Alaric headed straight for me with a smile, but as he got closer, he frowned, taking in the look on my face. He stopped in front of me, only inches away, and asked, “What’s wrong, dove?”
My jaw clenched and I glanced over his shoulder at Isiah for a moment before refocusing on Alaric and saying, “I thought we were… giving this thing a go.”
He shook his head, brow furrowing in confusion. “What are you… what thing?”
“Us. You and me, together, like a fucking couple.”
He jerked back in surprise, not used to my cursing or my anger. “Of-of course we are. What’s going on, Grady? Did my brother say something to you because—”
I laughed humorlessly and gestured to Isiah as I cut him off. “What was that?”
He still seemed confused, and Isiah rushed over to us, saying, “That wasn’t anything, Grady.”
“It sure looked like something.”
Isiah glanced at Alaric. “He thinks there’s something going on between us because of the way we thanked each other. Humans don’t do that. He thinks we were being too chummy.”
Alaric’s eyes widened, then he turned to me and grabbed my shoulders, bringing my attention to him. I saw Isiah walk back out of the room out of the corner of my eye, but I kept my gaze glued to Alaric’s as he said, “When you do magic with another witch or warlock, it can be… difficult because sometimes your magics might not mix well. And other times, they might mix well, so the experience is… intimate, but not in the way you think.”
I bit my lip to keep my thoughts to myself even though I didn’t appreciate him being intimate with anyone else.
His thumbs rubbed my arms as he continued, “My magic mixed well with Isiah’s, probably because he’s my brother’s soul-pledged, but it was a… fun experience. Touching our foreheads together… that’s common in our culture as a gesture of thanks or camaraderie. It’s an honor and a way to show friendship and trust, sometimes care and family. It doesn’t mean what you think it does.”
I took in his sincerity and knew he was being truthful. If that was a part of his culture, I couldn’t really blame him for it, that wouldn’t be fair to him. So I took a deep breath and nodded, whispering, “It looked like you two were…”
He nodded. “I’m sorry. I felt your emotions, but I couldn’t decipher them because you and I both had a lot of emotions swirling around.” He searched my eyes for a moment. “If it bothers you, I won’t do it anymore.”
I grabbed his wrists, then stepped closer and put my hands on either side of his neck. “No, baby, that’s… it’s a part of your… warlock stuff. I won’t take that away from you.”
He swallowed audibly and nodded. “Isiah is the first person to do that with me since I was eight... my brother is the only other person that’s ever…” There was so much sadness in his voice, that my breath hitched. Goddammit! Apparently, that gesture was important in his culture, and he’d missed out on it for years and years, and then I had to go be an ass and make him feel guilty over it.
“Alaric, I’m sorry. Please don’t… please don’t remember only this when you think of that moment. I’m sorry I ruined it for you, and please don’t stop on my behalf. Now that I understand… I get it, it’s fine.”
He nodded. “You didn’t ruin anything.”
A half-smile popped up on my lips. “If only that was true.” I pressed my lips gently against his and sighed when he pressed back. My chest filled and fluttered as he wrapped his arms around me, then tucked his face against my neck, hugging me tight. Every part of my body and heart and soul filled with this happiness as he held me and I held him. His hot breath was on my skin, his chest against mine, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I could spend the next eight hundred years—or longer—with him, just like this. In my arms where he belongs. I was falling for this man hard, but I knew he’d be there to catch me when I finally tumbled all the way down.
We stayed that way for several minutes before Alaric asked, “Did you come in here to get something?”
It took me a moment to snap out of my contented daze, and when I did, I took a breath. “I want to talk to you about something.”
He lifted off my shoulder to stare at me, and I missed his cuddling already even though he hadn’t let go yet, and he whispered, “What do you need to talk about?” He was so open and trusting, vulnerable yet strong, I couldn’t help but place a quick kiss on his lips.
“I want to know if it’s okay to share everything with Laz.”
“Everything?”
