Page 22 of Pack Witch
“Want to talk about it while I make us some dinner?” There had to be a story.
“No,” he said curtly, then scrubbed his hands over his face. When he looked up, his expression was sheepish and a bit disappointed, though I thought that may have been because I’d pulled on my robe. “The boys are out looking for vegetables for dinner. I told them no hunting.”
“No hunting?”
“No, I sent them to look for wild garlic by the river.” His brows lowered. “It’s good practice for living wild.”
I grabbed his hand. “No need for that. I’ll take you to my garden now. It’s not far, but the spells over it are more complicated than the ones around my home. They had to keep out animals as well, at least the ones who would help themselves to seedlings. Let me show you.”
I pulled him through the door and around to the back of the house. There was an outcropping of rock right behind the cabin, and we circled that on a well-worn path. As we rounded the largest boulder, I waved my hands in the air, greeting the spell.
“What are you doing?” Julian asked softly, staring at what must look like another tall boulder to him.
“Asking the spell to let you inside.” I grinned at his shock. “This was one of my favorite creations. When Ida first brought me here, she had to bring me food every month, or I would’ve starved. I spent that first year healing and… well.” I didn’t need to tell him how close I’d come to death, again and again. The only thing that had saved me had been the earth itself. “One day, I wandered out here, like I did most days, and saw the oddest thing. I’d thrown some cherry pits out a month before, and one of them had taken root. But more than that. It had grown tall enough to blossom, in a matter of weeks.” I used both hands to open an invisible gate and pulled Julian through.
“By the moon!” he gasped as the garden came into focus.
“No. By the earth.” I looked around my garden like it was the first time, wondering what he would think. “That’s the first tree.” I pointed ahead of us to a small orchard, where apple, pear, and cherry trees stood in small clumps. Most of them were already blooming, since it was mid-April, but one of the cherry trees was already fruiting. “Come see,” I urged, pulling him deeper inside.
We walked past mounded hay where asparagus fronds and stalks waved, near blackberry and raspberry vines twisting around woven supports I’d made one winter, their white blossoms moving in the breeze. Some of the peas we passed were ready to be picked, as well as the lettuces and spinach.
“I have tomatoes and peppers over there, along with a dozen other summer vegetables.” I gestured to the farthest side of the garden that got the most sun. “None of them are ready. It’ll only take a few minutes to gather enough for a good meal, though.” Iwinked at him as we reached the first tree, the oldest one. “Want some cherries?”
He blinked at me, his expression hard to read. “Unripe ones?”
I grinned. I’d never had anyone to show off to before, and I knew my magic reserves were low. But the sun was shining brightly, the earth warm and ready to play. I put one hand on the nearest branch, where the fruit was closest to ripe, closed my eyes, and hummed. The magic of the earth moved in a thick wave from the bottoms of my scarred feet up my legs and through my torso. When the energy, like a warm wave of honey, reached my hands, it thinned out. I let it slide through my fingertips to the branch, concentrating it there, on that fruit.
I kept my eyes closed, but Julian’s whispered, “Hot damn!” made it clear that it had worked. I sagged a little when I let the power go, then grabbed a basket from a stack by the base of the tree.
“Thank the tree and the earth when you harvest in this garden,” I suggested as he began to pick the fruit.
“Is that part of the spell?”
I shook my head. “It’s just good manners.” He gave me an odd look, but I didn’t care. The earth hadn’t taken all of the excess energy when I’d let it slide away. I could feel the power running through my limbs, easing the soreness, and healing the bite wound on my shoulder. “Thank you,” I whispered, kneeling and pressing one hand to the rich dirt below. “Thank you for catching me when I fell.”Help me to heal him. Help me to heal him as you healed me… or at least, the part of me that could be healed.
“Why do you look sad?”
“Just remembering.” I couldn’t speak my thoughts out loud, not yet. That I was still mourning my connection to the moon,even while I thanked the earth for Her kindness. For giving me a purpose, and keeping me alive.
In the back of my mind, a wolf howled out a song of loss and pain. But it wasn’t my wolf. Maybe it was his?
“Little star?” Julian whispered.
“You call me that in my dreams,” I whispered back.
His amber eyes warmed. “Yes. And in the best waking moments of my entire life.”
Remembering what we’d been doing when he’d said those words in real life last night, I felt myself growing slick with sudden arousal, and blushed. My cheeks went even hotter when the earth sent another lush wave of power into my core. I moaned, shocked at the sensation. That had never happened before. Hell, it had been months since I’d even touched myself. I thought I’d gotten too old to want that. Of course, Julian had showed me just how wrong I was last night, and now?—
“Oh!” Another surge of heat and energy had surged up from the earth, reminding me of the way he’d pressed into me. I squeezed my thighs together in shock as my core contracted. What was happening to me?
Julian stumbled. “What was that?”
My blush grew deeper. I wasn’t about to tell him I’d had an… Well, it hadn’t been an orgasm, exactly. A small one, maybe? “You felt that?”
“I… I don’t know. I felt something.” He shifted uncomfortably. “Your scent got richer. And, ah…” He waved at the front of his pants. His erection was tenting the sturdy cloth like it might try to burst through.
I stifled a laugh, but I had a wild idea. I’d touched myself while lying on the earth before, and the grasses around that spot had grown thicker and greener ever since. “Come here. Lie down and, ah… you’ll want to be naked.” He obeyed without question, and I tried not to gape at his honed, tanned body. He almostput the clothing beneath him, but I shook my head. “Skin on the earth.” I pulled my robe off and climbed over him, feeling the warmth of the sun on my shoulders, the deep power of the earth below, and the heat of him between my legs. “Does it hurt?”
