Shadows and Sorcery: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Adkins, Heather Marie

  At least they both accepted me as their sister. When they were first told it was awkward. As expected Pru was the first to accept me. Juliana took a few days, but she warmed to the idea of me. Particularly after a shopping trip to the human realm where we discovered we had the same fashion sense.

  “You guys too.”

  “Good, because I won’t have anyone to talk to about guys.”

  “You have me.” Juliana pouted.

  “Really? I don’t think so. All you do is get on your high horse and if we like the same guy you go after him first.”

  “Don’t mind them.” Claire shook her head.

  A cloud of darkness filtered in through the window and Tristan stepped out of it.

  “Patience is definitely a virtue and I’ve been exactly that. Time to go my lady.” He put out his hand and beckoned me to go with him.

  I laughed at the exaggerated look of impatience on his face.

  I hugged Claire, then Pru and Juliana.

  “I’ll see you guys in a few days.” I took Tristan’s hand and giggled as he swept me up on to the cloud.

  “She means next month.” Tristan cut in and disappeared before anyone could say anything.

  I punched him hard in his chest when we landed on his bed.

  “You are terrible Mister. I was saying goodbye.”

  “My body misses yours baby.” He trailed a line of fiery kisses down my neck.

  “You don’t have to miss me anymore.”

  “No because we aren’t leaving this room for at least a month.” He bared his sexy fangs.

  “A whole month?”

  “Yes. Imagine the fun.” He smiled wide.

  Imagine.

  Oh yes. I actually could… but there was something else on my mind.

  I pulled back and looked at him.

  We talked about him marking me. He wanted me to wait until I was ready.

  “I’m ready now.” I reached up and cupped his chin.

  “Really? You’re ready to be truly mine?”

  “I was always yours.” I unbuttoned my blouse and backed it down my shoulders then leaned my head to the side to give him access to my neck.

  The seduction in his eyes was replaced with deep affection. I could feel it, surrounding us in purity.

  He kneeled down and pulled me flush against him. Baring his fangs he lowered to my neck and I gasped when he sunk his teeth deep into my skin.

  I thought it would hurt like hell but it didn’t. It felt like making love.

  It was a blissful combination of our souls sealing together forever.

  I was definitely going to enjoy spending eternity with him.

  The love of my life.

  My forever…

  The End

  About the Author

  Khardine Gray is a USA Today Bestselling author who loves writing sizzling hot contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and paranormal romance.

  Her books have sexy, drool-worthy heroes who will make you melt, and sassy, fun loving, ambitious heroines.

  She simply adores her readers and loves spoiling them.

  Keep up with all her new releases by signing up to her mailing list at http://www.subscribepage.com/f4u3v9

  www.khardinegraybooks.com

  Natural Magic

  Jen L. Grey & Nicole Kelley

  Natural Magic © 2019 Jen L. Grey and Nicole Kelley

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Cover designed by Julie Nicholls at JMN Art

  Editing by Frankie Blooding

  Proofreading by Kendra Gaither

  Created with Vellum

  Natural Magic

  A priestess. A wolf. Their love doomed from the beginning.

  For centuries, the Emberly family has not been chosen to rule, until Sage. Groomed to be Priestess from a young age, she can’t help feeling like there is more than just magic. As the expectations from her family increase, so do the burdens only she can bare.

  When a power-hungry sorcerer forces her hand, Sage leaves behind all she’s ever known. She must decide the best course of action for herself and her coven. But she didn’t anticipate the bad boy alpha and the pull between them. Now she must pit her heart against her duties.

  As time runs out, decisions must be made that will impact her and the coven forever.

  1

  There are times when I wish I could disappear, and this is one of them.

  My grandmother paces my chambers while she pinches the bridge of her nose and continually shakes her head. “What the hell was that out there, Sage?”

  This will lead into the same argument we have almost every day. At some point, you’d think we could get past this.

  “Grams, I’m sorry. The flames grew too wild. I couldn’t control the fire I was generating and didn’t want to catch the coven houses on fire. I pulled it back before it became uncontrollable.”

  She turns to me, her eyes narrowed into slits. “You aren’t paying attention. You need to focus.”

  And there it is. The disagreement that never dies between us. If I can’t do things perfectly, it’s always because I’m not concentrating. It has nothing to do with me still learning my powers and shadowing the current priestess.

  I sigh and stare at my leather shoes. “I’m trying.”

  “Not hard enough.” She walks over to my already made bed and begins straightening the comforter. “The blood ritual identified you as our next priestess five years ago. You should be further along in your training by now. You need to stop focusing on what’s outside our coven and pay attention to what’s inside.”

  Like I don’t remember that, at sixteen, my whole life changed. It was assumed my best friend, Willow, would be the next priestess. Our current priestess’s power began weakening about five years ago, signifying that it was time to select the next one to rule.

