Abandoned (Book Two of the Castle Coven Series): A Witch and Warlock Romance Novel (6 page)

“What in the world is that?”

Piers grinned.
 

“The Castle has many secrets, but this is one of my favorites. Let me show you.”

HAILEY HAD NO idea what to expect, but Piers was obviously proud of the giant basket.

“Can you hover on your own for a moment?” he asked. “I can do this with you in my arms, but it would be clumsy.”

Mystified, Hailey did as he asked.

Piers turned and pulled open a hatch, climbing inside. After a moment, a warm light appeared from inside the structure. Piers poked his head back out.

“Come in. The sooner we get inside with the door closed behind us, the warmer we’ll be.”
 

Hailey approached the structure cautiously, climbing inside as she had seen Piers do. He closed the hatch behind her as she stared around in wonder.

What had looked like an enormous round mass of twigs and branches from the outside was revealed inside to be a small room with a sturdy wooden floor and smooth wooden walls. There was a chest set against one wall, and the light radiated from a small crystal embedded in the ceiling. When Hailey shifted her weight, she was aware of a very slight sway, but other than that, she might have been in a tiny room in a cabin on the ground.
 

“What is this place?” she asked, looking around in wonder.

“It’s one of our safe bases. Sometimes, because of the work or research we need to do, the Wiccans of the Castle need to spend their time in the forests. When that happens, they can use these safe bases as places to stay. They are self-contained, warm, and have food and water as well as bedding. This one just happens to be high in the air. There are others that are low to the ground and some that are in the ground.”

“It’s beautiful.”

She looked around, already warm enough that she could remove her hat and gloves. Piers was stripping down as well. He didn’t stop until he was down to a black T-shirt and jeans. Hailey giggled.

“What are you laughing at?” Piers’s voice was amused. She pointed at his shirt.

“I would not have pegged you for a Metallica fan.”
 

“Finest music in the past five hundred years,” he said with a grin. “I’ve been keeping track.”

“Really?”

“Nah, not quite. I like music, but keeping up on it can be a bit tiring. Usually I find a band I like, I stick with it until it is no longer fashionable, and then I drop it when everyone’s ready to bury me if I don’t find some new songs. I figure I’ve got another ten or fifteen years or so with this band before the coven threatens to revolt.”

Hailey grinned.
 

“Have you truly lived so long?”

“I have.” Piers smiled easily, but there was a shadow over his face. “I was born in England in 1597. You would not believe some of the strange music that I’ve listened to.”

Hailey didn’t necessarily want to hear about the music, but she knew a deflection when she heard one.

“This is very beautiful, the safe base. I mean, it’s so cozy and warm.”

Piers was checking the time on his smartphone.

“The next shift should be getting ready to come on. I can let them know that we’re safe and accounted for, and then we won’t have to hurry home.”

As Piers messaged their relief, Hailey picked her way through the contents of the large chest. It was large enough to contain two tightly packed foam mattresses, plenty of bedding, and a small supply of food. She touched the chocolate wistfully, but she put it back, knowing that it was only for emergencies.

She looked up to find Piers watching her.

“You approve?”
 

“I do,” she agreed. “Both of the safe bases and of you.”

Piers raised an eyebrow.

“Of me?”
 

“Yes.” Hailey hesitated for a moment before sitting on the floor. “I’ve been all over the world after I awakened as a witch, but it wasn’t because I wanted to travel. Once the covens knew what I was, it was like they were suddenly playing a huge game of hot potato, and I was the potato. No one let me stay anywhere, and no one really wanted me around. The best they wanted was for me to be someone else’s problem. You haven’t done that.”
 

“They shouldn’t have done it either. Your former coven masters were short-sighted at best and plain cruel at worst. If they rejected you so easily, they will have done other things as well that are just as bad, though perhaps not as visible. Hailey, you need to understand that I didn’t do anything special.”
 

Hailey thought about that for a moment. Then she shook her head.

