Bewitched (Fated #1)

by Kelly Moran

  Riley and Tristan were a blur of movement, running toward Greg and his...

  God-awful scream.

  It rent the air and pierced Kaida’s ears over the crackling and popping of the blaze catching. Growing. The putrid scent of burnt flesh drifted to her on a cloud of smoke, and she gagged. Cried. She tried to cover her ears and couldn’t with her hands restrained.

  Brady crouched in front of her, eyes damp and tormented. He reached for her, gaze darting between her and Greg as if unsure what to act upon first. “I’ve got you, sweetheart.”

  Tristan and Riley halted in their tracks, horrified gazes on their uncle, who writhed and flung himself onto the grass.

  The witching blade still grasped tightly in his hand, he rolled, flailed like mad, and eventually went motionless face-down, arms and legs spread wide. His charred, blackened skin and clothes steamed, but he remained unmoving after several moments.

  “Christ,” Riley uttered in the pending lull. “Is he...is he dead?”

  No one answered, but Brady’s fingers dug deeper into Kaida’s arms.

  Unconsciousness loomed, threatening to swallow her into nothing. The narrow straw passage she’d been receiving air through shrank to almost nonexistent. Her pain eked, ebbed, millimeter by millimeter, until her entire system froze and ice locked her muscles.

  Ceara wailed and clapped a hand over her mouth, pale cheeks drenched and her eyes round in anguish. “Oh Goddess, oh Goddess. I aimed for his feet. I swear, I did. He moved too fast. I didn’t mean to...” Covering her face, she wailed again.

  Tristan ate the distance and pulled her against him. “Self-defense, mo chroí. You were protecting Kaida. It’s not your fault, hear me?”

  Panting, Fiona shifted to their side and murmured a sound of agreement.

  Mara seemed uncertain, her gaze wary, and crept closer to Greg’s prone form. She stood over the body, watching it closely, and bent to reach for the witching blade.

  A bellow roared from Greg, startling a collective gasp of shock from everyone and freezing them immobile.

  He vaulted to his feet like he didn’t resemble a barbeque pit and his flesh wasn’t singed beyond reason. A horror movie come to life. Tattered shreds of clothes stirred with his frenzied motion. He shoved Mara. Hard enough, she went flying into Riley, toppling them both to the ground.

  Brady rose unsteadily, blocking Kaida with his arms spread, but he, too, was knocked aside like he weighed nothing.

  Terror slithered through Kaida’s bloodstream, wove around ligaments, and banded tendons. Her heart seized mid-beat. Rendered unable to respond, she trembled. Cowered.

  Then, all she saw were the whites of Greg’s eyes and the unadulterated abhorrence in their depths. Ash caked her tongue, her nostrils, while he shoved his marred, sickly burned face in hers. His lips peeled from his teeth in a sneer.

  “May God have mercy on your soul.” He swung his arm back, and the dagger glinted in the light a fraction of a second before it plunged into her belly.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  As the blade sank into Kaida’s stomach, her face froze in a terrifying expression of shock and pain that yanked the heart right out of Brady’s chest. But when his uncle withdrew the dagger, the oxygen punched from Brady’s lungs with such force, he couldn’t so much as cry out. A crimson ribbon flung through the air and splattered onto the grass.

  And Brady’s whole world, his existence, shattered into a thousand fragmented pieces.

  “Nooooo!” He frantically crawled over to her, roaring her name until his throat was as ravaged as his soul.

  He had the briefest concept of his uncle lunging to his feet and sprinting toward the hedge wall before Kaida collapsed in Brady’s arms.

  Carefully as he could manage, he laid her on the grass and quickly untied the rope from her wrists. Angry red burns marred her perfect skin. A swift assessment showed a deep, open gash on her jaw and another above her eyebrow, both actively bleeding. But it was the hole in her stomach gushing uncontrollably that had him reeling.

  “Help me!” His shout echoed off the cottage exterior and reverberated back to him like a shot. Pressing his hand to the bleeding, he looked around in desperation. His eyes burned and his gut bottomed out as he added pressure to the wound.

  Tristan’s form disappeared behind the hedge wall at a dead run, assumingly to chase their uncle. Fiona straddled Kaida’s thighs, her motions in full combat mode as she ripped Kaida’s shirt open down the front. Ceara knelt by Kaida’s other side and Mara by her head while Riley paced with his hand shoved in his hair, cell phone to his ear.

