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  Gregor nodded, his usually bright eyes shadowed, but he said nothing.

  ‘Gregor?’ Hilda reached out and touched his hand gently.

  Turning to her, he touched Hilda’s cheek affectionately, like a man surrendering. ‘Teach me how … how to forgive … to forget …’

  Hilda smiled sadly. ‘I can tell you are ready to do that. You don’t need me to teach you. Now, let matters take their course. If Nea chooses him as her mate you will accept it. If they do not make a match of it then you will accept that too.’

  Gregor sniffed and rubbed his forehead. ‘Okay. I will try.’

  Hilda’s eyebrow lifted, her dark gaze fixed on him.

  A slight grin brightened his expression. ‘I won’t interfere. My word on that.’

  Hilda smiled, her eyes sparkling with delight and affection. She reached down and took the old warlock’s hand and squeezed. ‘Your word is accepted.’

  Then Gregor shifted so that he could look Earl straight in the eye. ‘But you’ll have no help from me either.’

  Chapter Thirteen

  Drew! Danger rang out like a klaxon in her mind. Drew was going to climb aboard again. She had to get to the controls. Crawling along the bucking deck, she inched forward. Her talent was weakened and trying to steady the controls was like trying to pick up a dropped egg from the floor. It slid and avoided her touch.

  With a sudden lurch, she glanced behind her. Drew was still holding on but his attempt to climb aboard had stalled. Yet she couldn’t let the boat careen here and there. It would be dangerous. She managed to throttle back and the boat calmed. With a thud of her heart, she heard his step when he climbed back on board. She left the conn to meet him.

  ‘Thought you’d get away from me, did you?’ Drew asked as he stepped in front of her.

  ‘I thought to make it difficult for you, yes.’ Her voice came over sounding confident.

  His eyes widened. Nea grinned fiercely, glad that he wasn’t expecting that. He’d wanted a fearful response. It fed his ego, his sense of power. But Nea wasn’t going to play that game anymore. All she cared about was under threat. Earl’s life was on the line for saving her life. Drew was the one who should be on trial. Drew was the one who should be facing death as punishment for his crimes. The fact he wasn’t annoyed her. What was happening to Earl right now? Would he pass through his judgement?

  Drew flung power at her again and she cried out in pain. It hurt. Looking down, she saw her clothes were singed and her flesh red from the heat. Half bent over, she struggled to maintain her concentration. Distant thunder teased her ears. A storm was coming and she had a dark warlock on a boat with her and she didn’t know what was happening with Earl. She wasn’t going to make it after all. The magical burn travelled along her senses. She huddled there, panting.

  ‘Bitch. You think you can outwit me?’

  All he got back from her was a whimper.

  His head jerked around suddenly. ‘Take me into Swansea and I’ll let you live.’

  Her head rocked back at this change in tack. ‘If you’re so bloody powerful you don’t need me. Take yourself.’

  ‘I’m quite able but I need insurance.’

  ‘Insurance? Me?’ Nea laughed. ‘Why? No one is even looking for you.’

  Drew sneered at her. ‘Nice try, but they are searching. Getting close.’ Thunder boomed as a sudden gust hit. ‘I haven’t finished with you yet …’

  Waves were peaking, stirred up by the storm. Thick drops of rain rattled the roof of the cabin and slicked the deck. Nea held on and panted through the pain. They were on a lake but it was open to the sea.

  Suddenly, the boat bucked as if lifted by a hand and then dropped. Drew stumbled, his weight overbalanced. Holding on securely and expecting the boat’s behaviour in storm-tossed water, Nea focused her talent to tip him farther. Her feet were planted wide and she rode the boat’s turbulent passage. She sent a thrum of power into the motor.

  Unfortunately, Drew recovered his balance. He sent another burst of power at her, this time hitting her knee. She went down with a screech of pain. The motor eased back and the boat bobbed with the turbulence and insufficient thrust.

  The next time the deck lurched, Nea fell forward and hit her forehead and bumped her nose. Pain radiated through her. This was it. Oh Earl, I’m sorry.

  ***

  Satisfied that Gregor was giving him a chance, Earl was keen to tell Nea the news. She hadn’t been close when he’d tried to sense where she was. Frowning, he sent his talent further and still he could not locate her.

