Soul Magic

by Jennifer Lyon

  As she had chosen him, she now unleashed everything she had to save his soul. To save him. The bloodlust drowned out under the waves of her magic, and what rose in its place was a fierce hunger to mate with the other half of his soul.

  When her magic settled, Carla stood in front of the sliding glass door with her arms raised, her head tilted back, her hair hanging down her back, and completely nude. Except for the silver band around her left biceps.

  His bloodlust struggled to surface but it was the hunger that took hold of his muscles and walked him to his destiny. With every step, the curse pounded at him, breaking his body out in chills and sweats, ringing his head with the lancing pain of withdrawal. Shivering him with the bloody cravings. But just ahead of him was Carla … his witch. His. He knew what she was sacrificing for him.

  With each step another wave of agony was driven into his tendons and bones.

  Two steps away from her, away from the part of him that had been missing all of his life, and Sutton realized his boxers were gone, too. His cock had risen to the call of her power. Her magic had stripped them both down to their skin and laid their hearts bare. He didn’t care.

  One step and the curse roared with the viciousness of a blowtorch to each muscle, each vein, each cell of his body. His body locked up, his brain on fire.

  And yet, there Carla stood, eyes closed, magic sparkling, her arms raised, body arched … so vulnerable. She’d even pushed out the protection of Axel and Darcy, so that nothing stood between her and him. He could do anything to her. Anything. She’d laid herself open to him to save him.

  He would not hurt her. Ever. Using all his will, he took the last step, reaching out to her and laying his hands on her full rounded hips.

  The palms of his hands sizzled, the simple act of touching her roared through his blood, chasing the curse, cornering it and caging it. The curse hissed and sputtered, but it was lost beneath the feel of her skin and the knowledge that once their souls joined, the bloodlust would die forever.

  “Carla.” He wanted to give her words as exquisite and real as hers had been, but his brain was empty of everything but her.

  She opened her eyes slowly, as if her lids were too heavy.

  He sucked in a breath. Her pupils were swollen, and the green, brown, and yellow colors swirled within, revealing the soul of his witch. His heart pounded, his blood pumped, his cock was rigid and painful. He had to get inside her, had to seal her to him.

  He had to ease the power thrumming in her, making her hurt, ache, and undulate.

  Lifting her in his arms, he took her to his bed. He rested her on his knee while he yanked the chains off the bed, then stripped back the covers to reveal fresh sheets. He moved her to the center of his bed and looked at her.

  Her silvery witch-shimmer was filling with gold until the sheer beauty made his throat hurt. Her breasts were swollen, almost distended, and her dark nipples were tight and ready for his tongue. He loved the flare of her hips with the soft belly in between. His cock leaped with excitement and brutal need at the sight of her triangle of blond hair at the juncture of her thighs.

  She was his. His to love and care for. It just … shook him. A woman of his own, a witch, a soul of such significance that it took a man and a bird to be worthy of her. A ripple rolled over her, thrusting out her breasts, then her stomach, then her hips. He recognized that power surging in her, causing her pain.

  She needed him. Needed him to touch, stroke, and fill her until the two of them were joined at their souls. He leaned down and traced her lips with his tongue.

  She sucked in her breath.

  Sutton gave her his tongue, sliding it in between her lips to stroke and tease and taste. He ran his hand down the side of her neck over her shoulder then circled one breast, then the other.

  Her body shuddered, her magic filling her. It tangled with the scent of her musky desire and lavender skin. As much as he loved kissing her, loved plumbing the intimacy of her mouth, he needed to taste all of her. He shifted away, licking a trail down her throat.

  “Please.” It was almost a sob.

  Sutton spread his hand over her ribs, feeling both her fragility and her power. So damned enticing. When he felt the curve of her breast beneath his lips, he lifted his head. Looked into her eyes. “Tell me.”

  Her eyes pleaded with him. “Too much power. It’s rolling and shifting inside me.”

