Tempting Treasure (Ashland Pride Book Ten)

by R. E. Butler

  “I can taste the strawberry cream-cheese French toast already,” Treasure said, yawning.

  “Goodnight, sweetheart,” Brian kissed the top of her head. “Sweet dreams.”

  She tipped her face up and kissed him, turning to kiss Kevin as well before snuggling down against Brian again. In moments, he could hear her breathing deeply in sleep and he closed his eyes, his mind drifting to the days ahead, beyond contacting the goddess and the mating ceremony for their cousins, to the final days of summer and the fun they could have before the change of the season. He loved fall, but summer was his absolute favorite time of year, when Treasure wore scandalously tiny bikinis to go swimming in the pond and they could spend nights out under their special tree. Someday they’d have kids, and their lives would be different. He wanted that, but he was content with things now, too. He was just so damn happy to have Treasure in his life and to share her with his brother.

  She was his whole world. And he was thankful every day for her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Treasure dressed in jeans and a tank and dug her favorite canvas slip-ons out of the closet. Her phone buzzed, and she grabbed it from the bed and swiped open the text app.

  We’re getting things set up, Hope’s text read.

  We’re on the way.

  She called out to her mates, “Hope and the guys are ready for us.”

  “Okay,” Kevin called back.

  She walked into the bathroom and grabbed her brush, giving her hair a few swipes before putting it up in a ponytail. She found her mates in the kitchen, Brian on his phone and Kevin putting dinner away in a plastic container.

  “Ready, sweetheart?” Brian asked as he rose to his feet.

  “Yep.” She smiled at him as he caught her around the waist and pulled her close. She always melted in their arms, her body responding immediately. Rising onto her toes, she kissed him and then wiggled away. “We don’t have time for sexy touching.”

  “Oh? I can be fast.” His voice dropped low and made her stomach clench.

  “Me, too,” Kevin said. He joined them, pressing her between them in the way she loved the most.

  Kevin kissed her neck and her skin erupted in goosebumps. He licked a slow path up to her ear, and she couldn’t stop the full-blown shiver that raced down her spine. Everything within her went hot and tight. “Seriously? You’re going to ham me up when we have to leave?”

  Brian looked at her in confusion, and then he grinned. “Horn, sweetheart. We’re horning you up.”

  She returned his broad smile. “You know what I love?”

  He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and smiled sweetly. “Us?”

  “Of course. But I love that you know what I mean even when I mix up the words.”

  Kevin kissed her neck once and stepped away. “It’s because we love you so much.”

  “Stop being sweet and sexy. We need to leave.”

  “Never, but we’ll put things on hold for a bit,” Kevin said, giving her waist a squeeze before letting go.

  They walked out of their home and headed to the construction site of the house Hope and her mates were building. It wouldn’t be ready until November, which gave Treasure plenty of time to work on the custom cabinets the quartet had requested for the kitchen and bathrooms. The sun was setting, and the moon was nearing the point where it would begin its descent; the time when Hope would cast the spell to contact the goddess.

  “Just in time,” Hope said as she finished laying two pieces of wood inside a circle of stones for a bonfire.

  She and Treasure embraced and their mates greeted each other. “Are you all set?”

  “Yeah.” Hope rolled her shoulders. “This spell is complicated. I hope I do everything right.”

  “You will, babe,” Owen said.

  “I’m glad you’re confident,” Hope said. “I’m nervous.”

  Treasure put her hands on her best friend’s shoulders. “You need to push all the nerves and worry away. You’re super-prepared for this night. You know the spell backward and forward, everyone here is supporting you, and at the end of the day if this doesn’t work, then that’s just how it’s supposed to be. You’re nervous because it’s the only way to break the spell and you’re feeling the weight of all the females on your shoulders, but you need to put that shit away.”

  “This is important, though. It’s so important.”

  “Yeah. But if you fail, bestie, at least you tried. Don’t worry about the outcome, just know that you’re doing the best you can and that’s going to be enough. You’re enough.”

