The Magic Of Betrayal

by Britt Andrews

  Breed her. Breed her. Breed her.

  What the fuck!?

  Faris flashed images of my woman with a swollen belly and even rounder tits that startled me enough I pulled out from her body and pulled her down so she could rest her head on my chest.

  ‘What the fuck are you playing at? I'm not knocking her up,’ I promised.

  ‘Yet,’ Faris vowed.

  ‘Get the fuck out of my head. You're deranged,’ I argued with this other being that lived inside my head.

  ‘You're deranged, Fischer. We're the same person. Accept it.’

  ‘Never,’ I swore.

  ‘She loves when I call her Firefly. Are you going to tell her that it’s me calling her that? That I’m claiming that name for her? You can’t hide me forever,’ Faris taunted and I really wished the bastard would just shut the fuck up.

  "Fish? Are you okay?" Saige's small voice pulled me out of my internal war and I stroked her cheek.

  "Yeah, sweetheart. I'm more than okay. That was amazing."

  Saige popped up, her face directly over mine as she peered down at me, her hair falling over us.

  "Your eyes are still black." Her finger ran over my cheekbone and her brow furrowed in thought.

  "Kiss me."

  Her soft lips pressed lightly against mine and her tongue teasingly licked the seam of my lips. Opening for her, she deepened the kiss and I felt myself returning to normal as I pushed Faris back and regained full control of my mind.

  "Thank you, sweetheart. I didn't... hurt you, did I?" I'd never fucking forgive myself.

  The corner of her mouth lifted in amusement.

  "No. You didn't hurt me. You surprised the hell out of me, Fischer. I could tell there was some darkness in you, and I'm not sure what I expected, but that just surpassed anything I could've dreamed up.” Saige smiled above me and she was so gorgeous it made me breathless.

  "You weren't afraid?"

  Part of me didn't want to know the answer to that question, but even then as my hand smoothed down her back, I wanted to know. Needed to know.

  "Afraid isn't the right word. Excited, on edge, nervous to see how far you were going to take it. I'm not scared of you, Fischer. You've protected me, cared for me, and despite how hard you just fucked me, those things, the way you are so sweet with me lets me know that you would never hurt me. Even if you want to a little bit during sex. But I wanted to explore this with you. How do you feel now?"

  "My girl. Always brave and selfless," I murmured, tucking some hair behind her ear and pulling her down to lay her head on my chest once more. "There is something dark inside me, sweetheart. It's best if it stays there. That side of me doesn't deserve to see the light of day."

  "But how can you say that?" she questioned softly, her fingertips moved across my naked chest, making nonsensical drawings, but the touching had my heart racing nonetheless.

  "Just trust me, sweetheart. Nobody wants that side of me. Did you enjoy yourself dancing earlier?" I changed the subject because I couldn't talk about Faris anymore. Shit, I already let the bastard out to play earlier and he was still too fresh in my headspace to give him any more thought.

  "I had so much fun. I hope Rupert didn't overwhelm you too much, I'd imagine he's pretty open with whatever emotion he's feeling," she chuckled.

  I let my mind drift back to the club and then I jolted upright, Saige startling and looking at me with panicked eyes.

  "Holy shit," I breathed.

  "What? What's wrong?"

  "I didn't feel any of his emotions, none of his thoughts, nothing," I confessed slowly, my brain trying to catch up with that. I'd been so wrapped up in my girl earlier, I hadn't even realized that my power had been muted.

  "How is that possible, though? I thought it was rare for that to happen?"

  "It is. I'm wondering now if you blocked my power."

  "Me?" she squeaked and shook her head in denial. "I would never do that!"

  "Not on purpose, sweetheart. We'll have to see what happens tomorrow when we're around other people to see if it happens again. There's been a lot of weird stuff going on, so it's not unreasonable to think," I said gently.

  We laid there for a while, just softly touching each other. But I finally got out of bed and went to the bathroom to clean up. When I came back, Saige was laying on her stomach, her legs crossed at the ankles, scrolling through her phone.

  "Oh, I'm gonna clean up quick, then do you want to have a picnic with me in the kitchen?"

