Michael was completely silent for so long, I became uncomfortable. Then finally, he gave his edict.
“Stay with her, Luken. Protect her. There’s too much magic and power in that family for it to be left unattended or gone forever. She can’t be lost to the darkness. She can’t be lost, period.”
That was what I’d been hoping he’d say. Not that I had truly needed his permission, but I took it to mean that I could attend to her all I wanted, as needed, and I planned to do just that. Not having his go-ahead just meant more problems down the line. But now… He wouldn’t come at me for breaking any rules. Well… he couldn’t come at me for breaking some of the rules.
Michael didn’t know I’d slept with her and he didn’t need to. He’d see it as influencing her. Which maybe it would and maybe I wanted it to.
“I’m glad Miller came to help,” he said which was surprising. I didn’t think Michael actually liked Miller all that much. Then again, who did he like?
“He’s been very helpful.”
“Good. I expect the two of you will be successful. You will protect her even at the cost of your own life but one of you must bring her into the light. You might bring her into the coven.”
“I know. That’s the plan.”
Michael hung up after that, again without a goodbye or any sort of pleasantry. Miller’s mom said the council had a long-term plan but it wasn’t something any of us regular witches were privy to. Half the time I thought Michael was working on his own in the first place.
I rushed back into the house, into the kitchen, only to discover the room was empty.
“Miranda,” I called out. No answer. “Miller,” again nothing.
Then my phone dinged with a text. It was from Miller and read, outside and nothing more.
I full out ran from the room, only pausing to yank the front door open and then I was moving again. I practically jumped down the front steps and frantically searched for the two of them.
What I found was Miranda’s car, closely followed by Miller’s, headed down the road.
Oh shit. My blood ran icy cold. What the hell was she up to?
I took off into another run as I pulled my keys out of my pocket. Not bothering with a helmet, I started my baby up and spun the dirt, spraying it everywhere as I pulled out.
Where the hell could she be going? I asked myself.
They’d gotten a good head start. If Miranda’s house wasn’t up on the hill a bit, I wouldn’t have seen them driving away.
I sped down the road, ignoring the town’s stoplight as I magicked my way through it. I needed to get to her before she did something we’d both regret and be lost forever. Nothing was going to stop me.
Finally, I caught up to Miranda and Miller as she was about to step up the curb onto the sidewalk leading to the Mathers’ front door. Miller had his hand on her shoulder as if he was holding her back. In any other circumstance, I would’ve told him to get his hands off of her. In this one, I was grateful that he was there. I slid up to her, still on my bike, hooked an arm around her waist, and yanked her onto the bike in front of me.
She didn’t fight. She didn’t do anything, really, other than let me hold her against my body. I wondered if she could feel how hard my heart thumped against my chest.
“Don’t you know that I can’t lose you?” I muttered into her hair.
She melted into me and I took it to mean she understood.
“We need to get out of here,” Miller said breaking into our little bubble.
“Yeah.” I gave her a little space so I could see her eyes when I asked the next question. “Will you please get in your car and drive back home? We can sort things out.”
She wet her lips quickly but in the end, she nodded.
“You’re sure?” I followed up. “Because Miller and I will chase you down again.”
She giggled as she slid off my bike. “Yeah. I’ll go back.”
As she walked away, I called out to her. “Miranda.” She turned back. Miller stopped his trek back to his own car as well. “What was your plan?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Something.”
I nodded because I got what she was saying. There was no plan or at least not a solid one but she’d wanted something to happen. Something that would move this whole thing forward but we needed to be smart about this entire thing.
In the end, if things got bad, I’d throw her on the back of my bike and leave this town behind.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Miranda
After snagging me right off the sidewalk, Luken held me against him and told me he couldn’t lose me. He couldn’t lose me. As if I were something special to him. It was hard to wrap my brain around it. Once a full minute passed, he let me go with the promise that I’d drive right home. Then we were slowly moving down the road, away from the place on which my anger had become focused. Now that anger and Luken’s feelings mingled inside me and released through the tears forming in my eyes.
I’d fight those back, though. No need to be a blubbering mess when I faced the guys again. No need to highlight that this was the first time in my life that someone made me feel special, outside of my grandma. She cared for me even if we had this weird relationship where we were more like roommates. There were times we’d laughed and spent hours talking. It was just that most of the time, she was incredibly serious and now I knew why. It was a heavy burden she’d been carrying to know all of this history and that Mather could’ve attacked at any time then she had me thrust into her lap while she was grieving her only child.
Most of the time, I thought that the loss of my mom was the reason Grandma was so serious.
When we pulled into the driveway, Miller and I met in front of my car with Luken on his motorcycle right behind us.
I had questions.
“Why?” I asked as those damn tears let loose and streamed down my face. The control I’d promised myself just minutes before was totally forgotten.
I was pretty sure he’d just saved me from certain death. I’d been so focused on my way to their house that I hadn’t thought about the fact that if this family had dark magic at their fingertips and had been able to take Grandma down, even though she was supposedly super powerful, what chance did I have?
