9781618851307WitchsBrewShayNC (45 page)

Topaz
smirked. “I can’t wait to get her head over heels.”

Eldora
snickered. “Is that position possible?”

“The way I do it, it is,” Topaz replied smugly.

“And
just how many dainty, Persian kitties have you…molested?” Eldora asked.

“Celine will be my first. She’s mine, Eldora. She’s
staying mine. I want to spend the rest of my life making her happy, if she’ll
let me.”

Eldora grinned. “Well, just make certain she realizes that
or first chance she gets, she’ll sashay back to Queen Helayne. You can bet that
if she gets inside that palace, you’ll never see her again.”

Topaz
nearly strangled on the hairball lodged in the back of his throat. His gold
eyes glittered with rage. “Celine’s going nowhere. Certainly not back to
Helayne.” He grinned devilishly. “Our little witch is fertile. Before morning,
a baby prince will be resting snugly inside Saylym.”

Eldora gave a crazy cackle that caused Topaz to arch his
back. “What? You know something I don’t know, witch?”

She shrugged her bony shoulders and snickered. “Oh, I
guarantee it. Come on, Whiskers. I can show you where there’s a hellishly big
rat hiding in my house. You can take Celine her favorite treat.”

Topaz fell into step beside her, licking his lips. “Yum-yum.
I’m hungry. Cake and champagne, while delicious, is not very filling. Chasing
after a potential mate works up an appetite. Know where there are two rats?” He
paused. “Just what do you know that I don’t?”

Eldora
gave the cat a secretive grin. “Wait and see,
Futhar
. Wait and see. You
will know soon enough.” She cackled wildly. “Yes, you will know soon enough.”

* * * *

Talon
prepared the bedroom with his bride’s seduction in mind. That was his ultimate
goal. Seduce her. Bed her. Get the deed done, as Topaz would say. Three thrusts
and it’d be over. Only—he didn’t want it to be over in three thrusts.

He
paused to look around, pleased with his efforts.

Oh,
yeah, he definitely wanted to take his time seducing his mate.

That had always been his ultimate goal. But when he’d had
those first lustful thoughts of seduction, he hadn’t expected the witch to be
his bond mate.

Now that she was, seducing and bedding Saylym took on a
whole new meaning, a whole new degree of feeling, caring and responsibility.
That made it different from a temporary seasonal joining. He wouldn’t be
walking away once it was over.

What if he hurt her?

He already knew she was small and tight. He was endowed.
When they bonded, they would enhance and share their thoughts. He had heard the
enhancement could be mind-boggling at best. A supernova charge of power and
electrical energy rippled between bond mates. It would break his heart if he
injured her in any way, but he could see no way around causing her some pain.
It was inevitable. And the mind lock, he had no idea what to expect there, not
with Saylym.

Though she’d had no choice in the matter of ritual bonding
with him, he felt it was unfair to initiate her into the full scope of bonding
in a lukewarm setting, and unfair to take her in a cold, indifferent,
three-thrust mating.

His
mate was a beautiful woman. And as such, she deserved more.
His mate
.
There was something about those two words that sent heat spiraling straight to
his groin.
His mate
. His woman. He would do anything to make her happy.

“My
aim is to always make my queen happy.”

His
father’s words suddenly hit him and he understood, at last, what his father had
been saying. Darak’s queen wanted grandchildren and the king was seeing to it
that she got what she wanted to make her happy.

Talon
nodded. “All right, Father. I understand.”

But
Saylym deserved better than him.

Had he told her he loved her?

He’d
sworn his love to her, but had he actually told her? He wasn’t certain he
understood the difference in love and lust. He wanted her, badly. Everything in
his body ached with the wanting. She deserved his love. He would strive to make
sure she never had any doubts about his love for her. He owed her that much.

At a slight flick of his wrist, the room suddenly glowed
with hundreds of rose-scented tapers. Their soft flames flickered quietly,
filling the room with inviting warmth. He scattered wild rose petals across the
floor, wild rose blossoms that reminded him of his mate’s unique favorite
fragrance.

Talon sprinkled rose blossoms over the fresh, red satin
bedding, crushing a few between his fingers. Immediately a pungent, aromatic
fragrance filled the room, teasing and delighting the senses.

