by H. D. Gordon
Testify. Fuck me.
How can I refuse? I can’t. I just can’t.
I nod. “Yes,” I say.
“What about talking to the media?” Akim Algernon asks.
Not flinching under his stare is just as hard as not shriveling under that of the vamp.
I am silent. It feels as though the invisible lump in my throat has bloated to the size of a grapefruit. I know what the future alpha of the Philadelphia Wolf Pack is asking me; he wants to know if I am ready for the world to know where I stand, and possibly what I am, for the sake of defending the honor of a fallen wolf.
A fallen wolf who saved my life, and paid with his own.
I look at Akim Algernon and Harper Beauregard—the two most famous supes our city has to offer by no choice of their own—and they look back at me.
I draw a slow breath. “There’s nothing that can make what happened to Edmond right,” I say, “but I’m willing to do whatever I can to make sure there’s some sort of justice.”
“Are you sure the Coven will approve?” Akim asks.
“We’re positive they won’t,” answers Flora.
Silence follows for a few beats.
“There will be targets on your backs,” Harper says.
Flora and I exchange a look.
“We know.”
Harper Beauregard smirks. “Might as well welcome you into the Pack. It’ll almost be as if you are wolves.”
Milo catches up to us as we are leaving.
The bar is still buzzing with patrons, the night still relatively young, the harbor glittering beyond the edge of the dock, but I am exhausted. I only want to go home and sleep for the next hundred years or so.
Flora wanders off a little to give us some space, and I don’t know if I’m grateful for this or not.
“That was brave,” Milo says, and pauses. “Can I give you a hug?”
For a moment, I can only blink at him.
Then, I nod.
He opens his arms to me, and I realize how much I needed this only as he enfolds me between them.
He is so warm and solid. So real.
I take a deep breath, both to keep my eyes from tearing up, and to get a lungful of him. Milo squeezes me a little tighter.
Then he lets me go.
I swallow hard.
“Thank you,” he says. “We want you to know the Pack will look after you. We’ll stand by you, and your family, if need be. We understand how dangerous this is for you.”
I don’t know what to say, so I nod.
“Also, um,” he begins, and clears his throat. “Do you want to put my number in your phone? In case you need to call me.” His dark gaze holds mine now. “For anything.”
I hand over my cell.
Milo types his number in and hands it back to me.
“For anything?” I ask as I take the phone back, and my cheeks flare as soon as the words are out.
Milo nods, a wolfish grin coming to his face. “Yes, ma’am,” he says. “Anything you need.”
Flora and I are on the train home when she ribs me about it.
“Yes, ma’am,” she echos in a deep tone, nudging me with her elbow. “Anything you need.” She waggles her eyebrows.
I groan, but can’t help a small smile, even if smiling seems wrong after the most recent events.
I appreciate her for making light of things, but I know my sister well enough to see the worry that creases her brow.
There is no backing out now.
This is evident as we get home, open the front door, and find Esther Jennings, Coven lawyer, waiting in our living room.
15
“Hey, you’re back,” says Samantha as we enter the living room. “How was it?”
I don’t even look at her. I am looking at the lawyer witch sitting comfortably in my mother’s armchair, a cup of steaming tea poised in her small hands.
“It was good,” Flora answers. She looks between Esther and Sam. “Where are the girls?”
“They’re in their rooms, supposed to be sleeping, but I’m pretty sure Echo is reading and Winter’s on her phone.”
“Thank you, Sam. Come into the kitchen and I’ll pay you so you can get home. It’s getting late.”
For the first time, Sam looks unsure, like maybe she shouldn’t have let the very well-to-do looking witch into our home while we weren’t here.
Not that she could have stopped her.
Not only is Esther Jennings intelligent and cunning, she is formidable magically. One did not become the most sought after lawyer on the eastern seaboard if they were not. Add to that all the money backing her, and you had yourself one dangerous witch.
Flora and Sam disappear down the hall. I stand staring at Esther.
“Good evening, Miracle,” she says.
I swallow. “What are you doing here?”
Esther gives me a look like this is a silly question. She lifts her teacup off the saucer a fraction. “Having tea,” she says. “Good brew. Homemade?”
“My mother’s recipe,” I reply, and wait. She’s trying to get me to speak first, and I will not.
