Family Feud: The Witching Hour Series Book 5

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  "I’ve been in Liverpool on business," Nathaniel said, never taking his eyes off me. The tension zoomed; I felt pressure in my core, heat that kept building between us.

  "Tron, it's okay, I have nothing to discuss with this man. Do you want to come upstairs?" I asked, with the sweetest voice and raving smile.

  "No, Julia, Tron is leaving, and we’re going to talk. Whatever he has to say to you can wait. Don't fight me on this, firecracker," Nathaniel said and my ears burned when I recognised that nickname. Bastard, he wasn't playing fair.

  "I can't believe you’re being so rude. We don't—"

  "It's all right, Julia. We can talk about this another time," Tron cut me off. The tiny veiled anger wriggled down my body. I didn't want to talk. Nathaniel was just bulldozing his way back into my life. "I will call on you again, Julia."

  Tron nodded to Nathaniel and disappeared into the night, leaving me with my ex-lover. Neither of us said a word for about a minute. I couldn't take this any longer, so I finally looked at him. My heart had bled enough. I needed to know what he wanted this time.

  "Why are you here?" I finally asked. So many things had happened since he left, and I was so lost, knowing that he didn't really care.

  "Let's get inside. I don't want you to catch cold."

  "I don't want to go inside, Nathaniel. I want to know why you’re here."

  He sighed loudly.

  "Don't be stubborn. It's cold out here and you’re freezing," he told me, then passed me and used the key that I’d given him to get into the building. I stood outside for a bit, fighting with myself to keep a lock on my emotions. As usual he behaved like everything was absolutely fine. There was no point worrying about what was coming or whatever, because Nathaniel didn't even care what I had been through.

  He vanished upstairs and finally after five minutes I strolled in after him, wondering how this meeting was going to go. He was sitting on my sofa without his coat when I walked in and shut the door. My fingers were sparkling, and the heat shot down my body. Exhilarating magic was letting me know that it’d been a while since we made love. It was strange, but when we were together, my magic behaved. Now I could barely keep up with my breathing, aware of the power colliding in my living room.

  This was going to be a difficult conversation, not for him, but for me.

  I leaned against the cabinet and folded my arms over my chest, hiding my sparkling fingers. Nathaniel wasn't smiling; he was just looking straight at me with a serious expression on his face.

  "Why did you come here? Do you think I'm going to forget about everything when you fucked off and left me alone when my grandma just died?" I shouted. This had never gotten me anywhere, and I hated being such a drama queen. He was pissing me off, acting like we were all right.

  “You're right. Saying I'm sorry doesn’t cut it," he said, looking at me with a hard gaze that was melting my insides. "I have no right to come here and demand your attention."

  "Obviously you haven't explained anything that happened to Charlotte. She just showed up here with that vampire killer thinking everything is perfectly all right." I threw my hands in the air, ignoring the vibes of burning raw lust. God, I wanted him so much, it was like some strange force was ripping my heart into a billion small pieces. It’d been so long since I touched him.

  Nathaniel shifted on the sofa and rested his fingers together, staring at me.

  "I know you were away this weekend. Your father reached out to vampires, and he nearly got himself castrated by a group of trolls."

  I started laughing, knowing he couldn't be serious. Dad had no business speaking with vampires. I sat down in the chair, forgetting about my rules.

  "And how do you know any of this?" I asked, as the heat eased the tension in my muscles.

  "I had been back in the UK for over a week when this happened, but before I went away I asked some people to keep an eye on your family. Your father’s been trying to find your grandpa, using connections that he already had. My guy managed to drag him away, before things got out of control," Nathaniel explained. "The trolls were wound up, ready to take him to Lancaster. My guy had to pay them with gold to keep this under wraps."

  "But how and why? Dad would never—"

  "You have no idea what’s been going on. You mean everything to me and I do love you, Julia. I don't know what got into me at the funeral. I don't remember half of the things I said; everything from that day is blurry."

