Page 13 of Emerald Flame
Strung across the ceiling were a variety of colored lights with small, round globes. The effect was festive and playful. “Did you create this from a dream?” He couldn’t fathom the artistry. “Was it a witch thing?”
“This has very little to do with me being a witch. I was an artist before I came to Five Bridges.”
An artist. “It shows.”
He found it disturbing, beautiful and so sensual that more crackles of electricity chased over his arms and shoulders.
She moved behind him toward the wall and flipped a switch that lit up the ceiling lights. Several of the strands blinked through different colors in sequence.
Drawing close to him, she said, “I love reclining and watching the lights. It’s very relaxing. I keep the temp in here on the cool side, so I can have a fire when I want it, even in July. I know, it’s very indulgent. But there are times when it’s necessary for my sanity.”
He looked at her and considered her words. “Because of the shifters you bring here.”
“Yes. And the work I do in the other four territories.” She didn’t elaborate on her stress-level. She didn’t have to. He’d been in Five Bridges long enough to have seen it all as well.
There was so much suffering and death in his world. More than anything, he wanted to change that. But nothing could be accomplished in Five Bridges until the power of the cartels was destroyed once and for all. He just couldn’t see an end-point, not with such high levels of drug addiction in each of the five territories. Thealterexperience by its nature, by the abrupt cessation of a normal human life, carried tremendous despair. It was no surprise so many people turned to the flame drugs for relief.
“Come on. Let me show you the rest of the apartment.” She took his hand and again his palm crackled with electricity, but she didn’t pull away.
She took him across the room to an arched opening halfway down the living area, not far from a solid, rustic wood dining table. He saw another small hallway, with an arched ceiling and more water-smoothed rocks and soft lights.
To the right was a passage that carried a hint of herbs in the air. “My spellroom.”
“I can tell.”
She drew him, however, to the left down yet another short hall, with more soft lights, more rocks. Yet it felt very different. For one thing, the air was significantly more humid.
He heard the sound of water flowing over rocks before he saw it. Once in her bedroom, yet another surprise waited for him.
“Holy shit. You made this, here? Underground?”
“I did.”
His chest and throat grew tight. “But how is this possible?” He’d never seen anything more beautiful or more welcoming.
A waterfall tumbled over large boulders in an extraordinary grotto she’d constructed opposite her bed. The water then flowed into a pool at least twenty feet across. The edge of the pool was made up of rocks as well, with a couple of flat entry points. Most of the pool was below the room’s floor level.
Incredible.
“Yes, it was another indulgence.” She released his hand. “Care for a dip?”
His mouth was agape. It took some doing to close it. “Yes.” But he continued to stare and wonder at what she’d built.
She was stripping off her clothes before he finally came out of his astonished stupor. She dropped each piece off to the left of the dark, rock-laden pool.
When she turned to face him, she was fully naked. She didn’t seem the least bit embarrassed and his wolf loved it.
Her body was free of hair, so her sex was fully visible, a sight that forced his mind a little more out of its stunned state.
This waswoman, what she could bring to his life. A different way of looking at everything, a lightness of spirit he didn’t possess, a frequent smile despite the scars that streaked over her breasts and abdomen. He knew she’d been tortured and here was the evidence. In that sense, they’d both endured similar pain and suffering.
She sat down on the flat portion of the pool’s edge, carefully swung her legs over then slid into the water.
He approached the grotto, still stunned. The pool was a few feet deep. She fanned her arms to keep herself afloat. An herbal smell rose from the water, a witch’s concoction. His senses told him it kept algae from forming. There it was again, more of a warlock’s ability to detect things than a wolf’s. “You keep the pool pure with a potion.”
“I do.”
Her long brown hair floated around her shoulders. He took his boots off first then began to strip out of his clothes. As he did, she slowly gained her feet so that she stood with her shoulders visible.
