Soul Mates Bind (3 page)

“I’ll explain it to you later,” he said. 

The rest of the evening went well in spite of Stella’s thinly-veiled barbs directed at Marcus’ wife. Everyone was very gracious and polite, and some of them even seemed to genuinely like Lola. She tried to put Stella and her clear dislike of her out of her mind until they were on their way back to the cottage. 

Marcus was driving the car and she was thinking of the best way to broach the subject. 

“Marcus, most of those people tonight were quite nice,” she finally said. “But I would love to know the story with Stella. Clearly, she hated me on sight.”

“Yes, I should have told you about Stella a long time ago,” Marcus sighed. “She and I went out for a while a few years ago. Her family was determined that she and I would marry. For reasons I didn’t understand then, I simply didn’t want to marry her. Now, I know that she wasn’t meant for me, that I was waiting to meet you.” He reached for her hand and kissed it before holding it tight in his lap. “But at the time, I simply wasn’t in love with her. I finally sat her down and explained to her that I wasn’t at a place yet that I was ready to get married. I ended it and I moved to Mystical Grove.” 

“Oh, great! No wonder she hates me.”

His hand reached for hers. “Don’t feel too bad, babe. She would have hated any woman I married. It’s nothing to do with you, really,” he said. Then he gave a short laugh. 

“What is it?” 

“I was just remembering that she used to give me surprise blow jobs when I was driving. She always wanted to see if she could get me to pull over for her.” 

“Oh, I see,” Lola said thoughtfully. “Well, I certainly cannot be outdone.” 

“What are you talking about?” Marcus asked. “Lola, I didn’t tell you that so that—oh. Oh, Lola…“

Marcus’s eyes glittered as he watched her lean over to unzip his slacks. 

By the time she had pulled him through the opening in his silk boxers, he was fully erect. He also had pulled over the side of the road. But he wasn’t stopping her. Instead, he laid his hand gently on the back of her head and brushed her hair away from her face. This gave her plenty of room to move her tongue all over his swollen head, taking time to dip the tip of her tongue into his little eye before running her tongue all the way up one side and back down the other. 

Finally, she wrapped her lips around the head and slowly sucked him all the way into her waiting, wet mouth. While swirling her tongue around his shaft, she sucked at the same time and brought him into the back of her throat before sucking back up again. 

“Oh my god… what are you doing to me, woman?” Marcus groaned. 

Lola didn’t answer him. Instead, she just continued to move her mouth in a very skillful way until she could feel those little spasms starting. Fastening her mouth around him even more securely, she held him in place as he erupted straight down her throat. 

Once he was still again, she licked him clean and neatly tucked him back into his underwear before zipping up his pants. 

“What was that all about?” he asked again. He has sweat drops on his forehead, he was flushed, he was breathing hard, and he looked absolutely adorable. 

“I told you. I cannot be outdone,” she replied with a smug smile. 

“Sweetheart, there has never been any competition where you’re concerned. That’s why I could never be with anyone else.” 

“That’s what I like to hear,” she murmured before placing her hand on Marcus’s thigh. 

THAT NIGHT, they made love twice more before morning dawned.

Marcus made coffee which they enjoyed in bed while they planned their day. 

“Actually,” Marcus said, “I still haven’t given you your wedding present.” 

She was surprised but felt delighted. “You got me a wedding present? I thought you were my wedding present,” Lola giggled. 

“Oh, I am a part of your wedding present, but I have something that I do think you’re going to like. We should go there today—unless there’s something else that you would like to do?” 

“No, no, I don’t have a thing planned. Besides, you know how much I love presents!” 

“Excellent! Then we’ll leave in a couple of hours!” 

And that is what they did. 

Chapter Eight

ONCE again, it was Marcus behind the wheel as they rode along miles of country roads. They finally reached a small village that held a few houses, shops, a pub, and an inn. Driving through it, they began an ascent up a narrow paved road that finally leveled out at the top of a hill. 

There, sitting on the hill, was a genuine castle. 

