Eighth Wand Read online

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Eighth Wand

  ISBN 9781419913792

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  Eighth Wand Copyright © 2007 December Quinn

  Edited by Briana St. James.

  Cover art by Syneca.

  Electronic book Publication October 2007

  This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Eighth Wand

  December Quinn

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Advil: American Home Products Corporation

  Brach’s: American Home Products Corporation

  Coke: The Coca-Cola Company

  Habitrail: Metaframe Corporation

  Midol: Bayer-Roche LLC

  MTV: Viacom International Inc.

  Royal Doulton: Royal Doulton (UK) Limited Corporation

  Tylenol: Johnson & Johnson Corporation

  The Eight of Wands

  Life Moves Forward

  The card depicts eight wands, angled toward the sky, forcing their way ever upward to completion. Like those wands, people who are suddenly touched by the energies of this card find events hurtling forward, that the love and life they’ve dreamed of is suddenly within reach. Travel is often indicated, as well as passion so overwhelming it seems to exist outside normal life and time.

  Prudence’s recent inheritance of her beloved grandma’s home means she’s moved across the country to strike out on her own. Her fresh start proves to be a false start, though, as she finds herself stuck in the same dull and lonely routine. Even her attempts to find a spiritual center fail to provide the solace she needs.

  But when the Eight of Wands appears before her on Beltane Eve, it heralds changes she can’t even begin to imagine.

  Royd of the Radeuan Laam comes to the human world to find the eighth wand of Elenyi, stolen from his people days before. His search leads him to Prudence, a woman he finds more appealing than any he’s ever met. Intrigued, he offers her a simple bargain—one night of pleasure in exchange for the wand.

  That one night of pleasure becomes something neither of them intended when the energies of the Eight infect both of them. As this Eight signifies sudden, intense love and connection, so Royd and Prudence discover their need for each other is far more than physical.

  The Eight is scary, just as with all change comes fear. But Prudence and Royd must decide if their newfound love is strong enough to survive the challenges, or if fear will make them turn their backs on the happiness it promises them both.

  Chapter One

  The problem with the women of the Bright Moon coven was that they insisted on doing outdoor rituals without shoes on. Prudence knew it could be worse. The thought of going skyclad—naked—filled her with horror.

  But now the circle had ended and Prudence, unable to find her sandals, was picking her way through the woods to find fuel for the bonfire while pebbles and sticks scraped and poked her feet.

  Good thing it was Beltane and almost summer. She couldn’t imagine doing this at Samhain in the October chill. They better have the fire ready before the ritual then. If she was still in the coven.

  Ignoring the large logs she couldn’t easily carry, Pru filled her arms with smaller sticks. One load down. She’d head back, drop these off and—

  “Where is it?”

  Pru gasped and spun around, dropping the sticks. One of them landed squarely on her poor bare foot.

  “Ouch! Damn it, shit!” She stepped forward with her good leg, reaching down to hold her injured foot, and fell over. Something sharp stabbed her in the shoulder. “Ow!” Struggling to sit, she glared at the man standing a few feet away. “You scared the crap out of me.”

  “Enough games. Where is it?”

  “Excuse me?” The sun had almost set. All Pru could see of the stranger was his shadowy outline, large and solid. Blue-black highlights shone in his hair where the last rays of light came through the trees.

  She’d thought he was one of the men from the ritual. It seemed she was wrong. She would have remembered those broad shoulders and that thick, long hair.

  “Where is the wand?”

  Those rays highlighted the clear lines of some impressive muscles as well. Prudence rose from the ground, her fingers curled around one of the thickest of the fallen sticks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You lie.”

  “Hey! Who do you think you are?” Brandishing the stick, Pru started inching her way backward, feeling carefully with her toes to make sure she didn’t trip. “If you want a wand so bad, you should have come in time for the festival and bought one. All the booths are closed now, it’s time for the bonfire.”

  Something else flitted through her mind, but she ignored it. So she’d found a tarot card earlier, so what? The eight of wands didn’t mean anything to anyone, really. Of course, it had meanings—travel, all-consuming passion, freedom from a stagnant situation—but finding the card meant nothing. The man couldn’t possibly be talking about that.

  Could he?

  “But you have been near it,” he said. “I see it in your aura.”

  “Don’t look at my aura, that’s private.” Had she ever uttered a stupider sentence? Probably not. Not even “Of course I can eat a whole gallon of ice cream at once”.

  At least she’d stumped him. He stood there staring at her—she could feel his gaze on her skin—for so long she almost managed to edge all the way out of the clearing before he moved.

  He must have moved, anyway. One minute he stood opposite her, the next—the next he loomed over her, his chest only inches from her nose. Damn, he was tall.

  And just as well-built as he’d appeared at first. Slim, but defined. An intricate black tattoo decorated his entire chest, snaking over the expanse of muscles, hiding his nipples. She couldn’t make out the pattern—wings? A chalice of some kind?—but she could smell the earthy scent of his skin and see the thin leather cord wrapped around his upper arm.

