25. Cormac
Cormac
D ani slid back the partition, a gentle smile on her face as she caught sight of Rory curled up next to me, the faint glow from the overhead lights casting shadows over Rory’s peaceful expression.
“Sir, we’re landing soon,” she whispered.
“Thank you, Dani,” I replied softly—quiet enough for her to hear, but not Rory. I glanced at her before looking back at Dani. “Please have Jacob circle until I’m able to wake her.” I adjusted the blanket, keeping her warm as she slept, her breath soft against my chest as Dani closed the partition.
A soft moan escaped from Rory’s lips as she curled tighter against me, her arm draped across my chest. The warmth of her body, the softness of her breath, stirred something primal within me. I wanted to wake her up and take her again, but I knew other matters needed attending. I sighed, caught between the urge to give in to the heat building inside me and the weight of duty that pressed down on me. How had this woman become so deeply embedded in my mind?
I shook my head, trying to focus. We were heading back to Oak Leaf Hallow—a place where, one hundred and fifty years ago, her family had tried to kill me. I ran a hand over my face, trying to shake off the memories that threatened to resurface. I had sworn to never set foot there again. How had things come to this?
I remembered that night, the one I could never fully piece together. My brothers and I had been called to the ritual space, a clearing in the middle of the dense oak trees. The night was cold, the air thick with magic. A fairy ring of mushrooms glowed faintly in the moonlight at the center of the clearing. As the ritual began, we each took our positions at the quarters of the circle—me, Lorcan, Aiden, and Conall. North, east, south, and west.
The coven stood around us, hand in hand, chanting. The last thing I remembered before my father appeared was a flash of bright light—so bright we all looked away—in the center of the fairy ring. After that—nothing. The coven couldn’t remember who we were, and my family fled, following where my mother led without a second thought.
I pushed the memory back down, locking it away with the others gathered over my nine hundred years. Only now, I knew she must have concealed both the lineage and the grimoire among our belongings.
Gently, I kissed Rory on the forehead, trailing my fingers down her cheek. Her skin was warm under my fingertips, soft as silk. She moaned again, a sound that made me ache to hear more of it from her—preferably from my cock fucking her. It took every ounce of restraint not to wake her up like that.
Her eyelids fluttered open, and I couldn’t help but smile when she met my gaze. “Good morning,” I whispered.
She smiled back. “Good morning.”
I kissed her fully, her lips soft and warm. They parted under mine and for a moment, the world outside this plane ceased to exist.
I broke off the kiss and sighed. “We need to get dressed. Dani said we’re about to land.”
Rory glanced around, a mischievous glint in her eye as she raised herself to her elbow. “Could I have my panties back, please?” She smirked as she reached out, demanding them back.
I shrugged with indifference as I looked at her unmatched beauty. “You threw them at me, remember? Maybe I should keep them.”
“You know I can just go get another pair, right?”
I smiled at her. “Perhaps you should.”
She sat up, the sheet sliding off her, exposing her breasts. My cock instantly sprang to life, but I held back. Standing, she walked toward the bathroom. She moved with a casual grace I couldn’t tear my eyes away from, her bare skin glowing faintly in the soft morning light. I clenched my fists, fighting the urge to pull her back into bed with me.
She returned with a change of clothes, a pair of black lace panties highlighting the perfect curve of her ass. “Since I was in there, I figured something clean would be a good idea.” She shrugged. “I can’t exactly arrive at the plantation in yesterday’s clothes.” She raised an eyebrow, her fingers trailing along my arm as if daring me to wear yesterday’s clothes.
“How do you know I wasn’t planning to do the same?” I teased as I stood beside her.
She ran her fingers down my chest, brushing along the length of my cock. I wanted her to keep going, but I knew Jacob was waiting for me to get dressed and ready to disembark.
“We don’t have time for this right now.” I rolled my eyes.
Her fingers lingered for just a moment longer, her touch sending a shock of heat through me. She gripped my shaft gently, giving a soft squeeze. “Then we’ll just have to put it on the list of things to do later.”
