The Witch's Love Spell Book 2

by Larissa Ladd

  It was nice to hear him say that, to know that he believed in her, but Skyler also knew the truth. There had been plenty of times when she hadn’t been strong and had faked her confidence. When she was sure of herself, she was cocky, and that was how she’d been about her career, until Chad had walked in and blown that idea to hell and back. And then she’d been the same about her budding relationship with Chad, until she’d realized that he was likely faking it and had a vendetta of some kind, some sort of diabolical plan to achieve.

  She wanted to help Creed, but she didn’t know if she could ask Chad for help. If there was a chance he had no idea she was a witch, then revealing herself to him posed two likely consequences. The first would be that he and Van would come after the coven. It was the way of warlocks to want power and control, and Skyler was actively connected to dozens of witches they could reap that from. That was a terrible price to pay for Creed’s sanity.

  But the other was even more selfish, and it hurt worse. Even if these warlocks walked away from the coven and wanted nothing to do with it, Chad would likely discard Skyler the moment he knew what she was. Warlocks who didn’t want the power of a coven rarely wanted anything to do with witches at all. Those in her coven who had married warlocks were the lucky few; the pairs would live out extraordinarily long lives together, rather than being limited to a single mortal life span with a mate. Most of them stayed separated, maintaining their solitude or settling down with a mortal woman, choosing to mate again after that woman died.

  Could she really risk losing Chad if he was even hers to begin with?

  Pulling out of her brother’s arms, she looked up into Creed’s tormented eyes. He looked so young, as if he was barely of drinking age, and yet, he’d already lived nearly forty years in his nightmarish existence. She didn’t want him to live another hundred years that way.

  Skyler, at least, had been content, and she still had plenty of time to find a husband and make a family if that was what she wanted. Chad had never been a sure thing, she just hadn’t known that at the time. Taking a deep breath, she asked Creed, “How long can you stay?”

  “I didn’t want Mom to know about any of this, but I want to stay for good if I can get some help. If not, I’ll stay for a week or so, enjoy what could be the last time I ever get to see my sister, and then go out looking for the help I need.”

  He broke her heart. Nodding with her resignation, she told him, “I want you to go into the magic room, meditate, and get some rest. I’ll spell the door so that you aren’t disturbed, at least not physically. It should be fairly quiet here. I’m going to my room to think on this. I’ll try to get you the help you need from Chad or his brother, Van, but I need time to figure out how to do it.”

  His eyes swam with tears of relief that he refused to let spill as he blinked them away. “And you won’t say anything to Mom?”

  Skyler snarled. “I’m sure she’ll eventually figure out something strange is going on anyway, but no, I refuse to tell her anything that you don’t want her to know.” She glanced around him at the pot of soup, which suddenly smelled heavenly. “What do you say you and I enjoy some of her amazing cooking first while I tell you about her little exploit last night?”

  “I thought we’d never get our grub on with all this drama!”

  Chapter 15

  “I need a drink, and I refuse to have one.” Chad stared at his brother as he made the declaration standing on Chad’s stoop, looking distraught. “If I have a drink, I’ll see her, and I don’t want to see her.”

  Confused, Chad frowned up at Van. “What do you mean, you’ll see her? Who will you see?”

  As he ran his hands through his hair, which was already a mess, likely from repeating the gesture about eight hundred times, Van’s eyes pleaded with Chad. “Can I please just come in?”

  Chad stepped back out of the way, intrigued that his brother would come to him for help. It was usually Chad’s duty to seek out his brother and pull the damned bottle out of his mouth, pry it from his fingers, and toss it in the fire before calling in the big guns to have Van locked away until he sobered up. He followed Van, who stalked in and marched straight to the study rather than to the well-stocked bar, and took a seat in an overstuffed chair.

  “If I’m not mistaken, you showed up here as if you were in AA and I was your sponsor. Now, that’s a beautiful and brave thing to do, but it’s not the sort of thing Van Pearson usually does. Maybe, if you explained what’s going on or told me who you didn’t want to see, this might make more sense.”

