Discovery of an Enchantress Chapter One

Previously in Claiming the Enchantress

“Kylarra will bring war upon the vampires and won’t stop there until all the magical races are destroyed,” Mila stated.

“Do you think she has that sort of sway?” Stefan asked, confused.

“She will when the ancient creature inside of her wakes.”

“Then we need to find her. Now.”

Now Discovery of an Enchantress picks up

Mila confirmed, “I don’t think we have much of a choice. If we don’t find her? I’m not sure anyone can stop the war to come.” She went inside the castle to dress, then met Stefan back outside, handing him his jacket she’d worn. She was unable to bring herself to walk away from the castle without knowing, “Will you ever restore it?”

Stefan took in the once grand structure, now fallen to ruin. She didn’t detect any semblance of sadness. “Far too many bad memories.”

Mila eyed his dark beard, tiny flecks of silver here and there—which she hoped he didn’t shave anymore. “Good ones too,” she pointed out.

“How much do you remember?”

Besides the fact that you are everything I’ve ever been searching for? “A lot. Bits and pieces here and there.” With a sigh, she confessed, “Not as much as I’d like to. I remember . . . enough.”

Stefan raised her face with his strong fingers around her chin. Rough fingers she wouldn’t mind back on her bare flesh soon. “In time. I’m here to stay.”

With so much ease, he removed her fears. With so little effort, he was able to take her to a place where wishes came true. The tense knot in her stomach released. Mila closed the distance and slid her hands around his face, pulling him closer. “My beautiful beast.”

She kissed him until he wrapped his arms around her waist and tightened her against him. She slid her arms around his broad shoulders, and he raised her from the ground to mold perfectly into his body. She murmured in pleasure, wanting to take him back inside, but they had to find Kylarra.

Time was important. As much as they’d been waiting all this time, they needed to begin moving at some point or they’d stay here for days doing nothing more than remembering one another’s body, worshipping each other’s flesh. Though her body was in many ways new to him, so he did have to relearn her flesh. Technically.

I have to stop thinking about this, it’s making it worse.

Mila pressed her palms into his chest, murmuring in aggravation for having to stop. Her body had plenty of other fun ideas. Stefan groaned. His beast fought to keep her close. In the end, she eased her mouth off his, her eyes twinkling at him.

“No,” Stefan murmured, tightening his grip around her waist until she almost couldn’t breathe.

“Yes.” She slid her hand down his face until it covered his mouth. “Kylarra. Remember?”

The beast grumbled in aggravation, growled and fought against it. Finally Stefan lowered her to the ground. Mila stared into those eyes of her today, tomorrow, and forever, and didn’t recall ever feeling as happy. All while the distant thoughts of her best friend and that horrendous nightmare circled. Still, they had waited all this time.

Stefan waited even longer granted, but he’d never given up on her. Never stopped loving her. He’d fought all this time to find her again and again. Who did that? This one. This beautiful man she couldn’t stop staring at. The hair she wanted to keep running her fingers through. The beard she wanted scraping across her stomach. The arms she wanted around her all day and all night, day in and day out. The face she wanted to wake up to.

She sighed. Life was unfair, but at least they’d enjoyed this brief period of time. Life called.

Mila forced her feet back a step. “We have to go.” Something in her tone made Stefan chuckle and suddenly grab her, kiss her, then release her.

“A woman after my own heart. We have plenty of nights to make up for lost time.” His brown eyebrow quirked up devilishly. “Even tonight.”

Mila skipped away from him. “You’re deliciously too much.”

Stefan caught up to her and entangled her fingers with his own. “First stop, Lycaen Ridge?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“What are your plans when you get there?” Stefan asked as they wandered toward the forest which would then lead them out to the street, down the hill, or rather, road.

From there Mila wasn’t sure where they would go. It occurred to her as they headed away from the castle that she and Kylarra were dropped off by that man in the pickup truck. “Did you drive here?”

A sly smile crossed Stefan’s far too kissable mouth. “When an enchantress calls, you take the fastest route. I’m afraid we have a walk ahead of us.” He paused to take her in. “Unless you’d like to ride a Lycaen.”

Mila burst out laughing. “My god, I think I prefer the ‘I have to charm her’ beast who held back.” Though they both knew that a lie. “Are you going to make horrible jokes like that the rest of our lives?”

Stefan spun her about before they entered the forest and the momentum carried her into his body. He effortlessly raised her with an arm and kissed her at the same time. Then lowered her down in such a rush Mila struggled to catch her breath. Damn.

“Yes,” he whispered, keeping his lips against hers. Then kissed her again and headed into the forest, flashing his beast at her in a tantalizing manner. “Though now my mind is on that and thinking about how it could be loads of fun.”

Mila rolled her eyes, shook her head, and couldn’t keep the smile from her lips as she suppressed the urge to tell him she may have been thinking on that too. “I think it safer we walk.”

“Buzzkill,” he murmured, sounding hurt. The sparkle in his eyes gave him away.

“So we can only hope that once we make it to the main road, someone comes by.”

