Spellbound (Immortal Love Series Book 3)

by Anna Santos

  “That would be the day,” Jessica growled, placing her hands on her hips. “I’m not playing, Sebastien. And I’m not a little kid who broke a window and ran away. Marcus and I will have a serious conversation when I’m done with my plan.”

  “Don’t you miss him?” Sebastien asked in a low tone that made her stare at him. He was serious, matching her own serious face.

  “I do. But there are things that I need to do that he wouldn’t let me do. I can’t explain it, Sebastien. But I need to do this and he would try to stop me. I don’t want to be stopped. Even if my heart is hurting, even if sometimes I feel like I’m going to burst into flames, any moment now, and scream until I run out of air and voice. I need to do this.”

  His hand rested on her shoulder as he looked at her with sympathetic eyes. “I’ll keep you safe, Jessie. I’ll help you. I like you a lot and I want you to go back to your king and have a happy life. I love you as if you were my sister.”

  “Thank you, Sebastien,” she said, emotional. His words had brought some tears to her eyes and she hugged him. “You are the sweetest guy and I would love to have a brother like you!”

  “I would love to have a mate like you,” he whispered.

  She let him go and slapped his shoulder with teary eyes. “Shut up! Your mate will come when she is supposed to and she will be how she needs to be. Okay? So stop saying nonsense and let’s just watch the video. I haven’t seen it yet. I have no idea if everything was fully recorded and if it’s useful,” she declared, wiping her eyes and taking a deep breath.

  “I’ll order food, while you two are chatting,” Dulce said, taking a hold of the menu that was on the table.

  “Best idea ever! I’m starving and I don’t feel like cooking,” Jessica told her while walking with her brother to the room where the camera and the recording material were stored.

  Chapter Four—ALPHA DEREK

  KEVIN

  Kevin entered the glass-walled office of his former boss’ headquarters. Alpha Derek eased himself into the comfy office chair behind his nearly empty desk and motioned for Kevin to sit down across from him in the other leather chair.

  “I’m afraid that you have wasted your time coming here. I have no news about Jessica and she didn’t ask for my help,” the Alpha said, scrubbing down his face and breathing harshly.

  Kevin sat down and watched Derek’s tired face with dark bags under his eyes. “What’s going on? You look like shit!”

  “Since your sister and her team quit on me, we are having a bit of trouble controlling some of the most violent factions. However, this week has been more stressful than ever. We are receiving news of riots in several big cities. My men are tired, I’m tired.”

  “You should go home and rest. See your beautiful daughter and just come back here tomorrow.”

  “I brought Amy to live on the compound. I was worried about her safety out in the community. Rogues have been targeting hybrids more than before. I’m looking for a new place to live. With a forest nearby if possible. It’s no longer safe to live close to the city with so many new packs trying to enlarge their territories, and rogues preying on smaller packs.”

  “My grandpa’s little kingdom is a great place to live. There’s plenty of space and the community is friendly. ”Alpha Derek clasped his hands over his desk. “I’m looking to buy a farm or a ranch, but if he has land to sell…”

  “I don’t know about land, but there are plenty of houses available to rent in town.”

  “Werewolves live in communities. The pack wouldn’t be happy living away from a safe place to shift and hunt.”

  “Well, the outskirt of Chicago isn’t exactly safe.”

  “There’s plenty of places with savannas, flatwoods, and forest to keep us happy. The attacks against hybrids are becoming insufferable, and the community is growing restless and mistrusting. There’s an increase of packs being attacked. We are already swamped with the duty of protecting the humans against the supernatural threat, we can’t afford a war with our own kind.”

  Kevin arched an eyebrow. “Why not? What are you afraid of?”

  Alpha Derek reclined back in his chair before he explained, “For starters, they attack families, they don’t spare the children or the women. They exterminate entire packs because they want their territory. I spend most of my time here so I can’t be there to protect the pack. The majority of the males are here with me, so you see my problem. Our families are left unprotected.”

