I held my breath as I watched the three cloaked figures moved around the fire. Their voices may have reached me but their words did not.
They moved around the fire, the three of them, with their arms spread wide and aimed up at the sky. They stood in a triangle and started to circle the fire. They were chanting something, low, their words mingling together.
I leaned my body against the tree and stared at them in fascination.
A wind swept through the clearing causing my hair to blow out around my face. The hooded robes billowed out, dancing on the wind and I caught the sight of naked flesh. A smooth expanse of stomach with a line of dark hair trailing down. The figure moved before my brain caught up with what my eyes had seen.
My face burned as I blushed hotly. They weren’t wearing any clothes under those robes.
They continued to circle the fire as the wind picked up. The fabric swished and swirled through thick, muscular, naked legs.
I clung to the rough bark of the tree, not caring that it scratched against my smooth cheek as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. I already expected a bruise on the one cheek, what was a few scratches on the other?
They stopped moving as one and when they did the wind suddenly stopped as well. All was calm in the clearing save for the rhythm of my beating heart. A heart trying to leap out of my chest so it could run far, far away from me and the things we were seeing.
I had no business being out here spying on them. Especially if they were all as naked under their robes as the one twin I’d gotten a glimpse of. I felt like a Pepping Tom and the worst kind of pervert. They deserved better than that from me. Well, Tyson did. The Salt and Pepper twins had had no problem checking me out when they’d seen me naked after my mother’s death. Tyson was different and I wasn’t going to ogle his naked body unless he was aware of me doing it.
As I stood up straight and stepped away from the tree, they pulled back their hoods. It had been Addison whose naked body I had seen. I’d now seen his dick. I wondered if Abel’s would look exactly the same as his twins. Probably. Everything else about their physical shape was the same, why not that part too?
I shook my head to shake out all thoughts of naked twins and all three of the guys dropped their robes to the grass covered ground. I got an eye full of Tyson’s firm, tight, very naked backside before averting my eyes.
Yes, sticking around for this show wouldn’t be right. Not at all.
I turned, to flee, when I was grabbed roughly from behind. One hand covered my mouth, silencing my scream. An arm wrapped around my chest. My back met with an extremely warm, solid, male body. I was going to struggle, to fight, when I looked down and caught sight of flames slithering up the arm wrapped around my chest. I relaxed against him immediately.
It’s like Quinton was stalking me or something. Thankfully, I could feel that he at least had clothes on.
Soft lips brushed against my ear. “If I move my hand, you better not scream.”
I nodded as best as I could with his hand clamped over my mouth. Now that I knew who it was, I had no intention of screaming. The last thing I needed was to draw attention to myself with three of my friends standing not twenty feet away from me, naked, with their dicks hanging in the breeze for all to see.
Quinton removed his hand from my mouth and wrapped his now free hand around my waist. He pulled me in tightly against his front.
“The others are coming and I don’t think you want to be here when they arrive,” he whispered against my ear.
I shivered and nodded, he was correct. I had seen more than enough penises for one night, thank you very much.
“Do you know what they’re doing?” he continued to whisper and this time I shook my head, no. “You can draw energy, power if you will, off of a full moon if you offer something in return. Remember, Ariel, everything comes with a price and absolutely nothing is free. Magic takes energy to use. If you burn enough energy, you’ll crash. It’s why Julian brought you food that one time at the house.”
He was using my first name when he usually didn’t. I wondered why. Maybe he wanted me to take what he was saying seriously? I did. I took everything Quinton told me seriously.
I remembered what he was talking about. It had been the first time I had ever used magic, I hadn’t even known for sure that I had magic before that, but I’d been doubtful. Good things had never happened to me before and I was nothing special, or so I had thought. In a fit of rage and extreme emotions (some would have called it a slight temper tantrum, only a slight one, though.) my magic had just sort of pushed its way out of me. It had been the single most exhilarating experience I had had up until that point in my life and probably still was. But the magic had burned bright and fast. I had been left feeling giddy, happy even. For a short amount of time. When the giddiness faded I’d been left feeling empty, entirely drained and oh so very tired. I had learned since then that what Quinton had just told me was very true. Magic came at a price and when that much energy was used, it needed to be replenished. Usually food worked wonders, especially with loads of sugar in it.
“We try to come out here every month, unless it’s summer and we’re camping or traveling. But this is our place when we’re home and we’ve been coming out here for years. Usually, we offer up something small, sometimes our own blood. Just a little prick, a few small droplets, nothing big.”
Quinton’s hand slid up my chest where he lightly trailed fingers across my shoulder then along my collarbone. Over some of my burn scars.
I wanted to cry.
Of course he would notice my scars. I was fond of wearing tank tops, which did nothing to hide my scars. He had probably noticed the scars the first time I had worn a tank top in front of him, or maybe it had been the time I had been naked in front of him. Either way, I didn’t think Quinton missed much when it came to me.
“Stop,” I whispered harshly, thickly.
Stop what, exactly?
Stop caressing my scars so softly, so sweetly? Stop reminding me of something I fought so very hard to forget? Stop touching me altogether?
I wasn’t entirely sure what I was telling him to stop doing. Trouble was, his touch on my bare skin did not bother me. It was where he touched that caused me discomfort.