The Cat's Meow

by Stacey Kennedy

  She nodded firmly. “They’re not all bad, Libby.”

  I rubbed my eyes and knew she was right, and I hated that trait in her. Couldn’t she have been one of those witches who was oblivious to everything? “You have Jace, and that’s why you think that.”

  “I do, and he’s wonderful, but it took two years for you to even acknowledge him.” My lips parted and she added in haste, “Another year to actually have a civilized conversation with him.”

  “That’s not true.” Her head tilted, her look became pointed, and I groaned. “Maybe a little true.”

  “Exactly.” She slapped my thigh again and the hit stung up my leg. “All I’m saying is, don’t shut something out that could be great because you have this hard head about warlocks. Listen to his explanation and hear him out, okay?”

  I nodded, totally not convinced, but didn’t want to talk about it. Sure, I had to think some, I just didn’t want to do it right now.

  “So…” She examined me again with her probing stare, which I now hated. “I guess it makes sense with the cats. It explains why the magic wasn’t dark and also explains why it happened.”

  It now made a whole lot of sense, even if I had a hard time believing this was actually true. “Now that I look back, it’s almost funny, but the Goddess warned me early on. I should’ve suspected something like this.”

  Her eyebrows lifted. “She did?”

  “The very first spell I cast with Kale…” The one that seemed to have happened a lifetime ago now. “The Goddess indicated there was a reason the cat’s death could be dangerous.” I shook my head, amused by the Goddess, but too exhausted to find the strength to laugh. “It was dangerous, for me. The Goddess warned me of Kale’s intentions and warned me the case could lead to exactly what unfolded tonight.”

  I lowered my head into my hands and wanted to fade away from existence. To ignore what happened and ignore what might happen in the future. After a long moment, Peyton whispered, “You’re going to be all right.”

  “I know,” I said into my hands. My being all right wasn’t the problem—I’d never felt as strong as I did now, and trusted in the Goddess more than this moment, but my emotions were in grave danger.

  “What are you going to do?” Peyton pressed.

  What could I do?

  What did I want to do?

  Those were two very different things, and I wondered how much choice I had in the matter. I knew my mother would have my back if I refused the Alchemy. In fact, I suspected this news wouldn’t please her in the least; she liked me close, safe.

  No wonder she couldn’t tell me the truth on the phone. She had known Kale was a High Priest and they were testing me, but their authority forced her silence. I could only imagine the fit of rage my mother had had at that order, and it now explained the anger I had heard in her voice.

  There could be ways out of this predicament, I didn’t doubt that, but my hesitation wasn’t about working for the Alchemy. Heck, it was a promotion…a big one! The Goddess was strong within me about the decision and she sent happy tingles through my veins as the thought crossed my mind. She wanted me to use the gifts she granted on a larger scale and clearly I had more to learn.

  The problem?

  Kale.

  His betrayal.

  All the lies.

  I did care for Kale, but to ignore his betrayal went against the very foundation of the morals I set out a long time ago. My father betrayed me before I was even born, Bryon repeated the attack later in my life, and to dive headfirst into an emotional involvement with someone who had outright deceived me was a danger that could break me.

  When I hadn’t answered, Peyton urged, “Libby…”

  I glanced up at the one witch who had never betrayed me and never would, giving her the only answer I could. “Know of any good hexes to turn warlocks into toads?”

  …

  Thoughts of nasty spells to injure a warlock stayed on my mind as Peyton and Jace drove me home. No way in hell would I do the teleportation spell again, and I was too tired to walk. Now at my front door, I waved at them as they drove off and Peyton blew me a kiss.

  Jace had returned to the house and indicated that the coven cleaned up a few more messes related to demon summonings, and the coven was pleased with the Wards for their work tonight, or so he said. As far as they were considered, Charleston was safe once again.

  Not like that made me any safer. The request by the Alchemy remained heavy in my thoughts. Jace flatly told me I was an idiot if I refused—nothing like friends telling you how it is.

