Wickedly Ever After

by Tegan Maher

  Table of Contents

  © 2019 Tegan Maher

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Thank you!

  Connect with Me

  The Deadly Daiquiri – Chapter 1 | CHAPTER ONE

  © 2019 Tegan Maher

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form, by any means electronic or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system currently in use or yet to be devised.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or institutions is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal use and may not be re-sold or given away to others. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase a copy for that person. If you did not purchase this book, or it was not purchased for your use, then you have an unauthorized copy. Please go to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting my hard work and copyright.

  Author’s Note

  Thank you for joining me for my second adventure on the Enchanted Coast! This book was a ton of fun to write, and I’ll be following up with Book 3, The Lethal Luau, soon. These books are a little lighter than my other series; my goal was to create a quick, light read great for an afternoon at home, or to bring some magic to your own Enchanted Coast vacation.

  Enjoy!

  Chapter 1

  “Ouch!” I exclaimed when Lucinda stabbed me with a pin for the hundredth time.

  “Quit being a whiner,” she growled back around the pins she was holding in her mouth. Her platinum hair was coming loose from her messy bun, and the snap of magic in the air made it clear she was about to lose her cool with me. “If you’d keep your arms out like I told you to, I wouldn’t stab you.”

  I huffed out a breath but held my arms out a little farther, even though it about killed me to do it. We’d been on a marathon fitting session for the last three hours, and she’d had me holding poses that would have challenged a profession yogi. My entire body felt like a limp noodle.

  “It’s your own fault, you know,” my cousin Mila said. “You shouldn’t have put off your costume for the angels’ ball ’til the last minute.”

  Easy for her to say, since she was lounging on my bed flipping through an old issue of Cosmo while I was being tortured.

  “Agreed,” Lucinda replied. “I’ve been trying to schedule with you for the last two weeks. How is it the mortals put it? It’s been like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall.”

  I heaved a sigh and she scowled up at me when the fabric shifted.

  “You’re a fairy godmother, though,” I said. “I figured when you said you’d make my gown, you meant you’d just bibbity-bobbity-boo it.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’m a fairy godmother. Not your fairy godmother. The magic doesn’t work like that. And stop using that expression. It’s racist and inaccurate. Nobody really says that, and we don’t bee-bop around waving our wands and singing.”

  She huffed out a disgusted breath. “I swear, one of us lets herself go and then decides to go Hollywood, and we all end up bibbity-bobbity-bood into a box labeled fat and ditzy. Do I look either fat or ditzy to you?”

  “Tread carefully, Destiny,” Mila said, smirking. “The life you save may be your own.”

  “Of course not, Lucy,” I replied, deciding it was best to smooth her feathers before I ended up permanently sewn into thirty pounds of peach satin and white lace.

  I wasn’t lying though; she may be several centuries old, but she doesn’t look a day over fifty and probably has less body fat that I do. And outside of her work uniform, she wouldn’t be caught dead in a ball gown.

  “I, for one, think you should count yourself lucky,” my arctic fox, Tempest, said. “Lucy doesn’t do this for just anyone, and you couldn’t have bought a gown like this.” She gave me a smug smile and curled her tail around her feet. “Plus, she gave me a sneak peek of your mask; you’d have never found one that equals what she’s making.”

  Lucinda snorted. “Lucky’s right. There’s a reason I gave up being a seamstress. I’ve never been so happy in my life as I was when somebody invented the internet. I’m perfectly content making my living embroidering snarky expressions onto throw pillows. All those ungrateful, entitled princess types can kiss my lily—”

  “Okay,” I said, raising my hand and cutting her off before she worked herself into a full-blown snit. “Nobody agrees with you more than I do. Remember—I still have to make my living catering to them.”

  Unlike a lot of magical folks, Lucy had embraced modern technology and ran a successful Etsy business. After all, the fairy godmother gig didn’t pay diddly-squat. Still, beneath all the gruff and sarcasm, she was a romantic at heart and seemed to be enjoying flexing her fashion flare by making my gown.

  Before you get the wrong impression, I’m not a gown person, either. I’ve worn one exactly three times in my life—to my junior and senior proms in the human world, and now to the angels ball, an uber-exclusive formal event hosted by—you guessed it—the angels. And not the baseball team, either. Real, honest-to-gods angels, complete with ancient magic and wings. Well, at least when they chose to show them.

  One of the founders of the Enchanted Coast, the paranormal resort where I work, had invited me when I’d solved a murder and saved the resort a few months back. Between who he was and what he was, I didn’t have much choice but to go.

  “There,” Lucy said, pinning one last gap in the fabric. “That should do it. I think I have enough to finish it up. We’ll do one more fitting tomorrow morning, but I think it’ll be good.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped carefully out of the lacy confection.

  “Thanks, Lucy, really. Tempest is right. I’m lucky to have you as a friend.”

  She waved a hand, her cheeks pinking. “Go on, now. You’re gonna be late for work, and I’m gonna be up half the night finishing this. We can’t have you representing the resort dressed in rags.”

  I raised an eyebrow at her, and she scowled at me.