  "A picnic. In the kitchen?" I grinned and she walked toward me without a stitch of clothing.

  "Yeah, why not? Picnics are our thing, aren't they?" She winked and closed the bathroom door behind her, but not before I saw her bright red ass.

  She was back in a couple of minutes, heading to her dresser to find something to wear. My feet were quiet as I stalked over to her, pressing myself against her back.

  "A picnic with you sounds amazing, but I think I'm going to just have another snack first before..."

  We made it to the kitchen an hour later.

  Friday morning arrived and I knew I needed to get myself into The Pig today to get some administrative stuff done. Frank and Arlo were running everything else today, but I liked to be in charge of my paperwork and financials. The month was flying by and I couldn’t believe tomorrow was my birthday party.

  After a quick shower and throwing on some comfortable clothes, I made my way to the kitchen and found Gran sitting at the table sipping her coffee with another mug of steaming goodness waiting for me.

  “You’re the best. Thanks, Gran.” I slipped into my seat and moaned when the coffee hit my mouth. Sweet, sweet creation.

  “What’s your plan for the day, child? I need to put the finishing touches on my costu- I mean, outfit for your birthday party tomorrow. Other than that, I’ll probably just do some upkeep in the gardens,” Gran informed me, but I’d heard her little slip up. A costume, I didn’t know whether to be amused or terrified. Okay, let's be real, I was equally feeling both of those things when it came to anything that woman did.

  "Just need to run into The Pig for a few hours, the guys are taking care of some business today, something with that property, I'm not even sure exactly what each of their job titles are. Probably should ask that, huh?" I chuckled, shaking my head at myself. How have we never discussed that?

  "Ah, well there's been a lot of shit going on lately, dear. You got the gist of what they do, and clearly, they're all intelligent men who have a steady income. Much better than some deadbeat freeloader. Like that limp dick Bryce. Has he been giving you any trouble, by the way? I saw him a couple of weeks ago skulking around town like the cockroach he is," Gran informed me, her cornflower blue eyes shining with concern.

  Yeah, Gran knew what I'd gone through with him. I'd nearly lost myself during that shit show of a relationship, and I still got embarrassed thinking about how long I'd put up with his shit. But I didn't want anyone to know the levels of fucked up he was reaching now. Just thinking about the way he'd groped me in the middle of the grocery store had my heart racing and my stomach clenching in disgust.

  "No, I think he knows better now. He's already been roughed up by Fischer, and Kai confessed the other day that he throat punched him a few weeks back."

  Gran's laughter lifted my spirits and snapped me out of that horrible headspace that I always seemed to dive right back into when it came to him. Abuse will do that to a person, though. There's good days and bad. Days where you give yourself the credit you deserve for being an absolute badass and taking control of your own destiny, and then there's days where the tiniest event can send you spiraling down the cliff of unhealthy thoughts where you can't see the light through the darkness.

  Refusing to be sucked into that black pit of despair, I focused on my vibrant grandmother as she talked hardcore shit about Bryce and praised my guys for their desire to defend my honor.

  "I need to head out, Gran. I'll be home later tonight," I told her, standing and pushin
g in my chair.

  "Take that lazy fox with you. He's been giving me crazy side eye the past week and I think he's plotting on me," Gran whispered conspiratorially, her gaze darting around the room as though Maven was lying in wait, ready to pounce her ass.

  "You know I always take him, and he's been side eyeing you since he moved in here, but don't act like you don't do the same thing to him. He's a fox, Gran, not some nemesis. Just ignore him," I suggested, grabbing my backpack and making my way to the mudroom.

  "Be safe!" Gran shouted and then muttered a string of words that I was too far away to understand.

  "Mave! Let's go, boy!" I called out and listened for movement. A soft thump upstairs, and the slow progression of little creaks in the floorboards let me know that at least the grump was up and on his way downstairs. Worse than a teenager, I swear.

  Once I had my bike ready, Maven showed up with a mouthful of food and the most severe stink eye I’d ever seen on man or beast. Throwing my hands up, I picked him up and deposited him into the basket.

