Chapter 21
Sammy
The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I was covered in sweat. Nausea rolled in my gut, but too much was going on for me to be asleep.
“Stay calm,” Olivia said. “It’s the high priestess’s power. It hit you when you stripped Joan’s magic.”
It felt disgusting. “Why am I so nauseous?”
“That’s normal, but I expect it’s worse for you since you’re burning off her dark magic.” Olivia pressed something cool to my forehead as I looked around. I was on my sofa, in my living room.
I felt Blaze. He was nearby. “Roxy?” I tried to sit up and looked around to find Olivia and Blaze right over me.
“Your sister is fine,” Olivia said. “She’s in the kitchen, eating.”
“Ah, that makes sense,” Blaze said.
I smiled at the sound of his voice. I’d done it. He was safe.
But the smile didn’t last. He pulled me into a sitting position, then glared down at me. “How could you go off on your own all half-cocked? If your coven hadn’t showed up, what would’ve happened? You would’ve died, that’s what, and probably me and Roxy, too!”
My heart swelled. He yelled because he cared. How had this man wormed his way so deep into my heart in such a short amount of time?
He sat beside me. “Don’t you ever do that to me again, okay?”
I grabbed his face and pulled him close, then pressed a kiss to his lips. “I’m so glad to see you,” I whispered.
Blaze grunted. “I’m glad you’re safe.”
Olivia cleared her throat, so Blaze and I broke apart and looked over at her. “One more thing,” she said.
I raised my eyebrows. “What?”
“The power that Joan had collected over the years was pretty big. She must’ve had a talisman or something helping her hold it.
But on top of the power you already possess, it’s too much.
Oddly, a weaker witch might have taken it on more easily.
Think of it like each witch gets one glass jar, and your glass jar, from your natural magic, is almost full.
But mine, and most of the other witches except for Livvie, theirs are only about half full.
You need another jar.” Her gaze drifted to Blaze.
“If you choose to share Sammy’s power, it means you’ll age slower. Like she will.”
Blaze looked me in the eyes. “I’ll do anything for Sammy,” he said.
Well, that was it. It was all I could take. I loved this crazy man, with all my heart. Somehow, someway, I wouldn’t be the old maid witch. I’d be deliriously happy with Blaze, for the rest of my very long life.
“You’ll have to claim her,” Olivia said.
Blaze grinned. “I’d be happy to.”
Everyone but Blaze got up and said goodbye, but I only had eyes for him until Roxy came into the room. “Sammy?” she asked in a small voice.
I jumped up and hugged the girl. “I’ve got to do this now,” I whispered. “Go with Olivia. She’ll take care of you and let you rest. I’ll come for you as soon as I’m finished.”
Olivia put her arm around my sister. “Don’t worry. Roxy and I will go have a nice, long bubble bath and an even longer nap.”
Roxy sighed in relief. “That sounds great.”
And then we were finally alone. Blaze and I stared at each other, and both of us burst out laughing.
But as his laughter died, mine changed. I couldn’t stop it, but sobs began to wrack through me.
I’d never cried like this in my life. Snot, tears, sobbing, the whole shebang.
It was all true. I’d been abandoned. I always knew I had, but I had always had hope in the back of my mind that maybe that was wrong.
Maybe my parents had died. Or there was some other cosmic reason that they couldn’t keep me.
Now I knew. They’d left me, and they’d left Roxy. How could they do that? How could they abandon their children? “If my own parents didn’t want me, how could I be good enough to lead a coven or be a good mate? Or, hell, even a good sister? There must be something wrong with me.”
Blaze jumped up and threw his arms around me. “Sometimes parents just suck. You’re more than enough. My dragon couldn’t have picked a better mate for me.” He put his finger under my chin until I looked up into his eyes. “I love you.”
And that made me cry some more. It was like getting the high priestess magic had broken every wall I’d built up around my heart. Every hurt and rejection I’d ever felt came pouring out of me in the form of tears.
Blaze chuckled as he rubbed his large hand up and down on my back. “You’re getting soft.”
I shook my head against his chest. “It’s not me. It’s the magic.”
Blaze pressed his lips to mine and kissed me. As the kiss deepened, all of my worries disappeared. He pulled back and smiled down at me. “I love how abrasive you are.”
