by Leela Ash
She could feel a splitting headache coming on. She didn’t understand anything anymore but the one thing she understood was that Jack was dangerous to her peace of mind.
She looked up at him with eyes swimming with tears, “Listen, Jack. I don’t know if you set out to hurt me. But if that was your intention, you succeeded admirably.”
“Megan—” he began.
“And if that wasn’t your intention,” she continued talking over his interruption, “I was hurt anyway. So right now, I just need some time to think, Jack and I think that’s not too much to ask.”
“Fine, you got it. But I just wanted to say all those women were my past. I slept around a lot, but I never cheated on any woman. Those women in those pictures wanted to have fun just like I did and there were never any strings attached,” he volunteered.
He hadn’t endeared himself to her, Megan thought, keeping her face wiped clean of all expression until he’d made a courteous bow and headed out the door.
Thoughtfully, she turned back to the windows and she didn’t notice when he poked his head back in and grabbed the file containing those damning photographs.
15.
“I don’t understand how she got these pictures,” Derek said, shuffling the pictures Jack had handed to him.
“That’s what I need to find out. She said some ladies were staying with her and I had supposedly knocked up the younger and left her—”
“Jack!” Luke yelped.
“Except I didn’t,” Jack replied earnestly. “I’ve never been with a woman who wasn’t worldly and sophisticated!” He wouldn’t tell them about Megan, he just couldn’t. Let them think whatever, but he didn’t want them envisioning her among the long list of his exes.
“This seems like highly detailed investigation work,” Derek breathed.
“Either that or witchcraft,” Jeanine opined, looking over his shoulder as she absently carried a spoonful of peanut butter to her mouth.
Her pregnancy cravings had begun alright, and it seemed hers centered on all things peanut butter. Sometimes she ate it with an apple but most times she just licked spoonfuls of the stuff. Bo thought it was gross, or so he said. Personally, Jeanine thought he was entranced because he kept buying her jars of peanut butter even while complaining good-naturedly about her food choices.
Everyone in the room paused. They all looked up at Jeanine, “You think witchcraft could be behind this?” Jack asked. He was so desperate for answers and right now Jeanine’s explanation made sense. These pictures were probably unearthed by supernatural means.
“Yes. Nana once unearthed a picture of me as a kid crawling and laughing up at mom. She hadn’t been there, she had simply gone back in time to that memory and, uh, sort of screenshot it and voila, picture was ready.”
“Wow. Witchcraft photography!” Kelly gasped, also looking down at the pictures with renewed interest. No wonder they had all appeared blank to her. She was immune to all forms of magic which meant she couldn’t benefit from the use of magic or its products either. If these pictures were products of magic, then it explained why she had not seen a single image on the blank sheets she’d been staring at in silence all day, wondering if she were going crazy.
It was a relief to know she wasn’t.
She looked up at her husband, “Jeanine is right.”
Derek grinned at his wife, his handsome face even more handsome now as he teased, “Don’t tell me you’re suddenly an expert on witchcraft too.”
The emphasis he laid on the word ‘too’ was a silent message meant only for Kelly as a tender reminder of last night’s lovemaking when she had dressed up as a nurse, insisted she was an expert nurse and massaged him all over until he was cumming in waves of crashing pleasure.
His subtle reminder made her cheeks heat up and Kelly chuckled. Then she confessed, “Well, the pictures are blank to me. I can’t see any images on them. I thought I must have been going crazy and I didn’t want to freak anyone out because I was freaking out.”
Everyone’s eyes returned to the pictures with interest now. This said a lot. Something was very wrong.
“Megan’s in danger. Those two women with her could be witches,” Jack gasped, jerking to his feet.
“We need to get to her house right now,” Bo agreed as he rose to his feet too.
As they all trooped towards the door, a niggling of alarm made Drake pause and he stopped his brothers with a quiet, “It could be we’re all walking into a trap. Why don’t we leave this until tomorrow and Jack can see her at her office?”
