Ever is a half-witch, half-Animal Elf who was raised in the human world. As if that didn’t give her enough issues, she is part of a prophecy that has everyone after her and her convinced she is destined to be a weapon for the wrong side.
Selene is a witch who never wanted to be leader of a coven, but after being thrown into the position, she is looking for a way to escape. When Ever contacts Selene through astral projection and asks for her help in escaping Vincent, Selene jumps on the chance. She becomes obsessed with the beautiful woman who appears to her and would do anything to have her.
Saving her from Vincent is only the beginning. Neither willing to give control of any kind to the other, they clash at every turn and their exploding passion isn’t enough to keep them together.
Is their obsession enough to bring them together before Vincent takes back what he claims is his?
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Green Embrace
Copyright © 2011 Courtney Breazile
ISBN: 978-1-55487-912-0
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Green Embrace
Immortal Council 6
By
Courtney Breazile
Dedication
To all those who kept asking when the next one would be out.
Chapter One
Ever held her best blank and happy stare in place, which wasn’t easy when sitting across the table from Vincent. She hated looking at him. It always made her lose her appetite, but when she didn’t eat, he fussed and that was worse. She couldn’t stand his wrinkled hands touching her face and arms, his face full of too much concern. She shivered slightly at the memory.
“Oh, my dear, are you chilled? Blaze, close that window,” Vincent ordered.
Blaze’s red Fire Demon eyes flashed fire, but he stood to obey. He wasn’t here because he believed in what Vincent was doing. He was nothing more than hired muscle. Ever had considered trying to get him to help her escape, but she was certain she had nothing to offer in comparison to whatever Vincent was giving him. Men like Blaze worked for the highest bidder, not damsels in distress. Not to mention the looks he sometimes gave her made her skin crawl, as if he would like to devour her. She wasn’t sure if it was her body or her soul he was after. Ever shivered again.
“Thank you,” Ever said with a smile, because that is what Vincent expected her to do. She had quickly discovered that to do anything else was not worth the backpedaling and kissing of his ass she had to do afterward. She couldn’t let him know she had woken up from whatever trance he had put her under.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been here with him, didn’t fully understand how he had made her forget what he had done for so long. When she’d awakened, she’d kept the act up. She’d known she wouldn’t survive any other way. She had to bide her time.
She was determined to make it out of here alive and knew she would be more powerful for what he was teaching her. It was what he wasn’t teaching her that worried her, the secrets she saw in his eyes when he thought she wasn’t paying attention. As if he knew more about what she was than she did. Sometimes she didn’t think she wanted to know.
Vincent was an ancient Animal Elf and his knowledge of the Animal Elf side of her power was great. Her witch half he didn’t know much about, but he loved it, and was extremely happy when she demonstrated it. He was training her to be his weapon against his sister, Payton, and her own mother, Lillian. She didn’t fully understand it, but she knew she didn’t want to be on his team.
“You are quiet this eve, is everything well with you?”
“Oh yes, I’m just tired from all our work is all,” Ever lied.
“Well why don’t you head off to bed, I’m going off the island after dinner anyway. I have meetings with some possible allies.”
“Oh,” Ever tried not to sound too interested by this, but her heart was suddenly beating wildly. He hadn’t left the island since bringing her here, not to her knowledge anyhow. This could prove to be a very good thing.
Vincent’s face changed just the slightest bit, but it was enough to know he was suspicious. She wanted to kick herself, but the shock of his departure was just too much and not being a full Animal Elf, she didn’t have the insane control over her emotions that he did. It didn’t help that her witch half was extremely emotional. Most days, she wavered from one extreme to the other.
“Blaze will be near if you have need of anything while I’m away,” Vincent said with clear warning.
Ever pulled on that space inside of her where her Animal Elf instincts were held and blanked her look. “Lovely, now I think I will go rest.” She stood smoothly and left the room without another word, but she felt both their gazes on her as she went.
She managed to hold it together until she reached her room. With a quick probe of her Animal Elf senses, she found no animals about to spy for Vincent, something she was constantly afraid of. She hopped onto her bed excitedly and clasped her hands. She had an opportunity this night and she was not going to waste it. She knew what she could do with so little time and opportunity, something she had wanted to try for a while now.
Ever waited until she was sure Vincent had flashed off the island, a little trick he had conveniently refused to show her how to accomplish. Then she laid back, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was going to find her mother or perhaps Wraith and she was going to help them find her.
She pushed out her witch senses, projecting herself into the universe, and felt around. She called for them, but there was no response. Frustrated, she pushed farther into the universe from deeper within herself. This had to work, she had been thinking about it for so long, planning it. This is what had made it easier to sit around and pretend. Ever took a breath, concentrated on feeling the universe and pushed her frustrations and fears down.
She felt something then, a powerful pull. Ever threw herself at it, not caring who it would take her to. If the universe was answering her call for help, then it had to be where she needed to go. A split second later, she was stunned to find herself looking at the most beautiful creature she had ever seen.
Too bewildered to make a move of contact, Ever just stared at her. She was asleep, her black shoulder length hair perfectly framing her pale face. She was without covers and her small tank and panties showed off an amazing body that had Ever’s instantly reacting. Her thoughts immediately went to how it would feel to press herself against those curves, to bury her face between those thighs. She groaned slightly as need filled her.
Ever reached out a hand and concentrated on solidifying her astral projection. Her fingers brushed the woman’s soft hair and her fingertips tingled. “I must have you,” Ever whispered. Instant obsession filled her, as if her entire life had been leading her to this woman and now that she had seen her face, she would never be happy until she possessed her.