  He disconnected. “I can’t get a signal up here to call 911.”

  “They wouldn’t make it in time,” Fiona said, her tone distracted as she seemed to take stock of her sister’s injuries.

  Warm, sticky blood flowed between Brady’s fingers. His Kaida’s blood. He jerked his attention to her, and her sickly pale complexion was almost translucent. Her entire left side was black and blue.

  This wasn’t happening. Wasn’t, wasn’t, wasn’t. Not after all they’d been through to finally be together. Fate couldn’t be this cruel.

  Her glassy cerulean gaze met his, her breaths growing more and more shallow. “Love...you.”

  “No,” he growled and cupped her jaw, leaning over her. “Don’t you dare say goodbye to me.” His voice cracked, and he sucked a harsh breath to stave off tears in order to talk. Scared to death of losing her, he said what he should’ve weeks ago. “Twenty years, sweetheart. We’ve been together in one form or another for twenty years. I know your strengths and your weaknesses, same as you do mine. I know what your happiness looks like and I know what grief does to you.”

  Holding her gorgeous face, he fought to keep it together. “We grew up beside each other in dreams, fell in love. And then we truly met and my life started. I didn’t know real love until I touched you, kissed you. You are my other half. I’m yours. We may be destined, but I’d choose you regardless.” He lost the battle and his tears splashed onto her cheeks. “Don’t leave me. Not like this, not now.”

  Her lids lowered to half-mast like she was struggling to stay conscious, but her eyes stayed locked to his. “I...choose you. Will never...leave you.” A wheeze rattled her chest, and she slid her gaze to Fiona, who shoved his hand away, cursed under her breath, and added pressure to the bleeding.

  Without success.

  “Don’t you dare leave any of us.” Fiona’s fierce eyes blazed. “I will never forgive you. And trust me, you don’t want my wrath. Much easier to just listen to me and stick around.”

  Kaida offered a weak laugh and wound up in a coughing fit, sending Brady into cardiac arrest. “Bury me...with our...ancestors.” Wheeze, wheeze. “Belong...here with family. I’m home...now.”

  Riley paced faster, tension twisting his mouth.

  Fiona and Brady yelled over one another in a desperate plea to stop Kaida’s nonsense until Ceara squeaked, drawing their attention to her.

  “Guys, look.” Ceara turned her sister’s arm over.

  Just like it had with Brady, the mark on Kaida’s wrist unknotted and dissolved. Disappeared altogether. Seconds later, the cottage door swung open by its own volition, emitting a yellow glow from inside. Dust motes danced in the light.

  “Did I do...it?” Kaida’s rasp was a barely audible whisper. “My...task?”

  Ceara smiled down at her, lip quivering. “I believe you did. Never doubted you, sister.” She smoothed Kaida’s strands fanning the grass. “Not for a moment.”

  Tristan rounded the hedge wall and hunched beside Brady, hands on his knees. “I couldn’t catch up to him. Lost him in the woods.” Panting, he eyed Kaida, and all the color drained from his face. “Status?”

  Fiona shook her head. “Besides the stab wound, she’s probably got internal bleeding. I think she punctured a lung.”

  Kaida let out a frightening gurgle, and blood bubbled from her lips. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes into her hair. Then�
��Christ, mercy—she went utterly still, gaze fixed and unseeing on the heavens.

  Gasp.

  Gasp.

  Sigh...

  “Kaida,” Brady whispered on a broken exhale, his airway collapsing. “Kaida? Kaida!” He gave her a shake, but her head lolled and she didn’t respond.

  “Crap. No, no, no,” Fiona chanted. “Everybody back up. Now! Give me room.”

  “No, I’m not leaving her.” He’d plunge a dagger into his own gut before...

  “Tristan, a little help.” Fiona was a flutter of movement, focus only on her sister.

  Arms wrapped around Brady and dragged him several feet away from Kaida. He screamed and shoved, but Tristan held firm, planting Brady on his ass and caging him between his legs. Banding Brady against his body, Tristan pinned his arms while Brady cracked in two.

  He yelled her name, over and over, until his voice was so hoarse, no sound emerged.

  “Aunt Mara, Ceara, I need to pull your magick.” Fiona rose on her knees, still straddling Kaida’s thighs.