  Hope’s eyes glistened with tears and she sniffled. “Ah, you’re going to make me cry.”

  The two hugged and then smiled at each other. Something beeped.

  Ben looked at his phone. “Two minutes, beautiful.”

  Hope inhaled deeply and rolled her shoulders, then knelt on the ground in front of the makeshift bonfire. She moved a small bowl of ground ingredients in front of her and picked up a purple candle and a match.

  “Thirty seconds,” Ben said.

  Treasure moved a few feet away from the bonfire and knelt with her mates. Ben, Owen, and Nathan knelt behind Hope, close but not touching.

  “Now,” Ben said.

  Hope lit the match and touched the flame to the candle. When it caught, she started the spell.

  “I call the goddess Hrixalda to this realm. I am Hope, one of your creations.” She tipped the candle on its side, so the wax dripped into the bowl. She counted ten drops of the dark wax and then used the candle to catch a piece of kindling on fire, repeating her words in a louder voice. Using the kindling, she set the wood on fire, and the scent of burning wood filled the air. As she repeated herself a third time, she lifted the bowl and tossed the contents into the fire, which blazed so brightly Treasure had to shield her eyes. When she peeked, the flames weren’t orange and red, but blue and purple, licking at the wood and roaring into the sky.

  “I call for your presence, Hrixalda,” Hope said, setting the bowl aside and rising to her feet. “I call for you now!”

  Nothing happened. Treasure was holding her breath, her lungs beginning to burn. Letting it out, she looked around and found nothing out of the ordinary. She slipped her fae wings free and tapped into her dragon’s senses, but the goddess wasn’t there.

  “I don’t understand,” Hope said.

  “Can you do the spell again?” Nathan asked.

  “No,” she said. “I don’t have the ingredients ready for another casting. Treasure?”

  Her heart fell. Hope’s greatest fear had come to pass. “I’m sorry, Hope.”

  “No.” Hope shook her head, her hair flinging from side to side with the motion. “Treasure, please. What happened?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “It didn’t work. I’m so sorry.”

  She moved next to Hope and put her arms around her bestie, who was ramrod straight for a brief moment before she crumpled in her arms and began to sob.

  “It should have worked,” Treasure whispered. “It didn’t, and that means it wasn’t meant to be.”

  Hope took in a great, gasping breath and lifted her tear-stained face to the sky. She let out a mournful sound from her cat, which sent chills down Treasure’s spine.

  “I’m sorry,” Treasure said.

  She moved away so that Ben, Nathan, and Owen could comfort their mate. Owen gave Treasure a grim look. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong, and neither did Hope. You said it before, it just wasn’t meant to be.”

  “I don’t understand,” Hope said. “I was sure it would work.”

  “Me too,” Treasure stood and joined her mates.

  “I could try again next full moon,” Hope said, brushing the tears from her cheeks.

  “Babe,” Nathan said.

  “It can’t hurt, right? I mean what if she was busy and didn’t hear me?”

  The glimmer of hope in her best friend’s eyes was almost her undoing. Treasure shook her head. “It doesn’t
work like that. If the spell was meant to work, it would have. Do you want us to stay for a while?”

  Hope shook her head. “I don’t want you to see me have a full-on breakdown.”

  “Okay.” Treasure hugged Hope tightly and kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

  “Stop apologizing, you’re not the one who cursed a whole group of shifters for no damn good reason and then left them floundering forever.”

  “I’m still disappointed.”

  “Yeah.”

  “You’ll be okay?” Treasure looked at the males standing protectively with her bestie, and each one nodded solemnly.

  “I will be.” Hope straightened her shoulders. “We’re getting mated in a few days. I can put this behind me and move on. I don’t really have a choice.”

  Treasure could tell that Hope was putting on a brave face. She was fully disappointed on her bestie’s behalf, and angry that the spell that they’d worked so hard on hadn’t succeeded. After saying goodbye, she and her mates left the quartet at the bonfire and walked back to their home in silence.

  “I’m sorry it didn’t work out,” Kevin said, giving her hand a squeeze.

