The Rose Witch (The Coven: Old Magic Stand-Alone Novel Book 1) Read online

  “Chloe,” he whispered against my forehead. “I can feel your heartbeat. Talk to me.”

  I pushed myself up, then rolled halfway on top of him and looked down into his gold eyes. “Words are hard sometimes…”

  He reached up and tucked my hair behind my ear. “Fuck, you’re beautiful.”

  My chest tightened and burned. My cheeks warmed and my pulse fluttered. Those butterflies in my stomach tap danced like they were in Riverdance. I leaned down and pressed my lips to his. I slipped my tongue in his mouth and licked him. He groaned and cupped my jaw, pulling me closer to him. Heat radiated out of his body like someone had just lit a bonfire. It consumed me, sucking me in until it was all I could breathe. His smoky scent. His cinnamon taste. I was lost to it.

  Our lips crashed together. Our tongues dancing a brilliant Argentine tango. Our breaths hot and heavy. I felt a fire building inside of me. Each touch from him unraveled me more and more. I was going to be nothing when he left…and I was helpless to stop it. I rolled my hips and felt him stir beneath me.

  I moaned and then he flipped me over, his big body pressing me into the cold hardwood floor. His mouth captured mine, slaying me with every brush of his lips…every slide of his tongue. I moaned and clawed at his back to try and pull him closer. We’d been here for hours yet I still wanted more. I was famished. Deprived. I needed more. All of him. Right now.

  He reached down and pushed my shirt up my body – we’d been too preoccupied earlier to care but now I wanted to feel every inch of his skin against mine. He broke our kiss just long enough to force my shirt over my head, forcing my arms over my head. He gripped the cotton and twisted, locking my wrists together and pinning them to the floor. His fingers interlaced with mine.

  A little growl left my lips as I sank my teeth into his throat. He threw his head back and hissed. I slid the tip of my tongue up his neck to his chin and he moaned. His lips came down on mine in a soft frenzy. He was tender but impassioned. We nibbled and licked at each other, every inch of our naked, sweaty bodies touching. I arched my back, pressing my body into him with a little moan.

  With one hand, he reached down and squeezed my hip. His hand slid a scorching path down my thigh then he gripped my knee and pushed my legs apart. I knew it was coming but when he thrust himself inside of me I threw my head back and moaned his name.

  He cursed and rolled his hips over and over and over. Each time he pulled back my eyes rolled back into my skull. I wanted to hold him, to squeeze him, to scratch my nails down his back but he held my hands pinned above my head with one of his. My chest burned. My body ached in all the right ways. His hand slid down my body, melting me from the inside out.

  My name left his lips in a ragged whisper that I barely heard over my own moans. I tried to contain myself by biting down on my lip but then he pushed my leg up flush against my body and slid even deeper. My body trembled beneath him, ready to combust. But his hips kept rolling, like relentless waves crashing into the shore. His lips reclaimed mine and my tongue danced with his. And then he moved faster, harder. My stomach tightened. My pulse skipped. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth and I fell apart. I threw my head back and gasped.

  The world disappeared around me.

  Everything was white and bright. Warmth wrapped around me from every angle. He released my hands and yanked the shirt off of my wrists. I groaned and cupped his face between my hands, dragging his mouth back to mine.

  I couldn’t have said how long we were sprawled there on the floor like that, just kissing and reveling in the moment we’d just shared, but soon the morning sun beamed a spotlight right into our faces. We hissed like exposed vampires and dove for the safety of the shadows behind the sofa. Malachi flipped back onto his back and threw his arm over his eyes. He chuckled.

  “The Prince of Hell shrieks away from—” I frowned as my gaze landed on his right arm draped over his face. Thick red lines like vines coiled around his muscles, covering every inch from his shoulder down to his fingertips. I pushed up on my right elbow and found it even covered half of his chest.

  He scowled. “What’s wrong? Chloe?”

  I shook my head, still frowning as I tried to process what I was seeing. “You said…before when I asked…you said you didn’t have a soulmate. That those lines only appeared in your angel form.”

