Eliza Gayle Witch Bundle (paranormal romance)

by Eliza Gayle

  In what sounded like the distance around them, Noah thought he heard thunder crashing and sure enough, water drops pelted his face. He opened his mouth and took in as much of the needed water as he could.

  The second enough of his strength returned he jumped from the ground, releasing Jessie’s hand, hating himself for leaving her like that. But, he knew what he had to do.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Jake had appeared at Jessie’s side and anger roiled from him in dark, angry waves.

  “Her magick is the problem, it’s why we can’t touch the bastard hiding behind it.”

  “So you’re just going to sacrifice her to save yourself.”

  Noah had to fight the impulse to pound Jake into the ground. His plan wasn’t perfect but they were out of options. This is what he did, adapt and overcome. He turned his back to Jake and spoke to his twin.

  “We need a spell, Denn, an elemental one that will call on each one of us, and we need it damn fast. It’s almost twelve o’clock.” Denn shook his head and Noah felt confidant that his brother was catching on to what he was attempting to do.

  “Oh, and Denn,” Noah paused, “if I don’t get a chance to tell you later…happy birthday, old man.”

  Denn smirked. “One minute earlier does not an old man make, jerk.”

  “Cash, can you and Raven keep holding him off for a while? I need Graelen’s help in casting a quick circle around Jessie.”

  “Yeah, yeah, the bastards just dicking around with us, killing time I think.”

  Noah grabbed a stick and hastily traced a circle around where Jessie lay on the ground before he found four large rocks for the cardinal points. North, South, East and West, and Earth, Fire, Air and Water. Not having a pentacle on him, he again drew one at the point of North. The circle complete, he called his brothers to their elements. Each took their place and looked to Denn for the spell.

  Like the fire, sizzle and burn;

  Like the river, twist and turn;

  Like the wind, strong and sure;

  Like the earth, long survive;

  Break the connection, we shall prevail.

  Noah watched the earth rumble underneath Denn, the air funnel and blow around Cash, the rain came down harder on Graelen and fire sprang up at his own feet.

  “Again.”

  They all continued to chant the spell over and over. Energy rose and crackled the air around them, every element blending together for an unstoppable force. An unfamiliar piercing pain erupted in Noah’s chest, taking his breath away. The fire and energy continued to burn around him, but the sensation was that of being stabbed over and over again. He fought against it, continuing the chant when he looked at Denn—blood poured from his brother’s chest. Whatever was happening to him was happening to Denn as well. Pain speared his chest again and again. When he looked at his uncle for the source of it, he saw Severina’s face through the red haze. God Damn Voodoo. Bitch.

  “We have to stop, now!” Graelen yelled over the din of the energy in the circle.

  “No!” This truly was their only chance. Sacrifices could be made, had to be.

  All four brothers continued their chants and Noah and Denn fell to their knees, clutching their chests in fired agony.

  Jessie stirred in the circle, her body aglow, writhing against the ground. In one instant flash, all of the brothers’ magick arrowed into her, sending her flying across the circle. She lay quietly with magick coursing around her.

  “Jessie, wake the fuck up and do something now. Time is up!” Noah yelled at her before crumpling to the ground.

  * * *

  Jessie opened her eyes and looked around, trying to remember what happened. The brothers surrounded her and, dear Goddess, Noah was on the ground in a pool of blood, as was Denn. She heard voices in a fog, saying something to her, none of which she understood over the rage roaring in her ears. Her body swam with a powerful magick, not her own but something stronger. A mixture of angry dark and powerful light. She turned again and spotted the man responsible for all of this.

  There was only one way to fix this.

  He had her magick and, damn it, she wanted it back and she wanted it right now! She ran from the circle, pulling the energy as she did.

  “It’s a good night to die, you bastard. If I go, you go, too.”

  “You would waste your life and your power on them?” Scott’s voice dripped with a thick hatred that would never change. Evil was evil. Just like Noah had told her.

  With no thought of what could happen or what should happen, she let the rage of the last few months take over, and her body violently expelled all the magick through her hands aimed at Scott. The man who had tortured her and had been about to kill her when Noah rescued her.

  The explosion knocked her back into the circle and blinded them all with a flash of brilliant white light that lit up the entire sky surrounding them, the entire cove became bathed in enough artificial daylight to temporarily obliterate the night. Jessie’s head hit a rock when she bounced on the ground before landing in the soft grass near the deck. Selene and Rena came running over to her.

  “Holy crap, Jessie, are you all right?” They both reached down and helped her stand.

  Disoriented she stared unseeing in front of her until her vision cleared. Despite everything she’d been through, her power zinged through her body, firing her with renewed energy and strength once again. Her magick was back.

  But…

  “I’m fine. What about Noah?” She glanced around frantically, looking for the men, when through smoke and haze she spotted them on the other side of the clearing. As she ran toward them she watched Cash help Noah to his feet and Graelen assisting Denn. They both looked a little worse for the wear, but their color was good and they were making their way out of the circle on their own.

