Willow: June

N
OTE
: Mystic Zodiac is a 12 book series. It is NOT a serial. Each book ends in a happily ever after for the main couple. However, the prologue and epilogue of each story follows the Gods that kick off the series, Eros and Chlotho (aka Chloe). At the end of the series the bet between the two will come to a conclusion.

E
ros sent
the panicked young maiden away to answer the door; after she came scurrying into his room with news someone was approaching. Visitors were not expected at such an ungodly hour. The shades were still drawn, and he lounged in bed contemplating what to do to his sweet Chloe when he saw her again. All rendezvous had come to a halt after the bet began; yet, he wondered if that had been such a good idea. Chloe didn’t seem as inclined to curb her lusty nature.

He knew she had seen the Great Watcher again, though not the extent of their time together. The handmaiden he had bribed to spy on her came back with news that Gabriel had been at Chloe’s home. She saw him lounging outside, as if waiting for something or someone.

Eros knew he would have to find a way to loosen Chloe’s luscious lips. Possibly with heated kisses and nibbles of her soft skin. He would arouse and seduce to get the information he wanted.

The girl scurried back into his room with the object of his obsession hot on her heels.

“I do not need you to announce me, girl. Leave us.”

The girl’s eyes widened, and he could see fear and indecision warring in them.

“Go,” he said, and the girl practically ran from the room. He placed his hands behind his head, ensuring the sheet slipped down, showing off his chest when he moved. “You can’t go around scaring off all my help, Chloe. Who would take care of me then?” He pouted, sticking his lower lip out.

She rolled her eyes and planted her hands on her hips, thrusting her chest, those glorious breasts toward him. “I imagine you could find some
other
young maiden willing to wait on you hand and foot. As a matter of fact, I may have a handmaiden ripe for the job, seeing as she will no longer be in
my
household.”

Damn.
Eros worked to keep his disappointment at his spy being found out from his face. “Oh dear, what happened? Did she make a play for your Great Watcher?”
Double damn
. This time he grimaced when he saw the look of victory on Chloe’s face. Well, he would wipe that smirk right off.

He flung the covers off and stood, showing off every inch of his six foot six, well-endowed frame.

Chloe’s gaze dropped straight to his straining erection, a by-product of thinking of her, and her expressive brown eye’s grew huge. Her mouth opened on a hitched breath, and he had a moment’s pride fill his chest.

“You,” she said with a harsh whisper.

“Me,” he said and smirked. Her nipples pebbled against the soft fabric of her chiton, pushing against it, calling to him. He knew exactly what he wanted to do to punish her for seeing another man.

“I was going to give you an easy couple this month, mainly because things got a little—out of hand in May.” He waited for her to argue that they hadn’t, but she didn’t respond.

“Chloe?”

“Hmmm,” she hummed, eyes still riveted below his waist.

“Eyes up here.”

Her glazed gaze lifted to his and he smiled. It did wonders to his slightly bruised pride to see her so enamored. He may not have liked her calling him a hot piece of ass, but he knew when to use it to his advantage.

He moved forward and into her body in a bid to help her concentrate. Too bad he didn’t think it all the way through. The unbelievably soft linen of her gown brushed against his heated skin; sending a shiver down his spine. He wrapped an arm around her waist, unable to resist.

He cleared his throat, it coming out more pained than anything. “As I was saying.”

“Yes,” she said, her voice husky. “As you were saying.”

“I planned to give you an easier couple. One destined to meet.”

Her forehead furrowed slightly. There was the argument he had been waiting for.

He cut her off before she could start, though. Much longer pressed up against her body, and he might end up taking her to bed, nullifying the bet altogether. It sounded fantastic to his cock, but he wanted more. He wanted to see her win. To see the triumph glimmering in her dark eyes. “But, since you did such a wonderful job, I thought I would give you a real challenge.”

He pressed his lips to hers quickly. “For the month of the witch, I will give you one who worships many Gods and Goddesses, to include my mother. Willow’s intended is the bane of her existence, Cedric Stone. A warlock who could be even more promiscuous than me.”

Chloe licked her lips, and he knew she was gathering his taste. “Impossible,” she said. “No one is as wanton as you.”

Eros slid his hand down her back to cup her buttocks. He pulled her as close as he could, and ground his erection into her stomach. “Is that your way of saying you want to find out? Right.” He kissed her. “This.” He kissed her again, but lingered a little longer. “Second.” His last kiss had him sinking into the warm depths of her mouth. Their tongues tangled and when he found he needed air to breathe, he pulled away and nipped her bottom lip.

Chloe’s fingers went to her lip, and her eyes flared with banked heat. “Oh my,” she whispered before turning and fleeing.

Eros chuckled at her retreating figure. That surely had to remind her of what she wanted, what she needed from him. He fell back onto his bed and took his cock in his hand. Bringing himself to orgasm with the remembered feel of her body pressed against his.

