by Reders, E. M
~
Awaking the following morning, with Ethan’s warm naked chest as my pillow once again, I couldn’t have been happier. For the first time in my life, I felt complete, whole. I had never realised before that something was missing from my life, but now with the bond between Ethan and I complete, I realised that this was how it was meant to be. We really were made for each other.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, pressing a kiss to my temple.
“Perfect.”
“Are you sore?”
“Shouldn’t you already know the answer to that question?” With us now fully bonded the connection would allow him to always know where and how I was, both physically and emotionally.
“A little sore, but nothing too painful.” He smiled. “It’s strange, knowing deep in my heart that you’re okay. Knowing that I will always be able to find you helps to reassure my wolf and me that we are capable of protecting you.”
We headed down to breakfast a little while later, but only after Ethan had showed me the fantastic benefits of showering together. It took a little while longer than usual; Ethan determined to give me, at least, two more orgasms before we vacated the bathroom.
I’d been hoping that we would see Frankie at breakfast. I was a little worried about him after everything he had learned the night before. But he wasn’t there. And neither was Jennifer, but that could have been for many reasons.
We spotted Dyanna and Zak sitting over by the window, completely absorbed in one another. Taking a seat opposite them, our backs to the window, Ethan laughed. “Don’t you two ever do anything but fuck and make out?”
Growling at the disruption, Zak snapped. “At least I'm getting some. Why don’t you take a leaf out of my book and claim your damn mate.”
“From what I can tell he already has,” Dyanna gasped, standing up to stare out of the window. “Look.”
Turning around, my heart skipped a beat at what I saw. The gardens that surrounded the packhouse had always been beautiful, some areas like the maze a little un-kept but beautiful none the same. But now they were stunning. “Oh my God,” I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth.
“Come on,” Ethan urged as he took my hand and lead me outside.
Standing on the front steps of the house, we looked out over the lawn. The grass was greener, healthier than it had ever been. The flower beds were filled with beautiful blooms. No matter what season they were meant to flower, they were blooming now. The apple trees in the small orchid were covered with the deep red fruits. “How the hell?”
“When the two of you bonded your powers spiked, spreading out subconsciously and helping create all of this,” Grace explained as she made her way up the path towards us, a basket of vegetables in her arms. “It spread all the way down to the boarders of the property. If it hadn’t been for the enchantments we placed the other day, it probably would have spread much further.” Laying the basket down and grasping my hands tightly, she told me, “I always had faith that you would reach your true potential, that one day I would be able to help you train without having to stop you accessing your full powers. Now that day has come. Follow me.” She smiled, turning away and heading around the back of the building.
As we made to follow, Ethan’s father, the power of the Alpha in his voice, spoke from the doorway behind us. “Not you males. You have some work to do.”
“Not the blasted vault again,” Zak moaned.
“Father, please? We just bonded. Surely you wouldn’t make me leave the side of my new mate?”
“Normally I would not,” his father laughed. “But unlike other mated pairs, you two have mated witches and have the added benefit of a supernatural GPS… so tough shit. And no, Zak, it’s not the vault today. Instead, you are going to help Frankie the others down in the allotments. There seems to suddenly be no shortage of food to harvest,” he added, smiling in my direction before turning to leave. “Say your farewells, boys, and follow me.”
Chapter Twenty
~
Kaia
Stood in the middle of the lawn, I readied myself for whatever Grace would throw at me. My training had been very lacking due to how easy it was for my power to be tracked. Now, finally not having to hold it back anymore, I had no idea what to expect.
“Now I know we have tried this before, with some degree of success, but I would like to try it again,” she said, walking around me in a large circle. “I want you to reach down into the earth, feel what is there now, what was there before, and see what you can bring to the surface.”
Remembering the last time I had tried this and the little tiny flower I had been able to grow and bring to the surface, I didn’t hold out much hope. I moved to reach down, to touch the ground with my hands, but Grace instructed me not to. She wanted me to try without direct contact.
Using my newly awoken senses, I worked my way through the earth below, searching. In the past, I had only been able to feel and search the first few layers, but now I found that I could reach much further. Wanting to test this new ability I decided to see just how far I was able to sense. Pushing my way down I passed the soil, entering the rock below and digging further down into the many layers of the earth.
This was amazing. Feeling giddy, I smiled as I realised that there was no limit to how far I could go. I was reaching right down through the many layers of mantle, right down into the core itself. I could feel it all.
Coming back to myself, I finally started to concentrate on the task Grace had given me. Finding the long dead roots of a red oak, I contemplated moving on to something else, something smaller, but then again... what if I could do it? What if I could bring this ancient tree back to life? There was only one way to find out.
I’m not exactly sure how I did it, but as soon as my mind was set on the task the root took life, growing and spreading out until the roots were complete and it began sprouting upwards. Breaking through the soil, the trunk of the tree thickened, branches reaching out and spreading, leafs sprouting. It kept on growing until before us stood a mature red oak over seventy feet high.
“Holy shit!” Dyanna laughed, jumping up and down, clapping her hands excitedly. “How the fuck did you do that?”
