Chapter Forty Five
“So we’re putting her in a big rock?”
I wag my finger at the gang. “Not any big rock. This is The Big Rock. Welcome to Rock Jail.”
“Alcatraz for demon biz,” Charlie explains like that makes any sense. “Nobody gets out alive.”
I have zero clue what an Alakazam is but if it’s a scary jail, it’ll do. “Exactly,” I say, nodding.
Eri throws herself back when I walk towards her and tries to run but Buffy holds her tight. Whatever god Eri was, she’s not stronger than Buffy.
“I admit, I wanted to kill you in my bloodlust but that’s not my style.
This is the best I can do, so be grateful for it.
” Eri screams and shakes her head. It’s clear she wants no part of rock jail.
I grab her by her arm and drag her towards the boulder Jaak was imprisoned in.
It’s smaller now, almost cut in half by the ceremony that freed him but it’s big enough to hold Eri.
It’s prepped for her, ready to take in exactly one god before it closes in on itself again for the rest of time.
She’ll be out of the way here, forgotten in the woods where no one will come looking for her.
Even if they do, they won’t see her. Not with the spell I just cast over the clearing with Sunday.
“The second anyone comes here that rock will vanish from sight. Even if they see it from outside the clearing they won’t be able to see it past this boundary.
” Sunday draws a line in the sand and nods.
“And as a fun touch, I’ve added a memory loss bit to our work.
Even if they see the rock, they’ll forget why they came here when they enter the clearing. ”
“So even if they see it again, it’ll just be a loop. Of seeing and forgetting?”
“Correct. No one is ever going to remember her or find her. It’s a just punishment. You said the Fates cursed your husband? They’re little shits about their punishments being carried out so making Eri take his place will be more than enough to keep the peace with them. It’s a smart move, Meadow.”
Eri digs her feet into the ground and tries to break free but it’s too late for her.
Her fate was sealed the second I met Jaak.
There was never any world where I wouldn’t make her pay for what she did to him.
I look back at Jaak and he smiles at me.
I don’t even look at Eri as I shove her back into the rock and just like that Eri is banished from our lives forever.
THREE WEEKS LATER…
I shouldn’t tease Jaak. I know that, but sometimes I just can’t help myself. I have to muffle a giggle with my hand as I run through the house as quietly as I can. Outside it’s snowing, it’s a heavy storm that’s already blanketed Bitter Root and the woods around it in white.
It’s been a cozy day at home. The house was even a part of it with roaring fireplaces, plates of warm cookies and mugs of hot tea and cocoa ready every time I went into the kitchen.
Jaak and I spent the day relaxing at home.
The night before we’d spent the entire day in town helping Dina decorate the newly minted Dina’s Diner for the holidays.
She was determined to win the town decorating contest. She had Jaak on the roof with Clyde lugging an entire sleigh and a fir tree I chopped down for her, so honestly, this is her time.
If anyone beats her they’ll have earned it.
Which, knowing Bitter Root, someone could come out of nowhere to beat her.
“I’ve never celebrated Christmas. What’s its deal?” I asked her while stringing holly for her.
“It’s whatever you make it about. I choose friends and food. Plus, we get to give presents to everyone we care about.”
“Presents? Say less. Wait until Buffy hears about this!”
The town is eccentric and tight-knit, even with the secret business cult Eri had going, Bitter Root is a sweet place to call home.
The business owners that were involved in the whole World Eater Worship Cult have been forced out and locked up far, far away from any of us.
Everyone has been welcoming to us, even if they know something is off about Jaak, no one asks about it.
He uses his human form in town to help us keep up the appearance of being a perfectly normal newlywed couple, but at home it’s a different story.
At home he switches between forms as he pleases.
Tonight he’s in his minotaur form, hence why I downed a mug of spiked eggnog before I took off running past him.
Jaak knew exactly what I wanted, he always does.
I’ve been sneaking around the house for a good fifteen minutes and the liquor I’d had is sitting just right.
There’s no other place I want to be but where I am, running down the hallway with my husband right behind me.
I slow my step by half a second and Jaak catches me. He pulls me against him and like always, I go willingly. I throw my arms around his shoulders and kiss my husband with a smile on my face.
“You caught me,” I tell him between kisses.
He kisses my neck. “You wanted me to.”
“I always will.”
“My greedy wife.” Jaak chuckles and slants his mouth to mine in a slow kiss.
I moan and arch into him as he hikes the loose fitting dress I’m wearing high up on my hips and pins me to the wall.
When he grabs one of my thighs and pulls it flush to his side, I shift my hips to meet his.
Jaak lifts me up and when he rolls his hips into mine I move with him.
“I’m greedy for you,” I kiss him, long and slow.
I forget where we are when I kiss him. My hips grind against Jaak’s cock, the hard length of it settling between my thighs.
My breath comes out in a gasp when Jaak grabs both of my wrists in one of his hands and holds them over my head.
Jaak kisses my jaw and then my throat, when he turns his head the light shines on his horns.
My fingers itch to touch his horns, to run my fingertips along the curve of them the way I know Jaak likes.
I could break Jaak’s hold on my wrists to do just that but I don’t, because there’s a special kind of pleasure in denying myself when it comes to my husband.
There isn’t a thing in this world or any of the others that have ever or will ever exist that he wouldn’t do for me, wouldn’t give me, and eagerly so.
If there’s any denying, it’s me that holds myself back from having every bit of him all at once.
There’s no need to rush when I have a lifetime to explore and enjoy my husband.
