All characters in this publication are fictitious, any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Forgotten Destiny Book Three
Copyright © 2017 Odette C Bell
Cover art stock photos: licensed from Depositphotos.
www.odettecbell.com
Forgotten Destiny
Book Three
Beth has found herself in a whole world of trouble. The head of the Cruze Gang is hunting her down, and this time, she won't get away.
What could be worse than being kidnapped by a murderous ex-army warlock? Her destiny finally catching up with her....
There'll be nowhere to hide, and there'll only be one place to run - right into the arms of the city's only sorcerer.
Chapter 1
Another morning, another confusing day in my equally confusing life. I was sitting at the kitchen table, staring glumly at a mound of paperwork as I pushed my breakfast cereal around the bowl.
Josh was on the opposite side of the kitchen. He was leaning against the bench, his arms crossed, his expression concerned. Yes, that’s right – I wasn’t making that up. Josh McIntosh was showing concern for little old me.
After several more glum seconds of pushing my cereal around without taking a single bite, Josh gave the kind of long-suffering sigh that told me I was killing him. “Just put it in your mouth, for heaven’s sake. Beth, you haven’t eaten anything all day.”
“It’s only 9 o’clock in the morning,” I protested without bothering to look up at him. I kept my attention locked on the mound of paperwork. Though locked was the wrong word. My gaze was dead, as if I hadn’t slept in a week. It certainly felt like that. Even though it hadn’t been a week since… the incident, the amount of mental anguish it had given me felt as if I’d been forced to endure it for a year.
Last night when I’d gone to bed, I hadn’t dreamt of Max. No, I’d dreamt of his goddamn brother.
Jason. Jason. Jason. That arrogant prick who, according to some stupid, trumped-up prophecy, I was meant to marry. Max had promised me that I wouldn’t be forced to marry Jason. Much worse than that – I would fall head-over-heels for him. But right now – and hopefully forever – I simply couldn’t see how that would be possible. Jason was an arrogant idiot. Though perhaps you could confuse Max for being arrogant, Max was just rich and a little standoffish when you first met him. His brother, on the other hand, was the epitome of somebody who thought they were better than everybody else. And as perhaps the only practicing sorcerer in the city, if not the country, maybe he had a reason to think he was better than everybody else. But when it came to his personality, he was at the bottom.
“I’d tell you to stop thinking about it,” Josh said with a knowing look, “but from your expression, I don’t think that’s likely. So I’m going to have to distract you, aren’t I? I thought giving you paperwork would work, but you’re just staring at it. Though this could be a good time to ask if you can read, I already know the answer to that.”
I looked up at him, for the first time drawing my gaze off the table. “That wasn’t a very good insult, Mr. McIntosh. You’re off your game.”
He let out a small sigh. “I guess I am. I guess,” he looked distracted as he cast his gaze to the side, “it’s not as fun to insult you anymore. You’ve got a lot on your plate,” he said through a sigh. Then, as if realizing he was becoming too serious, he nodded toward my bowl. “So eat up.”
I tapped my spoon against the porcelain rim. “Firstly, it’s not a plate – it’s a bowl. And secondly…” I simply ran out of steam as I went back to pushing my cereal around.
Josh let out the loudest, most long-suffering sigh I thought it would be possible to give. It echoed around the kitchen and sounded as morose as a whole planet dying. “For the love of God, Beth – we’ll work through this. Together.”
Josh could have said a lot of things – and I would’ve ignored most of them. But this one grabbed hold of my attention, yanked my head up, and forced me to look at him properly for the first time since he’d appeared in the kitchen to watch me. I opened my lips. I didn’t know what to say.
So Josh cleared his throat. “I know I spend most of my time hating on you, Beth. And I know, most of the time, you deserve it. You’re irritating. You think you’re all that now you’re a special comprehensive finder witch,” he said as he brought his fingers up and made air quotes, “and you cost too much to feed.”
My lips pursed, and a dangerous look flickered in my gaze. “But? You better get to the but quickly, because I’ve got to say, you’re losing me here.”
He looked at me sincerely. Josh could do that, you see. He could go from looking at you like you were a piece of trash on the sidewalk, to looking at you like you were the most valuable human being in his life. “But you’ve been pulled into this goddamn prophecy against your will, and I like you, Beth. You’re useful, and,” he gave an awkward shrug as he started to scratch his shoulder, “you don’t deserve this prophecy. So yeah, I’m going to help you. So can you just finish your cereal before it gets soggy already?”
I held his gaze. “Thanks for the offer, Josh, but—”
He brought his hands up wide and expressively, his gaze flashing with defiance. “If you’re about to dare say that you don’t think there’s anything I can do to help you, stop and look at this.” He brought his hands out wide and gestured them up and down his body as if he were a game show host revealing the greatest prize.
I looked at him with a suitably questioning look. “What the heck are you doing?”
“I’m revealing to you one of the most powerful warlocks in Madison City. One who earned a deserved reputation when he was in the Army for getting almost anything done. If there was an impossible mission, they gave it to me.” He jammed a thumb toward himself, a defiant look blasting in his gaze as if somebody had lit his pupils like furnaces. “I was the warlock who was given the only government-sponsored bounty-hunter contract in all of Madison City.”