I kissed her deeply, her breasts pressing against my chest. Her warmth lingered on my skin, and it took all my willpower to pull away. The ache of wanting her again burned low in my belly, but I stepped away to find my clothes before we emerged from the bedroom and took our seats. Next to them were mimosas, mine with a reddish hue.
After the plane landed, we disembarked to find a sleek black car waiting for us. It wasn’t mine, but it would do for now. Dani would drive us to the plantation while Paul and Jacob headed to Kentucky to retrieve my vehicle. It would be here in a few days.
I opened the car door for Rory, letting her slide in before taking a seat beside her. Dani climbed into the front and glanced back.
“Do you know where you’re going?” Rory asked, a smile tugging at her lips.
Dani’s eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror, catching mine for a moment before she nodded. “I’ve been there once or twice—for herbs.”
Rory pressed her lips into a line and turned to me. “I see. So you’ve been telling them how to answer my questions with non-answers.”
I squeezed her hand in a gentle grip. “I hope you understand.” I needed to keep her safe, and the less she knew, the safer she was.
Her brow furrowed as she turned to look out at the passing landscape, the tension between us thickening with every mile. “I wish I knew what you were protecting me from.”
My chest tightened. How would I ever tell her I was protecting her from my brother, the vampire her coven sought? And that if he knew how close they were to being able to end him, the entire coven would be in danger—not to mention the Cure we intended to find. I took a deep breath, my fingers intertwined with hers.
A calm settled over her as we drove the winding roads to Oak Leaf Hallow. “I guess I don’t have to ask if you’ve been here before.” Her voice was quieter now.
I nodded, echoing Dani’s response. “Once or twice. I may have been a guest for a time.” The trees grew denser as we wound through the narrow roads, the soft glow of the rising sun wrestling to break through the thick canopy. The closer we got, the more the air seemed to hum with an old, familiar energy.
“I take it I don’t need to show you around?”
I shook my head.
“Well, that should make things interesting,” she said, her tone light. She shifted in her seat, her thumb tracing absentminded patterns against mine, her voice calm, but her eyes betraying the nervous energy she tried to hide.
The plantation house loomed before us, its wraparound porch with white columns and gallery now modernized with electric lamps. Yet history clung to the air as if the very earth we drove across remembered me.
The tires crunched over the drive as Dani slowed to a stop. A woman with brown hair stepped onto the front porch.
“That’s Jade,” Rory said, her eyes lighting up. “I can’t wait for you to meet her.”
I squeezed her hand. “And what does she know?”
She bit her lip, her gaze flicking to me before she answered, as though something unsaid lingered between us. “Not as much as she should, but I haven’t spoken to her since we left for Ireland.”
“It will make for an interesting introduction,” I said with a smile. I couldn’t shake the feeling that “interesting” was an understatement. Jade’s shoulders remained rigid as she took a step forward, her back stiff and her eyes narrow as she scrutinized my every step.
I climbed out of the car and made my way to Rory’s side, opening her door. Hand in hand, we walked up the stairs toward Jade. The wooden stairs creaked under our feet, the scent of moss and gardenia blossoms hanging in the humid, salty air.
Her arms crossed over her chest, but her eyes betrayed a mixture of curiosity and wariness as if she were trying to gauge the situation. “This is quite the turn of events.” Jade’s eyes glinted with curiosity.
Rory smiled coyly. “We’ll talk later,” she said, dropping my hand and wrapping her friend in a hug.
Jade looked at me, her eyes darkening. “Amara and Lyra haven’t returned yet.”
Rory pulled back and nodded. “How long has Amara been gone?”
“A few hours,” Jade replied. “She went to pick up Lyra.”
Rory glanced at me and smiled. “Well, I guess you were right—we beat them here.”
I smiled back, reaching for her hand. “Sometimes it pays to have your own jet.”
Dani came up behind us and placed Rory’s backpack and my bag on the porch, nodding a silent greeting to Jade before turning toward me. “If that’s all, sir, I’ll be going.”
I nodded at her with a smile. “I’ll be in touch.”
Dani returned to the car, driving off without another word.