  On each side of Kaida, Ceara and Mara held Kaida’s hands, then clasped Fiona’s shoulders with their other. Riley quit his incessant pacing and stood with his hands on his hips, expression tortured.

  “Come on, Kaida. Fight. Work with me.” Palm over her sister’s abdomen, the other to Kaida’s forehead, Fiona splayed her fingers on both sites and bowed her head.

  A sob tore from Brady’s chest, and he clutched the arms restraining him. “She’s not moving. Ah, God, she’s not moving.”

  “Fiona’s trying her best.” Tristan dropped his forehead to Brady’s temple and sighed. “It’ll be okay. It has to be. Just hang on.”

  Riley plopped beside them, grabbed Brady’s forearm, and said nothing.

  Fiona trembled, and the hand on Kaida’s forehead began to glow. Bluish-silver light hovered around her fingers, then swirled like a mini-tornado. A moment passed. Two.

  The cut above Kaida’s eyebrow sealed shut, followed by the gash on her jaw, leaving dried blood as the only indicator they’d been there at all.

  “Son of a bitch,” Riley breathed.

  “That’s it,” Mara encouraged. “Build up to it. Sense the worst of it and pull. You can do it, Fiona.”

  Shaking viciously, Fiona panted. Hard. Sweat broke out on her brow and she lifted her head. Tears pooled in her eyes. Strain tightened her lips. She quickly moved her hand to Kaida’s ribs. Again, a silver-blue glow emitted from her fingers, swirled, and...

  The bruising on Kaida’s side lightened, retracted, and disappeared. But then the cracking of bone snapped over Fiona’s respirations. Loud. Resounding.

  Brady roared. Fought Tristan’s hold. Got nowhere.

  Riley squeezed his arm, awed gaze on the sisters. “Her ribs were broken, Fi said. I think she reset them.”

  Sagging, huffing, Brady watched, hoping like hell his brother was right. His gut was shredded, his sinuses stung, the hollow void kept expanding in his chest, and he couldn’t take one more minute of not having Kaida in his arms.

  She remained deathly pale. Unmoving. Killing him with each tick of the clock.

  Fiona quaked from head to toe, tears streaming, muscles contracting. On a violent gasp that lasted an eternity, her irises vanished and her eyes were nothing but white orbs. She set both hands over the stab wound on Kaida’s stomach, elbows locked.

  Finally, after what seemed like days—years—of strain on Fiona’s part, the bluish-silver light appeared once again. Spread. Consumed. Both her and Kaida were swallowed by the glow. It pulsed and hummed, vibrating the earth below them.

  Fiona screeched, threw her head back, and bellowed at the sky. Her cocoa strands cascaded down her back, brushed Kaida’s legs, and the screech became a never-ending wail.

  On a sharp inhale, Kaida’s eyes flew wide, and she bowed. Pain wrinkled her forehead. Mouth hanging open, a silent scream formed on her lips. Her body contorted, spine arched, and...

  Brady couldn’t take it. He shoved at Tristan, yelled for her, but his brother wouldn’t release him. “Let me go, damn it. Let me go!”

  “Hang on,” the grated demand shushed against his ear. “Let her finish.”

  “No, I—”

  A wave of energy blasted from Fiona, sending him and his brothers backward and sprawled in the grass. Winded, he wiped a hand down his face. Blinding blue light seared his retinas and every molecule in his body electrified. A sizzle zinged through his system, and he would’ve sworn he’d ridden a lightning bolt if Riley wasn’t lying half on top of him.

  Brady frantically lifted his head, searched for Kaida.

  Like dominoes, Mara, Ceara, and Fiona slumped, tumbled, and hit the ground, fanned around Kaida.

  Rising on his elbow, earning an oomph from Tristan under him, and pushing Riley over with a grunt, Brady lunged to his feet. Stumbling in his haste, he crawled the rest of the way and cupped her face. Her eyes were closed, lashes shadowing her cheeks. She was so still, so quiet, another sob ripped from his chest.

  “Kaida?” Nothing. “Kaida, sweetheart. Please, God.”

  A deep inhale expanded her chest, and her lids lifted. Her eyes darted everywhere at once before blessedly landing on him. “What happened?”

  He barked a laugh/moan combination, not believing what he was seeing.

  And for the thousandth time today, his lungs stalled. Relief flooded him in a harried whoosh. With shaking arms, he hauled her sideways onto his lap. Pressing her face into his shoulder, he held her so tight a spell couldn’t wedge between them.