Jack shook his head, “I cannot wait a minute. I have to make sure she’s alright.”
“She won’t believe you, son. She’s under a spell,” Nana’s voice lashed through the air as she entered the room.
All eyes turned to the old woman who was Jeanine’s grandmother.
“Grandma. Tell us what you know,” Jeanine cried rushing to her.
Nana smiled at her granddaughter as she tenderly cupped her cheek. The girl was getting fat in her pregnancy, she noted, but she was pleased to see that the dear boy whom had married her, still looked at her as if she were the most beautiful woman in the world. And she was, as far as Nana was concerned.
“I think Nabradia is behind all this. She wants to use Megan for some purpose, and I checked on Megan just now in my crystals. Her eyes don’t seem right. She’s under a spell.”
The words fell into the stiff silence of the room like a death sentence and before he could guess his intention, Jack was already striding up to the old woman. “Please, save her. What can I do?”
“Only one thing can break any spell, my son. Love. Only you can help her, if you love her.”
With that, she returned to Joshua’s study.
“How do I use love to break this spell?” Jack wondered aloud.
“You have to reach that part of her heart that loves you,” Kelly told him simply.
He nodded and ran from the house. He didn’t bother to take his car keys, he moved faster as a shifter anyway. He should really wait until morning but knowing Nabradia could be in that house with Megan, he couldn’t bear to wait a second.
He shifted into his lion form and let out a loud roar as his hands and feet shorted to the sturdy arms and legs of the lanky, tawny mountain lion that he was. His paws clawed the earth as he began to run. A wolf materialized beside him and he almost lost his bearing. Then he noticed Kelly perched on the back of the wolf and he hid a grin. Derek was a brother of all brothers, he thought gratefully.
He knew why Derek had brought Kelly along; only she could repel the magic of the witches. They raced down the highway, which was thankfully empty because it would have been an unnerving spectacle for humans to see a wolf with a human perched atop it, racing beside a lion on the streets of the town humans called the Angle.
When they reached Megan’s neighborhood, they hastily changed forms and raced towards her apartment. Strange mutterings were coming from behind the door and Jack stared hard at the door, using his ability to see through solid objects.
His heart almost stopped when he saw Megan strapped to her kitchen table with a beatific, vacant look on her lovely face as Nabradia and Alcacia chanted and chanted, moving round her.
Jack quickly told Derek and Kelly what he had seen and they prepared Kelly to resist any magic thrown their way once they broke down that door.
Jack positioned Kelly in front of the door, leaving her few feet away to give him room to kick it down. He kicked down the door and leaped out of sight just like Derek.
He saw Nabradia’s head whip around, her eyes red-rimmed and angry as she pointed her wand at the intruder and yelled, “Rekana shuwa!”
It was the killing spell, Kelly realized, recognizing the words she had heard Nana chanting in the past. She had already braced herself and formed an aura arc around her. The spell hit the arc and ricocheted heading straight for Nabradia. She screamed and at the same time, Alcacia dived in front of her mother to save her. The spell hit Alca
cia and she jerked forward before slumping to the ground in an ignoble heap.
Kelly walked forward, Jack and Derek safely at her back as they headed straight for Megan.
Nabradia’s wail was loud enough to shake the roof as she gathered Alcacia’s lifeless body against her breast. “What just happened? What just happened? My baby! My baby!”
Her hands shook as she tried to inject some of her own life into her daughter. She was still shaking Alcacia and muttering spells when her daughter started to rot, as all witches do when they die.
Before Nabradia’s horrified eyes, Alcacia dissolved into a pile of ashes. She turned to look over her shoulder at where Jack was trying to shake Megan awake. Megan’s eyes were open, but she seemed to be in a vegetative state.
Nabradia rose to her feet, her body trembling with rage and hatred. “You have taken my only daughter from me. You have killed Alcacia.”
“No! You killed your daughter with your very own spell!” Kelly shouted firmly at the witch.