  All women under the age of twenty-two were summoned. At twenty-two, a witch’s power is at its strongest, and the transfer from priestess to priestess had to take place then. There were over fifty of us surrounded by the covens. The priestess passed the bowl around for us to, one by one, cut our hand and drop our blood into it. When it was Willow’s turn, I waited for the event to be over. She was the most likely one. Her grandmother is the current priestess, after all, but her blood did nothing in the bowl. However, when I dropped my blood in the bowl, the sky lit up like the fourth of July. My grandmother was so proud, but that soon changed to disappointment and chagrin.

  She throws the pillows on the bed and runs her hands through her straight, silver hair. “All right, I have to get out of here. I can’t stand to look at you any longer.” She turns and walks out of the room, leaving me behind.

  At times like this, I wonder what it would be like if my mother was here. She died while giving birth to me and my grandmother refuses to speak about her. Would I be a constant disappointment to her like I am to Grams?

  I never asked to be priestess and it’s amazing how, in one moment, my life turned upside down.

  My breathing becomes shallow, and I swear the walls are beginning to close in on me. There is no point in getting myself worked up like this. I open the side door and walk outside, hurrying away from the sacred housing, and continue my trek
through the coven. My people are out gathering herbs to use for both our magic and medicinal needs.

  Each house is small and simple and made of wood that’s been painted white. The decorations each household chooses to use is what sets them all apart.

  There is a group of three girls that are close to my age hanging out a few yards from the forest. My best friend, Willow, is one of them.

  When she sees me, she smiles. “Hey, there. Aren’t you supposed to be training?”

  She towers over the other three girls, her long, auburn hair reflecting off the sun. She has a spell book in her hands she’s flipping through.

  The girl beside her leans against the house, sorting through the herbs, grouping the various kinds together. She has curly, blonde hair and isn’t paying any attention to me. “When you find that spell, let me know what herbs you need.”

  Right now, the last thing I want to be is social, so I take a few steps back and hope I can sneak away.

  Willow snaps the book shut and hands it off to the blonde girl. “Here. You can find it. I forgot I have something to do.”

  The girl lifts the book with a frown. “Hey, you said—”

  However, Willow just cuts her off. “See you guys around.” She grabs my arm and pulls me toward the woods, which is the direction I had been heading.

  When we’re several yards away, I turn toward her. “You didn’t have to do that back there. I’ll be okay by myself. I don’t want you to upset anyone on my account.”

  She dismisses my concern with a wave of her hand. “Girl, please. You need a friend. I can already tell that your grandmother must have been on you again. If they get mad me at me, they’ll get over it. I frankly don’t care.”

  And that right there is why Willow should have been selected as priestess instead of me. I care about things like that, but she doesn’t. However, my twenty-second birthday is coming up soon, and I need to toughen up. For whatever reason, the spirits chose me to lead and it’s almost my time to do so. Not only that, but I can’t let Grams down. It’s the first time someone from our family has been selected to hold this position in centuries.

  The trees begin to thicken and the worn path ends. This is where our protective spells end and we are not to pass. There is no obvious path beyond this and it’s overgrown with moss and grass. When we reach the border, I sit on the dirt ground at the undrawn boundary. There is a pull from deep inside me that tugs me to go over it, but I hold off. Even as a kid, I was always curious about what lay beyond. No one else is, and they don’t understand why I’m drawn away. I can’t explain it, but something important is waiting for me. However, I’ll never know what it is. My role and purpose are here. However, each year, it’s getting harder and harder to ignore whatever this is.

  Willow grabs a stick from the ground and doodles in the dirt. “So, what happened?”

  “The usual.” I don’t want to talk about it. At some point, the same conversation is tiresome to have.

  Willow raises her eyebrows.

  Birds are chirping in the forest and the smell of an incoming storm fills the air.

  That’s odd. “Huh.”

  Not looking up, Willow keeps working on her picture. “What’s up?”

  I turn my head to the sky. “I didn’t expect it to rain today.” Gray clouds fill the horizon.

  She pauses and looks at the sky as well. “That’s odd. We never get the weather wrong.”

  Something is wrong. The spirits must be warning us of something. My chest tightens and my breathing turns shallow. “We need to get back to the village.” I stand and straighten my dress.

  “Don’t worry. I’m sure the spirits are just overreacting.” Willow rises and smirks while she bursts the stick into flames. “You know how anything outside the norm threatens our very existence.”

  That is true, but somehow, it doesn’t feel right this time. If something happened to the coven, I couldn’t live with myself. “Let’s get back just in case.”

  We are back to the village within minutes and head to my chambers. As we walk inside, we find my grandmother sitting in the den reading a book.