“I don’t know,” I stared in wonder. I truly didn’t.
Grace had me repeat the process a few more times before we moved on to working with the earth itself instead of the life within it. This was something I’d had very little success with in the past, much less than with the plants I had practised on. By the end of the session, stood surrounded by beautiful rock formations, I was in no doubt that my powers were now fully at my disposal, but there were still a few things I had a little trouble doing. I had some work to do before I would be strong enough to go against the demon.
“There is just one thing missing,” Grace said as we made our way back to the house.
“And what’s that?”
“The Earthstone. Wherever it is.”
“What do you mean? I thought one of the covens had it.”
Each of the original four Elemental witches had a stone, a magical artefact that helped them to control and refine their powers. Those stones had been hidden after their deaths, kept safe for future Elementals when they came into their full abilities. Of course, no Elemental since then had gained those powers… until me, meaning that the stones were still hidden. I had always been under the impression that the locations of the stones were known by the Crones.
“The Earthstone was gifted by the covens to another, where or why I have no idea, but it has been generations since it was safe with us.”
Without the stone, I wouldn’t have a chance in hell of surviving an attack by the demon. I was powerful, yes, but the stone was what would give me that extra edge, enhance my power. Without it, I would more than likely fall to the demon the moment we met. “Then what do we do?”
“We wait and hope that fate yet has another hand to play.”
~
Ethan
Sweaty and covered in dir
t, I stumbled into the shower, sighing as the cool water beat down on my aching back. I swear the pack wouldn’t need any groceries for months after all the food we had harvested; the pantries were full. We had been hard at it for hours, Frankie filling us in on what had happened the night before when he had gone looking for Jennifer.
“Took a while, but once I tracked her down I managed to get her alone long enough to get a full response from my wolf. She’s my mate alright, but she doesn’t want to know.”
“I thought with her having a crush on you, she would be happy with the news that you were mates.”
“So did I. But apparently not. She said she didn’t want to be tied to a possessive wolf for all of eternity. She wants a life.”
Jennifer’s mum, Hannah, had mated Jericho, Chelsea’s father when Jennifer was six, and he was very possessive of her. She had been made to leave her job, her home. If it hadn’t been for Hannah’s insistence, I had a feeling that he would have made her leave Jennifer with her father permanently. As it was, she had been sent away to boarding school soon after they moved to the packhouse, only spending the half of the summer holidays here every year. Jennifer may have had a crush on Frankie, but the thought of a mating a wolf probably terrified her.
There was no advice I could give Frankie other than to talk to her, take things slow and explain to her that he didn’t want to control her life the way Jericho did her mother.
Exiting the bathroom, a towel around my waist, I found Kaia sat cross-legged in the centre of the bed, the heavy ‘Book of Earth’ in her lap. Over the past few hours, I had felt both happiness and worry through the bond. Concentrating on her now, I could feel her growing frustration. “What’s wrong?” I asked, sitting down beside her.
Leaning into my shoulder, she sighed, “That,” pointing down to the page she was studying.
Taking it from her I began to read, my heart beating wildly as I recognised the description of the stone it described.
Perfectly smooth, as green in colour as the eyes of the Earth witch herself, the stone was set and crafted to be worn around the neck. After the fall of Avani, the stone was given to the protection of her Coven, to protect until the next in line came into her powers. In the late 1800’s a prophecy was made that lead to the stones protection being turned over to another, where it still remains to this day.
“That’s it. We are well and truly doomed,” she cried, bursting into tears as her emotions and the stress of the past week got the better of her.
Putting the book down, I pulled her into my arms, shushing her as I rocked her back and forth. “Kaia, it’s okay. Everything will be okay.”
“No it won’t,” she wailed. “Without that stone I can’t concentrate my powers enough to stop the demon. He’s coming, Ethan. I can feel it.”
“Kaia, listen to me,” I said as her panic continued to rise. “With everything that has happened over the past few days since the ritual I’d completely forgotten about it. My father had all of the males attending the ritual that night select a gift to grant the witch, should one of them be chosen. I selected mine from the vault that morning after the announcement was first made. I hadn’t really known what to grant as my gift. I’d just wandered around the vault randomly picking things up. Isaac pointed me towards a table filled with jewellery and at first, I didn’t see anything of interest, though, to be honest, at the time I wasn’t really interested in selecting anything. Then I saw something, something that instantly had me thinking of you.”
Her tear filled eyes rose to meet mine. “Me?”
“Your eyes, Kaia, it reminded me of your eyes.”
Clicking on to what I was trying to tell her, she sat up straight, hope filling her, travelling through the bond to me. “Are you telling me that you have it? Are you saying that you have the Earthstone?”
I was positive I did. With everything I had found down in the vault, the necklace and the books, what other conclusion could I come to?
Moving across the room, I removed the small wooden box that had once belonged to my mother from my desk draw and carried it back to the bed, placing it down before her. “Whatever this prophecy was, I think it had something do with us, with the pack. I think somehow the old keepers of this stone knew that one day it would be needed here and that you would be the mate of a wolf from this pack.”
