Cuckoo in the Coven

He could only mutter incoherent words in response.

She leaned further back and pivoted against him. He was crushed inside her, the angle affording him access to her deepest spot. His manhood was massaging the very core of her womanly flesh and he was already near to shedding his load. And she was close to her end, too.

Her hands tightened on his shoulders, her head rolling.

He cursed under his breath and ground into her deep and hard, riding her against the cave floor insistently.

She began to tremble and a low sound escaped her mouth.

He felt her spasm, and he thrust deep and fast, driving them both over the edge of the precipice within seconds.

CHAPTER NINE

Wellington sat by the fire, seemingly content, even while he watched his mistress pacing back and forth in front of the hearth, wearing the rug threadbare.

Celeste’s insides were in a knot. She’d been fretting for hours. Something was amiss, and she couldn’t see or feel clearly what might have occurred.

She paused at the table and took another look at her matchmaking handiwork, hoping for a clue. The pendant she’d created from the two gems lay in the centre of the table on a scarlet velvet cushion. She put it there for safety and under the colored glass lantern over her table, so that she could study it in all manner of colored light, to try to glean what was happening with Sunny and Cullen.

The only thing she knew for sure was the gems she’d brought together were meant to be entwined. Each complemented the other beautifully. Thinking her work done several hours earlier, she put the gems on a silver chain, a heart-shaped loop fixing them in place. Then the two gems began to vibrate, buffeted as if by external forces, and rolled across the table, falling to the ground.

She’d watched it happen in dismay.

Quickly rescuing them, she put them safely on a cushion. Ever since then they’d been roiling and rolling, buffeted by strange forces around them. No matter how hard she tried to discern the nature of the forces, they were shielded from her by darkness. In her experience, it was very unusual.

She was close to the point of exhaustion, and yet couldn’t stop herself from watching over them, feeling responsible for whatever was going on. Perhaps she’d set Sunny too great a task. Both she and Willow had been sure Sunny’s magic would come to the fore when needed, that had never been in doubt, but Cullen Thaine was a mystery man. Why had this stoic soul been lost to history?

An answer had presented itself but she pushed it away, unwilling to acknowledge the dark forces roving free in Raven’s Landing. Nothing could be done until later in the morning. She lifted the chain from the velvet cushion and dropped it into her trinket box, closing the lid.

“All I can do now is keep them safely together and comfortable, and wait for tomorrow,” she said to the cat as she took off her spectacles. “I wonder how Cullen will fare in this modern time.”

The cat gave her an admonishing glance.

“Yes, I know, it was a big risk, especially now Fox is back in town, but I’ll keep watch. The matchmaking magic can always be unstitched...if needs be.”

Her trinket box vibrated on the table.

She put a soothing hand on the lid and sighed. “I do hope it’s not necessary though. They seem so well matched.”

Wellington got up and stretched, then strolled off towards his cat flap and away into the night. He had a tendency to vote with his paws when he thought she was getting carried away with her magic. Celeste sighed, picked up the trinket box and put it under her arm as she mounted the stairs for some sleep. It was already dawn, but she needed to rest.

Once she’d plumped up her pillows, she pulled back her hair and wrapped it into a loose bun, sitting up and focusing on the window.

Wellington rejoined her a moment later.

“Is it going to be a good day?”

He curled up in a ball at her feet.

The sunshine filtering through the curtains told her the day was good here in 2020. But in 1820?

The Cornish weather had an uncanny ability to change at the most inconvenient of moments, throwing the best-made plans into confusion. “A storm has to be endured, in order to find a rainbow, right?”

Wellington meowed in agreement.

The storm would prevent Cullen from leaving. At least, that was her hope. Other forces were at play though. She tried not to fret. Clever, creative minds would always find a way to make the best of any situation, and she was sure Sunny and Cullen would find the right path, no matter what.

Uncertainty still clung to her. She looked at the cat. “I doubt I’m going to get any sleep. Perhaps I’d better check in with our friend Willow.”