Prologue
The Goddess of Alchemy took
her place at the top of the pentagram. The four other Elemental Goddesses had already taken their positions, waiting, feeling,
anticipating the ritual ahead. A warm breeze filtered through the temple and ruffled the silken robes the women wore. Green,
yellow, red, blue and white, a color for each of the elements. Earth, air, fire, water, and the binding element, alchemy.
She began the ritual by stating the purpose of the gathering. “A
lost daughter needs our guidance to find her destiny. We must open the portals of Shadowling and draw her there.”
Five members of the Brotherhood approached and stood behind the Goddesses.
Brown muslin wrapped the men in secrecy. With practiced precision, each removed the robe of the woman before him.
At the first sensuous touch, the Goddess of Alchemy’s eyelids
closed. Light as feathers, her consort’s fingertips trailed down her body, over her hips, her buttocks, her thighs,
her mons. As her partner pushed his body closer to hers, a familiar, pulsing need bubbled to life in her lower abdomen. His
hand slid between her thighs and skilled fingers pressed deep into her pussy. Like the others, she couldn’t hold back
the moan that escaped her lips. With every stroke, her companion forced her closer and closer to the brink of release, just
as his brethren did with the other Goddesses. Their passions rose in perfect unison, blending and coiling like sentient smoke,
burning hotter and hotter, reaching out until their passions coalesced.
Only then did the she speak again, “Goddess of Earth, bring life to flower and field and tree. Goddess
of Air, breathe life into all you see. Goddess of Fire, cleanse the soul and set our daughters free. Goddess of Water, calm
the raging emerald seas. Our connection is sealed. So mote it be.”
“So mote it be,” the other Goddesses repeated as they continued feeding off each other’s sexual
energy. Finally, the raw, volatile power consumed them and they erupted in simultaneous orgasm.
The surge encircled them, crackling through the temple, suspending them in pleasure. The
energy from their climaxes harmonized and the portal connecting them to Shadowing Manor sizzled open, like lightning across
a dark sky. The sacred manor now resonated with the powers of the Goddesses, calling to the lost one, drawing her to the place
where she’d find her heart’s path, where she’d be healed, be cured, be shown life’s perfect, irrefutable
truth…
Sex creates power. Sex gives life. Sex is
life.
This is the legacy of Shadowling Manor.
Chapter One
Nicole Claret stared at the symbol on the heavy wooden door. Her hand rose, as if on its
own, and her index finger traced the lines carved into the oak—a circle inside a square inside a triangle inside another
circle.
Several times in the past week she had dreamed
of this symbol and a woman’s voice saying, You are a daughter of the Elemental Goddesses. It is time. She heard
the same words in every dream but they meant nothing to her. Other doors in the grand hallway where she stood bore symbols
she recognized as earth, air, fire and water, but this carving was not one she recognized. And yet it was the one that whispered
to her…much in the same way as Shadowling Manor had called to her last night.
She’d just been falling asleep in her apartment outside Boston when something grabbed her attention as
clearly as though she’d been shaken. Though she couldn’t identify the source, she’d learned long ago to
trust her intuition and it was demanding she drive north. Six hours later she had arrived at Shadowling Manor, a spooky old
mansion on the rocky coast of northern Maine.
It represents
Alchemy, the fifth element to those who know it.
The
words resonated in her mind, the same way she had heard the words in her dreams. But this voice was incredibly deep, distinctly
male and ribboned its way down into her lower belly. More curious than afraid, she turned the handle on the door and entered.
The first word that came to mind was ostentatious, then regal, then…suffocating.
The room reminded her of a movie set for eccentric British or French royalty, ornately carved furniture, heavy velvet drapes,
blood reds and glittering gold. She didn’t realize she was making a face until the male voice came to her again.
Perhaps you would prefer this?
Nicole gasped as the entire room underwent a total redecoration. Now she was surrounded
by bright, tropical colors, white wicker furniture and a whooshing, broad-bladed fan overhead. It took her a moment to realize
there was a man sitting across the room in a rattan peacock chair.