They pulled up in front of it and Marcus turned off the car. Then he turned to look at her. 

“Well, my love, what do you think?” he asked. 

“Oh, this is such a lovely surprise! To think that you booked us a stay at a real castle!” 

“No, sweetheart, I’m afraid you don’t understand. This castle belongs to you. It’s your wedding gift from me.” 

At first, all Lola could do was stare at him open-mouthed. 

Then she shrieked and launched herself at him, hugging him tightly. She leaped out of the car and twirled around over and over again. 

“Oh, my God! Marcus! This is amazing! I love it! My very own castle!” Then she hugged him once more. 

Marcus watched her with sheer delight. He loved how happy she was. 

“Oh wait! Here! These belong to you, too.” With that, he handed her a set of keys. 

“These are the keys to the castle!” he teased. 

Marcus was hard-pressed to keep up with her as she raced up to the huge double doors that led into the castle. She was still struggling with the lock when he reached her. 

He was about to offer to help when her cell phone rang. 

“Oh here, can you open this for me, please? This is Mother calling and if I don’t answer, she’ll just keep calling and calling.” 

Lola moved to the side and took her cell phone out of her purse. While she was speaking with her mother, Marcus put the key into the lock and made a motion with his hand. The door unlocked instantly but he wanted to wait until Lola could join him. 

“I see, Mother. Well, we will arrange something within a few days. After all, we are on our honeymoon—or have they forgotten?” Lola was saying as she walked back to where Marcus stood. “Yes, I understand. I know. Thank you for calling. I love you, too.” 

She was standing there with a look on her face that fell somewhere between annoyed and worried. 

Then she looked up, and the smile was instantly back on her face. 

“You got the door open,” she noted. “Thank you, darling! You’re a genius.” She kissed him as his arms held her tight.

“Are you going to tell me what that phone call was about?” he inquired. 

She sighed. She knew she could not easily distract him from it. “It’s
the
Council,” she said. “They want to see us. Can you believe it? On our freaking honeymoon!” 

Marcus frowned. “The Council? Did Sable tell you what they want?”

“No. Just that they need to meet with us as soon as possible. Oh, I don’t care! I want to see my castle! We’ll figure out the Council later.” 

As it turned out, the castle was every bit as amazing and authentic as it looked from the outside. There had been a few updates to make it more comfortable, such as hot and cold running water and solar electricity. Each room contained a fully functional stone fireplace that accounted for ninety percent of the heating, handsome semi-brick walls and varnished wood panels, exotic-looking balustrades and high-beamed ceilings. Lola was so excited that she couldn’t wait to see the entire place. Marcus reminded her that there were many rooms and that it would take a day to properly see them all.

Marcus had also contacted some people to come get the castle ready for inhabitance. They were all waiting patiently in the kitchen to meet the new owner. 

For the next several hours, Lola and Marcus had fun exploring Lola’s new castle and getting acquainted with the place, in addition to the staff that Marcus had hired. 

When it was time to head up to their very special bedroom, they were both eager to try it out. 

It was a room that defied description. It was huge. The custom stone fireplace had a cozy fire blazing away. A long sofa flanked by two matching chairs sat in front of it. There was an enormous canopied, curtained bed on the other side of the room, covered in a deep purple comforter. There were French doors that led onto a balcony overlooking the countryside for miles around. The adjoining master bath suite was, indeed, fit for a king. 

All they really cared about was the bed at the moment and they scrambled to it, kissing and undressing at the same time. 

Chapter Nine

JUST THEN, Marcus’s cell phone rang. 

Initially, they both ignored it, but then Marcus saw that it was from Adair, a Council member. 

“It’s a call… from the Council. Isn’t that like… the White House calling?” Marcus asked, panting a little because of their postponed bed calisthenics.

Exasperated, Lola fell on the other side of the bed. “Okay, take it. They should be quick or they’ll hear sounds not fit to hear on a freaking loudspeaker phone!”

Marcus was grinning as he accepted the call, a grin that disappeared right away and did not come back even after he had been disconnected.