  He narrowed his eyes, watching me carefully. “That is what I said, yes—”

  “But this is a soulmate glyph!” I hated the whine in my voice, but I was about to freak out. “That wasn’t there before, Malachi. The crystal in the middle of your chest. It’s purple. Lavender to be exact — and there’s one on your hand!”

  “Chloe—”

  “Tegan’s looked just like that!” My voice shot up an octave and my stomach tightened into knots. “Sure, hers was pink with black lines but it looked like this. It’s the same. Isn’t it? This is a soulmate glyph, isn’t it? Isn’t it?”

  He took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. “Yes, it is a soulmate glyph—”

  My stomach rolled and bile bubbled up my throat. I sat up and pushed my hair back before I vomited on myself. I squeezed my eyes shut. “Oh God. You have a soulmate—"

  “Chloe—”

  “Who is it? Just tell me, just get it over with,” I cried and shook my head.

  “Chloe, listen—”

  “Wait a bloody second.” I spun to face him, heat pouring from my face and chest. “I asked you. You looked me in the eye and told me you didn’t have a soulmate! I’m not making that up. A girl remembers details like that when she likes a guy.”

  His lips curved up in a wicked grin and his eyes sparkled. “So, you do like me?”

  I gasped. “Are you serious?”

  He chuckled and then bit down on his bottom lip. “I like you, too. For the record.”

  “You lied to me,” I whispered.

  “No, I didn’t.” I must’ve made a face because he held one red-vined finger up to my mouth. “When you asked me that, I was telling you the truth as I knew it. I did not know I had a soulmate at that time.”

  My eyes burned with the need to cry. I knew this was going to hurt like hell, I just thought I had more time. I thought I’d be fully clothed. “But you do now.”

  “Yes, I have a soulmate now.”

  My heart sank. My gaze locked on that heart-shaped looking lavender crystal in the middle of his chest. Somehow in the middle of our lovemaking I’d completely missed it, granted the lights had been off and I’d been distracted. If I had known…I wouldn’t have let this happen, I wouldn’t have let us go that far.

  “Chloe, listen—”

  “Who is it?” I heard myself whisper. Then I shook my head again. “I don’t understand. How could it just happen like that? That fast?”

  “Soulmate glyphs appear under different circumstances depending on your species.” He sat up beside me, his eyes softer than I’d ever seen them. “Humans don’t have proof, they have to just guess – which is unfortunate. But for the rest of us it shows a visual mark.”

  “Like that.”

  He nodded. “For witches, the glyph is instant the moment they meet their soulmate. At first sight. For shifters, the glyph appears at first touch. Vampires is first bite and the fae are first kiss. So if two fae knew each other for a thousand years but never kissed, they’d never know they were soulmates. Same goes for shifters and vampires. Only witches and angels are lucky enough to know immediately.”

  I frowned. “Angels have soulmates?”

  “Sure. They can. Especially the ones who weren’t born angels.” He licked his lips and pushed his hair back off of his face. My eyes couldn’t stop staring at the crystal on his hand. “Now for angels, we’re born with them – or reborn with them. If my soulmate was an angel like me, this glyph would have appeared in 1453 when I was reborn as an angel—”

  “But it didn’t—”

  “Because my soulmate is not an angel.” He smiled and it hurt my heart so much. “When two soulmates ar
e different species, things get trickier. For example, my soulmate is not an angel so she was not born with the glyph, so my glyph showing up had to fit one of the other criteria.”

  “First sight, touch, bite or kiss,” I said numbly. I wished he’d just get it over with and tell me who she was so I could go have a cry in the bathroom.

  “But you see, I was born fae. Which means my glyph could not appear until I kissed her.”

  My stomach turned at the idea of him kissing another girl. I looked away from him, trying to hold myself together. “Okay…so what, you kissed someone in the last few hours? Is that what you’re telling me?”

  He chuckled.

