Page 32 of Sugar, Spice, and Magical Moonlight (Midlife Menace #2)
Curling up in bed, I scrolled through my phone at the pictures of days past, a particularly beautiful wedding cake that I may have been forced to use magic on to correct Ethyl’s melty flowers, a smiling, proud Ethyl holding her first coffee cake, a deep sinkhole in the center, and my favorite, an image of Des at his computer with a cup of hot cocoa, a pygmy dragon-sized bite in the glazed donut on the plate in front of him.
Ric returned, his pheromones punching me straight in the ovaries as he walked toward me like a feral cat on the prowl. He held a hand down to me, an odd gleam in his eyes. “Luci, come look at the moon.”
Intrigued, I took his hand and let him lead me toward the patio.
His warm hand cradling mine sent a zing through my palm that traveled in a shockwave all the way down to my lady parts, tempting me to pull him back to bed.
I was so engrossed in his touch that I didn’t notice the red haze until he brought me to the edge of the balcony and tugged my hand.
I peered up with a gasp, shocked to see the moon had a red tint. “Oh my Goddess! Why does the moon look like that?”
“It’s a siren moon.” Standing behind me, he wrapped his arms around my waist, his warmth encompassing me and making me feel safe, despite the terrifying night sky. “It’s common for the moon to change color on the islands.”
I swallowed back a lump of apprehension while pressing my back against him. “It looks like a bad omen.”
“Some say it’s a sign that love is in the air, while others say...” He trailed off.
His silence wasn’t reassuring. “What do they say?”
His words came out on a dark rumble. “The sirens are feasting.”
A shiver coursed through me. “Are they?”
He loosened his hold on me. “If they are, they could be eating the demons or Insurgi hunting us.”
Wait. What? I turned toward him, worried when I saw the stony look in his eyes while trying to get the visual of horny vampire mermaids at an all-you-can eat demon/witch buffet out of my mind. “Do you really think the sirens are eating our enemies?”
He shrugged. “I’m sure our enemies have tried to find our island. They have to know where we are by now.”
My jaw dropped. “How would they know?”
Heaving a sigh, he dragged a hand through his beard. “When Bea recorded the game, there were signs that we were on my island. I used to host lavish parties here. I’m sure there’s some living striga who still remember.”
Holy hex! “Will they be able to find us?”
“They won’t get through the wards, but they’ll try their best.” He flashed a thin smile while squeezing my shoulders. “Tomorrow is going to be a long day. You ready for bed?”
I gaped at him for a moment. Ready for bed? After what he’d just told me, I’d probably be sleeping with one eye open. “Uhh, maybe?”
He pulled me flush against his hard chest, his feline spice holding my libido captive. “You have nothing to fear here, mi amor ,” he whispered while dragging calloused knuckles down the side of my face.
I got lost in the swirls of gold in his feline eyes, wanting so badly to believe him, while also wondering if sirens considered men land-sushi.
If so, did they like their sailors wrapped in seaweed and dipped in soy sauce?
From what I’d read in my mythical history books, sirens were the offspring of a beautiful mermaid that had been cursed to eat her lovers centuries ago when she’d stolen the husband of a jealous witch.
Today’s sirens were still cursed to lure unsuspecting males to their watery graves by seducing them first with a powerful disorientation spell.
I’d never heard of a sailor who had survived an encounter with a siren, but the books described the males walking off ships into the awaiting arms of the voracious man-eaters. What a way to die.
And now the sirens were supposedly eating our enemies this very moment. Should I be thanking them? Maybe bake them a cake with the words, “Thanks, But Please Don’t Eat Us,” scrawled on the top?
As beautiful as this island was, I was reminded of the very real dangers of living here. I needed to have another talk with Des about going to the beach.
“Hey, are you okay?”
I looked up at Ric, realizing I’d been too engrossed in worrying about sirens to notice he was rubbing my back while pressing a very large, very hard erection against my hip.
“Yes,” I answered, a shiver coursing through me as a ray of crimson moonlight struck his face. “Can we go inside?”
He waggled his eyebrows. “I thought you’d never ask.”
