Indigo Spell (12 page)

Widening the gap between her legs, she scooted the mirror closer. It seemed to grow larger, allowing her to see the full length of her pussy, the slick walls and her pulsing clit.

At the first touch of her fingertip to the nub, she bounced her hips off the bed.
Sweet Jesus!
The sensations were exquisite, so powerful. She rubbed back and forth, as soft as melted butter, but the blood had filled her clit, making it extremely sensitive.

One hand plucked at her nipples while the index finger of the other swirled over and around her clit. Ecstasy was right around the corner. The soles of her feet began to tingle and she gulped, her thighs twitching.

Just let it build.

The words should have startled her but instead they only heightened the moment. “Oh God,” she whispered as her body began to shake. Climbing higher and higher, she rubbed faster, harder, grinding the tip of her finger against her clit until she cried out, pleading in the night for Jaxon.

I’m here. Let go.

The instruction reassured her and, with one final flick on her clit, she came. So hard, so gloriously perfect that her ass lifted off the mattress, her hips rocking back and forth while she almost sobbed.

As she fell back against the bed, perspiration coating her body, she felt the energy recede as if Jaxon had physically left the room. Removing the clamp with fumbling fingers, she climbed from the bed, surprised to find that her legs would barely hold her.

After cleaning herself and the clamp, she returned to the bed, switching off the lamp before she climbed beneath the sheets once more.

And before she drifted off, she swore a strong, masculine arm slid around her waist.

“Tess, wake up. The storm has turned. You need to wake up.” A strong, insistent voice pulled her from a sound sleep. Disoriented and confused, she blinked around the darkness of her bedroom, her thoughts scattered. She could have sworn she’d heard Jaxon’s voice but that was impossible considering it was the middle of the night and he wasn’t anywhere around. Or was he?

The curtains blew wildly, whipped about by the force of the wind coming in off the ocean. She pushed herself to a sitting position and brushed the hair away from her face. She didn’t need instinct to know something was wrong. Something, or rather, someone had awakened her. And dread settled into the pit of her stomach.

Thunder growled long and low in the distance and Tess climbed from her four-poster bed, padding to her window on bare feet. One look outside sent her stomach dropping to her knees. The waves roiled in a tumultuous rhythm and the sky had darkened to angry black. Jagged slices of lightning scarred the inky terrain and as the winds kept up a violent pace, Tess knew the hurricane had turned, directing its violence toward the coast of South Carolina more rapidly than the forecasters had anticipated.

The digital clock on her bedside read three a.m. According to the eleven o’clock news, she should have had at least eighteen more hours. But the storm had increased in forward velocity, arriving without warning. How could it have moved so fast? As she stared at her window a second longer, she could see the headlights of approaching vehicles. The National Guard had arrived to assist with mandatory evacuations.

This was impossible. The storm would have had to increase to at least seventy-five miles an hour to be this close to the coast! Tess swallowed her fear as she threw on a pair of jeans and a light cotton shirt. In a beach house, there would be nowhere to hide. She prayed she could make it to the mainland before the full fury of the hurricane hit. Her hands shook as she thrust her hair into a ponytail and she cursed her decision to leave at first light. But it was simply unheard of that a hurricane could gain that much speed in four hours. She’d thought she had time.

Gathering her suitcase and overnight bag, she dashed down the stairs, toward the sanctuary of her car. The wind drowned out any remaining night sounds and pounded against her ears as she pulled against the door barring her from the outdoor elements. The rain slapped the shore while the waves crept closer to her home. A loud scream, like a woman’s voice, rent the air as Tess managed to grapple the door open. Her heart racing within her chest, she slammed it shut again before the winds could tear it from her grasp.

There was no escape. The storm had already moved onto the coast and the trap closed in around her. Caught like an animal in a cage, she gave a quick, desperate look around the room, which offered no respite from the onslaught. The expensive furnishings wouldn’t provide enough coverage against a hurricane of this magnitude. Cursing her own stupidity, Tess dropped her suitcases and raced down the hallway, seeking shelter in the bathroom.

