Along with history, spells, and witch law, another thing they’d taught her was while she could dally sexually with humans, she could never tell them what she was or think of a forever-after with one. Part of being a witch meant a longer lifespan-two hundred years or more wasn’t unheard of. Although it wasn’t exactly forbidden to intermarry, the warning was clear. The most a witch could hope for was 10 to 15 years before she had to disappear, for the lack of aging eventually became noticeable and raised questions. Witches who refused to leave ended up finding their partners and children gone one day. Talk about incentive to look at their kind first.
Knowing this made Sophia’s painful decision to let Aidan go seem noble, even if she didn’t understand why she wanted him so much. She did know she didn’t want to see Aidan hurt. He deserved a real life with a woman who could give him children and grow old with him. Not someone who would be forced to abandon him and their children within a decade or so.
But how she wished things were different. If only Aidan were one of the special folk allowed to know their secrets-elf, angel, demon, shifter, merman. So many species were allowed to know about her witch status, and although not approved of for marriage-not that it stopped some-sexual dalliances were not uncommon.
The time for introspection passed. As the midnight hour approached, Sophia composed herself and left her room in her flowing robe, joining a chattering stream of witches out into the night. Lanterns lit the night sky and hung on branches and poles, illuminating their way to the gathering spot.
The Covenhouse Inn sat on over a hundred acres, ensuring the witches’ coven privacy for ceremonies such as the one for Halloween. Most of the land was wooded, but as Sophia followed others of her kind through the meandering paths in the shadowy forest, it wasn’t long before they emerged in a clearing with trampled grass. In the center of the huge space a bonfire snapped and crackled, the flames licking up into the sky and popping with colors not usually seen-gold, red, purple, blue, and even some green. This close to the witching hour, power sizzled visibly all around her in a kaleidoscope of color. Excitement hummed in the air.
The witches stood shoulder widths apart and formed circles radiating outward from the fire. Sophia stood in one of the outer rings, her face tilted up to the sky staring at the fat, bright moon hanging over the assembly.
As if silenced by a spell, an instant quiet fell upon the clearing, and the chattering and rustling of hundreds of women was gone as expectancy hung heavy in the air.
Midnight hit unmistakably as the magical energy imbuing the world peaked. All Hallows Day had arrived, with the power of its arrival zipping through her body like a lightning bolt. As if the fire and magic called them, ghostly forms rose in a sinuous trail from the bright flames, weaving and bobbing over the congregation. Like a signal, the dance began.
Unlike the Wiccans with their earth-based magic, Sophia belonged to a darker sect, one that still worshipped the Lord of Hades-with powerful results. Over the centuries legends and rumors abounded about witches dancing naked around fires for Satan. Although never actually witnessed by human eyes, or at least no people who ever lived after seeing it, it was actually true. Liberating in so many ways, the dance brought them back to a primal time when witches were celebrated instead of persecuted. In a graceful move synchronized without practice, robes went flying off, which bared hundreds of females of all shapes and sizes. Male witches, also called warlocks, celebrated elsewhere in their own fashion.
Sophia vaguely felt the kiss of the cool night air on her naked skin, however, caught up in the building magic of the dance, she ignored it. Her body moved intuitively, weaving and swaying to an unheard rhythm, which made the gathered coven move in an undulating wave of bare skin and flying hair. Women of all ages and races spun faster and faster, their breath coming short, eyes gleaming, limbs flying.
Closing her eyes while opening her arms wide, Sophia basked in the power flowing throughout the clearing and felt her cares slip free. She lost herself in the wildness of the dance.
Aidan, in his wolf shape, sat on the edge of the clearing watching with yellow eyes as the witches poured into the open space. His eyes, though, remained trained on one body only-Sophia’s. She looked pensive compared to the other happy, chattering witches, and he wondered-hoped-it was because she thought of him.
He’d returned, and even though he’d wanted to charge in to find her and divulge the truth of what he was, he held back. The Halloween gathering of the witches was something even he’d heard of. He could wait until she’d completed the celebration, but that didn’t mean that he would leave her alone. A protective instinct forced him to follow her, not that he expected trouble, but he liked to be prepared.
Oddly enough, Aidan was not the only shifter in the woods. He could sense and smell other shapeshifters. Some wolves like himself, but other beasts as well-bear, panther, and even the rare musty scent of dragon. He didn’t ponder for long the presence of other shifters. His attention was caught by the sudden silence. The fur on his body stood on end as energy churned and boiled in the air, the result of having so many witches in one place and on such a powerful date. With an almost ecstatic burst, the magic overflowed to stroke everyone, including him, and to leave those in its wake feeling more alive than ever.
Aidan, who’d never heard of such a thing, howled in response, a sound repeated in different cadences all around the gathered women. He howled again when he saw Sophia shed her robe, her beautiful naked body moving sinuously as she and her sisters danced. Aidan in wolf form cried out again, unable to help himself as Sophia twirled faster and faster, perspiration gleaming on her bare skin, her hair twirling in a silken mess. After several revolutions around the clearing, her face finally broke into an exhilarated smile, and with his enhanced hearing he heard her joyous laughter, an emotion and sound repeated all over the place as the witches basked in the heady magic eddying around them.
The witches didn’t notice, but Aidan did as the fire in the center built up brighter and brighter the faster they danced. He kept one eye on it, the other on his pagan mate, whose enjoyment in the dance stirred his lust.
A figure arose from the flames, a naked, solidly built man. And at his appearance, the witches, like puppets, suddenly collapsed as if an unseen power had cut the strings that held them up. Kneeling on the ground, the witches swayed and hummed as they faced the man who still floated in the flames.
“My beautiful harem,” boomed the man Aidan somehow instinctively knew was Lucifer. “Happy Halloween!”
“Lord of Darkness. Father of Sin. Satan love us. Lucifer bless us.”
The pagan chant shocked Aidan. Figures my true mate would be a dark witch instead of a Wiccan. Not that he actually cared. Actions meant more than who you owed allegiance to. As a wolf, he and his pack worshipped no deity, even if they were aware and had a healthy respect for the super powers known as God and the Devil.
Respect or not, Satan’s next words made Aidan’s vision turn red, and he growled.
“Who will serve their master tonight?” Lucifer dropped his hand to an engorging cock that put every mortal man to shame. “I have a mighty need to bless my flock.”
Aidan went to lunge forward when he saw Sophia stand, but a firm grasp on his wolf’s nape held him back. He turned his head as he snarled and bit.