  I whirled on him. “You laugh?”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to. It’s just…” He grinned and leaned closer to me. “Chloe, I kissed you.”

  I frowned. “Well, yeah but—”

  “In your kitchen,” he said and nodded his head in that direction. “When I was making Rolland jealous. I kissed you.”

  “Yeah, but…but…” my heart stopped. I suddenly remembered seeing something flash from his chest after he kissed me.

  He gave me the most breathtaking smile, then reached out and pressed his finger to my chest. “It’s you, Chloe.”

  I froze. My brain short-circuited. It can’t be. It can’t. I’m not that lucky. But I looked down anyway — and gasped. There on the center of my chest was a lavender heart-shaped crystal that was identical to his. The same red vines spread across my chest and down my right arm. I lifted my hand off the ground and marveled at the crystal on the back of my hand.

  “You had your shirt on until a few minutes ago, so you didn’t see it on yourself,” he said softly.

  I looked up and met his eyes. “I’m…I’m your soulmate?”

  He grinned wide and nodded. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine quickly, then pulled back. “Yes. Chloe Lancaster, you are my soulmate.”

  The sound that came out of me as I tackled him was not human. But he just chuckled and caught me, wrapping his arms around my waist and squeezing me tight. We fell back to the floor still holding each other. My pulse was beating like a runaway train but I didn’t think I’d ever felt this happy.

  I giggled and pushed up and pressed my lips to his. Except this kiss was different. It wasn’t hot and bothered, it wasn’t a blaze of heated passion…this was…love. Those three little words bounced around in my head, begging to be let out. But it was too soon. He’d think I was a crazy person if I professed my love for him already. Even if we were soulmates.

  Soulmates. My heart was so happy it was going to explode. Yet I also felt relieved. Now I understood why I felt this strongly for him so instantly.

  I pulled back and rolled onto my side and he copied me. “So if you were a witch instead of fae, we would’ve got these glyphs the moment we met?”

  He nodded and tucked my hair behind my ear. “I suppose that would have made this morning go a bit smoother. I’m sorry we had to wait.”

  “I don’t care. I wasn’t letting you go another hour without me kissing you anyway.”

  He buried his face in my chest and laughed. When he pulled back, his eyes were glistening. “Right back at you.”

  I smiled and ran my fingers over the lines on his chest. He was my soulmate. My forever. I never had to worry about my heart again. He wasn’t going to break it. He wasn’t going to leave me for someone else. I never had to worry that he didn’t love me. We’d have each other for the rest of our lives— wait. A horrible, sickening thought occurred to me. I didn’t want to ask but I had to.

  “Malachi?”

  “Hmm?”

  “How does this work?” I swallowed roughly. “You’re an immortal angel…I’m a mortal witch…”

  “I don’t know.” He sighed and I hated the pain I heard in it. “I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of an angel having a mortal soulmate. I need to inquire about it…but not yet.”

  “Why not?”

  He tapped on the crystal hanging from the chain on my neck. “We need to get this off of you and destroy it. If Lilith gets her hands on this, the war is over before it really starts.”

  I nodded as my stomach tightened into knots. “Right. Finish our mission first, then figure out us.”

  He smiled. “Us. I like the sound of that.”

  “Me too.” I chuckled. “Should we tell Spot?”

  He snorted. “Oh, he’s going to love this.”

  It was in that moment that I realized I didn’t know anything about him, not really. “Tell me something about yourself. One thing.”

  “Like what?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you have any siblings?”

  He smirked. “One younger brother.”

  “Oh! What’s his name? Where is he?”

  “His name is Riah,” he said with a voice so soft I almost couldn’t hear him. “He’s a Seelie Knight, commander and right hand to Prince Thorne.”

  That sounded intense and terrifying as hell. That conversation would be much, much bigger and I didn’t need to go there now. Because something in his eyes told me it wasn’t a good story.

  I licked my lips and ran my fingers through his hair. “Do you see him often?”

  He cringed and closed his eyes. I felt his pain as if it were my own. It was deep and cold and old.

  “Malachi?”

