Magic Awakened: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set

by K.N. Lee

  “Don’t worry, I’ll put you back when I’m finished with this rock. Your mother will never know you’ve been moved. Okay? So keep quiet.”

  “Ahrrr.” Clap. Clap. Clap.

  He shook his head, turned around, and started digging at the base of the rock. He realized it wasn’t as heavy as he’d thought—it was just half buried in the ground.

  He’d seen this material before. On Earth, they called it jade. He liked its light green color. It was extremely rare to see jade on this elusive piece of land. He pushed the tall grass and weeds aside, brushed off some dirt, and smiled at the jade rock.

  He continued to scoop out the dirt along the side of the rock. It was much bigger that he’d thought.

  Then he smelled it—the scent of fresh meat and blood. His stomach gave a hungry growl. He shook the thought and the temptation away and kept digging. When he pushed the next little bunch of grass away, a feathered wing dropped out.

  Startled, he jerked back, falling on his backside.

  Gathering himself together, he approached the bush again. He had seen many dead creatures before. He’d killed some of them himself. After all, he was a predator.

  But something about this one made his stomach churn.

  He finished clearing the bush away and found the body of a woman. He knew an angel when he saw one, and he didn’t need proof to know she was the mother of the baby behind him. He had never been on good terms with angelic creatures and didn’t know them well. But one thing he knew for certain—you never saw the dead body of an angel. They dissolved into light when they died.

  The only reason he was seeing this dead body was that her death had been undignified. She had unfinished business—her child—and she would come back. He didn’t know what the angel had done, or what she would have to do to get back to the predator that killed her. And there was no reason for him to get tangled up in this.

  Before turning back toward the baby, he inched over to the edge of the cliff and peered down. On the ground below was the body of a male angel, his body just as damaged as the female’s.

  That must be the husband. Another angry angel spirit with unfinished business.

  He shook his head.

  He bent down, jiggled the piece of rock he had been working to loosen. The blood of the mother angel had soaked into a part of the rock, turning it an edgy amber color. Her white feathers and her milky skin had turned another part of the rock a shiny white.

  He wanted the jade, but there was no time to break the entire rock to get to it. He didn’t want to be here when the angry spirits of the parent angels came back, or when more predators came to finish off what the others had left. He didn’t need drama in his immortal life. He heaved the entire rock up onto his shoulder and walked away with it.

  Behind him, the baby angel clapped her hands and flapped little wings that would fly nowhere.

  Chapter 1

  Earth 2017.

  Lorcan reluctantly peeled the tiny recording and tracking device out from under the left sleeve of his shirt. This project and client were much too important for him to mess around. He couldn’t afford to have his cover blown by an amateurish mistake at this critical stage.

  He looked in the mirror and adjusted his tuxedo and neatened his hair to ensure he had the million dollar looks his cover required. One last job, and he'd have enough to retire from this line of spy work. Then he could focus on his tech job and spend more time with Orla, the love of his life. Retirement wasn’t his focus, but a proposal was. He wanted to buy a beautiful ring and propose to Orla. Just thinking about it made him smile.

  Admittedly, both his tech job and his spy job involved stealing information. But he only stole from the worst kind of criminals. As far as he was concerned, his work was justified. Last month, he had given an anonymous tip to the police based on some stolen information, and his tip had helped stop an armed robbery at a major bank. Didn’t that count for something? he thought.

  The phone rang.

  “Your transport has arrived, sir,” the concierge said.

  “Thank you. I'll be right down.”

  Adopting a polished accent wasn't too much of a stretch for him. Sometimes he wondered why he'd never told his parents he appreciated his privileged background and what they had given him. But what was the point? He shrugged absently. He’d been a runaway child, the black sheep in his family.

  The target didn't trust him with information, so he had no idea where the party would be. As predicted, they sent him the most conspicuous limousine available in the country. He reciprocated by letting the target pick him up from the most exclusive hotel in London—one he’d booked by charging the client thirty percent more.

