Cursed Witch Read online

  Cursed Witch

  Twin Rivers Captive #2

  September Stone

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Also by September Stone

  Copyright © 2019 September Stone LLC

  Cover Art by EmCat Designs

  All rights reserved.

  First Edition: September 2019

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  For information:

  www.septemberstone.com

  To break a deadly curse, they must do the impossible.

  Assistance from the great mage Elowen comes with a price. To escape a fate worse than death, Bryn and her four sexy guardians must locate a powerful relic if they hope to live past the next full moon.

  A reclusive priesthood could have the answers they seek, but there may be more to their peaceful way of life than meets the eye.

  When Taj and Calder are injured, Bryn must turn to drastic measures to save them. But her desperation may cause more harm than good and shift the delicate balance of her relationships forever.

  Chapter One

  Bryn

  Sunlight barely penetrates the thick canopy of trees, and each of my breaths form a thin cloud of vapor before disappearing into the surrounding air, but despite the dimness and the chill, I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.

  Well, that’s not entirely true. I can think of at least two places that would be far warmer and more comfortable than this magic-laden forest. As much as I tried to convince myself that my trouble sleeping last night was due to nerves about our quest to find the Staff of Rahn for the great mage Elowen, that anxiety was only part of it.

  After spending the previous two nights snuggled against either Calder or Taj, falling asleep alone on the cabin’s daybed was more difficult than it should have been. I’ve spent most of the last decade sleeping alone on a flimsy mattress in a solitary cell, but two nights of pleasure and comfort with two men I adore has ruined me for sleeping by myself.

  And if Calder and Taj hadn’t been sharing the one bedroom in Elowen’s cabin with Poe and Silas, I doubt I could have stopped myself from climbing onto one of their mattresses in the night.

  A bird twitters in the tree beside me, shaking me back to the present—and to my mission. I can fantasize about Calder and Taj later. In fact, the sooner we locate the staff, the sooner I can do more than fantasize about them.

  My ears perk at the sound of trickling water. According to Poe, these woods are home to dozens of rivers and streams besides the one Twin Rivers is famous for. The Healing River, guarded and protected by Elowen, is deeper into the heart of the forest—and unnecessary for my purposes this morning.

  The trees barely thin around the quick-flowing stream, and if it were any darker, I might have stepped in it before realizing I’d arrived. It’s barely two feet across and probably less than half that deep, but it’s enough.

  It’s true I could have used the well water in the cabin to make this charm, but I’ve spent too many years casting spells while surrounded by walls. Earth is my element, and it calls to me. Now that I’ve spent time out in nature, I don’t want to have to work magic in a building ever again.

  I swing the pack off my back and settle it on a broad, smooth stone beside the stream. The bag was a gift from a vampire named Valor, the owner of the Nightshade Motel in town—but I have a feeling a woman named Sophie had a hand in packing the contents. I was too amped up about finding Elowen yesterday morning to care much about the provided supplies, but when I dug through the bag last night to locate a pair of pajamas, I found several small bags filled with a variety of herbs. Witch supplies.

  I pull a few of the bags out now and lay them out on the ground in front of me. I made dozens of locating charms for Mona Ward over the years. They can be especially useful in finding people or lost items—but they take a week to cure. Part of me hopes we won’t need it. We’ve got just over two weeks to find the staff and get it back to Elowen before the curse claims all five of us and gives my magic to a vampire named Lillian Castle. But there are so many books and scrolls in the cabin, I fear we won’t be able to figure out where the staff even is in time.

  When I’m sure I’ve got everything I need, I stand and unzip the teal and gray hoodie before tugging it off my arms and laying it on top of the backpack. Goosebumps erupt on my arms as my skin welcomes the kiss of morning air. It’s chillier than I’d hoped, and I remove the rest of my clothes before I lose my nerve.

  It’s not necessary to be naked to wield magic, and I never would have dared to take off my clothes when I was working for Mona. But I need to reconnect with what it means to be a witch, to do magic on my own and not for someone else. The fewer barriers between me and nature, the better.

  I drop to my knees in front of the herbs. A shock of cold zips up my legs and through my abdomen, making my nipples pucker almost painfully. I take in a deep breath and release another cloud of vapor before beginning.

  Carefully, I measure each herb into the well of my left palm, doing all I can to ignore the black crow branded there. As I work, threads of gold and green seep into my skin where I’m connected to the ground and spiral through my body. I can’t remember the last time I did magic like this—just me and the spell and nature. As the minutes tick by, my skin adjusts to the temperature, and instead of feeling cold, I feel held, suspended in the amniotic womb of my magic’s source. Instead of stomach-roiling nausea or adrenaline-fueled fear accompanying this casting, a cocoon of peace envelops me as I work.

