Under a Blood Moon: Beaux Rêve Coven, Book 2 (8 page)

Unlike the last time, Miren rather than Bryn took charge, awakening the spirit of the old oak with three knocks against its bark.

“Waken, spirit of the oak.

Stand guard while we revel.

Defend our secrets from evil.”

The torches flared outward and then whooshed inward. The ground shifted and settled. A light humming sound buzzed in his ears.

As before, the women began to dance, circling the tree and then moving beyond its wide branches to draw down the moonlight.

As they danced, the eclipse crept across the moon, darkening it to a deep, dark red. The women moved faster, arms waving, the natural pearlescence of their skin soaking up the darker hue of the blood moon.

It was then that Miren came to him, a lock of hair hiding one eye, a sultry look on her face and a smile that made it impossible for him to resist as she tugged on his hand and led him to the bower someone had prepared.

A white blanket and pillows lay on the ground. A gauzy curtain enclosed three sides of the bower, but he didn’t care who might gather in the opening to watch, because Miren’s hands were working their magic, smoothing over his skin and sending infusions of breathtaking heat. His muscles quivered and strengthened. His cock lifted, hard and engorged. His thoughts became a jumble of sensory details he couldn’t quite catch because his focus narrowed on the woman who lay back on a pillow and opened her arms.

When he knelt between her spread legs, there was only the two of them, only the heat of her glowing skin, a distant chanting he couldn’t make out, because all he heard was his heartbeat growing louder and louder.

Driven by instinct, he lowered and pressed against her entrance, entering her in a single, powerful glide.

Miren tilted her head back and screamed. Thunder cracked and the wind whipped up. For just a moment, he wondered if she’d conjured another cloud in the sky, but this wasn’t her magic. This was the claiming, the moment their bond was sealed. Beneath them, the ground rumbled and shook, but Renner couldn’t care, he was desperate for completion. He thrust into her, reveling in her keening cries as she wrapped her arms and legs around him and rode the crest of the most powerful wave of ecstasy they’d ever know. She came howling, and he followed, come jetting in hot pulses to fill her womb.

Afterward, he held her wrapped in his arms, her head cradled in his hand. “I love you.”

“And I love you.” Her smile was joyful.

The sound of clapping rose around them, and they both angled their heads to look over at their friends.

Renner bent and kissed her. “We’ll pick up where we left off once we’re alone.”

“As alone as we can be,” she said, arching brow.

With a sound of regret, he withdrew from her. He stood and then bent down to help her from the ground. He signaled to Mikkel and Elias and then left them in the bower as Miren embraced each in turn, giving them their own heady infusion.

Renner glanced up at the pure silver moon. He hadn’t realized so much time had passed. And then he looked around the clearing and drew a deep breath. He felt somehow different. Stronger, for sure, but also more attuned to his surroundings.

Ethan came up to him and clapped his shoulder. “I’d say well done, but that might seem a little weird.”

Renner gave him a wry smile. “I never knew until this moment exactly what it was about. It’s as though I’m not myself anymore.”

“You’re joined. Be careful. You’ll be reading each other’s thoughts.”

“I don’t mind. There’s nothing I wouldn’t want to share with her.”

Bryn came up to them, already dressed. She gave Renner a shy smile. “I was feeling a little exposed.”

“You grow more beautiful every day,” Renner said. “Don’t be embarrassed.”

“Well, all this excitement has me ready to retire,” she said, giving a yawn.

Ethan frowned, bent and swept her up.

She slapped his shoulder. “Seriously? It’s a long way back.”

“Just shut up.”

Renner grinned as they left, then noted that the other witches were drifting away with their guardians. When he turned his attention back to the bower, Miren was alone.

“Where…?”

“They wanted us to have some privacy. Said they’d see us at breakfast.”

He’d have to think of a way to repay them for the kindness. Renner pulled her into his arms and bent his head to rest his forehead against hers. “Once bound, we’ll never part,” he whispered, offering the first part of the ancient promise.

Miren’s eyes filled, moonlight glittering in the depths. “One love, one true heart.”

With their vows shared with only the moon as witness, Renner kissed his bride.

About the Author

Delilah Devlin is a
New York Times
and
USA TODAY
bestselling author of erotica and erotic romance with a rapidly expanding reputation for writing deliciously edgy stories with complex characters. She has published over a hundred thirty erotic stories in multiple genres and lengths. She is published by Atria/Strebor, Avon, Berkley, Black Lace, Cleis Press, Ellora’s Cave, Grand Central, Harlequin Spice, HarperCollins: Mischief, Kensington, Montlake Romance, Running Press and Samhain Publishing. In May 2014, she added Grand Central to her list of publishers.

