try. He was supposed to be pulling domestic duty, but somehow the fates had screwed up, and he’d wound up in this siren’s bedroom. And he had a policy of never looking a gift horse in the mouth.
She gasped at the sensation of his lips against her skin and Jacob smiled. He liked that sound. Just as he liked the way she was watching him—as if he were the sun, the moon and the stars. It soothed something deep within his soul that she was actually looking at him a
nd not through him like the others did. To them he was just a spare cock, something they used to scratch an itch when a vibrator wouldn’t do the job, and nothing more.
This one was different. He could tell that as soon as he looked at her. It was the way she hesitated as she touched him and the slight flush on her cheeks as she checked him out from under her thick lashes. On a normal summoning he did as he was told and that was it. He came, he sucked, licked and fucked, and then he left. This one, though, hadn’t given an order yet.
“I’m Tori…”
Jacob silenced her with a kiss. Her lips were like chocolate and silk, everything he missed from his mortal life. He groaned and burrowed his hand into her hair. His lips feathered over hers in a soft touch designed to gauge her reaction. Her eyes fluttered closed, but she didn’t move, not even to grab his ass or, God forbid, cup his crotch where his cock stood ready at attention—his arousal courtesy of the summoning.
Most of the time he didn’t think about it. It helped him do his job, especially with some, but with Tori he didn’t need the extra stimulation. She was the sort of woman he’d have pursued with single-minded intensity before his death.
The tentative sweep of her tongue against his lower lip tested his control in ways Jacob had never thought possible. Usually he wanted to get right on with it, wanted to sweep his partner away on a sensual haze so complete they forgot everything but him, forgot everything but the sensations he created. He was rough and tough at times and never gave anything of himself unless ordered to.
The ones who wanted dominance and a dirty fuck were his favorites, the ones who wanted slow and sensual not so much, especially when he could see signs of an absent husband or partner. As far as he was concerned, they should be trying to build a relationship with whatever man he was filling in for and leave him free to find a woman he could build a rapport with, and some day, get to say the words which would free him.
Because, with very few exceptions, there were signs of a partner in all the bedrooms he was summoned to. Well, apart from the blonde twins a couple of months ago… Tori’s tongue flicked over his lower lip again and retreated. It was a sultry invitation to come and play and… Hell, did Jacob want to play.
Done messing about he pulled her hard against him. His hand splayed out to press her hips hard against his, grinding his erection into her soft belly. Without words he couldn’t tell her how hot she made him, so he’d have to settle for showing her instead. Following the retreat of her teasing tongue, he deepened the kiss and turned her toward the bed.
* * *
Wraith or not, this guy could kiss. Tori moaned as he ruthlessly explored her lips, then pried them apart and ravaged her mouth with a finesse that took her breath away. Her heart hammered as the cool sheets of her bed met her back. A whimper escaped her lips as he trailed a line of kisses along her jaw to nuzzle her neck. His hand parted her robe, sliding beneath the silky fabric to curve around her waist and then smooth upward.
Tori arched her back as he ran his fingers lightly over her ribcage. Her nipples tightened in anticipation, waiting for him to cup her breast, but he didn’t. Settling over her, he rested his weight on one arm and pulled her tighter into his body with the other.
The large, callused palm of his hand slid down over her hip and down her thigh. He continued to pay attention to her neck, finding the spot below her ear that made her squirm and concentrating on it.
Sharp teeth nipped her ear and made her jump. Then the warm brush of his tongue swept away the small hurt and turned Tori’s insides to mush. One simple incantation and she had the lover of her dreams. It couldn’t be that easy, surely? She couldn’t believe this was happening.
It was, though, and faster than she’d thought possible. Travelling down past her knee, his hand reached the hem of her nightgown and started its journey back up her leg. Heat raced through her veins and settled deep in her belly. His hand smoothed up and around the front of her thigh. As he claimed her lips again he urged her legs apart and started to stroke her inner thighs with soft sweeps of his fingertips.
Tori gasped, the sound lost in his mouth, as her pussy clenched tightly. She was already wet. Her cheeks flushed as he parted her folds and spread the slick heat of her arousal over her labia.
Appreciation rumbled in the broad chest she was nestled against, and Tori lost the power of thought as his clever fingers found her clit and circled it. The maddening small circles around and around the sensitive nub of flesh didn’t give her the touch she was desperate for. She panted and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, kissing him with a passion she’d never felt with her other “real” partners.
