“Did it work? Did you see them?” he asked, his voice gruff with emotion.
“Yes—oh Malcolm…” She couldn’t say anything more as she buried her face against his chest.
Healing tears of grief and loss rolled on her cheeks, dampening his skin where her face touched his chest. He’d given her a farewell to her parents that shouldn’t have even been possible.
“I never want to make you cry.” He whispered in the crown of her hair.
“These are happy tears,” she promised. “I may have lost them, but I found you. Perhaps that’s the way of life, forever losing those people we love and discovering new people to fill our hearts with? The pain of their loss will always be there, but the joy of finding and loving you? It erases so many of those shadows in my heart.”
He brushed tears away from her cheeks with his thumbs and Calli caught his wrists with her hands.
“Make love to me. Chase the shadows away.”
He climbed onto the bed with her, shedding the rest of his clothes as she removed hers.
Soon they were skin to skin, their mouths dancing upon one another’s bodies. Calli trembled with the depth of her love for him. That emptiness she’d once felt was gone. He was like a second heartbeat inside her soul, such was the power of their bond. Shared sensations and emotions flowed between them as Malcolm’s mouth explored the valley between her breasts. Calli arched her back, letting him suck on the taut peaks of each nipple.
How easy it is to love him…
Her soft moans turned to giggles as he found a ticklish spot on her hip, and his deep rich laugh only turned her on more.
Then he was between her thighs, his wicked mouth delving into her, his tongue swirling against her sensitive flesh. She was crying, begging for him to be inside her. She came apart in a burst of pleasure as he continued to kiss her there.
Sated and limp, she opened her arms to pull him up her body as he sank into her waiting heat. The connection was instant, and he sank so deep into her that the shock of the moment stole her breath. She locked eyes with him as he braced himself above her, riding her slow, then hard, with thrusts that grounded them both to the moment, like a pair of trees with roots twined together deep under the earth.
From now on, we grow together in all things.
She threaded her fingers through his dark hair, holding onto him as they rose into new heights of shared pleasure.
Malcolm shouted her name, going rigid above her. Calli’s body rippled with another orgasm, this one softer and sweeter as it quaked through her body and soul.
This man… this beautiful man with a heart of gold had brought her a familiar at long last and had ignited her magic to a higher level. Most importantly, he had showered her with love and given her the last glimpse of her parents. And he decided to give his life for her.
“I love you,” she whispered over and over as they drifted down from the heights of pleasure and the silence of the night became a gentle blanket over them.
“You are the real magic for me,” Malcolm said. “Only you.”
Tonight was the first night Malcolm Wellesley felt like he truly belonged somewhere. Because Calli Wynter had been brave enough to forgive him, to love him, to fight for him, he belonged.
That fateful night with his broom had been a domino falling that had led him straight to Calli’s door. When he’d accidentally opened the portal in Boston, he could have landed in any other garden in Moonstone Falls, or any other town, but he had landed here. And that had made all the difference. Maybe fate and destiny weren’t so bad after all.
Calli fell asleep long before he did. He lay awake watching the meteor shower outside that their lovemaking had caused. If he listened carefully enough, he could hear the water and distant streams singing to them. After midnight, he heard the patter of heavy paws on the wood floor and looked over to see Hades standing in the bedroom doorway, dark eyes watching them.
“Thanks for coming back,” he whispered to his friend. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. It’s always been you and me. Now we have them.”
The giant schnauzer huffed. His ears flattened and then popped forward as he made a contented sound licking his lips. He left the room, his paws clacking as he disappeared from view, and a moment later the tiny form of Sephie scurried past, chasing after him.
Malcolm brushed a lock of hair back from Calli’s face and looked at her dark lashes fanned out on her cheeks. Life certainly had a strange sense of humor. He’d grown up believing he’d failed at everything he cared about. But now he understood that he couldn’t trust or blame destiny. Destiny would do as it wished, but the rest of his life, his happy ever after? That was up to him.
Now he had that happy ever after… Calli Wynter in his arms, in his heart. Magic of this kind was truly the most beautiful in the world. And he would never let go of it.
At long last, Malcolm fell asleep, dreaming of all the Halloweens to come, knowing he and Calli would be together for all of them.
Outside of the town, the new guardian spell stood strong, quietly protecting Moonstone Falls. But there was a twist to the spell that Reginald Wellesley had helped place. Before the previous wards had fallen, anyone who came into this town would never forget the magic of it and how it touched their heart. Now the town would call to anyone who needed to see and feel magic in their lives. To experience magic in all of its beautiful forms and be healed by it. This town would give hope to those trapped in the dark, trying to find their way out. For those lost souls, Moonstone Falls would shine like a beacon.
EPILOGUE
Christmas Eve