I furrowed my brow. That was an odd compliment.
But he continued, “I love your sass, your strength, your independence. All the things that you think push people away only make me want to be around you that much more. You have a fire inside you to match any dragon. You are beautiful inside and out. Yes, you are cute. But you are absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful. And I love all those things that make you Samantha Black.”
I sucked in a deep breath and touched my lips gently to his. “I’ll try so hard to be a good mate to you.”
“Come on,” Blaze said. “We need a shower.”
I only had one bathroom in my cottage, so we stripped and got in together.
At first it was less sexy and more about trying to get around each other to reach the soap and water.
But as I massaged shampoo into my scalp, Blaze’s fingers danced over my hair and nudged mine away.
I let my head fall back and couldn’t help but moan as he worked the shampoo through my hair. And he didn’t stop there.
He pulled down the showerhead to rinse my hair, and then took my body wash, and instead of spreading it onto my loofah, he rubbed his hands together creating a lather.
As his hands moved over my body, the moans returned.
I wanted more. I wanted it all, including his bite, and not just because of the magic.
“Claim me,” I whispered. “Claim me because you want to and because I want you to. Not because we have to.”
His hands left my body, and by the time I turned around, he had squirted more body wash into his palms and worked it all over himself, trying to cleanse himself as quickly as possible. I burst out laughing. “Maybe let me do that?”
Blaze grinned mischievously as my hands replaced his on his chest. I carefully massaged down his arms, and then around to his sides, and then I went south. I let him handle the back, but I grasped his already hard dick and stroked, letting the soap be the lubricant.
Blaze moaned, a deeper mimic of my earlier sounds.
“I need more,” I whispered. Grabbing the showerhead from Blaze’s hand, I rinsed us both quickly, then stepped out of the shower.
We dried off in a frenzy of hands and towels and kisses, then, still half-wet, Blaze pulled me against him and grabbed my ass to lift me into his arms. I wrapped my legs around his waist, so turned on as I writhed against him.
Blaze settled me gently on the bed. “I’ll only go as far as you want me to go.”
My magic consumed me, and the fix was right in front of me.
“I need you, Blaze, in so many ways. Several of them can be fixed by claiming.” I looked down at his dick, swinging down between us as he hovered over me on the bed. “And that.”
Laughing wickedly, Blaze lowered himself against me. His hard length pressed to my core, stoking my fire. I shifted my hips under him until he groaned. “Stop,” he whispered. “I can’t stand it.”
But I didn’t stop. I didn’t know how he was going to fit that thing inside me, but I knew it was doable. And I knew he’d never hurt me.
My magic danced along my skin, and I sent it along his as well. He gasped and looked at me with fire dancing behind his eyes. “Are you sure?” he whispered.
I nodded. “Please.”
Blaze reached between us and slipped one finger inside. “You’re so tight.”
We didn’t have to worry about my hymen. I’d lost that years ago playing with sex toys. “You’ll fit,” I assured him.
To be safe, I reached over and grabbed some lube. I was already wet, but this time, extra lubrication wasn’t a bad thing.
Squirting some out onto my hand, I reached between us and stroked his cock as he swirled his finger inside me. “I’m trying to loosen you up a little,” he said. “I’m afraid I’ll stick my head in and that’ll be that.”
Giggling, I stroked him harder, then sighed and closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of his finger inside me while he pulsed in my hand. “Hurry,” I urged.
“I think I’ve done all I can do,” Blaze whispered and pulled his cock from my hands.
I scooted up on the bed and looked into his eyes. “I love you,” I replied.
He pressed against me, and slid inside, just a little. I’d felt a dildo in me before, but this was completely different. “Oh,” I breathed. Damn. This felt amazing. “More.”
Blaze groaned and inched forward. I clenched and unclenched inside, and he dropped his head onto my shoulder. “Don’t do that,” he said in a strangled voice.
Relaxing, I lay back and looked into his eyes. “All the way,” I insisted.
Blaze closed his eyes and pursed his lips, and slowly slid forward until he was entirely inside my body. “You feel like nothing… nothing I’ve ever felt before,” he said. “This is perfection.”
