Chapter Nine
Wanda
It was easier to watch Silas move around his home in a flowing robe than think about Christa. The familiarity of it helped lessen the weight of anxiety that came with the presence of the large demon who had, moments ago, sat on the couch with a laptop on his thighs, looking resigned.
There were other distractions, too. The scent Christa wore lingered in the room, along with her own distinct fragrance. Nothing like Wanda’s delicate, sweet smell, this held sensual undertones… sexy . It awakened desires that Wanda did her best to keep hidden in her dreams. Christa’s scent perfectly matched the demon—woman who held an air of confidence that Wanda had no hope of ever carrying off.
She was simple. Liked the simple things in life. She didn’t want or need much. The clothing Christa wore was clearly expensive, much like her brothers’. Wanda could only imagine that her home had all those modern amenities that her trees lacked.
How would Christa fit into Wanda’s world? Because Wanda would never fit in Christa’s and that, along with the fear of threat, ran through her mind. Her gaze moved back to Dakata, who appeared unaware of her. Nothing about his presence screamed that he fitted in. And yet, here he sat, looking right at home.
Content?
Could a demon be such a thing?
A branch snaked over the table and leaves brushed over Wanda’s hand. She smiled softly at the gentle offering of comfort.
“My tree senses your distress,” Silas murmured quietly, placing the sweet, scented tea in front of her. “I’ll ask Dakata to leave us.”
Her lips parted to deny she needed him to leave, even though it was a lie, but Silas shook his head. “He will play on his laptop, so don’t fear we are disturbing him.”
Wanda didn’t look directly at the large demon as he rose silently and closed the laptop, putting it under his arm before coming and kissing Silas.
She didn’t look away, needing to understand how they fit. How could Silas not fear those who hated the demon, and those who threatened him? Despite what had happened, there was nothing in their embrace that disputed their blissful bond.
All she sensed was… love, deep and abiding. There was no fear—none. Their connection hummed in the life of the mighty oak pressed against the house. The feelings coming from the oak were of acceptance and the honor of having found their third.
Oh mercy me, you bonded with her.
“Take your tea, I’ll follow you shortly.” Silas pressed a mug into Dakata’s hand before allowing him to walk away.
When Dakata disappeared up the stairs, Silas retrieved his own mug and sat next to Wanda. He took a sip of his tea, eyeing her over the rim of the mug. “I sense your struggle, Wanda. Please let me help.”
With Dakata out of the room, Wanda gave Silas a wan look, working to collect her thoughts. Insulting her brother's blissful one was not something she wanted to do, but he resembled those who took her. She had not asked about what had happened in the demon realm, now she considered she should.
If her trees’ lack of response to what she’d just realized was anything to go by, answers were what she needed. Her trees were persistent and must have given Christa leaves—somehow. Allowing her fear to rule her would harm Christa. Could asking questions and getting answers help?
“What happened…” She sipped the tea to take away the sudden dryness in her throat. “To the demons that… took me?”
Silas placed his mug down and reached for Wanda’s free hand. “They won’t hurt you again.”
In the fierceness of his words was sadness, too. Wanda came to the realization of what Silas had done to protect her. “You…”
He nodded. “Dakata… he…” Silas held her gaze, and she released a trembly breath at what he couldn’t say. Taking a life, it went against everything they believed in. “I did too, to protect you,” he whispered painfully.
She flipped her hand over to clasp Silas’s, sharing the burden of pain he held, even as the branch which had comforted her moved to touch their joined hands.
“I took life to protect yours because they left me no choice, a decision I would repeat for you.” His gaze moved to where Dakata had disappeared. “For him.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m sorry.” Life was sacred to a dryad, so to offer such a thing that would hurt Silas’s soul eternally was monumental.
The strength of the blissful bond was never more obvious to Wanda as she stared at her brother, her own emotions in turmoil.
He wiped the tear away from Wanda’s cheek as another fell. “They wanted to hurt my blissful one, and they succeeded with their actions.”
“They took me, not you,” she pointed out, despite hating that it happened, she would never have wished for Silas to have taken her place. No, she would never wish for that.