“Better?”
His actual voice sounded even deeper and sexier than it had in her
head, but she was stunned by the jaw-dropping visual before her. He looked completely relaxed, holding a hurricane glass of
pink liquid with an umbrella in it. A snow-white suit created a vivid contrast to his tanned skin and raven-black hair tied
back from his face. Dark eyes and prominent cheekbones suggested Polynesian or Native American somewhere in his genetic line.
A large diamond stud adorned his right ear, while a visible shadow along his jawline proclaimed his masculinity.
As she tried to put the entire scene into a logical frame of reference,
the man casually analyzed her. His eyes moved slowly from her old leather sandals, up the faded jeans hugging her slim hips,
farther up over her dark-blue tank top under which her nipples had just puckered to points within their B-cups. The only makeup
she wore was around her eyes, but it was dramatically applied to enhance her blue irises. When he finally got to her choppy
silver and neon-pink hair, he laughed aloud.
“No.
I guess not.” He wiggled the fingers of his right hand as he made a small wave across the room. In an instant the décor
changed again. It was now ultra-simple, uncluttered and, except for a green vase of orange bird-of-paradise flowers on a table,
everything was black, white, gray, chrome and glass. A low-profile bed with black satin sheets was the largest item in the
room.
Along with the décor, his attire changed to
black jeans and a black t-shirt. The white suit jacket had masked his broad shoulders, well-developed biceps and the tattoo
of a gray, thick-bodied snake coiling down and around the length of his left arm. Its slitted eyes seemed to observe her from
the back of his hand. His straight, medium-long hair now hung loose, tucked behind his ears with a stray lock falling over
his forehead. His tropical drink had turned into a bottle of domestic beer. However, the exotic features and stubble remained
the same.
“Interesting trick,” Nicole said
with a smirk. She had yet to take another step into the room. “Even better than the mental communication.”
“You’re not shocked?”
She shrugged. “I’ve learned different people have different talents. But if
you can get in my head, why didn’t you immediately know what style I’d prefer?”
“I only sent you a message. I didn’t poke around. That would be unethical
without your permission. I have quite a few other talents you might be interested in. I’ll be pleased to teach you all
of them.”
“No thank you. I have enough problems
with the talents I already have.” Contrary to her words, his offer intrigued her, but she had no intention
of revealing her vulnerability to a complete stranger. She took another look around the room. The only feeling she
picked up was desire, an intense wanting in her mind and an aching emptiness in her vagina. But those feelings were her own…which
was understandable considering she hadn’t had sex in years and this guy was a huge helping of testosterone on a silver
platter. Oddly, she usually had no problem keeping the need tamped down. Why was it suddenly so insistent?
The more bewildering part was the total lack of impression she got from
him. She always picked up what everyone else felt, as long as they were within twenty feet or so. But from him…nothing.
A thought popped into her head. “Are you some sort of hologram?
A computer program? Is that how you changed your appearance and the décor?”
His chuckle was low, his grin infectious. “No, no and no. I’m flesh and blood.
Why don’t you come closer and check for yourself?”
The
image his challenge triggered made her palms tingle and she had to fight the urge to walk across the room and run her hands
over every inch of him until she was absolutely certain he was real. But the fact that she couldn’t pick up an emotional
signal from him was disturbing enough to keep her standing by the door. “I’m sorry. I think there’s been
some sort of mistake.” She placed her hand on the doorknob to leave.
“Aren’t you Nicole Claret?” he asked quickly.
She turned back to him. “Yes, but—”
“Then
there’s no mistake. This is exactly where you’re supposed to be. In this room. With me.” He set the beer
on the table next to his chair, stood and walked toward her.
He’d
looked like a giant when he first rose but when he stood right in front of her she guessed he was only about six foot, still
a good ten inches taller than her. His t-shirt was fitted tightly enough to show off a sculpted chest and flat abs, but his
muscular frame now seemed more toned than pumped as it had first appeared. It was almost as if he had reduced his physical
size once he noticed how petite she was.
