Lifebound (Wiccan Haus #9)

By Leigh Daley

Lamia Adriana Velen doesn’t want another host. She has come to Wiccan Haus to learn to balance her energies without draining the life of a human. However, when extreme skateboarder Josh Trenton comes near, his energy practically leaps into her. Josh just wants space to recover from an accident that could end his career, but one touch from Adriana threatens to enslave him—body and soul. Can they walk the fine line between ecstasy and death or will she consume him utterly?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Decadent Publishing
• Release date: Dec 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781613339329

Book preview

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Smashwords Edition

Lifebound

Copyright  2016 by Leigh Daley

ISBN: 978-1-61333-9329

Cover art by Fiona Jayde

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by Decadent Publishing Company, LLC

Look for us online at:

www.decadentpublishing.com

Welcome to the Wiccan Haus

Something Wiccan this way comes to a mystical mysterious island where authors get to play and bring their love stories to life. At the Wiccan Haus you will meet Rekkus, Cyrus, Sage, Sarka, Cemil and Myron, all of whom return in most if not all the stories. Yes each one will eventually get their HEA as well.

We hope you enjoy the stories from all the authors and return time and again to keep up with the staff and meet new characters along the way. But fear not if this is your first or twenty-first story each book stands on its own. If you want to know more about the series please sign up for our newsletter.

Wiccan Haus Order of Books

Shifting Hearts by Dominique Eastwick

A Man Worth Fighting For by Sara Daniel

An Apple Away by Kate Richards

Siren's Serenade by Dominique Eastwick

Psychic Lies by Sara Daniel

Unveil my Heart by Nya Rayne

Finding Her A-Muse-ment by Rebecca Royce

Guarding His Heart by Carolyn Spear

Lifebound by Leigh Daley

The 13th Guest by Rebecca Royce

A Bride Worth Fighting For by Sara Daniel

Sorcerer’s Legacy by Carolyn Spear

Coming Soon

Healing His Soul's Mate by Dominique Eastwick

Claiming Trinity by Kali Willows

Soul of Flame by Merryn Dexter

Lifebound

Lamia Adriana Velen doesn’t want another host. She has come to Wiccan Haus to learn to balance her energies without draining the life of a human. However, when extreme skateboarder Josh Trenton comes near, his energy practically leaps into her. Josh just wants space to recover from an accident that could end his career, but one touch from Adriana threatens to enslave him—body and soul. Can they walk the fine line between ecstasy and death or will she consume him utterly?

A Note from the Author

While watching the Winter Olympics a few years ago, my daughter developed an obsession with snow/skateboarder Shaun White and subjected me to an infinite number of videos of this incredible athlete defying gravity. Her obsession soon became mine as I found myself drawn into the world of professional skating, a world full of sexy young men who fling themselves into danger on nothing but four wheels and a board---young men who also run financial empires worth millions. Josh Trenton skated into my heart, followed by his heroine, who flowed straight out of my love of the Romantic poets. Adriana Velen is a lamia, an energy vampire, who can’t touch a human without the risk of draining his life force completely. But our sexy hero just begs to be touched, and only the magic of Wiccan Haus can save them from each other.

Leigh Daley

www.leighdaleywrites.blogspot.com

Lifebound

A Wiccan Haus Story

By

Leigh Daley

Chapter One

Last run, Josh! Make it count! the photographer called as Josh skated past, his board wheels buzzing against the side of the tall ramp.

Sure thing, Tyler! How about a Miller Flip on your side then something really big across the pipe to finish up? Josh Trenton powered his way up the half-pipe.

Yeah! Surprise the hell out of me! Tyler never took the camera from his face as he yelled back at him.

Josh caught big air off the near side then pushed down the vert and across the ramp to hit the flip as big as he could for the shot. His feet flew over his head as he practically turned a cartwheel over the edge of the coping before dropping back into the ramp.