Packing winds of up to one hundred thirty miles per hour.
The meteorologist’s words resonated in her mind as she shrank down against the side of the tub. The house creaked and groaned with each blast of wind against the wooden structure. The foundation trembled and Tess squeezed her eyes shut. She prayed for safety while the beat of her heart competed with the heavy drumming of the rain on the roof. Her blood roared in her ears as her entire body shook with terror. And then the gurgling came, a forceful rush of water as the surf advanced, threatening to overtake the house and its occupant.

Tess got to her feet slowly, took one step outside the bathroom and looked to her right. Even through the blackness of the night, she could see the horrors awaiting her just outside the windows of the spare bedroom. She didn’t try to stifle the scream welling up inside her throat.

The water lapped against the side panels of her house, smacked against the glass. In a matter of seconds, the house would be afloat or destroyed. And she would die with it. She sank to her knees. Tears raced down her cheeks but her sobs were silent. She tried to fight back the panic, a useless endeavor. Hopeless. She couldn’t be expected to remain calm when the minutes were ticking on her mortality clock. She wasn’t a soldier and she wouldn’t die like a hero. Terror wrapped its icy claws around her throat.

As tears coursed down her cheeks and the sobs shook her body, she became aware of the sudden stillness. The rush quieted. Even the rains ceased and for a moment the world around her hushed. She held her breath. Was it the eye of the storm? Would she have enough time to escape now? She couldn’t remember how long an eye lasted.

The silence settled around the weakened structure of the house and Tess slid up along the wall, her knees too weak to hold her completely aloft. Through eyes clouded with tears, she searched the inky interior.

Before she could make a move to the front door, it crashed open against the wall and, in a whirl of black leather, she saw her savior.

Chapter Four

Jaxon crossed the threshold, scanned the living room before directing his gaze down the hallway and finding her. Their eyes locked. Fear radiated from her shaking body. In two strides, he made it to her side and lifted her in his arms. “We have to get out of here.”

“The rain, everything’s stopped.” Wide-eyed with wonder, Tess looked around.

“It won’t hold off for long.” He sheltered her against his chest and headed back toward the door.

“Is this the eye of the hurri—” She stopped talking the second he carried her across the threshold and out into the early morning.

Suspended in dead air was a wall of water, its watery grasp reaching out, barred from capturing its intended victim. Black mists swirled around them as the wind fought to free itself from a grip more powerful than its own. And the rain hung halfway between the sky and the ground, held aloft by an otherworldly force.

Bathed in the harshness of the hurricane’s fury, the sky simmered above them. The oppressive heat pushed against their clothes. Even the thin, cotton material of Tess’ shirt clung to her as perspiration coated her skin.

Silence descended, except for a few rumbles of thunder. A few steps ahead, a watery tunnel opened up and Jaxon heard Tess’ indrawn breath. “Jaxon, what’s going on?”

“We’ll talk later. Now close your eyes.” He didn’t wait to see if she had followed his command.

She hadn’t. She wanted to be aware of what happened around her, needed to see what was going on but the second the air began to contort around them, her eyelids slammed shut in a gesture of self-preservation. She felt her body evaporating, swirling through time and space and then a warm finger tapped her face and Jaxon instructed her to open her eyes.

Her eyelids blinked open, acclimating to her surroundings. Jaxon still held her but only now he was standing in the middle of a large room with a leather sofa, fire burning in the fireplace and a plush Oriental rug in front of the hearth. And he smiled at her like Tess had no reason to be concerned at all. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” Her voice came out as a strangled gasp. “You just beamed me here and you’re asking me if I’m okay? No. I am a lot of things right now but okay is not one of them.”