  I’ve just added exactly three splashes of west-falling water to the small wooden bowl I nabbed from the cabin when the snap of a twig pulls me back to the present. Although I’m sure it’s nothing more than a deer up for an early morning walk, I hastily mix the herbs in the bowl and tuck the whole thing into a bag so it can cure. After I replace the supplies back into the backpack, I rinse off my left hand.

  “Am I interrupting?”

  The voice behind me elicits a startled squawk from my mouth, which draws a hearty laugh from the speaker.

  “Bryn, I’m sorry,” Calder says, still chuckling. “I thought you heard me coming.”

  I glance over my shoulder as he picks his way through the underbrush. For someone so tall, he moves with indescribable grace. His sapphire eyes alternate between the ground before him and my crouched form as he draws nearer. My clothes are still draped over the backpack, and although my back is to him his gaze brushes my bare rear end like a caress. His dark blue hoodie is zipped only halfway, displaying a tantalizing triangle of sun-kisse
d skin beneath. I remember with exquisite detail how his skin felt against my hands, against my chest. And in this moment I want nothing more than to touch him again.

  He stops less than two yards way, a muscle in his jaw jumping as he attempts to keep his eyes trained on mine. “I hope you don’t mind I came looking for you. You weren’t in the cabin when I got up, and I know you can take care of yourself, but…”

  Whatever else he was going to say is lost as I stand up and turn to face him. Losing his internal struggle to keep looking at my face, his gaze rakes over me, and his lips part as he sucks in a breath. My sex clenches at the darkening desire in his eyes.

  I love him. That fact never changed—even in our four years apart. When we were still in Mona’s possession we weren’t fully free to express and explore those feelings, but there’s nothing stopping us now. The cadence of my heart speeds up at that liberating thought. There’s no one here to tell us what we can and can’t do, and I’m ready to take full advantage of that.

  “I’m just finishing up a locating charm,” I say, keeping my tone light and conversational. As if I’m not growing wetter with each heartbeat. As if Calder’s jeans aren’t straining at the crotch with each breath. “I’m hoping we’ll find the staff before it has time to cure, but we can’t be too prepared.” I smile, rubbing the pads of my fingers against the tip of my thumb to keep from reaching for him. “We should probably head back and get started doing research, right?”

  I bite the inside corners of my mouth to keep from smiling as I take a couple steps forward. I shouldn’t tease him, but it’s so much fun. He can consider this payback for those long days in the compound when he would blow kisses at me from across the room, knowing full well we couldn’t follow through with the act for hours.

  He clears his throat. “Yeah. Lots of papers to go through.” He swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing as I take another step toward him. “Or… Or we could spend a little longer out here.”

  “Could we now?” With another step, we’re less than an arm’s length apart. I trail my pointer finger down his exposed breastbone, my folds slickening at the sound of his sharp inhale. I fight to keep up my act for a few moments longer. “And what should we spend that time doing?”

  Calder’s mouth is on mine in the next breath. His arms wrap around me, pulling me flush against his body. The heat of his erection presses against my stomach through the denim of his jeans, and I curse the clothing for putting an unnecessary boundary between us.

  He shrugs out of his sweatshirt and I skate my fingers along the sides of his tight abs as his tongue plunders my mouth. Where the last time we were together, he was careful and cautious, worried he might push me too far, now his hands are straightforward and sure. Calder slides his palms along the curves of my body, one hand cupping the swell of my ass as the other explores my breast.

  I moan against his mouth. “I want you. All of you.”

  He pulls back just far enough to look into my eyes. “You have me. You’ve always had me.”

  It takes a few tries to undo his fly, but once the zipper is down I push his pants over his hips. He struggles to step out of them for a few seconds before breaking our kiss to focus on kicking off his shoes.

  A giggle bubbles out of my mouth as he fights to free himself from his jeans, nearly tripping in the process.

  “Are you laughing at me?” he demands.

  I don’t even try to suppress my chuckle. “Yes.”

  His eyebrows hike as he finally manages to cast off his pants. “I’ll give you something to laugh about.”

  Before I can react, he’s lifted me off my feet. I squeal as I fly through the air and a screech erupts from me when he lays me, ass-first, in the center of the stream.

  “Ah! That’s cold! Calder, let me up!”

  Instead of obeying, he straddles my hips, locking my legs on one side of the river and my arms over my head on the other. Icy water sloshes around my back and thighs and rushes over my hot center, sending jolts through my body.

  “Are you cold?” he asks, his mouth close to my ears.

  I try to buck my hips to raise them above the water, but Calder presses down closer, his cock rock hard and burning hot against my tender nub. “Yes. The water’s freezing.”