Rory’s eyes followed her path before she turned toward me. “Where’s she going to stay while we’re here?”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “She’ll be fine. By tonight, she’ll have a mortal warming her bed.”
Jade sighed as Rory smiled. “Why don’t you come in,” said Rory, picking up her bag, “and we’ll find a room for you.”
I grabbed my duffel and stepped through the familiar French doors. When I first entered through them in 1855, the home was already fifty years old and one of the grandest in the area. The hallway ran the length of the house, with doors at either end that could be opened to let a breeze blow through the home. The air inside was dry and cool, a modern-day air-conditioning system replacing our old method of keeping the house cool. I peered up the stairway, the polished wood railing guiding my eyes as it rose through the attic rooms and opened into a belvedere that allowed a stunning view of the surrounding area.
In the dim light, I could see the same blue furnishings lining the walls that had been present the last time I was here. The settee and chairs created a resting point for people to sit in the breeze created by the open doors. I remembered sipping lemonade there with my brothers, speaking to the ladies who had come to the home to board and finish their education as witches. They had all stayed in the third-floor rooms usually reserved for servants, while cabins outside had housed members of the coven and other sharecroppers. The plantation had never used slave labor but relied on fees from boarding, selective lumbering, and a lucrative apothecary and ornamental trade to fund its operations.
I climbed the stairs, following Rory, my eyes glued to her pert ass as Jade walked behind me. I wondered how the bedrooms were allocated. As the plantation owner, did Rory occupy the primary bedroom, or did Amara take it as the High Priestess Regent? We alighted at the top of the stairs into a similar hallway from below, the French doors at the two ends of this hallway opening to the wraparound gallery. Two conversation areas occupied this hallway, one at the front of the house and one at the back. Rory paused at the top of the stairs. “Aunt Amara’s room is there, and Lyra stays in that one.” She pointed at the primary bedroom at the front right of the house and what had been the attached nursery the last time I was here. “My room is that one.” She pointed at the door across the hall from Amara. “You have your choice of the back bedroom or one of the outer rooms.”
I thought through my choices. My family had occupied two outer rooms the last time we were here, so called because the only way to reach them was to go out onto the gallery to reach their doors. My parents had taken the room next to what was now Amara’s rooms, and my brothers and I all shared the back room. A pang went through my heart as I thought of a time when my brothers and I would live like siblings even though we were already seven hundred and fifty. Any of us could have gotten a house in town to stay in. Instead, we shared the room here and had a large apartment in town that we used when we wanted to feed—or bed someone.
I stepped closer to Rory, wrapping my arm around her back below her backpack. “Why can’t I just share yours?” My question was low as my eyes searched hers, wondering if there was a reason for keeping me out of her space.
She kissed me softly with a giggle. “I never said you wouldn’t end up there, but I thought you might like your own.”
I nodded at her consideration. “I’ll take the back room then. It’ll make it easier for that to happen,” I growled before kissing her more fully.
Jade’s voice came from behind us. “I’d tell you to get a room, but I thought that was what we were already doing.”
I pulled away from Rory and followed her to the door at the back left of the house. The room had changed very little, except the floor now creaked beneath us as we walked in. The fireplace on the outer wall remained, and the green furnishings gave it an opulence that reminded me of the manor. I placed my bag next to the bed before I turned to my left and pointed at a door. “Shared bathroom with the room next door?”
Rory smiled. “It is so weird that you already know the house. Shared bathroom with my room. We’ll let you get settled?”
She glanced between Jade and me, her desire for time with her friend unmistakable. “I’ll be here when you return.” I kissed her.
Rory followed Jade into the hallway, closing the door behind them. I threw open the French doors leading to the gallery, allowing in the sweet floral scents from the gardens. I stepped into the heavy, moist air, walking to the edge while looking across the lush greenery.
I ran my hand along the railing, the painted wood smooth beneath my fingers. It was just as I remembered although somehow brighter and newer. I could hear Rory’s faint laughter as she spoke with Jade. She was safe for now, but how long could I keep her that way?
I turned back to the room, closing the French doors behind me. The sweet scent of gardenias lingered in the air, and with it, the promise of what could be—and the threat of what was yet to come.