Enchant Me (21 page)

Relaxing back into his hold, I let him
support my weight. I was gradually becoming conscious of how achy
and tired I was. Seeing this, my grandmother patted
Christian’s shoulder.

“Let’s get her back to the house and rest.
She’s probably going to be pretty sore and weak for the next couple
days.” 

No longer able to keep my eyes open, I was
dimly aware that Christian had lifted me up into his arms and was
carrying me back down the hill. I thought it would be a long time
before I would want to go back to our circle. I slept for most of
the short walk to the house, comforted by the steady beat of
Christian’s heart and the warm bundle of fur still in my lap.

I felt my grandmother kiss my cheek and
whisper goodnight before Christian carried me down the hall to my
room. As he laid me down on my bed a thought occurred to me and I
popped open my eyes to look at him. He had that softness in his
eyes and I felt myself melting, while trying to remember what it
was I wanted to ask him.

Then I recalled, “Christian, how did you know
where I was and that I was in trouble?”

He sprawled out on my bed next to me pulling
me into his arms, my eyes drifted closed again. I vaguely wondered
if my grandma Anne was going to have a problem with it and decided
she probably wouldn’t since technically he had just saved my life
and my bedroom door was wide open.

“You summoned me, remember?” he whispered
huskily into my ear. He seemed to sense my confusion. “You told me
you loved me and goodbye.”

I forced my eyes open and glanced up at him,
“You heard that?”

“Loud and clear,” he rasped, I could hear the
remembered worry in his voice. 

Closing my eyes again, I stroked soothingly
from his chest down to his abs and back up again. “Thank you for
saving my life.”

Lifting my roaming hand and interlacing our
fingers, he lifted it up to his face and breathed a kiss across the
surface. “Anytime.” I heard the slight laugh in his voice at that.
“Although, I am hoping you don’t plan on making this a habit.”

“Not if I can help it,” I murmured.

 Sleep had started to carry me off when
he spoke again. “Lex,” he said softly, “I saw your vision too…of
the day my parents died.”

Not much could have kept me conscious at the
moment, but this was one of the things that could. “It wasn’t your
fault,” I breathed, desperately hoping he truly understood and
believed that. “I think you are some kind of hybrid,” a bit of a
giggle escaped me as I said that; it made him sound like some kind
of new car. “You seem to be part Druid and part shaman. I think the
Druid part is the one that causes madness, from what I’ve read it’s
a rather common Druid power. The day your powers developed, there
was no circle of protection to restrain your powers. You had no
idea what was happening and had no training. There was nothing you
could have done.” 

He sighed and was quiet for a long time
before he responded, “You don’t understand. I knew that somehow I
was hurting my parents, I just couldn’t control it. You don’t know
what it’s like invading someone’s mind, it feels wrong. Even with
you tonight, it made me sick forcing myself into your mind.”

“That’s alright; sometimes I don’t like being
in my own mind either,” I said, trying to lighten his mood.

Then I realized he was sharing his true
thoughts with me and I shouldn’t make light of them. They deserved
to be taken seriously. “I’m sorry,” I took a breath and coerced my
mind to keep awake enough to address his worries. “If you hadn’t
built that--dam in my mind, I would probably be dead now. So please
don’t rack yourself with guilt.”

He nuzzled the top of my head. “You’re right.
Go to sleep little cat.”

“You talking to me or Cody?” I
mumbled. 

“Both,” he laughed, and I felt his hand
release mine and drift away. I assumed he was petting Cody, who was
somewhere near us from the sound of his thunderous purring. I
decided I knew what my favorite two sounds in the world were,
Christian’s voice and heartbeat… and Cody’s purring. Wait… that’s
three things, but I’m sleepy and I was never any good at
math. 

CHAPTER 11

When I woke up the next morning my head hurt
like hell, but nothing compared to before. Even so, it was
ridiculously wonderful to wake up in Christian’s arms. I laid on my
side, an arm thrown over him, one of his legs between mine. His arm
was beneath my neck and wrapped around my shoulder, holding me to
him. As I opened my eyes I immediately noticed Cody happily sitting
on Christian’s chest, purring away madly as Christian petted
him. 

“Good morning,” I breathed. 

He turned to me and kissed the top of my
head. “You mean good evening.”