  “Why haven’t you reached out for help? I could have come.”

  He shrugged. “You have your own problems to deal with.”

  “Not really, it’s been quite boring. My sister is in love and doesn’t seem to be capable of letting go of her alpha mutt, no offense.”

  “None was taken,” Derek said, smirking at Kevin’s scowl. “I know that you, cats, are just jealous of our amazing strength and witty personality.”

  “Yes, sure we are.” Kevin rolled his eyes. “They seem to get along fine, though. So I’m happy if she’s happy.” Kevin explained before resuming his need to vent. “And then there’s the fact that Jessica is my grandmother and she keeps my grandfather extremely busy, as you can attest to that, due to my visit since I came here to try to find her.”

  The alpha smirked widely. “Yes. That must have been interesting since you had a huge crush on her.”

  “Well, she’s freaking hot and you can’t talk much, she had you wrapped around her little finger. That’s why I need to ask you again, are you sure she didn’t ask you for help?”

  “I’m pretty sure, Kevin, I haven’t talked to Jessica since she went to Italy.”

  His shoulders slumped as he breathed out loudly. “Well, that sucks! I would call Jason to come and help us but he’s too busy chasing my cousin Sasha around London.”

  “Is he still dating the vampire princess?”

  “Yes, though they break up a lot and then they get back together. It’s a love-hate kind of thing.”

  “I don’t get that. I really don’t have a lot of time to understand how relationships work since I have my daughter and my work to take care.”

  “Any news about Amy’s mother?” Kevin questioned, sitting straight. Amy was Derek’s daughter.

  Derek’s face grew sadder. “Since she ran away with that biker fellow, the only time she calls is to ask for more money. She doesn’t want to know about Amy. I have filed the papers for divorce. I should have done that two years ago but I thought she would come to her senses or, at least, come back to see her daughter.”

  “She was never happy with her life. A human among us…it’s always bad news.”

  Derek shrugged and stretched his arms. “I’m tired and hungry. I need to see my daughter and I’m afraid that you wasted your time coming here.”

  “I didn’t waste it. I still need the locations of the hideouts from New Haven, Boston, and New York. Plus, I know that all the safe houses are connected, so once a code is inserted you will get notified. I need to know if Jessica has activated any of the safe houses using her code.”

  “Winona can take care of that for you. You just need to go to the terminal and tell her that I gave you the authorization to access that information.”

  Kevin narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. “Where’s Liam?”

  “He had a family emergency this morning and had to leave…” Derek pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. “Yes, now that you’ve asked…it was rather strange. He doesn’t normally leave like that, and he has been complaining about the lack of field work. In my defense, he is a lot more useful here with his computer, helping our field agents, than out in the field himself.”

  “The only thing that Liam loves more than men is Jessica. I’m sure that his family emergency was Jessica. So we are literally screwed if she has him with her. He will have erased her tracks by now, and he will know if someone tries to access her information from here.”

  Derek gripped his fingers over the edge of his desk with contemplating eyes. His th
ick eyebrows drew together into one as his lips straightened in a thin line. “What is Jessica planning to do that requires Liam’s help?”

  “Alaric has put a bounty on her head, I’m pretty sure she is going to use that to try and find Alaric’s hideout.”

  Derek got up from his chair as if he had all the time in the world, but Kevin knew better. His hands pressing on the desk to push his body up were an indication that he was tense.

  “I’ll call Liam. Meanwhile, talk to Winona and see if Liam was careless. I’ll assemble a team to go with you as soon as you know something about Jessica’s location. She’ll need our help and I’m sure that she isn’t foolish enough to go on her own.”

  “Grandfather believes that Anna will help her.”

  “Have you talked to your sister?”

  “Not since this morning.”

  “Ask Winona to pull Anna’s cell phone location. Her movements may tell us where Jessica is.”

  “She’s smarter than that. She won’t leave a trail for us to follow.”