  “Don’t patronize me, Chad.” The tone pleaded and warned, all in one. “I came to you for help. That’s what you always asked me to do, and now I’m doing it. Can’t that be enough for you?”

  “I guess it can. But what sort of help are you looking for that I can possibly give you if I don’t know what I’m helping you with.” Chad tried the explanation in a different order, just to make sure Van got the picture.

  “I just need help not taking a drink, Chad. That’s all. The rest of it can all just be ignored.” Van stood and began pacing, his nerves on edge. He was in bad shape, and Chad really needed answers or would risk doing the wrong thing. “Have you talked to Skyler today?”

  “I spoke to her briefly earlier. Why? What has that to do with you maintaining sobriety?”

  “Nothing, I suppose.” He tugged at his lip with his thumb and forefinger. “I just hoped maybe she was with Jayden, since I can’t get in touch with her. I was thinking they might be having a girls’ day at the mall or something and had turned off their phones or left them at home. But if you talked to Skyler, that means that isn’t the case, and Jayden’s avoiding me.”

  Dear lord, he was already obsessing. “Calm down, Van. That doesn’t mean anything. She spent the night at your place. Maybe her phone isn’t charged and she’s somewhere that she needs a charger to boot the thing. Or she could very well be with Skyler. I know there was some family drama about a brother who had come home. For all we know, as close as she and Jayden are, it’s entirely possible that your little girlfriend was there to help moderate things.”

  “Wouldn’t she have called back or texted at some point, even if it was to tell me to go to hell?” Van was tugging at his hair as he paced, his expression almost comically maniacal. “I’m losing it, Chad. I have to know.”

  Instead of arguing, Chad did something that had always worked to calm Van in the past. He spoke soothingly as he mixed just a drop of whiskey for flavor into an herbal green tea with chamomile and other calming elements. “You should sit down and put your feet up. You told me how incredible your night was. I’m sure everything is fine, and you’ll hear from Jayden when her life calms down.”

  Grunting, Van sat but leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You’ve always been good at killing confidence, brother. I was perfectly fine until you started freaking out that Skyler knew more than she should. You made me nervous, and now I’m so anxious I feel like exploding the train station.”

  Chad laughed. “I don’t think that would go over well.” He muttered a few words of a weak sedation spell over the glass before he took it to his brother—a little magic never hurt when trying to pacify an angry warlock. “Here, sip on this. It’ll make you feel better.”

  Van wrinkled his nose. “I hate when you force your concoctions on me. Why not just wave your hands over me and put me to sleep? At least then I’d be out of my misery for a few hours.”

  “Yes, and you would wake up Mr. Hyde. You’re too damned close to it already. Now, drink it, and I’m going to text Skyler and ask if Jayden is still with her or if she’s heard from her friend. Will that help?” Reluctantly, Van nodded and sipped the fluid, his brow furrowed with worry and surrender. Chad shook his head. When Van acted like this, he seemed more like an eight-year-old child than he did like the man who’d lived for nearly a century now. Love and lust did strange things to the psyche.

  As he sent a text to Skyler, though, he marveled at his brother’s co
ntrol today. Under normal circumstances, Van would have just drunk himself stupid and headed out to a bar, where some mysterious fire in the kitchen would burn the place to the ground later. There must be something about this Jayden that coaxed Van to want to maintain control. Not since Leanne had anyone been such a good influence. Chad wasn’t sure if he should have been joyful for his brother or worry that the collapse was finally on the horizon.

  Either way, he couldn’t do much about it, except to thwart the immediate danger, and he was on top of that. As he sat down to wait for a response, Chad thought, I should have just left when I was ready. But then, if he had, Van wouldn’t have found him at home and might have literally blown up the nearest train station. Sometimes, it sucked being the older brother.

  Chapter 16

  Skyler was still staring at her phone, contemplating what she would say if she called Chad, when it buzzed in her hands and his text appeared. “Van wants to know if you’ve heard from Jayden.”