  I was speechless, staring back at my fingers. The heated glare in his eyes wasn't helping as my skin tingled everywhere. I couldn't stay still. How could he not remember? His words were hurtful.

  "My mother didn't say anything about this when I spoke to her last night," I told him, not wanting to believe that Dad would put himself in so much danger.

  "Because she doesn’t know."

  There was silence for a moment and I kept avoiding the pressure in my core, the craving for his touch, the connection that hung between us. I had him right in front of me. My head was vibrating as my magic increased; it was almost unbearable. The heat of my desire was spreading through me. We had only been apart a couple of weeks and now all of a sudden, I needed to remember how it felt to be lost to my lust for him.

  "What happened? Tell me," I demanded

  "He believes that trolls have information about his father. Dannika White stopped giving him updates about what’s going on, and they’re no longer on speaking terms. He’s conducting his own investigation, using illegal magic to try to find the killer."

  I cursed, and a few sparks escaped from my fingertips. My father was stubborn, and he wasn't going to give up. I needed to speak to him, find out what he was planning.

  "I went to North Wales with Michael, Kelsie and Kate to meet with the wizard who my grandma had been seeing," I blurted out, not even knowing why I needed to tell him all this. He was saying all the right things, but he’d left me on my own. I couldn't just forget what happened between us. After a moment I realised I shouldn't have said anything about North Wales. He probably still remembered what Jasper had done to me and the fact that I had asked him for help.

  "And what did you find out?" he asked, leaning over, so I caught the seductive scent of his alluring aftershave.

  "My grandma had been trying to protect me from someone. She’d asked him to brew Dragonfly. The illegal potion."

  "Dragonfly! Are you certain that’s what it was?"

  I nodded. Yeah, I never learned anything from the past. I was already providing too much information. My big mouth had gotten me into trouble more than a few times.

  "Yes, Nathaniel. I'm not an idiot. I know for a fact she provided some of the ingredients. She seemed desperate, and possibly killed people, apparently to keep me safe…"

  I wasn't supposed to tell him anymore, but I felt like I needed to mention the letter that I’d found in my grandmother’s office. Nathaniel wasn't asking any questions. He was just listening to me for a bit.

  My skin crawled for contact, but I wasn't losing this battle just because I was so weak.

  I told him about my theory about the royal fairies and Ella.

  "This is serious. I paid a visit to your father, just before I came here. I don’t believe he’ll be a problem anymore."

  My eyes widened.

  "You did what? I mean, did he talk to you after what happened at the funeral?"

  "I needed to see him to tell him that the allegations about his mother’s financial discrepancies were untrue. I hired a few forensic accountants to look into the matter and it turned out that a high member of the Association was paid to sell this story to the press. The police looked into the fake accounts. Your grandma hadn't made any transfers. The accounts were empty, but it was Marshal Douglas who fiddled with the books. He made it look like it was your grandma," Nathaniel explained, touching my hands.

  My heart kicked me right in the chest when I thought about this, first from the information that I received and second from the sudden closeness. He just knew how to to
uch me, and I was his in an instant. Marshall Douglas worked for the Elves Association. He was close to my grandma. I didn't understand how Dannika could have missed this.

  "What? Impossible," I managed to breathe out, staring into his hazel eyes.

  "Someone wanted to make it look as though she had been in the centre of all this. S. H. That’s what I managed to find out. These initials keep popping up everywhere and your theory seems believable."

  "Hold on, what did you say? S.H?" I repeated, feeling like my heart was beating a hundred miles an hour.

  "Yes, that’s exactly what I said. Why?"

  "Because those are the initials of the person who sent a letter to my grandma telling her that I belong to him, that he was coming for me."

  Chapter 19

  Sparks, heat and all the passion.

  I still had the letter, so I got up and went to my bag, my hands trembling. For some reason I felt like I had to keep it close to me all the time. My fingertips brushed over his when I handed it to him, and the desire in my belly burned with raw desire. Heat throbbed inside me. I tried to breathe normally, but it seemed oxygen wasn’t getting in.

