50

Chapter 49

WELCOME HOME

Early Early Morning Day 26

"Hey, Darlin'." Jonny nudged me awake.

We were sitting in his truck by Chef's old rooms, behind Moonlit Mountain Lodge. He exited the truck and I followed behind him. He held my hand as we walked through the Chef's newly remodeled rooms and behind the secret bookcase.

The hallway was long and dark.

Jonny flipped a switch and the hallway illuminated. The deep green walls ended at a wall of plants. To the side was a doorway. Jonny held his phone to the door lock and looked at me. "You can unlock this door with your phone." He pushed the door open and the lights inside turned on automatically.

The interior was mostly dark blues and blacks. There was a small black leather loveseat and black coffee table when you first entered but behind that was a large kitchen with black cabinets, countertops, and appliances. A long island with black stools on the opposite side. Next to that was the dining room with a long black dining table and ornate black chairs.

"This is really nice." I never thought all black could have so much dimension to it but the green plants and strategic lighting brought it to life.

"Welcome home." He opened a door across from the living room. "This is our bedroom."

I stepped into the cozy bedroom. A large bed with black blankets was on the far side of the wall. On either side were closet doors.

Jonny gestured to one of them. "I brought your stuff from the laundry tower over." He motioned to another door. "Bathroom." He walked over and opened it, the lights went on and he turned on the shower. He undressed and beckoned me to do the same.

I removed my dress and undergarments and stepped into the shower. I wet my hair as Jonny stepped into the shower.

He pulled me close to him and kissed me.

I had to be careful of his swollen lip and I pulled back. "You should let me heal you now. Both eyes would be best when we do the ritual."

His voice was low and gravelly. "Whatever you want Darlin'."

(anal sex scene here)

"Did you figure out the security plan?" I grabbed the shampoo bottle and washed my hair.

Jonny took the bottle and did the same with his short hair. He nodded and grinned as he watched me rinse. "It's better if you partner with Bishop this round."

My eyebrows rose.

He shrugged. "He knows more about the Magic stuff." He turned on another shower handle and a shower head opposite the one I was using turned on. Jonny rinsed his hair. "Diego will help and that little fucker will be loose."

I spread conditioner throughout mine. "Keiran?"

He nodded as he soaped his body.

"How did you get Diego free from Jess?" Would it help break the connection between me and Keiran?

"It wasn't planned or anything. It was more of a...side effect."

"I'm going to need more details."

He looked at me closely and sighed. "Diego knows Death Magic and sometimes I kill him."

I gasped. "What do you mean?"

"He wants me to." He shrugged. "Sometimes I kill him and then he has me light a candle on top of his corpse to bring him back to life."

I stared at him, my eyes round.

"When he died this time it broke the hold Jess had over him."

"How did Diego find out he could do this?"

He shrugged. "He found a book once."

I blinked at him.

"How did you find out you could do Sex Magic? You said you aren't a Succubus like Jess but how is it different?"

I was offended before I remembered that Jonny was new to all this. "I didn't put a spell on you if that's what you're worried about."

Jonny pulled me close to him. "I didn't think you put a spell on me. You said something about consent and things not going well without it." He shrugged. "Plus you did those orgasm blessings. I'm just wondering how this all works." He rubbed the soap over my body. "I've never been able to-" He looked at me. "-go this much. Not even when I was younger." He laughed.

I smiled at him.

"I don't know what's happening but I don't want it to stop." His cock was hard again. "Diego told me how it felt. He couldn't stop thinking about Jess. Wanting her. He couldn't eat or sleep for days. He was obsessed."

I shook my head slowly. "Is that how you feel?" I was concerned. I hadn't done any intentional manifesting or spellwork when it came to Jonny's feelings for me.

"I feel like I can't get enough of you. Like I want to be near you all the time." He looked worried but then his stomach growled.

"But you get hungry and have other wants?" I asked him.

He nodded. His smile spread across his face.

"I'm not sure what Jess's gifts are. But it takes me a lot of work and preparation to do sexual manifesting. When I went through my training-" I stopped talking and blushed. Was this something Jonny wanted to hear about?

"There's trainers for something like this?" Jonny lifted my chin to look at him.

I shook my head. "Not really. I just-" I thought about my golden-haired god.

"Is there someone else, Jane?" His hand slipped to my neck and hung loose around my throat.

I shook my head. I might as well tell him the truth. "The training happens in my dreams."

Jonny exhaled and rinsed himself under the water. "Keep talking." His hands squeezed my hips.

I shrugged. "When I first went to the brothel, I wasn't in a good headspace.

Something bad happened. I can't remember what it was." I sighed and continued. "When I was at my lowest, I dreamt about them. The teachers, the classes, the other students."

Jonny pulled me against his chest and I relaxed into him.

"We were partnered up." I could feel Jonny's growl in his chest. "I did some of the rituals in real life and they worked." I turned off my shower and wrung out my hair. "The worst part was not being able to orgasm in the dreams."

Jonny's laugh was loud and echoed in the bathroom. "At least I have an advantage over Dream Guy." He turned off his shower and handed me a fluffy black towel. "That sounds like Hell though." He wrapped a matching towel around his waist.

"Hell?"

