Page 4 of Cursed Desires
“Oh, my Goddess.Whata dream,” I whisper as sunlight streams in through my bedroom window.Yawning, I stretch, only to find Salem beside me, watching me with his alluring golden eyes.I scratch his head, then pause, my right hand caught mid-air as more of last night’s dream floods back to me.“Weird,” I murmur, a shiver rippling through me.What are the odds that I’d dream of an incubus with eyes just like his?Shaking my head, I move to pull back the covers and freeze for the second time inside of ten seconds.My legs are bare and it’s fucking fall.My brows furrow.Idefinitelywent to bed in my long, flannel pajama pants...
Swallowing hard, I reach tentative fingers down between my legs.Soreness and heat radiate from my pussy and ass.Straying further, my heart beginning to race, I feel a crusty wet patch on the bed.My breath hitches in my throat and all sense of reality peels away, leaving me mentally bare as a baby in the harsh light of day.“Holy shit.It wasn’t a dream!”My mind reels.
Even in the brightness of the pure morning light, terror and shock fills me like frigid ice water and I leap from the bed in a single bound, my heart galloping a million miles an hour.“What the fuck,” I say to myself, holding my head and pacing back and forth.“What the actual fuck!”Then my gaze falls upon my new familiar and a chill tingle rushes up my spine, shredding my fragile sanity.“No way,” I breathe in disbelief.“No fucking way!”
I lunge for my robe and in a flurry of chaos I tug it on.Frantically tying the fabric belt around my waist, I fold my arms over my chest defensively.“What the hell are you?”I demand, my tone accusatory and bordering on shrill as my gaze finds my cat once more.
“I think you know, Mara,”a sultry male voice purrs in my mind.
“No.”I gasp.“No.This is...How can this be...?No!What?Fuck!”My mind whirls and it feels like the earth itself has been tipped on its axis.
“Last night you were all ‘yes’ and ‘please’.You were literally begging for it, my little witch.”
I shy away from the black cat and storm across the room, putting space between us.I shake my head, unwilling to believe it.I know I’m a witch, but this is insane!It makes no sense.
“You called for a companion, Mara.You even wished for a cat.And here I am.”His telepathic voice slides into my mind.
“No.”I shake my head in denial.“I called for a familiar!”I argue back.“Just a spirit of the wild in physical form to keep me company.”
“You specifically asked for an animal companion—those were your words—and I am that.I’m sure you know the adage ...be careful what you wish for?You can’t deny our meeting was Fated.”
“I can’t believe I invited you into my home,” I say, licking my lips and pacing again.“And last night, I thought I was dreaming...You’re supposed to be a cat, Salem.Just a cat!”
“It was all real,”Salem purrs in my mind.“And can I just say that you are an incredible fuck.Your every whine and whimper were heavenly.”
Despite the fact I’m arguing with a cat, my cheeks flush with heat and I face palm in absolute frustration.I’ve never felt more ...I don’t even know what I feel!Humiliated?Violated?Angry?Turned on?Powerful?Ugh.I rub my hands over my face, then plant them firmly on my hips.“All right, then.So, what the actual fuck are you, Salem?”I ask, trying my best to keep my temper in check before I blow the damn cat up with unchecked chaos magic.“Some kind of demon or shifter?”
Salem stretches luxuriously on the bed like a puddle of black ink, his mesmerizing golden eyes burning their way effortlessly into my soul.“I’m cursed,”he answers simply.“Cursed to live forever as a cat.Only by nightfall am I able to assume a more human-like form if I desire.”
I huff out a breath, twisting my lips in consternation.“And what did you do to earn such a curse, Salem?Unless you were born cursed, you must have pissed someone off in a major way,” I reason.“Are you some kind of psycho?A killer?What did you do?”I ask, subconsciously taking a further step back.
Slinking to the end of the bed, Salem sits tall and unfazed, his gaze fixed firmly upon me.“It was not I who slighted anyone, witchling.It was my father, though it was I who paid for his sins.”
“Explain,” I say tersely, still reeling from last night’s carnal dalliance with a cursed man.
“My father was instrumental in the Witch Trials,”he answers.“He was among those who started it all.He and his ilk were convinced the Devil walked among us, and that the witches were in league with him—using their feminine wiles to ensnare the menfolk of the town to sin.So, as the last witch faced the noose, she cast a curse upon me for the sins of my father.The curse ensured that our family line ended with me and that we’d never again be able to condemn witches in the centuries to follow.”
My brain freezes like a computer experiencing a technical malfunction akin to the Blue Screen of Death.“I’m sorry, what?”is all I can manage as I try hopelessly to digest Salem’s words.
“I’ve been cursed for a very long time,”he says dispassionately.
“You’re telling me you’re over three-hundred years old?”I gasp.
“I am.”
“Fuck,” I breathe.
“I have been alone for lifetimes, Mara, and I’m tired of it, just as you are.I do not know if this curse can ever be lifted, but when I heard you in the woods ...I couldn’t deny my yearning for a companion myself.Someone who might understand me and my unique plight.Someone who wouldn’t be afraid of what I am—and what I have become.”
My heart cracks wide open, despite the tiniest tremor of anxiety lurking in my belly.I can’t help it, it’s who I am.Perhaps the deep well of empathy I’ve always possessed is my own kind of curse?I come to sit beside my familiar on the bed, reaching out a hesitant hand to scratch him behind the ears.“I’m sorry one of my own cursed you, Salem,” I say, regret that isn’t even mine to own choking my tone.“I don’t know if I could lift such an old and powerful curse.I honestly wouldn’t even know where to begin,” I admit.
Salem looks up at me as a purr rumbles through him.“I can live with the curse,”he says.“But I can’t be alone, not anymore.May I stay, Mara?I’ll keep my promise.”
His telepathic voice sends shivers through my soul and memories of last night come flooding back at the reminder of his promise.“A friend by day and a lover by night?”I suggest cautiously.
Salem nuzzles me.“That I can do.”
A surge of excitement fills my soul, and I bite my lower lip in anticipation as warmth fills me.Maybe the universe answered my call on a deeper level than even I was prepared for?I muse.Already, my pussy tingles, twinging with palpable need and desire.And the truth is as clear as day and stark as night.I can’t wait for the sun to set so that I can be ravaged by my cursed lover again.But this time, I smile to myself as I stroke his fur,I’ll be having some fun of my own!