  He rocks his pelvis against mine, setting off a cacophony of fireworks in my nether regions. “Do you want me to let you up? Or do you want me to warm you up.”

  I try to form an answer to the question, but the gentle rhythm he presses against my core makes it difficult to think straight. I want him. More of him. More of this. After the initial shock of the water, my body adjusts to it. The sharp contrast between the water below and the rock-hard man above is delicious.

  “Warm me up,” I murmur.

  A wicked smile spreads across his face. “Anything for my girl.”

  His mouth finds mine again and I surrender myself to the kiss. In some ways, it’s like no time at all has passed between us. Our lips dance to the same rhythm they did during our stolen moments in the compound. But now there’s no fear we’ll be discovered. During my many, many hours alone once Mona moved me to solitary, I analyzed my relationship with Calder. Part of me wondered if it didn’t feel so exciting because there was always an element of danger associated with sneaking off together.

  But my heart pounds just as hard now as it did back then. Everything in me wants Calder—not because we’re breaking the rules by being together, but because together is where we belong.

  As the thumb of his left hand brushes against the tight peak of my nipple, the unrelenting rhythm of his hardness rubbing my clit builds a frenzy in my core. The last time we were together, he used his tongue to make me come, but I want more now. I need him to reach the summit of ecstasy along with me.

  “Calder,” I breathe against his mouth. “I want you inside me.”

  “Your wish is my command,” he says, his voice husky with a desire I’ve never heard before.

  In the next second, Calder rocks back before sliding his considerable length deep inside me. I cry out with satisfaction as a missing piece of me is thrust into my pussy again and again.

  “Even better than I imagined,” he whispers. Keeping one hand around both my wrists, Calder dips his head down until he’s captured one of my diamond-hard nipples in his mouth. It softens at his attention until he rakes his teeth over the puckered flesh.

  I struggle to grind against him, but I’m so pinned down that I can do little more than whimper each time he sheathes himself to the hilt and rubs against my clit. With every touch, my body coils tighter. And as his pace increases and water begins to splash up over my hips and drip onto my tight bud, I scream out in anticipation of the ecstasy I sense approaching.

  He moves to my other breast, and the morning air stings my wet nipple for only a split second before icy water swirls around it. The steady stream slides between my breasts, down to my navel, and around my clit. Even in my frenzied state, awe fills me at the level of telekinetic control Calder is displaying for such a maneuver.

  It’s all too much. The rough jerk of his hips against mine, the sweet heat of his cock filling my pussy, the chilly currents of water sluicing around my ass and thighs. When he claims my mouth in a possessive kiss, the force of it sends me over the edge and I cling to his back while my body convulses with the force of my orgasm.

  His name is still on my lips when he follows me over the edge, his hips bucking wildly as he comes. Spent, he collapses onto me, pressing his lips to the pulsing vein in my neck.

  “I love you.” His words are like a sigh. “I love you, Bryn Wilder.”

  Tears sting my eyes at the tenderness in his voice. “I love you, too, Calder Ross.”

  My breathing has returned to an even pace before I speak again. “As much as I’d love to stay snuggled up with you all day, we should probably get back and start in on that research. Besides,” I add as goosebumps erupt on my arms, “this water’s pretty cold.”

  Calder pulls back just far e
nough so I can see his grin. “Note to self: Next time, find a warmer spot for the lady.”

  He’s on his feet before I can respond and he offers me a hand. It’s not until I’m on my feet that I take in the consequences of our riverbed tryst. Water drips down my legs, and the small of my back is smeared with silt.

  “You didn’t happen to bring a towel, did you?” I ask, wrinkling my nose at the pine needles sticking to my bare feet.

  He shakes his head. “But I might be able to do you one better.” He raises his hands and mimes the shape of my body, and a strange sensation like a blade of air sweeps over my body, brushing away dirt, mud, and water droplets. In moments, my skin is clean and dry.

  “Impressive,” I say, picking up my underwear from the pile of clothes on my backpack.

  “I’d like to say I’ve come a long way since we were younger, but the truth is, I’m more than a little surprised that actually worked. Then again, I was always able to do more when you were watching.”

  I snag my shirt and spin it in my hands. “Sure. Because you were trying to impress me.”

  In a flash, Calder circles his arm around my waist and pulls me flush against him. His cock twitches against my hip and my whole body flushes at the prospect of a second go.

  “You’ve always made me stronger,” he murmurs against my mouth. “And now that we’re together again, there’s nothing we can’t do. We will find the staff, and Elowen will lift this curse. And then… Then we can live our lives. We can be together. You and me. Always.”