I nodded. “He’s my best friend, my family, and I hate lying to him. I hate not sharing this with him, especially because I know this is going to be the biggest part of my life… forever. I want to be able to talk to him and be honest.”
He stared at me, his eyebrows drawn together, for several long beats, then he nodded. “As long as we make him take a binding oath, that would be fine.”
I blinked in surprise. “Really?”
He smiled, just a tad. “Of course. Like you said, he’s your family.”
I pulled him back into a hug, squeezing him so hard, I heard the air whoosh out of his lungs. “Thank you, my sweet, sweet warlock.”
“You’re welcome.” There was a smile in his voice. “I don’t think it wise to tell anyone else, though.”
I nodded. “Laz is my only real friend, anyway.”
“Maybe before, but I think you have three warlocks you can count among them now.”
I smiled and nodded. “I like that.”
He tucked closer to me and held me tight for a moment before releasing and pulling back to say, “We should probably go out there and make sure my brother hasn’t done… anything to Laz.” I wrinkled my nose, and Alaric laughed. “I didn’t mean like that, although I wouldn’t put it past him, especially with the way he was…” He waved his hand around toward the store front.
I chuckled. “Your brother is something else, that’s for sure.” I kissed his cheek. “But you’re right, we should make sure he hasn’t erased Laz’s memory or something awful.” I grabbed his hand and led him out of the back room, then blinked at the sight before me.
Raphael was rubbing his very red cheek, Laz was across from him, yelling and grumbling and shaking out his hand, and Isiah was standing between them, trying to push Laz away from Raphael. What in the hell happened?
“What’s going on out here?” I yelled, bringing all three of their attention to me. “What happened?”
Raphael pointed at Laz with disgust written on his face. “Your friend punched me.”
My eyes widened. Laz was the least violent person I knew. I was more likely to punch someone than he was, and I would never punch anyone.
Alaric asked Raphael, “What did you do?”
Raphie glared at his brother. “I was only talking to him. He lost his shit and hit me. Why don’t you grill that asshole?”
“You’re the asshole here, Raphael,” Laz yelled as he tried to move closer to Raphie, but Isiah held him back.
“Does somebody want to explain?” I asked.
Isiah sighed and pointed at Raphie while keeping one hand on Laz’s chest and said, “Raph was trying to get a rise out of Laz, and apparently, it worked. Who knew? Raph might’ve found his calling; how to piss nice people off.”
Raphael smirked at that, but remained quiet.
Laz said, “He is the biggest jerk I’ve ever met.”
Raphael’s smirk grew, and now I wanted to punch that look right off his face. Maybe give him a matching bruise on the other cheek.
Alaric walked over to his brother and they started arguing in whispered voices, so I headed over to Laz and asked, “What in the world did he say to make you punch him?”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.” He shrugged Isiah off and backed away. “I’m fine.”
“You promise not to go after him again?” Isiah asked, his voice hard and steely. “If you do, I won’t hesitate to knock you out.” My eyebrows rose because he didn’t
seem the type to get angry, but I suppose when your soul-pledged was threatened, anyone would be mad.
Laz nodded. “Yeah. I got it.”
I wrapped my arm over Laz’s shoulders and pulled him back behind the counter while Alaric took Raphael to the opposite side of the store. At least if they started fighting again, they’d have several obstacles to get through before they could throw punches—or magic, in Raphie’s case. I suppressed a shudder at that.
“What did he say?” I asked again.
Laz huffed. “Don’t worry about it.”
Before I could grill him further, I heard Alaric yell, “Why would you ever say that?” I watched with wide eyes as he pushed his brother hard in the chest and yelled, “Get out.”
Raphael lifted his hands in surrender. “I’m not leaving.” Alaric got in Raphie’s face and muttered something under his breath that I couldn’t hear, but Raphie nodded. “I’m sorry. It was supposed to be a joke. I didn’t know you or the human would take it so seriously.”