"Not being able to orgasm after all that training. Sounds like something Demons would do." He chuckled and stepped out of the shower.

A shiver ran down my spine.

Chapter 50

DEDICATED

Afternoon Day 26

The smell of delicious food woke me. It took a minute to remember where I was, but the black sheets and black walls were a quick reminder. I rolled over in the large king size bed to find Jonny but he wasn't there.

A man's voice was muffled through the door.

I opened the closet, the door nearly hidden in the wall. My small amount of belongings had been brought over to the huge closet. It ran all the way through to Jonny's side. His dark clothes hung neatly or were folded on the black shelves. In the long space between was a dressing table with few perfumes and colognes on its surface. A large floor-to-ceiling mirror on the wall behind it.

The lighting in here was done as nicely as the outer rooms and made the intricate designs on the walls pop. If I knew how to do my makeup this would be a dream spot to do it.

I put on a dress and leggings, followed by boots and a warm sweater. My to-do list tumbled through my head as I followed the aromas to the kitchen.

Jonny was dressed in black, cooking as the other men read through some of Elenora's journals.

Bishop was sitting at the counter and turned my way. "Good morning." He smiled and stood, bending to kiss me.

"Smells good." I sat on the empty bar stool between Bishop and Diego.

Jonny turned from the stove and slid a full plate of food before me with a smile.

Keiran sat in a corner and read through a journal.

Diego put his book down next to me and tapped on the page. "Isn't that your friend, Claire's last name?" He slid the book over to Bishop.

Bishop read outloud. "Bonnie-Claire Lockwood. Yeah. It is. What year is this one from?" He flipped to the front to find the date. "Decades ago. I don't think she even lived here back then. I'll call her." He pulled out his phone and found her in his call log.

"Hey, your last name is Lockwood right?" He hmmed. "You have? Oh, Janes doing...good." He looked at me and shrugged. "Tonight?" He brought out his small notepad and wrote down a name. Caballero's. "We would love to go out with you and your husband. Sounds good. See you tonight." He hung up. "We can meet with her tonight and see if she knows anything."

I nodded as I chewed. "Anything else...helpful?"

Diego's jaw tightened and he glanced at Jonny.

"What?"

"I found the spell that melded your minds together." Diego brought another journal from his pocket and looked over to Keiran.

Keiran got to his feet and walked over.

Diego handed him the open book.

Keiran read over it. His eyes widened as he read. "There's no fucking way." He looked at me.

I swallowed as his thoughts overwhelmed me. His anger, his frustration. He tossed the book on the island counter.

A Dedication Ritual. An ancient spell used for Priestesses and their consorts. The consorts would dedicate themselves fully, giving full control of themselves to the Priestesses. Whatever the Priestess would command the consort was compelled to complete the commandment or die by their own hand. The dedication had its benefits. Telepathy, complete trust between the two. The consort would be compelled to do what they could to protect their Priestess.

He wouldn't be able to hurt me anymore.

Because Elenora had forced this spell upon us it went wrong. It contorted and twisted the Magic. And that never went well.

"It may be the only way to fix what's happening between you two," Bishop suggested. "Set the Magic right again."

Keiran shook his head. "No. I won't do it. I've been under someone else's control my entire life. I won't do it again."

I looked at him and nodded in agreement. "We'll find another way." I wanted us to be free from each other once and for all.

His eye contact was intense but I didn't look away. "We'll find another way." He repeated and calmed himself, using some deep breathing techniques. Something he picked up from me?

I closed our connection to the smallest thing I could imagine and it instantly made me yawn. My eyes drooped and a nap sounded like the best thing ever.

Diego backed away from me like I was contagious. "What's wrong with you? Are you sick?"

I glanced at Keiran but shook my head.

Jonny noticed my glance and glared at Keiran. "What the fuck are you doing to her?"

"He's not doing anything. It's just a lot of work to keep our connection blocked." I yawned again and went to the fridge for a soda. Caffeine always helped. Sex helped too but I wasn't about to do that in the middle of the kitchen.

Bishop sighed.

Jonny's jaw tightened and his hands folded into fists. He wanted to kill Keiran. It was easy to see on his face. Instead, he folded his arms and stared at the wall.

"You should take your anger out on Alejandro Lopez." Keiran dug under Jonny's skin.

I opened the connection between us and yelled at him in my head, "What the fuck are you doing?" The details of my time at Elenora's didn't need to be discussed.

"Why's that?" Diego asked.

Fuck. This wasn't a conversation I was ready to have yet. Something I wasn't ready to face.

"He had the highest bid to buy her." Keiran placed his open journal on the counter.

Alejandro's name was at the top. Next to the dollar amount he thought I was worth. The word, cash, next to it. I raised my eyebrow. Damn.

Jonny read the ledger and looked angrily at Bishop. "You knew about all this?"

Bishop shook his head. "No. I didn't know my sister was selling humans." He stood.

Jonny tightened his jaw. "I need to go hit something." He left our little apartment.

Four men came in after he left. They headed straight to Keiran. "Yeah, yeah. Time to go back in the cage." He jerked away from the men. "I'll walk there myself you stupid fuckers."

They kept their hands to themselves and encircled him as they left. Diego followed behind them.