Luca's Magic Embrace (18 page)

Casually approaching the witch, Samantha cleared her throat. “Hi Rowan, long time no see.”

“Ah you’re back, Sam. Are you moving back into your old room?” she inquired.

“Uh…no, well not yet. Right now, I’m staying with a friend,” Samantha responded. “I was just looking for my notes in my old room, but I guess they were thrown out. I really need to get going but I thought I’d stop by and say hi on the way out. I’m not sure when I’ll be back. Do you have my cell number? Maybe we could go out for coffee sometime,” she suggested.

“Yeah, sure.” Rowan cautiously eyed Samantha, wondering why she was roaming around the coven hallways unescorted. She made a mental note to discuss this incident with Ilsbeth. Samantha was nice, but she wasn’t a sister. They couldn’t afford that kind of security lapse. Rowan got up from her desk and stood protectively in front of the library doors, guarding its entrance.

Typing numbers into their cell phones, Rowan and Samantha politely exchanged numbers. Samantha wanted to ask Rowan to let her into the library, but knew it would never happen. She might be friendly, but she was nothing short of ruthless when it came to protecting coven secrets. Explaining that she had a friend waiting, Samantha quickly ran down the coven steps and into Luca’s waiting arms. On an intellectual level, Samantha knew the coven was supposed to feel like home, but on an emotional level, it felt like a prison and she couldn’t wait to leave.

Luca turned the ignition and tried to figure out how he’d pitch his next idea to Samantha. They had come up with practically nothing at the coven. It was clear that Ilsbeth didn’t want them to have the amulet or speak of it, but besides that, they didn’t have much more information than before they came. If the object scared Ilsbeth, that was not a good sign.

Luca wondered what the amulet did that caused Ilsbeth to insist they stop looking for it. He knew one fact for certain; it was important enough that someone would murder in order to get it. It was possible that Asgear had had the amulet and then that Samantha had stolen it at some point. Perhaps she’d hidden it? Samantha’s memory had failed her so far, and Luca wasn’t sure he wanted her to remember the rest of the gory details of her abduction. Overnight, Samantha had appeared to grow stronger, and he didn’t want to risk a relapse.

The problem, Luca surmised, was that there weren’t many places he was aware of that they could even search. The only two locations she’d been at for certain were the mausoleum in St. Louis cemetery and Sangre Dulce, where Samantha had been bespelled into posing as a waitress and submissive. The mausoleum was out of the question, because it had been destroyed. Dominique and Ilsbeth had taken care of that.

As for Sangre Dulce, Luca was concerned about taking her back to the club. If they went back, there was a risk she could be traumatized all over again. When she’d been in Kade’s basement during her initial interrogation, she’d nearly fainted after being shown pictures of herself nude, serving drinks. She only had a vague memory of having a drink with a man, James, who was really Asgear. No other memories existed for her.

Shifting in his seat, he drove towards home and sighed. “So listen, Samantha,” he began. “Since Ilsbeth was a bust, we don’t have many options. I have a plan, but I’m not sure you’re going to like it.” He didn’t bother looking over at Samantha to gauge her reaction, and kept his eyes fixed on the road.

“Well, let’s just say, I’m open to suggestions. There was nothing in my old room. In fact, they’d cleaned the place out. And until Ilsbeth or Rowan try to log into the coven site, we can’t hack into their server. So, whatever’s on your mind has got to be better than the whole lot of nothin’ we’ve got now.” She shrugged and glanced over at him.

“Okay, if you’re open to it, here goes. I’m thinking it’s a real possibility that Asgear stole or found this amulet. Maybe he knew what it did, maybe he didn’t. I’m also thinking that maybe you took it and hid it before or during being bespelled. Just because he bespelled you, it doesn’t mean you liked him. He could have told you what it did, and you inherently knew he wouldn’t put it to good use. Now, how someone else knows you were with him or that you might have had it, is a true mystery.” Luca steeled himself before telling Samantha that they were returning to her living hell. “I think that we need to go back to Sangre Dulce to take a look around, maybe talk to the other waitresses, look for clues. We know you were there.”

Samantha silently contemplated his proposal. She loathed the idea of returning to that club. It had forever fucked up her life: one decision to go out with friends, one decision to have a drink with a stranger. Going back could bring back her memory or not. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to remember. She could literally pick up with her life and move on, not having to worry about the frightening lost memories. Yet if she went back to the club, she might possibly find evidence to lead them to the amulet. Whoever was looking for that damn thing would not leave her in peace until they got it. There was a real possibility that she had done exactly what Luca had postulated. She would never know until she tried.

“Yes. Let’s do it,” she agreed.

“You sure?” he asked.

“Yes. Until we find this amulet, I’ll never get my life back. I need this, Luca. I need normalcy. Maybe supernaturals are used to living in a state of constant stress and chaos, but I’m not. I want my boring, Starbucks drinking, nine to five working life back. It wasn’t much but there’s one thing I’ve realized; when you lose everything…your job, your home, your identity, the only person who can put the pieces back together again is you. I’ve got to do this.” She caught Luca’s eyes and put her hand on his thigh.

He reached down and covered her small hand with his. Slowly rubbing the inside of her palm with his calloused thumb, he realized how protective he’d become of her. She was so beautiful and brave, willing to return to Sangre Dulce. She wasn’t a weak human lying down in defeat. No, she was a fighter. A quick glance at her smiling up at him melted his heart.
What was she doing to him?