Isiah was standing beside Raphael now, and he put his hand on Raphie’s shoulder, saying, “He won’t do it again. I apologize. He has a mouth on him, and he doesn’t always think before he speaks.”
“Standing right here, Izzy.”
Isiah patted Raphael’s chest patronizingly. “The grownups are talking, babe. Keep your mouth shut so I can clean up your mess… like I always do.”
To my surprise, Raphael squeezed his lips together in a straight line and didn’t speak. He didn’t look happy about it, but he kept his mouth shut.
I turned my attention back to Laz, who was still fuming but seemed to be cooling down a little. I rubbed his upper arm and asked, “You okay now?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…” he trailed off with a shake of his head.
“It’s fine.” I bit my lip. “Can I tell you what’s going on now?”
Laz turned sharply to me. “Of course you can. You can tell me anything.”
I smiled. “I know.” I glanced around, and since there were no customers or anything, I suggested, “Let’s go in the breakroom so we can sit down.” There was a table and several chairs for employees to eat in there.
“Sure.”
I started heading back there, but paused and called out to Alaric, “Hey, Ric? I’m taking Laz in the back.”
Alaric immediately answered with a, “Hold on,” without looking away from Isiah. I sighed, but listened, and less than a minute later, Alaric walked over to me, saying, “You can’t go in there alone.”
Laz’s lips flattened and he glared at Alaric, clearly misinterpreting everything. Alaric wasn’t being controlling, he was trying to keep me safe.
“Relax, Laz. You’ll understand in a minute,” I said as I led him into the back with Alaric following behind us.
“What. The. Fuck.” Laz was staring at Alaric with wide eyes as Alaric made several comics and figures float around the room.
“See? I told you I’m not crazy. And I didn’t join a cult,” I said with a grin as I watched the shock and disbelief cross Laz’s features.
Alaric said, “We’re not a cult, but we do have rules. You can’t speak to anyone other than us or other warlocks about this… no humans other than Grady are allowed to know.”
Laz nodded numbly.
“I mean it, Laz. I’ll have to erase their memories if you do, and sometimes those spells take other memories with them. We try to control it, but messing with someone’s mind is difficult.”
I frowned at that. “You guys shouldn’t do that then. Why would you do that to people?”
Alaric met my eyes. “That’s why we guard our secrets so fiercely. Only a select few may know of our world. Technically, I should’ve gotten permission from the Conclave to tell you and Laz, but our circumstances are different, so for you, they will make an exception.”
That made me cringe and a trickle of worry ran up my spine. “What about Laz?”
“Isiah said he would take the fall. Since he’s an enforcer for the Conclave, they’ll listen to him and let him explain. It’ll be fine.”
“Is he going to get into trouble?” I asked.
Alaric lifted a shoulder. “Maybe a slap on the wrist… or at least, that’s what Isiah said. I don’t know much about the Conclave since I’ve never had any interaction with them. I know what my father told me, but anything he said could’ve been lies. From everything Raphie has said, Father was wrong about… everything.” He frowned, likely remembering some of the horrible lies he’d discovered in the past two days.
I reached over and took Alaric’s hand, squeezing it tight, then I focused on a shell-shocked Laz, and asked, “Do you have any questions?”
Laz shook his head. “Not yet… I’m still thinking.”
I nodded. “Understandable. Let me know when the questions come.”
He sent me a small smile.
I sat back and scrubbed my hands over my face. “I need to work. I can’t believe no one’s come into the store today.” I frowned, thinking about how bad that really was. I’d never been as slow as I was the past few days. Then a thought occurred to me. “Is your ward keeping out my customers?”
Alaric glanced at me, and I saw the guilt written on his face and knew I had the answer.
“How could you guys do that?” I demanded.
Alaric pulled his hand out of mine. “I’m sorry. We wanted to wait until the rest of the enforcers got here before we opened up to humans and anyone else.”
“Why didn’t you ask me?”
“I’m sorry. I’m not used to… any of this.” He sighed. “I apologize, Grady, and I beg your forgiveness. I should have asked and explained my reasoning earlier.”
