MINERVA
I’m out of sorts. June’s life may be in jeopardy because I unbound her. It was rash. I should have thought it through. “I may have done her more harm than good.”
Practically running up the path, I enter the sacred area and dash toward the altar. Kneeling, I pray to Goddess. “What have I done?”
Jonah kneels by my side and pulls me into his arms. ‘You did what had to be done. Leaving her bound would have been cruel.”
“Leaving her bound would have kept her alive. What if Orin finds out she knows what was done to her and finds her more trouble than whatever value they were saving her for?” My pulse is thrumming so loud my ears ring with it. I push back from his embrace. “Goddess, help me understand what I should do?”
“Think about it, Mina. Why would they have bound her?” Jonah’s voice is sharp. The soft kindness, I’m accustomed to from him is a memory.
My temper rises. “Since you are so smart, why don’t you tell me?”
“I don’t wish to argue.” He sighs, then stands and paces. “If you had a power you wanted to use at a later date, it would be best to keep that power a secret. If your enemies got hold of the power first, it might tip the balance in their favor.”
Everything he says makes perfect sense. I flop on my bottom with my legs bent in front of me. “Orin was holding her for a special occasion. Keeping her bound.”
He nods. “I’m guessing the day we saw her looking like she’d taken a dose of laudanum, she’d forced through her binding and made more magic than Orin wants anyone to see. He subdued her, either with drug or magic.”
“And if she slips, and they see it now?” My heart races with the possibilities.
He sits cross-legged in front of me. “If it were me, I would speed up my timeline and take what I want from her sooner.” He lifts one corner of his mouth in a sad smile. “I’m not an evil witch possessed by a demon, though. I could be wrong.”
“Do you think June knows what they plan for her?” I don’t know why I should care so much for this girl, but I feel responsible for her. I made her a vow.
As if he heard my thoughts, and perhaps he did, Jonah pulls me into his lap. “You made her your sister and mine. We are responsible for her and will do all we can to protect her.”
“It might not be enough.” I press my cheek against his chest and let a few tears escape.
“No. It might not.” He hugs me. “As far as what June knows, I think she has some idea of the coven’s plans and is afraid of what her part in them is.”
“How do we save her?” I ask him, but send the prayer up to Goddess.
“We go on with our original plan. She goes back to the coven and hopefully returns for your instruction. Perhaps with time, she’ll tell us the plan.”
He’s right, there’s nothing more I can do. I can’t force June to betray her coven. I can only hope she doesn’t betray us.
A river of sweat drips down my spine. “I’m going to swim. Bellamy and Trent will care for June. At least she’s safe for another night.”
He kisses my head. “A swim sounds like a good idea. We can revive in the sacred water and still be back for luncheon.”
“It’s barely half nine. How long do you intend for us to swim?” I stand and untie the stays at the front of my dress. Once they are loose, I let them drop, and the dress pools at my feet along with my chemise.
When he is stripped down to his skin, Jonah’s shaft stands proudly. “I thought perhaps after a refreshing swim, you might like to make love once more in this holy place.”
“Do you seek Goddess’s blessing, Jonah?” When witches make love with the person they are meant for on holy ground, the Goddess may bless their union for all lifetimes.
He meets my gaze. “I already know we are meant. I need no sign to prove it. If Goddess wishes to touch us with her blessing, I would not mind, as it would prove to you what is so obvious to me. However, my motives for wanting to make love are motivated by pure desire for you, sweet Mina.”
Why his certainty should feel so erotic is beyond my knowledge. Every time he tells me we are meant or belong together, my love for him grows. Soon I’ll not be able to contain the torrent of ardor I feel. I can’t help grinning, though I try to hold it in as I pass him and walk through the tall grasses into the shallow edge of the pond.
He follows me into the cool water. At the center of the pool, he floats on his back. His manhood still erect, it juts out of the water.
With my nipples sensitive and pebbled, my pulse sharpens at the sight of him. “You are beautiful to look at, Jonah.”
Turning his head, he grins. “I’m sure you are the only person who thinks so. Another reason we should be together always.”
I laugh. “Half of the Kent coven wants you to father their children. I assure you I’m not the only woman who finds you attractive.”
His nose wrinkles. “I’m not the kind of man to stud myself out for the masses, Mina. I only desire one woman. I’ll never want another.”
“Men have needs. My mother told me so.” I let my legs float so I’m on my back beside him. “A pretty face in a skirt can turn any man’s head.”
He stands, and the sharp wave of water topples me over. I might have gone under, but his arm wraps around me, and he drags me against his chest. His eyes are fierce, then soften. “Do you say these things to push me away? It will not work. I know you’re afraid, Mina. You think I’ll leave you, or be angry that the coven doesn’t accept me, and leave to find another place. Windsor has an apothecary, so what on earth will he do, you think.”
The fear he describes is so rampant inside me that it’s hard to catch my breath. “What will you do?”
