“Carmen!” Claire chided. Her little sis really needed to learn some manners.
Then she realized what Carmen was doing.
Holy, goddess. The stranger couldn’t see Carmen. Like not see her at all.
The spell had worked.
Which meant Carmen was right. Which meant the strange man thought Claire was crazier than a loon during a full moon because she was talking to someone he didn’t even know existed. Great.
“Do you have someone who can take you to the hospital?” the man asked.
“Uh, not necessary,” she said trying to stand up.
He helped and pulled her up, all with his own strength.
Damn, he was strong. As she stood up, she realized he was tall too. Like ridiculously so, and Claire was a good five-foot nine inches, but the man had almost a good foot of height past hers. Man had to be a giant in training.
“Are you sure you don’t need medical attention?” he asked.
“Maybe so since I’m kissing pestering strangers now,” she said under her breath.
The guy was still looking at her funny, which unnerved her.
“Can I help you with something?” she asked.
“Help me?” he asked. His eyes still made glances at her lips as if he wanted to finish what he had started.
He made Claire anxious and horny at the same time because, although she knew nothing about him, she wanted him to finish kissing her too.
“You are in a magic shop,” she finally said. “I’m guessing you wanted to buy something? A charm or potion maybe?”
He looked around in a daze, as if he was the one who needed to see a doctor.
“Guess he’s a stupid one,” Carmen said.
Claire glared at her sister. For some odd reason, she wanted to defend the guy, which made absolutely no sense at all.
She kept her mouth shut because the man would think she was even crazier.
“It’s you,” he said. His eyes widened as he looked her up and down.
“Me what?” Claire was beyond confused and disoriented, which wasn’t a good combination, and his gibberish wasn’t helping.
“I...” He stumbled on his words. “I need to get the hell out of here.”
Before Claire could speak, the man turned and stormed out of the shop just as quickly as he’d come in.
“Rude much?” Carmen said.
“That was weird,” Claire said. She couldn’t stop staring at the closed door. It felt like something of hers left with the sexy stranger, and she saddened at the thought.
“If you mean creepy-stalker weird, then yes. And you kissed that, by the way. What were you thinking?”
Claire couldn’t speak because, for the life of her, she had no clue what she was thinking. That wasn’t completely true though, was it? Because her mind could only think of the stranger who had just ran away from her.
Chapter Five
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. That was all Jett could think, and not only because the situation was fucked up, but because he wanted to use the action part of the word on the odd woman he’d just encountered.
He jabbed at the top floor button, wanting the elevator to hurry up and move, as if that would get the woman out of his mind.
Why the hell did he go into that shop in the first place?
You were drawn to her, his internal voice said. Her power and essence called to you. It has been ever since you got to this town. You just didn’t know it.
“Shut up!” he yelled. “Just shut the fuck up!”
It didn’t matter. No matter how hard he tried to push the thoughts out of his head, he couldn’t shake the woman out of it. The witch.
He could sense her magic. The woman was strong, stronger than Ruby or any other witch he had ever encountered. And he wanted her like he never wanted anything in his life. Not just want. It was more than that. He needed her. Needed her bad.
Jett could still taste her on his mouth. Her sweet taste. A flavor he could eat at for years. One he could endlessly feed on.
He hadn’t meant to kiss her, but she was too good to resist, with a pliable and plump body he could see using his hands and other willing parts of his body on.
Damn, he was hard. Ever since he saw her, he had an erection the size of Florida itself.
Jett adjusted his gym shorts, trying to force the excited part of him down. Now, both heads were working against him.
His body ached to push the button to go back down and find the woman his body craved.
No. Hell, no. He promised himself he wasn’t going to fall for another witch again. They were too much trouble. If he thought human women were bad, women with magic were ten times worse. Ruby proved that.
Why was he always attracted to lunatics? Even the witch he just stumbled across was a little crazy. She kept talking to someone who he definitely didn’t see. A sister, she had said. Well, no one was in the shop but them. Maybe she’d hit her head hard when she fell. Probably had a concussion or something.
An urge to protect her washed over him. He wanted to see to it himself that she was safe.
What was wrong with him? The woman didn’t need his help. She was witch. She could heal herself just fine, whatever her name was.
So why was he worried about her? Why did he want to storm back over there and ensure she was unharmed? And why did he feel like the only way to do that would be if she was with him and no one else?
Just great. He was more fucked up in the head than she was.
When the elevator hit their floor, he swung the gate up with a vengeance and stormed off it, making the freight jump at his forceful exit.
“What’s your deal?” Axel asked. He was on the couch skimming through ESPN channels.
“Nothing,” Jett said.
Axel cut the television off and stood up. The angry warlock took long strides until he was up in Jett’s face. Axel was only a couple inches shorter, but he was still a tall and big guy, who could intimidate anyone if he wanted.
“Listen to me, and listen good,” Axel said, his voice hard and even. “Enough with this raging loner bullshit. I know you hate being here. We’re bonded, so I know you get that whatever emotions you experience, I have to suffer through too. But guess what? No one’s forcing your ass to be here. So you need to make a choice to change your attitude or call it quits.”
