Familiar with the Warlock (Stand Alone Tales Book 14) Read online

  “Holy hell. You just blast that anywhere?”

  Maven blinked. “Oh. Sorry. I thought that you had to be touching me to get it.”

  Krys frowned. “You might want to wrap up the binding to keep folks out of the splash zone.”

  Krys lifted her hand, and the sensation of fingers and tongue ceased.

  “Oh, thanks for that.”

  “You are going to have to pick up a bit of that as well, or they won’t leave you alone.”

  They chatted about the possibilities of Maven learning magic and how to convince Olmin to part with a grimoire or two.

  Kel had joined them and was offering suggestions on starter spells as well as recommending the binding to be done sooner rather than later.

  When Nen called them in, the table was set for six. Maven was unsurprised.

  The doorbell rang, and they entered through the main door as if it was so normal to be greeted by a seven-foot interstellar weapon designed to protect worlds from asteroid incursion.

  Nen finished bringing everything to the table, and they sat down to eat. During the meal, Maven discovered that the houses in between the properties were empty. Olmin owned them. He had bought them when the city was first built. He owned a lot of large lots and communities, which is why he was the head mage in the local area and possibly on the continent.

  Kel asked Maven, “Are you surprised by that?”

  She shook her head. “Nope. We already had the talk.”

  Argo chuckled. “She was terribly unimpressed.”

  Krys pointed at Maven’s group with a carrot. “You need to do a binding. She is leaking sex magic all over the place, and it isn’t comfortable to be around.”

  Maven blushed. “Sorry about that.”

  Krys frowned. “You don’t have to apologize. They do. They are setting it off. I have worked with you for years and nothing. Then, these guys start up tapping you and wham.”

  Nen’s cheeks darkened slightly. “She’s direct, but she isn’t wrong. There is a lot of power coming... err... out of her.”

  Olmin shrugged. “We did try to tell her, but apparently, she had a new short story release on Saturday, and ever since, she has been... energetic. It’s fine for us, but we know it’s coming... so to speak.”

  Maven finished her meal and set her utensils on her plate before she stood up. “I will just go into the other room so you can talk about me without my having to hear it.”

  She took her plate to the kitchen and set it on the counter. She felt a wall of shadow behind her and turned around to look at Kel. “You the designated checker?”

  “No, but you are just embarrassed because you are losing control, and you pride yourself on control. For the first few hours, Krys was convinced that I was a sci-fi sex dream. When she finally realized that I was real, she was... upset.”

  His glowing eyes were wincing in memory.

  “She was in a system outside of her control, and she didn’t like it, so when we reunited here, rules had to be made. When the pregnancy was discovered... more stress and more rules. Until we know about the state of the child, we are going to be nervous. A blue child with wings will mean certain accommodations will have to be made.”

  “So, you say she has pregnancy brain?”

  His eyes widened, and he blinked slowly. “Yes, but don’t tell her that.”

  She looked at this winged, horned, tailed man who controlled vast amounts of power and shattered asteroids. He was worried about hurting his partner’s feelings.

  “Would binding with the guys help?”

  “It would create a circuit. They would catch anything that overflowed, even if they weren’t with you at the time. This would give them more energy and stop other warlocks from looking at you and drooling. Right now, you are vulnerable. The conversation that occurred after you left the ball on Halloween was not flattering. You were discussed in graphic terms, and I had to insist that they either cease their discussion or I would remove their spines. Things calmed after that, but until you are sealed in their protection, you can be taken and used for your output.”

  “Why am I being set off now? Perfectly quiet life until I got that stupid message, and Alice didn’t even send it.”

  He stepped up to her, bent down, and whispered in her ear. “I did. It was time, or he would not send the message that would bring me here, and I needed to be here.”

  She stared at him as he stepped back and returned to the dining room. When she returned, Olmin took her hand and held it. She sighed and took his hand and Argo’s. “I have to think some things over.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Back at home, she walked outside to pace and wander aimlessly. Her mind was spinning a mile a minute, and while she couldn’t think of a day when she didn’t want to hear from Olmin and Argo, she didn’t know if she wanted to link herself to them forever. Forever was a very long time.

  She wished she could let her controlling mind take over and make everything calm and relaxed, but that wasn’t what this matter called for, and she knew it. She had to keep herself fully engaged in this decision.

  If she went through with the binding, she would be linked to them in perpetuity. They would know where she was, how she felt, and would be able to help her with the issue of the energy that even she could feel escaping from her.