One thing still
looked rather big to her though. The tempting bulge behind the zipper of his soft jeans whipped her thoughts back to the aching
emptiness in her core and the need became a little stronger.
Goddamn
but he is a beautiful specimen, she thought a split second before he dipped his head and kissed her on the
mouth.
The tingling sensation she’d felt in her palms
now tickled her lips in such a delightful way she almost let him continue, but again, her sense of self-preservation won out
and she pushed at his chest. “What do you think you’re doing?”
His mouth curved and he took a small step back. “I was introducing myself.”
She eased around him and moved to the center of the room to give herself some thinking space.
She still couldn’t tell what he was feeling but he was having a positively intoxicating effect on her. Even stranger,
she couldn’t remember the last time she’d made physical contact with another human being without becoming overwhelmed
by their emotions or worse, crippled by their physical aches and pains. Why was it different with him? Had he lied about being
flesh and blood? “I would prefer you tell me your name and why you said I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
“Fine,” he said with a shrug. “But my way is a lot
more fun.” He closed the distance between them and held out his hand. “How do you do? My name is Brett Donahue.”
She shook the hand he offered and a shiver ran up her arm before she
could withdraw. “And?”
“And you are here,
in this room, with me, because,” he took a deep breath and spilled the rest out in one, rapidly delivered sentence,
“it is the Summer Solstice and as a daughter of the Goddess of Alchemy, it is time for you to join the Sisterhood of
the Elemental Goddesses and as a member of the Brotherhood which serves the Sisterhood, I have accepted the responsibility
of assisting you with your initiation challenge.” He grinned and added, “Condensed version.”
One word made her more curious than the rest. “What challenge?”
“Wouldn’t you rather know what’s in it for you?”
She frowned but accepted his point. “Okay, I’ll bite.
Why shouldn’t I leave right this minute?”
“Because
if you stay, you’ll discover how to control the abilities you have. And if you walk away without fulfilling your destiny
you will relinquish empathy as well as all the other powers meant to be yours.”
Nicole refused to admit she was extremely tempted by the promising words, even though they sounded as if they
came out of some mythological tale. Instead she sighed and shook her head. “This really is getting ridiculous. I’ve
never even heard of the Elemental Goddesses.”
“That’s
a lie.”
She didn’t know how he knew, but he
was right. The first year after she’d realized she could intuit things her friends could not, she’d read every
metaphysical book on every subject she could find. From time to time she’d added to her studies since then. Her knowledge
was vast, yet her abilities had remained limited. “How do you know? Are you like me?”
He grinned. “Perhaps. How do you mean?”
“Are you empathic? Can you tell when someone is lying?”
“I’ll explain my abilities shortly. For the moment, however, I knew you were lying because I was
told a bit about you in advance.”
That news instantly
added to her anxiety. A small part of her wanted to escape, forget the intriguing teaser about learning to control her empathy
and gaining other powers. Forget the way he made her want to fuck him until she drove the insistent need back into suppression.
But her curiosity made her stay. “What were you told about me?”
“Sit with me and I’ll tell you.” He took her hand, guided her to the edge of the bed and sat
down.
She looked around the room. There were other, less
intimate places to sit, but the moment he took her hand the sexual itch became more pleasurable than agitating and she really
didn’t want to break the contact. With a resigned exhale, she sat next to him without retrieving her hand.
“See? That wasn’t so hard. So, in answer to your last
question, your file states your empathic abilities awoke when you hit puberty and got stronger as you aged. You refer to yourself
as a human lie detector and use your sixth sense in your work as a private investigator. Right so far?”
His body heat almost distracted her from the fact someone had a file
on her. “Right,” she murmured reluctantly.
“Why
a private eye? You practically have a genius IQ. You could have gone into the FBI or CIA and done a lot more good with your
gift, to say nothing about making a more stable income.”
“Answer
a question for me first.”
“Shoot.”