  ‘Where’s Nea?’ he asked Gregor and Hilda.

  Gregor frowned and Earl detected his talent as it swept by him like a gentle wave. ‘Not close by,’ he said. He walked to the sliding door. ‘The boat’s gone. She’s out on the lake.’

  A sense of foreboding tingled Earl’s skin. ‘I should be able to reach her.’ He walked out the door, down through the garden to the shore. Hilda and Gregor’s quiet chatter advised him they were following on behind.

  He’d been able to touch Nea from afar. He knew the taste and feel of her from that moment she had touched him with her essence. The first sweep failed to locate her. ‘Why did she leave?’ he said.

  Hilda shrugged, then slid her hand into Gregor’s. ‘She would have found it hard to be near your pain.’

  Branches crashed together and leaves rattled in the wind. Earl’s gaze went upwards. Dark cumulous clouds marched across the sky, eating up the last of the sun. The lake was turbulent and grey. There were no boats to be seen.

  ‘She’s out in that?’

  Gregor nodded. ‘She knows better than to go out in a storm. She’d take shelter, wait it out.’ He ranged out with his power. ‘I can’t detect her.’ He shook his head. ‘Too weak? Blast it.’

  Hilda sniffed the air. ‘The storm is new. She’s been gone a long time. Something’s not right though.’

  Earl rocked back on his heels. ‘Nea?’ he cried out. There was a slight touch of her against his mind. Closing his eyes, he tried to capture that thread of her that had reached out to him. ‘She’s in trouble. It’s Drew.’

  ‘Where?’ Gregor asked.

  ‘On the other side of the lake. She’s in pain, injured.’

  ‘I’ll contact some members of the coven. There are some on that side of the lake.’

  ‘I’m going after her,’ Earl said. He pulled off his sweater.

  ‘You’re going to swim?’ Gregor asked. ‘In that?’

  The lake was a boiling grey mess. Earl stalled. ‘Yes! No! I don’t know. I can’t lose her.’

  Hilda glared at them both. ‘You two. Earl is a conjurer. He is strong and determined.’

  Gregor’s head jerked back. ‘You mean?’

  ‘Yes. He can think himself there.’

  ‘I can’t. I have a body now. It’s different.’

  ‘It’s no different,’ Hilda said. ‘You still have that other body of yours. Use this flesh one—’ She pinched the skin of his arm. ‘—as your anchor.’

  Nea’s pain was now throbbing in his mind. If he didn’t go to her, he could be too late and all that he had done to be with her would be for naught. He had to try.

  Kneeling down, he closed his eyes and then drew out of himself, following the thread of her. He was a conjurer and he could manipulate light and some matter to create scenes. Without flesh, he could just think himself there.

  The deck solidified under his feet. Drew hunched over Nea, who sprawled on the deck, her upper body supported by the bulkhead. They hadn’t noticed him. Drew was getting ready to hurl power into Nea and it seemed at first glance that she was unconscious. Then all of a sudden, she reached out with her reader talent, but instead of being something porous that could sink into the other warlock, it came out solid.

  At the same time, the boat revved and surged forward. Her power and the momentum of the boat coincided. Drew flew straight out at an angle. As Earl was in spectre form he wasn’t dislodged from his feet when the deck lurched
beneath him. In a blink of an eye, Drew was gone.

  Earl looked and there was no sign of Drew beneath a cauldron of grey waves. His eyes sought her.

  ‘Nea?’

  She turned towards him. ‘Earl?’ She squinted at him, at his conjured body. ‘Are you dead again?’ A sob burst out of her. ‘No. Oh Goddess no!’

  In an instant he was with her. ‘No. I came to find you. I left my flesh behind. Hilda and Gregor are with me.’

  She cried then, sobbing hard. ‘Earl … I thought I’d lost you.’

  ‘You’re hurt,’ he said as he trailed a ghostly hand along her burn.

  She steadied herself, swallowing her tears. ‘The judgement?’

  ‘I’m not guilty.’

  Nea’s gaze met his. ‘I know that.’ She shrugged. ‘I’m glad they saw it too.’

