by April Vine
A sudden burst of energy scalded his arms. He counteracted with a flood of ice using nothing but his thoughts to conjure the counteractive move.
“You are protecting a ghost. Once she reaches my hell it will be only a matter of time before her breath ceases forever but not so soon that I won’t put my cock in every orifice she has.”
Zach refused to be undermined by his words, because he knew beyond all doubt Nikita was his and he’d keep her alive at any cost. He shielded off poison-spiked nails and deathly fumes. All the while he kept closing the distance between him and Nathaniel, his maneuvers clearly shocking the warlock. He reached his hand out and curled it around Nathaniel’s throat, unaffected by the flames Nathaniel blazed his way. The light around him tinted suddenly to a soft hue of purple, the wind stilled. A sweet perfume twirled in the air. He knew that fragrance. It was Nikita’s. He smelled her all around him, and yet he knew she remained securely protected from Nathaniel and his madness. His heart swelled at the scent of her, fiercely encompassing everything he was worth, pouring out of his pores. The strength of his love for her obliterated time and place and man. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her.
He squeezed the hand around Nathaniel’s throat. The warlock’s eyes bulged from his sockets before he crumbled and hit the earth with stunned surprise. Zach didn’t let go of his hold, not until Nathaniel disintegrated into a heap of smoking ash.
He rose and walked to where she stood rooted and shielded. He dropped the safe casing and without letting her say a word, delivered his instruction.
“Explain.”
Nikita read the no-nonsense tone in his voice. She didn’t want to argue with him anyway, not when the thought of Nathaniel defeated zoomed in her head or that now with Nathaniel’s death, Meralda would decay into nothingness.
“My father was the king of all warlocks and witches. Nathaniel was one of his apprentices who got greedy once his powers came to the fore and…killed my father and destroyed my family. I managed to escape to this realm only because my aunt cast a spell on me. I wouldn’t be allowed here if she didn’t, and that spell also kept Nathaniel from entering this domain. My sister didn’t make it out. Nathaniel caught her and kept her as a means to pay for his gambling addiction. I pay him to preserve her virginity because he if takes her, she will be doomed forever.”
“What kind of a spell did your aunt use on you?”
“She condemned me to this realm for an eternity. I could only return back home if I gave my heart to someone here. My thirst for revenge against Nathaniel ensured that that would never happen and I was better off here protecting my sister than there, helpless to help us both. If I entered Nathaniel’s realm as I am, I would be powerless to fight him and I too would end up his victim and die sooner rather than later. So I absorbed a special kind of poison into my system, one that when I touched him would kill him instantly.”
“Could you have passed that poison on to me as well? Is that how I killed Nathaniel?”
“No, there is no way I could have passed that on to you. I think…perhaps…from touching me…some of it might have stayed on your body… your fingers.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke. Speaking intimate details such as that brought heat to her face.
“What exactly do you mean, give your heart away? You said you could give it away to anyone but what does it entail exactly?”
She couldn’t avoid answering that question any longer. She turned away from him, too afraid to see the rejection in his eyes as he told her he belonged to someone else, had given his heart to someone else.
“No. Not just anyone. I didn’t think it would ever happen but it did.”
“What did?”
She ran her hands through her hair and then wrung them together, deliberately stalling before she answered him.
“Oh, oh, oh. We have it. We have it and what a happy day it is indeed.”
The small stretch of silence between her and Zach as she prolonged answering him ended by the bustling approach of the three witches. She couldn’t help the small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as she glanced at the three sisters glowing and rosy-cheeked with their eyes sparkling happily.
“We have the answer. The priestess has confirmed what we already knew all along.” Aunt Surtie stepped into the circle, none of them aware of the events that had taken place not minutes ago.
“Yes, yes,” Aunt Lindie chirped in.
“Hold on to your hats,” Aunt Esmie warned.
“As you know, being in the Eleventh Realm as you were meant that you’d have to give your heart to a man worthy of you. You, sweet child, have chosen Zach. But your love for him flirted with the power of the spell your aunt Regina put on you and so you gave him more than your heart, you gave him your soul and your body, something the spell didn’t anticipate. It is unheard of, the priestess says, because such a spell as to place you in the Eleventh Realm usually mutates to overcome everything, but it’s the only explanation as to why you gave Zach not only your heart, but your powers too.”
Did they have to keep repeating how she gave her heart to him? It’s not as if he wanted it or needed it for that matter.
“You two are sworn together for eternity.”
“But there must be a way to reverse the effects.” She hated that her voice squeaked, that her hands trembled at her sides. She couldn’t condemn him to a life bound to her. He belonged to someone else. Another aspect of the spell dictated that no one could fall in love with her and although she was not stupid to think Zach didn’t find her sexually attractive, his heart belonged to the woman he wanted to marry. “What did the priestess say about reversing it?” she begged them for a proper solution.
“Reverse it?” they asked in unison.
“But why, child?”
“Because it isn’t right. Zach had nothing to do with my plan to go back home. I had ulterior motives. I wanted to end Nathaniel’s reign once and for all and free my sister. Now that it’s done, everything here can go back to normal. What did the priestess say about curing Zach?”
“But, my dear…”
“What?” she asked.
“Zach’s in love with you,” they all shouted with glee at once.