W
illow looked
around her backyard and wondered, for the millionth time, if what she was about to do was actually a good idea…or not. It was the middle of the night, and she stood under the waxing moon in nothing but a thin, sheer red robe about to invoke the Goddess Aphrodite to help her in her plight.

If she intended to find the love of her life, she needed the help of a much higher power. Nothing she’d done over the last several years had worked. Going to bars. Hitting the clubs. Finding men at solstice celebrations or coven gatherings. She’d even gone the blind date route, allowing family and friends to set her up. The only things she had gained from the experience were how to deal with disappointment and rejection. The men, family and friends had set her up with, were complete duds.

One guy she’d gone on a blind date with asked her where she’d parked her broom, and just ten minutes
after
they sat down and their food was ordered. It was one stereotypical quip after another from him. She left midway through dinner, having had enough, and went home to cleanse her aura.

Another date asked her to chain him up and treat him like a sexual sacrifice. She’d called her cousin Autumn, as she sat across from him, and told her she’d found the man of
her
dreams. Autumn rushed over and snatched him up. They were married a week later.

The most recent disaster happened a couple of weeks ago, and involved a shifter whose name she couldn’t even remember. She met him for lunch and was promptly told he wasn’t interested in her, would never date someone like her, but
would
love her help finding his mate. With each painful word the shifter spouted, she turned a deeper shade of red; her embarrassment skyrocketing until she wanted to slide under the table and pray no one found her…ever.

She discovered that her childhood nemesis, Cedric, had told the man she could cast a locator spell to find his destined mate. She could, but she wouldn’t. Why reward a man when he could have come to her directly and asked, instead of feigning interest in her?

Knowing Cedric was behind the faux date explained his appearance seconds after she stepped through the door of the café, and why he watched the entire uncomfortable episode. She was a pawn for his amusement, once again.

It really was a pity she couldn’t have hexed the bastard when the shifter told her Cedric was the one who told him to ask her out. But witches were forbidden from using spells on Witch and Warlock kind. Not that it didn’t happen, though. In fact, it occurred a lot more than a person would think. She just preferred to play by the rules.

And maybe that was her problem
, she thought as she breathed in the crisp cool evening air.

Willow set four white candles around the stone bowl she had filled with water earlier. Her precious pale blue moonstone wrapped in copper soaked in it. The threads of moonlight seeped into the stone, charging it with the moon’s power. After the invocation and calling, she would attach her precious gem to the copper chainmail necklace made especially for it. The two items a gateway for the blessing she craved.

They were her last ditch efforts to attract her one true love. To find the man who would complete her soul and ease the yearning deep inside. She was sick of being alone and watching everyone else fall in love. In the grand scheme of problems, not having a love life, or someone to call her own, wasn’t much of one. But her heart ached, and loneliness was a bitch.

Even her good friend Celeste had found a man that complimented her perfectly. A wood elf that possessed a love of nature and animals that rivaled Celeste’s, who lavished her with the love and affection she dreamt about.

Willow had heard he’d recently moved in with Celeste. Choosing to trek into the forest to watch over the animals during the week, fulfilling his obligation to them. On the weekends, they would hole up in his cabin nestled deep in the woods. Goddess knew what they filled their days and nights with out there.

You know what they’re doing, and you’re jealous. Why else would you be out here charging your moonstone, set on wearing it day and night through the Summer Solstice?

If nothing happened by the setting of the 21
^st
, she would give up her dream and commit to a life alone. At nearly twenty-eight, it was probably past time by witch standards.

Enough!
She admonished herself. It was time to begin the rite. She let out a huge breath and cleared her mind of everything but Aphrodite and her truest wish. She slid her thumb from the fingertips of her pointer and index fingers down to the second knuckle, murmuring
ignis
to produce a flame from the tips. It was almost like clicking the button on a lighter. She started her invocation.

S
he closed
the rite and thanked the Goddess for her time. Plucking the stone from the moon water, she held it in her hands. Warmth spread through her palms and up her arms. It seeped into her chest, locking her breath in her lungs. Her hands began to glow, illuminated by the stone within, turning the warmth into a raging heat coursing through her blood.

The urge to scream was hampered by a lack of air, and only when she felt she would pass out did her lungs begin to work again. She inhaled, then let it out like a set of bellows, the long stream of air focused until there was nothing left. Her chest felt compressed and she got lightheaded. In the fog of tying to get normal function from her body, a woman’s voice whispered in her ear.

“Willow, my child, you gift me with your servitude and I shall repay it. Wear your stone, and you will find what you want. But take heed, love can be surprising.” There was a soft press of lips against her forehead for a second before the phantom woman disappeared.

The heat of the stone in her hands dissipated, and when she opened them up, the moonstone held a soft glow. She hoped it meant good things were to come.