The sound of the wheels and the feel of the board beneath him vibrated like second nature to him after over twenty years of extreme skateboarding. He was the luckiest guy alive.

He’d started as a kid goofing around, but, by sixteen, when most of his friends had stopped skating to get their driver’s licenses, Josh had won his third pro competition and landed several huge endorsements. At twenty-one, he’d been named a legend with his own board line and video games.

Now, at thirty-four, he skated as hard as ever and still landed the big tricks, his body lean and hard muscled. But, these days, skating wasn’t just fun. It was also business. A boyhood hobby had turned into an obsession and then an empire. Josh Trenton X-Treme Skate VIII was coming to a game system near you in just a few months, and the photographer wanted one last promotional shot of the big trick, the big air, the move kids dreamed about.

For a moment, he wondered how much longer he’d be able to skate this way. But thoughtfulness blew away into exhilaration as he gathered momentum for the big finish.

Hell, he had at least another ten years of real skating ahead of him. Tony Hawk had landed a 900 on his forty-second birthday. Josh had eight more years to come up with something even bigger.

On his next pass up the pipe, he went for the 900, just so Tyler would piss his pants with excitement. As he exploded into the air high above the rim of the pipe, the golden wood of the half-pipe and the steel and glass of the office complex for Josh Trenton Promotions alternated beneath him in a crazy kaleidoscopic effect. He crouched into the board as he made two and a half complete revolutions off the top of the pipe for a full 900 degrees of spin before landing solidly on the curving boards.

Damn, it felt good.

Awesome! Tyler practically screamed as he snapped frame after frame of action shot. Perfect! Dude, that was incredible.

Josh let his speed drop off as he rolled into the flat to meet Tyler on the ground. The photographer came running forward with his camera in hand, intent on showing him the photos on the screen.

Josh waved him away. That’s okay. You make your best call on what to use. I’ll see them when the game comes out.

Tyler thanked him for the great shoot and headed to his car. Once he had everything packed away, Tyler cleared his throat. Thanks so much for giving me this chance. I mean it, man. I still can’t believe you called me like that. This shoot could really get me into the big time.

Josh smiled and shook his head. I’m just glad I caught the spread you posted of last year’s X-Games. You’ve got talent, and I can’t wait to see how these turn out. He flipped his skateboard up to catch it in his fingertips.

Once Tyler had pulled out of the parking lot, Josh pushed off again to circle the skatepark he’d built behind the warehouse housing his headquarters. The sky had begun to turn pink in the afternoon light, but the day had been productive. The shoot felt professional and vibrant, the screenshots he’d seen of the latest game looked awesome, and the newest designs for his clothing line would arrive sometime tomorrow for his approval.

Plus, his IT specialist, Alicia, had just finished the new phone app that would link his followers to all his activities—the clothes, the boards, the competitions and exhibitions, and his work with kids there in Mobile and the rest of the Gulf Coast. The March sun glowed unseasonably warm on his shoulders as he pushed toward the door of the building. Lights still glowed inside her office, so Alicia hadn’t left yet. He’d check on the final version of the app. Maybe she’d let him load it on his phone as the first official user—unless her husband, his cousin Rob, already had a copy. She let Rob see everything first. Sometimes Josh wished he hadn’t introduced them in the first place.

As he skated past the big loop, the centerpiece of his park, the setting sun gleamed seductively off its tall, golden curve. The plywood and steel tube towered overhead, beckoning to him, pulling him into its grip. One more big trick before turning in for the day. After all, a celebration was in order.

He climbed the thirty-foot tower up to the big drop that provided the momentum to skate the loop in a full 360-degree circle, judging the remaining light as he did. A successful run depended on good visibility. He had to hit the loop at just the right speed. Too fast, and he’d crash into the top of it. Too slow, and he’d fall from the twelve-foot height to the floor below. Many top skaters had hurt themselves badly on that particular stunt. It wasn’t called the Loop of Death for nothing.