  "So, what do you think?" I asked lamely not even knowing why, leaning closer than I intended. This was unbelievable, and I was talking to him as if everything was all right between us. He looked hot, and I felt like I was losing my head when his fingers traced the line of my spine. I closed my eyes, moaning with pleasure from his soft touch. I couldn't help but remember the last time we were intimate.

  "It appears your grandmother made some sort of deal years ago. There’s a possibility that she’d promised your hand in exchange for something else."

  "What? She wouldn't do that."

  "Your theory about royals seems important. Ella’s always been close to you. Everyone in your family married elves or fairies and then her own son chose a human. Maybe this angered whoever wrote the letter."

  "So, what’s that mean? Mum isn't magical at all."

  "And that’s the point. Maybe that wasn't shocking anymore, because your father chose someone non-magical. Then we met, and your grandmother started to panic. I don't know, firecracker. I'm only speculating, but this might be connected to some royal prince who liked sleeping with human women."

  I wanted to kiss him. It was against my rules and all, but the pull was incredible. I wished I could have told everyone to go to hell, that I loved Nathaniel La Caz. Besides that, he called me a firecracker again. That nickname was turning me on so much and he knew it.

  His body towered behind me. I licked my lips, unable to stop myself from thinking about his sculpted toned body. I inhaled sharply and pulled away from him.

  "Are you certain my grandma didn't commit any fraud?"

  "Julia, someone was trying to make her look guilty from the very beginning. The books looked very convincing, but she never had to deal with the Association’s money; she signed a lot of stuff. We can go to the press with it and straighten this whole mess out."

  "You should talk to Dannika. Apparently, she has proof that Grandma took the money. She needs to know this was a setup," I said, thinking about everything that had happened over the past few weeks. So many more facts had come to light. All this time, I believed Grandma wasn't guilty, and I was right.

  Nathaniel was looking at me like he wanted to forget about everything and just push me against the wall and fuck me hard. This had something to do with the smell of my blood, because his eyes were iridescent with lust.

  "No, let the police do what they need to do. We’ve established …I mean you’ve established that your grandma was doing what she could in order to protect you. I believe the letter is authentic, and the deal might be, too. We also now know that your granddad was taken against his will. He hasn't disappeared; he was kidnapped."

  Nathaniel was so close to me now that I was having trouble thinking straight. My body was touching his and my magic was moving things about in my living room. The books, plates and my clothes began to levitate.

  "Why did you do that, Nathaniel? Why did you have to leave me and say all those things at the funeral?" I asked him, lifting my eyes to his and breathing the same air that he was.

  He lifted his hand and brushed his thumb over my cheek and I had a feeling that my body would melt instantly. Years, it had been years, and we still couldn't figure out what we wanted.

  "I have no idea what I said at the funeral or why. But I left town to take care of some things that could help with the investigation. I wanted to do it for you, to find proof that your grandmother was innocent, to gain your trust. I knew you wouldn't want to listen, so I needed to show you I still cared." He was speaking to me quietly, running his fingers over my arms gently. The sparks were escaping slowly. The heat between my legs was unbearable. Sparks shot down, moving my body into motion.

  I pushed his hand down and scrambled into his lap, pressing my lips over his. The wind picked up, and my whole body buzzed with power as we were kissing hard. My mouth was moving over his and I was so consumed by him I lost touch with reality. When his tongue began pushing its way inside my mouth I groaned loudly, needing him so much.

  Nathaniel’s fangs descended, and he made a loud growl in the back of his throat, pushing me over to the sofa. His jacket was off in an instant and his hands were everywhere.

  My possessions started flying, lights flashing, as I unbuttoned his shirt, tasting what I had been missing for so long.