“What happened?” Lola asked. She could tell by the way his handsome face looked that it was serious. 

“Adair and the other Council members are apparently down in the main sitting room waiting for us,” he said as he stared in the ceiling. 

“Here?” Lola cried. 

He turned to her. “Yes, my love, here,” he answered. 

She was now furious. “What right do these people have to keep interfering in our lives?!” Obviously, they would need to go downstairs or the asshats would transport themselves right up here into their bedroom. 

He gathered her in his arms and kissed her forehead. “Calm down, baby.”

“Fine,” she huffed. “We’ll just go down and greet the inconsiderate bastards!” 

LOLA STALKED toward the door with Marcus trailing after her. They found their way back down to the main floor’s sitting room. 

Her anger was almost palpable by the time she stormed into the room to find thirteen men and women warming themselves by the fire and drinking tea. Marcus’ staff was doing a perfect job, it seemed. 

“What the hell do you people think you’re doing?” Lola demanded. “In case you’ve forgotten, we’re on our honeymoon. There’s nothing so urgent that it couldn’t have waited until we returned. My husband and I are not at your beck and call!” She steamed even more after her eyes focused on Adair. “By the way, Adair, Marcus is my husband and not fair game to you so you can just stop looking at him as if you’re planning to devour him. It is not going to happen.” 

Adair was one of the younger members of The Council and she was quite attractive. It was also clear that she had taken a shine to Marcus almost immediately upon meeting him. Lola had done her best to ignore it, but the witch was becoming more open about her intentions all the time.

Adair flinched a little at her look, then continued to sip her tea as if she had not heard anything. She wore a haughty look on her face. 

“Lola, my dear,” Augusta, one of the older witches, said in a soothing voice, “we do apologize for intruding on your private time together. You must believe that we would never have done so if there was any other way. But it is vital that we speak with you both right now. Please sit down and listen to what we have to say.” 

There was something about the tone Augusta used that caused Lola and Marcus both to sit down on the love seat. Marcus took Lola’s hand in his and they turned their attention to Augusta. 

“I’m not sure if you know this or not, but The Council is a rather new ruling regime, even though it’s been in place for over a hundred years. This wasn’t something that any of us wanted, but it became necessary. The rulers of the past were always a King and Queen who were true soul mates and had found each other through various lifetimes.”

Upon hearing that, she and Marcus threw a look at each other. They knew this. Didn’t the Council know that they remembered this from their past? Their royal lives had happened so long ago, though, that it had become almost insignificant.

But Augusta continued on talking and they both looked back at her.

“However, finding true soul mates has started to become more difficult and we could not be left without a ruling body in place,” Augusta continued. “Now that the two of you have found each other, we would like to step down and have you both take your rightful place as rulers of the magical world of witches.” 

Chapter Ten

BOTH MARCUS AND LOLA were speechless. 

Of all things that they thought The Council wanted, this was not one of them. They could not seem to respond with anything except an open-mouthed stare. Were they serious?!

Finally, Marcus found his voice. 

“Augusta, you surely know what a huge surprise this is to both Lola and myself. Obviously, we’re honored that you would bring this to us, but I believe I speak for both of us when I say that we’re not interested in taking on something of this magnitude just now.”

Or ever
, Lola silently added. 

“You do not understand, Marcus,” Augusta replied. “There really is no choice involved. The two of you must do this and we are here to turn over our duties to you.” The older woman sighed heavily, and talked further in a grave voice. “There is something else of great importance that you both need to know.”

Lola sighed impatiently. “What is it, Augusta?” she asked in a tone that said they were willing to hear it, but they would not tolerate more than that.

Augusta sighed, too. “Something very bad is headed our way. None of us have been able to see clearly what it is, but we have all felt its hatred towards us and the evil it intends to use. The only way that we can successfully defeat it is through the union of our new King and Queen. There is much strength between the two of you, even if you aren’t aware of it just yet. It is this strength that will defeat this evil.”