The COMPLETE Witching Pen Series, Boxed Set (7 page)

Pushing that sinking feeling away, she gave him a quick look. His eyes were closed, his breathing still even. Tentatively, she pulled the covers off them and glanced at his cotton boxers. The material was moulded around his erection, showing off its contours. It looked bigger than she'd expected and judging by the wetness she could feel between her own legs, her body didn't mind.

She held her breath and bit her lip to steady her hand, then hooked one finger around his waistband.

“I will not be held responsible for my actions based on any decision you're about to make.”

With a start, she let go of his underwear and the elastic pinged back against his skin.

“Ouch.”

“Sorry! I was just
—”
 

“Curious?”
 

She nodded, her face aflame. “I've never seen one in real life.”

His eyebrows shot up. “You're kidding.”

“No.”
 

The silence was tinged with her embarrassment, but curiosity still gnawed at her.

“Can I … can I see it?”
 

She saw desire colour his eyes. It gave her an illicit feeling of pleasure – something deep and so wonderfully personal.

I make him feel like that.

He nodded.

Tugging at his waistband once more, she pulled down his boxers and released him. Her heart thudded behind her ribcage. It was even bigger now. She'd seen enormous ones in magazines, but those had seemed unreal somehow.
This
however, was very real … and magnificent. It twitched under her gaze, as if it were alive. With a small moan, she realised that's how it would feel inside her. Alive, moving, hard … how hard was it?
 

“Can I touch it?”
 

“Fuck, Elena, you're going to be the end of me.” His voice was hoarse – it drove her on.
 

“Please?”
 

With a groan, he nodded again.

She touched it lightly with her fingertips, starting at the top, slowly feeling her way down. It was smooth and warm. She wasn't sure why, but in her mind, she'd always thought it would be cold, like steel or something – maybe because hard things were always associated with coldness.

She wrapped her entire hand around him. It was definitely hard.

Karl let out a noise that had her wanting to throw herself on top of him, and moved his hips up off the sheets. She moved her hand up with him and before she knew it, she was the one lying back on the bed and Karl was devouring her mouth with his own, his tongue sweeping the inside of it.

Last night
all
they'd done was kiss, and this was not like last night's gentle kisses. This was desire and urgency. It was a Karl she wasn't used to and it had her hungry for more of him. It was then that she realised her hand was still gripping him, squeezing harder than before. She moved her fist up and down to match the pace of their kisses. It earned her a guttural mewl of pleasure, and then his hand was on hers, prising her off him.
 

The weight of her disappointment shocked her. “Did I do it wrong?”

“God, no.”
 

“Then why—”
 

“I've waited for this for years, I don't want it over in seconds.”
 

“Oh.”
 

She gasped in delight as his mouth found a sweet spot behind her ear.

“So, you liked what I was doing to you?”
 

He grunted his affirmation.

“What did it feel like?”
 

He looked at her the way a cat looks at mouse. The morning sun had found its way into the room and it turned Karl's hair golden – he may as well have been wearing a halo, and damn it if he didn't look like some kind of saint. Only the devil was glinting in his eyes...

Her bra was successfully unhooked and whipped off. He latched his mouth onto her left breast, teasing her nipple.

“Oh, God!” This was new.
 

“It felt like that.”
 

Then he did the same to her other breast.

“And like that.”
 

Fuck!

“But it mostly felt like this.” He eased his fingers inside her, stretching her, and began to thrust in and out, heavenly strokes that had her moaning and arching into him. Her wetness engulfed his fingers, which peaked her embarrassment once more, but Karl seemed to think it was a good thing judging by those wonderful noises coming from his throat and chest – he was practically purring. He sunk his fingers in deeper, sending a bolt of fire to her belly. While his thumb worked its magic on the outside, he seemed to find a spot inside her which had her crying out every time he touched it.
 

A small wave of an orgasm rippled at her core.
Holy shit...
 

“Karl—”
 

“Now, Elena, touch me now.”
 

She didn't hesitate, wrapping her hand around him once more, marvelling at the feel of him. She matched his speed and rhythm, letting herself be guided by the sounds he made – beautiful sounds that played like music to her ears and took her higher.

Opening her eyes to see him, she momentarily lost herself.
What the hell...?
 

Light surrounded them. Golden light, and there was no way that was the sun bouncing off his hair. He seemed oblivious to it, his own eyes closed in pleasure.

Am I doing this? I don't know any magic that does this.

And then all thoughts flew out of her head as her climax hit her.

Karl whispered, “beautiful” into her mouth, just before his own release consumed him, and in that shared moment, a warm certainty settled deep in Elena's chest: she wanted a future with this man – the large house, children, the whole damn thing. She wanted to love him freely, without holding back, and if giving him all of herself meant giving him her powers too, so be it. She'd do it.

~*~

Katherine threw the last of her things into her overnight bag. She had hoped to God it would never come to this, but in her heart, she knew Nathaniel was right: she'd run out of time. She had to tell Elena everything, and then she had to disappear without a trace so her life could never be used as a bargaining tool for Elena's own. The Shanka knew of her daughter's existence, knew what she was, and it wouldn't be long before that knowledge rippled out of the demon world and into this one – it wouldn't be long before The Council knew what blood really flowed through her veins. Maybe they knew already.