  Once Jace’s red Hummer faded into the night, I sighed, and then unlocked my door and strode in. I locked it behind me and rested my head against the hard wood, drawing in a deep breath, exhausted to my very core and in desperate need of a hot bath.

  “Libby.”

  On a gasp, I spun around and my heart hammered a mile a minute as I spotted Kale on my couch. Dammit, now I wish Peyton had taken me seriously and we had researched a spell to turn Kale into something I could squish with my foot.

  I narrowed my eyes. “How’d you get in here?” I dismissed him with a flick of my hand. “Oh right, you’re a High Priest. Normal rules don’t apply to you.”

  His eyes darkened with a fire showing the power in him. “Sit down.” He pointed to the cushion next to him. “That is an order, Libby Jenkins.”

  All right, so I’m tough, but I ain’t stupid. This warlock had a leg up on me that could obliterate me. I ate back my obscenities, because I knew I had no choice but to follow his order. “Fine.” I strode toward the couch, dropped down, and stared at my leg bouncing over my knee. “Say what you have to, and then get out.”

  He scooted closer until I could see his thigh out of the corner of my eye. Not that I needed to see him to know he was there—his strong presence was all around me. Goddess, I wanted to keep up my anger because now that Peyton cut through my rage, the only thing left was a discouragingly broken heart.

  A long horrible pause followed before Kale said softly, “I’m sorry.”

  I jerked my head to him and cleared my face of all emotion, and ignored the pain in his eyes. “All right, you’re sorry. Now you can go.”

  Stealing my breath, Kale dropped to his knees in front of me and placed a finger under my chin, forcing me to look him in the eye. “I told you before, I can’t do that.”

  Locked in his hold, I cursed my rising tears and sucked in a deep breath to fight against the quiver of my lip. “What do you want, Kale?” Even my voice held no strength and I couldn’t even find it in myself to be irritated. “For me to join the Alchemy, would that get you to go?”

  “Of course I want that. Not only do we need you, but it means you’ll be closer to me.” His smile was gentle and tender, his voice equally so. “I didn’t expect this.” He brushed his thumb over my chin. “When I came here to look into you, I didn’t think I’d find you.”

  I gawked at him. “You have a real habit of not making any sense, did you know that?” But I couldn’t help notice that now he gave me straight answers instead of answering me with questions of his own.

  His eyes intensified, warming the coldness in my heart. “My duty to the Alchemy forced my silence. We have no idea who we can trust, none whatsoever.” His eyebrow arched. “Do you understand that?”

  I shrugged, folding my arms even though I understood his point. If they couldn’t trust anyone, if their very core was in danger, silence was their only defense.

  Kale continued, “It wasn’t my intention for you to get dragged into this without all the facts, or to use you for my personal gain.”

  “Good,” I snapped. “Because that is unforgivable.”

  He inclined his head, continuing to brush his thumb over my chin in a slow sweep. “Yes, we planted the cats here to give a reason for my presence. The plan was to watch you work, see the abilities you held, and to confirm what we’ve heard was true.”

  Fair enough. Nothing I hadn’t already heard, but one thi
ng he said remained most important. “Who told you about me?”

  “Glenda told Alistair at the quarterly meeting a month ago about your abilities. Of course, it was a simple conversation where she relayed the status of her coven, but Alistair thought your gifts sounded similar to my mother’s.” His eyes searched mine. “The connection you have to the Goddess is potent, and he suspected that with the right tools, you’d grow further in your powers.”

  While that all made sense, my head still spun in disbelief that this all happened in the first place. I wanted to bounce my leg again, but Kale’s chest pressed against my calf. “So, the deal with the cats was a test for me?”

  “My task was to watch you work and confirm that Glenda didn’t exaggerate.” He smiled and it softened his features. “She hadn’t, and in fact, you proved she actually held back on your skills.”

  I snorted at that, since I had thought my coven was after my ass, so I had exceeded even what I thought I could do.

  “Your level of magic is high, your control is flawless, and the Goddess has gifted you well.” His smile slowly vanished from his face, his jaw clenching. “No one expected the Alchemy troubles to land on your doorstep, nor did we think you’d become as involved as you did.”

