The Forbidden

by Cheyenne McCray

  “What is Cassia?” Hawk asked, startling Silver with the bluntness of his question, as well as his surprising intuition.

  “An apprentice witch.” She studied Hawk for a moment, then quietly added, “But, to be honest, I don’t know if she’s exactly who or what she claims to be.”

  His amber eyes expressed his displeasure with her answer. “Why do you allow her to remain if she has not been honest with you?”

  She sighed and opened a cabinet to withdraw her favorite teacup and saucer, the one with colorful sprigs of wildflowers gracing the white porcelain. She reached for a handmade teabag with cinnamon sticks and other spices and placed it in her teacup. “I’ve gone to the high priestess about my feelings, but Janis will hear nothing of it. I’m certain she must know that Cassia is...”

  “Something other," Hawk finished for her.

  “I guess so.” Silver frowned. For a moment she was silent and heard only the tick of her kitchen clock and the soft hum of the teakettle as the water closed in on its boiling point “But what exactly she may be,” she finally said, “I don’t know.”

  The kettle began to whistle and she turned back to the stove and switched off the flame. “However, I don’t think Father would have allowed her near me if he was concerned. She came from the Massachusetts Coven, where my father is high priest.”

  Hawk still didn’t look satisfied when she glanced at him, but as far as she was concerned, there was nothing left to say about the apprentice witch. If she was a witch. Silver would never totally let down her guard, and for now that would have to be enough.

  Silver tipped the kettle and poured the heated water over the bag in her teacup. The scent of cinnamon filled the air. While the tea steeped, Silver switched on the oven and set the temperature.

  Hawk studied her every movement as she focused on throwing together dinner, his eyes dark and sensual. A slight shiver raced through her at the way he was watching her.

  From what she remembered from her studies, the Tuatha D’Danann were notorious for their hunger. Part of the legend of the D’Danann was that they even had a cauldron in Otherworld that provided a never-ending supply of food.

  Hawk’s stomach growled and she managed a smile. “Hold on. I’ll have something ready in no time.” Silver turned away, opened the fridge, and began retrieving the vegetables, homemade sauce, tofu, goat’s milk cheese, and handmade pasta she needed to make her favorite meal—organic vegetable lasagna. She gathered the ingredients and placed them on the counter.

  While she focused on making dinner, she found herself wanting to know more about him. “Do you have any family?”

  When she glanced at him she saw sadness sweep across his face. “My wife Davina is dead.” But then the sadness was replaced with a gentle smile. “I do have a beautiful daughter.”

  Silver’s heart ached for his loss as she wrapped her hand around the wooden handle of a vegetable knife, preparing to chop up vegetables for the lasagna. “What happened to your wife?”

  Hawk hesitated. Cleared his throat. “I saw a venomous snake near our home, the home we lived in before she died. I could have killed it with my dagger, but I feared it, and believed that my aim wouldn’t be true.” He rubbed his eyes as if trying to relieve an ache there. “I went into our quarters to retrieve my sword. When I returned, my mate lay upon the ground. A Basilisk’s fangs had pierced her chest. Poison flowed from her body and I was helpless to save her.” His jaw was tense and his eyes filled with anger. “The Basilisk was nowhere to be found. If only I had not left, if I had killed the snake before it took its true form. I would have gladly died in her place.”

  “I know what it’s like to lose somebody very close.” Silver swallowed and put her hand on Hawk’s. “I’m sorry.”

  “I do not deserve your sympathy.” He pulled away from her. “I should have slain the filthy serpent with my dagger the instant I saw it.”

  For a long moment silence filled the kitchen. Silver didn’t know what to say. Finally a question spilled from her lips that she’d had no intention of asking. “Why do you fear snakes?”

  Hawk ran his palm down his face and for a moment he looked tired. So, so tired. “Keir.” His jaw clenched. “When I was a child, my fosterling brother always played tricks on me. He was jealous because he was the bastard son of my father and did not know his mother, whereas I was born of my father’s true union.

