by Jen Talty
“True,” she said as she pulled out her phone.
“Shouldn’t we go see your father? This seems kind of important.”
“He said he was going out to meet with a couple other council members, so I doubt he’s even here.” She set the phone on her lap, tapping the speaker function.
“Is everything alright?” her father asked right off.
“I think we know who cast the spell,” she said with a tinge of excitement in her voice. “Have Gabe and the council look into Regan Wilcox. I can’t find anything on her on the internet, including what coven she belonged to.”
“I’m with Gabe now. We’re gathering everyone tonight, so we’ll have the witches’ register find the family name.”
“Do you want Darrell and me to come out there?”
“No. Nothing you can do tonight but get a good night’s sleep.”
“That reminds me,” she said, untucking her hair from her ear, letting the curls fall, covering her face. “What room do you want Darrell to have?”
“Yours,” her father said.
Darrell covered his mouth, biting back a cough. While he’d like nothing more than to spend the night with Avery, he never expected her father to offer up her bedroom.
“You and Darrell are soulmates. You need to get reacquainted. It’s not like you’re the same little girl who lined your bedroom with his pictures and dreamed of being his—”
“Dad,” she said with a stern voice.
Darrell bit down on his tongue. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh, gasp, howl, or run for the hills.
“Oh, I’m sorry, is he listening right now? If so, I can go tell Mom to get the box filled with all those things because she kept—”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“I love you, little girl.”
“Yeah, yeah, love you too, Dad.” She tossed her phone on the other chair and dropped her head back, covering her eyes with her arm.
“I don’t know what is more embarrassing. The fact that my father just gave a perfect stranger permission to spend the night in my bedroom, or that he thought it funny to make sure you knew about my crush.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I have a box filled with pictures of you from ballet magazines, newspapers, and even kept the DVR of your live performance last year.”
She lowered her arm, catching his gaze, sucker-punching his heart. Everything about her made him breathless.
“That just makes you look like a stalker-creep. You’re a grown man. I was twelve.”
He let out a short laugh. “A grown man who admired a fellow dancer and knew he was destined to love you forever.”
Her mouth dropped open.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
She cleared her throat. “Can I ask you a really crazy question?”
“Sure.” He shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t think any question at this point could be wilder than what had happened so far.
“I’ve seen pictures and interviews with you and various girlfriends over the years. How does that work? I mean if I was your fated mate and you claimed me or whatever?” Her voice raised up a notch.
He swallowed. “Are you asking me if I’ve had sex with other women?”
She nodded as her cheeks turned red.
“I’m going to go out a limb and assume you’ve had sex with men, so not sure how that would be any different.”
Her eyes narrowed to tiny slits. “You knew, or believed, we would end up together. I didn’t have that knowledge.”
Staring into her dark-blue eyes, he searched for the right words, figuring nothing he said would be the right response.
“I told you I talked to my father about what had happened that day, but as time went on, and I become engrossed with my career, the imprinting feeling faded.”
“Are you saying you forgot? That’s convenient.”
“I didn’t forget. But I didn’t lay eyes on you again until you were seventeen and I was twenty-three. We locked gazes from across the foyer of the auditorium, but before I could come say hello, remember me, you scurried off. From that day on, I couldn’t think about anyone but you. Want to talk about creepy, stalker, old-man shit? The age difference means nothing now, but then, yeah, not sure your father would be offering to allow me to spend the night, even if he did believe in fated mates.” The feeling he’d had the day he’d dance with her had been intense, but it was nothing like how his heart pounded out of his chest when he’d seen her that day. It had been his last performance and a week later, he was on a plane to New York City and his first choreography job.
The next seven years had been torture.
“I saw you dance so many times,” she said quietly. “When I found out you took the job on the other coast, I went home and boxed up the posters.” She closed her eyes, shaking her head. “I don’t know why I felt like you were abandoning me, and God, I resented that feeling, so I tried to block you out of my mind.”
“I did the same thing.” He tilted her chin. “Look at me, please.”
Her chest rose as she took in a breath, her fluttering lashes giving way to the orbs that let him into her soul.
“I can’t tell you how many times I flew back here just to watch you dance.”
“Why didn’t you reach out when I turned eighteen?”
His pulse sped up. Their bond was growing stronger the more time they spent together. “I knew we’d be together some day, but I didn’t want to be a distraction from your career. You’re too good and too special, and I know what it means to you.”
“Why now? Is it just because your pack is sick?”
“No,” he said behind gritted teeth. “I could have reached out to your father without you.”
“Then why? I really want to know.” She shifted on the sofa, tucking her feet under her butt.
“I couldn’t live without you anymore.”
Chapter 5
Avery kicked off her shoes, tucking her feet up under her butt and stared across the room where Darrell stood by the bar, nursing a beer, while deep in conversation with her father and her brother-in-law, Jackson. Darrell’s confession had caught her off guard. She’d spent years pining after him, yet was unable to bring herself to approach him, even when she had more than one opportunity over the years.
