Chapter 59: Simon

I pulled away slowly and looked down at Violet. Her eyes were closed, and a look of happiness was across her face. I still had my arms around her not wanting to release the connection. She opened her eyes and looked up at me. I couldn’t really read what her eyes were saying, but it looked like she was battling with herself. We stared at each other. I was so tempted to break the space between us and meet our lips together for the first time. But I wanted that moment to be special and not with an audience.

She cleared her throat and pulled away slightly. I released my right arm and kept my other one around her shoulder. If she wanted to break away freely, she could, but I didn’t want that. Violet looked out over the lake. I shared the view with her, not talking. Listening to the wind blow through the surrounding trees, the distant owl hooting, the waterfall in the distance. I could sit like this forever.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m bushed.” Greta said standing up dusting off her pants. I gave her a stern look. She broke this beautiful moment that I wanted to live in for a few more minutes.

“Oh yeah.” Violet said moving to get up. I stood quickly and offered her my hand to assist.

“Such a gentleman.” She smirked at me.

“You know, I’m not completely uncultured.” I said, as I got redressed.

I grabbed the wine bottle and our glasses. Jared pulled up the blanket, true to form he shook it out and started to fold it. I offered Violet my arm so she could hold it as we all made our way to the house, up the stairs and down the hall.

Greta pulled Violet by the arm and wrapped her in a hug. “I’m so happy you are ok. I still can’t believe you are in the house right now. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Remind me to give you my number tomorrow and we can talk more. Okay?”

Greta was being serious, not something she was often, but having her friend back must feel amazing. And her childhood friend was my mate. She would be getting to see Violet more often if I had anything to say about it.

“Yes, of course. We are going to see each other tomorrow. Have a good rest, sleep tight.” They released their hug and Greta walked down to the end of the hall with Jared. Violet turned to me. “Where am I staying?” She bit her lip.

“I kind of figured you could stay with me.” I looked at her and she continued to bite her lip. “Unless you don’t want to. I have some guest rooms you could stay in as well.”

“With you is fine, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all. And since you let me sleep in your bed last night, it’s only fair.” I turned the knob of my room and let her walk through first.

I walked to the bed and sat, patted the spot next to me. Violet sat down next to me. I could feel her nervous energy radiating through her. Remus started to pace in my head, wanting to bust through and lick her until she felt calm. I bent over and took off my shoes and threw them closer to the closet. I pulled my sweater over my head and tossed it on top of my shoes and the same with the sweatpants. I looked over at Violet and she was watching my every move.

“Enjoying the show?” I chuckled.

She turned and blushed. “For some reason, it’s hard not to stare.”

“I have that effect on people.” I laughed again.

She gently shoved my shoulder. “And so humble too.” She bent over and pulled off her shoes and set them gently at the end of the bed. “What side do you sleep on?”

“You pick.” It was never this hard to get a woman to get into bed before. This was different, this was going to be forever. Violet was my mate, and we were going to be sleeping in the same bed for the rest of our lives. After I convinced her that she’s my mate and she can accept that. Who knew how long that would take? But I was going to figure out ways to make sure I saw her every day and had impromptu sleepovers as much as possible.

Violet went to the left side of the bed that was closer to the bathroom and pulled the covers down and slid in. I wanted to dive next to her and wrap my arms around her but that would probably make her more nervous.

I slowly went to the right side of the bed and slid in, leaving an ungodly amount of space between us. I leaned over and clicked the bedside lamp off and laid on the pillow staring at the ceiling. I just wanted her to be next to me, laying her head on my chest so I could feel our electricity and she could hear my heartbeat that would now only beat for her.

“Can I ask you a question?” Violet said just above a whisper.

“Ask me anything.”

“How many girls…er…women have you brought up here?”

That was not what I was expecting. I was expecting maybe something about my childhood or anything personal about me now. But not that. And if I was honest, I wouldn’t be able to give her an accurate number because I lost count. “Do you really want to know?”

“I guess not.” She gave a slight laugh. She turned her head and looked over at me. Her eyes almost glowed in the darkness.

“Can I ask you something?” I asked as we stared at each other.

“Of course.”

“What happened to you at your coven? You and Greta said something about a takeover. But what does that mean?” I knew that wasn’t a sexy question, or really something I would have asked any other woman in my bed. But it seemed to be a big part of her.

She turned her head and stared up at the ceiling. “When I was ten, darkness came into our coven and a madman named Eli lead a group of witches that wanted to bring back the old ways. For some reason, they had insurmountable strength, even our strongest couldn’t defeat them. They burned down the surrounding houses and as they were pillaging my parents hid me in a closet hoping to keep me safe and free.” She paused. I looked over at her and her eyes welled up. “I didn’t see them kill my parents. I just heard my mom scream, while I was just hiding. I was so useless then and I’m still useless. Eventually, one of Eli’s henchmen found me and right before he was about to take me out too, he saw that I had the familiar witch mark. That’s the only reason why I was saved. A familiar witch is very few and far between now. They are stronger than the average witch and they have a familiar.

“So, I was locked away in our Coven manor for ten years. I could go about the house, but that didn’t prevent the henchmen from using me as target practice when I stumbled into a place I shouldn’t have been. There was another familiar witch that was in the manor as well, but she was older, but Eli still deemed her useful even in her weakened state. Ideally, she was the one who was going to be helping me hone my powers. But now I just have a book and trial and error.

“The last night I was in the manor Eli called me into his room and was acting so weird. He barely acknowledged me most of the time. But this was different, he wanted to have dinner and chat. That sick fuck wanted to force me to marry him so he could essentially use me to take down other covens. I refused, he didn’t like that, so he chained me up in his dungeon hoping to keep me there until my turning and force me to marry him. Myrtle and Tomas saved me. Tomas was a childhood friend of mine, for survival he became a henchman, but his heart isn’t in it. He just doesn’t want to die. Like the rest of the coven. That’s how I ended up here. Not too far away so I can come up with a plan and save my coven. I don’t even know where to begin.”

I sat there and listened to her. I could see tears streaming down the side of her face, but her voice didn’t betray her. It was steady as she told me her story. I felt the rage vibrating inside of her. I just wanted to rip Eli apart, not only for what he did to her family and friends but for wanting to marry my Luna. I took a couple deep breaths. There’s nothing I can do now. But if I ever did meet that fucker, I’d rip his head off.

“I’m sorry that happened to you.” I lifted a hand and brushed away the tears that were there. “I’m here to help you, in any way I can.”

She gave a weak smile. “If you can show me over a million different spells that would be a big help.” She laughed, sniffing.

“That may be a tough one, but I’ll give it my all.” I rolled over on my side. “Come here.” I extended my arms open, waiting for her to come into my embrace. She rolled over and scooted forward. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close. Breathing her in, my heart skipped a beat with having her so close and the electricity bouncing back and forth between us. She started to relax, her breathing became slow and rhythmic. She was asleep. I laid my head against hers, just holding her. I vowed to myself and the moon that I will protect this woman with all that I have until the day I die.