  “Me, too. I really thought it would.”

  Brian grasped the door handle and slid it open. “You hungry, sweetheart?”

  “No. Just tired.”

  “Then let’s get some rest,” Kevin said.

  But Treasure wasn’t able to sleep. After staring at the ceiling for what felt like an eternity, she climbed off the bed carefully so she wouldn’t wake her mates, and left the bedroom. She went straight to the living room and closed the door, flicking on the overhead light. Kneeling in front of the bookshelf, she pulled out the main book she’d used to prepare for the spellcasting. Her stomach was in knots as she gathered the copied spell papers and the book and carried them to the desk.

  A gnawing feeling in her gut had her wondering: had she missed something? Was she the reason the spell hadn’t worked?

  She sat and opened the book, finding the page she’d used to translate the fae words of the spell, then pulled out a notebook from one of the drawers. Opening to a clean page, she decided to first ensure she’d translated the spell properly. She’d been over it a dozen times, but something deep inside her told her to start there.

  The spell was simple on the surface – declaring the speaker’s right to call the goddess and ask for what amounted to a favor. She carefully translated the spell, drawing on both her dragon and fae sides to help her as she read through the translation. A phrase caught her eye and she re-read it, then looked at the page that Hope had copied.

  She turned on the lamp and dragged it across the desk, illuminating the paper. The pencil that Hope had used to write the spell had smudged at the bottom of the page, and she’d translated the phrase as “to the sky.” She’d taken it to mean that the spell had to be performed outside, which they’d done. But after she inspected the words, she copied the letters onto the fresh paper and realized the mistake she’d made. It wasn’t a direction for how to perform the spell, but instead explaining where to do it. It wasn’t “to the sky” – it was “in the Skyye.”

  She shot up from the desk and ran to the bookshelf, where she pulled out a book of maps of the fae realm. Flipping through the pages of colorful maps detailing both ancient and modern fae and dragon cities, she found a town nestled in a wooded area in the far northern part of the fae realm. The town, called Skyye, held the ruins of a once-thriving fae town. Researching further, Treasure found pictures of the town, including a decrepit temple where the gods and goddesses had been worshipped.

  The tears she’d been holding back since she started translating the spell flowed easily now, spilling over her cheeks and splashing onto her lap.

  “Sweetheart?” Brian put his arms around her and pulled her close, kneeling next to her on the floor.

  Kevin took one of her hands and gave it a squeeze. “Treasure, what’s going on?”

  She sobbed, unable to speak for several minutes. When she could finally talk, she told them what she’d discovered.

  “It’s all my fault.”

  “What are you talking about?” Brian asked. He cupped her face and brushed the tears from her cheeks.

  “I messed up the translation.”

  “You did the best you could,” Kevin said. “But now you know what the spell says and Hope can try again next full moon.”

  Her eyes stung with fresh tears. “Don’t you understand? I can’t go into the fae realm. I can’t even open a portal for Hope to go in by herself. I cut myself off from the fae realm with that spell, and I’ve effectively ruined the one chance the pride had to break the curse.”

  Her mates were quiet.

  “Sweetheart,” Brian said gently, “this isn’t your fault. You honestly did the best you could. We both saw how hard you worked on the spell. No one is going to blame you for this, I promise.”

  “If I hadn’t cast my own spell…” she said.

  “But you did, and that can’t be changed,” Kevin said. “Hope wouldn’t have wanted you to keep yourself vulnerable, you have to know that.”

  “She’ll hate me.”

  “Never. You two are as thick as thieves,” Brian said.

  She leaned back against Kevin. “My heart hurts.”

  “It’s okay to be sad about the situation,” Kevin said. “But you can’t let it ruin you. You’re not some all-knowing being. You made a mistake.”

  She exhaled and closed her eyes, wishing one of her powers was the ability to turn back time. They sat on the floor in silence; all she could hear was the beating of her own heart and the soft purrs of her mates.

  “Are you going to tell Hope?” Brian asked after a few quiet minutes.

