Bewitching the Beast

by Tamara Hughes

  Matt raised his head. As soon as he saw her, a broad grin lit his face, and he lifted his hand in a tired wave.

  “You’re almost there! You can do it!” she screamed.

  Joy brightened his flushed face as he ran beneath the finish sign.

  Tess raced over to him. “You rock!”

  He hooked an arm around her shoulders, his breaths coming out in long gasps. “Yeah. That was great.”

  She wrapped her arms around him as his body heat radiated through her jacket. She gripped him tighter, reveling in the moment. God, he smelled good, so clean and fresh. Like Ivory soap and Purell shampoo. Like what?

  Tess’s eyes fluttered open. Her head rested on a firm shoulder, and she gripped a lean waist.

  What the hell? She jerked upright. Ethan lay on Matt’s side of the bed. Matt’s side! He watched her with eyes wide open.

  “What are you doing on my bed?” she shrieked.

  “I want to be close, to protect you. Remember?”

  “Well you sure are close, aren’t you?” She slid to the edge of the mattress as far away as possible.

  “I’m not taking any chances. You stay on your side, and I’ll stay on mine.”

  His side. He didn’t have a side. “Get out.”

  “No.”

  “No? You’re telling me no? This is my apartment and my bed. Get out!”

  “I’m not leaving.”

  She lifted her bare feet to his side and pushed. He barely moved before settling back into place.

  “Are you finished?”

  She pulled her fist back and punched him in the arm.

  “Hey. Knock it off.” He sat up. “Fine. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

  Tess smirked and lay down on the mattress. “Now I’m done.” As Ethan grabbed a blanket from the foot of the bed and parked it on the floor, she curled up on her side and caught sight of the picture on her bedside table. Moonlight glinted off the glass. Reaching out, she touched Matt’s face. His easy smile had always brought a dimple to his cheek.

  She remembered the marathon she’d dreamed about. Matt had been so proud. They’d splurged and celebrated with a fancy seafood dinner. Then had to eat ramen and mac ‘n cheese for the rest of the week.

  They hadn’t had much, but they’d had each other, and that was all that mattered. And now she was alone, alone with a broken heart and a beast by her side.

  Chapter 7

  Tess opened the blinds in the living room, and morning sunlight streamed in through the slats. Still in Matt’s shirt and a pair of shorts, she plopped down on the couch and picked up Gram’s book. She caressed its cover, the worn brown leather smooth beneath her fingertips.

  “I wish you were here, Gram,” she breathed, opening the volume to the first page and her grandmother’s scrawl.

  The line of my Wiccan mothers protects me as I journey on the path of my ancestors. I am one with the earth. Wind, water, and fire are my sisters. Through this book, I vow to do good deeds and follow the Wiccan faith.

  Despite tradition, this book will be passed to my granddaughter, my namesake, Theresa Sofia Edwards. May my daughter forgive me, but I cannot join my foremothers without some sense that I have armed Tess with a defense against the evil she may face.

  May my daughter forgive me? Gram had one daughter—Mom. Why did Gram ask her for forgiveness? Somehow she knew Mom wouldn’t approve of her passing this book on. Mom must have known Gram thought she was a witch.

  They’d had a falling out several years ago. Maybe that was when Mom found out. She could only imagine how that went down. Catholics and witches probably didn’t mix well.

  The floorboards in her room creaked. She glanced up in time to see Ethan walk through the doorway. He looked good in the morning, even with bed hair, rumpled clothes, and a scruffy chin. What was it that made a man so sexy this time of day? She let out a little sigh before mentally kicking herself. She wasn’t ready for a man in her life, and this one had lots of baggage, of the beast variety.

  He studied her for a moment as if assessing her mood, then rubbed away the slight frown on his face with a gloved hand. “Are we cool now?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “You weren’t very happy with me when you woke up last night.”

  True. She’d been mad at him because he wasn’t Matt. Not exactly fair. “Really? I don’t remember.”

  Ethan stared at her with a perplexed look.

  She shrugged. “Coffee?”

  Nodding, he headed for the kitchen.

  Of course, he shouldn’t have climbed into her bed in the first place. “The grounds are on the counter. Feel free to make some.”

  His grumpy scowl lifted her spirits a notch or two. Tess flipped through the book. “When I said I needed to go grocery shopping, I meant it. I’ve got maybe half a bowl of cereal left. It’s in the cupboard to the left of the refrigerator.”

  The hinges on the cabinet squeaked. “Fruity Pebbles?”

  She smiled. “Better. Store brand fruity bits.” The chords of a heavy metal song erupted from the apartment next door. “Dave’s up.”

  Ethan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Any pizza left?”

  “Help yourself.” She waited for him to dig a piece out of the refrigerator before adding, “The microwave is broken.”

  He sniffed the piece in his hand, then took a bite. “You’re quite the hostess.”

  “I try.”

  Finishing off the slice, he walked over to the couch. “Are there real spells in there?”

  “I guess so. If there is such a thing.”

  “If your grandmother left her book to you, she must have believed you could use it to practice magic.”

  “So?”

  He sat down next to her. “Try something, from the book.”

