P.C. Cast - Mysteria Nights

Glory was inside her Ford Taurus one moment and back home the next. Brow puckered in confusion, she gazed around. “What the hell?”

Her sisters were sitting in the living room, reading Witch Weekly . They glanced up at the sound of her voice.

“Oh, there you are,” Godiva said.

“Where have you been?” Evie asked. “Falon’s been desperate to find you.”

She gulped. Rubbed her stomach. Falon. The pen. Damn it! He was using the pen. Why, why, why? She’d almost made a clean getaway. Had almost given them a clean break. Clean. Yeah, right.

A knock sounded at the door.

She whipped around, eyes wide. Oh, Great Goddess. Was it Falon?

Another knock, this one harder.

“Well, aren’t you going to answer it?” Godiva asked.

“Open up, Glory. I know you’re in there. I made sure of it.”

Falon’s deep, dark voice filled her head, and she almost fainted. He’d truly come here. Why? He could have written her anywhere, but he’d written her inside her own home and knocked on her door.

“Glory!” Evie laughed. “Don’t just stand there.”

If he was going to ask—again—for more from her than one night, she wouldn’t be able to turn him down. She’d sobbed like a baby the entire drive away from town. In fact, her face was probably swollen and red even now. Where she’d been headed, she hadn’t known. She’d just needed to put distance between them, or she would have forgotten all the reasons to stay away and gone to him.

“Please,” he said, and he sounded tortured. She could very easily imagine his hands resting on the door, his forehead pressing into the wood.

Shaky legs walked her to the entrance. Her palm was sweating so she had trouble twisting the knob. What was she going to find? Slowly, she pulled open the only thing blocking the man she loved from her view.

Falon stood there, wearing a trench coat and nothing else. Not even shoes. She blinked in surprise. So not what she had expected.

“What are you doing here?” she managed to get out.

Her sisters crowded behind her.

“Looking good, Falon,” Evie said.

“Nice,” Godiva said.

His cheeks bloomed bright red, but his attention remained focused on Glory. “I want you in my life.”

Her stomach twisted painfully. “That wouldn’t be smart. We’d fight, you’d hate me, fear my powers.”

As she spoke, he was shaking his head. “You’re different from the other witches I knew, I know that deep down. Even though you had every right to be angry with me, you were never malicious.”

“You think so now, but what about tomorrow? Or the next day?”

Again he shook his head. “Not gonna happen.”

“You can’t guarantee that.”

“But I can guarantee that I love you.”

Her eyes nearly bugged out, his words echoing inside her brain. “Wh-what?”

“I love you.”

Godiva gasped. “Oh my Goddess. Did you hear that, Evie?”

“I’m standing right here. Of course I heard. Glory, what do you have to say to him?”

“Give me a chance,” he begged. “I don’t deserve it, I know I don’t, but I’ll do anything to get it. I need you in my life.”

She covered her mouth with a shaky hand. This was too much, too good to believe.

He forged ahead. “You once came to my door, wanting a night with me. Now I’ve come to your door, wanting an eternity with you. I’m here, just as you were, in nothing but a coat. My heart is yours.”

Okay, now the trench made sense. Dear Goddess, that meant he was naked underneath. Her blood heated with the knowledge.

“Please don’t send me away. I need you. You’re a witch, yes, but I don’t fear your powers. After last night, I’m grateful for them.”

“Oh, Glory!” Godiva brushed away her tears. “This is the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen. Don’t send him away!”

“If you don’t take him,” Evie said, “I will.”

“Hunter,” was all Glory managed to get out.

“He’s only good for the night. Maybe I’m looking for a day man.”

Glory elbowed her sister in the stomach.

Evie backed off, taking Godiva with her. “Come on. Let’s give the lovebirds their privacy and listen from the kitchen where Glory can’t assault us.” Footsteps echoed.

“I love you, Glory.” He dropped to his knees. “Please, say something to me. Anything.”

Could he truly love her? Her? Could he live with a witch and not fear for his life? She studied his face. Lines of tension edged his eyes and mouth. His lips were drawn tight. He was pale. His hair looked as if he’d plowed his hands through it for hours.

He really was worried she’d say no.

“Last night wasn’t enough,” he rushed on. “Forever probably won’t be enough. You’re all I can think about, all I crave. I’m addicted to you. I know you’re scared, but I vow to you, here and now, to protect you, cherish you, trust you. I know you aren’t evil. That’s something you don’t have to fear. I know you’re good and pure and—”

“I love you, too,” she finally said. Making a leap, trusting him like he was trusting her.

He was on his feet in the next instant, jerking her into his arms. “Thank God. I would have had to write you into another scene if you’d rejected me.” He placed little kisses all over her face. “Not that I would have minded.”

She laughed as she wound her arms around his neck. “Are you sure about this?”

“I’ve never been surer about anything in my life. You’re my witch, and I love you. I can’t believe I was stupid enough to ever push you away.” Grinning, he spun her around.

Her head fell back, hair flying, and she laughed again, joyful, content.

He stopped, peered down at her, his grin melting away, burned as it was by desire. “Okay, now I’m turned on. That laugh of yours . . .”

“Come on,” she said, leading him to her bedroom and earning winks from her sisters, who stood in the kitchen entry. “I have the perfect spell for that.” She shut the door, then proceeded to work her magic all over his body.

To Gyna Snowater

with love from P. C. Castwater.

We rock when we team up, baby!

“All right, we’re going to start a new unit, so get out your folders and get ready to take notes,” Summer said in what she liked to hope was her best Teacher Voice.

“What’s the new unit, Miss S.?” called a male voice from the rear of the class.

Summer frowned. Was it disrespectful to call her Miss S.? Oh, Goddess! Another question she’d have to ask her sister on the phone tonight. She cleared her throat and tried to look severe and ten years older. “Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. ”

The girls in the class sighed and looked dreamy. The boys groaned.

“Hey, I hear there’s sex in that play,” came the same voice from the rear of the class.

“Well, yes. Actually it’s a play about star-crossed lovers whose families won’t let them be together,” said Summer.

The girls smiled. The boys rolled their eyes.

“So that means there’s sex in it. Lots, actually,” Summer said before her mind caught up with her mouth.

“Cool!”

“Of course, it’s all written in Elizabethan English,” she hastily amended, reconnecting with the excellent control she usually had over everything she said or did.

“Sucks fairy butt,” said a surly voice from the other side of the room.

“So we won’t get it?” asked a cute blonde in the front row who wore a short, pink cheerleading uniform with FIGHTING FAIRIES emblazoned across her perky bosom.