Page 22 of The Witch’s Fate (The Lunaterra Chronicles #13)

IDALIS

R yker looks deeply into my eyes, as if he is letting my words sink in slowly. I feel selfish even asking. I know he must. I only wish it were not so soon. I’ve only just met the love of my life, and I don’t think I could bear to part from him.

His fingers are still in my hair when he kisses me again, slower than before. It’s a very tender kiss in comparison to the wild way he has taken me for the past stretch of time. Has it been hours? It seems as if it must have taken at least that long, though it also seems like no time at all.

I sink into the kiss, my heart aching from the question I have asked.

What if I said I did not want you to go?

What if? What if? What would happen if I meant it with all my heart?

What would happen if he agreed to stay here instead of returning to his post as a soldier?

In his kiss, I feel a world of possibilities open before me.

It is like finding new moons in the sky that I have looked at for all these years. Like maybe it’s possible.

It came upon me so fast—the thought that I might want him here with me.

It’s something I never thought I would admit to anyone in the world.

There was never any reason to think I would have anyone again, because the risk to my heart is too great.

I have lost so much. I know how reckless it is to give up my heart once again.

Yet I cannot help it. There is an undeniable pull to him.

If Ryker were to leave and I were to remain silent—if he left without knowing how much I wanted him—then I know I would regret my silence for the rest of my life.

I had to ask. And I am done regretting. I’ve spent years regretting that I did not perish with my coven and trying to cover that regret of staying back to aid a fallen soldier with the thought that I loved solitude.

In some ways, yes, I did love being alone. Having time to heal and mourn and allow my powers to be felt by all who needed it. The peace I found in my fields and with my gardens was real. It simply wasn’t…complete.

Ryker groans softly against my lips, and another wave of hope comes over me. It’s matched with a wave of desire that should be impossible, given how much we have already had each other.

But then—I’ve heard that mates who are fated to be together have periods of time like this, when they can crave each other for hours. Days, even. Getting lost in the depths of pleasure and desire with one another.

I feel as if I have craved Ryker all my life.

And perhaps that is why I have survived. Perhaps that is why I have lived. It’s such a simple thing, to have a craving satisfied. To taste something so sweet.

I’m not satisfied quite yet.

As my fingers curl and I fist the sheets beside us, I know I need more of Ryker.

He pushes me down onto the pillows, covering me with just as much hunger as he had before, his cock hard and the rest of his muscles bunching with his need.

Could I even watch him leave, after having experienced this feeling?

I’ve spent so much time asking the moon for answers. Begging her to reassure me in the only purpose I had left without my coven. Begging her to satisfy me with the peace of the valley and the good I did for the villagers who write to me for spells.

If I were to follow him…the thought slips into the back of my mind. To finish what my coven started.

It would be a loss to my land. The villagers would lose the magic of the spells. There would be a void left in my place. My mind whirls to fields that never have felt my footsteps or my magic.

In the dream I woke from, I knew that land. I knew it so well, though the fields were not the ones I have dwelled in. My heart races with possibility.

If that was a vision, or a prophecy…

Then those new lands would know my coven through me. I would carry their memory into my new life. Their magic, their power, our ways which would be lost had I not carried on.

I would have a new life. A new beginning of adventure. Although the very idea brings an anxiousness to me that’s dangerous.

I cannot think much more about following that path, because Ryker kisses me even deeper, his hand coming up to brace my jaw as his cock presses into me and desire burns hotter between us.

From the corner of my eye, I notice more candles illuminate around us, guided by my magic to give me just enough light to look into his eyes.

He pulls back, kisses me again, then watches my face with deep intent as his hands roam my body, rediscovering places he has touched before and worshipping them just the same.

My nipples harden, my eyes go half lidded and I nearly fall victim to another climax simply watching his eyes heat as he toys with me.

He gradually slips his fingers across my needy pussy and searches out my clit, then watches from only inches away as he coaxes another orgasm from me.

They take less time to arrive now, but they also take longer to melt away.

Each one building on the last. My back arches as I cry out his name, my nails scratching down his back gently.

My pleasure only fuels him. Ryker seems fascinated by this.

He draws out a second, then a third, and I put my hand on his wrist, gasping.

I will light this cottage on fire if I come again. I am sure of it.

“A moment,” I whisper, my eyes closed as heat travels up my chest and neck all the way up my face to my temple. My body rages with both heat and pleasure. “Only a moment.”

Ryker presses his lips against my neck, his breath sending more warmth through my body making my toes curl. I’d thought I had reached an impossible peak—one I might not be able to come down from—but the intensity of the pleasure ebbs until I can bear it again.

Until I find myself wanting more.

I turn my face to Ryker’s and find his lips with mine.

“Idalis,” he says into my mouth. “My Idalis .”

When I reach for him, he understands instantly what I want and lifts me onto his lap, straddling him.

