Page 25 of Spirit Witch

Gold swirls danced in his cinnamon bark colored eyes, and he held my gaze as he pumped upward, stroking into me with a myriad of emotions swimming in that gaze.The least of which was not total and complete devotion.My heart soared as my body writhed and without any thoughts for self-preservation, I confessed my feelings for him far too soon.

“I love you.Calon, I love you!”

“Nizhoni,” he ground out, flipping us over so he was on top, and my legs hung over his shoulders.

His growl reverberated inside the tent, and I would have thought he was a shifter had I not known any better.His face contorted, bordering on pain, as he pumped wildly, jerking into me harder and faster than before.

Gods, he was so beautiful.

That was all I thought before all logic and reason left my brain.My body went up in flames and pure ecstasy filled me as sure as he did.

Long minutes later, we were finally able to breathe normally.Judge stood up and made us some tea and a plate of nuts, dried fruits, crackers, and cheese he must have had stored somewhere.Instead of dressing, we sat completely naked, facing each other while we ate in companionable silence.

Yes, he was myCalon, but that name was reserved for intimate times.Something even my brain knew without being told.For all other times, he was Judge, a true force of supernature to be reckoned with.

“Are you ready?”he asked, concern shining in his warm gaze.

I nodded, moving the remains of our food aside as he stoked the fire, and prepped the medicine bowls before starting his song once more.Everything had meaning here, and as my memory started coming back, I recalled the importance each part of his preparation had in the ceremony itself.

“You’ve really taken on Baba’s mantle, haven’t you, Spiritwalker?”I whispered my question reverently.

“I had an excellent teacher, and an even better reason to find my strength and my powers, Nizhoni.”

My heart burned with so much love inside me, I wondered how I had ever survived being away from him.Judge’s eyes burned as he looked at me, and my heart squeezed.Whatever we had before I came to Westwood, it had been strong.

He’d called me soulmate, and I felt the truth in his words.I was in love with him.With Judge Dusek.Spiritwalker.My dream boy.The man I calledCalon, which was Welsh for heart—and that’s what he was to me, my whole heart—held the key to my past, and I was finally ready to find out who and what I really was.

Now that love was on my side, who was I to stop me?

CHAPTER10

Sweat poured off my body.It had taken a lot of energy, but I did it.My magic swirled around me in a lavender colored mist, dancing along my skin as if it simply could not help itself.

“Good.You did good, Nizhoni.You are ready now,” Judge whispered, helping me stand after hours, or was it days, of sweating inside the tent.

It had taken more strength than I ever thought I possessed to push through the wall of fog I’d built around my magic, my history.When I finally did, with his help and love bolstering me every time I wanted to run away, it was an earth shattering revelation.I did not know how I would explain it to the others.I only knew it was going to devastate them, as it had me.

But there was good news too.I finally knew who I was.Enid Morrigan to the world.Nizhoni to my lover.Claimed mate of the Dusek Clan Lorekeeper and Spiritwalker.Spirit Witch.I was all those things, and more still.But that would come later when I faced my roommates.

I had also learned I was stronger than I looked.There was no barrier spell or ward in any realm strong enough to keep me from taking my power back.It filled my veins now, and the things I had learned were beyond mortal understanding.I knew that now too.

Judge had held me through my tears and offered me the same unconditional comfort, support, and love he’d given me all those years ago when we were still kids.He had claimed my heart then, announcing it to his Clan one night when we were just thirteen, a few days after that first sweat ceremony.Memories of that night filled my head, and I allowed myself some time to wallow in them.

Judge stepped forward with a steady hand and cut a lock of my hair using the large knife he wore on a belt outside of school.Next, he cut a lock from his own head, braiding both tresses together and adding them to the medicine pouch he wore around his neck.

“You are mine, Nizhoni.And I am yours.Your Calon.Until the end of our days,” he had vowed, sealing his promise with a soft, innocent kiss.

“What are you thinking about?”he asked, bringing me back to the present.

His brown eyes glittered with golden swirls of power, but he looked content and satisfied as he packed a small bag to take with him.This was not his fight, at least that had been my first argument.But he’d stopped me with a shake of his head.

“I am not bound to the Council of Covens, but I am bound to you, Nizhoni.Your fight is my fight.”

He added his bag to the one I’d brought with me containing my tablet and some books.I hadn’t considered the lack of electricity in the middle of the woods, and my tablet died after the first few hours, buzzing with messages from the headmistress.She wasn’t usually so persistent, besides, I’d already had tea with her just a couple of weeks ago.

“Just thinking about us.Remembering the past and mourning how much time was taken from us, and what we missed while we were apart,” I murmured, accepting his kiss with a soft sigh on my lips.

Other memories raced through my mind.Me and him in high school.Me leaving my last foster family.Becoming emancipated.Moving in with his family.The Dusek Clan welcoming me, the elders, and younger generations, offering me counsel and providing the first stable home I had ever known.

---