  Tess laughed. “Like what? Pull a rabbit out of thin air? Even if I believed in spells and witchcraft, this stuff isn’t like a hat trick.”

  “How about turning off the music next door? It’s way too early for heavy metal.”

  She flipped through a few more pages, getting a massive paper cut in the process. Crap. She stuck her finger in her mouth for a moment to sooth the ache. “I wouldn’t know which spell to use. This thing is packed full of them. It would take me years to sort it all out.”

  “Does it mention a binding spell?”

  “A binding spell? How do you know . . .? The Idiot’s Guide, right?”

  “Now you’re catching on.”

  “I don’t know why you hold on to that thing. You can’t learn from a Dummy book. I’ve tried, and it didn’t work. Knitting for Dummies. I ended up with the world’s longest sock.”

  Ethan ate his pizza, staring at her in silence.

  Oh hell, why not? Playing around with “spells” could be fun. Tess leafed through the pages until she found the spell, then stood. “I need a black cord of some kind.” Black cord. Black cord. She strode to the coat closet and found a pair of sneakers with black laces. Perfect. She tossed a shoe to Ethan. “I’ll need a shoelace.” Tess grabbed a notepad and pen from the kitchen counter and headed back to the couch.

  Per the instructions Gram gave, she wrote the behavior she wished to change on the notepad. Dave Stewart. No longer listen to your music without headphones. She rolled up the paper.

  Ethan handed her the shoelace. “Now what?”

  She tied the lace around the paper roll and studied the book. Glancing at Ethan, she cleared her throat and held the bundle out in front of her, then read the spell.

  “With this magic knot I’ve tied,

  I bind you from the behavior written inside.

  Although you may not agree,

  Cease this behavior until I set the
knot free.”

  Korn, Dave’s band of choice, jammed on.

  She dropped her hands. “See. It didn’t work. I knew it wouldn’t. There’s no such thing as magic.”

  Ethan peeked over at her grandmother’s book. “Don’t be so quick to judge. From what I’ve read, you need to believe in what you’re saying, envision it happening.”

  “From what you’ve read in a Dummy book.”

  “It’s an Idiot’s Guide, thank you very much. It also mentioned that the spells might be stronger if you use your own words.”

  She heaved a sigh. “This isn’t going to work.”

  “Believe you can do it.”

  Raising her hands again, she thought about what Dave’s apartment looked like.

  “Hey, guy next door.

  Get up and cross the floor.

  Use earphones when you listen to your tunes.

  Until such time I . . . untie this knot.”

  She envisioned Dave crossing the room and digging headphones out of a cabinet—comfy ones that fit well. Closing her eyes, she watched him putting them on, and . . . the music stopped.

  Tess opened her eyes. “No way.”

  Ethan’s mouth widened in a broad smile. “I knew you could do it.”

  “I can’t believe it. And I didn’t even”—out in the hall, Dave’s door opened and closed—“rhyme.” She gave a snort. “He didn’t put on a headset. He turned off his sound system.”

  Her broken apartment door swung open and slammed against the inside wall, the bang so loud Tess jumped off the couch with a “yeep.”

  A tall, slender woman with a long blonde ponytail burst into the apartment and scanned the room. “Tess? Are you all right? Why is your door broken?”

  “Mom, what are you doing here?” Tess set the scroll on the coffee table and hurried to the door.

  “You didn’t return my phone call.” Her mother moved around her, stepping farther into the room.

  “Come again? That’s the reason you charged in here like GI Joe on a mission. You scared the crap out of me.”

  Her mom’s gaze caught and held onto Ethan. “Who is this?”

  Tess stuck her head out into the hall. “Is Dad here?” Her flare of hope died when she didn’t see his papa bear body in the hallway. Just her and her mother. Perfect.

  Grabbing her mother’s suitcases from the hall, Tess brought them inside and closed the door. She pointed at the splintered frame and cleared her throat. “I’ll get that fixed.” Heat crept up her face as she glanced down at her pajamas and realized what her mom must be thinking. “Ethan is a friend of mine.” A friend who slept in my bedroom last night. Her face burned hotter. What would Matt think of this whole situation? “Ethan, this is my mom, Janelle.”

  Ethan stood, rounded the couch, and held out his hand, a wary expression on his face. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  Instead of shaking it, her mother stared at his outstretched hand, then flipped it over palm side up, exposing the image of a dragon on his skin.

  He stiffened and tugged his hand away.

  Reaching inside her coat, Mom gripped a small pouch hanging around her neck—her personal potpourri on a string she’d worn as long as Tess could remember, some sort of bizarre family tradition. Gram always wore one too. “I’ve come to help you, Tess.” With her legs braced apart, she looked like she would perfume him to death if he so much as moved.

  What was going on? Tess set down the luggage and took a step forward, her shirt getting caught on the doorknob and yanking her back. She’d never seen her mom threaten someone with dried herbs before. “Help me with what?” she asked as she tugged her sleepshirt free.

  “With him.”

  Tess met Ethan’s confused gaze. “What are you talking about?”

  She didn’t spare Tess a glance. Instead she nodded at Ethan. “I think you should leave.”