  It was tempting to keep the news to herself, but she and Hope didn’t have secrets from each other. “Yes.”

  “Do you want us to be there?” Kevin asked.

  “No. Thanks, though.”

  “Anytime.” Brian stood and offered her his hand, pulling her gently to her feet. She leaned into him and let herself be surrounded by him, her dragon trilling in contentment when Kevin joined them and sandwiched her between the two of them.

  She left the books out, turning off the lights and following her mates back to the bedroom. After sending a text to Hope that she wanted to see her later in the morning, she snuggled back down under the covers and mentally shoved away the dread that was hovering in her mind over the conversation she’d have to have with her best friend.

  * * *

  Hope’s eyes were ringed with dark circles as she sat across the kitchen table in the boarding house. Treasure fiddled with the spoon she’d used to stir honey into her tea, clinking it against the sides of the mug.

  “You don’t look like you slept any better than I did,” Hope said.

  “I didn’t.” Treasure said.

  Hope narrowed her eyes. “You have something to say, so please just say it. I feel like you’re going to drop a bomb on me and it’s making my cat twitchy. I can’t remember the last time we sat down like this and weren’t jabbering a mile a minute.”

  Treasure chuckled. “Yeah. Sorry. I’m just such an asshole and a terrible friend, and I don’t really know how to start off what I need to say.”

  Hope put her mug down. “Who said you’re a bad friend? You’re my best friend. No one is better, and I’ll punch anyone who says otherwise.”

  “I’m the one saying it, Hope. I messed up with the spell, and I’m afraid you’re going to hate me.”

  Hope’s brows furrowed. She reached across the table and grasped Treasure’s hand. “I’ll never hate you. You’re the sister of my heart. I might be a bit pissed, okay? But I promise I’ll always love you and forgive you. So just spit it out. Whatever it is, I can handle it.”

  In a rush, Treasure told Hope everything: her gnawing feeling that something was wrong with the spell, and the subsequent discovery that she’d mistranslated something very important. She turned the book of maps
around to face Hope and pointed to Skyye.

  “Damn,” Hope said. She sat back and rubbed her temples. “You can’t open a portal or take me there because you cut yourself off from the realm to protect yourself and your family.”

  “Yes.”

  She was quiet for a moment. “Did you really think I’d hate you because of this?”

  Treasure shrugged. Her mouth was bitter and salty, and she couldn’t stop wanting to just curl into a ball and cry her eyes out. She’d never felt so thoroughly disappointed in herself. She felt like an utter failure.

  Hope got up from her chair and sat next to Treasure. She gave her a hug and sighed. “I’m disappointed, but I’m not mad.”

  “You’re not?”

  “It would be kind of crazy to be mad at you. You gave me hope that things could be different, but you also said last night that if it didn’t work, then it wasn’t meant to be. I think you were being a bit of a prophet.”

  Treasure sniffled. “I thought it would work last night, though.”

  “Me too.” Hope gave her a small smile. “It’ll be okay, I promise.”

  “I wish I could take back the spell I cast on myself.”

  “I don’t. You needed to do it as soon as possible to make sure you were safe. I’d never trade your safety for anything, even breaking the curse. Maybe I just wasn’t meant to be the one to break the curse. It might be someone else’s destiny. Or maybe someday I’ll meet another fae and he or she will be able to help contact the goddess. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that this doesn’t have to be the end of things. I can still have hope.”

  “You’re pretty smart and sweet,” Treasure said, dabbing at her eyes with a napkin. “And forgiving.”

  “I’m also totes awesome.”

  “Definitely,” Treasure said. The awful fear of losing her best friend because of a twist of fate lifted, and for the first time since she’d figured out what went wrong, she felt relieved. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” Hope sat back and let out a deep sigh. “In a way I guess I’m glad to know that there isn’t anything I can do about contacting the goddess. It’s what kept me up last night – just wondering if the spell would work on the next full moon. Now that I know it’s out of my reach for the foreseeable future, I think I can rest easier. I have too much to stress out about with the ceremony Saturday to let this eat me up.”