Hot tears stung her eyes, a stark contrast to the ice that lived around her heart. With a last mental check to make sure she had everything, she zipped up her bag, took one last look at her home and headed for the door … and froze.

The door was flung open and the Elder stood in its frame, his thick, snow white hair, an aura around his head, his eyes the colour of mud and his expression as unreadable as it always was.

“Katherine,” he nodded, stepping into her home and shutting the door firmly behind him.
 

The anger mounted in her chest and she sucked in a breath through her teeth. “What, you don't knock any more?”

He eyed her overnight bag. “I think it's time we had a little chat, don't you?”

“I have nothing to say to you.”
 

The floor lamp flickered as his voice boomed out, despite it being unplugged at the wall. “Clearly there are many things you
should
have said over the past two and a half decades.”
 

“You lost the right to know anything about me a long time ago.”
 

“This isn't just about you, this is about the whole bloody world. Christ, Katherine, you've always been selfish, but this takes the biscuit.”
 

“
Selfish?
I've spent the last twenty-five years sacrificing everything to make sure my daughter is safe, that she would get to lead some kind of normal life, without risk of … of...”
 

“Being kidnapped by demons?”
 

“And you! You think I don't know what you would have done to her if you'd known? To
me?
”
 

“The needs of the whole must come first.”
 

“Before even giving Elena's own destiny a chance? You would just read the blurb of her life, assume you know the whole story before it's even played out and to hell with the consequences of your actions?”
 

“And look where your actions have gotten you.”
 

“Elena's still alive, and up until Nathaniel decided to throw a Freddy Kruger, relatively happy. If it had been down to you, she'd have been imprisoned from birth.”
 

“Measures should have been taken—”
 

“Nothing's happened – the world is still here!”
 

“Over two hundred people died in a plane crash yesterday!”
 

“That is
not
her fault.”
 

“No, it's yours, damn it! She should have been monitored.”
 

“I'd rather die than have her become The Council's personal lab rat.”
 

“That can be arranged!”
 

The laugh erupted from her throat before she could stop it. Really. Why was she even mildly surprised The Council would dispose of her in a heartbeat?

Oh, I don't know, maybe because my father's a heartless bastard.

Katherine attempted the softest tone of voice she possibly could. “She's your granddaughter – your only grandchild...”

“She doesn't know that.”
 

“Only at your request. She asked about her grandparents growing up. Have you any idea how difficult it was to make up lies about it all, knowing you tutored her, that she
knew
you?”
 

“And yet you've lied to her about her own lineage – to all of us.”

“To keep her
safe.
My lie put my family first; your lie put work and nonsensical tradition before your own blood.”

“She is
not
my blood!”

In the stunned pause that followed, Katherine realised that 'heartless bastard' might just be the understatement of the century. “My God, did you really just say that? You're casting her out of the family? She
is
your blood.”

“Only half of her, and the demon half will take over – it's inevitable.”

“Such faith you have in the strength of your own line,” she scoffed. “Jesus, I was right to hide this from you all these years … and maybe it's a blessing she's never known her relationship to you.”

“I was not going to repeat with Elena the same mistake I made with you. It was best for all that she never knew her grandfather headed up The Council; better for teaching her, better for disciplining her, and better for what I have to do now.”

Katherine's breath caught at the back of her throat and she felt all the blood drain from her face. “What? What are you going to do?”

“For centuries,
centuries,
we've been working to eliminate demon blood from our kind, to stop our persecution and give us a better name. Her birth should never have come to pass. I have someone conferring with the Dessec.”

This time, the ice that ran through Katherine's veins had nothing to do with her shield of protection. Numbly, she shook her head. “No...”

“We will bend time and erase elements over the past thirty years. You will not meet Darius, he will not be killed, meaning Nathaniel will never take his place as Shanka King, and Elena will never be born.”

“You can't … this is
murder
.”

“You can't murder what doesn't exist.”

“But
—”
 

“You'll have no memory of events, no knowledge she existed. You'll not be in pain, Katherine.”
 

“You're not God...”
 

“The Council are the closest thing to God in this dimension, and we will do what is right.”
 

Cold fear erased all words from her mind.

“This is non-negotiable, Katherine. We're cleaning up your mistake. We'll need some of your blood to ensure the erasure is successful. You're to come back to the Round Hall with us where you'll take up permanent residence.”
 

Somewhere amid her numbness, she was talking, thinking and walking, but Katherine was observing it all outside her body, her voice reaching her from very far away. “I'll need to pack more things; give me ten minutes.”

Her father nodded.

Her legs carried her body to the bathroom where she unzipped her bag, slid open the wall cabinet and flung the rest of her toiletries into it. Then, making sure her father was watching, she opened the toilet lid, unzipped her skirt and shut the door. Luckily, relieving herself came easily and she used the fact to buy her some privacy, the loud ringing in her ears giving way to the voice of reason.

Get your head together, Katherine. Get yourself together – and get the fuck OUT of here!

~*~

Teleportation was never easy at the best of times, and Amy found it easier than most. Her natural talent, ever since she could remember, was something akin to shapeshifting – she could make her body weightless, change shape, sometimes solidify, although more often than not, she would remain invisible in her altered form. Dematerialising her body was second nature to her.