He hadn’t even known her very long but felt a deep connection to Samantha that he didn’t think he’d ever be able to break. His thoughts drifted to Ilsbeth’s words; it was rare, but they could conceive.
A baby.
Silently admonishing himself for even thinking about it, he blew out a breath. What the hell was happening to him? Luca didn’t do humans or love and here he was thinking about babies? While growing aroused at her touch, he was more concerned about the tightness he felt in his chest.
I’m falling for this little witch.

“What are you thinking about? You okay?” Samantha broke his train of thought.

“Just planning our next move,” he lied. “When we go to Sangre Dulce, I’ll be by your side the entire time. You’re not the person you were when you were Rhea. Rhea was mere illusion, someone you were forced to be. We’ll go in, do our business and get out,” he promised.

“You know, when I saw those pictures, at Kade’s, I was just shocked that I could have been made to parade around naked like that in some kind of a magic stupor. I felt like a fool. And then there’s that whole submissive thing. I mean, it’s not like I’m not open to fantasizing in the bedroom, but what I did wasn’t exactly private.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head in embarrassment.

“You have nothing to be ashamed of, Samantha. Seriously. Number one, you were not in control of yourself. Asgear forced you against your will. And number two; even if you were a submissive, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. A lot of people experiment with fantasies. It can be fun.” He winked at her, trying to lighten the mood.

“I, uh, I don’t know, Luca,” she hesitated for a moment before continuing. “It’s just that I really haven’t ever been so intimate with anyone…until you. What we did last night, it was amazing. It’s not that I haven’t, you know, had sex. God, this is embarrassing. Okay, I’m just going to say it. There’s been no other man who made me, you know, come like that.” She giggled a little. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m telling you this.” She raked her fingers through her hair, twisting the ends nervously.

“Well darlin’, I’m glad to hear it. And if I have my way, I’ll be the last man who makes you come ‘like that’ as you put it,” he smiled at her, turning into his driveway.

“Look at what you do to me, woman.” He moved her hand from his thigh onto the hard evidence of his arousal. “We’re never going to get anything done,” he sighed. “Seriously, as much as I’d like to take you inside and make love again, we need to get over to Sangre Dulce,” He groaned due to his uncomfortable state of arousal. “When we get home, I’ll call Sydney and see if she can bring over something suitable for you to wear to the club. I also think we should bring Étienne and Xavier for backup. I’m not expecting trouble, but after what happened the last time we were there…Let’s just say that I’m not risking anything happening to you.”

As Luca pulled his car up to his home and turned off the engine, Samantha jumped out. As he approached her, Samantha wrapped her hands around Luca’s waist, pressing her face into his chest and hugging him tightly.

“Thank you, Luca. Thank you for talking me into coming back here to get my life together. Thank you for helping me. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

“Well, I did threaten to enthrall you to get you home, so I guess that counts as talking you into it,” he joked, and kissed her head.

She playfully pushed his chest with the palm of her hand. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Yes. Yes, you are. And I couldn’t be happier that you’re with me.” He gathered her into his arms for a brief embrace and then released her. If he started kissing her, they’d never get to the club. He was two seconds from tearing off her clothes as it was.

“Come on now. Let’s get dressed.” He lightly smacked her bottom as she quickly walked up to the porch. Adjusting himself, he fantasized about how delicious it would be to spank her pink while taking her from behind. He couldn’t seem to stop thinking of Samantha and all the delightfully naughty things he wanted to do to her.

Knowing they had work to do, Luca decided it was safer to stay upstairs rather than follow Samantha down to his bedroom. He could barely keep his hands off of her for two seconds. She was driving him mad. It wasn’t as if he could stay in a cold shower forever. He needed to get himself together, which was not going to be easy, considering they were about to go to a sex club. He sighed, resigning himself to the fact that he was going to remain uncomfortably hard for the next several hours. It was going to be a long night.

Samantha tugged at her short dress as they walked toward Sangre Dulce. Sydney had come over to Luca’s to help her get dressed. After vehemently refusing to wear a little, very little, see-through number, she’d settled on a royal blue spandex mini-dress with a draped skirt that was gathered at her waist by rhinestones. One-shouldered, it exposed her creamy, pale skin; her golden red hair was straightened and tied back in a ponytail. Samantha enjoyed the black patent leather platform heels she’d borrowed. They made her feel more confident and tall, despite only adding a few inches to her five foot three stature.

She knew that the club catered to both humans and supernaturals; that was partly what had enticed her to go there in the first place. They’d all thought it would be fun to maybe see someone being bitten or spanked. Samantha didn’t recall either. Still, with the knowledge that there could be vampires there, she nervously stroked her neck as if to protect it. Sydney had given her a silver chain in case of an emergency, which she kept stowed in her small clutch bag. She’d tried to get her to take a stake, but Samantha trusted Luca to keep her safe. She reasoned that not knowing exactly how to stake a vampire could be more dangerous for her, if she tried using the weapon without practice.

Luca put his arm around Samantha’s waist and possessively pulled her against him. He planned to make it clear from the minute he stepped out of the car that she was his. He could practically feel her smooth skin through the barely-there, stretchy material that was her dress. He’d nearly had a heart attack when she came out of the bedroom tonight. With her hair swept up, he admired the fine lines of her neck; how he’d love to pierce her and taste her honeyed blood again. The spandex dress showed off every last curve of her luscious body without revealing a hint of cleavage. Samantha was simply stunning.