  Struggling to her feet, she half crawled to the steering wheel and then upped the power to the motor. She drove into some sheeting rain and it covered the bow with water. It lessened to sprinkling until another squall hit. It wasn’t long before the shore came into sight.

  ‘I will go back now.’ Earl hoped he knew how to regain control of his body. It was hard to leave it, the warm living flesh.

  Nea looked up at him. ‘Thank you for coming for me.’

  He nodded and then he was back on the shore. It was like being winded. Air was hard to draw into his lungs—it was like his diaphragm was rigid. Dark spots ripened in his vision and his fingers and toes tingled, pins and needles registering as pain.

  He heard the motor of Nea’s boat as he faceplanted into the grass. Hilda’s hands grabbed at him, turned his face so he could breathe. Gregor lumbered over. ‘Is he all right?’

  Hilda ran her hands over him. ‘Yes, he’s back.’

  A low moan escaped Earl. That had hurt. He tried moving his hands but they were like thick gloves and his feet were numb stumps. ‘I … I can’t…’ He stopped trying to talk.

  ‘There, there, just breathe for now.’ Hilda’s voice was soothing and she ran her fingers through his hair.

  ‘Nea … hurt,’ was all he could get out.

  Gregor jogged to the jetty. The motor coughed and slurred before the boat slowed and the momentum of the storm kept propelling it. The aftertaste of power let him know that Gregor was bringing Nea in safely with his talent.

  Hilda sat him up and through hazy vision he noted Nea was slumped at the control. He tried to move, but was held down by Hilda. ‘Let Gregor fetch her. I suspect you both will need some care and bed rest.’

  Gregor leaped on board and tossed the ropes over, and they tied themselves as he went to Nea and lifted her gently in his arms. He was chanting over her, and Nea lifted her hand and touched her grandfather’s ear before dropping it.

  Hilda stood up. ‘She’ll be okay. I don’t think it’s serious.’

  ‘Drew fell overboard,’ Earl said, finding his tongue and mouth were in sync.

  Hilda’s eyes flashed. ‘Dead?’

  He shrugged. ‘Not sure. Too hard to tell. I wasn’t paying attention as there was too much going on. Nea fought him.’ He was coming to terms with that. She’d held her own against a powerful dark warlock.

  Hilda scrunched her lips. ‘Pity. We could rest easier if he were … gone.’

  ‘Hilda … Nea.’ He frowned, trying to order his thoughts and beliefs. ‘Nea did something extraordinary out there today. I know she’s a reader, but she used her power in a different way. Like she polarised it, made it more like an enforcer’s power.’

  Hilda helped him to stand. ‘Today she was tested and found her inner strength. Her talent was always wasted here, just looking after Gregor.’ She peered up at him. ‘You both have a lot of talent that could be put to good use for the coven, for the folk.’

  ‘Then Nea and I have a lot to talk about.’

  Hilda smiled. ‘Isn’t that wonderful?’

  ‘Certainly is.’ His smile matched hers.

  With that, Hilda helped him into the house. As they entered, Siv arrived and immediately, Hilda started bossing him about. ‘Come and help me with this one. No, wait—see to Nea. Quickly, man, she’s been hurt.’

  Siv wobbled his head, trying to work out which command to comply with when Gregor called out and he raced up the stairs.

  ***

  Nea came in. ‘Is he all right?’ she asked Hilda, who had almost overdosed him on any remedy she had on hand.

  Earl was feeling more like himself, more aligned within his spirit body and his flesh. Not quite as he should be, but better. There was still the sensation like the floor was about to fall away from his feet and he would jerk to brace himself. Yet, it was less pronounced. He was more present and occupying his body. Repeating the out-of-body experience wasn’t on his list of Things To Do in the near future.

  Hilda took the cup, checked he’d drunk the contents, and nodded. ‘Nothing that a bit of rest won’t fix. You let him recover, won’t you?’

  Nea blushed. ‘Of course. I don’t know what you mean.’

  Nea looked at him, her head cocked to the side as if to say ‘defend me’.

  ‘Nea and I want to be alone to recuperate,’ Earl said and grinned.

  Hilda chuckled. ‘Recuperate? I’ve not heard it called that before.’

  Nea’s cheeks flamed but before she could launch into a denial, Hilda waved her hands dismissively and marched out of the room. The door smacked shut behind her.