As if reading my mind. The cool air on my skin makes my nipples tighten and Ryker notices, teasing one of them with his thumb.

Playing with my body and I love it. His cock is hard and thick underneath me, and his other hand comes to my waist.

I love his steady touch. I love the look in his eyes. I love how his breathing gets heavier.

His eyes stay on mine, though his breathing gets ragged as I lower myself until my opening is poised over the thick head of his cock.

Then I sink down, slowly taking him in. My eyes close slowly, savoring every second of this moment.

Ryker lets his head fall back to the headboard and groans. I’ve never seen something so fucking sexy in my life as him lost in our touch.

It’s my turn to treasure the look on his face as I lower myself, guiding him inch by throbbing inch into the heat of my body.

As I work myself onto his cock, he twitches inside me, his hand flexing on my waist. His other hand drops to my other hip, and he steadies me, letting me drag out the last few inches until I am fully seated. Filled and wanting.

My head falls back, and I moan as my body adjusts to the final stretch. How can it be that he fits me so perfectly, yet still stretches me?

A thrill shivers down my spine. Ryker is not the only one with a fated mate. I have one as well. The giddy joy of it is far stronger than I had ever guessed it would be, and it heightens yet another wave of pleasure.

I have him now. He is just as much mine as I am his. A lover. A hope of more in this life. All the twists and turns have led me to him. All the things I did to protect myself guaranteed that he could reach me.

Ryker wraps me in his arms and guides me over his cock, letting out quiet grunts and heated curses through clenched teeth. We’ve been wrapped in each other for hours, yet every motion feels new and addictive.

Not even my powers are enough to keep my knees from shaking.

As I climb higher and higher, Ryker rolls us over so that he is propped above me, his cock buried deep.

He ravages me, taking control and pistoning his hips as if he needs me to scream out his name in pleasure more than anything else.

Which is exactly what I do and he rides out my orgasm, but slows before his own is found.

With gentle kisses on my jawline, I press my head into the pillow, desperate for air so I can breathe.

He pulls his hips back, a long, slow slide that makes me gasp, and thrusts back in.

Then he sets a rhythm that’s steady and deep and fills me completely with each stroke.

His lips part and he huffs out short breaths, but he never takes his eyes from my face.

I want to see him like this in every part of life.

There is so much intensity in him to match his soldier’s strength, and when it is all focused on me, it’s the only thing I want in the world.

His kisses are deep and include a few nips of my bottom lip. It seems he will never be satisfied that I have had enough pleasure, because he makes me come again with his fingers, and then again with just the angle of his hips.

Delirious with pleasure, I fall apart on the sheets, gasping and crying out and trembling. Ryker switches to making me come gently, which I had not thought was something that he could do after I had come so many times, but he can do anything.

I can do anything with him.

This is a form of magic. This pleasure and union. It’s strong and this spell will never be broken. I come again just from that thought, and Ryker growls into my ear, speeding up his thrusts.

It feels as if it’s healing the broken parts of me and doubling my powers and clearing my head all at once. This has to be fate. It has to be a sign from the moon.

As another orgasm threatens, I cry out, clutching at Ryker, begging even though I can hardly form words. I know it will not make sense to him. It does not even make sense to me. But I want him to stay. I want him inside me. I want him to be with me , no matter what happens.

Ryker answers with his body. He pumps deeper inside me, thrusting with so much power that he can hardly find my lips with his. He manages it every so often, and we press open-mouthed kisses to each other’s lips. It’s sinful and everything I need right now.

I spread my thighs wider and hook my legs behind his back, and then I have no choice but to fall off the edge of a forbidden cliff on the all-consuming pleasure of him.

He fucks deep into me and roars out his pleasure as he comes deep inside of me.

We fall to the pillows after that, and Ryker throws his arm over me. For a while, there is no sound but our heavy breathing.

As sleep drifts into my mind’s eye, I don’t think I could get up to go to the window and search for the moon, but I do not need to. The moon is always there.

I close my eyes and picture her in the sky.

Please, I think, with my heart as open as it has ever been. Let me have this love in all that it can be. Please, let him stay with me. I want our broken souls to heal each other. He is already healing mine. Please.

I take a few deep breaths.

“So mote it be,” I whisper to the moon. “So mote it be.”

I am still whispering it as I fall asleep.

Sweet Dreams Spell Jar

To sleep with peace, deeply and easily gather the following items:

A jar to hold the spell, but it must have a lid

Blue celestite chips for sleep

Dried chamomile for peace

Rosemary for focus

Jasmine for waking happily and rested

A little sugar for sweet dreams

Add each ingredient in the order above. As you add them make sure you tell each item their purpose. Then light a soft blue or white candle and seal your jar.

Sleep well, sleep deep. Those sweet dreams are for you to keep.

So mote it be.