Rose woke from an erotic dream on the brink of an orgasm.  Gasping, she realized her dream was reality. Bret was between her thighs licking her in long, lascivious strokes.

She clutched at his hair and pulled him close while her hips rose to meet his eager mouth.  Each brush of his tongue sent shivers through her and she squirmed for more. Moaning his name, she writhed on the bed as he alternated sucking on her clit and thrusting his fingers inside her eager pussy.

“Good morning,” he purred, sounding too pleased with himself.

Shaking and near incoherent with the crash of desire shuddering through her, she could only ride out the sweet bliss as the orgasm made her head whip side to side.

Bret kissed up her still trembling body, circling her navel and then up to her breasts.

“Hurry,” she urged, hooking a leg over his and arching up, eager for him to enter her.

“Never again,” he said, swirling his tongue around her nipple and then sucking on it while he pinched the other.

Reaching between their bodies, she guided his cock inside her.

“Witch,” he grumbled as the tip caressed her entrance.  Unable to stop himself, he dipped in once and then twice before losing his control completely.

Rose groaned in satisfaction as his big body rocked into her.  With one hand on his tightly muscled ass and the other holding his head as they kissed, she met him stroke for stroke.

Soon she was crying out, but his mouth took every sound as he refused to stop kissing her even as she came apart underneath him.  Without giving her a second to recover, he pulled out and flipped her over before driving himself in her from behind.  Holding on to her hips, he took her deeper and harder.  The wet slap of their bodies had her digging her nails into the soft bed.  The tips of her nipples grazed the soft sheets in another layer of sensation.  Rose’s mouth was wide open, but no sound came out.  Her very breath stolen by the sweet possession of Bret’s body.

“Fucking dreamed of this every night,” he growled, his fingers tight enough to keep her right where he wanted her.

She nodded, still not able to speak.  But as he picked up his pace, savage groans spilled out of her.  Unable to bear the crescendo of desire, Rose reached between her legs and touched her clit with quick flicks of her fingers.  Stars sparked under her eyelids as she clamped around his cock with a second intense orgasm.

“Yes,” he gritted out and then lost his capability of speech as he came in a series of guttural grunts, before collapsing on her.  “Every night.” He kissed her shoulder.  “Every damned night I will be in your bed.”

“The coven won’t allow you in my room,” she muttered into her pillow, too satiated to move yet.

“Let them try and keep me out.”

She had to admit, it sounded good.

A few hours later and another round where she got to be on top this time, Rose sat at the kitchen table and watched Bret make breakfast as if this was a normal occurrence in their lives.

“How long were you in Greenly?” she asked.  It had taken her a few months to get there even though it was only a two-week journey from Demerest.  She had stopped along the way to help mages where she could and did some odd jobs in several smaller towns to earn enough to book a passage to Solace.  The money she had with her would be enough to live on but not for the fare to get her there.

“I went to Harbortown first,” he said.  “But it was too chaotic.  I tried retracing your steps to see if anyone had seen a woman of your description.”  He handed her a mug of coffee.  “I hope you take it black.  There isn’t any milk.”

Coffee was coffee and the bitter taste seemed appropriate for what she was going to have to do if she couldn’t convince him to help her.  “It’s fine,” she said.  She didn’t want to think about escape or leaving him to sail across the Great Sea.

“It was like you had disappeared.” He looked up from the skillet and pierced her with a glare. “I have men in Harbortown looking for you as well.  So, don’t think you can ride there ahead of me and lose me in the crowd.”

She smiled at him and cast her eyes downward. “I’ve learned my lesson.”

Bret gave a rude snort and set a plate of pancakes in front of her.  “That’ll be the day.”

“What has Harbortown like with the coven being dissolved?” She dug into her pancakes after pouring a dollop of honey on them. “Aside from chaos.”

“It hadn’t been abolished yet when I was there, but it was in the works.”  He sat down at the table with her, his own stack of pancakes in front of him.

“So,” she said with a half mouth full of delicious food.  How he could make pancakes like this without eggs or milk was beyond her.  She swallowed.  “With all the rogue mages around were people being zapped or mind controlled or whatever you norms like to think we’re about when we don’t have a handler?”

“Not that I saw,” he said.  “The elementalist wasn’t there either.  No spontaneous fires.”

She glared at him. Leave it to him to pick the one extreme example as opposed to the other ninety-nine percent of law abiding citizens. “You haven’t caught him yet?” she asked sweetly.  “What about The Seeker?  Any leads on him?”

Bret scowled.  “No.”

“You’re losing your touch,” she teased.

