When they reached the woods around the house, he shed the mouse form and became human again. His breathing coming in short gasps as he tried to calm the anger pounding in his blood. He felt Justin standing beside and the hand he put on his arm but had to focus hard to keep his body still.
“It’ll pass,” Justin said, patiently waiting for Jake to get control of himself.
Finally, he asked, “Did you hear what he said?”
“I heard it, he’s an evil bastard, but that contract doesn’t mean anything. He can’t force Joslin to marry him,” Justin said, calmly.
“But you heard what he said; he’s got her dad under a spell. What if he puts a spell on Joslin or something worse. I felt the evil in that man; I don’t trust him. I keep thinking about Joslin’s dream about what she saw, that church.”
Justin was silent for a few minutes. “I think we need to talk to the girls, let them know what we’ve discovered. It might be just as easy as removing the spell from William,” Justin said, with more conviction than he felt.
Jake shook his head. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy; a man like that doesn’t back down without a fight. If Joslin is his last hope, he’s going to fight hard to get to her,” he said, feeling the anger rise again.
“We’ll be ready for him, Jake, but we won’t be able to do anything if we get caught lurking in the bushes out here. Let’s get back to the hotel.”
Jake nodded his head and the two men disappeared, and the foxes returned, then ran off through the underbrush, the bigger one in the lead. Justin took Jake the long way back to the car, skirting the huge houses and sticking to the forest around them, his anger burned away until he was able to think logically again.
Chapter 9
***Joslin***
When they walked into the bridal shop, Joslin was ready; fashion had always been one of her passions, and she wasn’t going to waste the opportunity to have access to so many beautiful gowns. Thanks to her connections in the fashion world of New York, she’d managed to get them this appointment on short notice with the promise that they’d walk out of the shop with two dresses and all the accessories to go with them.
It wasn’t a hard promise to make, with the wedding only weeks away, Annabelle had to have a dress and soon. When they walked through the door, Joslin knew that it was going to be a good day; they were greeted by a young woman who had clearly been expecting them and after the proper amount of fuss over the fact that they were twins, she took them back to the dresses.
They walked down a long hallway, pushed through a set of double doors, and walked into one of Joslin’s fantasies. She wanted to run around the room, her hands out, and stroke each dress, the silks and lace calling to her. But instead, she took a deep breath, the familiar smell of new fabric filling her nose.
Annabelle laughed. “You look like you’ve died and gone to heaven.”
“I think I have,” she said, reaching out to touch the dress closest to them. “But I don’t know how we’ll ever choose.”
“That’s where I come in,” a woman said, stepping out from behind a rack of dresses. “I’m Mary, and I’ll be your consultant today.”
An hour later, they were in the lavish dressing room that was attached to the showroom. Joslin was comfortably ensconced in a plush velvet chair, a glass of champagne on the table beside her, watching expectantly for Annabelle to come out of the dressing room in the first dress they’d chosen.
Clothes shopping had always been a fun adventure for them; they had very different tastes in clothes. Joslin tended toward the more shocking styles while Annabelle opted for a more sedate look. Since they were identical twins, they could have shared the clothes in their closets, but that rarely happened.
But to her surprise, Annabelle had chosen several gowns that were much more daring than anything her sister had ever worn in her life. “What’s gotten into you?” she’d finally asked, as Annabelle chose a low cut, short gown.
“I just wanted to make sure I examined all the options,” her sister had said, then moved on down the aisle.
Now she was in the dressing room with Mary, and there were a lot of strange sounds coming from inside. “Do you need some help?” she finally asked when she heard Annabelle grunt.
“No, I’m okay, I just couldn’t breathe there for a second,” her sister said, opening the door and stepping out onto the raised platform.
For a second, she wasn’t sure if she was looking at herself or her sister, but then Annabelle burst out laughing. “Okay, that’s enough experimentation. Why is it that you can wear a dress like this and look good while I only look silly?”
“You don’t look silly,” Joslin said, trying to suppress a smile.
“I do, and you know it. I’m changing before someone else sees me in this.”
There was a lot more grunting and groaning getting Annabelle out of the dress and Joslin had to suppress the laughter that kept bubbling to the surface. “Will you get rid of those, please, Mary? I’ve changed my mind,” she heard her sister say a little sadly.
When Mary came back a few minutes later with another armload of gowns, she winked at Joslin and whispered, “Don’t worry, this is perfectly normal; she just doesn’t know what she wants, but I do.”
The next time Annabelle came out of the dressing room, she was grinning from ear to ear. “This is it; oh, it can’t be that easy,” she said, spinning in circles on the platform watching her reflection in the wall to wall mirrors.
Joslin looked over at Mary who was leaning up against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest a look of pride on her face. Joslin smiled at her and winked, then turned to her sister. “Annabelle, you look beautiful; that dress is perfect.”
As it turned out, it was more difficult to decide on the veil and other accessories than it had been on the dress. But after more than an hour of trying one thing after another, Annabelle was finally fully outfitted to be the most beautiful bride ever, and it was Joslin’s turn to look for a dress. Mary had been busy cleaning out the dressing room for Joslin when she came out with one last dress.