He carried her to the sofa and placed her gently against the leather. He squatted down beside her, taking one of her hands in both of his, chafing her palm gently. “I’m sorry. I didn’t have time to warn you. The hurricane was coming and—”

“The hurricane wasn’t coming. It was there. I was there. And—” Tess pushed herself up, her eyes scanning the room. “Why isn’t it here? You live in Mount Pleasant. Why isn’t the hurricane here, Jaxon?”

He sat back on his haunches and watched the emotions flicker over her face. “We aren’t in Mount Pleasant, Tess. We aren’t even in South Carolina right now.”

She flopped back against the cushion and draped one arm over her eyes. “I’m dreaming. I didn’t really wake up to a hurricane. I’m still dreaming. I still have a good eighteen hours to get out of Charleston before the hurricane hits. I’ve got plenty of time. I’m going to close my eyes now and this, all of this,” she swept out a hand, “will disappear.” She closed her eyes, squeezed them tightly.

“I’m not going to go away,” Jaxon warned.

She cracked open one eye. “Couldn’t you humor me?”

His lips twitched and he brushed his knuckles down her cheek. “I wish I could but you’ve already seen too much.”

She began to shake, the terrors of the night accompanied by the incomprehensible journey to this new place—wherever it was—were too much for her to grasp. Her teeth chattered and she tugged her hand free from his grasp to wrap her arms around her body.

Jaxon waved a hand over her length and a thick afghan provided warmth. Tess’ mouth fell open but she didn’t give voice to the question in her mind.

“You need to sleep. When you wake up, we can talk.”

“You’re right. I should sleep. Maybe then I could pretend this is all some weird dream caused by too much pasta last night. And even if it isn’t a dream, I don’t really want to know how you did all that.” She paused and dragged a hand through her tangled hair. Somewhere in the midst of the journey, she’d lost her ponytail holder. She didn’t know why she thought about something so mundane. Maybe it helped to keep her grounded to reality. All of this really wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. Peering up at Jaxon, she continued in an almost inaudible voice. “You stopped the rain and that wall of water, well, I don’t even know where to begin with that one.”

“You’re tired.” He brushed away her hands and pushed her hair back behind her ears. “Sleep now.”

Tess shook her head. “No, I don’t think I want to sleep…at least not until you answer one question.”

Jaxon’s hand hovered near her face, his fingertips lightly brushing her skin. “Just one.”

“Okay, but before I ask, please don’t try to tell me what happened a few minutes ago was just a magic trick you learned in high school because frankly I don’t even think Houdini could have pulled that one off. So I’m asking you to answer me honestly.”

He didn’t look away and as his silver eyes met her face, she knew his answer wasn’t going to be a simple one. “I wouldn’t think of answering you any other way.”

“What are you?” Her voice broke on a croak.

“I’m a wizard.” The three simple words were enough to send Tess into a dark, unconscious sleep.

* * * * *

“Wizard. As in Merlin?” Tess came awake slowly, blinking groggily while Jaxon stood across the room watching her.

He moved to her side instantly, tucked the blankets back around her body. A few minutes after she’d fallen asleep, he’d changed her into a nightgown with a blink and moved her to the king-size bed in his bedroom. And there he’d sat watching her sleep, fear compelling him to stay near her. He’d come close to losing her. Had he gotten to her house a minute later, he would have missed her, lost her forever. The thought terrified him. The power of their connection scared him even more.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, needing to be near her. “Something like that, yes.”

“So you do magic tricks?”

The confusion in her voice made him smile. “Not tricks. Just magic.”

“And that thing you did with the water and the rain, that’s the type of stuff you do?”

“Only when necessary. It was necessary to save your life. Had I been able to save you without magic, I would have.”

“Why?”

“Because you aren’t supposed to know about me.”

“I thought wizards had long white hair and beards.” Tess reached up to touch his face.

He caught her hand and held it pressed against his cheek. “Only those who have chosen to grow old.”

