Order of the Akasha: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Complete Series)

by E. M. Moore

  I smiled, then moved forward, pressing my lips to his knowing that whatever happened, nothing could take this away. We could be Order members or not. We could be witches or not. But I would still have these guys. We may be not a coven anymore, but that didn’t mean we wouldn’t always be together like this. And that was what was most important. These feelings we had for one another were the best reasons to deal with what we were dealing with now. It gave us strength. It gave us purpose. It gave us love.

  I kissed him until he fell back on the bed and I moved on top of him. I would never give up an opportunity to show any one of them how I felt. And this time was no different.

  12

  The more we watched TV, the worse it got. The media personnel kept commenting on different things going on around town, but they didn’t have all the information. They couldn’t see how they were connected, but of course, we could. I never thought I’d say this, but I wanted the superiors to come. This seemed like too big to manage all on our own.

  “Can you mute that for a sec?” Liam asked.

  Gabe grabbed the controller and muted the woman we’d been watching all day. It was a hard thing to look away from. They say that happens when you’re looking at something tragic like a car accident. You can’t look away. It’s just too terrible.

  Liam pushed the book we’d gotten from the Reid’s house onto the table. “It’s not much to go on, but I do see in here that a sign of demon possession can be eyes that turn black. Supposedly it’s a window into their soul. If the eyes are black, the demon has taken over and the soul is now dead.”

  “That’s uplifting,” Gabe said.

  I wanted to kiss him for it. The whole day had been filled with dread and confusion, but just his cute little accent saying something funny made me want to smile. It made me remember that I wasn’t alone.

  “Anything on how to kill a demon?” Randy asked.

  Travis perked up. He’d been better about not sticking up for Jax, but he was clearly still on the fence about what to do. Liam nodded slowly. He looked away, his foot bobbing up and down. He looked much better than he had that morning. His pallor was returning to normal, which calmed my insides a little. “It’s crazy,” Liam said.

  “Well?” Gabe asked. “What is it?”

  “According to the book, Jax must have summoned the demon to him from hell. In order to get it to go away, we have to send it back to hell.”

  Travis leaned forward. “Are we talking about an exorcism?”

  “Maybe?” Liam said. I could tell he was hesitant and that his mind was telling him it was an exorcism, but he didn’t want to believe it. It seemed so cliché. Did we need a priest for that type of thing?

  I drew in a breath. “Is that why they set the churches on fire?”

  Liam shook his head. “If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking…no. They set the churches on fire because they’re evil. There’s a spell to send the demon back to hell that’s not an exorcism, but the problem is going to be finding and containing the demon. We don’t know if it’s stayed inside Jax and he’s using his magic to control the people. Or, if the demon is moving in and out of people at its whim.”

  All of this because someone wanted his magic back. The concept seemed so foreign to me. For the longest time, I hated that I was different. I understood the value of it now, but it was hard to understand someone who just thought so completely different from me.

  The doorbell rang, and we all stiffened. Travis had broken the news earlier about the new Order coming. None of us really thought they would come here, but at the same time, we didn’t know where else they would go. We were the ones that knew this town. They would be so out of sorts.

  Travis got up and moved to the door. Liam pulled me closer to him on the sofa, then moved forward and grabbed the book, shoving it under the couch in front of us.

  I looked around Travis when he opened the door and sure enough, Walter was right there. His face was stricken as Travis opened the door wider to accommodate his whole coven moving into the small apartment.

  Liam stood. “What’s wrong?”

  “We lost contact with the new Order.”

  My eyebrows rose. I locked gazes with Randy who’s jaw set right before he looked up at the Order. “Not to sound like a dick, but what do you want us to do about it?”

  I rolled my eyes. No one held a grudge better than Randy.

  Gabe rubbed the back of his neck. “Randy has a point.”

  “Oh, come on, guys,” I said, my voice rising. “Yes, it was a shitty thing they did to us, but that means five other witches are now pulled into this shit.”

  Gabe clammed up, but Randy looked unapologetic. The Order had truly pissed him off. At this point, I didn’t know if he’d even go back to them if they were to suddenly tell us that they didn’t care that we were all with one another.

  “When’s the last time you had contact with them?” Travis asked, ignoring the looks we were all giving each other. We’d all decided to call the Order though. And of course, they’d be upset that a whole coven was missing. I was upset a whole coven was missing. I just kept thinking, ‘What’s next?’

  “They were supposed to check in hours ago when they arrived in town.”

  “Jax must have gotten to them,” I said.

  “The demon must’ve gotten to them,” Travis clarified.

  Liam’s hackles were raised again, but the last thing we needed was to scream at one another again.

  “Well,” Gabe said. He picked up the remote and unmuted the TV. “This is what’s happening around town, so take your pick. Maybe they checked themselves into the hospital because they were hearing voices. Or maybe they got called to slaughter a bunch of kids at pre-school.”

  “We have a plan,” Liam said, interjecting. “We know all the witches and Wiccans will be celebrating the equinox tomorrow. There’s always this big celebration at the main park by the Hawthorn Hotel complete with rituals and prayers. We’re going there to tell everyone what is happening. We’re going to ask for everyone’s help in all this,” Liam said. “We think this is even bigger than the Order.”