  “That was an expression, not a comparison to that ... other situation. No fairy godmother worth her wand would let one of her charges be embarrassed like that. It was shoddy magic, casting a spell that expired at midnight. Back then, balls went ’til the wee hours of the morning, and she knew that. It’s a wonder those two hooked back up at all.”

  Mila gave a dreamy sigh at the mention of a ball. “I’m having a serious case of FOMO, you know. Nobody that’s not an angel’s ever been to one of these as far as I know. It’s a huge honor.”

  I rolled my eyes. Of course she had a fear of missing out. She was one of those people who could fit into any situation like she was born to it.

  I, on the other hand, am a bull in a china shop on the best of days. Take me out of my element, and I’m a total train wreck, and a formal ball held at a massive castle in Celestial City was about as far out of my comfort zone as it got. I’m not the most socially graceful person. My mouth tends to run before my brain engages, and angels aren’t exactly the type of creatures you wanted to offend. I’d have gladly given her my ticket if I could have.

  Lucy must have sensed my trepidation because she laid a hand on my arm. “You’ll be fine,” she said. “Everybody loves you, and besides, it’s not like you’re going alone. Colin will be there to help you navigate.”

  Colin was my boyfriend and thus my plus-one, and she was
right. He was a wolf shifter and an attorney. He was used to rubbing elbows with powerful beings, so he didn’t have the same issues that I did.

  “True,” I said. “I’ll stick with him and try to say as little as I can get away with.”

  Lucy tilted her head at me. “Where’s this coming from? You’re one of the most confident people I’ve ever met.”

  “I’m confident when I’m on my own turf,” I said as I pulled my work tank top on. “A heavenly palace is about as far from that as a frog is to a prince.”

  She smiled. “If you think about that story, they’re not as far apart as they seemed. I have faith in you.”

  “I’m glad somebody does,” I mumbled, then headed out of my cottage toward the tiki bar. Hopefully we’d be busy and I wouldn’t have time to think about all the ways I could mess things up.

  Chapter 2

  The tiki was booming when I got there. Bob, our Bigfoot bartender, was hustling to make a round of what looked like anchovy martinis. There must have been seelies in—that was one of their go-to drinks. Gross, but to each their own, I guess.

  “Hey Des,” he called as I flipped up the hinged part of the counter and popped behind the worn wooden bar. “You ready to go to your shindig tomorrow?”

  I nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess. Lucy’s finishing up the dress tonight, and Colin’s gonna be here tomorrow morning. He wants to talk to Blake about some legal crap for the resort.” Blake was my ex and the CEO of Enchanted Coast. It had taken a while after the breakup, but we’d gotten to the point where we were on good terms again even though it was still a little awkward sometimes. Nothing makes a room feel smaller than having your ex and current boyfriends standing in it at the same time.

  He grinned. “Just think—this time tomorrow, you’re gonna be in a giant palace, getting ready to rub elbows with of some of the most powerful beings in existence.”

  I raised a brow at him as I poured a couple shots of honey whiskey for two bear shifters sitting at the bar. “Gee, Bob. You really know how to put a girl at ease.”

  “Shoot,” he said, flapping a hairy hand at me. “You got nothin’ to worry about. They love you.”

  “Diana doesn’t love me,” I pointed out. She was an angel who’d been part of a big ruckus when my former boss had been poisoned.

  A dismissive snort sounded from behind me. I turned to find Stephanie, a drop-dead gorgeous brunette, standing at the end of the bar, empty glass in hand. Though she looked like a swimsuit model in her gold bikini and fashionable straw hat, there was no missing the dangerous aura that surrounded her.

  “Don’t worry about Diana. She’s just a blowhard and a diva,” she said, flipping her movie-star sunglasses up onto her head with a catty grin and a wink. “If she gives you any hassle, tell her I said hello. We had a ... difference of opinion a couple centuries ago. I’m sure she remembers me.”

  “Thanks, Steph,” I said, wondering what a Valkyrie and an angel might have disagreed over. Whatever it was, I’d have paid money to see it. Talk about clash of the titans.

  Stephanie frowned. “I don’t think I like the idea of you going up there by yourself. Maybe I should escort you. Even the playing field, so to speak.”

  “I’m not going by myself,” I said, mixing her another rumrunner. “Colin’s going, and Ari will be there too, along with his wife and friends.” Ari was the angel I mentioned earlier—he was one of the founders of the resort.

  She paused for a minute, her delicate brows drawn, then took off a gold filigree bracelet worth more than I made in a decade and handed it to me. “Take this. If you run into any problems you can’t get out of, hold it and think my name.”

  I took the bracelet, and the raw power running through it stunned me. “Wow,” I said, slipping it around my wrist. “That thing has some juice.” I pulled in a deep breath and tried to equalize the flood of magic coursing through me before I fell down from the head rush.

  She gave me her best duh look as she took her drink and turned from the bar. “Hello. Valkyrie here. Like I said, call if you need me. I haven’t had a good scrap in years, and I wouldn’t mind giving that one a refresher. Just be careful with it. You’ll put your eye out if you’re not careful.”