I wait until he drops my hands to pick me up and carry me into the room that’s quickly become one of my favorites.
The ballroom.
Or what used to be used as one. The week that we settled here I asked the house to help me make it just the way it was when it was first built. The next morning rolls of blueprints sat waiting on the edge of our bed.
“I don’t know how I feel about the house making deliveries while we sleep but I suppose privacy is a moot point seeing as we’re living inside of it.”
“I’m sure it didn’t see anything…much.”
Jaak and I started working on renovating the house.
It was easier than most renovations with the use of my magic and the house doing its best to help but it was still slow going.
We’d worked on the floor we were on first and began our work with the ballroom.
Turns out the big empty room with the windows next to our room hadn’t always been empty and quiet.
Once upon a time, there had been silverback mirrors that ran the width of it.
We’d replaced them, put it back the way it had been before, but the room still sat empty.
But empty didn’t mean unused.
Standing in the middle of the room and looking from side to side it was easy to feel dizzy.
In the ballroom, perception was a tenuous slippery thing.
The longer you looked between your reflections the harder it was to not feel like the ground might give away under your feet.
It was also the perfect place to make love with my husband with the added benefit of enjoying it from all angles.
Jaak carries me into the middle of the room.
The moonlight shines in on us. The cold light is brighter than normal with the snow lending itself to the moon’s efforts.
There’s a sharpness to the light tonight.
I wrap my arms around Jaak’s shoulders when he kneels to the floor with me in his arms. I turn to see the way we look in the mirrors.
Our reflection surrounds us. I watch as I move my hand and touch his face, finally wrapping my fingers around his horns.
I watch as I press myself up against him.
My need for my husband ignites like a wildfire. One moment I have enough control to savor this moment, the patience to let it play out the way I know it will, and the next I’m desperate for him. I won’t last long before I’m senseless.
“I need you,” I tell him, already reaching to pull his belt free.
“Come here, my prize.” Jaak’s hands are gentle as they undo the ties of my dress. It slips down my body and the cool air makes me shiver. The feel of his body against mine makes me moan.
“You feel like heaven,” I tell him.
“As do you,” he whispers to me, hands on my breasts. He cups them, a thick thumb moving over my nipple slowly before circling it. He drops down to kiss my flesh, lips and tongue replacing his hands. I arch over him and grip his horns as I pull him closer, guiding him where and how I want him.
The wind blows a gust of snow against the window, the soft tap of the flakes the only sound save our breathing and the slide of our hands and bodies.
Jaak helps me out of my dress before he takes his pants off.
The second that he’s naked, I shove him back onto the floor.
He lands on my dress and the white material makes his dark coat glow.
I move between his thighs and lean down to kiss his chest while my greedy hands explore the body I know as well as my own.
Jaak slides a hand into my hair, the gentle tug he gives me tells me he’s as needy as I am.
I lift my head and smile at him. “Impatient?”
“Yes, very. I am always impatient when it comes to having my fill of you, my heart. You are the loveliest creature I have ever seen, and I am yours.”
I move then, slipping up his body and straddling his powerful thighs.
The warm head of his cock slides against me.
I take hold of it and rock back slowly, easing down onto him.
Jaak’s breath comes out in a gasp when I fully seat myself.
Our bodies are flush, there’s no space between us now, I almost hate to move.
I lean forward and brace my hands on his broad chest. One of Jaak’s hands comes to cover mine, his palm over the back of my hand and our fingers intertwine.
I lift my hips and slowly move forward, then rock back, and repeat the motion until I find the rhythm I like best. Jaak’s hand comes to my hip, his fingers tight on my body when I start to speed up.
“Meadow.”
I kiss him, I squeeze the fingers intertwined with mine when Jaak’s hips rise to meet mine. “Yes, just like that. Don’t stop. I need you.”
Jaak moans. “I know.” My pace is faster now, the slap of Jaak’s hips against mine louder.
When I cry out ‘please,’ he sits up, pulling me in to kiss him.
He kisses me again, stealing my cries the second they leave my throat.
My hands go to his horns and I hold them tight using them while I ride my husband.
“I know, my heart. That feels good doesn’t it? ” he growls in my ear.
“Yes! Yes.”
Both of Jaak’s hands come to my waist. When I move, so does he. His hold tightens and brings me down harder. We move together in sync, I’m not going to last much longer.
“I-I,” my words come out ragged. I can’t speak but Jaak knows.
“That’s it. Take me, take as much of me as you want.
” His hands leave my hips and move to hold my arms. He holds me up while I chase the feeling of my orgasm.
My hips move faster, there’s no rhythm anymore, just the frenzied movement of our bodies forcing one another to their peak.
“Give me your pleasure, Meadow. My prize.”
I turn my head and see us then. The moonlight bathes us perfectly. I grab onto Jaak’s shoulders and bring my hips down to meet his again. The sight of his powerful body moving with mine pushes me over the edge.
I willingly fall headfirst into the pleasure washing over me. “Jaak!” My body seizes, muscles and limbs tightening around my husband.
Jaak’s hands flex on my hips and they move me to meet his thrusts when the only thing I’m capable of is clinging to him.
It’s my name in my ears that he whispers when he finds his release.
He falls back onto the floor and brings me with him.
He holds me against him, hands gentle on my skin while I snuggle close and close my eyes as I lay my head on his chest.
Jaak turns and kisses the top of my head, fingers lazily tracing shapes in my skin. “I love you, Meadow.”