  If she didn’t go through with it, there was a chance that one of the other warlocks she had seen at the party was going to try and snag her for their own purposes. It wasn’t likely, but there was a chance. Argo had shown her the record books with lists of conduits, muses, and sources all being stolen from their warlocks and appearing years later, dead or abused. In a few of those cases, the men and women in question went willingly, but it was a hard life when they didn’t.

  Did she trust Olmin and Argo? Definitely. Did she want them? Without a doubt. Was she comfortable waking up with them? She smiled softly. That was certain. She loved waking up warm with a fuzzy bundle of muscle on one side and the slab of warmth that was Olmin on the other.

  Kids? Did she want kids? It hadn’t really been on her radar before, but the guys perked up when the subject had come up. If she sold her house, she would have a personal account that would last her and her expenses a few years. She could write a bit more and try to get some additional income out of that, but she didn’t want to be a parasite. She needed her own money for her own sanity’s sake.

  That was it. That was her hang-up. It was money. Money was her independence, and moving in with the guys and the thought of children meant that she might be losing her income.

  “Huh. It all comes down to money.”

  She gripped the back of her neck and rocked her head from side to side. She groaned and looked back toward the house.

  Argo and Olmin were standing and talking quietly. She wanted to squeeze in between them and let them hold her while she thought things through, which was a telling urge, to begin with.

  She came to her decision, and the moment that it clicked, she knew it was the one for her. Maven walked toward them, and she stopped more than an arm’s length away. They looked at her but remained quiet.

  “So, what is involved in a binding?”

  Argo said softly, “We just go out and open up to each other outside the home, so it doesn’t get blown apart.”

  Olmin nodded. “There is a ribbon tied around each of our wrists, and it links us on the energy level.”

  She bit her lip and asked, “So, what day would be good for you?”

  She was sandwiched between them, and they were laughing with relief. She couldn’t feel bad for stressing them out, she had had to work some stuff out.

  They eagerly discussed the binding, the details, and the clothing. She wanted to pick her own clothing and wanted it to be her secret until the day, so Olmin made her a blank, similar to the one she had used on Halloween, but this one wasn’t pre-set for any particular costume. She needed to put the idea in her mind, hold it, and then pick
up the orb.

  When she went to work on Friday, she was nervous and excited all at the same time. She had to spend most of her afternoon double-checking what she had done that morning, but she was watching the clock. At the end of the day, she got to her feet and checked her phone. They were waiting downstairs.

  The elevator ride down had her shaking with eagerness to have them inside her. There had been one part of the binding that she wasn’t a fan of, and she had been working on anal training for a few days. Today would be a live cock instead of a plug. She looked down and was relieved that her taut nipples weren’t visible through her bra.

  Argo was waiting next to the car, and he held the door open for her with a smile. “Good afternoon, miss.”

  “Good afternoon, Argo. Aren’t you guys off work early?”

  He smiled and inclined his head with a shrug. “It’s Friday.”

  She slid into the car and settled, buckling in. She studiously did not look at Olmin. Argo closed her door, and she pulled out her phone, turning it off and putting it in her bag.

  Olmin’s gaze had banked heat. “What was that?”

  “That is going to remain off until Sunday night.”

  He smiled and nodded. “Good idea.” He took his own phone and did the same and then took the one Argo handed him.

  She sat quietly on the drive home and answered their conversational gambits with as few words as possible. She was trying to keep calm, and chitchat wasn’t really on her agenda.

  When they had dinner, she kept quiet, and they were looking at each other in concern. She finally said, “I am just nervous. I will get over it.”

  Argo frowned. “You don’t have to be nervous. It is just the same sort of thing as we have been engaged in for the last few days, only outside, with an energy blast that binds you to us forever... okay, so maybe it isn’t the same thing.”

  She snickered, and they both relaxed. When dinner was done and dessert had been had, it was time for them to go their separate ways and unite in the maze.

  Maven went and got the orb in its container, removed her clothes and underwear, put on a loose cotton robe, and headed to the maze. She followed the path that Olmin had set out in glowing stones on the ground and walked to the center where the stone bench was. She slipped off the robe and set it on the bench, picked the orb out of its box, and she focused on the design that she had worked on for a few days.

  The outfit came from an alteration of a design that Krys had shown her. She was wearing gauze and bands of ribbon. The gauze was black and two panels that were connected at strategic points. The panels covered her breasts, were cinched in at her waist and back, were connected at the top of her hips, and otherwise open. A sash of white went around her hips. Her hair was bound with white and black twisted ribbons.

  She rubbed her hands down her thighs. The clothing made her entire body easily accessible. She looked up at the moon, watched, and waited.

  Olmin walked in with Argo at his side. They froze in place when they saw her.