  She stopped short, watching Noah approach. His face showed nothing—no emotion, no pain, just a blank face. He looked at her then, up and down as if inspecting her to ensure she was okay, then he turned and walked toward the house without saying a word. Her heart broke as she watched his back and knew that she’d lost him for good this time.

  He hated demons and now he hated her.

  “Give him some time, he’ll come around. I saw the way he looked at you, and that’s just not something that goes away.”

  She smiled at Denn’s words. She hoped he was right, although she had her doubts. She glanced at his blood soaked shirt.

  “Are you okay? Can you heal that? “

  “Normally, yes. I’m a little weak right now, we might have to go with some old fashioned doctoring.”

  She pressed her palm to his chest, letting out just a touch of her magick, heating up his chest. His sharp intake of breath let her know he was feeling it and it would be working in a second. A few minutes later she pulled away, noticing his color looked better and he flashed an incredible, wide sexy smile. He really did look so remarkably like Noah, it gave her chills.

  “Now you can heal him. I’m sure he won’t want me anywhere near him.”

  “Have faith, Jessie. You’re a remarkable woman.” Denn and Raven headed to the house and Jake lingered long enough to give her a hug and a kiss before he, too, followed them in.

  She didn’t fit in here, she would have to leave at dawn. Selene walked up behind her and grasped her lightly by the elbow and propelled her towards the house. “Come on, you need a hot shower and some rest, maybe even some food. Things are bound to look better in the morning after everyone has had some sleep.”

  “What about Scott and the rest?”

  “The coven ran a long time ago, the Voodoo woman disappeared, and I don’t think there is much left of Scott. Other than a pile of smoking ash where he was last seen standing. I really don’t think anyone could have survived what you threw at him. Those boys of ours produced some serious shit back there. The whole thing was quite a display. Gave me chills the whole time.”

  Jessie tried to swallow past the lump in her throat over Selene’s use of �
��ours” when referring to the twins. Theirs, not hers. She bit down on her lip, drawing a little blood to staunch the flow of tears threatening to break free.

  * * *

  Jessie opened her eyes just a slit, trying to adjust to the bright sunlight shining into the room. Noah had insisted on her taking his bed, saying he would sleep somewhere else. It had been the only words he’d said all night. She’d wanted to leave last night but she didn’t think she could navigate the swamps on her own in the dark. So she’d settled for packing her meager things and then slept in her clothes so she could head out as soon as the sun came up.

  A knock at the door startled her, and she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Come in.”

  “Hey, sweetie, how are you?” Seeing Jake did her heart good. She really was grateful their ordeal was over for good and he had found the relationship that suited him perfectly.

  “Doing a lot better now. I’m ready to head home, put this whole thing behind me and get on with my life.” She got up and stuffed the last remaining items into her duffel and slipped on her shoes.

  “Do you love him, Jessie?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It always matters.”

  She laughed. “Love really has altered your perceptions, hasn’t it?”

  “He loves you, too, you know.”

  She shook her head. “C’mon he will never love a demon. We both know that. He has devoted his life to hunting and destroying them so the last think he’s going to do is let his guard down again for the likes of me.

  Jake started to say something and she waved him off. “It’s okay, I knew this would happen eventually. Now I just need to get out of here and away from him.”

  “Yeah, about that…”

  Jessie’s chest seized with a sharp pain. Jake didn’t need to tell her anything more she knew. “He’s gone already.”

  “Gone before anyone woke up. No note, just gone.”

  Chapter Eight

  Noah stood in the shadows across the street and watched her tidy up the place. When she bent over to pick up something from the floor, the denim of her jeans tightened across her ass, making him ache for her naked underneath him once again.

  He’d fled his cabin in the middle of the night just a little over four months ago and had done everything he could to get over her. He hunted demons, rescued people from heinous magickal crimes, and even tried to go out with a few women in the hopes of forgetting. Problem was, no place could take him far enough away to forget how she made him feel. Happy. Excited. Loved.

  His obsessive need to be with her had forced him to face his hatred of her kind and consider that she wasn’t a true demon, that her witch blood made her different. His brother had called him every week with an update on her and how she was doing. He’d heard she finally decided to stay in New Orleans and had just celebrated opening a new wine bar, Verve. He’d arrived back in the city the night before and had spent the time watching her, thinking about how to approach her. Would she forgive him for leaving the way he did without giving her the benefit of the doubt at all? Or the fact he’d been gone all this time without so much as a word?

  He didn’t think he could apologize for that. She’d hidden who she was, and for that he ached to drag her across his knees and spank some sense into her. He chuckled at the thought. He could only imagine how she’d take that.

  When the last customer of the night left, he crossed over and walked through the door.

  “I’m sorry, we’re closed for the night,” she called out without even turning to see who she talked to. She seemed preoccupied with her cleaning.

  “I’m not really much of a wine guy.”

  Her head shot up over the bar and he eyes widened when she saw him. “Noah?”