“I don’t remember picking this one up; it’s not really your sister’s style,” she said, holding the dress up for them to see. “There aren’t any tags on it, and I don’t remember seeing it in the showroom before; how strange.”
It was a beautiful dress and Joslin was in love with it immediately. “Oh, it’s beautiful.”
“You should try it on,” Annabelle said. “It’s perfect for you.”
“No way, that would be bad luck or something wouldn’t it?” Joslin said, even though she was dying to try the dress on.
“Not at all. Come on I’ll help you,” Mary said, pulling her toward the dressing room.
When she came out of the dressing room in the dress, Annabelle gasped. “It is perfect for you. You should buy it, charge it to dad’s account.”
“No way, that would definitely be bad luck. Besides, I’m not getting married: you are,” Joslin reminded Annabelle. “Now I’m going to take this off, and we’ll find a bride’s maid dress for me, and it better not be hideous: no ruffles, no flounces.”
Annabelle laughed. “Dang, I was going to pick out a dress with both of those things, and I’m thinking bright yellow might be a color for you.”
Joslin shot her a dirty look. “Over my dead body,” she said, then slammed the dressing room door.
***Jake***
Jake was pacing restlessly back and forth across the living room, “We should call them. They have to be done by now,” he said, for the third time in less than a half an hour.
“You don’t know women very well, little brother; it could still be hours before they get back, especially if they stopped somewhere else,” Justin said from where he was lying on the couch. “Sit down and relax; a few more hours aren’t going to make that much difference.”
Jake plopped down into one of the chairs, a scowl on his face. “Fine, but I think the sooner Joslin knows what Deacon has planned, the bette
r. We have to tell her right away,” he said, then opened his mouth to say more, but the door of the room burst open, and the girls came through with arms loaded with packages.
Justin sat up on the couch but didn’t move to help them. “Did you buy the entire store?”
“It was Joslin, not me,” she said. “Are you going to sit there or are you going to help me? This dress weighs a ton.”
Justin got to his feet and picked up Annabelle, packages and all, then turned to Jake. “We’ll be in our room. I need to see if there’s anything exciting in these bags.”
Joslin groaned. “That is so gross. Just let me put these in my room, and you can tell me about Deacon’s,” she said, heading for her room.
When she came out, everyone was gathered in the living room looking much too serious. Her heart sank, and she knew that what was coming wasn’t going to be good. She chose a spot on the couch next to Jake, needing the comfort being close to him always gave her, then she looked him in the eye and waited.
“Do you want to hear the whole story or just the important part?” Jake asked, stalling for time.
“Skip the boring stuff, but I do want to know if you turned into some kind of bug,” she managed to tease through the anxiety she was feeling.
“Very funny,” Jake said, then took a deep breath. “Deacon put a protection clause in the marriage contract; if Annabelle doesn’t marry him, then you have to,” he said, quickly just wanting to get it over.
Her face turned white, and for a second he thought that she was going to faint, but she took a deep breath and said, “No way in hell I’m going to marry him. I don’t care what that contract says, or about that stupid dream. I’m not going to marry him.”
Jake breathed a sigh of relief; this was the woman he was quickly coming to love, the woman who would fight for herself and anyone she loved. “I’m glad to hear that,” he said, “Deacon also said he had your father under a spell.”
“I thought so,” Joslin said. “That must be how he got dad to put him on the council. So, the solution is simple: break the spell and dad will go back to normal, see Deacon for what he really is, and everything will be fine.”
“I don’t know if it will be that simple. Deacon desperately wants that spot on the council, and he’s convinced that your family is his way in. I’m afraid he might do just about anything to see that he gets where he wants to be. You told me yourself that he was using black magic, I’m not sure what that means, but it can’t be good. I’ve seen what you two can do with regular magic.”
Joslin nodded her head, thinking of all the things Deacon could do to the people she loved if she refused to marry him. “I might not have any choice,” she said in a voice so quiet Jake almost didn’t hear her.
“No way I’m letting you marry him; we’ll find a way out of this, even if I have to take you to Colorado and hide you in the mountains,” Jake said, his voice almost a growl, his eyes beginning to glow.
Joslin reached over and stroked his cheek with her thumb to calm him, “You’re very brave to want to protect me, but if it comes down to Deacon hurting the people I love, I’ll give in.”
“You can’t do that; there has to be another way,” Jake said, his body tingling with the need to protect her. Then he got an idea, one that might just work. “This might sound crazy, but you should marry me: then you can’t marry Deacon, as you’ll already be married.”
There was total silence in the room; all of them looked from one to the other as they thought about Jake’s suggestion. “I couldn’t ask you to do that, Jake,” Joslin said, “You’d be putting yourself directly in Deacon’s sights. I can’t let you get involved.”
“Joslin, I’m already involved. I’m Justin’s personal representative, Annabelle is going to be my sister-in-law; in my family, we take care of each other. Besides, if it weren’t for you and Annabelle, Justin wouldn’t even be here,” Jake explained, leaving out that he’d begun to care about Joslin, would rather die than see her with Deacon, or anyone else for that matter.
