The Longest Night Read online

  Did I believe in destiny? Did I still believe that people were fated to meet? Then, a shriek sliced through the air and I jerked my head up to see a hawk go barreling past, winging down to grab something out of the snow. It circled up again, then swept past us and I could swear that it was looking directly at me. With a gasp, I stumbled back, and inside me something burst open as the hawk reminded me of who I had once been—of the woman I had locked away inside.

  I turned to Chris, and he wrapped his arms around me as I searched his expression. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but there it was, hanging in his gaze.

  “Yes, I believe in fate. I think destiny exists, even though sometimes it seems like it’s a long ways away.” My heart was beating rapidly as I stood there in his embrace. I wanted to ask him if he’d been talking about us, but my lips wouldn’t form the words. Instead, I whispered, “Chris…”

  He answered by pressing his lips against mine.

  I melted into his arms, the smell of his spicy cologne washing over me in a flurry of cinnamon and vanilla. He kissed me long and hard, his lips playing gently over mine, and then the kiss grew stronger and his tongue was in my mouth. As I wrapped my arms around his waist, he slid one hand down to cup my ass and I moaned, pressing against the hardness behind the front of his jeans.

  “I want you, Marilee. I want to make love to you here, tonight.”

  A knot of fear coiled in my stomach—a knee-jerk reaction. What would he think of my body? What would he think of the fact that I had stretch marks and my skin was no longer tight and firm like when I was twenty years old?

  As if he were reading my mind, he whispered, “You’re beautiful. You’re warm and soft in my arms, and all I can think about is the feel of your skin under my fingers, and how much I want to taste your breasts… How much I want to taste you.”

  “Do you have protection? I can still get pregnant if I’m not careful.” I hated thinking about practical matters, but I didn’t want any accidents, especially at this time in my life.

  “Yes, I do. Are you… Do you want…” He pulled away and held me by my shoulders, staring into my eyes.

  I nodded. “Yes. Make love to me, please.”

  He led me inside, up to the bedroom. At first I was shy, but he turned me around to face him and slowly began to help me undress. When I started to pull away, he stopped me.

  “Let me, please? Let me see you. Let me know your body.”

  So I let him slide the dress over my hips. He carefully draped it over the back of a chair. I shivered, starting to cover my breasts, but he shook his head, taking my hands in his, holding my arms out to my sides as his gaze devoured my body.

  Then he slowly reached around and unfastened my bra, and my breasts lightly bounced free. He slid his fingers into the sides of my panties and slowly lowered them to the floor, stopping to press his lips to just below my belly button.

  Hungry for his touch—it had been so long since any man had wanted me this way—I let out a soft cry. And then it was all a blur as he hurried out of his clothes, tossing his shirt to one side and kicking his pants to the other. He was strong, his muscles rippling beneath his smooth skin. It was obvious that he kept in shape, but the marks of age were still there—a scar here, a scar there. But all of that faded away as he pulled me into his arms and tossed me on the bed, laughing softly.

  “I wanted to do this the first day I came to your house. You smelled so good, and you’re so pretty, and I like you so much. There’s something about you, Marilee. I feel like we’ve known each other before. I feel like we’ve found each other after a long, long time apart.”

  As he shifted between my legs, stroking me gently, I realized that I felt the same way. I didn’t feel like I was with a stranger, but with a dear, dear friend I hadn’t seen in so long. Whoever we had been before, we had come home to each other. I wrapped my arms around him and then all thought vanished as he began to move inside me, loving me through the winter night.

  IT WAS THE night of the Winter Solstice—Yuletide, to us Pagans. Chris and I stood on top of one of the nearby hills. The clouds had broken and the moon shone down from the clear, crisp sky. She wasn’t full, not yet, but we could see her, the gibbous moon waxing toward full. The silver light gleamed on the freshly fallen snow, turning the entire field in front of us into a crystalline playground.

  Behind us, by the car, stood my mother. Two days after the dance, I had flown her out to spend a couple weeks with me. The visit had been the best we’d ever had, and she and Chris seem to get along like old pals.

  We were on snowshoes, all three of us, and we held candles. Chris was holding a gold taper, I was holding a silver one, and my mother was holding a white one. We were dressed in parkas and thick gloves, but my mother and I had woven ivy and holly into wreaths, and they perched merrily over our snow hats.