  “One day he made a pit and filled it with countless snakes he had captured in the woods.” Now the look in Hawk’s eyes changed to fury. “I was so young, so small. Keir shoved me into the pit. It wasn’t very deep, so he knew I wouldn’t be hurt... But the snakes. They crawled all over me. Inside my tunic, over my head, into my boots. I did not know they were not venomous, and I was beyond terrified.”

  Hawk’s throat worked. “My father came to my aid and punished Keir. For weeks upon weeks I had nightmares of snakes crawling over me, eating me, killing everyone I knew. I should have outgrown the fear, but I never did.” His voice was rough and filled with both anger and remorse.

  Silver set aside the knife she had been using to cut vegetables as he spoke. She went to him and reached up to cup his cheeks in her hands. He felt warm and real, his stubble rough beneath her palms. His eyes were tortured as his gaze locked with hers. “I’m so sorry, Hawk.” She slipped her arms around his neck and placed her cheek against his chest and hugged him, giving him what support and comfort she could.

  He was tense beneath her arms, but then relaxed and hugged her back for a few long moments. When they finally parted, she brushed a lock of his long dark hair from his face. “Nothing I say can make you feel better, but I hope one day you will realize it wasn’t your fault Davina died.”

  He gripped her shoulders and set her apart from him, his features hardening back to a stoic mask. “That I shall never believe.”

  Silver sighed and turned back to preparing dinner. “You must miss your daughter when you’re away from your home.”

  “Aye.” He sighed. “If not for my duties as a warrior—duties I chose—I would be home with her now.”

  She finished slicing an eggplant on a wooden cutting board. She grabbed a zucchini and chopped the vegetable as she spoke. “What’s your daughter’s name?”

  Silver glanced at Hawk and saw a smile of pride cross his handsome features. “Shayla. She is beautiful. Strong-willed, and perhaps impetuous, like her father.” His smile melted into a frown and a sigh. “I miss her and never leave her for long. She is still so young, even by Earth’s standards.”

  Silver nodded and grabbed a yellow crookneck squash and began to chop it up for the vegetable lasagna. “Of course. Shayla needs you.”

  Knowing that Hawk was a father, a loving one, she saw him in a whole new light. He had seemed dangerous and exciting, as well as protective, caring, and kind, even if on the arrogant and dominating side.

  Now she tried to picture him holding a beautiful child with dark hair and amber eyes like his own. Kissing the little girl’s forehead, hugging her tight, and tucking her into bed.

  The thought warmed her heart. What would it be like to have a child? Being so busy with the shop and the D’Anu Coven kept her from thinking about things like having a family, with young witches of her own. She’d had occasional relationships with men, but had parted with each man on friendly terms. Her spirit had always been free and she’d never found a man she wanted to bond with.

  After she finished chopping all the vegetables, Silver took another sip of tea to calm herself. She then withdrew a pan from a cabinet and began layering the sauce, pasta, tofu, vegetables, and cheese. When she was finished she slipped the pan into the oven. Hot air rolled over her through the open door before she closed it.

  Silver stepped back. “It shouldn’t take too long until it’s done.”

  “What, you can’t magically bake it?” Hawk said with a smile, and his stomach rumbled loud enough for her to hear again.

  Silver withdrew a bag of frozen homemade breadsticks fr
om the small combination freezer/refrigerator. “I could use spellfire, but I’m not sure you’d be up to charred lasagna.”

  “Right now I could eat anything.” He shifted against the doorframe as she arranged half a dozen breadsticks on a baking sheet, then set it aside.

  Silver paused on her way to the fridge, and his gaze caught hers. The sudden energy between them was so palpable that hair prickled on her arms and at her nape. She forced herself to turn away, to tear her gaze from his. She opened the fridge and withdrew a bunch of romaine lettuce, a tomato, and carrots and took them to the counter.

  ‘Tell me about your family,” Hawk said.

  Was his voice husky, or was she imagining what she wanted to hear?

  Silver paused in mid-motion, then tore pieces of the romaine and tossed them into the bowl. “My mother and father live in Salem, Massachusetts.” Tension gripped her body at her next thought. “But they’ll be coming soon, after they find a house sitter and catch a flight here.” She glanced at Hawk. “I really don’t want them anywhere near the Fomorii, but what can I do?”