  He looked down at her breasts, trailing his finger over an ethereal blue vein until it disappeared under the dark areola. Sexy as hell. “Here?”

  “Yes!” She curled her fingers at her side.

  He dipped his head down, dragged his tongue over her nipple, then suckled until her body rose off the bed.

  He slipped his hand from her ribs to her belly and shifted his mouth to her other breast, nipping and laving until she was squirming with sighs and moans that nearly made him come. He let her nipple fall from his mouth, and watched as he slid his hand into the triangle of hair. She was wet and swollen there, her folds parting for him. Her breath caught.

  He forced his gaze to her face. “Here, baby? Does it ache here?” He slid one finger into her. Her walls were warm and slick and tugged at him.

  “Yes.”

  “More?” He asked in a voice that was sex-rough.

  “Yes.” Her voice was soft and desperate.

  He slid in a second finger, and good Christ, she took him. Her body sucked him in. A tremor rocketed through him. The idea of being able to thrust his entire cock into her excited the hell out of him. She was so close now.

  He stopped.

  She whimpered and writhed.

  Sutton knelt on the bed between her thighs. “I’m going to taste you, my golden witch. I need to …” He spread her thighs, looked down, and forgot how to speak. With her knees spread wide, he could see that she was swollen with desire for him. She was his witch, his soul mirror. His to love.

  He leaned in and dragged his tongue all the way up to her swollen clit.

  She went tight, her back bowing with tension, while her scent surrounded him. He caught her clit, drawing it gently between his lips to suckle her, and filled her with his two fingers. He drew on her and thrust his fingers inside of her until she came apart, crying out, her body shuddering against him.

  He couldn’t stop, couldn’t get enough of her. Yet his own lust had him panting against her, his hands burrowing into her soft hips. He needed …

  She curled up, reaching between her legs to caress his head with her hands. “Come here, Sutton. Come inside me.”

  Yes. Now. He lifted his head and pushed up the length of her, and looked into the swirling colors of her eyes. She had climaxed hard against his mouth, but she needed more. He could see it building in her again, pulsing and begging. His cock throbbed and twitched with the matching agony.

  Carla reached down, and wrapped her fingers around him.

  He sucked in a breath, arching into her hand.

  And then she bent her legs, and pressed the head of his cock to her entrance. Her damp fragrant skin, so soft and delicate, touched the head of his cock and he surged inside her.

  His heart shot up to his throat as the perfect moment stretched out, going deeper and deeper into a tight, slick bed of magic that tightened his balls and sent lightning strikes of pleasure through him.

  Her hands dug into his shoulders. “I… more,” she cried.

  The colors in her eyes quickened, and he felt her body pull at him. Her magic was pouring around him, circling his cock and beginning to spin. Trying to draw him deeper into her body.

  He could tell that she needed this as badly as he did. He couldn’t stop. Wouldn’t. He thrust again, surging so deeply inside of her, he felt something touch and fuse between them. And then, he just felt. His need, hers. He was pumping into her, harder and wilder, Carla’s sweet noises pushing him on, her body bucking against him, meeting him, sucking him.

  And then she touched his eagle and cried out the words that sealed them. “I choose
you.”

  White-hot pleasure raced up his spine. He looked down at her face, seeing her head thrown back, watching as unbearable pleasure opened her mouth on sweet cries, saw the spinning colors in her eyes fragment into a stunning kaleidoscope.

  Then his orgasm hit. He buried himself in her, his body bowing with the spasms of raw, soul-shattering pleasure.

  Finally he caught his breath, braced his arms around her head, and kissed her. When he looked again into her eyes, he saw the brilliant, incredible colors had settled into place.

  Except now, Carla had a tinge of a blue ring around her hazel eyes. The same color of blue as his eyes.

  She belonged to him. His Carly.