  “It’s your own fault, maybe you should wake up on time next time if you want to eat breakfast. There’s food at The Pig anyway, so quit your growling,” I scolded.

  I set off for the town. Damn, it was already getting hot outside and it wasn't even eleven yet. Today, I'd opted for a racer-back tank top that said ‘I’m kind of a big dill’ with the shop's signature logo, a crescent moon with a cartoon pig, on the back. Since I wasn't officially on the clock today, I also opted for girl's best friends, yoga pants. Hell yes.

  "Oh great," I mumbled to myself when I got close enough to the store to see Sloane leaning up against the red brick front of the building. Decked out in all black with glimpses of his tattoos peeking out, he looked every bit the surly bad boy that he was. Sloane had been avoiding me. At least, that was the best I could make of the situation. Why else had I only seen him a handful of times in the past several weeks?

  I guess a smoking hot threesome in the open air doesn't cause Sloane Sullivan to make any promises or change anything about his demeanor. At least I knew he was an asshole from the start, right? My expectations of him weren't high to begin with.

  Hopping off my bike and helping Maven out of his basket, I planned on ignoring Sloane. I really did. But then I walked past him without acknowledging that he was there and I guess that was just too much for him to handle.

  "Good to see you too, Red. I'm fine, thanks for asking," he smarted off, and my head whipped in the direction he was standing so fast, I felt something crack in my neck. But it felt good so I knew I hadn't just inadvertently snapped my own neck. That would be something I'd do.

  Sloane's eyes sparkled with excitement at the promise of a verbal sparring, and I narrowed my own at him in warning.

  "That last time I saw you, I'm pretty sure I said hello to you and you ignored me. Forgive me if I can't keep up with your mood swings, dear. So, you're acting like you know me today?" I snapped at him and his jaw ticked in annoyance.

  "The last time you saw me was after I'd come home to my own apartment and been forced to listen to some rather interesting sounds." My eyes widened when I thought back to Kai fucking me in his room. "And trust me, there was nowhere I could have gone in there to escape those noises, Red." Sloane laughed without humor and I watched his forearm flex as he clenched and released his fist multiple times. Guess the urge to use his magic was strong at the moment.

  Before I could open my mouth to respond, my phone started ringing, the ringtone alerting me to exactly who it was. My stomach dropped and Sloane must've noticed the change in my expression because he straightened up and closed the distance between us.

  "Everything okay, Red?" He questioned as I dug my phone out of my pocket. Thank the gods for yoga pants with pockets. Pure magic.

  Giving him a quick nod and a smile that I'm sure didn't reach my eyes, I hit the green accept button.

  "Hello?"

  "Saige, darling. How are you?" Her voice filtered through the earpiece and she couldn't even disguise her lack of interest over the phone.

  "I'm fine, Mom. How are you?" I glanced at Sloane and an indecipherable expression flashed across his face before I could examine it closer.

  "Wonderful as always. I just wanted to call and wish you a happy birthday. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it to celebrate in person. The big twenty-eight, huh? Hard to imagine that it's been that long since you were born. When I was twenty-eight, I had a seven year old." Laurie sighed and my blood boiled, because no, no she did not have a seven year old. I'd been living alone with Gran for years already at that point.

  "Well, thanks for calling..." I trailed off, unsure of what else to say because I honestly had nothing to say to the woman.

  "Are you spending your birthday with anyone special this year?" she pried, and I rolled my eyes. Of course she'd ask about men.

  "Actually, I am. My three boyfriends," I stated matter of factly and smiled smug as hell when I heard her choke on whatever she was drinking.

  "Three? You have three boyfriends?"

  "Sure do," I replied, locking my eyes on Sloane's. "Three really sexy mages. They're amazing."

  "Why three? Why not four, or five?" She laughed.

  "Hmm, well, there's potential for more. But I'm not sold yet," I informed her, but it wasn't Laurie I was having this conversation with. It was the asshole in front of me with eyes cold as ice and anger that radiated off of him in waves of heat.

  "I see. Well, I have to go. Things to do. Happy Birthday."