Her hands were shaking as she opened the box, her breath leaving her lungs in a huge sigh of relief as she gazed down upon the magnificent green stone. I had thought it beautiful before, but now, with Kaia present, it seemed to shine, the colours more vibrant than ever. Just as I thought she was about to reach out and touch it, pick it up, she snapped the lid shut.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
Turning her beautiful deep green eyes upon me, I saw the desire in them, the heat. “Oh.”
Smiling as she reached out and pulled my head down, sealing our lips in a hot, ferocious kiss. So far I’d always seemed to be the instigator in everything sexual, but now Kaia was making all the moves.
Climbing into my lap, she straddled my hips, then started kissing her way down my neck as she whispered words of thanks over and over again. Pulling back, I quickly removed her dress and threw it across the room, the bra following quickly after. Grounding down on my hard cock, her back arched, she offered up her breasts for my attentions. Unable to resist the lush mounds before me, I sucked one of her nipples into my mouth, teasing it with my teeth and tongue before moving on to the other and repeating the process.
Sliding my hand down between our bodies, I found the fabric of her panties wet with her arousal. My wolf growled with approval. Pulling the damp fabric aside, I teased her entrance, gathering her juices and spreading them up and over her distended clit. The fleeting touch made her shiver with pleasure.
Pushing back suddenly, she climbed off my lap and knelt before me on the bed, mischief lurking in her eyes. “I want to try something,” she said as she reached for the towel tented up at my waist, no longer doing a very good job of covering my cock.
“Anything you want, sweetheart.”
Removing the towel, she looked down upon my hard cock and licked her lips. The sight made my cock twitch and a little laugh to escape her. “I think he likes you.”
“I like him, too.”
Lowering her head, her ass up in the air, leaving her pussy within my reach, she licked the tip of my cock, swiping at the droplet that had formed there. “Fuck,” I growled as she continued licking around the swollen head before taking my length into her mouth. Inch by inch she moved down until her lips were flush with the base of my cock.
“Oh that feels good,” I groaned. Wrapping one hand in her silken locks, I guided her to the pace I liked, my other hand sliding over her back and down to the wet heat between her thighs. As I pushed my fingers deep inside her, she moaned, the sound vibrating down my shaft, driving me closer to my release. “Sweetheart, if you don’t want me to come down your throat you better let me know now.” When she didn’t move to release me, I took that as a sign she was fine with it. Her emotions through the bond also gave me the impression that she wanted me to come in her mouth.
“Hold still and relax your throat,” I urged as I laced both my hands in her hair and began to drive deep, thrusting into her hot mouth over and over again. Pushing deep, her name a hoarse shout from my lips, I came with a roar, coating her throat with my seed before slowly withdrawing.
After lapping up every last drop from my softening cock, Kaia laid down on the bed, a satisfied smile upon her face. “Did you enjoy that, sweetheart?” I asked stretching out beside her.
“Very much so,” she sighed.
Brushing my mouth against hers, I whispered, “Well there is plenty more to come, which I am sure will be just as enjoyable, if not more.” Sealing our lips in a dizzying kiss, I ripped her panties from her body, leaving her naked beneath me and ready for my possession. Gripping my rapidly awakening cock in hand, I positioned myself at the entrance to her hot, wet haven, movin
g forward to fill her as screams rang through the house.
Chapter Twenty One
~
Kaia
At first, when the wailing screams rang through the air, I didn’t know what in the world was happening. Then realisation hit and I pushed Ethan away, scrambling for my discarded clothes. Doing the same, Ethan asked, “What is that?”
“It’s a warning,” I gasped, “from one of the spells that Grace and Dyanna placed on the border. Something’s attempting to breach the wards.”
Why? Why did this have to happen now? Ethan had just been moments away from filling me, to giving me the release and closeness to him that I carved, and the damn demon decided to show up now? Just my luck. Couldn’t the fucker give me just one more night of passion with the man I loved before he killed me?
“Something?”
“The demon is my guess. It has to be.” I couldn’t think of anything else that would dare try. When Chelsea had tried to summon Abaddon I’d known that he would come, but I’d hoped that it would take him longer than this to reach me. Then again, he was a demon after all, with the ability to move instantaneously from one space to another. I guess I was lucky to have had as long as I did.
Speeding out of the door, we practically ran straight into Dyanna and Zak as they came pounding down the corridor towards us. “Is it him, Kaia, is it the demon?”
“I'm not sure yet. Ethan, grab the stone. If it’s him we’re going to need it.”
The hallways were filled with wolves, both in human and canine form, heading downstairs to await instructions from the Alpha. As we ran, I spotted Frankie banging loudly on Jennifer’s door with both fists, his face red with rage. “For fuck sack, Jen, come out!”
“What’s wrong?” I panted as we halted next to him.
“She’s so damn stubborn, that’s what. Even with danger closing in she won’t leave her fucking room.”
“I will once you fuck off!” I heard her shout from the other side of the door.