  “This is a beautiful place. Thank you for bringing us up here.”

  Chris had attached a snowplow to the front of his truck and plowed the road on up to Whistle Peak. Then he had returned to town to pick up my mother and me.

  “Oh, I’ve got more surprises in store.” He stifled a laugh, but I could tell that he was up to something.

  “I can hardly wait,” I whispered with a suggestive tone in my voice. Every night since the dance, we had spent together, getting to know each other. It was the best sex I’d ever had. We couldn’t seem to keep our hands off each other, and our chemistry was incredible.

  “Be good, your mother’s watching us.” But he stopped, and then laughed out loud. “Oh, Marilee. You don’t know how happy I am right now.”

  “Yes I do, because I’m just as happy.”

  “Break it up, you two. I may be used to the snow, but I’m not used to the mountains.” My mother trudged over, keeping her balance better than I did. She was sixty-eight, but she was still sharp as a whip, and she looked like she was in her fifties. She kept active, both physically and mentally, and I had the feeling she would live to be one-hundred. At least, I hoped so.

  “We might as well get started.”

  We formed a triangle in the snow. We didn’t bother casting a Circle, not in a space as magical and sacred as this one was, with the snow and the moon and the forest surrounding us. My mother brought out a lighter and she lit her taper candle, holding it out so that it dripped into snow.

  “The Goddess’s light shines forth in the night, on this the longest night of the year. She calls upon the Oak King and the Holly King to rise and meet each other in battle as they do twice a year, every year. The eternal cycle, the eternal battle between waxing and waning, light and shadow, growth and barrenness.” Her voice was soft as she spoke. She had written a ritual for us, for the Winter Solstice.

  It had been a long time since I had been able to celebrate, but my heart felt full as I lit my candle off of hers, also holding it out to drip in the snow.

  “I light this candle for the Holly King, whose time to rule has come to an end. King of the Waning Year, he raises his sword to meet his brother in battle. As they fight, he yields and falls. The King is dead. The dark tides of the year pass. The longest night comes to an end.”

  Chris lit his candle off of mine, and the metallic gold wax slowly fell onto the snow. “I light this candle for the Oak King, who rises new again, and takes up the crown. He honors his fallen brother, as the Waxing Year begins and new growth and new life will surely come with the return of the sun. Long live the King.”

  We placed our tapers into the waiting candleholders resting on the snow in front of us, then joined hands, forming a circle around them. As we began to sing our chant to the sun, our voices broke through the silence echoing across the snow.

  “Come children come to the glorious sun,

  The Oak shall surely rise.

  Come children, as the cycles are spun,

  Mourn as the Holly dies.”

  As our voices tapered off, a calm settled in my heart that I hadn’t felt for a l
ong time. I was reclaiming my past, even as I claimed my future. I wasn’t sure what would happen between Chris and me, but I had a feeling that we had time stretching in front of us to find out.

  In my heart, I knew we had been parted long ago, in a distant life, and only now had we managed to find each another again. I wasn’t ready to say those three little words that meant so much, but I could feel them in my heart, and I was pretty sure that Chris felt them too.

  “Are you ready for the surprise?”

  Mom and I nodded, huddling together against the chill. I was ready to go eat, but I didn’t want to spoil whatever Chris had waiting for us.

  He stepped back and pulled out something that looked like a remote control. Confused, I glanced around and then—one of the trees, a small fir tree about six feet tall—sparkled with a dazzling array of colored lights. He had decked it out in battery-operated faerie lights, and now the tree sparkled, dripping in jewels against the background of the night sky and white snow.

  As I stared transfixed by the beauty, he slipped his arms around me and gave me a long kiss.

  “I want to spend every holiday with you. I want to spend time with you, I want to get to know you so well that I can answer any question about you. I think I’m falling in love with you, Marilee. And I hope that’s okay.”

  I could only nod as we stood there, under the longest night of the year. But inside, I knew the sun would return. A shriek echoed through the sky as the hawk reassured me. Everything was going to be okay. I had found my way home.

  I hope you enjoyed this book. If you enjoyed this, you might enjoy my other work.

