Page 48 of Witches and Wine
“What do we have to talk about, Dion?” I forced my gaze away from him despite the urge to gaze at his handsome features.
Dion shook his head and scratched Riley’s back. “Nuh-uh. You’re not doing that again, Red. You’re going to tell me why you’re avoiding me, and we’re going to talk this shit out this time instead of playing a game of who’s going to cave first like we did for months.”
This commanding side of Dion definitely did something for me.
“Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?” I stood with my arms crossed.
Dion gently moved my ferret from his arm to mine. The lightest brush of his skinthroughmy shirt had my flesh sizzling at his touch. “It’s not all of a sudden. I’ve felt like this about you for a long time. I didn’t know what to do with it or what it was. Now I know.”
My heart pounded in my chest, and I found myself taking a step toward him. “Know what?”
Dion bent forward like he was about to kiss me. His finger bopped me on the nose instead. “Why aren’t you talking to me, Chels? You haven’t even been able to look at me.Why?”
An overwhelming bout of nerves bubbled in my stomach, and I turned away from him only to have his strong arms coax me back to face him as he’d asked. “I think—” The words started but faded soon after from my throat tightening.
“You think what?” Dion rubbed my shoulders while Riley nuzzled at the crook of my chin.
“I think my magic is messing with your mind somehow.”
Dion blanched, his gaze turning away for a beat. “Messing with it, how?”
And this was the part I’d dreaded confessing. It would be so embarrassing for him to know what he’s been doing, how he’s been acting, was all because of me and my unruly magic.
“Making you feel things you don’t really feel, or acting on impulse becauseIwished it.” Sighing, I let my head droop, my eyes focusing on my bare feet. “I’ve seduced you with my magic, Dion.”
Dion let out a girthy chuckle, my body jostling from his hands still resting on my shoulders. “Youhaveseduced me, Chelsea. But it has nothing to do with your magic. I’ve let myself be seduced because I wanted to be.”
His laughter stung at first, but then what he said sparked confusion and hope. “What do you mean?”
Dion gripped my chin between two fingers. “I like you, Chels. And not because you told me to. Me. I do. And my beast isferalfor you.”
The way he wrapped the word “feral” in a growl had my knees buckling. “I like you too. But it doesn’t make any sense. How do you know it’s not partly my magic that brought us together?”
“Two reasons.” Dion smiled and pulled me closer, holding me in a calming embrace. “There are very few beings that can fiddle with a god’s mind. Witches are not among them. Not even Hekate could mess with me despite her trying several times when we were kids.”
Peeling back, I pressed my hands to his chest. “What about Aphrodite?”
Dion frowned at that and uncomfortably rolled his shoulders. “Areyou Aphrodite?”
“No,” I responded, suspiciously dragging out the ‘o’.
“Then, there you have it.” Dion shrugged as if he’d just solved all of our problems.
Busying myself with combing my fingers through his beard, I stared at the small scar on the right side of his chin hidden behind that mass of dark hair. “You said there weretworeasons.”
Dion cleared his throat and motioned for the couch. “We better sit down for this one.”
It wasn’t often that anything frazzled the god of wine. Considering the way he scratched the back of his head and avoided eye contact with me, he was about to lay out something big.
Slowly, I sank to the couch, Riley scurrying to my lap, sitting back at attention for whatever Dion was about to say. “I’m all ears.”
“You and I—” Dion referenced between us after sitting next to me but not lounging back. “—what I mean to say is—” He blew out a breath and fisted his hair. “Fuck. Why is this so hard?”
Reaching a hand to his shaking knee, I stilled it and squeezed. “Talk to me, Dion. That goes both ways.”
Dion tensed his shoulders. “We’re mates.”
A breath hitched in my throat. My magic hovered over my skin, shimmering, spiraling, and I could’ve sworn even—singing? It was as if I’d already known this somewhere deep in my soul but couldn’t ever make sense of it.