“Firstly, I thought we’d agreed that you wouldn’t call me Missy anymore,” I said pointedly, my lips spread wide in warning.
This took a little of the bluster out of Josh’s sails, and he brought his hands up wide, clenched his teeth, and shrugged. “Okay. Okay – you’ve made your point clear on that one.”
“Thank you.”
“And secondly?” he prompted.
“And secondly, though… I appreciate you must be powerful to have gained this contract, we are dealing with a sorcerer,” I said, voice shaking with unmistakable fear.
It made Josh react. He clenched his teeth, and I could tell he was trying to hide the majority of his anger, though he wasn’t doing a particularly good job. “Jason is a trainee sorcerer.”
“But he’s still a sorcerer, and he can still practice all forms of magic, even finding magic,” I said. I didn’t want my tone to be defeated. God did I want it to stay neutral. But it frigging couldn’t. Every time I spoke about Jason, let alone thought of him, the same damn sensations would run through my body. And I hated every one of them, because at the same time, I loved them.
I’ll let you in on a little secret. Ever since I was a child, I was one of those sappy young women who’d always imagined having a soulmate. Yeah, I get it – soulmates, realistically, don’t exist. It’s a myth sold to us through a culture obsessed with Disney-princess versions of love. True successful relationships come from trying – not waiting for Mr. Right to come along.
But now here I was, struck with the knowledge that technically – with a big emphasis on the technically – Mr. Right had come along. I was indeed a woman who had been promised a specific man – and a specific destiny to boot. My body seemed t
o recognize that, from every beat of my heart, to every shifting sense of warmth through my chest, to every tingle in my lips.
But my mind—
“I really don’t like it when you do that, you know,” Josh said, his voice dipping low.
It took me a moment. “When I do what?”
“Stop midway through a sentence and stare out into space like that. It gets me worried. The Beth I know is far too proactive to get lost in her thoughts like this.”
I snorted. “You know, that’s potentially the best insult you’ve ever given. I’ve always been someone who has been trapped by my thoughts.”
Josh snorted. “Perhaps you tell yourself that, but you’re also one of the most proactive people I’ve ever met. Even I,” he clenched a fist, pressed it against his chest, and bowed, “can recognize that. You’ve saved my life twice, remember?”
I stared at him with pressed, closed lips. It felt as if I was looking at him properly for the first time ever. Yes, Josh being nice to me right now could not erase all of the time he’d spent being a complete idiot. Nor could it change the fact he’d made my life hell after I’d found out I was a witch. But at least this was something. Something I desperately needed.
I leaned into the table, grabbed up my spoon, and started to eat my cereal.
This caused a big grin to shift over Josh’s face. “There you go. See? That wasn’t too hard.”
“Me finishing this bowl of cereal is going to be the easiest thing I do today. I can guarantee that. Now, you promised to help me, so start.”
Josh frowned and stared at me askew. “What are you talking about?”
“Josh McIntosh, I need you to find some way to help me find the prophecy.” Though my voice started off strong, it began to waver.
Josh blanched. “You don’t need the prophecy. We already know what it says.”
I shook my head. “I have people telling me what it says. Just as I have people telling me that I’m the one talked about in the prophecy.” I brought up a hand and slapped my chest, the sound echoing through the kitchen. “But I’m the best finder here.”
“And you don’t trust them?” Josh said as he arched an eyebrow hard.
“No, I don’t. I want to find this prophecy, find out exactly what it says, and,” I clenched my teeth, “find some way around it.”
“You can’t do that. It’s a prophecy. It’s set in stone.”
I looked at him, and it was my turn to arch an eyebrow. I ticked my head to the side and shook it. “I’m the finder, remember, Josh? And I will find some way around this.”
Josh stared at me silently. Then he shrugged.
Me? I tried to believe in what I’d just said. Because that belief was the only thing I had right now.
Chapter 2
“We still have to work, Beth,” Josh said for what felt like the fiftieth time as he parked his car.
I noted that he didn’t swing in wildly, cutting anyone else off. In fact, he drove professionally and politely, even allowing someone past with a quick wave of his hand.
When we’d pulled up, after he’d made a seemingly perfect reverse parallel park, he looked at me once more. “We’ll get to the prophecy after this – I promise. But we can’t afford to ignore this case.”
“Josh – you don’t have to keep repeating that.”
He looked at me quietly. “Don’t I?”
I opened my mouth, but I didn’t honestly know what to say.
Josh was watching me, and his stare had such a knowing edge to it, I swore he could peer right into my mind.
“You’re freaking out, Beth. With every second, it’s getting worse. You’ve got no idea where Jason is, you’ve got no idea what he’s planning, and you don’t want to fall prey to this prophecy. You think you can find a way around it if only you can find the exact words of the prophecy, as if it’s some statute and you’re some lawyer who can argue her way out of anything. You want to get started, sooner rather than later. So the fact we have to go on a case is driving you insane.”