  She smoothed her hands down the fabric. “Too much?”

  Olmin was standing in front of her in an instant. “Never too much.”

  Argo walked around her, and he stood to one side. “Can you keep it?”

  She chuckled and blushed. “I don’t know. What happens to the magic clothing when the event is over?”

  Olmin smiled. “We will manage something. I think it would be a lovely anniversary gown.”

  Maven blinked. “We will have an anniversary?” That was a bit of a surprise.

  “Of course, but not if we don’t complete the binding.” Olmin’s cold grey eyes were intense.

  He brought out the black binding ribbon, and they all extended their left hands. She held it tight in her hand, and Argo’s hand went over hers, the ribbon looping around his wrist, and then, Olmin’s hand went over both.

  The ribbon began to move in the air and loop over and around their hands and moved up their wrists. When their forearms were bound in black, the tricky part of the ritual began.

  Olmin pinned her against him, kissing her deeply while Argo slid his arm around her and cupped her breasts while sucking at her neck. It was awkward, it was intense, and when Olmin slipped his hand between them and stroked her very eager sex, she shivered, and she cried out when his fingers circled her clit. The pulse of power ran through all three of them, and their hands were free.

  She heard a rustling, and she glanced at Argo just in time to see his trousers hitting the ground. He wrapped both arms around her and slid his fingers into her repeatedly before he bent her forward and used the easier angle. His fingers did a handful of strokes, and then, she felt the head of his cock pressing into her. He thrust into her rapidly and then pulled out.

  Olmin pulled her up to him, lifted her, and slid into her. He then held still while Argo eased slick fingers around her ass, the gel was definitely not from her. He pressed into her, and she gasped, panting, clinging to Olmin until Argo was deep inside her. She gulped for air, and Olmin kissed her before whispering, “Ours.”

  They started moving, and she relaxed into the pleasure, letting her body’s riot transform into enjoyment. They were careful, they were precise, and when she was ready to surrender completely, they were one.

  They moved together under the moonlight, and when she shared power, it stayed in their circle. The light that surrounded them was blinding.

  * * * *

  Krys was having tea on the deck with her partners. “Ah, there we are. The circuit is locked.”

  Kel frowned. “Was it really that distressing?”

  Krys snorted. “No, as you might remember since I have been jumping you guys in the office every time I ran into her. But, there have been three break-ins to her previous home since the Halloween party. I am pretty sure that that bitch Alice put a target on her in the right circles.”

  Nen frowned. “So, you forced her into that situation?”

  “No, I urged her into it. She agreed to it. I just had to knock her logic systems. She is exceedingly linear. She doesn’t have the luxury of delusion like I did.”

  Kel took her hand and licked her palm. “It was cute.”

  “Aw, you are sweet, but when reality hit me, it was quite the shock.”

  Nen smiled. “I remember. We both had to keep you in the moment so that we could complete the assignment.”

  “You did a wonderful job of it, Nen. You got me back to the focus, and we managed to take care of the danger before I was sent home... where I ran into you again. I can’t imagine how hollow I would have been if I hadn’t seen either of you again.” She smiled. “I didn’t want Maven to lose a single day.”

  Kel shuddered. “Love, you are devious and a woman of action. No wonder I can’t bear to be away from you.”

  She smiled and leaned against his shoulder. “I know. I feel the same.”

  Nen kept hold of her hand, and they all spent an evening watching the supernatural light show that the new triad was generating down the block.

  * * * *

  Fresh from the bath, they all cuddled together, and Maven sighed at the feeling that had settled in her mind. She could now sense Olmin’s satisfaction and Argo’s intense pleasure. They were both delighted with her new status as their third, and they had begun talking about the legalities of their arrangement, but that could wait for another day. Today wasn’t for talking about wills, it was for enjoying their new bond for the rest of the weekend. They all had to work on Monday, so every moment counted.

  Maven smiled. Her soul felt a little bit lighter for some reason. Maybe a shared burden did become lighter. She was willing to devote a lot of study to the sensation, and now, she was going to have people to help her study. She fell asleep, giggling.

  Author’s Note

  This kinda came out funny. The next book (Krys, Kel, and Nen’s) is called Mage’s Choice. It will be coming out soonish.

  The author depicted in this book only sh
ares a few characteristics with me, including my love of carrots as a snacking vegetable.

  Thanks for reading,

  Viola Grace

  About the Author

  Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.

  An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around, and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.

  In real life, she is now engaged in beekeeping, and her adventures can be found on the YouTube channel, Mystery Bees Apiary. Just look for the cartoon kittens.