The realization hit me that had I entered that house, I probably wouldn’t have come back out either because the twins did something to me or I’d done something like collapse the entire house on myself.
I’d been on my own, which was stupid. The anger I’d been feeling in the kitchen, that I’d quelled with the water, had returned and nothing was going to stop me from getting to the perfect Ashley and Taylor. Anger had clouded my judgement.
“Why did you stop me?” I asked to clarify what I wanted to know and since I was staring straight at Luken, he’d know I was asking him. Miller somehow faded into the background in moments like this.
Luken shook his head as he climbed off his bike. But then, surprisingly, he leaned down, grabbed my hips, and threw me over his shoulder.
I shrieked as Miller laughed loudly. It was an asshole move that I resented while at the same time, it turned me on.
“What’re you doing?” I yelled as I beat my fists against Luken’s back. “I can walk.”
“This is quicker,” he said. He sounded as if my added weight was nothing to him and clearly my assault on his back didn’t deter him. Not that I thought my fists would do much. I was small compared to him. My muscles were weak compared to his strength.
“Sorry, Miranda,” Miller called out. “My best friend is kind of a caveman.”
I scowled at him since he was walking behind us then relaxed my body against Luken. I wasn’t getting out this until he decided to set me down.
As he carried me into the house, I worked to calm my emotions. I hated feeling so out of control at a simple act. Yes, him grabbing me up was irritating but I shouldn’t have rage burning my veins at it. This was my… boyfriend, I supposed. He was here to help me not hurt me.
>
I suddenly wondered if this feeling of magic inside me was why I’d always had a taste for danger, as Grandma had said. Because right now, I had a yearning for the danger that would come with kicking Luken in the balls. But I chalked the craziness up to the crazy power surging through me.
Wreaking havoc on my hormones. Luken was wreaking havoc on my hormones.
Luken didn’t stop until we reached the hidden side of the house and Miller followed us the entire way. He brought me in and set me gently on the couch. I scurried into the corner and pulled my knees up under my chin.
When Luken’s gaze locked with mine, there was no hardness there. No real anger. Only concern.
This swirling sensation turned into a tornado in my chest. It was different than the swirling I felt when Luken and I were naked together.
Outside, storm clouds gathered and I could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. Yes, it’d been getting later in the day but it shouldn’t have been this dark yet. Moments ago, the sky had been blue and almost cloudless. Now… not so much.
“It’s me, isn’t it?” I asked miserably while pointing at the window.
He nodded as he sat down and pulled me onto his lap. “Relax, Miranda. You’re safe. You don’t have to be worked up and on alert. Miller and I got you right now.” He leaned in, cupped my cheeks and dropped kisses all over my face as if he didn’t care that his best friend was right there watching us.
“What did the council say?” I asked, frowning once he was done.
“Miller and I are to stay here until this is over. We’re to make sure nothing happens to you because your magic is too powerful to lose.” Luken laughed quietly. “I wasn’t going to leave even if he told me to anyway so this works for me.”
“Me either,” Miller added.
Luken’s words probably shouldn’t have brought me as much peace as they did. In reality, I didn’t know the guy all that well but something inside me made me feel like I knew enough. Like I was supposed to meet him and have this connection.
At first, I’d considered that being drawn to Luken was out of desperation. My desperate desire to have a friend, to feel loved, to not be alone in the world. But I didn’t feel that with Miller or anyone else I’d met.
It was only Luken.
We snuggled on the couch for a while until the clouds disappeared, the storm vanished, and the darkness inside me dissipated. I stayed wrapped in his arms until my confidence returned enough to ask the question that needed asking.
Miller was there with us on the other end of the couch and while it should’ve felt weird, it totally didn’t. It was like Miller knew when to talk and when not to.
“What next?” I wondered.
“We set a trap.” He sighed. “I’m pretty sure you already started it. They would’ve seen you coming and they’ll come looking for you now. I’m trying to decide the best place for this all to go down because, believe me, Miranda, this is all going down. There’s no stopping it.”
I nodded because I believed him. I knew nothing of this world other than what little he’d told me. And I figured we’d better prepared for whatever I’d started.
“If we could draw them here,” Miller finally spoke, “That would be best. The closer to the house and the Angel Oak the better.”
“Angel Oak?” I asked. “Do you mean the one tree that’s still alive outside?”
Grandma’s favorite tree didn’t grow tall… well, it was tall but also grew wide like a bush. The branches were thick and I’d climbed over each one multiple times when I was a kid. It was something I liked to do but also brought me a calmness that I couldn’t find anywhere else, especially when the kids at school had been less than nice.
“Yeah,” he said. “The Angel Oak.”
I shook my head because he said that as if it was supposed to mean something to me. “Why do you keep calling it an Angel Oak?”