  Heart pounding, she forced herself to look up. A brave woman, a strong woman, would look him in the eyes, and brave and strong was what Prudence knew deep down she could be.

  So she met his eyes, those black holes set deep in the man’s sharp-boned face. Her mouth fell open. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew the brave and strong woman didn’t gape at men like she’d never seen one before, but it was impossible to stop herself, not when her entire body leaned forward as if she could climb into him and never leave.

  It wasn’t simply how handsome he was, although she could honestly say she’d never seen a man as striking. Something in his eyes…called her. Promised her something. She couldn’t explain it any better than that, even to herself.

  “Your aura cannot hide, even if your words try to,” he said, and his voice poured over her like spiced wine. “Where have you hidden it? If you give it to me now, my people may not seek revenge. If you delay—”

  “I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She yanked herself away, struggling as if he held her physically. “Leave me—”

  He grabbed her. Despite the warmth of the evening, goose bumps erupted on her skin. He might as well have given her an electric shock. His sharp intake of breath echoed in her ears. He tilted his head. “Be
ltane.”

  “What?”

  “Sex crawls across your skin. You have not had a man in a long time. Too long.”

  “Now that’s none of your business! How dare you—”

  He ignored her, instead loosening his grip on her arm and sliding his hands up her skin, so lightly it almost tickled. He’d spoken of her aura. Now she could almost see it too, as if he touched it and not her skin. Despite her anger and irritation, she shivered. Her nipples, bare under her loose gown, hardened and poked against the thin fabric. She was certain he could see it, even if he somehow couldn’t read her reaction in the way her breath caught in her throat.

  Dear Goddess, what was happening here? Why weren’t any of the other coven members coming to find her? The sun was only a thin, bright line of gold on the horizon, barely visible through the trees. Darkness wrapped around them, darkness and the stillness of a forest on the edge of night. Didn’t they notice she wasn’t there?

  Hell, didn’t they at least need the wood she carried?

  She swallowed. “How dare you speak to me like that.” She’d meant to sound forceful. Instead the words came out in a rush of breath. She sounded like a young girl trying to talk to her first crush.

  “I propose a trade,” he said. “I need the wand. You need a man. Why not allow me to pleasure you in exchange?”

  This was ridiculous. There was no way she could agree to such a ludicrous proposal. No way on earth. She was not that kind of woman, no matter how long it had been. Fourteen months wasn’t that long, anyway. That’s why vibrators were invented, wasn’t it?

  No, she could not, under any circumstances, allow this tall, handsome, black-haired stranger to “pleasure” her. Especially not in exchange for something she didn’t have.

  So why wasn’t she saying no? Why was she letting him slide his hands over her exposed collarbones and farther down? Why was she—oooh. His fingers found her nipples, and gave them a tiny, gentle tug.

  “I—I don’t have your wand.”

  “Of course not. But maybe when we are done, you will find it.” He cupped her breasts, lifting them, testing their weight in his hands.

  Oh, that felt good. The heat of his hands made her skin tight. She’d almost forgotten what it felt like to have a man touch her there, to have a man look at her like that…

  No. Summoning as much of her strength as she could, Pru drew back, away from those wonderful hands. “I can’t. I really don’t know what you’re talking about and I can’t let you pleas—I mean, I’m not that kind of woman and I have to go.”

  “Prudence!”

  Both of them turned toward the voice. Pru sagged with relief. Finally, someone was here to rescue her. Even if that someone was Kym Pingler.

  “Prudence! We’re all waiting, where are you? We’ve already got enough wood. The rest of us managed to bring it. So at least come back and—oh. There you are.”

  Kym entered the clearing, glowing in her pale silver gown. Like Pru, Kym was a coven apprentice, but Kym was tall and slender where Pru was short and about fifteen pounds overweight. Kym would never drop things on her own feet.

  Kym’s hair never fell out of its coils the way Prudence’s fine, dirty blonde frizz did.

  Refusing to look at the man who only a moment ago had been caressing her, Prudence stepped forward. Please let her not ask, please let her not ask… “Sorry, Kym. I’m coming.”

  “Whatever.” Not waiting, Kym disappeared back into the trees.

  Pru turned around. “See, you got me in—”

  The man was gone.

  * * * * *

  Royd watched her dancing in the firelight, her blonde hair glowing gold around her delicate face. So lovely. How, then, could she also be so cruel?

  Without that wand, his people would die, and she knew it. The woman was a witch, her aura told him as much.

  As the tinge of silver in it confirmed, she’d been around the wand. No human, witch or not, had that particular shine in their energy without being in prolonged contact with his people’s power.

  She had to know what the consequences of her theft would be. His eyes narrowed as he watched her innocent face. Enjoying herself. Enjoying herself while his world crumbled. Or would start to crumble if he didn’t return soon with their property.