  Big jobs cost big money. And they knew his rates weren’t cheap.

  The limousine dropped him off at a yacht club in Brighton. He mentally rehearsed the steps and strategies once more before stepping onto the dark blue carpet, carpet so thick his shoes sank an inch when he set foot on it.

  He chuckled inside as he entertained a vision of these pretentious upper-class criminals scrambling around after discovering he had robbed them of their precious artifact. What it was exactly, he had no idea, and he didn’t care. His job was to steal it and bring it back to the man who had hired him. He never got too attached to the details of a job because attachment was the first step to disaster. Spy and Thief Practice 101.

  He kept his shoulders back and his head high, and he looked like any other aloof businessman going to a prestigious party. A flash of anxiety crossed Lorcan’s mind when he saw the entrance to a lavish lounge room on the boat and a group of polished-to-the-bone people having pre-dinner drinks.

  Something felt seriously wrong.

  He didn’t usually operate on hunches, but he couldn’t squelch his intensifying unease. He inhaled discreetly, hoping to shake off the feeling, and he walked toward the bar, sitting down nonchalantly on one of the stools. He positioned himself to keep an eye out for the target. A loud air horn went off, making the yacht rumble a little. He looked askance at the bartender.

  The bartender smiled politely. “It’s just a signal that the boat is casting off,” he said.

  Lorcan maintained his composure, nodded, and ordered another drink. He hadn’t realized the boat would be casting off at all. He thought it would remain in the harbor, making it easy for him to escape once he had what he wanted. He didn’t like swimming. Swimming from just outside the harbor was bad enough, but he didn’t at all like the idea of having to swim from open sea to the shore, especially when it hadn’t been a part of his plans.

  He thought of Orla again and smiled to himself. She would have laughed at him right now, seeing his reaction at the boat leaving shore. She could swim like a fish, but swimming was definitely not his forte.

  Ten minutes or so went by after the boat had left the harbor, and he still hadn’t found his target, the host of the party. The man had to be on board. A stunning blonde woman in a long, blood-red velvet dress walked toward him. He had no desire to engage in conversation, so he turned quickly and pretended to look for the lavatory. On his way, he glanced up at the VIP section of the balcony above and behind the bar, and he froze. There he was, the business tycoon who dabbled in electronics—his target.

  Now Lorcan needed to approach him and snatch the electronic swipe code so he could access the artifact in the basement of the boat. He could break the door lock in an instant, but breaking the code of the safe would take time—and he didn’t have much of that to spare—so stealing the code was his first choice.

  He took a few steps toward the VIP lounge, and the woman in the red dress stepped out right in front of him.

  Damn it, he thought and pasted a polite smile on his face.

  “Mitch Wayland, rollercoaster tycoon. What a pleasure to meet you,” the woman said in a sexy, throaty voice.

  He chuckled. The woman had done her homework with the guest list and had seen his picture. Obviously, though, she hadn’t researched well enough to know tha
t it was only his cover.

  “Just a line of business I’m lucky to do well in. I’m not exactly a tycoon.”

  “Aren’t you?” She smiled, tracing a finger down his lapel. “I’d like another glass of champagne, but these heels are killing me. Would you mind getting me another glass at the bar upstairs?”

  She handed him her glass before he could come up with an excuse to get away from her. As soon as his hand touched her velvet glove, he felt a prick on his finger.

  He shook his head to clear his vision, and then his world started to spin. The woman smiled at him. She thrust one velvet-gloved hand at him. He could see it better now. It hadn’t been her glove, but a gigantic diamond ring she wore that had pricked him with a needle.

  He saw the needle as if she were moving in slow motion. Or maybe he was seeing things that way because his mind had become numb after the initial jab. She stuck him once more in his neck. He knew what she was doing, but he couldn’t move either to grab her hand or get away from the ring.

  Oh hell, he thought before the image of the woman in front of him became blurry, and his world started to spin out of orbit.