“No,” Stefan said. “Once we get to the main road, I’ll shift into the wolf for speed, then find us a car.”

Mila pursed her lips. “A car that doesn’t belong to someone?”

He looked sheepish. “If the enchantress commands, her wolf will obey.”

“Lords,” she mumbled. The jokes kept on. Only he appeared to be serious this time, she mused. Mila sighed. “This once I guess. I don’t like to steal.”

Stefan leaned down and kissed the top of her cheek. “You’re a better woman than I. I have no such qualms.”

“I’d imagine that comes from a life of having to remain under the radar, hmm? Are you going to keep using Alex?”

Stefan sighed as he kept pace with her. “I’m not sure. Verrick knows the truth. I’d imagine he’d love me to attempt to keep my real identity hidden. But then I am of no help to you or anyone else if I do that.” He eyed her and held a branch out of her way. “If Kylarra is in as much trouble as you saw; if we all are?” Mila stopped, which made him do the same. “Then I don’t have much of a choice.” He let the branch go. It swooshed back to position in the silence.

Mila inhaled the forest surrounding them, the earthy scent and cedar trees filling her nose. In the distance, soft chattering from birds moved through the boughs of the trees, but the only noise around them was the crunching of dry twigs beneath them when they walked. The birds didn’t hang out where Stefan was, sensing what he was. Unsure of him.

“I’m afraid it’s time you take your rightful place, love.” She took him in, the way his presence commanded respect, even when he was relaxed. “You cannot hide that power no matter how hard you try. We need it.”

Stefan watched her for a long time. Then gave her a nod, taking in her body. He raised one of her hands, playing a thumb over her palm. His eyes held hers over the palm he raised. “I feel the need to echo that statement.”

He was thinking about what she’d done with the paper. Turning it to ash in a blue flame, in her palm. Honestly she hadn’t even thought about doing it. To which she pointed out, “It just happened.”

He gave her a nod of respect. “As does what you feel. I don’t necessarily do anything. It is natural. And around you I feel that vitality raise.”

“Around you it happened.” She remembered the time on her lawn. Her home. Damn, she hadn’t even considered it. Butch and Nona were dead, so they couldn’t have done anything about her house, and the last time she’d seen it, it resembled this castle. What the hell was she to do?

“I have no home to go back to. Nor do you.” She chuckled at the thought. “Goodness, both the castle and my home are in shambles. Seems I leave messes behind, wherever I go.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Makes two of us. I’ve never had a permanent residence. Not since the last time you died. Felt no point in setting up roots. Had you come back, I would’ve dumped it in an instant.”

She truly loved the man more than words could ever express. She couldn’t imagine her life without him in it. Everything made sense since she met him. Her original thought came back, and she remembered him biting her on her lawn.

“Why wasn’t I changed when you bit me?”

Hunger erupted in his eyes as he too remembered that moment. Despite being half-dead, his mind was obviously more on her being beneath him. “You were.”

“I wasn’t though,” she attempted to argue.

Stefan slid his hand around her chin, making her eyes drift shut. “You were. You woke. I can smell the difference. I smell myself in you, on you, around you, and I have to say,” his voice thickened and when she opened her eyes, he stepped closer, “it’s enticing. I want to sample more.”

A lump lodged in her throat and it took a few tries to get it down. His eyes were darkening. The muscles in his body stiffened. Mila slid her tongue over her lips, her cheeks blooming to life. Oh, she knew exactly what he wanted to sample, and it was nearly impossible to get her brain to refocus.

In barely a whisper, Mila said, “You need to focus.”

Stefan slid ever closer and his enormous lungs absorbed her essence in a long inhale, which made her entire body react as if she was a Lycaen.

“I am,” he rumbled.

She shivered. God she wanted the man.

Swallowing against the moisture building, she abruptly found the strength to slam up her hands and shove. He didn’t move, but she backed herself up.

Taking a deep breath, she averted her focus and turned her back to him, which only spurred him on. She whispered, “stop that.”

A deep reverberating growl came from him. He pressed his body against her back and eased an arm around her waist, compressing her into him. Her breath puffed out. He leaned his nose down into the crook of her neck and breathed her in.

“Not when you smell that way.” The beast swarmed to life in his voice and the rough tone was more beast than human. Deep, husky, and turned on so badly that it made her heart skip a beat. “That I affect you is too tempting. Dessert on a platter.”

He rumbled against her back. With his tight grip, the vibrations sent tingles all the way down from her scalp to her toes, and he allowed his essence to swarm her. She shifted her footing beneath his touch. Normally Lycaen didn’t affect her. She was immune with everything inside of her, but this man Claimed her. They were paired forever. They’d already been paired. Lifetimes ago.

And now his essence slid down her body and between her legs, sliding along the need already building and easing him deeper inside, making her lips part as the breath puffed out. Heat built along her spine, only serving to increase the scent of desire in his nostrils.

Stefan rumbled in desire, making her quiver.

“Stefan,” she whispered, gone for good.

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Discovery of an Enchantress is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, stories, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2020 Kim Iverson

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