In
the far corner of the room, a small lagoon—large enough for two—shimmered like
emerald green satin. The illusion of a rippling waterfall splashed into it like
summer rain. Around the glistening edge of the water, dark green, leafy plants
gave it a lush, tropical setting.

He
scattered pink lotus blossoms in the pool, along with vials of his favorite
fragrances of myrrh and cyprinum. It was skilled seduction at its best. He
intended for Saylym to receive pleasure from their joining.

Yes, he would storm the Bastille, as Topaz said, but in
conquering her, he’d surrender his heart into her care. He’d already
surrendered his heart. Maybe it wasn’t love he felt for her, but it was a
giving of himself he’d never been willing to share with anyone else.

Once joined, they would no longer be separate beings, but
their lives, their very hearts would beat as one, forever be as one. His blood
pounded thick in his body. He could feel the mystical rhythm, the sensuality of
Beltane that had built and built inside him.

It left his limbs feeling hot and heavy, his mind
sluggish. He’d never felt this pagan, this craving for a ritual bonding. It was
physically potent, punching him with the force of its strength.

And
it left him balancing sharply on the keen edge of desire.

With
the back of his hand, he wiped beads of perspiration off his brow, off his top
lip. He paced the floor, agitated.

What
was taking her so damned long?

Tonight—changed
everything for them for the rest of their lives.

Talon blew out a shaky breath and placed a bottle of
chilled wine and the tray of assorted meats and cheeses on the bedside table.
He held out his hands amazed to see how unsteady they were. Damn it. He
couldn’t believe he was this nervous.

How
many witches had he seduced through the centuries?

It
wasn’t as if he didn’t know what to do. So why in hell was he so shaky and
unsure? Because, he’d never seduced a witch who was a virgin or his mate, that
was the simple truth. And that was what made this different. Damned different.
His mate had been touched by no other
waken.
It made him feel that much
more possessive of her. She wasn’t just any witch. Saylym was
his
witch.
His. And he had died a thousand times waiting to make her his.

He heard a slight noise. Talon’s heart skipped a beat and
he whipped around to face his bride as she entered the room. His mouth gaped.
His heart skipped several more beats then settled into a rapid rhythm. For the
life of him he couldn’t draw his next breath.

Fierce heat slammed into his body with the force of a blow
to the gut. It started at the top of his spine and raced all the way to the
tips of his toes. His body jerked, clamoring for hers. He was going to die
right here before he ever even touched her. He inhaled, finally. Slowly
exhaled.

She
wore nothing but a damp towel. A clingy, short, damp towel that left her
slender thighs peeking at him just below the hem and little to the imagination.
His hungry gaze slid over the full curves of her breasts that spilled over the
top of the miniscule towel. His fingers itched. His belly clenched. His cock
rose to instant attention. Talon swallowed hard. Gods, have mercy!

Her skin looked dewy and as velvety as the rose petals
he’d crushed between his fingers. Her mouth. Gods, her mouth, as usual, drove
him crazy with erotic thoughts of where he wanted it on his body. He couldn’t
wait to feel her velvety tongue on his aching shaft. He wanted to kiss her. He
wanted badly to be inside her.

“I
forgot my robe…I…uh…” Her words drifted to a slow halt as she suddenly stilled
and looked around the room wide-eyed. She parted her lips, but no words escaped.
Saylym simply stared, slack-jawed.

Their
eyes collided, and held. Color rushed into her face as she fumbled with the
towel, holding it securely around her body.

* * * *

Saylym
touched her tongue to her dry lips.

She knew what this meant, what he planned. She just didn’t
know if she was ready to be seduced.

Too
late for second thoughts now, girl, the man has been seducing you since the
first
moment you saw him leaning against that lamppost. And you
allowed him the privilege.

Talon moved toward her, slowly unbuttoning his shirt. The
hand he held out to her trembled. His gaze was filled with hunger. “Will you
trust me,
La-Scheme?”

Saylym
nodded, too stunned by what he’d done to her bedroom to deny him.