“I can’t leave,” Jett said.
“What?” Axel took a long breath and ran his fingers through his dark-brown hair. “Look, I’ve been getting weird vibes from you all day, especially in the last hour. I know you want to do your job, but if being here impacts your ability to guard El-Board, you might as well get out while you can. I don’t need a partner who’s going to make my job harder than it already is.”
“I can’t leave town,” Jett said, staring back at his fellow warlock.
“You’re starting to sound like a broken record. Why can’t you leave?”
“Because I think I found our witch.”
***
“Say that again,” Axel said. He didn’t hear Jett right. Couldn’t have.
“I found our witch, at least I think she’s supposed to be ours,” Jett said. He walked over to the bar and took down a bottle of vodka and two glasses. After tossing some ice cubes in the glasses and splashing vodka in them, he pushed one over to Axel before gulping down his own.
“How?” Axel asked without touching the glass. “I mean, we’re not supposed to even search for her until tonight. How did you find her?”
After Jett drained his glass, he said, “Her power. It called to me. I had no choice but to follow.” He confiscated Axel’s glass for himself after noticing that his roommate wasn’t drinking. This time Jett took slower sips.
“Are you sure it’s her?”
“No, I’m not sure. Not like I’ve been bonded to a witch before.”
“You’re not really bonded to her yet,” Axel said, “not until the ritual.” Loads of questions flooded through his head. “What did she look like? What’d she say? Did you g
et her name at least?”
Jett just kept drinking.
Axel was ready to knock the annoying thing out of his hand and hit him in the face if he didn’t talk. The clinking of the ice against the glass was distracting. Then he thought about only negative scenarios that could have caused the emotional surge from Jett, a warlock who was dead set on never finding a witch to bond with. The fear of possibilities hit him in the gut.
“Did you do something?” Axel asked, caution in his voice. “Something to hurt her?”
A gust of wind circled in the air as Jett slammed his glass down. “I’d never hurt her!”
Axel sighed. “Jett, man, I didn’t mean to offend you. Just give me something. Anything.”
Jett put his glass down, finally, and leaned on the bar table. “Her essence had a green glow about it. Her skin had the same colored remnant of magic, so I’m guessing she’s an earth witch.”
“An earth witch. Interesting. That definitely has possibilities when it comes to our air magic. Where did you see her?”
“Some magic shop downtown.”
Axel held out hope. There was no way out of all the magic shops in Kala West Jett could possibly mean the one that popped into his mind. The one Claire and her sisters ran.
Even if he did, there were three Brixton sisters. What if Claire wasn’t his witch? He knew the possibility was slim, but a tiny part of him still held out hope that he’d be a part of her life, if not as a lover than as a friend at least.
But he was weak man when it came to her. A creepy one, if she ever found out he still checked up on her now and then. It would probably annoy and anger her. He could barely talk to her while she was dating Matt. How was he supposed to approach her after his so called “friend” caused her so much pain? What the hell could he say that didn’t come off as creepy as hell or would keep her from crying?
“There are five magic shops in Kala West that I know of,” Axel said. “Only two are run by actual witches. Can you be more specific?”
The air settled some around Jett, but it still circled him, ready to attack if need be. “I don’t know, all right? I wasn’t really paying attention.”
How could he not notice these things? Axel knew Jett was indifferent about the bonding thing, but the least he could do was pay attention to their witch, if she was theirs.
It’s the least he could’ve done for Axel, so it annoyed him that Jett found her first and didn’t even remember simple details.
Unless, he’d already made up his mind about leaving Kala West. If that was the case, Axel was even more pissed.
Axel looked closer at Jett. The guy was more on edge than usual, and that was saying something. He could sense Jett’s anxiousness as it washed over him like the emotion was his own.
“Why does she have you so freaked?” Axel asked.
Jett took a moment before speaking. “I don’t know how to explain it to you.” He left the bar with his drink back in hand and walked up to the large window that looked out over downtown Kala West. “It’s like you’re not in control of anything. Not your thoughts. Not your actions. Something about her made me want to forget everything but her.”
“That’s what a bond does,” Axel said. “It makes her our center, our witch and no one else’s. If that scares you, why did you even agree to be a part of a Warlock Pair?”
Jett looked over at him, silent.
“You really never wanted a witch, did you?” Axel asked. “In fact, I’m positive you hoped one would never come. I guess I always knew you’d end this pairing if we ever found one to match us.”
Still nothing from Jett but a guilty stare.
Axel shook his head. “Of course. That’s why you were so upset when they called us to Firewick.”
Jett still didn’t answer him. He didn’t have to because his silence explained everything. At least all that mattered.
“If you screw this up for me, Jett, so help me. You may not want a witch in your bond, but I do. I suggest you get your shit together sooner rather than later since we’ve been summoned to the festival.”
Axel grabbed his jacket. “I’m going early to help set things up. Hopefully, the witch you saw will be there, if you didn’t scare her off. If she isn’t, this conversation is far from over.”