  When she hears us enter, she sets the book on the coffee table. “There you are. Priestess Ivory has been looking all over for you.” She walks over to me and runs her fingers through my hair. “We have a visitor and your presence is requested. They are waiting for you in the drawing room.”

  Now, this is strange. We don’t have visitors often. “Okay, I’ll go right now.”

  Not wanting to waste a moment, I head straight there. When I enter the room, I find Ivory standing in front of the window in the middle of the wall and a gentleman sitting on the tan couch with his feet propped on the coffee table.

  Her forehead is wrinkled, and she’s running her hands through the end of her black and gray speckled ponytail. Her eyes crinkle more in the corners when she notes my presence. “We’ve been waiting on you.”

  The tone of her voice makes me want to turn around and run. It’s not her normal, calm cadence. There is an undertone of alarm underneath. What the hell is going on and why is a man here?

  As if he can hear the internal turmoil going inside my head, his gray eyes find mine. He sets his feet on the ground and grins, which enhances his sharp, pale features. When he stands and looks me up and down, he smooths his dark hair back. “Well, I must say I’m pleasantly surprised. Your dark brown hair will work well with mine, and your strong jawline will offset my sharp features nicely. I do hope they take your green eyes though.”

  My body tenses and heart begins to race. What is he talking about?

  He laughs. “Don’t worry. I want you for myself. We’ll be wed first.”

  Why does he want me?

  Ivory barks out a laugh and crosses her arm. “What the hell are you talking about, Xavier? You know that priestesses aren’t allowed to marry. And why Sage?”

  Not bothering to turn, he keeps his attention on me. “That seems as if it’s an outdated policy, and let’s be honest. Rules are meant to be broken when I’m looking at the most powerful witch in centuries. It only makes sense that she is meant to be mine. No one would be able to defeat our children.”

  Holy shit. Is this guy for real? Bile rises in the back of my throat at the thought of having children with this man.

  It seems as if she at least knows of him. This can’t be good. And there is no way in hell I want or will marry him. A priestess can’t marry; she can only mate with her true love, but that’s just a fairytale. That only happened to the original witch before all the supernaturals divided and avoided each other.

  “Outdated or not, that is our law.” Ivory’s tone is commanding and final. What she doesn’t mention is that, by him marrying me, he will weaken my powers as well as then coven.

  A smirk spreads across his face as he turns to her. “I think you’ll start agreeing with me if you take a look outside.”

  Both Ivory and I glance out the window as ten different sorcerers walk into view.

  “What? How?” Ivory’s voice shakes.

  “Sage will be mine.” His tone is low and menacing.

  This can’t be happening. It goes against everything we believe in. I put my hand on my mentor’s shoulder. “We can take them.”

  “Oh, dear child.” Her hand shakes as she reaches for mine. “Those are some of the most powerful mages in the world. These are the ones I used to meet with annually. I don’t know how he did it, but there is no way we can, not just the two of us.”

  My heart sinks. Is she really giving up?

  She sighs. “All right, Xavier. You win.”

  “See, I knew you’d see it my way.” He comes over to me and kisses me on the cheek. “I have some things to get in order, my love. But I will see you here in a little while.”

  I don’t even move or acknowledge him. I am frozen in place. What in the world just happened?

  As soon as he walks out the door, Ivory squeezes my hand. “We have to find a way out of this.” Her eyebrows draw to
gether.

  “What? But you said.”

  She holds up her hand. “I know what I said, but I had to buy time or he would have attacked our village.”

  I wrap my arms around her. “We’ll figure something out.”

  For some reason, I know it’s my time to step up. I have to find a way out of this marriage with Xavier and save my coven. Now, I just need to find Willow to make the plan.

  2

  My feet drag all the way to my house, my breathing ragged. What does Xavier plan to do with me? What will this mean for my coven?

  My heart feels heavy and my gut twists in knots as I walk through the front door.

  Grams walks into the den wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. The scent of spaghetti sauce wafts through the house. Although that’s one of my favorite dinners, my stomach churns at the thought of food right now.

  Her gaze focuses on me. “How did the meeting go?”

  I plop on the couch and tuck my feet under me, letting out a big sigh. “Not good. Some mage named Xavier has demanded my hand.”

  Her mouth tightens in a line and she throws the towel over her shoulder. “Impossible. No one in our coven marries, much less the priestess.”

  I know. She never fails to bring up that I won’t ever have to worry about men and love.

  What if I want to experience love? I used to daydream about meeting the love of my life, getting married, and having two-point-five kids with the white picket fence I hear so much about.

  Her mouth pinches together when I don’t reply. “Ivory told him what he could do with his offer, right?” She stumbles. “Wait, did you say Xavier?”

  I nod with raised eyebrows. “Do you know him?”

  She sits beside me, anger flaring in her eyes. “He’s feared around these parts and isn’t known for being a nice guy. For goddess’s sake, he’s a necromancer.”