  “What, after just a few months you already can’t tell me and Denn apart?” He smiled, trying to keep the mood light between them. She gave him a tiny smirk, grabbed a towel and began wiping down the bar.

  “Nice place you’ve got here.”

  She stopped and looked around, pride shining on her face. “I’m in love with the place, actually. It’s been a lot of work fixing it up, but I’m damn proud of it.”

  “As you should be.”

  “So, how long are you home for? Are you going back out to the cabin? Denn fixed it back up, you know. He seems as fond of that place as you are.”

  “I’m sure I’ll make it out there at some point, kind of depends.”

  “On what?”

  “On you, Jessie. I don’t think I could ever spend time out there without remembering our short time together there. You and me on the deck, on the floor, all pictures I can’t get out of my head.”

  “I’m sure you’ll get over it, lover boy.” Sarcasm dripped from her words.

  “I tried. It didn’t work.” He held back—waiting.

  She wrinkled her forehead in confusion. “I don’t understand. What about—”

  “It doesn’t matter. I know how I feel and I know who you are. Who your parents are shouldn’t matter.”

  A heavy sigh escaped her lips. “It’s not that easy, Noah. I have the demon magick back and it’s as volatile as ever. I do my best to suppress it, but even I make mistakes sometimes.”

  “Then maybe I am just what you need. Maybe it’s not just you who balances me, but also me who balances you.”

  When she didn’t respond right away, he chose to remain silent. To give her as much time as she needed to think about it. He had a lot to make up for and he was willing to take his time. She was worth it.

  Finally she set the towel down and turned her gaze to his. Heat and magick swelled around them. “How about a drink, Noah?”

  “I told you, I’m really not much of a wine drinker.”

  A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She bent down behind the bar and rummaged around back there. Moments later she popped back up with a bottle of Patrone in her hand and two shot glasses in the other.

  “You remembered.”

  “Of course I did.”

  “Were you expecting me?’

  “I was hoping for you.”

  The End

  Available Now

  Malcolm

  A shapeshifter romance

  By Eliza Gayle

  Kira MacDonald is in trouble. Plagued by false visions and erotic dreams of a man she’s never met, she fears losing both her psychic powers and her sanity. The cure? Finding and bonding with her mate. The stubborn red-haired warrior might not want one, but fate has other plans, plans that include her rescuing Lucas Gunn.

  As the Guardian of his shape-shifting clan, Lucas Gunn lived a quiet, solitary life. Until he was kidnapped, examined, and tortured. Now imprisoned, his only tie to the outside world is the memory of his dreams and the passionate woman who appears nightly in them. He thought she was nothing more than a vision. Then she came for him.

  An uneasy alliance, a mating call that won’t be denied, rituals that must be honored, and unrelenting enemies who will stop at nothing to get what they want. It all comes together in the first of Eliza Gayle’s sensational Black Cougar Series. Passion and Pride. Duty and Danger. In the end, there’s really only one choice…for Lucas.

  Excerpt:

  When they stepped outside the diner, Lucas dragged the cool night air into his lungs searching for his control until he noticed the woods across the road. The urge to change and go for a run crawled up his body, taking over and making his skin too tight. He inhaled the clean scent of pine trees, the musky earth, and various small wildlife.

  He yearned to run free again. To be at home in his mountains where he didn’t have to watch his back with every move and worry as much about exposing secrets. It had been too long. He crossed the street and headed for the cover of trees and shrubs, away from the busy restaurant and cars. Without considering the consequences, he allowed the familiar prickling of his skin as the changes rushed across him, fur quickly covering his arms. A branch snapping behind him reverberated through him like
a gunshot, startling him back from his selfish thoughts as he realized what he’d almost done. He’d been about to change in front of the enemy. The very thing he’d fought against all these weeks. After taking a few moments to regain control over his traitorous body, he turned to face Kira.

  Her eyes were wide and full of questions, yet she said nothing. Did she already know what he was or would it shock her to see him turn into a wild beast? While carefully watching her responses, Lucas motioned behind him. “There’s a pathway across the street. Do you feel up to a short walk in the woods?” Surprisingly, he didn’t smell fear on her at his request, and her heartbeat had only increased a few beats per minute.

  “Yes, please. I’m not ready to get back into that car again or go inside anytime soon. I could use some fresh air myself. And then maybe you could tell me what happened back there.”

  He snorted. “You like the woods?”

  “Grew up in them. There were miles and miles of unspoiled beauty back home that I could roam and play in. Loved them so much I took to disappearing for days. Drove my mother berserk.”

  His chest clenched at the genuine smile of happiness that memory created. “Where at?” Kira’s smile faded and he realized he’d pushed too far.

  “A long way from here.”

  He waited for her to reveal more but her face remained closed. Stepping forward, he gripped her hand and led the way deep into the woods. The instant his hand touched hers a connection sizzled between them, sending heat throughout his body. His body reacted, growing taut with his desire. Once again the urge to throw her to the ground and fuck her consumed his thoughts. Pure, primal need for her coursed through him.

  What is wrong with me? Why am I feeling so needy toward this woman?