It was my turn to look at him quietly. “When did you become so observant, Mr. McIntosh?”
He snorted. “I was always this observant.” He brought his hands up wide and spread them as far as he could in this massive monster truck. “You just never noticed before.”
“If you’re so observant – what else can you tell about my current mental state?”
“That you’re going to do anything and everything you can to avoid Jason. You think he’s going to come looking for you. I’m not so sure.”
I tried to keep my expression neutral. Oh hell did I try to keep it neutral. I couldn’t. My lips cracked open as if my face was a desert that hadn’t been watered in years.
“That’s not how Jason thinks. He knows where you are now. Hell, I’m starting to wonder if he knew where you were earlier. By the sounds of it, he was following you – that’s how he found the Cruze Gang.”
Immediately I shook my head. “No, he was following the Cruze Gang. He didn’t find me until Frank and I appeared.”
“How can you be so sure?” There was a flashing quality behind Josh’s gaze.
“Because I’m the real finder,” I said, emphasizing the word real.
Josh opened his mouth, then decided he obviously couldn’t win this one. He shook his head, opened the door, jumped down, and waited for me to meet him on the pavement.
I took my time. Not because I was uncoordinated around Josh’s car anymore, but because I was still thoughtful.
As much as I wanted to push it away, Josh was right. I was terrified that Jason would appear at any moment. I was terrified that he would start taking this so-called forgotten destiny into his own hands, and… what? Start being lovey-dovey and cute to try to get me to fall in love with him?
What exactly was meant to happen next?
Max had told me that I would be the one to teach Jason how to use real finder magic. It sounded rather strange considering I’d only just found out I was a witch and my magic had only spread from location-finding magic to the other forms recently.
But who was I to argue with Max?
“For God’s sake – pull your damn head out of your troubles. If all this case will be is a distraction, then let it be a distraction.” Josh pointed forward.
I expected us to head across the road to one of the numerous shiny office blocks.
I didn’t know what bounty we were looking for – Josh hadn’t bothered to tell me, and that was either because he was too distracted, or because he hadn’t found out the full details of the case yet. But we didn’t head across to one of the shiny office blocks. Josh found a set of stairs that led down in front of an old sandstone four-story townhouse.
I’d walked these city streets many times, but I’d never seen this place.
I frowned and looked up at Josh. Before I could ask my question, he shrugged, grabbed a hand on the railing, and started pounding down the stairs quickly. “Ming always changes the location of his primary headquarters. It’s more entertaining that way,” Josh said with a shrug.
I frowned. My mind ticked through the possibilities until it chanced upon the most obvious. “You mean Ming Chen? Is he where this next case is coming from?”
Josh snorted. “One of Ming’s actresses has disappeared. He wants us to look into it for him, find out where she is, and give her a hand.”
I frowned. “Unless I’m very much mistaken – that’s not what we do. We catch bounties. If she’s skipped town and hasn’t checked in, thus violating her contract, it’s our obligation to bring her to the police.”
Josh reached the last of the stairs, turned, and arched an eyebrow. “Are you actually telling me what my job is?”
“You seem to be confused, that’s all,” I said as I crossed my arms, reaching the base of the stairs too. There was a locked door in front of us. The reason I could tell it was locked, was because it had an enormous padlocked chain over it.
Josh didn’t bother to lean forward and knock. He st
ill looked at me, his eyebrow arched. “Well,” he gave a considerable pause, obviously about to use the name Missy, but he stopped just as obviously, “Beth,” he said after a swallow, “you’re about to find that there’s another aspect to our business. Specifically, covering protection orders.”
I frowned as hard as I possibly could. “What are you talking about? This actress had a protection order on her? So why did she run? And why is Ming Chen getting us to look into this for him? Why aren’t the police doing this? And who gave her a protection order? Just what kind of witch is she?”
Josh shook his head. “You done? I mean, you almost gave me whiplash there. Got any more questions to add to that mess?”
“Just answer them, buddy.”
“If you call me buddy, I’m gonna call you Missy.”
“No you’re not. I’ve saved your life twice now. I want your respect, thank you,” I said with a seriously hardened tome that sounded as if I was the one who’d always been in control.
Josh actually gulped. Then he shook his head and realized there was something far more important to do here – our jobs. “To answer your question – or at least one of them – Isabella Warrick is an emotion reader.”
I frowned. “Those are pretty rare.”
Josh snorted. “Thank you – I do know that. I am the person who’s been doing this bounty hunter job for a lot longer than you.”
“I thought you’d turned over a new leaf and decided to help me and not to insult me so much?” I growled.
Josh actually reacted to this, and his shoulders dropped. He brought up a hand and flopped it at me. “Okay, okay – so you have a point. Here is everything I know. Due to her rare powers, Isabella was on a protection order – a little like yours, though it was wider. It also meant her employer could negotiate who could fill out that order.”
“Why are you only telling me all of this now? We had a whole car ride for you to divulge these important facts.”
“You mean a whole car ride where I tried to talk to you, but you kept staring off through the window and thinking about a certain sorcerer?”
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