  “Did your grandfather do anything for Jessie to run away from him?” Derek asked after carefully thinking through all the situation for a few seconds.

  “Not intentionally. She might have lost her recent memories. It’s complicated. But grandfather loves her, he would never hurt her.”

  “I’m going to help and, after this mess is over, we will need to talk about your role on this strike team. I need men like you, Kevin. I may need a replacement to lead the agents in Chicago if I decide to move to another place.”

  “I’m always up for a new challenge. Plus, I have new Intel about my tattoo and the database here might be what I need to find more information about where the witch’s relatives may live now.”

  “Let’s go,” Derek said, striding his way to the exit. “You can tell me all about that on our way to the computer lab.”

  “Aren’t you calling it ‘The Bridge’ like Liam wanted to?” Kevin asked while following the Alpha.

  “That’s not going to happen. They kept saying: ‘Captain on the bridge’, every time I entered there.”

  Kevin laughed. “I hope you know why they said that.”

  Derek’s lips twisted up in a bored grimace. “I’m not that stupid, I have seen the Star Trek movies plenty of times. I just didn’t want to indulge them in their nerdy behaviors. If I don’t control them, they will soon be calling their computers my precious and talking Klingon or Elvish among themselves!”

  Kevin’s laughter was heard along the corridor for a few seconds before Derek shove him against the wall to shut him up.

  * * *

  JESSICA

  The next day went painfully slow. Jessica kept staring at her phone, waiting for Mara to call back. Meanwhile, her friends were trying to entertain themselves. She also managed to show Sebastien the footage she had recorded of the demented plan Valentina had in store for her mate and Alaric.

  Jessica spent her day trying to watch movies and eating pizza while pushing away the fact that she was failing to attend her own wedding and was running away from her soul-mate. Other than that, she was focused. She needed to be if she wanted to go back to Marcus.

  “I still can’t believe it.” Sebastien broke the silence, tapping his fingers on the leather couch.

  “What?” Jessica looked at him, eager to find something else to think about other than Marcus and how much she missed him.

  “Her plans and her confession.”

  “Oh, that.” Jessica shrugged as she looked at Giovanna. “Did Myra call?”

  “Not in the last two minutes.”

  Arching an eyebrow, Sebastien asked, “What will we do if she doesn’t call?”

  “Eat more pizza,” Jessica stated as she opened her mouth to bite a slice.

  The Alpha rolled his eyes and got up, walking to the window on the opposite side of the room. “I’m bored.”

  “We can see that,” Dulce said, reclining in her seat. “Have you talked to Kevin?”

  “You didn’t tell Kevin where I was, did you?” Jessica asked, frowning at Sebastien who had his back to her and his arm stretched against the window pane.

  “He called. He’s in Chicago looking for you and I lied about where I was.”

  Before Jessica could say anything else, the doorbell rang, startling everybody.

  Jessica knew it was Anna, so she went flying downstairs to get her, not even bothering to look at the screen. But when she arrived outside, she growled when she saw Shane behind Anna’s back. Against Jessica’s request, her best friend had brought her soul-mate with her.

  Crossing her arms, the witch muttered, “I don’t recall sending an invitation with a plus one.”

  “You should know by now that where I go, he goes,” Anna said with a cheeky smile.

  Jessica gritted her teeth. “This was supposed to be an all-girls team! So much for my awesome plan.”

  “Chill,” Anna said as she grabbed the door to enter. “No one followed us, no one knows where we are, and Shane isn’t going to tell anyone.”

  Stepping back to let them in, Jessica mumbled, “You had better be right if you want me to keep being your best friend.”

  “We will need his help,” she spoke softly.

  Jessica sighed slowly and then nodded in agreement, only to complain again, “Yet, he’s Marcus number one. What makes you so sure?”

  “I brought gifts,” Shane spoke, showing her a bucket of ice-cream that he had concealed behind his back.