What would a man of Darrell’s status see in a scrawny teenager?
“What’s going on, dear?” Her mother sat in the middle of the sofa between Avery and her sister. “I can tell when something is bothering you.” Her mother had always been her biggest cheerleader in life. Her mom had style and grace and a heart of gold. As a human, she came from wealth and power, so it hadn’t been difficult for her to ease into the role of the wife of one of the most powerful warlocks in all the covens on Earth.
“I’m overwhelmed.” Avery swirled her wine glass, watching the dark-red liquid hug the sides. “I have so many conflicting emotions, and I can’t sort through them all.”
“That’s why you two need to spend time together. When I first met your father, I didn’t understand how I could be in love so fast and so deep in a matter of days.” Her mother had been dating someone else when her parents first got together, and it caused quite a scandal in both their worlds, but they were the happiest couple Avery had ever seen and both believed the concept of soulmates, always telling their girls when they found the one they were meant to be with, they’d just know.
So, why did Avery question Darrell as her soulmate?
“Jackson and I struggled with it, too, only we didn’t have that sharp connection because of Aunt Alley’s blocking spell.” Amanda rubbed her pregnant belly. Her sister was due in a couple of weeks, and Avery felt bad that all the attention had switched to her instead of her sister’s new baby.
“But he imprinted on you slowly, which I don’t understand,” Avery said.
“Dad said that Jackson imprinted on me as a baby, but that our Aunt’s spell managed to destroy it and the effects of the spell, even after Dad
banished it, it lingered with Jackson for months.”
Avery focused on the movement of Amanda’s hand as she rolled it across the large mound. Avery used to think about getting married and having babies.
But then she made principal and of course, the man all her hopes and dreams had been pinned on, moved across the country. She honestly never thought she’d see Darrell again and did her best to push him from her mind.
“Dad’s a sentimental sap,” Avery muttered. Her entire life she’d been told there was only one man for her, and she wanted to believe that person was Darrell. Her parents never, not once, made fun of her obsession with him over the years. Actually, if she allowed herself to really think about it, they encouraged her to meet him every time they went to one of his shows.
“That might be true,” her mother said with a soft, yet strong voice that commanded everyone around her to listen. “But the only thing your father has ever wanted for you girls is to be happy. Being with your soulmate is one way to ensure that happiness.” Her mother rested her hand on Amanda’s stomach as the baby inside kicked and moved, making Amanda’s stomach look like it had been possessed by an alien.
A flutter in Avery’s belly warmed her insides.
“I think you’re just worried about his pack and what that could mean.” Leave it to Amanda to get right to the heart of the problem.
If Darrell truly was her soulmate and they couldn’t reverse or banish the spell, he could die and potentially soon, as in months, or even weeks.
Avery glanced toward Darrell. Their gazes locked. Her breath hitched as they shared a long intense moment that told her what she already knew.
Living without him would be worse than anything she could imagine.
“Tomorrow, your father is going to meet with the head warlock of Witches of the Willow and find a way to break this spell on Darrell and his pack.” Her mother patted her leg with her other hand. “We all need to believe they can do that.”
“What if they went underground and the dark world is protecting them?” Avery set her glass down and hugged herself.
“Then we’ll contact the Demon of the Darkness. Wouldn’t be the first time your father dealt with that ugly creature,” her mother said, pursing her lips, making a face as if she’d just bitten down on a lemon.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Amanda said, scooting to the edge of the sofa. “I can’t wait to get this kid out. I feel like a beached whale every time I sit down.”
Jackson sauntered across the room, giving her a hand, and heaving her forward. “You ready to go home?” Jackson asked.
“Right after I empty my bladder for the tenth time this hour.”
Jackson laughed, but then cut it short when his wife scowled at him, which made their mother laugh.
“Call me when you know anything.” Amanda kissed her mother and Avery on the cheek, before making her way across the room, where Darrell and her father were still talking.
“I wonder what they are discussing,” Avery said, contemplating using her own magic to listen in.
But that would be rude.
“Let’s go over and find out.” Her mother rose, smoothing down her skirt.
Avery followed her mom across the living room with a pounding heart. Her mouth went dry.
“I’m sorry, sir, but I disagree,” Darrell said as she stood next to him, wishing he’d hold her hand, or put an arm around her.
Any sign of affection might help ease her nerves.
The words, it’s better to have love and lost, then to never have loved at all, played over and over in her mind.
“You can disagree all you want, you’re not going,” her father said in a firm tone. The same one he used when he’d ground her for something. “I need you and Avery to stay near each other at all times.”
“You keep saying that, why?” Darrell asked.
“I get the feeling you’re not telling us something,” Avery said.
“Dear, you should tell them,” her mother said.
Her father scowled but nodded. “I was able to deconstruct some of the spell from what came out of the two of you and found something very disturbing.”
“What’s that?” Avery grabbed Darrell’s biceps and squeezed. Her heart contracted, tightening in her chest so hard, she could barely breathe.
