Page 62 of Magic & Secrets
As the pleasure built, we moved together toward something we didn’t understand. We were more than two creatures finding relief in each other’s bodies. Roque and I had become conduits of ancient magic reborn into a world shuddering in anticipation.
Roque
MAGIC NEVER INTERESTEDme. I didn’t care about the old stories about ancient gods and their human slaves. That world wasn’t mine. Humans made me with their technology. I was no different than a rifle or an airship. Nothing seemed magical about a Bane Shifter, even if we mimicked the inhuman powers of the common Shifter.
My mate bond didn’t care if I believed or not. The magic engulfed me in a whirlwind of passion and power. Pandorium Forest rattled and roared in response to Calla and me mating.
Pan-Dissurath’s complaints couldn’t compete with Calla’s joyous laughter. She glowed with beauty. Her gaze shone with affection for me. I was all she saw. She smiled brightly and held onto me while the pleasure built.
My hands felt too large while exploring the lines of her lithesome body. Despite our difference in sizes, Calla seemed made especially for me. Her heat wrapped tighter around my erection, making me groan with pleasure. My lips sucked at her delicate throat.
Our bodies moved at a frenzied pace, reaching for the crest of this sublime desire. Calla gasped, and her eyes sprang open. She gripped my shoulders, seeming almost afraid as the heat between us peaked. I roared with pleasure, shocked by the intensity of what Calla and I created together.
The magic around us spun faster, lifting Calla’s hair as she held onto me. Feeling like she might be stolen away, I tightened my embrace.
The pleasure left me breathless. My heart raced. My body trembled as violently as the ground. I held onto Calla and begged for the power to keep her with me always.
Our bodies tumbled onto the mossy floor. My limbs were tangled with Calla’s. The whirlwind fell away, and silence returned to the forest.
“We should do that again,” I murmured while rolling onto my side and draping my arm across Calla’s sweaty body.
Gazing at me in wonder, she replied, “Yes.”
Her fingers traced my lips. I kissed her immediately. My body felt empty without her connected to it. Calla’s hands stroked my chest, making my nerves hum with desire.
Resting on her back, Calla stared up at the dark tree canopy. “My favorite part of the day was when I got to dream about you. I knew you were a threat to me, yet I was so curious about you.”
“I dreamt of you, too,” I admitted now that lying made no more sense. “Not of you as much as through your eyes.”
Calla smiled softly. “Solme Divige said you were my destiny.”
“Is that ancient one the reason why, after all these years, my kind can have mates?”
“I believe Solme Divige has plans for her offspring. She is likely why the Sagesse set my sisters and me on a path to meet you and your packmates.”
“Does destiny mean everything will work out?”
“It means the ancient ones are in play. Solme Divige wants my kind to succeed, but I’m unsure how much she can control the outcome. Or if her version of success will be something pleasant to live through.”
“Weren’t the ancient ones vicious? How can they want anything good?”
“I can’t imagine what she intends,” Calla admitted and stroked my throat. “Do you now believe your kind was created using magic from Vyanlpoth?”
“Does it matter if I believe?”
“The magic made to create you offers power others in this world don’t possess.”
“I don’t understand how magic works,” I admitted, looking around. “The ancient one living under Pandorium uses its magic to twist living things. It created the Elves, Ghouls, and other magic folk. How is that any different than what happened with us?”
Calla rolled to her side and faced me. I hated for her bare flesh to touch the mossy ground. Up on my feet in an instant, I located her cloak as a blanket. Calla smiled at me as if my simple gesture was the most generous act.
Setting back next to her, I kissed her softly and relaxed in her comfort.
Calla spoke in a tender, patient voice. “Pandorium Forest twists humans more passively. I wasn’t a normal baby left in the domain of an ancient one and changed like the Faeries. The Gathering invoked Solme Divige during my creation. They offered the ancient one blood sacrifices to appease her. I am a product of Solme Divige’s direct magic, not simply a human contaminated by magic until I began a new creature.”
“Tell me again what ancient god you think made me.”
“Vyanlpoth was known for different forms. He was apparently a cruel trickster with an insatiable bloodlust.”