He
pulled a dark blue silk scarf out of the air. “I’m going to blindfold you,” he
said huskily. “The only senses you will have is touch, taste, smell, and
hearing.”

He tied the blindfold across her eyes.

Saylym gasped when he tugged at the towel. A whisper of
sound surrounded her as it settled on the floor between her feet. She felt his
gaze travel leisurely over her body, pausing on her full breasts, hesitating at
the tiny navel, lingering on the nest of silver-blonde curls, before making the
return journey to her mouth.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered.

Somehow, not being able to see his face, felt more
intimate. At his mercy, her breath caught.

Brushing
the fall of hair back from her neck, he placed his lips against her throat,
against his mark of ownership. The swirling of his tongue over it left a trail
of dampness. Instantly, she felt the mark pulse to life, responding, leaping
beneath the faint stroking of his tongue. She cocked her head, trying to figure
out the rustle of sound she heard. Ah, his clothes drifted to the floor joining
the discarded towel.

Saylym
shivered. Her breath took the longest time to fill her lungs. “Talon—”

“Ssh. Tonight, sweetheart, you belong to me. Trust me.”
Lifting her into his arms, he stepped toward the pool and into it, allowing her
body to slide slowly down his. He was fully, erect, his penis stiff and curving
upward, nudging against her belly.

“Uh…I…”
Saylym trembled. Her body quivered like a tightly drawn bow against his.

Talon
smiled. “It pleases me that I have the power to make you tremble with need.
Don’t be afraid, bride. My aim is to thoroughly pleasure you this night.”

Ravish you
, his conscience whispered.

“I’m
not afraid of you, My Prince.” Still, her voice shook with uncertainty.

Talon
drew in a sharp breath. She’d accepted him for what he was—
waken
,
prince, man, and soon to be lover. Her mate. He was all these things to her.

And
she was so much more to him.

She
was his future.

The
woman he’d spend eternity with, his lover, his mate, the mother of his
children. She was everything to him. And she held his life, his heart in the
palms of her hands.

Talon blinked at the sting of tears, at the rush of
passion he felt for this witch, at the need for her that seemed to fill his
soul. He tilted her face to press a scorching kiss against her mouth.

“Talon,”
she whispered. “I don’t know…I haven’t…I’ve never—”

“Ssh.”
He pressed a fingertip across her lips. “I know. I know. I’ll teach you.” And because
he did know, he was eager to teach her, but first…

Scooping up a handful of water, he trickled it over her
breasts, hearing her gasp at the cool wetness spilling between her breasts and
the exquisite feel of his warm breath where he blew gently on her nipples, drew
one inside his mouth, and pulled on it deeply. His tongue wrapped around it and
he drew on it, taking a strong, deep taste.

Reluctantly,
Talon released the sweet berry and turned Saylym toward the waterfall. He
whispered softly against her ear, words she wouldn’t understand, a soft
chanting sound and immediately, the scarf drifted from her eyes and a night sky
appeared over the waterfall, a dark sky filled with millions of bright, shiny
stars that seemed so close she could reach out and pluck one of them.

Saylym
gasped at the dazzling beauty as Talon reached up and picked one of the
twinkling stars from the dark.

“Open
your hands,” he said.

Saylym
cupped her palms together. Talon placed the tiny, shiny image in her hands and
closed her palms around it.

“Oh,” she gasped. “It feels alive. Like a butterfly’s
wings beating against my hands, trying to escape.” She held her hands to her
ears. “It’s buzzing, so soft I can barely hear it.”

“Magic,”
Talon breathed.

Saylym
opened her palms and watched as the tiny star shot away, back to its place in
the sky. “It’s so beautiful.”

Suddenly all the stars started to fall like sparkling rain
from the sky. Comets burst in fiery streaks, shimmering flames of brilliant
energy that exploded into the water around them without a ripple. She stood
there with her head resting against Talon’s chest, his arms curved around her
waist, in awe at the impossibility, at the incredible magic and splendid
illusion of it all.

Talon
laughed softly when he heard Saylym’s sharp breath as the comets suddenly
changed into streamers of silver glitter, then gold, shiny, radiant, and
stunning. They fell from the sky, sunk into the pool of water and altered into
multi-colored underwater lights.