  He shifted. “What are they like?” he asked.

  She gave a small shrug. “Mother is beautiful and the calm at the center of the storm.” Her mouth quirked as she glanced at Hawk. “My father is the storm.”

  “And siblings?”

  Silver finished slicing the tomatoes and tossed them onto the lettuce, then withdrew a grater from another cabinet for the carrots. “One.”

  When she didn’t say anything further, he said, “And...”

  “She’s missing.” She swallowed the last of her tea, then finished grating the carrots and added them to the bowl of salad.

  Without looking at Hawk, she started to clean the counter, wash the dirty utensils and put them away. “About a year ago, Copper vanished after she’d left to perform a ritual. One day she was here, living with me and helping me with the store, and the next she was just gone.”

  ‘There were no clues?” Hawk’s voice lowered, concern in his tone.

  “One.” Silver concentrated on washing her hands and drying them on a towel hanging on a hook on the cabinet beside the sink. “An outline of Balor’s eye had been drawn in the sand. The Balorites must have had a hand in her disappearance.”

  Memories of her sister washed over Silver as she braced her hands on the porcelain sink and stared at the ring of rust around the drain. “She was so full of life. There was a sparkle to her. The mischievous gleam in her green eyes, the soft glow of her copper hair. And her clumsiness. She would look so beautiful and elegant, and then trip over her own feet. But she laughed. She always laughed.”

  Hawk came up so quietly behind Silver that his touch startled her when he rubbed his palms along her upper arms and then began to massage her shoulders, her neck, her upper back. His fingers were so strong, so sure. The scent of the lasagna drifted through the kitchen and she heard his stomach rumble again.

  The room became quiet, a comfortable silence that lasted while his touch relaxed her, calmed her. She leaned into his grip, welcomed the strength of his hands. Until that moment she hadn’t realized just how much she needed this.

  When she finally turned to face him, he braced his hands on the sink to either side of her, caging her with his arms. “You are so very beautiful,” he murmured in that incredibly sexy Irish brogue that sent waves of desire through her.

  He studied her with those eyes that seemed to see straight into her heart and soul. The heat of his body warmed hers, even though he was inches from her. His scent was intoxicating, filling her in a way she’d never been filled before. She felt comforted by his presence, yet completely aware of him as a man. A man who attracted her like no other man had ever done.

  The strong smell of lasagna caught her attention. She had no idea how much time had passed. She ducked beneath one of his arms and grabbed a pair of blue and white potholders dangling on a hook by the stove. “This kitchen is so tiny. You’ll have to step back so I can open the oven door.”

  Hawk moved back to the doorway, and she brought the bubbling pan of lasagna out of the oven and set it on a hot pad. While it cooled a bit, she slipped a pan of breadsticks into the oven to brown. The entire time the bread was in the oven, he kept looking at the lasagna and his stomach rumbled like a lion. She was tempted to grin. She enjoyed making him wait. He looked like such a little boy.

  She swallowed the rest of her tea and then decided to add crumbled goat’s milk cheese to the salad. After the breadsticks were browned, Hawk helped her by carrying the pan of lasagna to the dining area, along with the salad and a bowl filled with the cloth-covered bread.

  The table was in a tiny nook situated in one of the bay windows that looked out onto the steep hill below, where she had a view of other businesses, apartments, and the Transamerica building. She brought another bottle of beer for Hawk from the fridge, and made herself a cup of hot citrus tea, with a sweet orange scent to it.

  While they ate, Silver watched Hawk. He devoured the meal like a man who hadn’t eaten in days. She only played with the food on her plate, her mind returning to what had happened to her Coven, trying to figure out what she needed to do. She set her fork on her plate and rubbed her arms, attempting to control that antsy feeling that she was going to crawl out of her skin if she didn’t do something now. But right now she had no place to start. How could she make plans when she didn’t even know where her Coven had been taken?

  Hawk ate everything except what was on her plate. He wolfed down almost the entire pan of lasagna, five bread- sticks, and the rest of the salad.