He got on the elevator and shut it before he actually became furious and did something he’d regret later.
Maybe he could go for a swim in the Gulf before the festival. He needed to do something to calm himself down before he put his fist through a wall or into someone’s face. More like Jett’s face.
He knew Jett’s anger issues were rubbing off on him. That was one of the side effects of pairing warlocks together. They shared both strengths and weaknesses at random and didn’t get to choose which ones made an appearance.
Thankfully, Jett didn’t say anything else before Axel left him. If he messed up the chance for Axel to find and bond with his witch, then that was something Axel would always remember and never forgive.
***
Yep. Claire was glowing all right. She looked at herself in the mirror.
According to Carmen, it wasn’t as bad as it was earlier. Like that was comforting, especially after being so close to that man. The crazy part was that she didn’t even know his name, yet she felt connected to him somehow.
Get over it, Claire, she told herself. He probably thinks you’re certifiable anyway after watching you talk to your invisible sister.
Damn it. She needed to get it together and fast.
Carmen burst through the door without knocking.
“Hey!” Claire said. “A little privacy, please.”
“What?” Carmen said pushing Claire over so she could put lipstick on using the mirror. “It’s not like you were on the toilet or something.”
“I could have been.”
“But you weren’t, so move over and get over it.”
“Bossy much?”
“All the time, and you know it.” Carmen smiled with her perfectly painted red lips. “If you don’t hurry, you’ll be late, and I think we both could do without a face-to-face with El-Board.”
“What about you? I’m guessing you’ll need a chaperone of some kind.”
“You got jokes tonight, don’t you?” Carmen said with a scowl. “I’m going to be fashionably late. That way I can scope out the hot warlocks from the not-so-hot ones.”
“Do not-so-hot ones even exist?”
Carmen shrugged. “Not really, but there are assholes to avoid.”
“That I get. Assholes aplenty when power comes into play. Okay, I’ll see you there.”
“Oh, no you won’t. You missy are going to find your Warlock Pair and go hunt for a quiet place to get it on.”
Claire couldn’t keep the scowl off her face. “Uh, don’t call it that. It’s too weird when you say it.”
“Would you rather have sex? Do the nasty? Bump uglies?”
“You seriously have issues. You know that, right?”
“Hey, to each her own.”
“And I thought you were saving yourself for your warlocks.”
“I am. Doesn’t mean I can’t talk shop.”
“On that note, it’s time for me to go.”
Carmen placed a hand on Claire’s arm. “Seriously, sis,” she said, “I hope you find two warlocks worthy of you.”
Claire smiled back and kissed her sister on the cheek. “Back at you, Chica Car.”
Carmen frowned. “That’s still an awful nickname. Being grown doesn’t change that.”
“That’s why only Brixtons use it. It’s out of love.”
“Love, right.”
“Deny it all you want.” Claire looked down and saw that Carmen was wearing the golden necklace with her name engraved on it. She nodded to the necklace she and Charice got their sister for her twenty-first birthday. “You’re wearing your birthday gift. If that isn’t sisterly love, I don’t know what is.”
“Whatever. Stop stalling and get out of here before you’re l
ate.” Carmen shoved her sister out the bathroom.
“I’m going,” Claire said. She smiled back at Carmen before she headed out to face her forced and uncertain fate. Goddess help her.
Chapter Six
Firewick Festival was in full force when Claire arrived. Someone was banging drums, but she couldn’t see any musicians or instruments in sight. Had to be magic, but it made it feel like she was attending some tribal ritual rather than a magical bond meet and greet.
Although she was on time, most single warlocks and witches had already started testing their connections for potential triads.
She spotted a few free warlocks mulling about in small clusters, but she so wasn’t going to be the one to initiate anything in this packed environment.
What was she supposed to say anyway? “Hey, you two look like a couple of strong and capable warlocks. Need a witch for your triad?”
Yeah. That would happen.
Charice had taken the time to explain to Claire and Carmen how she found Kye and Warren when they ate breakfast that morning. Apparently, it was all in the words. A set of particular words.
According to ritual guidelines, witches had to start the bond by seeking out her warlocks. The whole thing sounded like a secret government mission to Claire more than a mating bond.
Charice didn’t fully understand the whole thing herself, but Claire could see that technicalities didn’t matter to her older sis. The girl was happy, and if Charice was happy, her sisters were happy for her.
But if Claire had to do the chasing tonight, then her ass was going home alone. She refused to chase anyone. The fear of rejection was just too great.
“I’ll bet you’re a fire sign, aren’t you baby?” a male voice said to her.
Claire turned around to find two warlocks eyeing her like she was a prize hog on display.
Hell to the no. These definitely weren’t hers.
Although tall and passably handsome, both men had grins and smirks that turned her stomach. She wouldn’t merge with them if they were the last three magical beings on the planet.
“Earth witch, actually,” Claire said. “You use that sorry line with all women or just me?”
The Alpha Warlocks' Desire: An Alpha Warlocks of Kala West Story #2 (A BWWM and BBW Paranormal Erotic Ménage Romance) Page 4