  "Firecracker, I'm sorry… I want you," Nathaniel growled and pushed himself down on the floor so his face was in my cleavage. My chest kept rising and falling as he ripped my blouse off me in one swift motion, touching and moulding my breasts. I arched backwards enjoying the sensation, and the magic pulsed trying to escape through my pores. I felt alive and so loved. I didn't want to think that tomorrow I would have to face reality.

  His fangs were marking me gently and I had an urgency to let him know that it was all right to taste me. Nathaniel’s skilled fingers brushed the spot between my legs and I cried out.

  He ripped my bra apart with his sharp fangs and licked my nipples, one after the other, pulling them into his mouth. The burning sensation in my belly intensified, and the throbbing between my legs alerted me that I was more ready than I had ever been before.

  I pushed him away, grabbed his face and kissed him, releasing some of my excess magic, knowing that he was still mine.

  "Take the rest of your clothes off," I demanded, losing the battle with myself and my own promises.

  Nathaniel grinned like a schoolboy and, using his vampire speed, he was undressed within couple of seconds. He was breathtakingly beautiful. It was his own power that made me so needy for his soul.

  He didn't let me think about what came next but lowered himself between my legs and started caressing my sex with his tongue.

  I closed my eyes, feeling euphoric as the energy started swirling inside me, ready to explode.

  "My demanding firecracker. You can't imagine how much I missed your sexy body," he said giving me a moment, so I could catch my breath. I was going to come if he didn't stop.

  Every lick and brush of his tongue was making me beg for more. My magic blinded me. I was seeing light, experiencing colours, and everything became hypersensitive. Then he was inside me and I was filled with so much power that some of my lights exploded. The wind was blowing through the room throwing my stuff around.

  He gripped my hips and kept pounding into me, caressing my nipples, asking me what I wanted.

  "I want to bite you so much, Julia, but it might be dangerous," he growled extending his fangs. My heart jackhammered in my chest and I was so close to climax that I didn't care anymore.

  "Do it, just do it. I want you to," I cried out and then felt him breaking through my skin. I was coming fast, not even realising what was going on. The love beamed out of me, and he was still inside me as I was drifting and drifting.

  I woke up, stretching my arms, feeling incredibly relaxed, and then turned finding a warm
body next to me. I blinked a few times realising that I was in my own bed and it was dawn.

  My phone in the darkness read six o’clock. My neck was a little tender, but I had never felt so empty. The excess magic was gone and maybe this time it wasn't going to come back.

  "Leave it and come here." I heard the deep voice and then everything came back to me. Nathaniel pulled me closer until we were spooning. Last night, although amazing, hadn't gone the way I wanted it to. I wanted us to be able to talk about our relationship and the issues we had. Instead I lost myself to my libido.

  "What we are doing, Nathaniel?" I asked him, thinking too much. He kissed my neck, not responding for a moment.

  "Making love."

  "That’s not what I meant."

  "Julia, I can't explain why I said all the things I did, but it won't happen again. Please forgive me. If you want, we can get married today. I can get everything arranged," he whispered, tracing his fingers over my stomach, igniting my desire again.

  I turned to look him in the eyes, but my bedroom was dark.

  "You can't be serious?"

  He laughed loudly and shut me up with his mouth.

  "No, I'm not."

  "I need to find out who murdered my grandma. I can't think about the wedding right now."

  "As you wish, firecracker."

  "Is your sister staying in London?"

  "Yes, for now," Nathaniel replied, appearing to be unhappy about this turn of events. I didn't need to tell him about his sister’s husband, but he made me mad. Besides, Nathaniel needed to know his sister was married to a vampire who couldn't control himself.

  He had to get up. Lucinda was an early bird and Nathaniel needed to catch up on what had been going on in the factory. He promised me dinner later and then left.

  After that I was wide awake, so I started thinking about everything that happened in Wales. The potion was never finished, and now the wizard was dead.

  My grandma had never worked alone. Was it possible that she’d made some sort of deal with someone when she was younger? She wasn't a psychic, so no one could have known that my father and his human wife would conceive me.