  With that, she slid her sunglasses back down and sashayed back to her favorite table. I smiled at the movie reference. I was slowly but surely bringing her into the twenty-first century.

  It wasn’t ten seconds before a man I’d seen a couple other times that week tried to chat her up. He was good looking enough, but seemed to be the type who knew it. Tool. It would be fun watching her chew him up and spit him out.

  “Can I get another beer, Des?” a chubby blond guy in a loincloth called from the other side of the bar.

  “Sure, Stan,” I said, smiling as I took in his rosy complexion and shiny curls. “You’re lookin’ great. The new job path seems to be workin’ for you.”

  Stan was a cupid who’d recently suffered an existential crisis brought about by modern divorce rates. He’d just been working in the wrong environments, though, and once he’d made the course correction I’d suggested and targeted an older demographic, he’d gotten his mojo back in a hurry.

  “It is. Thanks to you, my success rate is back up to 87 percent. That’s almost twice what it was when I was cruising bars and dating websites for clients. I haven’t seen those sort of numbers for over a century.”

  I slid his beer in front of him. “Glad I could help. Who’s your friend?” I asked turning to the girl he was sitting with. She was young and had that girl-next-door look, complete with freckles that matched her copper hair.

  “Oh, this is Cynthia. I’m training her. Cyn, this is Destiny, the witch I told you about.”

  She held out a hand and gave me an open, friendly smile, and I couldn’t help but notice the puppy-dog way Stan looked at her. Interesting. Either Stan had stabbed himself with one of his own arrows, or he had a major crush on this one.

  “It’s nice to finally meet you,” she said, her tone refreshingly genuine. “Stan’s told me so much about you. It was really nice of you to help him out like that.”

  “It was nothin’,” I said, waving her off. “I’m glad I was able to help.”

  “So are you heading up the Halloween party this year?” Stan asked. “I haven’t heard you talk about it, and it’s usually your big event for the year.”

  I sighed. “No, I’ll be gone for it. That’s when Ari’s ball is. Bob’s gonna head it up.”

  “That’s too bad,” he said. “You always have the best costumes.”

  “Yeah,” I replied. “It’ll be the first one I’ve missed since I started here.”

  “Well we’ll save you some candy corn. I know that’s your favorite.”

  “Thanks, Stan,” I said, smiling. I had the best friends.

  Before I could say anything else, a group of faeries caught my eye from the pool area. Morgan, a regular with spiky blue hair, waved and held up an empty glass. I nodded and smiled back to let her know I’d seen her, then cast a glance toward the beach. Sunshine glinted off several fins in a rainbow of colors as a group of merpeople swam toward the sunken water bar. Time to get to work.

  “It was nice to meet you,” I told Cynthia, “but I need to go before the natives get restless. Stan, good to see you again.”

  I grabbed my drink tray, then hustled back out from behind the bar and toward the zero-entry pool to make my rounds. The sunshine felt good on my shoulders and the tropical breeze that rustled through the palm fronds cooled the sweat trickling down my back. I smiled as I skipped up the steps toward the pool. Waitressing wasn’t always awesome, but if I had to do it, I couldn’t think of a better place.

  Chapter 3

  “Wow,” Mila said the next morning as I pulled on my elbow-length gloves then did a pirouette in front of her. “Lucy, you knocked it out of the park.”

  The fairy godmother twirled her finger, indicating I should turn again, then examined me from all angles with
a critical eye.

  “Not bad for something I whipped up in three days. Technically, I’m happy with it, but something’s missing.” She pressed her lips together and furrowed her brow.

  After a few seconds, she pulled her wand from her back pocket and swept it over me. I’m not sure what she did, but the peach fabric of the sleeveless bodice and full skirt took on a sheen that almost glowed, and the off-white lace and gloves sparkled as if she’d sprinkled fine glitter over it.

  I wouldn’t usually be caught dead in anything that glittered, but I had to admit—the gown was tasteful and classy.

  She flicked the wand at me one more time and I gasped as confidence surged through me. Between that and the power still radiating from Stephanie’s bracelet, I felt six feet tall and bulletproof.

  “Thanks,” I said, pulling in a deep breath. “I needed that.”

  “I know,” she said. “Just don’t let it get you in trouble.”

  She handed me a silver mask adorned with glittering jewels that I suspected were real. It was probably worth more than I’d make in a lifetime.

  In addition to the stones, she’d added couple of sassy feathers that matched the peach in my dress.

  “Don’t just stand there!” Mila said when I just stared at it. “Put it on. I’m dying to see what it looks like.”

  I examined the mask, still in awe of the sheer beauty of it. There was no string or band to slip over my head. “Well, I would, but there’s no way to hold it onto my face.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh. “Sometimes you exhaust me, girl. Where do you think it came from? A human party store? No. We’re magic, and one of the benefits is that we don’t need crutches like bands and strings to make things work. Just put it on your face.”

  I did as she asked. As soon as it touched my skin, I felt the oddest sensation, and when I reached up to touch my face, the mask had fitted itself to me like a second layer of skin. It even covered my eyelids, though I couldn’t feel it when I blinked.