He stalled on the edge of the coping, and a big grin flashed across his face as he tightened the straps of his helmet. Then he pushed off the edge of the run. Adrenaline pumped through him as he sped down the vertical drop, the warm Gulf breeze rippling his shirt around his chest.

It felt so good.

But as he entered the loop, a sudden bright glare of light from the setting sun reflected into his eyes from the windows of the building next door, and he lost track of the surface beneath him. By the time his eyes adjusted, he knew his speed was all wrong. He was going to lose it right at the top. He was going to hit the ground. Hard.

He hit the peak too fast, too aggressively, and he flipped off the board as it flew out from under his feet to whiz around the loop without him.

He plummeted toward the floor, the breeze still dragging at his shirt. The sharp impact of the golden wood slammed into his face. Then everything went dark.

Josh! Josh, can you hear me? Alicia’s voice called to him as if from a great distance. Don’t move, Josh! I’ve called 9-1-1.

What was she talking about? 9-1-1? He wasn’t hurt. He just needed a minute to sit up and breathe.

But when he tried to move, shooting pains ran from his hip down his leg. He must have groaned out loud because she immediately shushed him.

Shhh. It’s okay. Just don’t move, all right?

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the wheels of Rob’s chair roll up beside him. Hang in there, Josh. The ambulance is on its way.

He tried once more to turn enough to talk to them, to tell them he was fine, that he didn’t need an ambulance, but the pain lanced through him again, causing his world to go white with agony.

Dammit. What an ending to a perfect day.

***

Some months later, the desk clerk, Myron, sat at the guest register at the Wiccan Haus resort and watched the newest arrivals to the island file through the front door. As she did, she turned over playing cards from the deck in her hand in a sort of unusual game of Solitaire.

A silver-haired gentleman in a suit approached. Down the hall, second door to the left, she said before he spoke a word.

The man peered at her quizzically.

Cemil had already stepped out of the back office to reassure the man. It’s good to see you again, Preston. You were looking for the restroom, weren’t you?

As the businessman headed that way, still obviously confused by the exchange, the blond empath shook his head at her. Please make your powers less apparent to the humans, if you don’t mind.

I do mind, Cemil, and Preston Mitchell isn’t exactly out of the loop where paras are concerned. Besides, investment bankers don’t count as human in my deck. Myron turned over another card.

Cemil snorted with repressed laughter. Mr. Mitchell is still a guest, so be polite.

Myron shrugged, never ceasing to flip the cards in her hand into a semicircle before her. The jack of diamonds, then the two of spades lay before her. You might want to give this one a hand. She gestured to the large entry door in the foyer, which began to swing open slowly to admit a dark-haired man. He was not overly tall and was dressed like a teenager in cargo shorts and a graphic T-shirt, but Myron knew from the cards in her hand that he was older and wearier than his youthful appearance and short, rakishly spiked hair would lead one to believe.

He also leaned heavily on a cane.

Cemil walked around the counter and took the bulky backpack the young man wore. I’m sorry. One of our porters should have taken this for you. Cemil reached toward him.

The man pushed Cemil’s hand away firmly.

I don’t need any help, thanks, he said gruffly. I’ve got it. He paused to readjust the strap on his shoulder then limped up to the desk, lines of pain etched around his eyes. Josh Trenton. He leaned against Myron’s desk.

Room 305, she said, handing him a key. Take the last elevator up to the third floor. Then she reached under her desk and passed him a travel-sized bottle of ibuprofen. You left yours on the ferry, she explained when he gave her an odd look.

Thanks, I guess. He slipped the bottle into a cargo pocket then hefted his pack again.

She watched the young man make his painful way down the hall to the last elevator, the only one that led to the human-only third floor.

That one is going to be a challenge, even for your empathic talents, Cemil. Myron turned over a few more cards. Tell Rekkus he’s got about an hour before the portal opens for the paras. She turned over