“Yes, but think, we have the same connection to each other as our trees, do we not, my love?” She nodded. “Hurting me hurts Dakata, and he unleashed his pain on all of them without bias.”
Wanda gasped as she considered the number of demons who had been in the room with her. “All of them?”
“He has never spoken of it, but through my bond with him, I felt his rage. His need to punish those for causing my pain. It took him to a dark place that ensured no survivors.”
“He did this alone?” She gulped, eyes widening, working to comprehend how one demon could fight so many at once.
“Dakata’s best friend Merihem, his brothers, and Christa. They all fought for you, for me.”
“Christa?” A memory worked free of the conversation with Christa. She had said she was there.
What Dougal had said floated through her mind, it all piecing together. I know what they did to you, lass, but that demon who just came callin’, she fought to protect you. Fought for you before she understood what you were to her. A blissful one, it’s a gift from Fate.
Was it a gift if it came with a threat of violence? A threat of death? “The threat—”
“Dakata erased the threat.” The softly spoken words had no less impact with the truth behind them.
“Is that possible? Those demons, they…” Wanda had no words to describe the vileness of them, of what they had done to her. Something she would have to bear in her soul for eternity. “They were intent on destroying Dakata because of his goodness.”
Goodness. He is good. Christa… is good.
Those thoughts lingered as Silas sat back, a soft smile replacing his frown. “They tried and failed. But I sense these questions aren’t about Dakata…” His brow arched and the knowing look made Wanda shift in her seat and return her attention to her cooling tea.
“Christa, she’s…”
“Your blissful one,” Silas finished, when Wanda couldn’t.
Her curls tumbled around her shoulders as she nodded. “Seeing Christa, here, everything about the demon, that woman is there in her eyes. I can’t deny it. The sense of longing. The wrench I felt when she left—will she feel it, too?”
“She will if you have touched each other. Dakata has explained this is how the blissful bond, for the demon, creates an unbreakable connection. She bonded to your trees, also. Dakata and my tree have come to an understanding so he can leave as I do.”
They had touched and still Christa had honored Wanda’s wishes and left her, despite the pain it would have caused. Her trees had touched Christa too, given her leaves to protect her.
A shudder ran through Wanda as she acknowledged how selfish her reaction had been, even when done under the duress of her own fear. There was no way to excuse her behavior.
“I believe she would never harm me,” she admitted aloud for the first time. Christa’s actions spoke to the truth. Something Wanda’s trees understood and now, as she held Silas’s stare, she did, too.
How could she tell Christa this when she had rejected her? She would have to figure that out alone, and soon, to ensure Christa didn’t suffer further.
Her fear of the demon realm and those who inhabited it was something else entirely. That was a problem that would need to be considered once she spoke with Christa.
Silas wore a somber expression as he murmured, “Sometimes, to protect what we hold most precious, we must sacrifice a part of ourselves. Don’t let you fear diminish you. It will if you let it and it will steal your happiness. Don’t let it do that to you.” He rose and kissed Wanda’s cheek. “A blissful one is a blessing.”
Wanda thought of those words now as she returned to her orchard, waving goodbye to Dougal before slipping inside the nook that was her home.
Outside her trees, she was demure. Inside, she was a sexual being with needs. Would Christa understand that about her connection with her beloved trees? That as a dryad, she could never be parted from them or not want their touch. Would Christa want the touch of her trees? Allow them to bond with her as they had done with Wanda?
She is ours already.
Her sex grew warm and pulsed with arousal at how beautiful Christa would look, bound in the branches as they pleasured her. As they touched her as intimately as they did Wanda.
Naked with a thought, she lay on the soft bed of leaves and witnessed the branches open above her head to allow the soft moonlight to bathe her body. She envisioned Christa above her, watching her fingers trace the curves of her breasts, the silky skin pebbling under her touch as her nipples budded with desire.
Would Christa understand, if she could see her now, what she was offering?
She will know us soon, our beloved, we promise.
Wanda added her own wish to that of the magic of her trees.
Please let her not see me as sullied.