Joslin was silent for a long time, clearly thinking about what he’d said, “I don’t know; I need to think about this for a while. I mean, marriage, that’s a big thing, one we won’t be able to get out of that easily.”
“We wouldn’t have to stay married for that long, just long enough to break the spell on your dad and get Deacon off our backs,” Jake said, not liking the idea but knowing that Joslin would need to hear that she had a way out.
Jake knew that someday he wanted to get married, to have a family, but he’d always assumed it would be a long time in the future. But now that he’d suggested it to Joslin, it was beginning to sound like a good idea, after all, hadn’t his father told him to trust his gut? And his gut was telling him that together, he and Joslin could have a wonderful life.
Chapter 10
***Joslin***
Joslin shut the door to her bedroom and leaned up against it trying to calm herself. Jake’s suggestion that they get married had come out of nowhere, and she wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Bad enough to discover that Deacon planned to force her to marry him; Jake’s proposal, because that’s what it was, had completely floored her.
She walked over to the window and spread the curtain, looking at the New York skyline, which was just beginning to come alive as darkness fell. It all looked so normal, so innocent on the surface, but who knew what was really going on behind the scenes. Look at her life; only a few months ago, she’d been perfectly happy, unaware that her life was about to be turned upside down.
The door opened, and she heard soft footsteps but didn’t turn around. “Are you okay? That was a bit out of the blue.”
Joslin shrugged her shoulders and turned around. “I guess I’m as okay as someone can be in this situation. I’m not sure how to deal with it all; first I just thought Deacon was going to be a little problem, and now I find out he’s set his sights on me. And Jake, what am I supposed to tell Jake? Sure, I’ll marry you, then ask how long until the divorce?”
Annabelle took her hand and pulled her over to the bed, and made her sit down, then sat down beside her. “I’m sorry, Joslin, this is all my fault. I should have seen through Deacon from the very beginning, should have stood up to dad and gone with my gut. But I was so busy fighting to get to go to college that I didn’t notice what was happening; now you’re in the middle of it and I’m really sorry.”
Joslin took her sister’s hand. “Look at me, Annabelle,” she said, waiting for her sister’s eyes to meet hers. “I don’t blame you for any of this; this is Deacon’s fault and dad’s fault. Dad is the one who brought Deacon into the family; I still don’t understand why but he started this. I was a part of it from the very beginning; we’re sisters, and we face things together.”
Annabelle hugged her and held on tight, “No matter what, you can’t marry Deacon,” she said.
Joslin pulled away. “I can’t marry Jake either; that would drag him into this mess too. When Deacon finds out, he’ll be furious; who knows what he’ll do. I can’t risk Jake’s safety.”
“And what do you think is going to happen if you marry him? Then he’ll have power over not only dad but you and everyone else in the coven,” Annabelle said, getting up to pace the room. “If you marry Jake, that will either bring this whole thing to a halt or it will force Deacon to make a stupid move. I know him; if he’s pushed too hard, he’ll make a mistake.”
“But what about dad? He’s already got him under his spell and maybe mom too? What if he hurts them to get back at us?” Joslin asked, trying to see all the angles.
“That’s a possibility I’ve considered. I’m sure I can break Deacon’s spell if I can just figure out what it is.”
“And if it’s black magic?” Joslin asked, her stomach quivering at the thought of Annabelle tangling with a demon or something worse.
“I won’t be alone. I think its time we brought in some help: a few well-chosen people who are on our side to tip the scales in our favor. We’ll h
ave to be careful so that Deacon doesn’t find out but he’s not at the compound that much.”
“It sounds like you’ve been thinking about this a lot,” Joslin said, narrowing her eyes at her sister. “You’ve heard something in the other realm, haven’t you?”
Annabelle shook her head. “I wish I had, then I’d know what to do,” she said, then sat down next to Joslin on the bed again. “I don’t know what to tell you about marrying Jake, but to me, it seems like a good idea. It’s another way we can push Deacon into making a mistake, and at this point, I think that’s the only way we’re going to get what he really is out in the open.”
Joslin was silent for a long time, thinking about everything Annabelle had said. “I don’t want Jake to get hurt; this isn’t his problem.”
Annabelle stared at her then said, “Whether it’s his problem or not isn’t for you to decide; he’s made it his problem and found a solution, at least a temporary one. You two won’t have to stay married forever; when this is all over, you can quietly file for divorce and go your separate ways if that’s what you want.”
“What if I find out I don’t want that to happen?” Joslin asked, her voice only a whisper.
“Then you have what they call a happy ending,” Annabelle said, giving Joslin a big smile.
“Not if Jake doesn’t feel the same way.”
“Have you lost your mind? Don’t you see the way he looks at you? He’s already half in love with you,” Annabelle said, getting to her feet. “Joslin, I can’t tell you what to do, but I do know this: love has a way of finding us when we least expect it. Mary found the perfect wedding dress for you hanging in the dressing room today, and she said she’s never seen it before. If you ask me, that’s a sign, a sign you shouldn’t ignore.”
“I’ll think about it and have a decision in the morning,” Joslin said. “I just need a little bit of time to make sure I’m not making a huge mistake that’s going to end up doing more harm than good.”
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