“You weren’t saying that this morning.”  He smiled at her blush. “In fact, you weren’t saying much at all.”

Touché.

The next few days were the best Rose had ever known.  They spent most of the time either making love or eating with a ride in the countryside so they could make love in the fields thrown in for a change of scenery.  While being returned to the coven was a shadow over her head, she found she could pretend that they were a normal couple.  And when she wasn’t looking, she realized she had fallen in love with him.

They were sitting outside enjoying the afternoon on a blanket, their horses grazing nearby when she told him.  At first, she thought he didn’t hear her.

“I said, I love you.”

Bret turned to her and cupped her face, stroking his thumb over her lips.  “I can’t marry you.”

Frowning, she swatted his hand away and sat up.  “I wasn’t asking you to.”  She grabbed up her scattered clothes and pulled them on.

Bret sat up but didn’t attempt to put his pants back on.  She should leave him.  Hop on Atalanta and head for Harbortown.  She’d have a hell of a head start unless he jumped on Duke bare assed.  The son of a bitch probably would too.

“I’m not rich enough to bribe the magistrates into accepting the paperwork.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, stiffly.  “I was trying to let you into my heart, not set up a legal contract.”

He sighed.  “I was a fool to think this could work.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said.  “Things were going pretty well until you assumed I was trying to get out of the coven by marrying you.”

“Weren’t you?” he said, his lips twisting into a smile.  “Or am I supposed to believe that after all these years, you’ve decided that slumming with me is better than living in a mansion?”

“Coven,” she said.  “And living in a hole in the ground is preferable to that.”

“Not that you’ve ever done that.”

Rose pressed her lips together and pulled on her boots.  She should tell him.  Hell, she should grab his sword and teach him a few things about pissed off women.  But the sound of a rider coming up fast on them stalled their argument.  Rose was mounted on Atalanta before Bret got his pants on.  Squinting, she could see that Jeb was the rider.  So much for not getting caught.

“Gods damn it,” Bret grumbled as he buckled on his sword belt.  He was still barefoot when Jeb slowed the horse down to a trot.

To her surprise, Jeb only nodded at her when he got close enough.

“How did you find us?” Bret asked.

“I took a chance,” he said.  “You need to get her into the coven.”

“I don’t have the authority or the paperwork,” Bret said before Rose could protest.

“There’s trouble in Harbortown.  An elementalist has called up a water elemental and the mages are battling him for control.”

What were the odd of there being two rogue elementalists?  Rose exchanged a look with Bret.  “How many mages?”

“Thirty, but they keep dropping like flies.”

That was about two covens worth.  It wouldn’t be enough without the proper rituals.  However, Rose found that a dagger in the ribs was a simple enough solution.  Providing she could get up to him unnoticed.

“They’re conscripting every mage who isn’t attached to the covens to fight this thing.”

“Let’s go then,” Rose said, nudging Atalanta forward.  “What are we doing just talking about it?”

“Just kill the crazy bastard,” Bret said, yanking on his boots.

“He’s got a magic barrier around him. No one can reach him.”

It was stupid to divide their forces.  They’d have been better off trying to free and then soothe the elemental.

“We need a plan,” Bret said, looking around for his shirt.

But Rose was already galloping towards the road, Jeb on her heels. Good thing her Seeker gear was tied up in a bedroll across Atalanta’s back.  They had to be careful about how they killed the Elementalist.  The water elemental could go wild and decimate the town once his control over it was broken.  She was going to try to cut the magical binding with her sword and if that didn’t work, Rose would have to kill the elementalist.  Hopefully, the other mages would keep him busy so he didn’t have time to turn the water elemental on her.

“Shit.”  She heard Bret swear in the distance and if the situation wasn’t so dire she would have smiled. 

“You should come back with me to the coven where it’s safe,” Jeb said.

“I’m not interested in safe.  I’ve got a score to settle with this elementalist.” Rose increased her pace, just in case he got any bright ideas about grabbing her reins and making her come with him by force.

“You can’t do anything to him.  He’s too powerful.”

“I can do a damned bit more in Harbortown than I can with my thumb up my ass in Greenly.”

Jeb cursed. “Stubborn mage.”

“What’s he doing with the water elemental?” she asked, a little put out that Jeb’s horse wasn’t having any trouble keeping up with Atalanta.

“He’s trying to steal a ship to take him to Solace.”

He wouldn’t need a crew if the water elemental pushed the boat across the Great Sea.  Rose’s mind boggled at the power it would take to control an elemental that long.  If the mage fell asleep, it was all over.