“Avery, look at Darrell’s outer aura,” her father said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“I can’t see…” she focused on Darrell’s skin and saw her own aura coating his body. “How is that possible?”
“How is what possible?” Darrell asked, his muscles flexing as he fisted his hands, obviously frustrated.
“We’re sharing my aura,” she whispered.
“And?” Darrell glanced between her and her father.
Tears welled in the corner of her eyes.
“Because she’s your mate, she’ll do what she has to in order to protect you, and right now the only thing keeping you from dropping dead in a few weeks is her aura,” her father said behind a tight jaw.
Avery couldn’t imagine how difficult the reality of the situation was on her parents.
Her father looped an arm around his wife, pulling her in tight and kissed her forehead. “If Avery isn’t in close proximity, pulling her aura away, there is no telling how quickly you will die.”
“Why do I get the feeling there is more?” Darrell asked.
She tucked her head under the crook of his arm, wrapping hers around his middle. “It’s sucking my life out of me.”
Darrell jerked back, pushing her to the side. “Are you telling me that keeping me alive is killing you?”
“It’s not that cut and dry,” her father said.
“No. No. No.” Darrell shook his head, rubbing his temples. “I won’t allow my mate to put herself at risk. We’ll separate, so her aura—”
“You can’t do that, son.” Her father rested a hand on Darrell’s shoulder. “She accepted fate, which is why her aura was able to layer on you. If we don’t reverse this spell, she’s going to die anyway. Her aura gives us more time, if we need it.”
“I need to get out of here.” Darrell moved toward the foyer. His dark eyes were speckled with orange balls of fire. “I need to run. Think.”
“If you shift, you weaken both you and my daughter. If you’re away from her for too long, the aura that covers you now, will never make it back to her, and she’ll die. You both will die. Now, please, we all need you to stay here, close to Avery, and let me go talk to the head warlock in the morning.”
Avery inched closer, but as soon as she reached out and touched Darrell, he shot his arms out to the sides.
“So, if I hadn’t come here, seen her—this wouldn’t be happening because she wouldn’t have known.”
“Don’t do this to yourself,” Avery said.
“Can I be in a different room without risking the aura to split?”
“It’s better not to have a wall between the two of you,” her father said softly. “This isn’t easy for me or Avery’s mother. We’re talking about the fate of my little girl, but it’s bigger than that. Your pack could be wiped out. I won’t let that happen at the hands of black magic.”
Avery held her breath, staring at Darrell. His nose flared. The veins in his arms bulged. The anger that seeped from his pores burned her skin.
“Darrell,” she whispered, resting her hands on his shoulders. “We need to trust my father and the council on this.”
“What about my pack? Last I spoke with my mother, things were the same, and no one was getting sicker.” Darrell tugged her to his chest, threading his fingers through her hair.
She closed her eyes, feeling the beat of his heart against her cheek. Every doubt that had crept into her mind, left with one long exhale.
“With your permission, I have a group of witches that can cast a short-term spell to help them fight the effects they are suffering. It doesn’t last more than seventy-two hours, but that adds three days to whatever timeline we a
re looking at.”
“Do it,” Darrell said with conviction. “I’ll call my second-in-command and let him know, but I want you to consider letting me and Avery go with you tomorrow.”
“That’s not a bad idea, dear,” her mother said. “Especially if you find an anecdote at the source.”
“It’s too dangerous,” her father said, pursing his lips.
“Mom’s right. If there is a cure, we should be there.”
“You always take your mother’s side.” Her father rubbed his temples.
“It’s not about sides, Dad.” Her father had always been a stubborn man, but never had a problem doing the right thing, even if it bruised his ego.
“Sir, I mean no disrespect, however, I’m going to go with you and that means Avery has to come to. I don’t like it any more than you do, but I don’t think we have a choice.”
“I’ll agree to that, but only if you do things my way, young man.” Her father waved his finger in Darrell’s direction.
“I want to move my pack closer to the source and if necessary, we need to be able to defend ourselves,” Darrell said, and while his muscles relaxed a tad, his body remained rigid. The alpha wolf in him threatened to break free, but she could tell the man did his best to remain in control.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” her father said, slapping him on the shoulder. “Get some sleep. We leave at seven in the morning.”
Avery closed her eyes as her father kissed her forehead, her cheek still flattened against Darrell.
Her mother’s warm fingers gently rubbed her back as she leaned in and whispered, “I left the box of the things you collected on your bed.”
Avery stayed in Darrell’s arms until she could no longer hear her parents’ footsteps. She tilted her head, catching his gaze. “I think you’re kind of stuck with me now until death do us part.”
He lips twitched. “That’s so not funny.”
Chapter 6
Darrell closed the door, making as little noise as possible. He turned and leaned against the wood frame and watched as Avery set the tray of cheese, crackers, grapes, and wine on the small dinette table off to the right of the sliders in Avery’s bedroom suite. For the last forty minutes, Avery had given him the grand tour of what could only be described as a palace.