The Goddess Redemption #2 - Spellbound (a Paranormal Romance) (4 page)

****

Sara looked out the window. Victor was smiling at Meg. When he took his shirt off, she threw the curtain closed with angry force. The man was not only filling her head with visions of him, but he was placing other thoughts in there as well, ones that were unexpected. She didn’t like the feeling of jealousy she had every time the man spoke to her sister or smiled at her. She tried to tell herself that he was just being nice, but who was she trying to fool? Even women found Meg to be breathtaking.

She tried to push the jealousy from her mind. The barrier potion was nearly done
, but still needed time and time was running short with the day drawing to an end. It would be close.

Sara was about to add the final ingredients, when she heard the woman cry out. She got to the door just in time to open it for Meg. She was carrying the butcher’s daughter. Seline was only four years old, but she had been a difficult birth. The child had been small and wouldn’t eat. Sara had worked with her, mixing herbs and honey. Making healing potions to keep the child alive while she worked to cure her. Her efforts had been rewarded a hundredfold.

She had wilted flowers by her bed, given to her by Seline the last time she had seen her. She had a painted rock she kept on her windowsill. Tears filled her eyes as she remembered, Seline covered in splotches of paint. There was more on the child than on the rock. The gods were cruel.
Any other child
, she cried out in her mind.

“We need a fire, a hot fire, hot enough to melt silver
,” Sara barked the commands.

The potion was finished just as the sun dipped below the tree line. The silver had melted easier than she had thought and the color was a nice periwinkle. The sky was pink and Seline’s fever was hot, when the potion began cooling. Seline’s mother was sitting, drinking a cup of tea by the fire. Meg had laced the tea with a sleeping potion. The woman would soon be drowsy enough to sleep. Sara didn’t know how the child would react to the cure. She knew the first transition was extremely painful for them and no parent should have to witness that. She would wake the woman when it was over. They spoke quietly for a few moments before she finally nodded off.

As gray colored over the pink sky, a howl broke the silence. It was followed by several more and the sound of it sent a gasp from her lungs. After that, everything happened quickly.

****

Victor grabbed his bow and rushed outside. His arrows were lying at the edge of the tree line.
He had taken them as far away as possible while still keeping them in sight, after the vision he had shared with Sara. Neither one of them had wanted a repeat, the first vision had left Sara unbalanced and him shaken. Maybe that hadn’t been the best idea.

Ice
was shining bright, like a beacon as he quickly made his way across the garden path. The wolves were close and his senses became as taut as a busy hangman’s noose, without all the jerking.

Victor’s once mad dash became a sudden standstill as one wolf and then another leapt out to guard the hunter from his quiver.
Ice
was shimmering and pulsing behind them, but behind that, Victor could see more eyes, all yellow and fierce in the fading light. There were at least six or seven wolves, which he could see. How many more couldn’t he see?

****

Kiru left his brothers and sisters to play with the hunter and padded around to the other side of the clearing. He approached the cabin from its blind side. He skirted around the rotting foundation and the human smells assaulted his nostrils as he crept under the window. He could hear the witches talking inside. He could also hear the snarls and snaps of his pack as they kept the hunter occupied. The fool had left his weapons unattended. It would be grand to offer the alpha the hunter’s head along with the blonde witch. But, there was no glory in disobeying the alpha. That route would only lead to his death.

Kiru heard the cabin door swing open and he s
lunk back, hugging the foundation as the huntress raced out across the clearing, carrying colorful vials of liquid in her arms. He took his opportunity and ran inside the closing door. The blonde was tending a small child on a bed of blankets. She wasn’t even aware that he was right behind her. Kiru had never imagined it would be this easy.

****

Sara gripped the potions to her and ran out the door, leaving Meg to tend the girl. They had just administered the cure and already the girl’s brow was sweaty with a broken fever. If the current situation hadn’t been so dire, she would have cause to celebrate. But, Victor was alone and she had seen the wolves jump out, blocking the pulsing blue pinpoint of light from her view. It was her fault he didn’t have his quiver. She had told him to take it away, afraid of more debilitating visions. Now, he was trapped with no way to defend himself.