I glanced at the window, but with the
curtains closed it was hard to tell the time. It was still light
outside, though. “What time is it?” I murmured, trying to stretch
and pull him closer at the same time. 

“8.” He seemed to be laughing internally at
me. I heard it in his voice. “Did you know you almost make a soft
little purring sound when you sleep?’

“I do not. You are making that up.”

“Whatever you say, kitty,” he challenged. I
playfully punched him in the abdomen which made him jerk in
surprise and Cody dig in his nails just before he launched off of
him. “Ouch, thanks a lot.”

“No problem, anytime.” 

Without warning, he rolled us over until he
laid on top of me, his hands coming up to cradle my head. “How are
you feeling?” he murmured. 

Smiling, I looked up into his dark
sympathetic eyes, felt my heart swell with love. “Fine, thanks to
you,” I said softly, winding my hands around his neck and pulling
him down to me. “How are you?” I asked just before I lightly
caressed his lips with mine.

As our lips touched and I felt that little
jolt of connection, briefly I opened my eyes to note that he looked
as surprised and startled as me. Enthralled, I watched as his eyes
smoldered and then he slowly closed them again as his lips found
mine. His hands moved down to my waist pulling me closer and I
murmured in appreciation. We seemed to get lost in the moment at
that point. The banging of the screen door in the kitchen had
us springing apart to where we almost fell out of my bed. We both
laid flat on our backs for a couple moments until it seemed no one
was coming down the hall. Then I rolled back over to my side,
wrapping my arms around his left arm, holding him while an
uncomfortable thought occurred to me, “Christian, when you were in
my mind, could you…read it?”

He looked over at me and a wicked, totally
untrustworthy smile developed on his handsome face. “No. Why, do
you have something to hide?”

He had purposefully looked and said it in a
way that would make me doubt what the truth was. “You’re evil,” I
mumbled and rolled away from him in a pretend pout, which was
pretty effective since he immediately rolled over and spooned me
from behind, his warmth radiating around me.

 “I can’t read your mind, your secrets
are safe,” he whispered in my ear, making me shiver. “You haven’t
said much about your powers,” he hinted, gently brushing my hair
off my face to fall between us.

I watched out of the corner of my eye, as his
hand brushed through the scarlet strands over and over like a
caress. Sighing, I pulled his arm back around my waist as I
thought. “I guess I have been trying not to think about it. It
changes--everything.”

I felt him slightly tense behind me. He
couldn’t seriously think I meant about him. I rolled over onto my
stomach and up onto my elbows to look at him. He was gazing deep
into my eyes, trying to discern what I meant. 

“You better not be trying to read my mind,” I
warned. 

He laughed and stroked my back soothingly. “I
told you, I can’t.” The laughter faded from his face. “Tell me what
you’re worried about. What’s changed?” 

In a way I was surprised that I needed to
explain. Didn’t he feel the same way? I glanced at him perplexed,
only to see that same bewilderment mirrored back to me.

“We have magic powers…In a world that for the
most part doesn’t believe in it. I am psychic and possibly
telekinetic. You can cause madness and control someone’s powers in
their mind. I saw evil spirits! How are we supposed to go through
our normal lives knowing what we know?”

He turned over, narrowly missing Cody who had
usurped that spot and pulled me on top of him, caressing my back in
long comforting strokes, like I was a cat.

“In short--we don’t have a choice. It’s part
of who we are. While I may not have always liked having my--gift, I
have always believed that I had it for a reason. And now I know and
thank god for it. You’ll never know what it was like seeing you
like that… about to die.”

I didn’t like to think about it either. To
distract him I kissed his forehead, eyes, adorable nose and then
lips. But before I could linger longer I heard someone walking down
the hallway, the wooden floor squeaking intermittently. I quickly
rolled off of him, to stand next to the bed just as my grandmother
came through the door. She smiled at both of us. Christian had
obviously won her over with saving my life and all.

“How are you both feeling?”

Surprisingly I didn’t feel too bad at the
moment. “I feel pretty good, considering-- just a little achy.” I
glanced at Christian waiting for his response.

Carefully moving his legs up and over my
sleeping cat, he stood up next to me. “I’m fine. Was there any
trouble calling us both in sick?”

