Page 152 of Castings & Curses

Zelda eased closer, the bubble of air preceding her. He tried to touch her, but the solid air pushed against his hand. Crouching down in front of him, she cupped a hand to his cheek, and he couldn’t raise a finger to stop her. “Think of the possibilities of being bonded to the most powerful witch in the region.”

She flicked her hand. Her two warlocks left and shut the door behind them. “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you. I won’t touch you if you prefer. We can proceed without sex. But sex always makes everything better.” She licked her tongue up his cheek, massaged his rising erection. An erection he fought to contain, but he’d lost control of his reality, his entire mind and body, even his soul. Foreign commands dictated his every thought and movement, and he was powerless to resist.

“Do you want me to bond you, Rafael Reyes?” She pressed a kiss to his lips and then kissed her moonstone ring. “You must verbalize your consent.”

A fissure formed in his confused mind. It screamed “NO” at him. But it didn’t match the words rising to the forefront, or the directives his mouth and hands threatened to take.

Leaning forward and digging his hand through the dense air shrouding her, he cupped his hands around her cheeks, pressed his lips to hers until that tiny dissenting vote in his head stabbed his brain. He kissed the moonstone ring she held up to his lips, the stone warm and inviting. Sharp pains in his skull forced him to pull back.

“It’s okay.” Zelda rose to her full height. “Words are enough. Until later.”

The strange conflicting scent overpowered him, lured him to fill his lungs to capacity. The muddle lessened in his head, smothering that dissenting nag, until a new clarity chased the fog out to sea.

Slowly, he lifted his heavy head, the weight of it causing a crick to form in his neck. “Yes. I want you to bond me. I agree to your dominion, and I swear fealty to you and the Helwig coven.”

CHAPTER10

Delight splashed through Sage.She grinned like a besotted idiot as she entered the witch-house after being summoned by nearly every witch in her coven. She didn’t expect to see Rafael until after lunch. The morning gave the witches more time to peruse and grill the unbonded warlocks, and she didn’t want anyone else laying claim to Rafael. The visuals of his to-die-for body lingered in her mind, and she couldn’t wait to see him again for the warlock lottery.

“Sage!” Jessica shouted in admonishment mode from across the room. “You need to make a choice.” Witches and warlocks jammed the corners in small groups, chitchatting and eating breakfast before the final festival events. Jessica handed her the clipboard with the unbonded warlock names.

“I know, I know. I’ve picked one,” Sage replied.

“What!” Jessica squealed a little too eager. “You found a warlock to bond?” Jessica clenched Sage’s arm, her eyes widening mischievously. “Don’t tell me you’re bonding Joshua.”

“Hell to the no way.” She examined the list. Multiple High Priestesses claimed most warlocks, which meant each witch had to convince a warlock to choose her over another. Three-quarters down the list, two warlocks had one witch name beside his. Helwig. No one ever wanted to battle Zelda. She always won. One name was Joshua.Good luck with that.The last name, Rafael, had only Zelda vying for him. A smile kicking up the corners of her lips, she seized the pen from Jessica and wrote her name on Rafael’s line.

Jessica’s fingertips dug into Sage’s arm. “It’ll end in disaster if you fight her on this. Choose another warlock or wait. We can stall the Council on forcing you to select one today.” Jessica kept talking as if Sage wasn’t shaking her head. “He’s not worth it, is he?” Resignation layered each word.

“Aunt Jessica.” Excitement barreling through her, she said in a rush, “He’s worth more than all these warlocks lumped together. We connected and spent all night together.” Sparks flew off her fingers and drizzled to the floor. “We’re meant for each other. The way my magic connected to him was surreal. His untapped power is tangible.”

“So you two had sex?” Jessica squinted.

“Goddess knows I wanted to. We connected on so many levels unrelated to the witchworld. I didn’t need sex to tap his power.” Rafael’s aura differed from anything Sage had ever seen. Since he had an uber powerful aura, she knew it killed him not to grasp everything happening to his body. He needed a witch to bond him before he tripped off the rails.

Startled, Jessica shook her head, her earrings tinkling as she stepped back.

Ben rushed over, his hand settling on his wife’s shoulder. “What’s wrong? Where’s Ricky?”

“We’re fine.” Sage patted the air for him to dial it down. “Ricky’s investigating a lead on my attack.”

“What are you saying, Sage?” Jessica whispered. “Did your aether connect with him?”

“Yes… I think it did. It was surreal.”

“Who? We need him in the coven. The aether connection’s a game changer.” Ben leaned forward as though to press his words onto Sage. He trailed his index finger down the list until it rested on Sage’s sole selection, and groaned. “Will he pick you over Z?”

“Yep. We already discussed it. He knows Zelda has no claim on him, despite her lies to the contrary.”

“Where’s the warlock now?” Ben searched the room over their heads. “Don’t see him. In fact, I don’t recall seeing him at all.”

“Zelda scared him off yesterday. But he remained on the fringes.” Sage picked at her fingernails. “He’s hanging outside. He’ll be here for the lottery.”

“Not good enough. Ricky and I need to meet him,” Ben ordered. “Call him. This is a make-or-break decision on both your parts going up against the Helwigs.”

Sage threw up her hands, more sparks dripping from her fingers. “Okay. Okay.” She dug her phone out of her jeans pocket. She’d dressed casual on the last day of the festival. A chill lingered in the air, hence the long pants versus summer shorts. Her call to Rafael rolled to voicemail, and she left a message, then texted him:Ben and Ricky want to meet you ASAP. Come to the witch-house.

While waiting for a response, she greeted the witches who thanked her and Jessica for a wonderful festival. Fifteen minutes of radio silence later, her anxiety flew off the charts. A tapeworm of paranoia wound through her belly. Jeopardizing new relationship cling-on status, she texted Rafael several more times. More ghosting. As she turned to stand at the podium, a strange draw on her aether left her gasping. She teetered, caught herself against the podium.

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