  “What else have you found out?” Walter asked.

  Liam looked to Travis. He’d hid that book under the sofa for this very reason, but it also seemed like the superiors needed to know everything. “I have a spell to exorcise the demon, but we’ll have to figure out a way to capture it first. That’ll be the hard part.”

  “A spell to eliminate a demon?” one of the other superiors scoffed. “Never heard of it.”

  “It wasn’t in any of the Order books, that’s why,” Liam said. “At times like this, I think it’s necessary to look up any possible information that could help us and that includes something like this.” He knelt and pulled the book out from under the sofa and dropped it on the coffee table. Walter moved forward, reading the title on the cover. Liam quickly turned the page to what he’d found, holding it open for them. Walter reached forward, and his coven member said, “I don’t think we should be concerning ourselves with a text like that.”

  “I disagree,” Walter said simply.

  He read through the spell, looking up after he was done. “I think this will take a lot of magic.”

  “I guess it’s a good thing we have our lightning rod then,” Liam said.

  He smiled down at me, and at first, I smiled. But then the realization came over me as to what he meant. I heightened all their powers. I wondered if I could heighten any witch’s power or if it only worked with my coven.

  “What did you say?” Walter asked.

  “Norah,” Liam said, not even thinking twice about what he was going to say. “Ever since she joined us, she’s made our magic stronger.”

  “Because you got your fifth.”

  Gabe shook his head. “No, because she makes us stronger. It feels different with her than it ever did with Jax.”

  Walter turned then. “I suppose we should get some dinner.”

  Travis and I exchanged a
look.

  “Weren’t you just saying how hungry you were?”

  “Welcome to the club,” Jennie said. All five of the superiors turned toward her as if they just realized she was there. She shrugged. “They don’t have anything in the house.”

  “Excellent,” Walter said. “Take Miss Shaw and pick up some food, would you? We’ll have to make Salem our home base for right now.”

  Gabe rolled his eyes. “If they think they’re staying here, they can knob off.”

  Walter turned. “Don’t worry. We’ll stay at the hotel down the street, but isn’t anyone else hungry?”

  He gave us all such a full stare that we each agreed. The other coven members left, Jennie in tow. None of them seemed all that pleased about it, especially Jennie.

  When the door closed behind them, Walter moved forward. “You must not say that in front of them again. Now, tell me exactly what happens.”

  “With what?” Randy demanded.

  “Norah.”

  Walter stared at me, his expression earnest. “How do you affect them?”

  I took a deep breath. “When we do magic together, their magic levels up.”

  He nodded. “And what else? Is there something else?” Walter asked.

  Liam clucked his tongue. “There is something a little different. Ever since she came, we’ve been able to control an element. I can make fire appear in my hands and use it,” Liam said.

  “And water?” Walter asked, looking around.

  Gabe nodded, not even bothering to look at him.

  “Earth for me,” Randy said.

  “Wind,” Travis tacked on.

  Walter moved around in a circle, waiting for each of them to tell him what they could do. When they were finished, he moved to me. “And you’re spirit.”

  “Spirit?”

  He nodded. “Spirit. That’s why you can make them stronger. You give yourself to them whenever they need. It’s both an amazing talent and a tragic one.”

  My stomach twisted. I didn’t like the sound of that.

  “What do you mean?” Travis asked. “It wears her out sometimes, but we haven’t seen any other side effects.”

  Walter ran his hand over his forehead and then took a seat in the recliner. “This was why we were forced to tell you you could not be with one another. There are stories about covens like you. One female, four male Enforcers. They are stronger than any other coven because of the bonds between them. When their bonds grow, such as with intimacy, so does their magic. It gets stronger and stronger until…”

  “They implode,” Gabe said.

  Walter looked up, his fingers tapping on his chin. “How did you know?”

  “My grandfather said he heard rumors.”

  “They aren’t rumors,” Walter said. “It’s the truth.”

  “But we couldn’t find anything about it in the Order books,” Liam said.

  “You wouldn’t,” Walter said. “All the stories were erased from journals. The Orders vowed to never let anything like that happen again. So, when we heard that your fifth was a female, our mind went there. It wasn’t until we saw you with one another that we feared that you had already taken your relationships to the forbidden level.”

  “Forbidden?” I asked, about to put up a fight.

  “It was for everyone’s own good.”

  “So, how many covens has this happened to?” Liam asked. His face held that open look like it always did when he was interested and learning something.

  “They’re rare,” Walter said. “Very rare. They’re power cannot be matched, but it comes at a cost.” He looked up, his eyes sad. “You’ll have to be careful. I know you don’t understand our decision and I can’t speak for the others, but I thought it best that we at least try to help you guys through this. Use your magic in stride.”

  “Nothing’s happened to us yet,” I said, grasping at straws. That wasn’t entirely true because how many times had I gotten depleted after we did magic with one another. I’d been taking the brunt of it, but that came with the territory, right?