  “He thinks I am dead…he does not know who my father is or that I was capable of coming back.”

  I gasped. Oh God. “Why didn’t you tell him —sorry, that’s none of my business.”

  To my surprise, he smiled. He tapped his finger under my chin. “You are my soulmate. Everything about me is your business.”

  I grinned and kissed his lips. When I pulled back, I took a deep breath. “I know this hurts you, so I won’t ask you more right now. But when you’re ready, will you tell me about him?”

  He nodded. “Once we destroy this locket, we’re going to have to go find him.”

  “Really? Why? Why now?”

  “Because Lilith is coming. It would have been too dangerous for him to know I was alive all these years…” his eyes darkened and the pain in them broke my heart a little. “But once the locket is destroyed it will be time for us to join them, to join the war. That is when it will be safe for him to know the truth.”

  My heart fluttered with excitement for him. After all this time he’d finally get his brother back. He was just waiting on me. For that reason alone, I sat up and threw my hair over my shoulder. “Then let’s get a move on. What do we do now?”

  He chuckled. “We have to go back to Lancaster Estate to see if your mother has your father’s journal.”

  “Okay, let’s do it.” I nodded and rubbed my hands together. I placed my hand in his. “Okay, call for Spot. Let’s go.”

  “Right, but first let’s get dressed?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chloe

  I walked out of my room like I was walking on cloud nine. Happiness really was bliss. Sure, I was terrified about the pendant hanging on me, but the second my eyes landed on my soulmate by the front door I just couldn’t hang on to the fear. It would come back. Right now I was riding a high.

  And I had trousers on again. Which was surprisingly uplifting.

  “Well I don’t know why you ate all of those bones, Spot,” Malachi said with a chuckle. “What did you expect?”

  Spot groaned and grumbled.

  When I got to the foyer I found Spot lying on his side with a big bloated belly. The floor creaked as I approached and his red and gold eyes snapped to me. His tail wagged. Malachi shook his head.

  “What’s going on here?”

  “Oh, just Spot eating too much human food too fast and making himself sick. He does this a few times a year.” He sighed and bent down to pet him. “You’re not even sorry, that’s the real problem.”

  Spot wagged his tail even faster, smoke and shadow flickered all around him.

  “Guess I’ll have to remember
that.” I bit my lip and blushed, since it was me who’d given him so much food. “Is he going to be all right?”

  “Yeah, he’ll be fine. Just needs a minute.” He stood and glanced over at me – then did a double take. His gold gaze slid down my body in a way that made me still feel naked despite having clothes on. “I suspect I won’t be getting that shirt back.”

  I grinned and looked down. I’d decided to wear his shirt still. It smelled like him and that made me happy. I also had my Uggs back on. I’d really only added black faux leather leggings and a black Burberry coat. “Hey, newsflash soulmate, your clothes are now my clothes.”

  He arched one eyebrow. “Does that work both ways?”

  “Just don’t rip what you can’t replace.”

  “Come here.” He chuckled and held his hand out.

  I put my hand in his and let him pull me into his chest. And then his lips were on mine. That fire started inside of me so I stepped back and shook my head. “We have to focus. I want this soul sucker off of me.”

  “Right.” He grinned and his black smoke wings popped out. “Spot, we’re going to the Lancaster’s and I’m not sure where after. Find me when you can move again?”

  Spot grumbled and then flopped his head back to the ground.

  Malachi shook his head again and rolled his eyes, but when he turned back to me he was smiling. “Hellhounds. Ready, love?”

  Love. My heart fluttered and my insides squirmed with excitement. I skipped over and jumped, wrapping my legs around his hips and my arms around his neck. “Ready, love.”

  He arched one eyebrow. “What was that about focusing?”

  “What? The Prince of Hell can’t handle it?”

  He growled and darkness wrapped around us. When it faded away, we were standing outside the front doors of the Lancaster Estate. Of home. I hadn’t had a chance to tell my mother or granny that I was leaving last night, I could only imagine what they were thinking.