“That’s what it’s called. As a sapling, it was planted from another Angel Oak. They are incredibly important to white witches.” Miller sat back and tapped his fingers against the cushion. “This one was transplanted from Echo Valley when your grandma moved here. Not an easy thing to do but it’s about four hundred years old.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yup. And it helps with the grounded process. The closer you are to an Angel Oak the more powerfully you can ground yourself which means the more power you’ll have.”
And I used to climb the thing to hide from the world. I guess that explained the calmness I found there.
I turned back to Luken and whispered, “Is there more I need to learn? That you need to teach me?”
He shivered and swallowed hard and while I might’ve been mostly innocent, I knew that his shiver wasn’t necessarily about teaching me magic. That was when I realized what the whole teach me idea could’ve sounded like. There were many areas an education might benefit me. Feeling playful, I tightened my face to keep from giggling.
“I have so much to learn,” I added with wide eyes.
Miller coughed as if he was choking on something but hadn’t been eating or drinking and when I looked over he was covering his mouth and probably his smile.
Luken shook his head and sighed then stood, taking my hand in his, and brought me back up to the attic with Miller in tow, where we found jars labeled with what was inside. He’d caught me messing with him and I loved this part of our relationship.
The jars were fill with dried herbs from the greenhouse outside, from which I could always get more if we needed them. There was an interesting variety of trees and flowers.
Things I’d never even heard of. My grandmother had had it all so well organized.
“Your grandmother did an amazing job of ensuring she always had on hand what she needed for her spell to work,” he admitted. “She took care of you better than you know.”
I licked my lips that suddenly felt dry as a desert.
Apparently on the magical side, she took great care of me. Kept me out of magical danger. On the human side, we’d lived like paupers and in isolation, though given how our town was, I couldn’t blame her for that.
In the end, I nodded.
“I’m still here. I guess she must’ve.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Luken
“I need to tell you what Miller and I found in your grandmother’s papers the other night,” I told Miranda as we rummaged through the herbs in the attic. Her shoulders sagged.
It was like the hits just kept coming at her and I hated that I was the one telling her these things.
But, Miller and I had spent that entire night carefully going through everything we had time for. Serena kept some impeccable records. I probably should’ve told her everything right at the beginning but I’d wanted to give her time to process that Mather probably killed her grandmother first.
“What more could there possibly be?” Her brow furrowed.
“Serena was pretty sure Mather killed your parents, too. Your grandmother knew, but since it was done by dark magic, she couldn’t prove it in a court of law or anything.” I sighed and watched for her reaction but kept talking. “It doesn’t look like your mom was practicing her magic and you lived too far away for Serena to do a decent protection spell on them.” I cleared my throat. Miller leaned back against the table in the attic and watched our interaction. “She had a log of when you came to visit or even when your parents came before you were born. But she had this log where she entered every time she cast a protection spell on you along with when it would expire.”
“They expire?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yours didn’t once you moved here because she could keep doing it. But when you all lived somewhere else, she couldn’t keep up.” Moving in close to her, I took her hand in mine. “She had a lot of guilt over not being able to protect them. According to her journal.”
Her eyes hardened just a notch. “She had a journal? You read it?”
“Only part of it and it’s still up there for you. Even
tually you’ll have to go through everything in the other house.”
“I know.”
“Miranda.” Miller came closer to us and folded his arms over his chest. “Were you with your parents when they died?”
She shook her head as her face slid back into sadness. “No. I was here. They were going on a business trip for my dad and decided to turn it into a romantic getaway. Or that’s what Grandma said.”
Miller looked to me and shrugged. “Makes sense. According to her log, she cast a protection spell on your parents two weeks before they died. It would’ve worn off before they got back.”
“Then,” I added, “Mather would’ve been able to use dark magic to get to them. If he knew where they were but that wouldn’t be so hard. With social media and everything.”
“Do you think that’s why she never let me have any social media? So no one could track where I was not that I’d have anyone following me on any of those anyway.”
“They would’ve followed,” Miller said immediately. “Just to keep track of you.”
Her face scrunched up in confusion. “Here’s the thing I don’t understand,” Miranda began quietly. “How can a pastor be involved in dark magic?”
That was an excellent question, but I thought I knew the answer. “I think he thought the end justified the means. I think he believed that because he was doing God’s work, getting rid of witches, it was OK to use dark magic to make it happen. I bet he thought this was the only way to win. And he was determined to win at all costs. Plus, generations of his family had done it before him so it wouldn’t have been a foreign concept.”
I watched the wheels spin in her mind as she tried processing all of this. To go from normal outcast to powerful witch was quite the change. She needed a distraction.
“Next step: new protection spells,” I murmured.
The three of us got to work on gathering what we needed. The herbs, the extracts. In a matter of minutes, we were ready. We just needed the sun to set and the moon to rise. We’d spell together. Miranda asked questions as we went along and it was like her mind was made for this. Which it was but I remembered how I’d stumbled so many times along the way and she didn’t seem to be having that problem. That was an incredibly good thing considering what we were trying to do here.
Witch of Warwick (Dark Coven Book 1) Page 15