Esther must see it on my face. “You broke the contract,” she says. She looks at the expensive watch on her wrist. “In less than twenty-four hours.” She chuckles, shakes her head.
I summon a little magic. She snaps her manicured fingers. The magic evaporates out of me.
“No need for that,” Esther says.
She has disabled me with a snap of her fingers.
Holy shit.
She sighs as if she is bored. “There will be consequences.” She sets her tea on the side table, reaches into a leather bag at her feet, and pulls out a stack of stapled papers. She sets them on the coffee table along with a silver quill.
“But if you sign these, you can avoid this getting worse for you.” Esther glances toward the hall. “And your family.”
“Sounds like a threat.”
She nods once. “But it’s meant to be a mercy.”
“She’s not signing anything,” Flora says, returning to the living room.
Esther doesn’t acknowledge her. She keeps her gaze on me. “So this is the hill you’ll die on?”
I fold my arms over my chest. “Is there a better one?” I ask, faking a confidence I do not feel.
Esther Jennings clicks her tongue and stands, smoothing down her pencil skirt with her hands. “Foolish,” she says. “Noble, but foolish.”
A broomstick appears in her right hand, and as she grips it, she disappears.
Flora and I are left staring at the place in our living room where Esther had just been. I feel the block on my magic lift, the wards around the house settling back into place—a lock she so easily picked.
“What now?” I ask my sister.
Flora snorts. “First, we re-ward the house with stronger magic. Again.” She looks toward the ceiling as if she can see through it to where the girls sleep in their beds. “Then we stop fucking around and teach the girls real magic.”
“Real magic?” My eyebrows arch.
“Yeah. The kind mom used to teach us.”
“The kind that got mom killed,” I correct. “What happened to keeping a low profile? The more powerful the witch, the bigger the target she has on her back.” This was an argument we’d had many times in the past. I’d always been in favor of training the girls, despite it being technically against Coven law, and Mira had always insisted it was too dangerous.
“The target is already there, Mira. Keeping the girls ignorant won’t do them any favors now.”
I nod. “You sound like her,” I say, and have to swallow past the familiar lump that lodges in my throat when I think about our mother. “And good thing Echo’s already started to learn with that TiMo app shit.”
“Goddess help us,” Flora says.
I pull my sister into a hug, just like I used to when we were little. “And if the Goddess won’t, then we’ll help ourselves.” I promise.
Flora sighs and sinks into my e
mbrace. “And others along the way, it seems.”
I smile. “Yes, and others along the way.”
“A good life,” Flora says.
It had been a favorite saying of our mother’s; What’s a good life, girls? She'd ask us. And we’d say: One lived in the service of others.
A radical thought in this dog-eat-dog, every man for himself world.
“We’ll take things as they come.”
My sister nods. “No other way to take them.”
“It’s crazy how a single day can change the course of your entire life.”
“Mm,” Flora agrees, and once again, quotes our departed mother. “And entire lives are lived in single days.”
Goddess help us with whatever tomorrow would bring.
The End...For Now…
Have you read the other Book Bite yet?
Set in Philadelphia, Book Bites share a world and can be read in any order. Get to know Harper Beauregard, werewolf of the Philly pack, in Exposed: A Book Bite.
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About the Author
H. D. Gordon is the author of several fantasy series with strong female leads. She is the mother of two amazing daughters, and a lover of nature.
She believes our actions have ripple effects, and in the interconnectedness of all things.
H. D. spends her time with family, eating desserts, and taking strolls through the forests of New Jersey.
For more information visit:
www.hdgordonbooks.com
Also by H. D. Gordon
The Alexa Montgomery Series
Blood Warrior
Half Black Soul
The Rise
Redemption
Heiress of Magic Trilogy
Born of Magic
Thief of Magic
Throne of Magic
The Aria Fae Series
The Halfling
The Masked Maiden
The Blue Beast
The Haunted Hero
The Demon’s Deal
The Wolf Wars Series
Moon Burned
Moon Broken
Moon Born
Moon Battle
The Blood Pack Trilogy
Moon of Fire
Moon of Shadows
Moon of Curses
Academy of Witchcraft
The Awakening
The Summoning
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H. D. Gordon