Total pages in book: 9
Estimated words: 8323 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 42(@200wpm)___ 33(@250wpm)___ 28(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 8323 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 42(@200wpm)___ 33(@250wpm)___ 28(@300wpm)
I must have passed out because when I open my eyes again, it’s still dark, but the clock on the nightstand reads 12:45. The solid mass practically on top of me tells me it wasn’t a dream. I place little kisses on his shoulder as his scent fills my nose. My pussy clenches in anticipation. I don’t have the senses of a shifter by any means, but my goddess, you could bottle this man up and make a fortune, not that I want to share it. The way I’m already so territorial should scare me, but it doesn’t. I’ve been prepared for this my whole life. I gently push him off of me, and he rolls to the other side of the bed, still asleep. I stand up and move blindly toward what I hope is his bathroom. I didn’t exactly take any time to get a tour. Though I do know he doesn’t stay here often. He prefers his family home in Cambridge.
I do my business, wash my hands, and stare at myself in the mirror. I don’t know how my human counterparts deal with things like this. I’ve seen enough TV and movies and read enough romance novels to know that a human woman would be freaking out about an STD or an unwanted pregnancy right about now, but not me. Going into this, we know that neither of us has ever been with anyone else. It just doesn’t work like that for us. We literally can’t. I don’t have to be jealous that I’m not as good as his previous lovers. I’m all he will ever need. Fate has deemed it so, and that makes life so much easier. It should freak me out that I didn’t know this man yesterday and today. I love him more than I ever thought possible, but I’m not.
Turning the light off, I walk back to the bed and crawl beside him.
“Where’d you go?” he asks sleepily as he pulls me closer.
“Bathroom,” I reply, snuggling into him.
“Ahh. What are you doing today?”
“Dinner with my family. You?”
“Lunch with mine. Come with me?”
“Only if you come with me.”
“As if I’d ever leave you alone now,” he says, tickling my side. I giggle, which quickly turns into a moan as his fingers dive into my pussy. “Do you need to come again, mate?” His voice is all growly and low. It’s dangerous and I know that our first night together has just gotten started.
After too little sleep and a lot of wild, wild sex, I find myself standing in front of what looks like a haunted mansion. I find that it fits right in with my personality. This is exactly the kind of house I’d pick out.
“My family came to America just after the Civil War. My great-grandfather crafted this house himself.” Witches and Warlocks tend to live long lives. I’m sure his great-grandfather is still kicking it somewhere, looking like he did when he was twenty-five. Witches and warlocks are kind of like vampires in that immortal thing only we don’t need blood to survive. Thank the Goddess.
“With his magic?” I ask. I noticed that Halcyon used his for pretty much everything but tying his sneakers this morning.
“Yes, of course.”
“Hmm…”
“You don’t approve?” he asks.
“It’s not for me to say.”
“Do you not like your magic?”
“What?” I ask. No one has ever asked me that before, and I’ve never thought about it before. Do I like having magic?
“I watched you this morning. You didn’t use it once. Not even for the something mundane, like brushing your teeth.”
“Why would I do that?” I hadn’t thought to use my magic as a shortcut. Not even as a child when my brother would try to use his to do his chores.
“Your parent’s didn’t teach you that having magic could and should be fun?”
“They tried,” I whisper after thinking about it for a minute. I didn’t allow them to. I was too wrapped up in myself. I was worried about the wrong things.
Halcyon takes my hand and opens the front door to his parent’s house. “We are going to have so much fun together, Jadis.”
Inside, his family is gathered around a huge round dining room table.
“Who have you brought us son?” a jovial older man says, smiling at me kindly.
“Mom, Dad, this is Jadis. My mate.” A hush falls over the table. “Jadis, this is my mother, Evanora, and my father, Halbert. My sister, Calliope and my brother, Jorren.”
“It’s lovely to meet you all.”
“Do you bear the mark?” his mother asks.
“I’m sorry what mark?” I ask, confused.
“Before Halcyon was born, it was said that he and his mate would usher in an era of peace known as the amorous era. The love and peace created by this union last hundreds of years, even humans notice. She bears a mark on her body, one shaped like a pick-axe. Do you have this?” A shiver runs through me. I’m going to do what now? How? How will my love do anything to save anything? I need more information.