  Ethan shook his head. “I can’t do that.”

  Tess stepped between them. “You can’t order him to leave. I’m an adult, and this is my apartment.”

  “He’s not your friend.”

  She could feel the tension coursing through Ethan’s body inches behind her as she looked her mother in the eye. “You don’t know him.” Hell, he’d saved her life yesterday.

  “I came here, Tess, because I know what’s been going on.”

  Her heart skipped a beat, and she shifted her gaze to her mom’s hand wrapped around the pouch. “What’s been going on?”

  Her mother’s face hardened. “That man, that thing, is not your friend.”

  Holy hell. She knew. Somehow she knew about Ethan’s beast problem. “What do you mean, that thing?”

  “Tess, trust me.”

  “He’s not leaving.”

  Her mom released the pouch and snatched Tess’s arm. “Come with me.” When Ethan made a move to follow, she pointed a finger at him. “You, stay back.” She led Tess away from the door and stopped. “I want you to come home with me, at least for a little while, an extended vacation.”

  Tess groaned. “We’ve been through this before. I don’t want to go. I have a life here.”

  “You call this a life?” Her mother swept an arm around Tess’s cramped apartment. “You’ve dropped out of art school.”

  “I needed a break.”

  “Now all you do is mope around here and work at a job you once called temporary. I’ve talked to Holly. I know what you’ve been up to.”

  Tess gritted her teeth. Holly was never going to hear the end of this one. “You said you’d give me space, let me work this out on my own.”

  “That was before I sensed danger around you.”

  “Danger. You sensed danger. From Ethan?” Tess swiped a hand in the direction of the doorway, where Ethan listened intently. “What is this, some sort of mother’s intuition?” Tess pulled her to the couch and sat down. “What’s going on?”

  Her mother glared over her shoulder at Ethan. “If you’re not going to leave my daughter’s apartment, at least come around to my front where I can see you.”

  He scowled but complied, taking a seat across from them.

  Satisfied, her mother unbuttoned her coat and sat next to Tess. She smoothed out every wrinkle from her Dockers. “I want you to know that the decisions I’ve made in the past, I made to protect you.”

  Dread settled in her stomach like cookie dough gone bad. “What decisions?”

  Adjusting the small purse in her lap, her mother fiddled with the tassel on the zipper. “This is going to be hard to believe.” She looked into Tess’s eyes. “Your grandmother had a special gift. She could see flashes of the future.”

  She knew about Gram’s visions? “What did she see?”

  “You don’t seem at all surprised.” Her mom’s dark-gray eyes studied her. “I think you already know what she saw.”

  “Tell me anyway.”

  The tension in the room nearly suffocated Tess as her mother assessed Ethan from head to toe. “She saw a man, half human, half beast, attack you.”

  “Actually, she saw one good beast and one bad. Why would you think Ethan is the bad one?”

  Her mom’s eyes widened. “I don’t care what she saw. There’s no such thing as a good beast. Now tell me how you know about your grandmother’s vision.”

  “The box she gave me . . .” Tess picked up Gram’s journal from the coffee table. “I found her Book of Shadows inside. Gram thought she was a witch. Did you know that?”

  Her mom avoided Tess’s gaze, but the frown on her face said it all. Of course she knew. She dug inside her purse and took out a pack of Big Red gum. “Want one?”

  Tess waved away the offer and got up from the couch.

  The Big Red always appeared when things got tough. Her mom tore a stick
in half, removed the wrapping, and popped the gum into her mouth.

  Tess paced toward the bathroom and back. “You believe Gram’s visions were real?”

  “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

  Then Gram really was a witch? Tess shook her head. If there could be beasts, why not witches? “So all this time, you knew about the beasts, about Gram being a witch, and you didn’t tell me?”

  “You were so young when your grandmother had the vision—only ten. My little girl.”

  “I’m not ten anymore. Was there any time between then and now you could have mentioned it?”

  “I’d hoped I wouldn’t need to, that it would never come to be.”

  Tess clasped her grandmother’s book to her chest. If Gram had been a real witch, then . . . “Gram wanted me to fight the beast with magic. She could have taught me. Why didn’t she?”

  Her mother’s brow furrowed. “Because I told her not to.”

  “You what?” Tess’s voice boomed in the small apartment. She lowered the volume, trying to remain calm. “Why?”

  “I wanted to keep you safe.”

  “You wanted to keep me safe by not preparing me?” She plunked down onto the couch cushion next to her mom. “Kind of like the sex talk we never had.”

  “Tess, when you practice magic, you awaken all worldly dimensions to your presence. Along with the good, sometimes you invite the bad. I thought if you never became a witch, these beasts your grandmother saw would never become aware of you.”

  “Is that what you and Gram fought about?” A lump formed in her throat, ready to choke her. “The months of not speaking to one another. Nothing was ever the same again. Was it all because of me?” she asked, struggling to keep her voice from wavering.

  Ethan rose from his chair and took a step toward her, compassion in his eyes.

  Her mother glared at him and grasped Tess’s hand. “No. Our disagreements went back much further. It was just the final straw.”