  The line clicked when she ended the call, not even waiting to see if I had anything else to say. Typical.

  "Your mom?" Sloane questioned as I stuffed my phone back in my pocket.

  "Obviously," I rolled my eyes and went to spin away from him to head inside, but he gripped my arm and held me in place.

  "Everything okay, Red?"

  Glancing down at his fingers, which were tightly wrapped around my bicep, I lifted my gaze and narrowed my eyes.

  "What the hell do you care, Sloane? You've made it perfectly clear that not only are you not actually interested in me romantically, but you can't seem to even be my friend. I tolerate you because of the others. I've been nothing but nice to you and yet you still act like a pompous asshole. Let go of my arm, now," I snarled, surprised by the nasty tone of my voice. Honestly, I didn't even know I was capable of such venom. It did the trick though when moments later, my arm was released.

  Spinning on my heel, I didn't even bother to look back for his reaction. You're a bad bitch, Saige Wildes. Keep walking and don't fucking turn around. Before I could even register what I was doing, I fired a burst of magic at the door of the shop and it opened forcefully just in time for me to stride right through and with a flick of my wrist, it slammed shut behind me.

  Fuck Sloane Sullivan.

  After an hour of isolating myself in the back room, I felt calm enough to come back out and face customers, and Frank and Arlo, who I had practically ignored in my haze of agitation and fury. I'd actually felt pretty light headed once I'd gotten inside the building and my body temperature was doing a lot of weird shit again. At least I haven't been being pulled into another realm... no, the demon prince just decided to hunt me down, break into my home, and taunt me.

  The guys were going to be furious when they found out. Why hadn't I told them yet? When I'd first woken up from my time in Besmet with Bram the last time, I'd told them about him briefly. Not that he was borderline psychotic and had serious delusions regarding our 'relationship'. At the time, I never thought I'd see him again, but then there he was in my freaking bathroom while I was naked as a jaybird. Groaning in my head, I knew I'd fucked up. Cam for sure was going to be really livid.

  But Bram wasn't a threat to me, for some strange reason, he just wanted me. Did I want him like that? The whole thing sounded so messy, I shut it down in my brain. There was enough shit going on that I didn't need to add to it by considering adding another boyfriend. Would they get along?


  "You doing okay today, sweet thing?" Frank's question snapped me out of my thoughts.

  "Oh yeah, I'm sorry, just have a lot on my mind this afternoon. Everything going okay here? I popped in to do some admin stuff," I explained, moving behind the bar to mix up an elixir for myself.

  "Yeah, doing great. Miranda and her girl stopped in a few hours ago. Annie dropped off a couple of drawings for you, I put them by the register. We're probably going to need to harvest some crystals soon, they've been selling like hotcakes. Oh, and quite a few people were asking about the next Witching Hour event, it's been close to a month now since the last one," Arlo rattled off all of the important information and I followed along as I poured some water into a glass, a drop of azure spirit, a pinch of pink salt, and a dash of fairy sprinkle, which as soon as it touched the liquid, the whole concoction changed to a beautiful teal blue with pink smoke rolling off the rim.

  "What are you mixing up?" Frank asked, peering over my shoulder.

  "Hmm? Oh, I have this hellish headache, so it’s just something to relax me a little bit and hopefully help stabilize this pounding in my head," I explained, reaching for the glass and frowning when he batted my hand out of the way.

  "Here, let me add a few things to this, I know just the trick." Frank snapped his fingers, as if a brilliant idea had just come to him and he started grabbing different ingredients as Arlo directed me to a barstool. I sank down onto it with a sigh of relief, because damn, my head really was starting to hurt.

  The doorbell alerted me that someone had come in but I didn't have the desire to look and see who it was, luckily, or maybe not so luckily, they made themselves known quickly.

  "Saige, we must speak with you at once. The stars have been loud in our heads the past several hours and we have things to share with you," Roberta announced as she sat down beside me in a flourish of color and old lady perfume.

  "Yes, yes, it is of utmost urgency, dear girl. When the stars speak, we listen," Matilda added, nodding her head so fast, I almost thought she was tripping on some damn fine drugs.