  The sight of the ice-cream wiped off the worried expression on Jessica’s face. She jumped with happiness and grabbed it. Then she walked past Anna and said, “Smart move.” She climbed up the stairs and then added, “You two can stay. I’ll grab some spoons.”

  “You’re welcome,” Anna yelled at her.

  “Whatever!” she screamed back. “Make yourselves at home. Grab a seat and eat some pizza,” she added.

  Now that her elite crew was all reunited, all she needed to do was wait for Myra to see the message and call her so the plan could be set in motion.

  Chapter Five—INSIDE HIS DREAMS

  MARCUS

  The wind was making the delicate lace curtains softly dance under the moonlight. It was all quiet and still outside as Marcus preferred when he had this dream. He was in his old bedroom, the one used when he married Isobel. At the present time, it was different from what it had been. However, he would often find himself there when he wanted to remember his dear wife and their magical first night.

  In his dreams, Isobel would normally be there, waiting for him when he entered. She would jump into his arms and kiss him until he couldn’t breathe and his heart would beat so fast inside his chest that he would get dizzy with desire and love. It had been days since he returned to that place inside his dreams. Ever since Jessica appeared, he no longer needed to dream about his old memories. However, he was desperate and needed to see and talk to his soul-mate. Since she was not letting her guard down so he could use their telepathic link. She was so stubborn and reckless! She would give him a heart attack someday.

  He hoped to find her there or enter her dreams and talk to her. They dreamed the same things. They shared a bond even before they had found each other, again. He was convinced that his dreams with Isobel, in that place for those previous years, were Jessica and he met and shared that memory together. But, she was not there to greet him that night. All was quiet and still as if Isobel’s ghost was gone from his night and day dreams. As if Jessica was denying his calling and ignoring all they had lived through and shared together.

  Why couldn’t he dream with her anymore? He wanted to see and feel her. Hold her close. He was hoping she would come there to their special place, so they could talk. They shared a special bond, they made a lot of promises. He wanted her back. He needed Jessica back. He didn’t care if she would come as Isobel or as Jessica. He loved them the same way. Regardless of what Jessie thought, there was no doubt in his mind that she was his love, that she had been Isobel, and
that his love for her was real. He loved her even more now. He worshiped the ground she walked on. So why wouldn’t she sleep and come to him? He was calling for her, helplessly, trying to guide her there.

  Sighing, the king laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Maybe she wasn't sleeping, or she was simply ignoring him. She could have better memories to dream of. Yet, in her diary, that part of their previous life was the one that she dreamed of the most. Maybe it was just a long shot and Jessica wouldn't show up in that bedroom.

  As his lonely thoughts consumed his mind, he heard the sound of footsteps, then, the sound of a door closing. He got up and sped his way to the door that he opened. Outside there was nothing more than endless dark passageways and no signs of his beloved.

  His imagination was playing tricks on him.

  Leaning back against the door, he closed his eyes in grief, aware that he was useless in summoning his mate. A new noise was heard, he opened his eyes and scoured the corridor, noticing the paintings curling and distorting as if they were formable and immaterial.

  That corridor was the exact replica of the second floor of his palace. It led to his library. The perpetual dimness around him, reminded him of his own memories when he haunted the palace and imagined that Isobel was alive and waiting for him to go to her. It was always night when they met. He opened endless doors, searching for her. He followed her laughter and chased her ghost along the labyrinth-like palace that would gain extra corridors and endless staircases.

  The sound of books falling and pages being turned caught his attention and stole him from his reverie.

  Someone was in the library.

  He headed there, but the hallway kept stretching and the library door seemed more unattainable with every step. He persevered and reached out for the doorknob. There was none. Splaying his hands against the cold wood, he tried to push it open. A cold sensation rippled down his back as if something evil was coming for him. He felt the air leave his lungs and the hitch in his breathing as if he were suffocating. Black fog swirled around his legs and he stepped back and looked around. There was something different about that dream.