  Chapter 2

  Liv thought it would be a lot harder to get a man of Lorcan’s caliber. His reputation in the business typically made his opponents cringe. But not her. She didn’t have much experience in spying, but she was sure she was a better assassin than he was.

  He was lucky killing him wasn’t her mission. Otherwise, the job would be a slam dunk, and she would be bored out of her brain for the rest of the evening.

  Lorcan’s knees buckled, and he fell into her arms. “Oh darling, you’ve had a bit to drink, haven’t you?” she said as she dragged him, staggering, to a nearby room and pushed him inside.

  He was gorgeous, leaning against the dark polished wood wall of the small cabin. Dark hair, masculine face, lips made for sex, and striking blue eyes that were fighting for consciousness.

  “The dose isn’t nearly enough to sedate a man your size, so don’t pretend. We have work to do, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

  She brushed a stray lock of hair off his forehead and looked into his eyes. “Hmm, I guess you aren’t pretending. Alcohol and sedatives probably aren’t a good mix for you. I’ll fix you up when we get downstairs.”

  The compartment served as an internal elevator and went down to the basement. Liv was relieved as the woeful music on deck faded out and became inaudible. She pushed open the door and saw a crew member walking past.

  She pulled out a gun with a silencer and fired point-blank at the man. Then, in one swift move, she pulled his dead body into the small compartment and pushed Lorcan out.

  “Let that be an example to you,” she muttered to Lorcan as she pushed him along the very narrow corridor of the basement.

  He staggered left and right and tried to sit down several times. She had to haul him up and keep pushing him along, steering him in the right direction.

  “Keep walking. You can barely stay conscious, so don’t even think about running.”

  Soon they arrived at a small storage room door, and Liv pushed him inside. She came in with him and locked the door.

  He glanced around at the room. “If we’re after the same thing, it certainly isn’t in here,” Lorcan said, his voice slurred by the effects of the drug.

  She pushed Lorcan slightly aside, pulled out a compact laser gun, and etched a large circle on the ceiling. As soon as the circle was closed, the ceiling dropped down, bringing with it the safe from the room above.

  From the hole in the ceiling, the tycoon looked down in astonishment. Liv smiled up at him, pointed her silenced gun upward, and fired. The tycoon, screaming profanity, ducked out of the way of the bullet.

  “He’s not a very good host, is he?” she said to Lorcan, who had slid to the floor and was about to lose consciousness.

  She punched a button on the wall of the compartment. It shuddered. The ceiling closed up again, and the compartment detached itself from the boat.

  “A submarine? You’ve got to be kidding me,” Lorcan slurred.

  “Yes, it’s a disposable submarine. You have three minutes to get the box out of the safe. No time to nap now.”

  “No chance.” He closed his eyes.

  “You can remain at the bottom of the ocean with the safe or remove the box and go to the surface.” She grabbed his hand, snapped a locked band to his wrist, and secured his hand to the handle of the safe.

  He stomped his foot against her abdomen, causing her to fall backward and hit her head on the wall. She didn’t pass out, but she couldn’t move. The hit had dazed her.

  It took Lorcan only fifteen seconds to free himself from the locked band. He looked at the lock on the safe. She knew the challenge would be tempting for him. And she was right.

  In a mere thirty seconds, he had the safe opened. In it, he found a small steel box, slightly larger than his palm, the lid engraved with strange symbols.

  Liv flexed her muscles but still couldn’t move. Her vision was blurry, but through the blur, she saw a stream of white smoke appear behind Lorcan. She opened her mouth to warn him, but no sound came out.

  In the center of the small submarine compartment, a white-haired woman dressed in a long black robe appeared.

  Lorcan growled. “You’ve got to be a hologram.”

  She raised her right hand in the air, and the steel box in his hand shook and flew toward her.

  On the floor, Liv did her best to reach for her gun. On her first attempt, only her fingertips touched it. She tried once more and grabbed the weapon. She fired at the woman in the black robe. The bullet went through her head as if it wasn’t even there and hit the wall of the compartment.