“Maybe you’re right, and no one should have been treated the way that I was. Right now, though, this reality is pretty special.”
 

Piers came and settled next to her on the floor. She could feel the safe base sway just a little. Instead of disturbing her, however, it made her feel protected. So high in the air and so shielded from view, there was nothing that could hurt them. There was no world outside, nothing dark or ugly. She was safe. For perhaps the first time since her parents died, she was safe in the world. She thought briefly of Kieran, who had fought so hard to protect her and then disappeared. That memory was still fiery, still painful.

“Hailey?”
 

She looked at him, still thinking of Kieran, but also her new place in the world. Piers seemed to sense that she was making a decision. He was as still as a statue, and she knew that he had centuries of practice with patience. He could not have been an impatient man and built the Castle. He knew that some things must never be rushed if they were to happen appropriately at all.
 

Moving as slowly as a glacier, she reached her hand out, letting it graze his cheekbone. He did not flinch. Instead, he only leaned slightly into her hand, encouraging her to touch him even more. Slowly, she smoothed the ball of her thumb across his cheek, sliding it down to his generous mouth.
 

She was unsurprised when his tongue flicked out and lapped at it. She shivered at the warmth and the wetness of it. After a moment, she slid her thumb into his mouth, a hot velvet heaven. When she pulled back, he took her hand in his and kissed it gallantly and chastely on her fingertips.

“I want to know what you’re thinking,” he said.

“I should think it was obvious,” Hailey replied, feeling slightly crushed.

Her experience with men wasn’t extensive, but she thought she had made her intentions very clear.

“I need to know that this isn’t some kind of thank you,” he said bluntly. “Regardless of what you feel about the Castle, I need you to understand that you have a place here. You don’t have to ‘earn’ it with me.”

Hailey blushed hotly.

“No, that’s not what I think!”

“Good.” Piers’s smile was bright. “I also need to know what you want from me. I’m attracted to you. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now. You’re a lovely woman. I want to know what you need from me.”

That caught Hailey by surprise. She felt awkward speaking of such things. But he gazed earnestly at her, and waited for an answer.

“I want pleasure,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “This place, this night with you. Inside these walls, I want whatever you can give me.”

Piers made a noise that was somewhere between a groan and a hiss. She watched his hands fist and then loosen again.

“Do you know what you do to me when you say things like that?” he asked her softly.

There was a naked yearning in his voice. Hailey felt a heat kindle inside her to know that she had been the one to cause it.

“I can guess.”

“It makes me want you. It makes me want you bare and squirming. It makes me want to lay you down and give you all the pleasure that you can take. After that, I want to give you even more.”

Hailey was caught up in the rhythm of his words. She knew her mouth was open, that she was staring wide-eyed at him.

“Yes,” was all she could think to say. “Yes, Piers, yes.”

It was the last bit of permission he needed. He cupped her face in his hands and held her still as he rained kisses on her upturned face. Her eyes fluttered closed as he kissed her eyelids, her cheeks, and her chin. Then he passed his lips over hers, once, twice and again. The tender touch woke her body like a storm passing over the prairie. She opened her mouth and drew his tongue into it, sucking on it gently before letting go. In a perfect, wild moment, she wondered what it would be like to suck on his cock the same way, to feel it jump in her mouth and to know that she was bringing him so much pleasure.

“I don’t think you need this anymore.”

Piers’s fingers had found the pull of her hoodie zipper. He pulled it down to reveal the thin camisole that she wore underneath. For a moment, she felt insecure. She was built slender, without much curve to chest or hip. Next to women like Julie and her friend Beatrice, she felt plain and flat.

However, Piers’s expression was one of curiosity and delight, and he passed a hand up her side from hips to ribs. She could feel goosebumps rise on her skin as his hands passed over her body. She tugged at the hem of the camisole, and he pulled it over her head, revealing her narrow frame, her soft pink nipples and the slight curve of her belly.

“What a beautiful woman,” he said admiringly.