  That was simple enough. She answered, “She left half an hour ago. Probably showering or with her mother.” The question was whether Van wanted to know where Jayden was because he was infatuated or because he wanted to keep reeling her in. Right now, it didn’t matter. As far as she could tell, the protection spells were working just fine, and she had bigger problems to solve.

  Her phone vibrated again. “And did you clear up family matters?”

  She sighed. Technically, the one she’d told him about was better, for the moment. Skyler didn’t have much faith that it would remain so. Her mother liked drama and would cause more. But there were other ‘family matters’ involved now that weren’t resolved. So, how should she have answered him?

  Feeling brave and deciding to test the waters, she dialed his number rather than texting back. “I didn’t expect to hear your voice again today. It’s a pleasant surprise.”

  Even knowing what she knew, the words warmed Skyler. “Well, the family drama is a bit too much explanation for a text message. To answer your question, we have temporarily waved a white flag between my mother and my brother and forced a truce. It’ll erupt again at some point if Creed hangs around for a few days, but I’ll fix it again when the time comes. It’s what I do.”

  She could hear the smile in his voice. “That’s because you’re a kindhearted, gentle spirit. Your family is lucky to have you. And so am I.”

  She swallowed at those words, a line drawing between her brows as she tried to make herself believe he meant it. She had to finish what she was saying, had to know what was going to happen. The longer she put all of this off, the more likely it was she’d drive herself off the deep end with worry. And if she was going to lose Chad, she wanted to rip off the bandage. It would hurt less now than in a week or a month. Every day that ticked by would just make it more painful.

  “I hope you still feel that way after you hear what I say next,” she told him. Was she going about this the right way? He was completely silent, no response, and she decided to dive in headfirst. “My brother has some issues he’s trying to deal with, and they’re very personal. He won’t talk to my mother or anyone else about them, except for me.”

  “The two of you have a very close bond. Why should that bother me?”

  It was a fair question. “Actually, a lot of men are jealous when women have a close relationship with their brothers. But that’s not what I’m talking about. You didn’t let me finish.”

  He chuckled. “Then by all means, finish.”

  Taking a studying breath, she said, “He’s come to me again for help, and I can’t do what needs to be done to help him. He needs a mentor—a male mentor—and my father’s been gone for a long time. I was hoping that maybe I could arrange for the two of you to meet later this week and talk. I think you’d be an excellent role model and probably one of the few people he could really talk to and get some help from.”

  She waited and waited. She could hear Chad breathing on the other end of the line, or she would have thought he hung up. Finally, “I’m flattered, Skyler. You really think that much of me that you would ask my help for a family member? I was beginning to think you were ashamed of us, the way you wanted to keep your mother away from me. This makes me feel wonderful.” His words were filled with awe and sincerity, and it made Skyler feel like a huge creep, in so many ways. “I would be honored. When would you like to do this?”

  Skyler really wanted to have a couple more days before the shit hit the fan. She had an article she was finishing, and she wanted to be sure it would make the next edition. And selfishly, as crazy as it sounded, she wanted one more night alone with Chad. Talking to him, hearing his sexy voice, made her want to forget about what he was. She needed one more evening in his bed before the world came crashing down around her.

  “I’ll tell you what. Tomorrow, we’ll have a wonderful day at work, and then, we’ll go out to dinner and spend the night together. I think it’ll be good for us, with the hectic environment last night and the drama and sickness I’ve dealt with today. Then, on Tuesday, after work, we’ll come back to my house, pick up my brother, and find somewhere that the two of you can go to talk.”

  “I think that sounds like an amazing idea.”

  Skyler thought it sounded like the apocalypse, but she didn’t say as much. She simply said goodbye and told him she couldn’t wait to see him. She hung up and went to the magic room, ready to tell Creed the plan, but she found him sound asleep on the chaise lounge by the window and decided not to disturb him. It wasn’t often he got this kind of rest. She wasn’t going to take it away from him, not when she might have to disappoint him in two days.