“Why can’t I pick up on what you’re feeling? Or
whether or not you’re lying?” Her breath caught as he slowly raised his free hand toward her face. His fingertips
grazed her cheek, trailed down the side of her neck and up her throat as his thumb brushed over her lips. Either his touch
was the most sensual thing she’d ever experienced, or it really had been so long she forgot what it felt like to have
a man caress her.
“Right now I’m feeling
your skin and it feels like the finest satin. But I know that’s not what you mean.”
He moved his hand to her knee and heat slithered its way to her cunt a moment later.
“Very simply, I’m blocking you. When the time comes, I’ll
let you in, but we have some work to do first. As to my lying to you, until I remove the block, you’re just going to
have to trust me. Back to my question please.”
“Can
you teach me to block other people’s stuff from leaking in?”
He gave her a quizzical look. “Are you sure you’d want that? I got the impression you depend on
sensing what others are feeling, especially the honesty part.”
She grimaced. “It’s hard to explain. I love being a private investigator and I really enjoy being
my own boss. You can’t imagine how many people I’ve helped. But I’m honest enough with myself to know I
wouldn’t be nearly so successful without my gift. I definitely wouldn’t want to lose it. But it comes with a steep
price. For nearly twenty years I haven’t been able to shut any of it out. I pick up the emotional and physical
feelings of everyone near me. It’s made it very hard to…to be around other people.”
“Ah, I see. And that explains your career choice. As an independent investigator,
you can work alone, take only cases you are comfortable with. What about sex?”
Her eyes widened. Was he reading her actual thoughts now? Or was her desire for him showing so blatantly? “I
beg your pardon?” His crooked grin suggested he knew exactly what occupied her mind.
“I only meant, how do you manage during sex? Do your partner’s feelings enhance
the experience or hinder it?”
Her cheeks warmed with
embarrassment and she whispered, “I can’t manage it at all.”
“Hmmm. The list of things I need to teach you seems to be growing longer by the minute.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“In order to become the powerful witch you are meant to be and follow your destiny,
you must embrace your sexuality. The magick I can teach you is dependent on you being willing and able to do that.”
“I beg your pardon?” She didn’t mean to keep repeating
herself but no other words would form.
He appeared amused
at her bewilderment. “I am a master wizard, in sworn service to the Sisterhood, and, though my powers extend into numerous
areas, such as mental communication and the ability to manipulate matter around me, my particular strength is sex magick.”
A hot flush of desire flooded her from head to toe. “Oh.”
She was familiar with the term from her readings but really had no idea what sex magick entailed. However, the way he had
her sweating, she wasn’t opposed to giving it a try with him. “Umm, so-o-o, if I have sex with you, you’ll
teach me how to block other people’s feelings whenever I want?”
His mouth turned down. “This isn’t a brothel.”
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I’m just trying to understand what’s expected
of me here. You seem to know enough about me to realize I’d do just about anything to be able to control this ability
of mine.”
He tucked a finger under her chin and arched
one dark brow. “Anything?”
She swallowed hard.
He didn’t need to unblock his feelings for her to sense what he was asking her. Was she truly willing to accept him
as her teacher and guide into this magickal world he dangled before her? Would she do whatever he ordered without question?
“Yes. Anything.”
“Is it then your intention
to fully engage in the challenge set before you today, to embrace all the powers meant to be yours and accept your destiny?”
Nicole had the fleeting thought that there were a lot more questions
she should be asking, but the subtle pulsing in her core had become a steady drumming throughout her body. Her pussy dampened
in preparation of what she imagined would be a very satisfying and memorable sexual encounter. It had been so damn
long. And considering the fact that she’d never experienced an orgasm triggered by another person, no repercussion she
could think of was worrisome enough to make her pass on the experience he seemed to be offering.
It wasn’t as though he were asking her to sign a legal contract.
He tipped up her chin to bring her attention back to him. “Nicole?”
She smiled softly. “Yes, I agree to anything.”
“Then let’s start again. Introduce yourself to me…with
a kiss.”
She shifted slightly toward him, raised
her head and lightly touched her lips to his.
He huffed.
“That peck told me you’re a ten-year-old girl who’s never kissed a boy and I’m your…cousin?”