  “I feel like I’m resting on wings.” Once Sutton touched her, the maelstrom of sensations and powers had picked her up and cast her off a cliff. It had been exhilarating, sexy, and terrifying. Then the terrible second where her sister left, and she was alone and freefalling. Everything in her was breaking apart, re-forming …

  And that was when she’d felt wings catch her, hold her. Cradle her. Then all she had felt had been Sutton surrounding her, his skin against hers, his heart against hers, and his soul uniting with hers. He’d thrust inside of her, becoming a part of her and taking her to heights of pleasure and unity that still sent tingles through her.

  Sutton pulled out of her, rolling to his side, and propping himself up on his right hand. With his left hand, he sifted though a length of her hair repeatedly, the back of his hand brushing by her breast with each stroke. “He’s holding you. You opened up, pulled us in …” He looked into her eyes. “I don’t know, baby, I’m not the witch. But something happened, something so magical, I can’t grasp it. I just knew you needed the eagle to catch you and hold you.”

  The feathers stroked her back and arms in time with him sifting her hair through his fingers. “You’re doing that?” It was soothing and caring. “You have magic to be able to do that.”

  His face flushed. “Nah. The bird reacts to you, to your magic. It’s just a tattoo on me.” He leaned down, brushing his mouth over hers. “It’s your magic, your power.”

  That embarrassed him? “The eagle is part of you.” She wanted him to know how amazing he was.

  “He’s your familiar. I don’t have magic.”

  She tried to understand. “What do you mean?”

  Sutton lifted another thick lock of her hair, watching the strands slide through his fingers. “We don’t know how the soul-mirror bond works. I may never have real wings and the ability to fly. But I can help you with your powers.” He let go of her hair, and the sensation of feathers disappeared. Instead, Sutton slid an arm under her shoulders and pulled her into his chest. Over her head, he said, “Carla, Christ, you saved me. I could have killed you.” His arms tightened. “You heard the things I said. I don’t know why you didn’t just leave me then.”

  Horrified by the idea, she curled into him, desperate for his arms to keep her anchored to him. “I almost destroyed you. It was my fault.” Psychologists don’t believe in accidents. Witches didn’t either. Everything happened for a reason, by design.

  Had Carla designed this? Had she unconsciously set this up to be forced to choose? It made her sick to think that maybe she had. Carla knew Keri better than anyone, she knew Keri would tell her to save Sutton. Keri believed that was what magic was for. So had Carla somehow set this up so she’d end up with Sutton, and Keri was alone and dying in a rogue’s knife? She got everything and Keri got nothing.

  Sutton’s fingers settled under her chin, tugging her face up to look at him. “Carla, the rogues did it, not you.”

  She shook her head. “I let Styx use me to separate you from your body. I heard you tell me not to pull you out. I tried not to … but I obviously did.”

  He rubbed his thumb along her jaw. “Thank the Wing Slayer you did. He had you trapped. How is he doing that? How is he grabbing your mind and trapping it?”

  Her head started to ache just thinking about it, but she explained to him about the prongs, and how they had been trying to get them out.

  His eyes hardened to a steel-blue anger. “That bastard marked you. Can you get the remaining two out?”

  “I have to. I will. But until I do, we have to be careful. I can’t keep pulling you out of your body.” She wasn’t sure what this weird connection was, or how it might change with the soul-mirror bond. “It was a setup. Styx trapped me and kept squeezing until I pulled you to me. We can’t let that happen again.”

  He slid his hand around her jaw and into her hair. “You come first. Before everything else, you.”

  No one had ever told her that before. Her throat started to close up, her eyes burn. And guilt made her stomach churn. “I lost her. Keri’s gone.” Where was Keri? Without the link to Carla, how long will her soul survive? How did she find her sister in time to free her soul to go on? “If I don’t find her soon, her soul will die off.”

  His face softened. “I know. I felt the break.” He reached over her with his left hand, laying his palm on her back. Then he skimmed downward.

  She dropped her forehead against his chest.

  He moved his hand to the curve of her waist, and then to her lower back.

  Where the skin was smooth, the scar gone.

  His touch seared through her heart like a hot lance. She sucked in a breath and forced out the words, “It’s okay. I knew … I’ll find her. I can find her.”

