Harvest Moon (Beaux Rêve Coven 4)

“Which occurs tonight. We dance, and then we trap him. The Goddess will bless the weapons we need.”

“What weapons can kill him?” Ethan said, looking at Ali.

“Beheading, dismemberment…”

Aoife wrinkled her nose. “I vote for the first.”

“Bloodthirsty, aren’t you?” Renner teased.

“He’s as bad as the demons who hunted us. He can’t join with Radha. He can’t live among us.”

So, even the part-elf witch was enjoined to kill Frigg.

“If he knows that I’m choosing a mate tonight,” Radha said, squeezing his hand, “he’ll have to show up to interrupt the ritual.”

Nikon cleared his throat. “I will be your champion.”

“I enabled his evil,” Khan said. “I should face him.”

“Since he’s tricky, in ways we might find difficult to overcome alone,” Bryn said, “we will all face him.”

Ali didn’t like the sound of that. By Ethan’s darkening expression, neither did he.

Ethan glanced at the flames ringing their table. “How long do we have before it burns out?”

“Long enough,” Bryn said, nodding at the candle. “Let’s set our plan.”

Chapter 8

Just after dark, the witches led the demons through the forest to the large clearing where the sacred oak stood. Khan and Nikon followed just behind the women. Then came all the other demons.

Despite a distinct chill in the air, the women were nude. And despite the fact Ethan had commissioned a crew to build a perfectly fine road that went from the village to Vindlér headquarters, the women preferred to walk barefoot through the forest, marsh all around them.

Some of the demons followed their example, nude and barefoot. Both he and Nikon did, because one of them was taking Radha for his mate this Harvest Moon. Although he wished with everything he had that she’d choose him, Khan knew the better choice was Nikon. Nikon would never betray her. He’d protect her until the last breath left his body. Khan would fight for her, but he couldn’t promise her the one thing she needed from a mate. Fidelity. It just wasn’t his nature. If caught by a human with a sad smile or a chain, he’d give them whatever they asked.

Never had he hated his lineage more.

The women watched, apparently content to be nude and admired, as demons stuck torches in the ground around the tree and lit them.

Khan’s gaze clung to Radha. With her wild, brown curls spilling around her shoulders, and her doe-like eyes looking beyond the circle to the forest beyond, he knew she worried about the vanir whose presence had not yet been detected.

With a sigh, Radha forced a smile and turned toward the oak. This was her night to wake its spirit.

Lifting her hand, she knocked three times against the old tree’s bark.

“Waken, spirit of the oak.

Stand guard while we revel.

Defend our secrets from evil.”

The torch flames flared outward. The ground beneath their feet shifted then settled.

The women spaced themselves equidistance around the oak and inside the torchlit ring. Their guardians stood farther out, but near enough to provide protection…and to watch.

All the women’s expressions lost tension as they stared up at the sky and began to move around the tree, dancing to some unheard tune, their bodies gracefully bending and swaying, their arms raised high.

Khan followed Radha’s movements as she closed her eyes and scooped at moonlight, acting as though she was bathing herself in light. When she’d bathed her entire body, she cupped her breasts and offered them as if to some unseen lover.