  The Wild Hunt Series is dark urban fantasy with a romance subplot. Ember Kearney was born with the mark of the Silver Stag. Recruited by Herne to join the Wild Hunt, she must do her best to keep peace between the worlds of Light and Dark Fae. The first four books are available: THE SILVER STAG, OAK & THORNS, IRON BONES, and A SHADOW OF CROWS. The fifth, THE HALLOWED HUNT, will be out in a couple of months.

  If you prefer a lighter hearted paranormal romance, meet the wild and magical residents of Bedlam in my Bewitching Bedlam Series. Fun-loving witch Maddy Gallowglass, her smoking-hot vampire lover Aegis, and their crazed cjinn Bubba (part djinn, all cat) rock it out in Bedlam, a magical town on a magical island. THE WISH FACTOR, BLOOD MUSIC, BEWITCHING BEDLAM, BLOOD VENGEANCE, TIGER TAILS, MAUDLIN’S MAYHEM, SIREN’S SONG, WITCHES WILD, and CASTING CURSES are available.

  I also invite you to visit Fury’s world. Bound to Hecate, Fury is a minor goddess, taking care of the Abominations who come off the World Tree. The first story arc of the Fury Unbound Series is complete with: FURY RISING, FURY’S MAGIC, FURY AWAKENED, FURY CALLING, and FURY’S MANTLE.

  If you like cozies with an edge, try my Chintz ‘n China paranormal mysteries. The series is complete with: GHOST OF A CHANCE, LEGEND OF THE JADE DRAGON, MURDER UNDER A MYSTIC MOON, A HARVEST OF BONES, ONE HEX OF A WEDDING, and a wrap-up novella: HOLIDAY SPIRITS.

  For all of my work, both published and upcoming releases, see the Bibliography at the end of this book, or check out my website at Galenorn.com and be sure and sign up for my newsletter to receive news about all my new releases.

  Biography

  New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and is the author of over sixty books, including the Wild Hunt Series, the Fury Unbound Series, the Bewitching Bedlam Series, and the Otherworld Series, among others. She’s also written nonfiction metaphysical books. She is the 2011 Career Achievement Award Winner in Urban Fantasy, given by RT Magazine. Yasmine has been in the Craft since 1980, is a shamanic witch and High Priestess. She describes her life as a blend of teacups and tattoos. She lives in Kirkland, WA, with her husband Samwise and their cats. Yasmine can be reached via her website at Galenorn.com.

  Indie Releases Currently Available:

  Wild Hunt Series:

  The Silver Stag

  Oak & Thorns

  Iron Bones

  A Shadow of Crows

  The Hallowed Hunt

  Bewitching Bedlam Series:

  Bewitching Bedlam

  Maudlin’s Mayhem

  Siren’s Song

  Witches Wild

  Casting Curses

  Blood Music

  Blood Vengeance

  Tiger Tails

  The Wish Factor

  Fury Unbound Series:

  Fury Rising

  Fury’s Magic

  Fury Awakened

  Fury Calling

  Fury’s Mantle

  Indigo Court Series:

  Night Myst

  Night Veil

  Night Seeker

  Night Vision

  Night’s End

  Night Shivers

  Otherworld Series:

  Moon Shimmers

  Harvest Song

  Earthbound

  Knight Magic

  Otherworld Tales: Volume One

  Tales From Otherworld: Collection One

  Men of Otherworld: Collection One

  Men of Otherworld: Collection Two

  Moon Swept: Otherworld Tales of First Love

  For the rest of the Otherworld Series, see Website

  Chintz ‘n China Series:

  Ghost of a Chance

  Legend of the Jade Dragon

  Murder Under a Mystic Moon

  A Harvest of Bones

  One Hex of a Wedding

  Holiday Spirits

  Bath and Body Series (originally under the name India Ink):

  Scent to Her Grave

  A Blush With Death

  Glossed and Found

  Misc. Short Stories/Anthologies:

  The Longest Night: A Starwood Novella

  Mist and Shadows: Short Tales From Dark Haunts

  Once Upon a Kiss (short story: Princess Charming)

  Once Upon a Curse (short story: Bones)

  Magickal Nonfiction:

  Embracing the Moon

  Tarot Journeys

  For all other series, as well as upcoming work, see Website