You can find Delilah all over the web:

Website
:
www.delilahdevlin.com

Twitter
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www.twitter.com/DelilahDevlin

Facebook Fan Page:
www.facebook.com/delilah.devlin

or email her at:
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Look for these titles by Delilah Devlin

Now Available:

Saddled

Stone’s Embrace

Undeniable

Lone Star Lovers

Unbridled

Unforgiven

Four Sworn

Breaking Leather

A Four-Gone Conclusion

Reined In

Delta Heat

Five Ways ’Til Sunday

Fournicopia

A Perfect Trifecta

Twice the Bang

The TripleHorn Brand

Laying Down the Law

In Too Deep

A Long, Hot Summer

Beaux Rêve Coven

Once in a Blue Moon

Firehouse 69

Burnin’ Up Memphis

Sweeter Than Honey

Coming Soon

Firehouse 69

Hotter With a Pole

Lone Star Lovers

Family Values

Beaux Rêve Coven

Wolf Moon Rising

Don’t Miss the other titles in Delilah Devlin’s Beaux Rêve Coven series!

When testing an enemy for weaknesses, prepare for things to get hard.

Beaux Rêve Coven
, Book 1

Bryn Cavanaugh and her coven like that the community they live in is isolated thanks to a storm that destroyed the bridge between them and the outside world. Now the state wants the bridge rebuilt. When the construction crew checks into the inn, Bryn begins to suspect something about the crew’s boss isn’t quite…human.

Bridges are Ethan Thorne’s thing—after all, he’s a troll—so building a simple span over a remote canal in backwater Louisiana shouldn’t be this much of a problem. When he follows the pretty little innkeeper to a midnight rendezvous, he discovers why his crew keeps running in to trouble. Bryn and her coven are casting spells in the moonlight.

As a troll, Ethan feels the sting of his low place in demon hierarchy. But finding an unprotected coven of witches in the middle of the bayou could lead to all sorts of adventure. And it’s better to keep your enemies close...

Warning:
Contains a handsome troll (Hey, it can happen!) who’s skilled at building sexual tension with his hands—and several other body parts, as well—and a witch who’s determined to protect her home, but forgets to shield her heart.

If you loved this book, then you’re sure to love these Samhain favorites as well!

She’s the one fire he may not be able to control.

Firehouse 69,
Book 1

When a roof collapse kills his best friend and his girlfriend clears out his apartment and leaves, firefighter John Cooper knows he shouldn’t sit alone in his empty apartment. But when he accepts an invitation to Club LaForge, his feet get colder with every step he takes inside.

The sights, sounds and smells of the BDSM club make him sweat, and not because he’s turned off. Yet he can’t bring himself to admit—to himself, or to his luscious guide, Moira—that this lifestyle might just be what he needs.

An experienced BDSM trainer, Moira senses that Coop is not only a Dom in the making, but exactly what she’s been looking for. A man to be her lover and her Dom. The only problem is, Coop isn’t looking for anything complicated.

Moira’s willing to start slow and easy, but even once there’s enough trust to bring Coop into her world—and to her Dom—she’s still worried he’ll look for the nearest exit.

Warning:
Do you smell smoke? Don’t worry, it’s just a hot and sexy firefighter getting down and dirty. Contains BDSM scenes, ropes, floggers, some spanking, some sharing, and some five-alarm sex.

Who says a cowgirl can’t have it all?

Lone Star Lovers,
Book 7

Stormy is a rancher’s daughter through and through, and although she went away to college, her soul is firmly rooted in home ground—and the cowboys she grew up tormenting. When she hears her father might be selling the ranch, she packs her bags and high tails it for home, terrified she might never get another chance to lasso the heart of one of her cowboys before the hands scatter to the four winds.

For Cam and Joe, foreman and wrangler on the ranch, Stormy was a pain in the seat of their Wranglers. But when she roars back onto the ranch, the spoiled brat they remember emerges from the cloud of dust in skin-tight jeans and spike heels and all grown up.

It only takes a hot second to figure out she’s hell-bent on seduction. But if she thinks they’re going to make it easy for her to pick which cowboy she wants most, she’s sadly mistaken. And who says she has to choose one?

Warning: Contains cowboy-style spanking, flogging, and hog-tying. And a cowgirl who loves every minute of it.

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They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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Under a Blood Moon

Copyright © 2015 by Delilah Devlin

ISBN: 978-1-61922-246-5

Edited by Heidi Moore

Cover by Gabrielle Prendergast

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: May 2015

www.samhainpublishing.com