by Lauren Dane
Max, Galen and Jack stood just behind them, having insisted on accompanying Renee and Kendra. Rather than waste time arguing over the inevitable, the women had simply thrown their hands up and allowed it.
“They wouldn’t let us come alone,” Renee explained. Kendra knew her sister was really nervous and excited about the lessons. She was proud of how far Renee had come in such a short time.
“Of course. They want to protect you. Come in. Mary is in the kitchen getting some tea.” Rosemary tipped her face up and the men dropped kisses on her cheek as they walked in.
Kendra had wanted to speak with her aunt about Max, but she hadn’t been able to other than to say she’d been seeing him. Either Rosemary had been too busy to sit down and listen to the story when she’d called, or Kendra had been too busy or never alone long enough to tell it. Clearly though, her aunt saw the way he watched her, saw the connection between them without too much effort.
“You and I need to have some dinner this evening.” Rosemary sent Kendra a raised brow, and Kendra laughed, linking an arm through her aunt’s.
“I know. We have a lot to catch up on. Now what do you think you found?”
They walked deeper into the house and Mary came out with a tea tray. “Hello everyone.” The bracelets on her wrists jingled together as she turned to smile at Galen, Jack and Max. “My goodness you three are fine examples of masculinity! I figured you’d be here today. My husband is just down that hall, first door on the left. I believe there’s some sort of sporting event on the television. And beer served with junk food of every type.”
Max looked to Kendra, concern in his eyes.
Mary must have noted it. “Nothing can get in here. You have my word.”
But he waited for Kendra to speak. She hid her smile, but moved to him, needing that contact as his hands went to her shoulders, caressing down her arms and clasping her hands.
“I’m fine. You’re very close by and it is safe here. And, let’s be honest, there are four pretty powerful witches here, I think we could manage to hold them off, at least until you all arrived.”
His lips quivered as he held back an amused smile, and her mouth watered to taste them. “I can feel you, partially, through the bond we’re growing,” he said quietly. “We’ll talk more about that later.” He winked at her, knowing he’d lobbed a bomb her way, inclined his head, Jack and Galen following suit, and disappeared toward games, beer and chips.
“My. The two of you certainly have your hands full in the man department.” Rosemary smiled, putting an arm around each of her nieces. “Max isn’t like him.” Her aunt never said Kendra’s ex-husband’s name, believing it gave him more power and recognition than he deserved.
“I know.”
They followed Mary down the hall as she led them toward her practice space. “I have a friend. She’s hard to locate unless she wants to be located. She’s an encyclopedia of sorts. She brought me a location spell.” Spells of this sort were hoarded, traded, searched for and honed over time. Sharing a spell was an intimate thing. “We don’t think Renee can do it. At least not alone. It’s going to take a level of focus and skill that she’s not quite at yet.” Rosemary looked at Renee. “Sorry, sweetie, but you’re going to be a help here. And eventually, you’ll have the chops to do this sort of ritual work.”
Renee shrugged. “Not insulted at all. I’m just excited to learn.”
Kendra removed her shoes and socks, preferring the closest contact to the earth she could get when she worked her magick. “Why can’t you do it?” She paused and realized the answer. “You need the biological link. That’s it, isn’t it?”
Mary nodded. “Yes. Smart cookie, you are. Your mother was like that. Intuitive.”
Yes, well, their mother was dead so how much good did it do her?
“All right. So let’s make a circle. You and Renee in the innermost circle. Rosemary and I will be just outside that one in another circle. You need to keep your focus at all times. This is old magick, Kendra. Blood magick. Family magick. The ties that connect you will bring us answers. But projecting the ties leaves you open to danger. Which is why we’re doing it here and also in two circles.”
“Are you all right with this?” Kendra asked Renee, whose eyes had gone wide.