  Instead, she wrote a note, pinned it to the inside of the door, and went to get showered and dressed. She needed some time alone to think, and as far as she was concerned, the mall was the perfect place for that.

  Chapter 17

  Dinner had been enjoyable, but after spending almost an entire day with Skyler, Chad was anxious. He wanted her desperately, and there was something about her attitude and reaction to him that made him desperate, as if they were on a timeline before disaster struck. He had a feeling it was something to do with her brother, but he refused to think about that right now, when he had her in front of him, in his house, with the door closed and nothing but air between them.

  He wanted—no, needed—to take her upstairs.

  Drawing her further into the room, Chad pressed against her, placing his lips against hers as he spoke. “Why does it feel like we haven’t been together like this in months when it’s only been a few days?”

  She smiled, and the movement of her mouth was enough to make him hard. “I’m not sure, but I feel it, too.” She reached for his hand, clasping it in hers as she wrapped her other arm around his shoulders. “Why don’t you dance with me again? I got all hot and bothered by that last time.”

  “Seems to me you got sick from that,” he teased, though he did as she asked and began to sway back and forth to no music other than what was in his head.

  “Oh, please, let’s not talk about that. Let’s just live in the moment.” Her words came out breathy, and Chad knew she was just as aroused as he was, just as needy. Still, he complied with her request and continued to dance as he kissed her, starting with slow, soft movements of his lips and growing deeper and more insistent with his teeth and tongue until the dancing was within the kiss and their feet were no longer moving.

  His hand slid from her shoulder down the length of her spine, and his fingers tickled at the hollow at the small of her back before he moved lower, covering one cheek with his hand and pressing forward, until her hips were flush against his. He began to grow, and she wriggled against him, making his groin strain harder, making his tongue dig deeper. “We should take this upstairs,” he mumbled against her mouth, and Skyler nodded.

  Sweeping her into his arms, he carried her up the stairs, still licking and nibbling at her lips and jaw as her fingers threaded through his hair and over the back of his neck. She was delicious
, and he never wanted tonight to end. Whatever caused the sense of urgency would have to wait. This was going to be a lovemaking session for the record books.

  As he laid her back on the bed, she instantly wrapped her legs around his waist and drew him down on top of her. Chad didn’t fight as he lowered himself into her arms, his mouth falling on her chin, her throat, the side of her neck, and further down into the valley between her breasts. She gasped beneath him, and each sound, each movement, drove him to work harder, to want more.

  His fingers actually shook as he tried to unbutton Skyler’s blouse, and it took him so long he was frantic to tear the clothes from her body. He grasped at her breasts, kneading and molding them in his hands as he kissed and sucked and rolled her nipples in his mouth. She arched her back and moaned, and he could smell her sex as she grew more and more aroused.

  She tugged his shirt over his head, and he tossed it away, irritated that he had to break contact to undress, and as he returned to her, his hands went to her pants, his fingers working more deftly to remove those. He wanted to feel her, to taste her, and once he’d drawn the last vestiges of clothing from her body, he lowered himself between her legs, licking a long line over her folds and cleft. Skyler cried out, raising her hips, and he chuckled, thrusting his tongue inside her once, twice, before she exploded, pouring into his mouth. Chad lapped at her, the slick moisture coating his lips and chin.

  He kept at her until she writhed so hard he couldn’t keep up. Only then did he crawl back up her body, wiping his mouth, and removed his own pants while kissing her with even more demand than before. His erection throbbed as he released it from its binding, and as her fingertips glided over his head, he nearly burst, crying out with the sheer ecstasy of her touch.

  Skyler wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her legs around his back, pulling him down to her, obviously as ready for him as he was to be inside her. He rubbed his length over her moisture and drove into her with such force that they both screamed, pain and delight and surprise overwhelming them both. Two slow strokes brought Chad to the edge, and he took several long breaths to calm himself. He wanted this to last, and he was determined they would both milk it for everything they could get.