I wasn’t sure how it felt yet, other than a sense of right, of certainty that he was where he was supposed to be.
“I’m going to move,” he whispered, and I nodded.
When he moved, I gasped. The ridges of his head pressed against my G-spot in the most delicious way. “More,” I said.
Blaze grinned with his eyes still closed, and thrust his hips toward me, a little faster this time. I cried out and he froze. “Too much?”
“No!” I exclaimed. There’d been no pain. “It’s great, please keep going. I’ll stop you if it’s too much.”
He nodded and moved again, in and out, slowly building up momentum as I grasped his shoulders, squeezed his arms, and rubbed my hands into his pecs.
To my shock, an orgasm had begun to build already. Seriously, it took me SO much longer by myself. “Harder,” I grunted.
Blaze looked down at me in amazement. “Are you sure?”
I dug my nails into his chest. “Harder!”
He cried out my name as he thrust in earnest. His movements went wild, choppy, and fierce.
“I can’t wait,” he gasped. Leaning forward, he continued his momentum as I exposed my neck, moaning deep in my throat.
And then, he bit me.
The world stood still as my orgasm exploded, but it wasn’t just my climax. My magic exploded as well. The overwhelming itchiness I’d felt since I’d stripped Joan quieted down and everything settled into place.
Then things sped up again, and my orgasm finished along with Blaze’s.
We lay there for a second with his teeth still in my neck and his dick still deep inside me.
When the internal quivering stopped, I relaxed and let my hands drop.
That signaled him, and Blaze gently removed his teeth from my neck and slid out of me to collapse on the bed beside me.
Our gazes met, the certainty that what we had done was perfect and exactly how it was meant to be settling into me. This was the direction our lives had been going; this was our destiny. It was perfect. All the dreams, the partial visions, they all made so much sense now. It all led me to Blaze.
Rolling into him, I let myself drift into unconsciousness, exhaustion taking me into a place of healing that I desperately needed.
The next morning, we did it again, without the bite. After a quick shower and an even quicker breakfast, I moved us over to Olivia’s house. I had to see my sister. A soon as we appeared on the porch, Roxy ran outside and threw herself into my arms. “I’m so sorry!” she cried.
I scooted toward the glider and sat with my arms still around her, but she kept crying. “I didn’t want to do any of those things. I didn’t have a choice.” She sobbed as I shushed her and told her it was going to be okay. “I just wanted to be safe,” she said. “I wanted to belong somewhere.”
“I know,” I said consolingly.
“But I knew about you,” she cried. “I just didn’t know how to find you.
Our mom and dad would tell me I had a sister who was destined for great things, but they’d never tell me anything about you other than that you were too powerful for them to handle.
Then they’d tell me it was too bad that I didn’t have even a bit of your power.
” My blood boiled that not only had they abandoned me, but they’d also used me to make Roxy feel inadequate.
I’d been too young to remember them leaving me, at least.
“They left me at a human orphanage when I was eight. I just wanted to find you, to find family.”
“Well, you found me,” I said. “And nobody is ever going to abandon you again. You belong here, with me and you always will.”
I’d never felt a motherly instinct in my life, not even with Anthony. It hit me full force with my sister in my arms. Roxy was me made over, just younger, and I was determined to make sure she would never feel this kind of pain or this alone again.
With a little bit of magic and a little bit of elbow grease, my guest room was made over in a hurry. Roxy and I went back there soon after I arrived at Olivia’s. While she settled in, I took Blaze to Anthony’s to get his stuff.
He laughed as he unpacked his bag. He’d gone and gotten the last few things from his room at Anthony’s. “We’re going to have to hire a contractor.”
I stood on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “There’s a spell for that.”
Pulling back, I sat on the bed and looked at my new mate. “Roxy wasn’t ever a part of the plan. Is this going to cause a problem?” I wouldn’t abandon her. What he said next would make a big difference to the direction our lives would go.
Blaze shut the drawer and turned around. “Not at all. We’ll show her she belongs. She’ll be surrounded with love and support. Not just from us, but from the whole clan and coven.”
He was everything I’d never known I needed. “I love you,” I whispered.
Blaze grinned and launched himself onto the bed, on top of me. “I love you, too.”