Stupidity is likely going to end us all
, she thought. In her arms, she carried several vials, each one a different color. Squeezing them tight to her with one arm, she pulled the blue vial out and threw it as soon as she was close enough. She watched the vial land and swirl in front of Victor, the jarring of the liquid sending a plume of blue smoke cascading from the vial. The sickly sweet smell traveled through the air. The blue fog hid Victor from the shifters and the smell would drive them away, but only for a few moments. Sara was thankful it wasn’t windy.

“Go!” she screamed at him, still running towards him, until she heard Meg’s screams from behind her. Sara stopped cold in her tracks and turned around. She watched the large wolf pull her sister away as she screamed and kicked and clawed at the ground.

“Meg!” Sara screamed and her voice cracked around the lump of terror in her throat. She started back, racing to her sister, only to have another large wolf move in on her from the side, lunging with open jaws. She dug in her heels, slung a white potion at it that crackled and sparked in the air and the wolf missed, moving just in front of her. She kept running. She didn’t dare look back, not even when she heard the beast cry out behind her. She kept her eyes on her sister. Meg was screaming for her, but the wolf was pulling her away so fast, her cries grew smaller instead of stronger. Sara ached inside when the wolf pulled Meg out of sight and her cries were replaced by Victor’s shouts.

“Sara, wait!” Victor’s voice rang out behind
her, but the command didn’t penetrate as Sara’s feet sped her forward. “Sara, stop!”

But she kept moving until she was tackled from behind.
It was all she could do to hang on to the potions still in her arms as she landed hard and the breath escaped from her lungs.

It’s over,
she thought,
they have Meg
.

****

The wolves were gone. They had scattered after the biggest one had dragged Meg into the forest. Sara was still running as if there was hope of catching up to them, when he tackled her to the ground. The woman was heading right into the forest after her sister. The wolves were gone, but there might be one or two looking for an easy meal. He was not about to let that meal be the woman he loved.
How can I love her, I barely know her
, he thought but the feeling was there all the same, no matter how insane it sounded in his head.

He rolled from her and got to his feet. She rolled over onto her side and lay there
, sobbing. It tore at his heart.

“We are going to get her back. If they wanted to kill her they could have done it here and they could have killed us too. If they wanted to claim her for the pack, they would have just bitten her
,” he said, trying to reason with her, but her sobs became wails, she was so beside herself.

When he couldn’t take it any longer, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her into the cabin. With fixed eyes, she stared out the window from the chair he sat her in, still sobbing as he pried the vials from her hands and placed them in holders on the mixing table.
He dropped his bow and quiver by the door.

The sick child had been
sitting up, like a miracle, clutching one of the blankets to her, when he had brought Sara in. Only minutes before, she had been too sick to move.
Now she looks the picture of health
, he had thought. The potion had worked. The girl was cured.

With wide eyes, the girl watched silently as he poured some wine from a pitcher and held it to Sara’s lips.
Slowly she drank one sip, then another.

“We will get her back
,” he promised her, but how to do it was giving him the most pause.

“How?” she asked, the sound hollow.

“There is nothing to be done tonight. But tomorrow, we hunt. We will find their den and kill them while they are on their feet and then we’ll bring your sister home,” he told her as he thought about it. It was the only logical thing to do. They were no match for a pack that size at night, but with a few of her potions and a little luck, together, they might be able to pull it off in the light of day.

“Why would they take her, do you know?” he asked and she shook her head and dropped it into her palm
s. Her shoulders moved up and down with her sobs. He handed her a small stretch of cloth from the top of a freshly washed stack on the mixing table and waited while she composed herself.

Only a few moments had passed, before a loud knock came from the other side of the door.

“Leena! Seline!” the voice called, followed by another round of violent knocking and twisting of the locked handle.

“Papa!” the girl squealed and threw back the covers. Victor was on his way to the door, but the girl beat him to it, threw the lock and opened it. The man outside was a little portly
around the middle, but his arms were strong and muscular as he held the little girl in them. Victor could see a tear slide down the man’s cheek.

“Where is your mother, Seline?” he asked, standing up and moving his daughter behind him
, protectively, when he noticed Victor standing in the doorway.