The woman twitched as if she’d heard Ever and her eyes opened. Bright purple and entrancing, she was a witch. Ever wanted to lose herself in those eyes.
“Ever! What the hell are you doing in there with all that power?” Vincent’s voice broke the spell.
Ever was slammed back into her own body and reality. She was speechless, thinking of the woman, and she wanted to cry out at the unfairness of losing that perfect moment. She stared up at her ceiling, remembering how it felt, that one simple touch. Her body was still tingling and she couldn’t stop smiling.
“Ever! Answer me!” Vincent demanded.
“Just exercising my power,” she called back. She should have known he wouldn’t be gone long. He’d been far too suspicious at dinner. She was going to have to be very careful from now on, and she was going to have to get a message to that bewitching woman.
* * * *
Selene lay in bed just before dawn, exhausted. Since becoming leader of this coven, she’d encountered more issues than she ever wanted to deal with. She’d never envied Leticia’s position, and yet here she was, stuck in it. Emmalia had decided to throw her in the position so she could run off and be with Terrance. Why Emmalia thought Selene was the best fit, she had no idea, she hadn’t even been an elder!
She was dealing with all this leader crap as best she could, though that was not particularly well. She snapped at her coven a lot and they were quieter than usual. This was a huge feat for a bunch of witches, but no surprise after all they had been through recently. There was a sense of unease throughout the coven. This wasn’t usually the way covens were passed to new leaders and after Leticia’s betrayal, they were all feeling off kilter. No one missed Leticia, but their once large coven had dropped by four and that was beyond traumatic. Their collective powers were less for the loss and it took adjusting for everyone. Her coven was not flourishing under her leadership so far and this left them vulnerable.
She had no choice other than to make it work and so that is exactly what she was trying to do. She supposed she would get used to it all and she would learn to be what her coven needed. She just hoped it would happen quickly for all their sakes.
Thinking about some of the good things this leadership came with, she had to admit that all this new power she had gained was interesting, if a bit overwhelming at times. As coven leader, her powers were intensified because she gained strength from each coven member and she was the source through which the universe’s powers were transferred to each witch. This made her own natural powers intensified.
Selene had been born a powerful death witch, her death powers unmatched that she knew of. She was extremely sensitive to death in everything. She could pass a human and know how long they had to live, by natural causes. With the intensified powers she had now, she was sensing this from humans miles around, it was horribly depressing, humans lived such short lives. She was starting to consider uprooting her coven and moving them farther from humans, just to keep herself sane long enough to learn how to dull her powers. She could also deal out death to any mortal or immortal with a simple spell. Selene had only ever done it once, it was how she’d discovered her power and she regretted it every day.
Selene pinched the bridge of her nose and gritted her teeth. The last thing she needed right now was a romp through those memories.
Despite all she had to deal with because of her new position, there was something worse plaguing her mind. For weeks now, her dreams had been bombarded by a mysterious woman who called for her with cryptic messages. It mostly came to her in jumbled images, interrupting her sleep and distracting her mind through the day. She had started writing down as much as she could about each incident. She had filled three notebooks, mostly describing the uncanny allure of the woman.
Selene considered herself a bisexual being so it was no surprise that she would find this beautiful woman attractive. What was surprising was the intensity of the attraction. Selene couldn’t get the woman out of her mind and thoughts of her when she lay in bed often led to intense masturbation sessions. If nothing else, Selene would have sought her out just to ease the burning desire she inspired.
Selene wanted to help her dream girl, but didn’t know where to start and the messages were indecipherable and frustrating. Selene closed her eyes and easily conjured a picture of her dream girl. She had pale luminescent skin and petite features, kissable pink lips and poking out from her short silvery hair were pointed ears that Selene wanted to trace with her tongue. She was tall and thin, but with breasts that were large and would overflow Selene’s cupped hand. She was beautiful everywhere, but Selene’s favorite part was her eyes. One was a deep purple, the other a deep brown. Selene could lose herself in those strange eyes, one so like her own and one…
Selene sat up suddenly and wanted to kick herself. Why hadn’t she thought of it before? The eyes of an immortal were their identity. If nothing else gave away what species they were, their eyes would tell you and Selene’s dream girl had eyes unlike any species she knew of. Which had been one thing keeping her from seeking out the girl’s possible relatives, but there was one place she might be able to get that answer.
The Council of Immortals would know or would do what it took to find out who she was. They wanted a species representative from every species out there, even this new one, Selene was sure. Selene picked up her cell and called Emmalia, her best friend and the witch representative on The Council.
“Emma, love. I need to talk to the council about a new species.”
“Are you drunk, Selene?” Emmalia’s voice was sleepy and Selene heard a low growl.
“Tell Terrance to shut it.”
The growling got louder and Emmalia giggled, making Selene want to gag. She didn’t understand what Emmalia saw in that werewolf.
“Terrance, just give us a minute please,” Emmalia said.
The growling stopped and although Selene was willing to bet he was still right there beside her, at least he had stopped being an ass. “I’ve been receiving some astral projections and they are from a species I don’t recognize. I was hoping the council might have an idea about it.”
“What kind of projections?”
Selene hesitated for a moment. “Cries for help.”
“I will let Paxton know you want to speak to The Council right away,” Emmalia said, her voice serious now.
“Thanks, Selene, I will head that way now. I’m sure the coven will be happy to get rid of me for a while anyway.”
“Is it really that bad?”