  He rolled to his back, lifted her on top of him, her head tucked into the curve of his neck, her legs tangled with his, and his hand covering the unmarked skin where some part of Keri had burrowed for two years. “We’re going to find her. She’s a part of you, and we’ll find her. She knows that.”

  “What if she doesn’t?” This wasn’t fair to him. Sutton had never tried to make her choose.

  “Carly …”

  She couldn’t take it anymore. “She told me to save you.” Her voice broke as tears burned her eyes, and sobs tore from her throat. She didn’t know how long she cried, but finally, she was exhausted. So tired. Her head throbbed, her eyes ached, and she had nothing left. Wiping her face with her hand, she said, “I need to go.”

  He kept his palm over the spot missing Keri, and the other hand stroked her hair. “No. I’m not finished taking care of you. I’ll never be finished taking care of you. You’re mine.” With ridiculous ease, he rolled her to her back. Then stroked her face with his hands. “Close your eyes.”

  Her powers had locked away in her chakras at her sobs. Now they flowed out in a happy little river, following his touch over her forehead, over her closed eyes, and down her cheekbones, chasing out the pain and swelling from her tears. He thought the eagle responded to her? Her powers loved him.

  “Turn over.”

  She opened her eyes and found him watching her face.

  “Please,” he said softly. “Let me.”

  She rolled to her stomach, turning her face toward him, her left cheek on the cool sheets, her gaze on his chest. Carla knew the power of sex, but this … intimacy … that Sutton drew from her made her tremble. She wondered what he saw when he looked at her.

  “I see my golden witch.”

  She realized he’d heard her thought and answered aloud. Then she forgot everything when his hands lifted her hair off her back and over her shoulder.

  He kissed her shoulder blade and forged a trail to the middle of her back. His mouth was warm, his breath damp, inciting shivers. Then he drew his tongue down the length of her spine.

  Carla curled her hands into the sheets, feeling exposed and yet, safe.

  He reached her lower back, the place of the missing scar. He didn’t stop, but he slowed down to kiss her from one side to the other, laving and licking, until the spot that had been so empty a minute ago, now felt filled with the sensation of him.

  Her powers followed his touch, swirling and tingling and making her feel alive.

  Sutton’s large hand cupped the curve of her butt, moving down to
the back of her thigh, traveling across to her other leg and back up.

  Her powers followed, creating a need between her legs that caught her breath and made her squirm.

  He moved up beside her, then pulled her onto her side so that her back pressed into his chest. She felt his erection against her buttocks. He pillowed her head on his arm and spread his palm on her stomach. She felt his breath stir her hair, and was just thinking about turning and climbing up on him, when she felt a feathery sensation brushing her nipples.

  She exhaled in surprise, her body arching into it.

  Sutton’s body tightened behind her, clearly reacting to touching her breasts with his feathers. Even though his bird was only a tattoo still, it felt real to both of them. His hand on her stomach pressed lightly. The feathering sensation grew more vivid, circling her breasts, then drawing over the tightened nipples. Hot sensations arrowed downward. She grabbed on to his hand, needing to hold on.

  “I can’t get enough,” he said into her hair, his voice shaking.

  The feathers tickled down her stomach, over their joined hands.

  He slid his hand from hers, around the back of her hip, and underneath her thigh. Parting her legs, he pressed his cock deep against her folds. She pressed back, wanting to ease him inside her.

  He shifted his hips, found her entrance, and pressed in, just an inch.

  At the same time feathers slid over her clit. Back and forth, around, sliding away then back, finding that little spot that made her buck and cry out his name.

  He pushed against her, sliding in another inch. Then another. “Only as much as you can take. This way is … damn …” He canted his hips, driving into her. All the way. He filled her up, engorged her while the feathers danced over her swollen flesh and her powers raced.

  “Carly, baby, I’m all the way in.” His hand supported her leg. “I didn’t think I could get in this deep.” He rocked his hips.