  I pressed my still-folded arms against me tighter, staring him down. “Then why was I so involved?”

  He sighed, his chest heaving against my leg. “Because the trouble landed here in Charleston and I couldn’t stop it.” His eyes lightened and his voice rose in awe. “Tonight you blew me away. You’re such a little thing, and you stood nose-to-nose with a Prince of Hell and didn’t even flinch.”

  Why did his approval make me feel so good? Shouldn’t I hate him? Yes, I hated him. “Why wouldn’t you tell me the truth once we knew each other better?” Once you knew something existed between us? “Once you realized I was now involved in this Alchemy problem?”

  “I wanted to.” His eyes were soft and open, and his grip on my chin tightened. “I regret the pain I see it caused you. I’m well aware I’ve hurt you, but I want you to understand the why behind it. It wasn’t to trick you, and it certainly wasn’t because I played games with you. It all stems from not knowing who we could trust.”

  His admission made my chest constrict. But I did my damnedest not to show him, and leaned in with an arch to my brow. “Seriously, Kale, you think I’m one of the bad guys? I had to earn your trust?”

  “You had to prove there was no reason not to trust you.”

  I scoffed. “There’s a difference?”

  “Many witches and warlocks have tapped into a higher magic that devours them, and it takes them down a dark road that forces the Alchemy to destroy them. We needed to see what you’d do with the power. No one, including me, expected the mission tonight to be so dangerous.”

  Fair enough. At least they hadn’t taken me there with the thought that I could die, and they had in fact thought the threat wasn’t grave. Of course they wouldn’t. Up until the moment Bryon showed his plan with the demons, I had full confidence the High Priests would destroy the warlocks. As it seemed, so did they.

  But I still had questions and wasn’t nearly settled. “Hadn’t I earned your trust long before tonight? You should have told me.”

  “I should have, but I couldn’t,” he repeated in frustration. “I took a vow of silence until the other High Priests arrived. It wasn’t only me watching you. You were proving yourself to them as well.” He exhaled a long breath and it fluttered over my face. “I could’ve told you the truth after the other High Priests arrived and you conjured one of the spells, but we had our hands full and almost dying made the time inappropriate.”

  His reasons didn’t make me feel any better, but he didn’t seem to notice since he added, “If this matter with the warlocks hadn’t happened, a situation would’ve been formed for you to tap into your magic.”

  Oh, I didn’t like this, yet I kept my mouth shut as he went on, “Once I confirmed that the abilities you held were true, I’d take you to my mother, and she would give you the book of spells. Then a situation would arise where you’d have to use one of the spells; a test to see if the spells would work for you and what you’d do with the power.”

  He sighed at my scowl. “Yes, I see how much my manipulation angers you, and I understand why it does, but this problem we face is serious. We cannot take chances since some have turned on us. Until the other High Priests arrived, trusted that you weren’t involved, and saw where your heart was, I was bound by that oath.”

  “I did the healing spell,” I countered, unfolding my arms, but kept my hands in my lap and well away from him. “Wasn’t that enough?”

  He shook his head slowly. “It only proved that you could benefit yourself, not what you’d do with the power in the face of danger. You could have killed us all tonight, plus the warlocks, and used the power for yourself.”

  I blew out an annoyed breath. “That’s ridiculous.”

  His eyebrow arched and his free hand came up to my knee, where he squeezed it tight. “Ridiculous you might think, but this is what we now face. Many seek a higher power and once obtained, abuse it.”

  While I did understand his point—the circumstances tonight proved that well enough since Bryon and the others had done exactly that—one thing was so absurd that I couldn’t hold back. “Are you saying tonight you honestly had no clue if I’d destroy you all and seek world domination?”

  He chuckled, rubbing his thumb over my knee, and I fought against noticing how it made my breath catch. “I know where your heart lies, but like I said, it wasn’t only me you needed to convince. No one expected you to bind Baal to you, and you protected us with that power, didn’t use it for personal gain, and I was so proud of you.” He shook his head as if awed. “Beyond angry that you faced down a demon, because I never want to see you in that precarious situation again, but very proud.”

  My heart pitter-pattered at his tenderness, and I could no longer ignore what truly bothered me. It wasn’t the trickery by the Alchemy, it was the deception by Kale. I’d fought against myself with the trust issue, but now everything was explained. I understood more than anyone what duty meant, so how could I hate Kale for this—if the roles were reversed, I would’ve done the same thing.

  If I hadn’t been there, they all would’ve died and proved exactly why they were in search of more witches to join their ranks. Yet, how could they trust me? The magical community turned on them, and until the other High Priests agreed, Kale was in a bind. Though that didn’t stop the bleeding of my heart, or pick up the broken pieces of it he shattered.

  “Okay, I understand. Let me think this over, and I’ll contact the Alchemy tomorrow.” My throat tightened, my chin quivered, and I was well on my way to full-blown tears. “Now go.”

  “I can’t do that,” he murmured.

  He brushed his thumb under my eye as if he encouraged a tear out, and damn the warlock did one escape. He caught it with his thumb and brushed it away, and I blinked in an attempt not to lose it.

  Goodness, when had I become such a sappy witch?

  “Time to go.” I tore myself out of his hold, brushed past him, and once at the front door, I whisked it open. “Get out.”

  Kale stood as if time didn’t exist and approached me with purposeful strides. I should’ve stood my ground, yet with his fixed gaze, I didn’t have a chance in hell. He stopped in front of me. Our bodies didn’t touch, but it didn’t matter. The heat of him encased me and I tilted my head to look into his fierce stare.

  His features were raw and primal, and he shut the front door with a loud bang, staring down at me with a hard look. “No, Libby. I’m not your father. Or Bryon.” Each word was spoken slow and deliberate. “I’m. Not. Leaving. You.”

  Somehow his hand reached my side, and then he slammed—yes slammed—me against the door and our bodies were sandwiched together. I gasped, but Kale’s lips stole the sound as he wrapped his hands around my hips, pressing the full weight of his body against m
ine. His kiss wasn’t an apology, or a way to say, “please, may I kiss you” or “forgive me.” Hot damn, this was a make-you-scream-my-name kiss.

  Before long I moaned, inviting the kiss, and met his mouth with a force of my own. I needed—craved—him to place those kisses on every inch of my body and make me forget all that happened. His tongue was forceful, demanding I submit to him, and his lips pressed firmly against mine as his frustration presented itself through his rough kiss.

  After he punished me with the brutal force of his mouth, Kale tore away to leave me breathless and plastered to the wall. “I’m not leaving. That is nonnegotiable.” He leaned down close to my face, his breath warm against my skin, and his woodsy scent wrapped around me in an incredible spell. “You can come at me with as many excuses as you’d like, but I won’t relent until you give in and do something far more delicious with your mouth than argue.”

  “I…” Hell, I should stop this, right? Even if I understood his reasons, he had lied to me, but I wanted him so badly my knees weakened. I yearned for Kale to wrap his arms around me and never let go, and to make me forget why I had hated warlocks. To replace those bad memories with good ones.

  He’d never outright turned all his lust onto me, and now that he had, it marked me in a way that could never be undone. I wondered if that was why he hadn’t taken things further before and showed this need I witnessed now. Had he wanted this to be real between us? Had it eaten at him as much as me that he couldn’t tell me the truth?

  The answer became glaringly obvious.

  So did my decision on what to do next.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “One chance, Libby,” Kale said again. His voice dropped low and he sizzled with something intoxicating and ravenous. “Answer me.”

  Heat whipped like wildfire within my body and I couldn’t possibly ignore it any longer. Truth was, I had wanted Kale from the moment I set eyes on him, wanted him in the rawest form, but all the lies and secrets hindered it. Now they were out in the open and my mind was clear of hesitations. I understood his reasons, and his determination not to let me reject him comforted me.