  He kissed the top of her head, rocking, rocking. “Don’t you ever do that to me again.” As it stood, he may not allow her to leave his sight until she was eighty. Or never. “Scared twenty years off my life.” More like thirty.

  Even as he spoke, though, his heartbeat gradually returned to a normal rhythm. He breathed in her rosemary scent and closed his eyes, savoring the in-out of her respirations, the heat of her body. His muscles unlocked their tense stronghold and cried mercy.

  Tristan crouched beside them, easing her ripped shirt farther apart. “The wound is closed and the bruising is gone.” He slowly shook his head, tender gaze on her. “How are you feeling?”

  “Oh God. That’s right. He stabbed me.” She glanced down at herself, blinking rapidly. “Or did I dream that part?”

  “Not a dream,” Tristan and Brady said deadpan in unison.

  “But, how?” She wiped at the blood on her belly. “It’s gone. Criminy, and I’m flashing everyone.”

  Riley chuckled. “No complaints here.” He closed the edges of her torn shirt anyway, covering the white lace bra now stained red. “Fiona healed you. I don’t know how, but damn if it wasn’t a miracle.”

  “Really?” Her brows wrinkled in concern. “Wait. Where’s Greg?”

  “Gone.” Tristan frowned. “We’ll find him, though. You have my word.”

  Brady sighed and smoothed the hair from her face, staring into her cerulean eyes. He’d never been so stupidly happy in all his existence. “I love you.” His voice sounded like sandpaper scraped over gravel from all his yelling, so he cleared his throat and repeated the endearment. Five times.

  Her smile could’ve melted the polar icecaps. “I love you, too.”

  “That was a whopper now, wasn’t it?” Mara rose to her knees and rubbed her forehead. “Doozy of a headache coming.”

  Damn, but Brady had forgotten all about the others.

  “I second that.” Ceara shifted over to Fiona, who lay motionless. “You okay?”

  When she didn’t respond, Riley rushed to their side.

  Mara did the same. “Just tuckered out, is all. Healing on that level requires a great deal of magick.” She tapped Fiona’s cheek, expression unconcerned. “Come on, lass. Up and at ‘em. Don’t be so dramatic.”

  “Dramatic, my ass,” Fiona slurred and lazily opened her eyes. “Is Kaida all right?”

  “She’s good, thanks to you.” Riley grabbed her shoulders and eased h
er to a sitting position. She teetered, but he caught her. “Better question. Are you okay? You kinda went all fury-ish and set off enough blue light to power the northern hemisphere.”

  “All a part of my awesomeness.”

  “Here.” Brady passed Kaida off to Tristan. “Take her for a second.” Squatting in front of Fiona, he held her head and dipped his face close to hers. “Thank you. I don’t know how many ways I can say that and have it encompass the full meaning. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” He rained kisses over her brow, her eyes, her cheeks.

  She offered a sultry laugh and lethargically swatted at him. “Enough. I’m not into threesomes.” Nevertheless, she grinned. “You’re welcome.”

  “Anything you want, it’s yours. The moon? Sun? Stars? Hell, I’ll buy you Canada.”

  Another laugh. “Naw. Just snag me the new Prada handbag and we’ll call it even.” She paused, and her eyes misted. “We almost lost her.”

  “But we didn’t.” He kissed the back of her hand this time. “Thank you.”

  Tristan helped Kaida to her feet and, once Brady slipped an arm around her waist, his brother assisted Ceara and Mara.

  “Hey, the cottage door’s open.” Kaida stared at each of them, then her wrist. Her jaw dropped. “That wasn’t a dream, either, was it? I completed my task.”

  Ceara hugged her. “Yes, you did. Should we go have a look?”

  Fiona rose unsteadily and swayed. “I think I need a pot of coffee and a Red Bull chaser.”

  When she nearly went down a second time, Riley grabbed her under the arms. “How about a cup of Mara’s tea and a nap?”

  “Spoilsport.” Her eyes rolled back in her head and she went limp.

  Riley swept an arm under her legs and hoisted her higher up his torso. “Yep, she’s done for. I’m taking her to the house. Meet you guys there.”

  “Hey,” Tristan said, stopping Riley. “Be careful. We don’t know where Uncle Greg went.”

  “He was in pretty bad shape, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled.”

  “You’re lucky I’m too exhausted to argue,” she slurred.