“Asleep, papa
,” the little girl said. Sara had come to stand next to Victor, finally roused out of her stupor by the commotion at her front door.

“I’ll get her
,” Sara said, but the man reached out and grabbed her hand. “I don’t know how you saved her, but thank you.” He reached down and lifted his daughter into his arms, hugging her tightly.

Victor remained at the door, while Sara retrieved the girl’s mother.

“She’s fine.” He heard Sara whisper behind him. “Your husband is here. She is with him.” A moment or two later the woman scooted past Victor and rejoined her family outside on the stoop. Victor watched her kiss the child in her husband’s arms and the moment was so intimate that he felt as though he was intruding.

“You are more than welcome to stay here for the night
,” Sara said as she came around to stand by him.

“
There is no need. They never attacked the village tonight. Why?” the man asked in bewilderment. “They have come every night for nearly a year, but not tonight.” Sara just shook her head; she had no answer for the man.

“They took Meg, Papa!” the little girl cried and buried her head in the man’s chest. The man looked at Sara in question, and Victor watched her nod briefly as tears welled in her eyes once again.

“I’m so sorry. What can I do?” he asked, though Victor could tell his eyes held little hope for the blonde witch.

“Silver
,” Sara said. “It kills them, when pierced through the heart. Tell the blacksmith and gather all the silver you can find. Melt it down and forge weapons. Protect her.” Sara told him, motioning toward the child, her voice petering out to no more than a whisper.

“I will
,” he promised and turned his family away from the cabin. Victor watched them until they were swallowed up by the night then closed the door. The sound of the door closing sent fresh tears cascading down her cheeks and Victor could not take it anymore. He gathered her in his arms and held her there until her sobs lessened.

****

Sara didn’t know how long she stood there as Victor held her to his bare chest. It was hard muscle under her cheek. His touch was more than comforting around the hole in her heart and she clung to him desperately. Try as she might, she couldn’t figure out why they had taken Meg. It made no sense. The shifters were known for their savagery against the humans. They had injured, murdered, and infected. But, they had never
kidnapped
anyone.

How long she stood there against him, she couldn’t say, but she was all cried out by the time she finally pulled back and looked at him.
The moment she did, a blue light erupted from behind him and her mind was overloaded with memories of the man in front of her, the man she had met just that morning. But that wasn’t the first time they had met. They had first met a long, long time ago.

She studied his face, haloed in soft blue light and her heart took to flight. Her eyes welled once again, but this time not out of loss. Happiness wet her cheeks in the form of tears. She could see in his eyes that he was remembering her and she waited
, breathless, in anticipation.

She watched the love spread over him like a soft cozy blanket, warming his expression. When he leaned down and kissed her, she kissed him back, slowly tickling his lips apart with her tongue.

“It’s you,” he said, talking through her kiss. She listened to him breathe in deep, filling his lungs.

****

He breathed her in. Her skin smelled of lavender, her hair scented with vanilla, and her tongue tasted of the dark red wine she had sipped on when he brought her inside. He had missed her all his life and never known it. Where had that hole come from? It didn’t matter; it had been filled at the sight of her.

As she kissed his neck and wrapped her arms around him,
he buried his head in the soft dark tendrils of her hair and wept. The love in his heart would allow him no shame as he cried. It was as if she had died and been brought back to life for him in that moment.

“Where have you been?”
she asked him. He swallowed back the tears and brought his head up to look at her.

“Trying to find you, Huntress. You’re not an easy woman to find
,” he said and pulled her closer into his arms.
But, now that I have
, he thought,
I’ll never let you go
. She was his, had always been his. He had captured her maidenhead and she had captured his heart. The memories filled him and her touch on his skin only made them more real. He felt on fire and full of life as they ripped the clothes from each other and threw them aside; they were just one more thing keeping them apart.

He felt fevered under her touch and the sight of her body standing bare before him caused a throbbing ache in his cock. Her nipples became rigid and taut under the flicking of his tongue.
Each curve of her body, he explored with his hands and lips. He wanted to taste her, to devour her. But, he would start with just a nibble.