  But then…she really hadn’t seemed to know what he was back in the woods. Her fear hadn’t been anywhere near what he would expect from someone who’d crossed the Fae, on being confronted with one of the Radeuan Laam, the warrior guardians. And her arousal… His cock twitched in the confines of his trousers. Her arousal was like nothing he’d seen before. Women in his world were beautiful, always, even in the throes of passion, and Royd had certainly seen enough women in that state to know. But their faces didn’t change the way this woman’s had. Their breasts didn’t swell and feel heavy in his hands, their auras didn’t spark with energy. They were silent and smooth, like liquid in his arms. This woman, this Prudence…she was like fire. He wanted to catch it, to see if he could contain it.

  He’d never had a human woman before.

  The Malinion told him to do whatever he had to do to retrieve the wand. They had given him freedom to walk the earth for five days. Beyond that…there would be no more Malinion, no more home.

  They would all die without the wand.

  He turned his mind from these terrifying thoughts and focused again on the task at hand. Or at least, on the way the woman’s, Prudence’s, breasts moved as she twirled and danced, the way her hips twitched. He imagined how round her bottom must be beneath that loose gown, how pleasing the curves of her stomach. The feel of her breasts, so much fuller than those of Fae women, had pleased him enormously.

  Almost as enormous as the erection he was in danger of developing if he didn’t stop thinking about her body.

  Better to think about that than what would happen if he failed, he supposed.

  He shifted his position on the cool ground and continued to watch. They were finishing their party now. Odd that there weren’t more celebrants. His father had once been allowed to accompany the Hunt. He said the bonfires at Beltane drew entire villages, that the lowing and baying of the livestock echoed in the trees, that the men and women occupying themselves in the forest sent shivers of energy into the skies to fuel the Hunt’s riders.

  Not many men attended this celebration and so far only one couple had snuck off together into the trees.

  Perhaps the woman, Prudence, was a denria? Possible, he supposed…but if that were true, she would not have reacted to him the way she had. It was most puzzling, but he didn’t have time to think on it. The revels were definitely over, the women carefully extinguishing the fire. Silently, he edged along the trees, following her as she headed away from the group.

  Surely, after seeing him, she would make her way to the wand. If only to give it a new hiding place. He would follow her. He could give her what he’d promised and be back in his own bed by dawn.

  Nothing had ever sounded better. The last time he remembered feeling this tired, he’d been through a battle.

  * * * * *

  “Next time, try not to get so involved in talking to the trees that you miss out on doing your share of the work,” Kym said. She reached up and adjusted the rearview mirror of her little sports car, checking her perfect lipstick while they waited at the red light. Giving her reflection a satisfied smirk, she twisted her neck to look at Pru in the backseat.

  The tiny backseat.

  “I wasn’t talking to the trees,” Pru protested. “Didn’t you see the—” Wait. Kym couldn’t possibly have seen him. How did she not realize that before?

  The very thought that Kym, faced with a man who looked like the one Prudence had seen in the forest, would not have set her phaser to Flirt and sauntered her tight little behind across that clearing posthaste was ludicrous.

  Kym hadn’t seen him. Which meant he either wasn’t real, or he was…well, he was not of this world.

  “I only saw you shirking your duti
es to the coven,” Kym said. “I don’t think Lady Ravenancia would like to hear about that, do you?”

  Like you didn’t tell her. “No, I guess she wouldn’t.” At Pru’s old coven, back in Seattle, her Priestess would have listened. Pru had only been attending meetings at Bright Moon for a month and she already knew the same courtesy would not be extended. Lady Ravenancia, indeed. Prudence happened to know that in her everyday life the woman was called Janice.

  “So what do you propose we do about that?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I said, what do you think we should do about that,” Kym said. “I mean, I don’t know if I feel comfortable not telling Lady Ravenancia about how you neglected your duties today. The rest of us did as we were asked, and you know, it’s all about dedication, and proving you’re willing to do whatever work is asked of you. We’re all sisters in the Goddess, you know, and if one of our sisters isn’t doing her share…maybe she shouldn’t be allowed to participate.”

  Shit. Part of Prudence wanted to tell Kym where she could stick her participation. But Bright Moon was the only coven in a sixty-mile radius from the small Indiana town where she now lived. If she wanted to continue the studies she’d begun before leaving Seattle, she didn’t think she had much choice, no matter how disappointing Bright Moon turned out to be.

  “Kym, I’m sorry. I just got distracted.”

  “Mmm-hmm. It’s easy to get distracted from serving the Goddess, Prudence. I tell you what. You know how my boyfriend, Kristof, owns that antique shop on Pine?”

  Prudence nodded. Of course she knew Kristof owned an antique store. Of course she knew Kristof was Kym’s boyfriend. The woman talked about it incessantly.

  Oh, wait. Shit. She knew what was coming. She shifted uncomfortably on the tiny bench seat, trying to stretch her cramped legs, but it was impossible.

  “Kristof said he was trying to buy some of your grandma’s old junk just before she died, but that you haven’t been returning his calls. I bet if you let him poke around in there, made a good deal with him on some of that stuff, I might be so excited about it I’d forget all about your laziness.”