Nabradia began to age as they watched; so great was her anger that she couldn’t hold her spell of youth. “All I wanted was the crystals to get the Tiara of Oistrophe working again. I was only enchanting that girl,” she added flinging her hand at Megan’s prone form, “To get the answer out of you, Jack Sivan. And yet, you people came here and killed my only daughter.”
Her anger began to lift furniture. The little tea table levitated and crashed against the wall. The TV wrenched itself free of its place on the wall and smashed into the staircase. Objects began to fly as Derek covered Kelly with his body and Jack lay over Megan to protect her.
“I will not rest! I will not rest until I have avenged Alcacia. And for this, I must bring Alabad! You sent her to Alabad! I must bring Alabad here!” Nabradia vowed. Tears were streaming down her face and in seconds, they turned to blood.
“The cry of blood,” Derek whispered in horror, gazing at Nabradia.
Her gaze met his, “I will return!”
Then she vanished in a swirl of dust and black clouds.
16.
“We should take her to the hospital,” Jack insisted for the tenth time as Nana tried to revive Megan.
“Have you lost your mind? What would you tell them at the hospital?” Jeanine demanded.
“Calm down, Jack. She’ll be fine,” Joshua said.
Nana looked up then, “I’ve done all I can. You have to do the rest.”
Megan was still staring straight ahead like a beautiful, lifeless doll.
“Can Drake absorb the spell into his body and purge it out of his system?” Luke suggested.
Drake had always had the unique ability to absorb someone’s injuries or illness into his own body and once the person was healed, he could cleanse his own system.
Drake started forward at once but Nana shook her head, “No. Witches and dragons are the oldest of enemies. So unless you want to kill your dragon, he cannot drain that spell into his system.”
“Then what?” Jack asked reeking of impatience.
“Love, Jack. That’s the greatest spell. I already told you that before. Love.”
He looked down at Megan’s still, lifeless form and started towards her. He didn’t see Nana motion to everyone to leave the two of them alone. Everyone began to slip from the room and after they had all left and shut the door behind them, Jack buried his face in the crook of Megan’s neck and let the tears come. He cried as he had never done before. He cried for himself. He cried for his parents who had become virtual strangers since he became a shifter. He cried for Ericka who had smashed his love into dust with her boots and he cried for himself because he had finally fallen in love and somehow, he knew Megan could never be his.
He was a shifter. Even when she awoke, he would have to let her go. And what if she never awoke? What if she remained in this semi-vegetative state forever? What if she was consigned to this fate for all time because she had tangled with him?
Megan would never truly be safe around him, he realized.
The pain from that thought lanced so deeply that he gathered her against him and sobbed so hard that everyone out in the living room heard his weeping. Joshua started to go to him, but Nana held up a staying hand.
“Let him. Sometimes grief is an expression of love,” Nana said softly.
Jack’s fingers were tangled in Megan’s hair as he continued to hold her against him while he sobbed. Suddenly she turned her head to the side towards him. He froze and looked up, half-afraid to believe she was awake. Her blue eyes gazed at him with so much life that he screamed and then began to laugh; a deep belly laugh that started from his stomach and rumbled all the way out.
His family heard the sudden laughter and they exchanged worried glances that his grief had affected his mind. They ran as one towards the guest room where Megan was and they found the couple wrapped in a passionate kiss. Or at least Jack was kissing the woman in his arms. He lifted his head to look down into her eyes, “You’re awake!”
She frowned as though trying to recollect and then she said, “Those two women in my house were strange and so scary. They were in disguise all this time, Jack. I came home unexpectedly and found them without their disguises. I threatened to call the cops and next thing I know I’m strapped to my kitchen table, unable to move.”
Jack kissed her cheek in commiseration. His family slid back out giving them their privacy.
“You know Jack, I’ve never been so scared. I knew when you walked in with Derek and Kelly. I wanted to shout a warning, but I couldn’t move. If I didn’t know better, I would say they were witches and they spelled me.”