I had completely forgotten that it was
Monday. Sheepishly I looked over at my grandmother wondering how
much she had dealt with to cover for us. “And what about mom?”

She appeared amused by our concern. “I know
the secretary at your school so that wasn’t a problem. Don’t worry
about your mom either. I told her you got the stomach flu pretty
bad and knew I could brew up a remedy for you. She wants you to
know she hopes you feel better soon so you can come home tomorrow.
And before you ask, Cody has had food and water in the kitchen, so
he’s fine.”

Moved by how much she had done to make my
life easier, I walked over and gave her a huge hug. “Thanks,
grandma.”

She patted my back and pushed me towards the
bathroom. “Alexis why don’t you go ahead and shower, and then you
both come into the kitchen and eat.”

Embarrassed, I briefly sniffed at myself,
wondering if I smelled bad or something. I didn’t smell any gross
body odors but I swore that I could still smell the scent of fear
from last night coating my skin. She was right, a shower was
definitely called for. The sooner I could put last night behind me,
the better.

“Charles and I would like to talk to you
about what happened--and your gifts,” she called after me. I had a
feeling this was the main reason she wanted to get us in the
kitchen, she was dying of curiosity.

“Alexis, there is a tincture that I made to
help with your aches and pains that I want you to take, too.”

Ugh, they usually tasted horrible. Knowing
Grandma Anne, if I didn’t take it willingly she would probably sit
on me and force it down my throat. I really hated taking
medicine.

After showering and putting on fresh clothes
that smelled of the orange blossoms she had put in my dresser, I
felt a million times better. I went to the kitchen where they were
waiting. I had barely made it inside the doorway when she lifted
the tincture off the counter and held it out for me along with a
glass full of water. I quickly downed it, trying not to grimace,
then drank almost the whole glass of water in one shot to drown out
the taste. I turned to find Christian watching me amused, which in
turn didn’t really amuse me. 

Ignoring him, I noticed that she had most of
the lights off with only a couple candles on her small table and
for our men she had pulled out two folding chairs to sit in. I
smiled at the sense of atmosphere my grandmother had created.
Nodding at Charles, who was already seated, I took my chair, with
Christian taking the one beside me. I grinned when I realized she
had made my favorite, her secret spaghetti, exact ingredients
unknown--hence the secret. She wouldn’t even allow anyone in the
kitchen while she was making it. 

I glanced over at Christian. “You are about
to have the best spaghetti and homemade garlic bread on the
planet.” 

He got a mischievous look in his eyes as he
glanced at me and then at my grandmother. “You are forgetting, my
grandparents are Italian, so she might have to settle for second
place.”

My chin dropped and Charles whistled under
his breath at the challenge. I took a peek at my grandmother’s face
to see her reaction. She had arched a brow at Christian but when he
just smiled charmingly back, she laughed, completely won over and
served us up. It was obscenely good. We sat in companionable
silence while we ate, watching the sun’s slow descent in the
sky. As we watched out the window, the solar Christmas tree
lights throughout her garden flickered to life like magic. Moved by
the beauty and romance of it I found my hand drifted to
Christian’s, clasping his in mine. Without a word I stood up and
pulled Christian with me outside the back door into her yard. I
could sense his bewilderment as he followed me but I didn’t stop to
explain.

I kept walking until we were deep in the
center of the garden. We couldn’t even see the house from here.
There was only the soft glow of the lights intermingled in the
trees and bushes; the night blooming flowers opening and releasing
their sweet scent into the air. There was even a warm, soft breeze
making the leaves whisper to us. Finally I turned to him and
noted the patient, loving gaze he had on me.

I had a feeling he wasn’t as moved by the
ambiance as I was, but he got my fascination at least. He was
really just too beautiful for words. Gratitude filled me as I
looked at him. Thankful he had saved me, thankful that we had
another chance, thankful that we were able to share a moment like
this--together. Unable to resist the draw I felt towards him any
longer, I took the one step separating us, locked my arms around
his neck, and pulled his lips down to mine and just let go. I
wanted him to feel how much I loved and adored him; how much he was
a part of me. When he answered me back, I felt awed by the depth of
his emotions for me. I could feel it in his arms as they held me,
the way his hand gently cradled the back of my head, and in the way
he kissed me, like I was the only girl that would ever matter to
him.