“Heck yeah. I mean, it’s spooky and all, but I trust you. And you trust them. So it’s all good. Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”
Kendra would work the ritual so she drew the circles. Calling them to her, invoking protection and clarity of thought and purpose. Mary gave her the instructions and she barely felt the slice, into the same place she’d used to ward Max’s car. Her blood, mixed with Renee’s, would carry the spell, create the connection to find their father.
She threw open her othersight, the day-to-day world falling away, replaced by the wisps of color people carried around, their energy, their emotions, their personal brand of magick.
There were darker things just beyond, darker things looking for her. She knew it without a doubt. Knew they looked for Renee and would harm her if they could. Still, she kept her focus as she spoke the words, moving her feet the way the woman had said to. The dance was old, the steps not choreographed until they were being performed. They came to her, one after the next.
Exhaustion seeped into her bones. She drew, carefully, of the air around her, of the plants, the garden just beyond the windows, and found Max, a bright shimmering energy there just for her. His scent surrounded her, filled her as she steadied and continued to move her way through the spell.
It caught her up in its own rhythm and sway, like a song she heard in her head. She let it in, spun it back out. This was what it felt to be one with the energy, it felt right as it consumed her, used her to make her intentions reality.
Until the last words were whispered, the last steps taken and she let go, falling to her knees.
Max barreled into the room, barely leashing his fury as he saw her, pale and sweating, on her knees. The scent of her magick painted the air, heady, sticky-sweet. His cat relaxed a tiny bit, but the man felt the bite of the claws reminding him to stay vigilant. The cat didn’t give a fuck about anyone but her.
“You mind telling me what the hell just happened?”
Rosemary looked him over quickly. “Your agitation won’t help right now. She’s been working a spell. It took a lot out of her. But she drew on you. Took that spell farther than I could have and I’ve got thirty years on her. She’s changing, growing in ways I hadn’t imagined. I’m so proud of you, Kendra.” Rosemary pushed the hair from Kendra’s face, and man and cat had had enough.
“All this time? One spell?” Christ, they’d been there two and a half hours.
Renee nodded. “She was amazing,” she said to Galen as he edged into the room, Jack on his heels. “I just was the backup. She did this thing, this sort of dance, and she spoke in a beautiful language.”
“You were a lot more than backup, Renee. You and she worked together totally seamlessly. She needed you and you helped so much.” Rosemary smiled up at Renee.
Max scented her blood, his cat snarled inside, urging him to action. “She’s bleeding.” He stood at the edge of the circle, knowing enough not to break it. “Can I touch her?”
Mary stood, brushing her hand over the edges of the two circles. “Broken.” She looked to Max. “Touch her.”
He did more than that. He picked her up, cradled her against his body, tamping down his desire to run out of there with her. She turned into him, snuggled against his chest and he gave her touch. Gave her affection and strength. And she received.
“Here, let me get at her cut.” Renee knelt, Jack touching her shoulder, Galen watching over the room, his thigh against Jack.
Kendra took a deep breath and sighed, some of her bonelessness gone.
Renee looked up at Max from where she cleaned the slice he’d cleaned only the day before. “Touch. It helps her too. Don’t need to be a shifter to let yourself be comforted by the ones you love.
”
“Take her home. I tucked some tea that should help into her bag. Make sure she rests until tomorrow.” Kendra’s aunt touched his arm before she squeezed Kendra’s hand again. “I know you don’t know me very well. But I love these girls like they were my own. This won’t cause her any lasting damage, Max. I wouldn’t do that to her. It’s part and parcel of using great reserves of energy. She’ll be more efficient at it over time.”
He wasn’t sure he could take this sort of thing on a regular basis. But she was worth the effort and he knew he had no right to ask her to stop. Even if he’d felt like he was having a stroke when he came into that room and saw her just moments before.
Rosemary smiled up at him. “I’ll see you both tomorrow at your parents’ house. Your mother called to invite me. I’m very much looking forward to it. Tell Kendra I’ll be checking in on her later.”
“She’ll be at my house. Renee, babe, can you get your aunt that number?”