  “So you’re definitely a hologram,” Lorcan said and dove at the hand holding the steel box.

  The woman glared at him with bloodshot, witchy eyes.

  Lorcan jerked his hand back as soon as it touched her.

  “You’re real!” he gasped.

  The woman in black held the box tightly. Lorcan tugged at it again and pushed her backward with his other hand. She gripped the box even tighter, grabbing his neck with her free hand to choke him.

  The woman had to be some kind of supernatural being to have the strength to choke him with one hand, holding him up with his legs dangling.

  Lorcan couldn’t free himself. He slammed the hand holding the box again and again to the wall as hard as he could. When she finally dropped him to the floor, he kicked her legs out from under her.

  They both fell to the ground, but she wouldn’t let go of the box.

  Liv scrambled up. “Get away from the box!” she shouted.

  Lorcan let go and kicked his feet against the wall to slide himself backward on the floor.

  Liv fired at the lock on the box three times. It sprung open, revealing a round artifact inside with three interlocking colored stones.

  The woman in the black robe hissed and backed away from the artifact as if afraid to touch it.

  Then the submarine shuddered and exploded.

  Chapter 3

  Cool. Calm. Serene. Those were the best words Lorcan could come up with to describe what he was experiencing. The best thing he could do to prolong this pleasure was to keep his eyes closed and enjoy.

  When he finally opened his eyes, he sighed. Orla had been right. They’d known each other since they were kids, and she’d sworn she had never seen him totally relaxed. What she didn’t know was that he was only tense when it came to her safety. Lorcan promised himself he would finish this job early and then take Orla on a long vacation to a remote island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where they would lie in the sun all day and watch fish swimming lazily in a fish tank. Why they had to be in a fish tank, he really had no idea. He blinked and bolted upright.

  He was lying on a lab bench in a room with a glass ceiling belonging to an immense fish tank. There was no way this was a hallucination. Fish swam above him and outside the glass walls surrounding him on
both sides.

  Am I dead? Is this a submarine version of heaven?

  But Lorcan was sure if he had died, he wouldn’t go to heaven. So he ruled that idea out.

  Strands of seaweed floated above him, and fish swam to and fro in the water above and to the sides of him. When a curious little rainbow of striped fish swam close to his face, one of them wrinkled its nose and winked at him.

  “Oi!” Lorcan shouted and backed away from the fish. It looked at him, seemingly amused. Then it turned around, wiggled its tail, and swam away.

  Lorcan turned his head toward the bed. He felt dizzy. His knees buckled again, and he fell, grabbing the edge of the bed. He found himself lifted by supporting hands. Someone helped him onto the bed. He turned around and drew in a sharp breath when he saw the most beautiful face.

  “I’m Faye, your nurse. Take it easy. I want you to lie back down. You’ve been in an explosion.”

  “Explosion? Oh yes, that’s right. I must have a concussion…”

  Faye stuck a needle into his arm. He frowned. There were no beeping machines, no drip line, and none of the medical tubes and equipment usually attached to an IV needle.

  “Yes, you had a severe concussion.”

  His vision started to blur. “I was hallucinating. I thought I saw a fish winking at me…”

  Faye chuckled. “That wasn’t a hallucination. You saw Daisy, and she’s a naughty little fish. I told her not to disturb our patients. But she did wink at you.”

  “A talking fish? Where am I?”

  He grabbed his left side and felt a lingering pain. He tried to jump off the bed he was lying on, but his knees wouldn’t hold his weight, and he landed face down on a sandy floor.

  Faye helped him up and gave him a disapproving look. “You’re in no shape to move around like that.”

  He looked around again and saw that where the walls weren’t glass but rock with bits of embedded shell and coral. Outside the walls, schools of fish swam by at leisure. He glanced at what looked like a door and thought if he dared to push it open, he would walk right into a giant fish tank.