Before she could protest, he put his mouth on her collarbone, licking and nuzzling. The area was almost startlingly sensitive. She whimpered when he lapped at it, and then his mouth traveled lower. It took him an achingly long time to cross the short distance to her nipple. The pink peak was deliciously sensitive, and as he lapped at one, he plucked at the other with his hand.
 

Hailey lay back on the floor and rolled her body up to him. He played with her nipples, caressing the scanty curve of her breasts and running his fingertips up and down her sensitive thighs. It was like being tickled, but a thousand times more sensitive. She could feel the sparks of sensation rolling up and down her body, making her arch and ache.
 

“I want more,” she whimpered plaintively.

“I want to give it to you,” he whispered.

He removed her shoes and socks before sliding her jeans and panties down her legs. Then he simply sat up and looked at her for a long moment. Hailey wanted to cover herself, but his open admiration made her bold. Instead, she lay flat on the floor, opening her legs slightly. She was inviting his looks and his touch, and his sigh told her that he knew that.
 

Piers stood to strip himself, and now it was her turn to look. He was lean and golden, more a panther than a bear. His cock was thick and half-hard. When he noticed her looking so hungrily at him, it twitched, making her smile. She could see a few scars, and when he knelt close above her, she could see a smattering of freckles on his bare shoulders.

 
He sat with his back against the wall, and he drew her up to sit in front of him. Her back was to his chest, making her feel enveloped when his arms came around her waist. She wasn’t sure what he was going to do until his hands covered her breasts, cupping them with gentle care. She could feel his cock against the base of her back, stirring against her and making her groan deep in her throat.
 

Skillfully, his hands played up and down her body, skirting every sensitive spot, but every now and then using just enough pressure to make her groan. She felt him explore her belly, her thighs, her breasts, her throat and her shoulders. A strange languid haze fell over her. She felt as if she wanted his ministrations to go on forever, but at the same time, she was growing desperate for more. She didn’t notice that her legs were spreading wide until she heard him chuckle.

“Are you ready for more, sweetheart?” he whispered. “Do you want more of this?”

She nodded, bumping her head against his chest. She was already starting to get wet, but when he brushed his fingertip across the top of her slit, she groaned outright. She was afraid he was going to tease her more. Her hand landed on top of his, trying to push his lower, and his only response was to laugh.

“You’re so beautiful, love. I want you so much.”
 

Both of his hands pressed between her legs, one spreading her open, and the other touching her most tender bits. She should have felt exposed, perhaps even frightened, but the pleasure was building inside her. It felt so good and so intense that she tilted her hips so that he could open her more thoroughly.

She felt him stroke her clit over and over again, deliberately, almost roughly. It made her even wetter, and he drew her natural liquid up to bathe her clit. His fingers slid against her soft flesh even more readily, and in a matter of minutes, she was writhing up against him.

“Oh, oh gods, please, I need more than this. Please, I need you, Piers.”

Something about her saying his name seemed to break him. Before, he had been exquisitely in control, ready and willing to take care of her pleasure as long as she wished. When she called his name, he groaned, nipping at her ear.

It made her think of a wolf claiming its mate. She rose up on her knees while dropping to her elbows. In another time, she might have blushed to think about how she was baring herself to Piers. He could see every inch of her, from the slickness of her sex to the tight pucker of her ass. She hid her face in her hands, not because she was embarrassed, but because of the intensity of doing something so intimate.

Piers’s breath came hard and fast, and he shifted as well. She gasped when she felt his hands circling her hips, and he was lifting her slightly, squirming down himself until his mouth was level with her sex.

He laid one swipe of his broad tongue along her slit, and then another. Then he was lapping hard enough to make her squirm and squeal, rocking on her elbows, and desperate for more. Her juices were running down her thigh, and by the time he let her down, she was sobbing with the sensations he had given her.

“Hailey? Hailey, do you want more?”
 

It was an unfair question to ask when his hands were brushing against her sex, when the tip of one finger was parting her so delicately.