“It’s a single locating spell. We,” Ivy gestured between her and Ezekiel, “will provide the personal item. I’m just asking for an hour of your time.”
“And our magic,” Stella added.
“And your magic,” Ivy conceded.
Patricia slapped her hands on the table. “And she’s asking us to paint huge targets on our backs. That McDowell boy is crazy. Who knows what he’ll do when he finds out we helped the wolves track him down?”
“Don’t be daft, dear. If the locating spell even works.” Maggie mumbled.
A shock went through Ivy’s body. She heard Ezekiel move behind her. “Why would you assume that was who we are looking for?” Ivy tried to keep the curiosity and apprehension from her voice.
“It’s the only thing this territory has been talking about,” Patricia said.
Maggie raised a finger, “And about the new witch in town.”
The other two nodded.
“I’m glad you all are up to date on the latest gossip but I want to know why Maggie assumed the locating spell won’t work”
Subtly, the three women tensed. Stella’s fingers pat the top of the table. Maggie stirred her tea avoiding eye contact. The playful atmosphere from earlier is gone.
Ivy’s heartbeat spiked.
Patricia gestured to her Coven sisters, “Without a fourth member we’ve been having trouble with larger spells. You saw the vision debacle.” Her fingers continued to dance in exaggerated movements. “Really, you’re asking for a disaster if you want us to use our magic.” She smiled almost apologetically.
Suddenly, the crotchety one was suddenly smiling and apologizing? Because that wasn’t suspicious.
“Nonsense,” Ivy said playing along, “I can’t believe that a Coven able to recreate a Juliette rose could mess up a simple locating spell.”
Patricia’s eyes narrowed for a split second before she covered it up. “If it’s so simple, then why can’t you do it?”
Ivy forced a laugh she hoped sounded amused. “I’ve already made my deal with the Alpha. He doesn’t have anything more that I want and I don’t work for free.” She smiled as she leaned across the table. She hoped this worked. “Is there something you want from the Alpha of Black Bird?”
Ivy did her best to keep an air of calm as silence filled the room. The ladies didn’t move. They didn’t take their eyes off of Ivy. She bit her tongue to keep from opening her mouth.
Maggie gave the other two women a look before she stood from the table. “Excuse us a moment, please.”
Stella stood and turned to give Patricia a hand. As a cluster, the Coven shuffled out of the kitchen.
Ivy exhaled leaning back in her chair. She really hoped they said yes.
“What are the chances they say yes?” Ezekiel whispered right in her ear.
Ivy squealed and bumped her tea cup. His hand shot out to catch it. She turned to glare. The big idiot was smiling at her.
“Don’t scare me,” Ivy whispered furiously.
His smile widened. Ezekiel tipped his chin towards the hall the women had disappeared down. “Are they going to say yes?”
“I have no idea. They might want to make a deal or they might say no out of spite.” Ivy turned in her chair to face Ezekiel. “What price is Ben willing to pay for the locating spell?”
They hadn’t talked about payment at the Pack house. Ivy didn’t feel comfortable negotiating on someone else’s behalf. Maybe the ladies would be willing to wait while they got the go ahead from Ben?
Ezekiel straighten and pulled his phone out. “I’ll text him.”
“We don’t have time for that.” Ivy whisper yelled. “I can hear them coming back.”
Ezekiel snorted. “With how slow they walk? I think we’ll be fine.” His phone made a noise and he turned it around to let Ivy see Ben’s answer.
Ben: No harm can be done. Spending limit is 15k
Ivy hummed. That left a lot of wiggle room.
The Coven entered the kitchen. Ezekiel put his phone away and went back to leaning against the wall. They waited for all three women to get comfortable.
Maggie cleared her throat. “There’s nothing we want from the Alpha of Black Bird.”
Ivy’s stomach dropped. For a second, she had convinced herself that this would work. Now she was back at square one.
“There is something we want from you.”