  At that moment, Granny’s words filtered through my head that she’d told me all along. I wasn’t safe, but I was also exactly where I should be. Was this all destined then?

  “Maybe not yet,” Walter said, “But there isn’t a coven in history like yours that hasn’t just…”

  “When we say implode, we mean…?” Randy asked.

  “Died.” Walter swallowed. “They died. All of them.”

  13

  It turned out we were willing to give up our bedrooms as long as we all got to sleep together on the living room floor. I slept squished between Travis and Liam. It reminded me of that one night at Liam’s parents’ house when we’d all slept in my room. This was a lot less comfortable, but still felt the same. I loved being next to all of them, especially after the news we’d been given. I didn’t believe it.

  Well, I did believe it, but to me, something could never be wrong with the way we were. If what they said was true, then we’d just have to be careful about how much we used our magic. The other thing I couldn’t believe was that maybe Walter wasn’t that bad of a guy after all. He seemed truly concerned for us and knowing what he said to Travis on the phone earlier; I felt like he had our best interest at heart. Ever since I heard mention of the superiors and knew that I needed to keep myself hidden from them, I distrusted them. But I was also willing to admit when I was wrong. It was possible I was wrong about this. Gabe and Randy still weren’t pleased with him, but level-headed Liam took what he said to heart. And Travis, too. He’d never had a problem with the Order, so I knew how he felt about what Walter told us.

  “Are you awake?” Gabe asked.

  I nodded, feeling him down at my feet. “Yeah.”

  “We’ve got a big day tomorrow. You should sleep.”

  By me, both Travis and Liam were breathing softly. Randy, the big lump on the other side of Liam was a heavy breather with the occasional snore. “I could say the same thing to you.”

  He chuckled. “I guess I’m just trying to soak everything in. You know, just in case.”

  I frowned. Judging by the humor in his voice, I knew he was trying to joke with me, but that wasn’t something I really wanted to joke about. I sat up and hovered over him. “Don’t talk like that. I love you, you sexy Brit. Now go to sleep. We’ve got a big day in the morning.”

  “Witches to save. Demons to send back to hell.”

  I snickered. “If everything works out perfectly, yeah.”

  He laughed. “So, basically we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow because things never work out perfectly.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “It’ll be a shit storm. But at least we have the Order with us.”

  I couldn’t even keep a straight face and Gabe knew it too. He laughed out loud, then quickly put his hand over his mouth. “Good night, Norah.”

  Gabe eventually fell asleep, but I stayed awake. Now that Gabe had put the thought in my head, I couldn’t let it go. I’d never had a lot of friends, so of course now that I had everything I never knew I wanted, I was some sort of freak coven that could basically be our own downfall. Not doing magic wasn’t a problem for me. As I’d said before, it came in handy, but I didn’t need it. I never even wanted it, so giving it up if needed, although difficult, wouldn’t break me. I just hoped I could say the same for the others.

  Then again, we might just be the one coven who could break all the odds. Fuck that. We were that coven. Nothing was going to happen to us. I’d make sure of it.

  When the first rays of light came in through the window, I got up first and hopped in the shower. I didn’t want to have to fight for it later when everyone and the Order had to take turns in our one bathroom. I wasn’t sure where their notion of going to the motel had gone, but I supposed it just wasn’t said that we would all be safer together, especially what happened with the new Order of Salem. Wherever they were.

  I had just slipped under the warm water when the door creak
ed open. “I’m in here,” I whispered.

  “I know,” a voice whispered back. I smiled when I realized it was Liam.

  I looked out from around the shower curtain. “Do you feel better?”

  He nodded. “I don’t know what that was about, but I have a theory.” He took his shirt off and started working his pants off too.

  I just stared at him as he did so.

  “I think that the demon was expending a lot of energy and since Dean and I had been touched by it before, it was taking its toll on us too. It was touching everything it had ever touched.”

  “Oh,” I said simply as he took a step into the shower with me.

  He looked me up and down. “What?”

  “I didn’t see you as a share the shower type of guy.”

  He moved closer, putting his arms around me while the warm water cascaded down my back. “I just wanted to be close to you.”

  His hand slipped down over my ass.

  It seemed that he had something else in mind too. Not that I could blame him.

  “Liam,” I warned. “There are like nine other people in this apartment.”

  “And six of them are guests,” he said. He pulled my chin up and angled his face down. Our lips met in a sweet gesture that quickly turned passionate. It may or may not have had something to do with the fact that Liam cupped my breast with his hand. I dropped my head to his shoulder, trying to stifle my moan. The last thing we wanted was a Superior audience even if they only could hear us.

  Liam didn’t seem to mind though. His other hand made its way up between my legs, massaging my clit. I held onto his shoulders to steady myself before I reached out to grip his dick. He bit down on his lip. “Maybe I should’ve thought this through.”

  I shook my head. “You’re not getting out of it now.”

  He was already hard in my hand. I moved my hand up and down him, sliding my thumb over his tip until he swore under his breath. “Let’s play a game,” I said.

  “Aren’t we already?” he asked.