“I don’t know. I have a great many skills, though none of them are magical. I’ll not leave you. If I have to find work digging ditches, then that will do nicely as long as I can be with you.” His stare is so intense it’s hard to keep eye contact.
“I’m afraid losing you will break my heart.” It’s not easy to admit, but under such scrutiny, I can’t lie.
One arm clutched around my waist, with the other, he brushes my hair back from my face. “Only Goddess will tear me from you, and I pray not for a great many years.”
“Even then will be too soon.” I kiss him gently, our lips barely touching. Mine tremble with the knowledge that one day we will be ripped apart.
“Mina, you’re the bravest woman I know. Please don’t let the fear of what might be ruin what is.” He makes love to my bottom lip, then the top, pulling each between his. His tongue skims the seam between them but asks for nothing more.
Desire overrides my worry, and I wrap my legs around his hips. The move brings his shaft to the apex of my sex. I grip him around the neck, plunge my tongue between his lips, and devour his mouth.
He lets me down an inch, and his crown presses inside me. A low growl rumbles in his chest.
Gasping, I struggle to take in more of him, but he holds me firmly.
Slowly kissing me and caressing my back from bottom to neck, he slogs through the water toward the mossy shoreline. With his feet on dry ground, he breaks the kiss. “Will you conjure us a soft blanket? There’s a favorite of mine in the trunk in the corner of the bedroom.”
I imagine the trunk, search inside, my mind flowing through the wooden lid to the soft material inside. “To me,” I command.
The downy blue blanket appears, floats down from the sky, and spreads neatly over the soft moss before us.
Jonah’s soft smile is full of love and pride as he lowers me to my back and covers me with his body. “Your magic is quite beautiful.”
I lift my hips to bring him inside, but he shakes his head.
“Why not?”
As he presses kisses along my jaw, to my ear, then to my collarbone, everywhere he touches burns with renewed need. “I have to see your pleasure first. As much as I want to bury myself deep inside you, I yearn to taste your honey and watch you overwhelmed with bliss.
“My ecstasy brings you joy?” My voice is breathy as he kisses lower.
He traces a path with his tongue between my breasts.
It’s maddening the way his mouth draws me tighter and tighter, as if my womb yearns for him. If he was not lying between my open thighs, I might squeeze them together and erupt, my ecstasy is so close.
I arch off the blanket. “Jonah.” I feel desperate for relief. “Please.”
Sucking my nipple into his mouth, he grazes the tender peak with his teeth.
I grind my hips against him, longing for more. “I need you.”
His joy flushes over me as our minds merge. There are no words, but the emotions pouring from him are erotic and romantic all at once.
Releasing my nipple with a soft pop, he kisses lower, breaking contact of his body with my sex.
I groan as the orgasm pulls back as well.
Jonah crawls lower, and his breath teases my wetness. Pushing my thighs wider with his shoulders, he uses two fingers to spread my lips. “You are so pretty and so wet.” He slips a finger inside me.
Screaming, needing more, I lift my hips.
Then he lowers his mouth to my most sensitive flesh and licks ever so lightly.
I’m certain to lose my mind. Fisting his hair, I ride his mouth from beneath.
He licks and sucks while pumping his large finger inside me. He curls that wicked digit up, and I explode with pleasure. My canal pulses around him, and he licks up every drop of my juices. “Jonah.”
Kissing my inner thigh, he says, “You are magnificent.”
Still gripping his hair, I tug. “I need more of you.”
He crawls up my body. “You can have all of me.”
With my legs wrapped around his hips, I pull him deep inside me. He’s big and thick and stretches me until I’m ready to go over into the abyss again.
He pulls back and thrusts in again and gain. He strains against his own pleasure, holding back for me.
“I should never have doubted you. Forgive me.” I cup his cheek and lift my mouth to his.
Thrusting his hips and tongue in time, he makes love to all of me.
Light fills the sacred area. The pond glows bright blue, and the trees the most vibrant green. Jonah fills me again and again. My body tightens around his shaft, drawing out his pleasure with mine as we both spiral into the heavens.
The lights shimmer and fall like stars all around us as our orgasm crests and slows. My legs shake, and I shiver with the aftereffects of pure joy.
Still intimately connected, with the light of Goddess magic all around us, Jonah rolls so that my body limply covers his. The blessing flows all around and through us.
“For this lifetime and all those to follow,” whispers in my mind.
A tear slips from Jonah’s eye.
I catch it on my thumb and press it to my lips. “I never dreamed anything could be so…magical.”
“Thank you.” His voice is rough and his breathing ragged.
“For what?”
He threads his fingers through my hair so he can see all of my face. “For letting go of all doubt.”
I’m at once elated and a little sad. “It may sneak back in, my doubt.”
He grins up at me. “I’ll remind you we are meant for all time whenever you are unsure.”