  After he was done, he wiped his mouth with one of the blue cotton napkins and gave her a boyish look. “Have any more of those cookies?”

  Silver laughed and moved into the kitchen. “I think I can whip up some for you.”

  Again he watched as he followed her. He obviously felt comfortable in her home by the casual way he reclined against her counter. After she gathered all the ingredients, she began measuring them into a bowl. She had a feeling she’d never have enough chocolate chip cookies for this man.

  In a large handmade pottery bowl, she combined butter, brown and white sugars, vanilla, and eggs. Separately she sifted together salt, baking soda, flour, and tossed the dry mixture into the pottery bowl. Everything she used was organic and of the finest quality, just as the shop’s café did. She chose a wooden spoon out of a fat crock of utensils, stuck it into the bowl, tossed in the chocolate chips and started stirring.

  While she blended the ingredients, she glanced at Hawk. “Now, why don’t you fill me in about the Fomorii and the D’Danann?”

  Hawk frowned as if trying to determine exactly what to tell her. “We are the people of the goddess Dana. We were the last generation of gods to rule Ireland before the Milesius invasion. We left to be in our own sidhe, a subterranean court in an Otherworld.” His features softened. “It is a world of beauty”—he paused—“and dangers.”

  “I read as much in the ancient scrolls.” Silver gave a slow nod. “But what about the Fomorii?”

  “At the second battle of Magh Tuireadh we defeated the Fomorii with our superior abilities and with four great talismans,” Hawk said. “As you witnessed, no doubt, the Fomorii are violent and misshapen demons. Evil beings led by the most evil of all—Balor.” Hawk looked troubled at that. “If the Fomorii summon Balor, things will not bode well for your battle.”

  A lump formed in her throat at the thought. “Bastards.”

  “The goddess Dana sent the Fomorii to Otherworld after we defeated them.” Hawk’s mouth thinned into a grim line. “They preyed upon any races they could capture. The beasts can take over any body they wish to by simply touching their prey. When they move on to another host, they leave behind nothing but an empty shell.”

  While Hawk talked, Silver stopped stirring the dough. She began scooping out golf-ball-sized amounts of the dough onto a cookie sheet until a dozen large cookies were arranged on the pan.

  ‘The D’Da
nann lived in another part of Otherworld, so we were not troubled by the Fomorii,” Hawk said. “The D’Danann Enforcers were called upon by the Shanai who begged for our assistance. Our elders agreed. We answered their call and again battled the Fomorii. At first we had much difficulty defeating them, as they had developed great fighting skills in Otherworld.”

  Hawk gestured as he spoke, and Silver found herself fascinated by his strong hands and his long fingers as he told the story.

  “Then the tide of battle turned,” he continued, “when the Elves and Fae suspended our differences long enough to work together to defeat the Fomorii. We rounded up every one of the demons we could find. We sent them to exile in Underworld.”

  Silver slid the large pan of cookies into the oven, shut the door, and set the timer. “How did you do that?”

  Hawk eyed the oven hungrily. “The Druids now reside in Otherworld, along with other powerful sorcerers and shamans and guardians. With their aid, the Fomorii were sent to roam the depths of the earth, beneath the oceans and lakes. The climate is sufficient to support life, and they have plenty of nutritious slugs and other below-ground creatures to eat. It isn’t luxurious, but more than the beasts deserve. Otherwise they would have been sentenced to death.”

  Silver pushed her hair out of her face as it occurred to her that these D’Danann stood for what she didn’t believe in. No matter how evil they were, did the beings the D’Danann fought deserve death? Banishment, yes. Death, no.

  “It wasn’t until now that some of the Fomorii escaped exile.” Hawk glanced at the remaining chocolate chip cookie dough in the bowl. “May I?”

  Silver raised an eyebrow and handed him the bowl. Hawk used the wooden spoon to scoop out some of the cookie dough and took a big bite. He closed his eyes for a moment and he gave an orgasmic groan of pleasure. He opened his eyes and dug into the dough. With a smile she just shook her head and watched him devour it.