I bit my lip while he pulled me back into the bedroom and toward our big bed.
How could he think of sex while sirens were feasting?
But as he lowered me onto the bed, the pheromones that pulsed off him were so powerful, I feared I’d drown in my need for him.
I suddenly understood how those sailors felt.
AFTER A THOROUGH AND tender lovemaking, I lay in Ric’s arms, my eyes wide while I stared at the ceiling as streams of crimson moonlight filtered into the room.
The sirens must’ve hit the sailor mother lode.
I wondered if our enemies had hastened here too quickly after seeing that ruggel video without taking proper precautions.
If it was the Insurgi the sirens were eating, I almost felt bad for them.
Some of the witches hunting us were probably brainwashed by my aunt, thinking they were helping to rid the world of a powerful demon-possessed witch.
If the sirens were eating demons, I hoped they wouldn’t become possessed by them too.
Sirens were scary enough without also having infernals from hell taking over their bodies.
How much more evil could one creature get?
All they needed was to add PMS to the mix for the trifecta of unholy unions.
Speaking of unholy unions, I crawled out of Ric’s embrace and went to the bathroom when I remembered I hadn’t taken my weekly pregnancy prevention potion.
The last thing we needed while we were being hunted was for me to get pregnant.
Worrying over Des was enough, not to mention my diaper-changing days were over. OVER.
I made the concoction and then brushed the taste of bitter herbs from my mouth.
The potion was disgusting, but it beat the alternative.
I padded back to bed and slipped beneath the blankets as quietly as possible.
I didn’t want to wake Ric. Sometimes he liked to talk after sex, and I was in no mood for chitchat.
My brain was a whirlwind of mixed emotions and conflicting thoughts, like how much I admired and desired Ric but also how I feared I was losing my independence.
I had just slipped under the covers, careful not to touch his legs with my icy feet, when he rolled over and wrapped his arms around me.
“Are you okay?” he murmured in my ear.
I angled away, wanting to have some space to stretch without him suffocating me. “Yeah, why?”
He released me with a sigh, the silence stretching between us like a widening chasm. “I can feel you pulling away.”
I tensed at that. How could he feel that? Was it his lion’s intuition? “I have a lot on my mind.”
“Luci,” he commanded. “Look at me.”
I reluctantly rolled over, the sadness reflecting in his golden, glowing eyes making my breath catch.
He dragged calloused knuckles down my cheek, causing my eyelids to flutter. “I know you do, and I wish you’d share your burdens with me.”
Share my burdens? Wasn’t that what married couples did? Our relationship was still too new for us to become each other’s therapists.
I bit my lip while wondering just how much I wanted to tell him.
I was dealing with too many conflicting emotions that I still had yet to process, and I was afraid of saying something I’d regret later.
Finally, I heaved a slow breath. “Things are changing so fast.” That was my way of saying that maybe we were moving too fast, even though I didn’t want to lose him.
He gently rubbed my back, his gaze softening. “They are, but that’s not always a bad thing, is it?”
Maybe. Maybe not. I was so confused. What I did know was that Ric was the most incredible man I’d ever met, and I was one lucky witch for finding him.
So why did I feel so stifled? Maybe it was because we’d been trapped together night and day for the past month without reprieve.
I’d had no chance to miss him while regrouping my thoughts.
But I couldn’t tell him that and risk losing him.
“You’re the best thing that’s happened to Des and me.
” I forced a smile. “As soon as they stop hunting us, I’ll return to my old self. ”
He rubbed warmth into my shoulder. “What if they never stop hunting us?”
A deep sigh escaped me. “They have to. I refuse to accept any other outcome.” A mixture of dread and ire tightened my chest as I took my frustrations out on my pillow, pounding it into submission. “We need to get some sleep,” I grumbled before rolling over.
I didn’t fight him when he pulled me against his hard chest and wrapped his arms around me. Feeling that stifling weight pressing down on me, I fought the urge to jump on the nearest broom and fly out of here. I wouldn’t get far anyway with the magic-canceling coral surrounding our island.
Ric’s gentle snores echoed behind me long before my eyelids grew heavy. How could he sleep so easily on a night like this?