“That isn’t possible. You know that. In the Eleventh Realm I am unworthy of accepting someone else’s love. That can’t change.”
“But it has and it’s got nothing to do with his glowing nether tip either. And while we’re on the subject of his pecker, the dear man can glow to his heart’s content now and not worry about it. With your powers running through him, no harm will come to him.”
“His love for you is greater than the spell Regina cast on you and greater than your witch powers, Nikita,” Esmie said.
“He wanted all of you, and your powers were a part of you,” Surtie said.
“And that kind of intensity is rare but it has happened. Look at Sebastian and Michelle,” Lindie finished.
“This wouldn’t have happened if Zach loved you an ounce less,” Esmie started again.
“It’s irreversible. Zach will be the keeper of your powers until the end of time and in doing that, the keeper of your life too.” Lindie shook her head, smiling broader than the sunlight encompassing the sky.
“It’s meant to be,” Surtie added.
Nikita’s gaze crept toward his face, dreading denial, shock, absurdity. She came away with nothing. His face remained enigmatic until his gaze locked with hers. Her breath stalled, hot blood rose into her cheeks, the earth beneath her feet threatened to keep spinning her about if she didn’t say something, anything. She said nothing because words failed her completely.
She didn’t see the witches noisily making an escape, uttering sentences about leaving the two of them to sort their stuff out, wondering whether they should cast an amenable spell on them to speed up what already was a magnificent love, but forgoing that for tea instead.
“So you love me, huh?”
“Zach, you can overcome this. I’ll leave at once, I’
m sure the witches can work up a spell to send me back home and you can go back to your normal life and marry your fiancée and everything will go back to the way it was. I need to be with my sister.”
“Oh, did we mention that you two are bound for life? Just checking, but one won’t live without the other even though over time, under Zach’s protection and love, deeply embedded dormant powers within Nikita will start to naturally strengthen, restoring her abilities as a witch. That however won’t change the bond that keeps you together.”
Nikita spun around to track the sound. She knew it was from one of the sisters, she just didn’t know which one delivered the most ridiculous stipulation ever known to man or witch. How much more warped could the situation get?
“I’ll bring your sister here if you like. We’ll spend half our lives here and half there, anything you want. And I’m not getting married,” he said quietly.
“But I ruined your engagement dinner.”
“You ruined the engagement dinner that was meant for my sister, not me.”
“But that woman—”
“Is no one important to me.” He reached around her waist, pulling her toward him.
“But—”
He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Didn’t you hear the witches? I love you.”
“Zach,” she said softly, just before he captured her lips with his and kissed her tenderly.
“Eternity is a long time.”
“Not long enough.”
“Your mother hates me.”
He threw his head back and laughed and she fell in love with him all over again.
“She’ll come around.”
“Eternity is a long time,” she reminded him again.
“Marry me, Nikita.”
“Oh Zach, yes, yes, yes.” His eyes darkened at her words. She knew what they reminded him of. There was nothing in this world she could refuse him. No matter what he asked or begged or demanded, she’d submit to him time and again.
He scooped her up and carried her over the rim of the circle to his car.
“You said you were a virgin with me that time.”
“I was, because it was the first time I ever fell in love.”
“So how do I get you pregnant?”
“You just will it, darling, like magic.”
“Yeah. If I will that, can you feel it?”
“Zach,” she gasped. With delicate care, she felt his fingers stroke her pussy, his mouth kiss her clit even though he carried her in his arms. She tightened her hold around his neck. “I love you, Zachary Wilson.”
“I love you, Nikita.”
“Ah, isn’t that the most beautiful sight you’ve ever seen?” Again the witches’ voices wafted through the air but they were nowhere to be seen. They listened intently as the witches concocted more mischief.
“We did good, sisters mine. Lighting up Zach’s dang-ding was the best idea ever.”
“Indeed, sisters mine. And then sending him to beautiful Nikita was an even better idea. Now as Nikita’s self-appointed guardians, we have the wedding of the millennium to plan. Oh dear, we mustn’t forget we promised Henry he could be a bridesmaid.”
“Indeed, sisters mine. Two down, one to go. Now how can we bring Nick the forever happy after he doesn’t know he is looking for?”
Zach smiled at her as he deposited her into his car and slid into the driver’s seat. “Poor Nick. If he has any sense, he’ll come willingly.”
Nikita stared at him, at the power in his hands as he steered them out of the Gray driveway. Unable to believe this man with his staggering body heat that placed her in a state of perpetual want was going to be her husband.
“You know you’re never going to be cured of your glowing cock now?”
“I kinda like it, makes me fierce.” He laughed. “You still like it, don’t you?”
“I love it.”
“Good.”
“Where to?” she asked.
“Home,” he said, taking her hand to his mouth where he kissed the pulse beating on the inside of her wrist.
The End
About April Vine
April Vine writes erotic romance by night and is a professional dreamer by day. She has two precious sons who keep her sharp and one very tolerant husband who chivalrously defends her honor on a daily basis.
April welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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Also by April Vine
Unbound
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
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Undone
ISBN 9781419941344
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Undone Copyright © 2012 April Vine
Edited by Grace Bradley
Cover design by Caitlin Fry
Photos: Paul Matthew Photography and Forewer/Shutterstock.com
Electronic book publication October 2012
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight