by E. M. Moore
“N-no. I just— We—” Ugh, I groaned inwardly. My tongue felt thick in my mouth. “We’re Enforcers. We—”
“Jesus, Liam. Shut the hell up.” This from Travis.
“Why? It’s not like it’s a state secret. She’s already a witch.”
“How do we know?”
Norah placed the mug on the coffee table in front of her. She leaned over it, her gaze intense as she peered down at the milky brown liquid. From my vantage point, the first few bubbles rose up, sending the smell of sweet chocolate through the living room. She was boiling her cocoa. Neat.
Travis rolled his eyes. “Neat parlor trick.”
Norah stood, her hands fisting. She shot one hand out and the mug with the cocoa in it went flying. It stopped right in front of Travis’s nose, the liquid sloshing over the side and down onto his shoes.
“Shit!” He hopped on one leg, his fingers tearing at the shoelaces as he tried to get his shoes off him. “That’s fucking hot!”
Gabe sat back, chuckling. Even I couldn’t help the smile that passed over my lips. He’d kind of deserved it. He would’ve been pissed if anyone had questioned his powers.
“Sorry,” she said sweetly. “I didn’t realize it was that full.”
“Anyway,” I said, trying to get her attention back so the situation with Travis didn’t escalate. “We’re Enforcers. We hunt down bad magic users and punish them.”
Norah’s eyebrows shot up her forehead. “Like witch police? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Yes, exactly like witch police. We’re a coven of five who—”
Her eyebrows pulled together. “But there are only four of you.”
Travis’s shoulders bunched. He flung his hot, wet shoe at the front door and it rolled to a stop next to Gabe’s cleats. Norah glanced at him, but didn’t say anything. Anger rolled off him in waves. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something. Instead, he walked right past us all and took a left toward his bedroom, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
We’d decided we wouldn’t bring it up in front of him again. Too many painful memories, but what were we supposed to say when someone directly asked?
“Right,” Gabe said finally, his eyes still watching the empty space in the hall where Travis had disappeared. “There’s only four of us. We need a fifth to be a complete coven.”
Norah didn’t push it. “One for each point in the pentagram, right? Yeah, I’ve heard of it.”
Gabe leaned into her. He was so close to Norah his forearm brushed hers and I wondered if he felt the same electricity I had with her. Evidently Randy had felt something for her. Even now, next to her on the sofa, he eyed her like he had at the bar though he was as far away from her as possible on the cushion.
The whole thing made me want to scratch my head.
“This pull,” Norah started, “You guys all seemed interested when I said that. Do you get the pull with each other?”
“Not with each other,” Gabe hedged. “We get this like tug in our stomachs when something bad is happening. It’s the akasha alerting us there’s a negative spell user in the area and we have to go do something about it.”
Norah tensed, her eyes darting around the room. “So, why would I get that feeling and be brought here?” She stood from the couch and backed up around Randy’s outstretched feet until her heel hit the far wall near the TV.
I stood, afraid she’d suddenly had the wrong idea about us. “We’re not bad,” I told her.
“Isn’t that something a bad person would say?”
Couldn’t argue with that logic. “Search your magic. What does your gut tell you?”
She eyed me curiously, then visibly relaxed and took a deep breath. “Sorry,” she said sheepishly. “This is all just a lot to take in.” Her hands wound around her middle. “I should probably head back.”
Back? What? No. Fear constricted my throat. “Not to New Orleans?”
Her head snapped up at me as she dodged the furniture in the living room. “No, I’m staying—.” She cut herself off, her doe eyes wary. “I’ve got a place in town I’m staying at for now.”
Quick, light footsteps carried her toward the door. Randy rose to his feet, his jeans still wide open. I looked away as he followed her. I’d never been jealous of Randy’s conquests before, but wow, Norah was exceptionally beautiful. When she was scared, I wanted to soothe her. When she was being feisty, I had to bite my lip not to laugh and clap. And if I wanted to be completely honest with myself, there was something there. A feeling of being fulfilled when she was around that I hadn’t noticed since Jax was stripped.
What if Norah was the fifth? It was unprecedented to say the least. We would be trespassing upon new territory if it was true. There was always a special bond between coven mates, and not to sound like the chauvinist she accused us all of being, but what would that bond turn into with a woman like Norah thrown in the mix? Randy had already staked his claim, and Gabe was right there too. I didn’t have to look up to know he’d watched her walk away just as he did when she left the bar with Randy earlier, remarking on the nice shape of her ass.
Travis, he could act as immune as he wanted. He’d had to choose between the Order and a girl recently and it hadn’t put him in a very good space mentally. We all needed to get our shit together, and fast, because there was clearly still one small problem. Without the fifth, we were less powerful. With every passing day, any evil that rose up could be a threat if we weren’t strong enough to stop it. We owed it to ourselves, and to everyone out there, to at least see if Norah was the fifth. And if she wasn’t, I wished the hell whoever was would get here as soon as possible. You never knew what could happen in Salem.
The door shut and Randy walked back in. He ran his hands through his hair and leaned against the wall right at the entryway to the living room. “I have no idea what the fuck happened.”
I blinked at him. He tried to pass it off as a joke and Gabe laughed accordingly like Randy was just a lovesick pup who Norah had put a love spell on, but there was something else up. A tinge of fear had entered Randy’s eyes.
Chapter Five
Raging headache.
I lay in the shitty motel bed with my hands over my eyes wishing the thundering pain in my head away. It could’ve been from my use of magic yesterday, or it could’ve been from the tongue lashing I gave myself while sleep eluded me last night. How had I let things get that far with Randy? I’d actually thought about sleeping with him. Not only that, I wanted to sleep with him. God, I wanted to sleep with him. Even now as I lay here with my forehead on fire and an internal masochistic drumming in my head, I was thinking about him, about my premonition, and about the way I felt when I was around all the guys. Sure, maybe I wouldn’t be having sexy as fuck premonitions about all of them, but despite my guard always being up, they seemed like nice guys.
That’s why I’d run away. I’d gotten too comfortable. They sat there talking about them being Enforcers and the same tug in their stomach that led me here led them to evil magic? So, if I was a wannabe Enforcer, their fifth, why did the tug first bring me to them?
Something wasn’t jiving.
I shook my head. The headache was most definitely from overthinking. I had hot guy problems, and body issues.
I rolled out of bed, ignoring the same pull in my stomach that led literally two blocks away, and shuffled to the shower. Sometimes a douse of cool water made everything feel better. Stripping off the clothes from last night, I hopped in. Though the motel I stayed in was a far cry from a no-tell motel, it wasn’t the Hilton either. Some of the off-pink tile in the shower was cracked and chipped, belaying its age. The room all together had the telltale smell of must. Plus, it was fucking cold in Massachusetts. Sure, it was Spring and getting warmer, but I preferred my New Orleans temps. I involuntarily shivered and turned the shower knob toward the red stickers.
After I finished, I stepped out, dried off, and dug through the small bag I’d brought with me. I hadn�
��t intended on being wherever I ended up this long. I was hoping to find whatever was pulling me, deal with it, and be back in New Orleans within forty-eight hours or so. Unfortunately, I was going on four days, and the problem wasn’t a something it was someones. Like I needed any more people in my life.
That was a lie. After Granny died, I didn’t have anyone in my life, but when you grew up different, you kind of just got used to that being a normal thing.
Deciding on the shirt I traveled here with and the same jeans I wore yesterday, I threw my hair up and pulled the motel door open. Not looking where I was going, the small, “Hey, Norah,” made me jump and hold my hand to my chest.
I even let out a short squeak. “Son of a—” I turned, my heart in my throat. “Liam? What the fuck are you doing here?”
His already pink cheeks turned a ruddy red and my heart instantly went out to him. I needed to tread more carefully around him. He was a gentle soul, obviously not used to someone like me who said whatever came into her head at any given moment. He kicked his feet at a particularly interesting crack in the sidewalk right outside my door.
I looked past him, checking up and down the street. Had he followed me last night? I couldn’t have been too far off my game. The point of having the upper hand was when you actually had the upper hand. I didn’t want the guys to know where I was staying. That meant something like this could happen. “Liam…” I said, trying to contain my bitch voice. “How did you know I was staying here?”
He looked up. His deep brown eyes were like craters behind his glasses. “Don’t get mad.”
Don’t get mad? Ha. I wanted to laugh because to preface something like that was just ensuring the fact that I was going to get mad. I took a deep breath and looked at him expectedly.
“I put a tracking spell on you last night before you left.”
My mouth dropped.
“It’s kind of my specialty.”
His head tweaked to the side and his mouth tipped up. It was evident he was proud of that fact, but a burning anger roared in my chest. “And you want a medal for that? For tracking me down when I didn’t want to be found? Damn, Liam.”
His hands came up, and he stepped back as I slammed the motel room door behind me. Something on the inside fell to the floor with a thump and I just stood there with my eyes closed, trying to take deep breaths, and wondering what the next thing was that was going to go wrong.
“I didn’t mean to.”
“You didn’t mean to put a tracking spell on me?”
“No. Well, yeah, I did. How else was I going to find you?”
“I didn’t want to be found. That’s kind of the reason why I’m mad, Liam.”
“Which was why I had to put the tracking spell on you. I just didn’t mean for you to get upset about it, or scare you.”
I held my hand up. “Stop right there. I’m not scared.” I hoped he didn’t see the bit of a lie that was. Though Liam was the least physically threatening out of all of them, I still didn’t want him to know where I stayed. I was going to have to find some place else now. What the hell was I saying? It was time I left. I found the location of the pull. I knew why I was getting the pull. Enforcers. Coven. Male-dominated. Yeah, not really my style.
“Okay, you’re not scared,” he said. “That’s good. I don’t want you to be scared. It would be normal if you were though. It was a lot to take in yesterday and Travis was an ass, and you and Randy… Well, I don’t know what you and Randy did. He seems pretty confused himself about that part.”
A wave of embarrassment hit me right in the face. I pushed past Liam to start my walk down to the local cafe I’d taken to eating breakfast at. Liam’s quick footsteps were just behind me.
“You don’t have to kiss and tell. I mean, please don’t kiss and tell. I don’t even know why I said that. I actually don’t want to know. Where are you going anyways?”
I rolled my eyes and looked straight ahead. The brisk air made me shiver, and I wrapped my arms around myself. He seemed awfully interested in what Randy and I did—or didn’t—do as was the case in this scenario. “I’m going to breakfast. Aren’t you supposed to be at school? You have morning classes.”
He paused for a moment and I could almost hear the inner workings of his mind wondering how I knew he had morning classes. “It’s Saturday. I don’t have classes on Saturday.”
And…now I just sounded like a lunatic. I got laser focus on the sidewalk in front of me and started walking quicker when the diner came into view.
“You going here?” Liam asked, his steps matching mine now. “This is a good place. I’ll join you.”
I stopped dead in my tracks. Liam didn’t notice and kept walking, his eyes now on the little sign announcing that we were next to a cafe. He turned to say something and slowly stopped, turning around to stare at me in confusion. I took the moment to really look at Liam. He was slim, but maybe that was only in comparison to Randy. His hair was dark and closely cropped with glasses that seemed to match his face more than not having glasses on would. I couldn’t tell for sure, but if I had to guess, I’d say Liam would look weird without the small frames on his face. He just wouldn’t be him. He had on a zippered hoodie with the Salem State interconnected letters on his right breast paired with a pair of dark wash jeans. My initial assessment of him being adorable was confirmed. I’d normally tell someone who just decided they were going to have breakfast with me to take a hike, but this was different. Maybe Liam could give me some answers before I decided to go home. It wouldn’t be a total loss and eating by myself sucked.
Instead of telling him to leave me alone, I sighed and stepped forward. He looked at my arms surrounding my body and his eyebrows quirked up. “You cold?” He immediately took his hoodie off and put it around my shoulders. “I bet you’re not used to the weather around here.”
Thankful, I shrugged into the warm hoodie and breathed in deep. I recognized his scent from yesterday, but I couldn’t quite place it. It was fresh, and airy, but that was all I had to go on. “Thank you. I didn’t bring appropriate clothes for the North. I had no idea where the feeling was going to take me.”
He smiled, and the glasses slipped down his nose slightly. “Salem isn’t all that bad. It’s beautiful in the summer.”
“I doubt I’ll get to see it. I’m itching to get home as it is,” I told him truthfully.
His eyebrows pulled together as I walked past him and made my way to the door of the cafe. Bells rang when we walked in and Liam immediately grabbed the door to hold it open for me. I hung a right and took a booth alongside the windows that looked out onto the sidewalk. I could see the edge of the guys’ apartment from this vantage point which is where I’d learned some of their routines. At this time of day, they’d all be at class and Randy would be off at the gym. Then again, as Liam helpfully pointed out, it was Saturday and who knew what they were doing.
A waitress I hadn’t seen before walked up to greet us. She had on a Salem State shirt and barely looked up until she noticed Liam sitting there. “Oh hey,” she said. “It’s you. You know who I haven’t seen lately? The friend of yours with the…” She held her arms out like a muscle builder and clenched her fists. “Randy!” she said finally.
Liam’s cheeks reddened. It was obvious the girl didn’t even know his name, or care. A fire started in my belly while Liam pushed his glasses up his nose. “Oh, you know. He’s busy.” He gave the girl a polite smile.
The girl giggled, but it had nothing to do with Liam at all. Being a woman myself, I could tell she only wanted more information about Randy and it was pissing me off. Liam was getting all embarrassed over nothing. “Maybe you could tell him—”
“Maybe you could get us some menus,” I said, interrupting her blatant attempt at trying to get with Liam’s friend. “I’d love to eat sometime today.”
I gave her a big smile when she turned my way. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but hell, I didn’t care. I hated the fact she was using Liam to get to Randy, w
hich was why Randy thanked me for being so nice to him yesterday.
The girl turned and grabbed some menus off the counter and placed them in front of us. “I’ll give you guys a minute then.”
She retreated back around the counter. I watched as she walked, shoulders slumped over, and then stood by the coffee machine staring out the front windows. When I turned back to Liam, his eyebrows were halfway up his forehead. My lips immediately curved into a smile, and eventually, his did too. The fuller his smile got, the more relaxed I became and weirdly, my headache dissipated too. That feeling of belonging was ripe in my belly so when I looked away to read the menu, it wasn’t as if I was having breakfast with someone I just met, it was like having breakfast with an old friend, just getting together to catch up.
“So, Liam,” I ventured. We’d just ordered and since I’d snapped at her, the waitress had been pretty accommodating, even bringing over our drinks immediately. I took a big sip of my coffee. “Can you tell me more about your coven?”
Liam looked around and leaned in. I understood the feeling. Us magic users were outsiders already. Lots of times we didn’t want to be seen as more unusual than we already were. Finally, he looked down at the table between us and picked up a napkin. “Yeah, of course. It’s not really a secret in the magic world or anything. At least in ours. We’re members of the Order of the Akasha. It’s an order put together whose members believe in the act of harming no one above anything else. We’re also called Enforcers because we make sure that magic isn’t used for negative spells or by evil people.”
“How do you know it’s bad?”
“The feelings we get,” he said, inching ever so much closer. “No one knows why people are chosen for The Order and how they get chosen. It’s a magic thing,” he said, shrugging. “Gabe got pulled to us all the way from London.”
Well, that explains that, I said to myself.
“There are orders in the UK, too, but he was drawn here. Again, no one knows.”
“So weird,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve never heard of it.”