The circling continued. Tori growled in frustration and shoved her hips against his hand in a silent message to stop teasing her. Boldly, she slid her tongue against his, becoming the aggressor. Perhaps it was because she’d imagined him—because when they were done he would disappear back into the witching—that she felt she could relax and go with it, allow herself to revel in what she really wanted, and let the sensual creature inside out to play without fear of reprisals. It was liberating, giving herself permission to let go.
A low rumble of amusement sounded in the broad chest she lay against. The next stroke was right where she needed it. Pleasure, white hot and immediate, filled her, radiating outwards from the tight knot forming above her pussy. She kissed him breathlessly, needing more, demanding more.
He met her demands. His finger circled and flickered against her clit in teasing touches, then slid down to collect the result of her arousal from her wet slit and spread it over her clit. Soundlessly, she urged him on, obeying the instincts of her body rather than worrying “will he think I’m easy/loose/a slut?”
He kissed her hard, driving his tongue deep in a bold, domineering caress. Then he pulled away and moved down her body, leaving a trail of kisses in his wake.
Oh my. She knew where he was going, and her level of arousal hit the stratosphere. He took his time getting there, and she knew by the smile she could feel against her skin that it was deliberate. A soft curse left her lips as he licked across her collarbone with a slow, sensual sweep of his tongue that should be illegal.
Her pussy clenched hard as he moved further down. His lips were a whisper over the sensitive skin of her breast, and his hands molded them with what seemed like reverence through the thin fabric of her nightgown. Then his lips reached the barrier of the lace and stopped.
Tori looked down in puzzlement—what was he doing?—only to find him looking up at her, a question in his eyes. She frowned, not sure what he wanted and almost losing herself in the tempestuous storm grey of his eyes. She’d always wondered what a Wraith’s eyes looked like, and his were beautiful. In answer he hooked his hand into the neckline of her nightgown and raised an eyebrow.
“Oh! Yes, it can go… I—it’s old,” she whispered, the very idea sending waves of heat licking over her skin. She’d never had a man tear the clothes from her body before.
They’d always been too polite and careful, like sex was a boardroom affair with rules and regulations. Tori wanted more than that. She wanted passion and fire. She wanted a man who lost control when he was around her and just had to have her, no matter what the consequences.
He smiled and it was like the sun emerging from behind the clouds. His eyes held hers as he pulled on her neckline. The sound of tearing fabric filled the room as he tore the nightgown down the front in a long, slow movement.
Tori lost the ability to breathe. It was the most erotic thing she’d ever experienced. Heat flared in his eyes, need tightening his expression as his gaze moved downwards over her newly revealed body. His visual caress lingered on her full tits.
She bit her lip as her nipples hardened to tight pebbles just begging for his touch.
His storm-grey gaze slid lower to the juncture of her thighs, and the fire in his eyes flared into an inferno. Tori flushed, realizing she was spread out for his approval like some sort of ancient slave girl in front of her
master…or the heroine in a bodice ripper waiting for her dark lord to take her.
Take her. Oh God, yes please.
She couldn’t restrain her whimper this time and his eyes flicked back to hers at the sound. A smile curved his lips, sinfully full lips no man should ever be allowed, and he bent his head. Tori gasped as his tongue swirled around one sensitive nipple before sucking it directly into the warmth of his mouth.
With no warning, no preamble, he spread the lips of her pussy and thrust two fingers inside her. The intimate invasion had her hips arching off the bed like she’d been hit with an electric shock. Liquid heat flooded her body as he thrust in and out of her pussy, fucking her with dexterous fingers. Dexterous fingers that stroked and touched in all the right places.
“Oh God, yes…” she moaned, her hips jerking to get more of the delicious sensations as he suckled on her breasts. The hard knot of arousal between her legs expanded and radiated outwards. She needed so much more, her hips moving in small, restless movements against his hand.
“Please.” For some reason, with him, she had no trouble asking for what she wanted. “I want you to—”
She didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence, didn’t get a chance to demand he quit the teasing and just fuck her. In the next moment he moved, settling between her thighs, and the feel of his hot breath against her pussy wiped all other thoughts from her mind.
He parted her with gentle fingers and the soft touch of his breath washed over her. Tori moaned as her body clenched in anticipation, stilling as she waited for him to move…to do something.
She waited.
And waited.
Then, when she was about to look up and demand he do it, his tongue brushed over her clit.
“Oh…my…God—”
She got one brush. One soft sweep as he dragged his tongue against her clit, the rough satin heat pulling at the hooded button of flesh for a second before it swept back.
He drove his tongue deep into her body and rumbled in appreciation. Tori almost passed out with pleasure as he fucked her with his tongue then swept up to fasten his mouth over her clit.