Her wide eyes invited him to deny what she’d said. He stared back at her steadily. “No!” she breathed.
He nodded, “Afraid so. There’s a lot you don’t know about Weirna.”
Her eyes darkened with sadness, “And there’s a lot I don’t know about you too, isn’t there? Otherwise I would never have believed that cozy tale they spun. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me, Jack.”
He kissed her forehead. He was so happy, it seemed he couldn’t stop kissing her. “It wasn’t all lies, Megan,” he offered and watched her freeze as the happy light dimmed in her eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“I really have been with all those women but that was in the past. I’ve never been able to stay in a committed relationship with any woman for more than six months. But they always knew what was in the cards. They always knew I wasn’t committing to anything with them.” The last sentence was said with a little more force than needed and Megan nodded as she got the message. Evidently, he wanted to spell out the boundaries now so she couldn’t accuse him of heartbreak later.
She turned her head away to hide her tears. She couldn’t really blame him for being cautious. She had behaved very badly and believed everything without giving him a chance to explain. When she had come to earlier, she had found him weeping such heartbroken tears that she had known at once that he loved her as much as she loved him. But he would never confess his feelings, she realized. Not after the way she had treated him.
Besides, she got the unmistakable feeling he was hiding something and no one else in this house would be willing to tell her the truth; except maybe his sister-in-laws.
Jeanine would never want to get involved but maybe the other one —Kelly, she recalled on a stroke of inspiration — would be willing to tell her.
She faced Jack with a forced smile again, “It’s alright Jack. I need to rest now.”
She felt his hesitation to leave her alone. His hands tightened around hers before he slowly released his grip and said, “I’m sure you must be hungry.”
Megan’s stomach growled loudly in agreement and laughed.
He kissed her cheek again as though he couldn’t help himself. Then he leaned back and said, “I’ll send Drake with some chicken soup.”
“Drake?” she repeated in surprise.
He shrugged, “He’s an excellent cook.”
Now there
was a surprise. Drake was easily the tallest of them all with ash-blonde hair and a choir boy grin. He seemed like the playful, carefree, un-serious type. She’d seen him at the wedding, and she would never have pegged him for someone who knew how to cook. She smiled at the thought of Drake in an apron. Jack saw the tender smile and he frowned while something remarkably like jealousy streaked through him.
“Well, for what it’s worth, I know how to cook just fine, too,” Jack volunteered.
Megan bit the inside of her cheek to hide a grin. He sounded just like a little boy who was scared he would have to share his favorite toy with someone else.
She adopted a suitably grave expression as she assured him, “You’re a man of many talents Jack; and very capable at most of them. The real surprise would have been if you didn’t know how to cook.”
Her response must have mollified him because he gave a satisfied nod and strode from the room. Megan held her laughter in, but it turned into a wide grin after the door shut behind him.
When the door opened later and admitted Kelly and Jeanine bearing soup bowls and water, Megan couldn’t hold back her laughter anymore. She threw back her head and let great gales of laughter escape her.
The two women exchanged confused glances and then they shut the door and came in.
“What’s up?” Jeanine demanded.
Megan was still laughing as she told them what had happened with Jack about the food and it dawned on them why Jack had grabbed the food from Drake and thrust it at Jeanine. Then he grabbed Drake to go outside to shoot hoops, an activity Jack hated!
All three women convulsed in laughter and were soon trading stories about the times the men in their lives had been jealous while Megan ate her food.
Outside in the living room, Nana shut her eyes to listen to the happy sound of laughter from the room. She could make out her granddaughter’s voice and it made her so happy to know Jeanine was happy.
Jeanine was a precious soul and she was glad she had married into such an amazing family. But perhaps the time to leave this earth had come, Nana wondered. She knew Nabradia would never let up on her search for the real crystals of the Tiara. Every instinct she possessed —which by the way, had never failed her— told her that Nabradia had managed to discover that the real crystals of the Tiara were with her.