I nodded. “Yes, you should have.”
“Do you forgive me?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes. My god, it’s not that big of a deal, Mr. Manners.”
He smiled, a very tiny a bit. “Thank you.”
“Ugh!” I threw my hands in the air, and Alaric chuckled, and even Laz smiled.
Isiah poked his head into the room and said, “I’ve tamed the beast.” He smiled, then said directly to Laz, “I’m very sorry for anything and everything that came out of his mouth. He’s a…”
“Asshole,” Laz supplied.
Isiah lifted a shoulder.
Laz sighed. “It’s fine. If I go out there—”
“He will be of utmost civility and respect. I’ll be sure of it.”
“Alright,” Laz said.
Isiah smiled at him, then turned his attention to Alaric and me. “The Conclave delegacy has arrived in town. They will be here shortly.”
Alaric grabbed my hand again, and I felt the light tremor, but he nodded. “We’ll be out in a moment.”
With a firm nod, Isiah slipped back out.
“Ready for this?” I asked Alaric.
He shook his head. “No, but we have no choice.”
Picking up our combined hands, I placed a kiss to his skin. “There’s always a choice. If you don’t want to face them, we can ask Isiah and Raphie to do it, or we could make a run for it and hide out somewhere where no one will find us. Or, if you want to, we can go out there and face them. Which by the way, is what I want to do, but I will follow you anywhere you lead. If you need to run, then we run.”
Alaric stared at me for several seconds before a smile slowly spread over his handsome face. “You are, without a doubt, my favorite person ever.”
A surprised laugh bubbled out of me. “Um… thanks.”
He grinned and leaned over to kiss me quickly.
Laz said, “Can you two stop for five seconds? We need to get out there.”
“We have plenty of time,” I said, “but we’ll go out there… or run?” I directed the last part to Alaric.
He smiled softly at me. “No, we face them together.”
I nodded. “Let’s get this over with.”
Chapter 22
Alaric
I was terrified as we waited inside the s
torefront. Grady still gripped my hand, and his presence kept me grounded. It kept me from running, to be honest. My only experience with the Conclave was their rogue agent imprisoning me in a glass ball for two centuries. I didn’t exactly have high hopes for meeting these people. I knew that Claudette had been acting on her own misguided justice system, but that didn’t mean I could trust these people. She’d been a part of their enforcers, after all.
“You have nothing to worry about,” Raphie said from my other side.
I shot him a glare. After what he’d pulled earlier with Laz, I wasn’t about to take advice from him.
Isiah leaned forward from the other side of Raphie and said to me, “I promise that they are nothing like Claudette. They’re here to help.”
I nodded even though I wasn’t sure I believed him.
I felt their power a moment before the doors to the shop opened and three young-looking witches and one small warlock walked inside. They didn’t look threatening at all, but their looks were misleading because the power they carried was vast.
“Hello,” said a pretty woman with blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a black hat sitting crooked on her head. Her clothes were mismatched, blacks and deep purples, and she gave off a hippie vibe, as Grady would say. She was welcoming, had a sense of safety about her, but I couldn’t let that give me a false sense of security, never again would I do that. She smiled at me and said, “It’s so good to finally meet you, Alaric Galen Crane Bloodgood. My name is Norea Malum, and I am the director of the Conclave. Please let me be the first to say how sorry we are for your plight. Rest assured we’ll do everything in our power to make the witch responsible for it suffer.” Her magic flared, and a sense of cruelty floated from her.
Instinctively, I shoved Grady behind me and prepared to unleash my magic in a shield if need be.
She smiled as her eyes tracked the movement. “I don’t blame you for your mistrust, Mr. Bloodgood. My apologies for making you uncomfortable. Fear not, your human is well protected and will come to no harm from anyone in this organization. A soul-pledged is meant to be treasured, and I understand we have your soul-pledged to thank for releasing you from your prison. He helped one of ours and we will forever be in his debt.”
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