“You can choose not to grow old? I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at that.”

“Actually you should. I’m sure there will be more surprises before the day is through.”

“I always knew there was something different about you.” Tess propped herself up on her elbows and took a look around the room. “So if I’m not in South Carolina, where am I?”

“One surprise at a time.” Jaxon pushed her back down against the pillows with gentle hands on her shoulders. “You need to get some more rest. I’m going to make you something to eat.”

“Make as in cook it over a stove or make as in conjure something up out of thin air?” She huddled beneath the blankets, her eyes filled with suspicion.

This was going to be interesting. He sighed and stood up. “The magic isn’t all of who I am. Yes, I am a wizard but I am also a man.”

“A man with extraordinary abilities.”

“True, but you are safe with me. I would never harm you or attempt to frighten you in any way.”

“It’s too late for that. You took twenty years off my life with that magic stunt of yours.”

Jaxon wanted to tell her he could give her back those years but now wasn’t the time. The summons just arrived. He’d been expecting it. The Assembly waited for him. And he had no doubt he would be subjected to a verbal spanking. He bent down, kissed her cheek and backed away from the bed. “I’ll be back shortly. Get some more sleep.”

* * * * *

It had been a long time since Jaxon had seen all the members of the Assembly congregated together and now, seated around the large oval table, they all wore matching frowns and indigo robes. And from the silence in the room, he could only assume this wouldn’t be a pleasant meeting.

“Did you think we would not know what you had done?” Andion, a powerful member of the Assembly with little compassion for those wizards who stepped across the invisible lines in the sand, posed the first question.

Jaxon didn’t sit. He stood with his back pressed against the heavy wooden door, his eyes scanning the room. He noticed his father sitting to Falcon’s right, his mother to his left. Besides Andion, the room held Braeden, Jaxon’s older brother by a century, Rane, his younger brother, Nexon, a wily wizard who much preferred to hold his tongue than to voice any dissenting opinion, and Jeridan, his father’s brother. It would appear his entire family had been assembled to witness his public reprimand.

“I knew.” Jaxon kept his voice quiet, yet it disturbed the members of the Assembly. Some shifted, trading glances with one another. There could be no mistaking the hardness of his tone. He would not back down, which would make their task much more difficult.

“I had asked you not to see this woman anymore,” Falcon inserted, his fingers pressed together in a gesture of disapproval.

“And I told you I would see her again.” Jaxon walked toward the table. “She would have died had I not intervened.”

“Perhaps that would have been for the best.” Andion drew Jaxon’s attention once more.

His eyes narrowed, he approached, coming within a few feet of the disapproving wizard. “You would have let her die.”

“We are not discussing what I would have done, Jaxon. We are discussing what you have done. You have made this woman aware of what you truly are. To that end, you have affected us all.”

Jaxon swept a hand around the room and an arc of fire circled his head. “That is what this is all about? I have opened myself up to a mortal and it is the beginning of the end? Is that what you think? Tess is not just a mortal to me.” Tempers flared and the flames sizzled across the marble floors. Not a wizard in the room could miss the palpable tension on Jaxon’s face.

Falcon raised his hand to quiet the dissenting voices in the room. “You are in love with her. So you have said.”

The urge to snap back was strong. “It is true.”

“We did not just bring you here to discuss your involvement with this woman,” the Assembly’s leader continued.

“Her name is Tess Montgomery.” Jaxon locked eyes with his mentor, refusing to back down.

Falcon accepted the resistance with a short inclination of his head. “Be seated. We have much to discuss.”

Uneasiness crowded the features of his family and friends. A dark urgency swarmed the room and in an instant, Jaxon knew. His jaw hardened, his eyes narrowed. “The Coven of Allesandra is about to rise again.”

His mother and father stared at their son, speaking in unison, “How could you know that?”

“I am not sure how I know. I feel it. I feel them. Did I guess correctly then?” He directed the question toward the leader.