Renee nodded, leaning forward to kiss her sister’s forehead. “She did great, Max. Totally kicked ass. She’ll be fine. I promise.”
He said his quick goodbyes and took her away from there, loading her into his car and taking her home. His home and he wanted it to be hers. Somehow the sight of her there, so fragile and wan, without her shoes, huddled in a coat tore him to pieces, even though he knew she’d recover.
“I’m all right,” she managed to say as he pulled into his driveway. “Just need a nap.”
“You’ll be getting one.” He didn’t bother asking to help her from the car and she didn’t bother arguing. A fact that alarmed him.
He picked her up again, heading upstairs, straight to his bed. She didn’t complain when he quickly undressed her and slid her under the blankets. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to make you some of that tea. You’ll drink it and then you’ll sleep.”
She nodded, her eyes drooping as she rested against the pillow, the spill of her hair against the pale green of the pillowcase appealed to him, even though he knew how wrung out she was.
A task. That’s what he needed to keep his mind off the bad outcomes he couldn’t seem to stop envisioning.
He brought the tea and made her drink it all even though she flipped him off twice and gagged a bit at the end. “Nice to see your attitude is back. It’s how I know you’re going to be okay.” He kissed the top of her head and tucked her in. “Now you go to sleep. I’ll be within earshot and check in. Just say my name, baby, and I’ll be right here.”
Her smile lightened his heart.
When he got back downstairs, he made himself a cup of tea, Earl Grey, not that crap she had to drink. And then he allowed it to come. The fear of losing her made him shake.
That’s when Gibson came in.
“Galen called. She okay?” All lanky six plus feet of his tattooed and dreadlocked brother fell into the chair across from his.
He didn’t want to do this. But Gibson, unlike Galen, was blunt and pushy. He knew Max better than pretty much anyone and there was no way he could hide his anxiety.
“She’s sleeping. I made her choke down some tea that smelled like the bottom of a birdcage. Her color is already beginning to improve as well.”
“So why are your hands shaking?”
“I had no idea that it would be like this. I figured she’d do her witchy thing here and there. Like she does with Renee. Moving shit with their magick. Not fucking passing out and bleeding. Not thugs hunting her down so they can kill her and steal her magick.”
“So you’re going to break up with her then? Move on to a nice shifter female who, by the way, turns furry and has sharp claws and teeth? I can see how the worry might distract you from work and running the jamboree after Papi steps aside.”
Max sniffed and growled. “Yeah, yeah, aren’t you all emo and shit to use reverse psychology on me. You know I love her. You know I’ve imprinted on her and you know I have no plans to break up with her.”
“Yeah. I know it. And I know your hands are shaking just thinking about what could have happened. But—and I hate to get all emotional and shit, so if you bring this up I’ll deny it—it’s supposed to feel that way. You’re supposed to feel as if you’d die if she did. Why on earth would you want to be with someone who didn’t feel like they were an integral part of you? What’s the fuckin’ point of love, Max, if you don’t feel it in all its glorious intensity, both the good and the bad?”
“It sucks when you make sense.”
Gibson laughed, but kept it quiet so as not to disturb Kendra.
“I like her. She’s got a warrior’s soul. She’s good for you. A woman you can count on. And let’s be honest, this just makes her even stronger to be at your side. She is totally worthy of running the jamboree with you. She can protect herself and those cats. My cat is comforted by this. You have to understand the rest of us will feel similarly.
“You and Galen both lucked out. Too bad they don’t have any cousins or anything. I put some extra people on her. On the school and her apartment. Since her place was Jack’s before, it’s very secure, though she’d be better off here. I expect you’ll propose that one to her soon enough. Can I do anything else?”
“Yes. I want you to look into her ex-husband and his family. I want to know where they are and what they’re up to. Full search. I’ll handle helping her transfer the protection order locally so don’t worry about that part.”
Gibson’s demeanor changed, hardened. “Oh so it’s that way? Yeah, I’m on it. If we need to make our point in person, I’m good for that too.”