That was almost worst. Ivy leaned in at Maggie’s words. “What do I have that you want?”
Maggie cleared her throat. Ivy suddenly realized that Maggie must be the Coven’s Matriarch. The other two were letting her take the lead.
“Without another member of the Coven we have been unable to renew a few of our spells,” Maggie continued.
“I see.” Ivy felt her soul sag. She knew where this was going.
Magic fed off of a person’s natural reserve, their spiritual energy. Some people had deep reserves; others had small reserves. Some people could perform large spells, others didn’t have the power for it.
There were ways for individuals to pool their energies in order to perform large spells. Those pools were only as deep as the combined magical reserves of the people involved. The Black Bird Coven didn’t have enough combined power to renew their spells.
No spell lasted forever. They needed to be fed power as time wore on. If their fourth member had moved away without a replacement, the Coven’s spells would run out of magic and lapse.
“You want me to temporarily stand in as another member of the Coven?” She clarified.
“Yes,” Maggie nodded.
“And I would only be standing in for renewal spells? No prep work or spell weaving?” Ivy clarified.
“That is correct.”
Standing in during a renewal spell was not a complicated process. It required you to speak a few words and to lend your magic to the spell. Ivy could justify that it wasn’t really doing magic. Especially if she wasn’t drawing the circle or preparing the spell’s components. She just had to show up.
“What spells?” Ivy asked.
Maggie gave Ivy a disappointed frown. “Dear, we don’t discuss Coven business around wolves.”
“Fine then, one spell. I will help with one spell,” Ivy folded her arms.
“That won’t be worthwhile to us,” Maggie countered. “We are putting ourselves on the radar of a rogue witch wolf. We need at least four spells renewed if we want to protect ourselves against him.”
“I thought we were calling him a wolf witch.” Stella whispered to Patricia’s ear.
“Witchy McWolfy face is my favorite,” Patricia added.
Everyone ignored them.
“I might not be two hundred but I’m not an idiot. You need one spell to protect a Coven.” Ivy shrugged, “If you’re only worried about protection then one spell is all you need me for.”
“We’d practically be working for free if you only stood in for one spell. We would need you to help with at least three spells for it to be worthwhile,” Maggie countered.
“And I don’t have the time to perform that many spells. Two spells conducted before the end of the year. That’s the most power I am willing to lend.”
That gave the ladies a little over a month. It was more than enough time to perform two spells. It also meant that Ivy wouldn’t be on their leash for very long.
Maggie’s chin tipped as she thought. “Two spells and twenty-five percent off at Chic Chick.”
Ivy’s eyebrows hit her hairline. She had not expected that. “I don’t have the ability to make that happen.”
Maggie shook her head. “You work there and the proprietress is dating the Alpha. I’m sure this is the easier part of the bargain. They’ll be eager to lend with help.”
Ivy went over the numbers in her head. She thought about Ben’s text too. “Two spells to be performed before the end of the year and thirty percent off at Chic Chick until January 31st. In exchange, you will help perform one locating spell.”
Maggie smiled and
held out her hand. They shook on it.
“So, mote it be,” both said in unison to seal the agreement. A tingle of magic washed up Ivy’s arm.
“Yes,” Stella cried, the instant Ivy and Maggie let go of each other. “I’ve wanted to buy that blue dress since it went up in the window.”
“Oh yeah,” Patricia rolled her eyes, “because the safety of the Coven comes second to a new dress.”
“Some of us still get asked on dates, Patricia,” Stella barked.
“This has been lovely,” Ivy cut in before the two women started really get into it. “I will contact you once we have a personal item for the locating spell.”
Maggie stood with Ivy and led their group to the door. “We will be in contact before then. I would prefer we take care of the first spell before we perform the locating spell.”
Ivy stepped onto the porch. The sun was breaking through the cloud cover. “Of course,” Ivy smiled at Maggie. “This was a delightful interlude.” Ivy looked around suddenly realizing that Ezekiel wasn’t with her.