  Earl stood and they faced each other across the room, her room. In the look they shared, so much passed between them: affection, relief, love, desire.

  Earl came forward and met Nea, brushing her blonde hair off her forehead and kissing the tip of her freckled nose. She was warm and whole and he could not believe his luck, this life, this moment. Her blue eyes held him and he opened to her so she could taste all that he felt and the clumsiness of words were avoided.

  Her reader talent swept over him and he sucked in a breath. The brush of her talent was strong, with a confidence born of finding a core of strength. ‘You love me,’ she said simply.

  Earl smiled. ‘You love me.’ It was there for him to read, to taste, to mingle with. A bright, shining light that was Nea’s essence warmed him. No wonder she’d been able to rouse him and sweep his spirit clean.

  Nea’s grin grew into a full-toothed smile, her eyes twinkling with delight. ‘I surely do. But are you going to stand around gaping at me or are we going to get serious about this?’

  Earl chuckled softly, running his finger along her chin and then brushing a teasing kiss on her lips. ‘What’s the hurry? We have the rest of our lives to enjoy sex.’

  Nea’s smile dropped. Then before he could blink she’d tipped him onto the bed and positioned herself on top of him. ‘You are not even close to being funny. I happen to know that you’re as keen as I am to get busy.’

  Earl laughed again. ‘I can’t hide anything from you.’

  Her grin was back and she peeled off her T-shirt. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Earl sat up to grab a nipple in his mouth. When he latched on she let out a gasp. The silken feel of her skin under his fingertips and the way he moved up the contours of her back caused his senses to overload in the most wonderful way. How had he ever lived without a whole body, without touch and smell and taste?

  After enjoying himself in this position for ten minutes or so and listening to the joyous gasps of delight coming from Nea, Earl flipped her over. She let out a yelp and then giggled when he licked a pathway between her breasts to her neck where he suckled some more, making her groan in delight. Her arousal spilled out of every pore of her and he supped on it like life itself.

  Lifting himself free for a moment, he shucked his T-shirt and peeled off his jeans. Nea wiggled on the bed, freeing herself of the last of her clothes, and lay naked before him, more heat in her eyes than in the setting sun. Yet, he wasn’t afraid of her intensity. It pleased him because his own love and desire matched hers.

  Their bodies met. Heat on heat. Muscle on muscle. Mo
ist on moist. Earl was transported into realm of sensory richness. Touches of lips, of fingers, of skin on skin, of erection welcomed into her moist folds. Her muscles clenched him tight, increasing the friction of each thrust. The joyous sound of Nea’s responses, her glorious abandonment to their lovemaking—how could he ever have desired anything else?

  He’d not known how linked one could be, mind, body and spirit. Not until Nea had shone her light on him.

  His new body was adjusting to life. He fitted perfectly to Nea’s form, catching her cry as he slid inside her again and again, joining to the rhythm. The temptation to lose himself in the moment almost overcame him. His body’s response to making love threatened to spill out of him.

  Nea’s eager kisses drew him into her instead. Her whispers settled him down into his body, into her, and then the blissful moment came and he thought he’d be lost forever.

  When his heart slowed and his breathing was normal again, he roused with his limbs entwined with Nea’s, her arms encircling him, and he knew the rightness of his being. This was where he was going to stay. He bent his head down and kissed the top of Nea’s head and she sighed sleepily.

  ***

  Riley, Nea’s father, stood beside her, passing the care of her to Earl Pressonville. Gregor Royston, head of the Lake Macquarie coven, officiated at their mating ceremony.

  Nea was beyond joy. If she had asked herself six months ago where she would be now, it would not have been here, not being mated to Earl, an amazing warlock, with her family surrounding her. It had been a hard and unusual road, but it had been worth it.

  Earl gazed into eyes as she spoke her promises. At the same time, he detailed how he wanted to make love to her, whispering the words into her mind. Her body was alive to arousal. That Earl could do that with words and a look was no surprise. He was an extraordinary warlock. They had formed a plan that they would train to be battlemages and defend their people from the dark ones threatening folk and humans alike. Both of them had grown in talent and with hard work, more strength and skill would come.