“We may have to. But let’s just be sure they’re far the fuck away from here first. Then we can go from there.”
Gibson stood. “Unless you’re up for a beer and some television, I’m going to get started on that work for you. We have some of it from when she came to town originally so it shouldn’t be too hard.”
He stood, clasping his brother’s forearm, sliding his cheek along Gibson’s. “Thank you. For everything. I appreciate it.”
His brother nodded once. “I’m family. Comes with the subscription package.” He walked to the door before turning back. “I got your back.”
For a long beat after Gibson had left, Max stood in his entryway. Listening, letting himself center and focus. He would know if someone came in, would feel if a threat breached the outside security.
Satisfied that it was safe, he moved to where she was, needing to see her, taking the stairs quickly until he came to stand in the doorway to his bedroom, looking at her in his bed, watching the rise and fall of her chest, feeling it echo within his own. She’d become more than a woman he was in love with. She’d become necessary to him, integral.
He’d have to find a way to get through the fear and support her. She had a gift, even if it put her in danger. And she’d experienced others trying to take it from her, trying to shove it away and make her into someone and something she wasn’t. He would never do that to her.
He’d need to figure out how to do that and still protect her.
Chapter Nine
When she opened her eyes, he was there. She knew he’d been there watching over her the whole time she’d been out. It was one of the reasons she found herself able to let go and totally fall under, letting her body recharge. He was there to protect and defend, and while it might not be politic to admit it out loud, she found it a very fine quality. Loved how he took care of her. Loved that he gave her the space to be who she was, but made room for himself in her life as well. Took up a lot of space, more each day. And she loved that part too.
He wasn’t sleeping anymore. She knew he was awake, though his eyes were closed. She touched him anyway, loving the hardness of his muscles against her hands. When his lids lifted, his eyes locked on hers, and she didn’t fight the rush of pleasure at the recognition there.
“How are you feeling?” His voice vibrated through her. She stretched, luxuriating in the pleasure of it.
“Pretty good actually. I was drained, but now I’
m not. And I opened my eyes to behold a tall, sexy man in bed with me all naked and everything. Handy.”
He’d been on his back and turned to face her. She moved to him without a thought, seeking his heat and his touch.
“Well then I’m feeling even better.” He held her to him, the thud of his heart beat where her head lay on his chest reassuring.
“You’re so warm. I may never want to get out of this bed.” She wriggled, smiling at the hardening cock at her belly. “Seems like you’re good with that plan.”
He growled, his cute and not-very-scary gruff growl. “You’re going to rest. Then I will make you dinner. Then you will go back to sleep.”
“Grr. Arrgh. Grrr. I’m the big tough alpha cat, grrr. I won’t have sex with you!” She said it while laughing and he joined her after a groan.
“Smart ass. Talk to me, Kendra. Tell me. Share what scares you, what makes you happy. What brings the shadows in your eyes sometimes.”
She tipped her head back enough to see him better. It was go time. She could open up to him, accept this wonderful thing between them, all of it, or she could back off and make him wait and hurt him for no real reason. She had been a coward before and it wasn’t her. It didn’t fit right. And he deserved all of her.
“You don’t just love me, you possess me. No, that’s not the right word either. Or maybe it is. Gah! I’m messing this up.” She tried to wriggle free but he tightened his arms.
“If you really want to get up, I’ll let go. But if you’re just embarrassed, it’s only me. I like you here with me, against me.”
She couldn’t help but smile at him. How could anyone resist this man?
“I’ve never been with anyone, not ever, who made me feel so wanted. You look at me and there’s no room for anyone else. You touch me in a way I know you never have with anyone before. It’s so very big and bold and all encompassing.” She paused, forcing herself not to hide her face. “I like it. I’m scared of how much I like it. I’m scared I’ll get used to it and then I won’t have it. I can get over a lot. I’ve gotten over a lot. But I don’t know if I could get over you.”