There was a crash inside the house. All four women turned to look down the hall. Ezekiel popped out of the kitchen looking shell shocked, shaking one hand frantically. When he saw them staring at him, he smiled and hid his hand behind his back.
Maggie turned back to Ivy and smiled softly. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Ivy. When you come back be sure to leave the wolf behind.”
Ivy snickered as she waited for Ezekiel to catch up to her. They both waved and walked off the porch.
“You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Ivy shook her head in disbelief. “What did you touch?”
He looked over his injured hand. Ivy couldn’t see any marks. She hoped he hadn’t gotten himself hexed. “One of their picture frames was crooked. I was just trying to straighten it.”
Ivy rolled her eyes. “And that’s why you don’t touch anything.”
“Yeah, I’m not doing that again.”
Ezekiel unlocked the truck. Ivy sank into the cold leather seats. She’d done it. The Black Bird Coven would perform the locating spell and all Ivy needed to do was lend them her presence for two spells. Not a bad deal.
“Tell Ben that they will do it and that he needs to split that fifteen thousand dollars. Ten goes into my account. Five goes into Anne’s.”
“How do you figure that?” Ezekiel asks clearly amused.
“We’re the ones the Coven made deals with. Ben still needs to compensate us for helping him out.”
Hopefully, the five grand would cover Anne’s cost. How much money could three old ladies spend at a small-town boutique?
More importantly, now Ivy could afford to move once this business was finished.
“No one works for free.” Ezekiel said, rephrasing Ivy’s words from earlier.
“Damn straight.”
Chapter Five
Ezekiel checked the street one more time before he got out the truck and walked around to the passenger side door. He paused. When he was positive no one was watching he opened the door.
“Are you sure this is safe?” Ivy whispered. She was huddled under a blanket tucked into the footwell.
They were parked outside of Lawrence McDowell’s apartment building. It was too early in the day for the kids to be home from school. The streets were dead. Ezekiel took a deep breath. He couldn’t smell anyone in the immediate area. On top of that, Ezra had text to say that it was clear.
“Yeah but the longer we chat in the open…” he let the implication hang.
Ivy scrambled out of the truck. She didn’t bother leaving the blanket behind. She covered her head and sprinted for the stairs. Ezekiel jogged to keep up.
After meeting with the Black Bird Coven, Ezra had text that he’d hit a snag while searching the apartment. He asked if Ivy could come check things out. No other details. No indication about what they might be walking into. That was Ezra.
Standing outside of apartment 302, Ivy knocked three times, very quietly. The door opened instantly, Ezra grabbed Ivy’s hand and pulled her inside. Ezekiel followed behind and made sure to lock the door.
Once he was inside, he understood what the snag was.
The apartment was empty. There was no furniture, no dishes in the open cabinets, and no scent. It didn’t smell like an apartment that someone lived in. It smelled like it had been closed up for too long.
Ezra led Ivy into the living room. “How did the meeting go?”
“Fine. They said they would help us.” She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and started to look around. “If we can find a personal item. What’s the deal with the apartment?”
“It’s empty,” Ezra gestured to the living room. “Supposedly, Lawrence has been living here for a year. Smells like it’s been empty the entire time. I, uh,” Ezra scratched his head, “I was wondering if you could sense anything. You know? With your magic?”
Ivy shook her head, irritated. “I told you, I don’t do magic. Except in dire circumstances.”
Ezekiel looked at the empty kitchen. There was still a card on the counter welcoming Lawrence to the building. “This might be considered dire. This apartment and Grace’s cabin are our only leads. If we can’t find something we’re out of luck.”
She stilled, deeply in thought. They waited. “I’m not performing a spell for you guys.” She fiddled with her shirt before pulling out a necklace with a stone on the end. “I can use this to see if Lawrence left any booby traps.” She held up her finger. “I’m not doing anything else. And you owe me.”
Ezekiel smiled. “Of course.”