She flushed. “I don’t even know you.”
“If you kiss me as a woman, that will change.”
“It’s been a long time,” she murmured and looked
away.
He slipped one hand under her knees and lifted her
onto his lap as though she were weightless. “I promise, you’ll never have reason to say those words again. Now,
this time, tell me something about yourself no one else knows.”
His penis thickened against her hip and her cunt responded with a gush of wetness. He had positioned her perfectly
to deliver her kiss, but what was it she wanted the kiss to say? I want you. I want your cock driving into me until I’m
crying with pleasure. Yep, that about summed it up.
She
threaded her fingers into his hair and held his head as her mouth very slowly closed in on his. He remained perfectly still,
waiting for her to prove just how mature she could be when it came to kissing. And she was determined to make him wait a little
longer. Her mouth met his directly, gently giving him a closed-mouth caress, then she softly brushed her lips back and forth
over his, kissed each corner and brushed again. When he continued to show no reaction, she gave up trying to tease and went
for a deeper kiss, pressing her lips to his, parting them and slipping the tip of her tongue between.
The moment he eased his tongue forward to touch the tip of hers, she gained the confidence
to be more brazen. Her mouth moved hungrily over his, her teeth nibbled his lower lip and her tongue challenged his to a duel.
And she finally got what she was going for.
One of his hands squeezed her hip as the other clasped the back of her head. His mouth was
no longer a passive recipient but entered the game with a passion to match her own.
Suddenly the block he’d put between their minds disintegrated and she was assailed with his feelings,
a mad jumble of emotions, pleasure and pain, joy and devastation, light and very, very dark. But in the midst of all of it
she felt his honesty. He had not lied to her, nor did he intend to.
And
yet she also sensed there was something he wasn’t saying. A purposeful omission.
She tried to put distance between them but he held her firmly and continued to claim her
mouth regardless of her distraction. The emotional onslaught lessened and, in a matter of seconds, the only emotion she got
from him was desire. Intense, burning, all-consuming desire. For her.
He wanted her. At least as much as she wanted him. And knowing how excited he was spiked her arousal to a boiling
point. She wasn’t just feeling her own need. His also raged inside her in a way she’d never imagined possible.
She had never experienced anything so wondrous and frightening at the same time. There was no longer any awareness of where
she was or why. Nothing mattered but reaching the top of the sexual mountain she—no they were scaling. Together.
Without ending the delicious kiss, she straddled his lap and pressed
as much of her body as she could against his—her thighs clamped on his hips, her arms wrapped around his shoulders.
The zippers of their jeans met in the middle of the desperate clinch. She shifted her hips and moaned when a jolt of pleasure
shocked her clitoris, even through the layers of denim.
His
hands cupped her bottom and urged her more firmly against his erection. He eased her hips away then pulled her into him again.
Back and forth. Back and forth. Catching the rhythm, she moved into him on her own. She moaned in appreciation of the pleasure
he gave her, gave them both, and his deep-throated response vibrated into her very being.
She picked up the pace, moving her cunt to increase the pressure precisely where she could
receive the greatest sensation, then shifted a bit more until she sensed his exquisite enjoyment as well.
For so many years she’d had to rely on her imagination to attain a sexual release,
but not in her wildest fantasy had she guessed the real thing could feel this good. Nor had she imagined her greatest arousal
to date would occur with all her clothes on.
Though she
was anxious to experience a climax, she wanted to feel his naked flesh against her own. She slipped her hands between their
bodies and tugged on the button at the top of his jeans.
Abruptly
the gamut of his feelings flooded her senses even more powerfully than before and they both stiffened while he rebuilt the
block. Only this time he took away his desire as well.
Nicole
felt as though she had been dropped in icy water. Her body was still aroused but everything was now one-sided. And wrong.
Very, very wrong. She leaned back and looked into his eyes with a question she didn’t know how to phrase.
He kissed her softly then moved her back to her own spot next to him
on the bed. A heartbeat later, he grinned. “So much for the introductions.”