She gave them the stink eye then started rubbing the stone.
Ezra pressed against her back, watching intently. For someone who said they hated magic, he seemed fascinated. “What are you doing?”
Ivy started, realizing how close he was. She gave him a confused once over. “I’m going to use the stone to channel a little protective energy. It should warn me if there are any booby traps around.”
Ezekiel could feel pressure build in the room. It pressed into his skin gently. He shivered. Ivy smirked at him.
A flash of light caught his eye. The stone on Ivy’s necklace glowed green. It pulsed softly.
Ivy nodded and started walking around the empty living room. She held the stone out in front of her. Slowly, she made sure to pass the stone over everything. He and Ezra watched.
“So, why don’t you use magic?” He asked.
She shrugged. “The Coven I grew up in wasn’t a nice place to grow up. They were cruel and they thought magic equaled authority.” She sounded exhausted when she spoke. He could smell her sadness. “I didn’t want any part of that so I started moving around. Too bad every Coven I ran across was the same. I stopped using magic, stopped hanging around Covens, and life’s been pretty good since.”
“That’s why you came here,” Ezra continued.
“Where no witches live,” Ezekiel nodded.
“Yeah, it was a good plan,” She sounded proud.
Ezekiel felt his stomach drop. “Until we outed you.”
“And fucked things up six ways to Sunday.” She agreed with a laugh.
“Ivy,” he hesitated. She stopped combing the kitchen and waited. His heart beat in his chest. His guilt was eating him alive. That’s why his wolf never rested. It was wracked with guilt over how much pain they had caused Ivy. He couldn’t stomach it anymore. “I freaked out in the woods.”
“We,” Ezra corrected.
“Yeah, we freaked out. We thought you were a null until then,” He admitted.
Ivy didn’t say anything, she just listened. Ezekiel shifted on his feet. “We didn’t realize you could practice magic. It was shocking to find out how powerful you are. Instead of talking to you, we shut you out.”
“We don’t have a good history with witches,” Ezra admitted begrudgingly.
“That’s not an excuse,” He said to his brother. Their issues with witches weren’t Ivy’s fault.
“It’s not.
There’s just more to the story than she knows.” Ezra turned to Ivy. “It wasn’t right to disappear like that. We should have talked to you before we-”
“-took some time to get our heads on straight.” He shot his brother a warning look. He did not want Ivy to hear the words “broke up with you”.
She folded her arms across her chest. “You could have talked to me any of the dozens of times you stalked me outside of work.”
They both cringed, “Yeah, we could have.”
Ivy seemed to deflate when he didn’t make up an excuse. She cocked a hip and took them both in. “What’s changed? You guys have avoided me like the plague and now that you’ve been assigned my guards, you’re what? Trying to mend fences?”
“Nothing’s changed,” Ezekiel whispered. “It’s just that we were holding back some important stuff.”
Ezra scuffed his boots, “And avoiding dealing with some things.”
Ezekiel nodded. “The only thing that’s changed is that we’re ready to talk about it now. If you wanted to.” He tried to keep his voice from sounding too hopeful.
She stared at them. He could smell her unease. “The last eight weeks have been awful. I’ve literately had to start over from scratch. I didn’t have a home, clothes, friends or a job. I made the choice to help. I can’t get too mad about the results but damn, it would have been easier to deal without you two ghosting me. I’m not sure there’s a fence to mend.”
Ezekiel grimaced. He knew her well enough to know that she had pulled that punch. The last two months had been hell. The fact that she was this calm made his wolf whine.
“I’m very sorry that I shut you out. It’s the biggest regret of my life. You deserved better.” It was simple, but it was true. “I completely understand if you never forgive us. We are the biggest assholes on earth,” he added. “I am very sorry.”
Ezra’s head dropped slightly. “I am sorry. I’m sorry I acted like an ass and made this worse. I was scared and made a bad choice. I’m really mad that I hurt you.”
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