Of Fear and Faith: A Witch and Shapeshifter Romance (Death and Destiny Trilogy Book 1)

by N. D. Jones

  Boom.

  Boom.

  Now there were shrieks of horror, of pain, but no aria, just the strangled cries of three dethroned divas.

  Sanura’s hate-filled gaze watched as the sirens burned, their corpses having fallen with a defeated thunk. Her flames of lightning retreated, the smell of ozone left behind, a remnant of death in the sullen night air.

  For minutes, or perhaps only seconds, Sanura couldn’t move or think. But her fire spirit danced and giggled in exultant satisfaction. She no longer felt cold, achy, or entirely sane. Instead, Sanura felt warmth radiating from within, a cauldron overtop of a simmering heat.

  Dazed, Sanura barely registered when Assefa slumped to his knees, body giving out now that the sirens no longer controlled him. She rushed to his side and aided him to his feet.

  “Are you all right? Did she cut you? Is there anything I can do for you?” Without pause, the questions kept coming, rolling from Sanura in a fluttering wave of rushed words and heated concern.

  He wrapped his heavy arms around her neck. “You saved my life,” he breathed, voice shaky. “No man, full-human or preternatural, can ignore the call of a siren. It took three of them to get me this far and still my mind remained my own. That shouldn’t be possible.”

  Yeah, they’d been saying that a lot lately. Clearly, they needed to redefine their definition of “possible.” But, by the gods, her special agent sounded uncharacteristically tired and weak. She held him tighter.

  “I told you we are bound to each other.” She kissed his forehead, forcing back her fire spirit’s vicious satisfaction at having meted out the ultimate justice.

  “And I belong to you?”

  “Yes, and I belong to you.”

  He ran his eyes, then his fingers over every tear in her sleep shirt. “There’s blood on your arms, hands, and legs. She cut you. I heard you scream. Yet”—he touched her shoulder— “I see no injuries.”

  Sanura had fractured her leg when she’d jumped out of a tree in her backyard when she was ten. She’d cut and scraped her knee while running in the rain at age twelve. And at twenty, her shoulder was dislocated while sparring with an overzealous lion shifter. And not one of those incidents resulted in the type of miraculous healing she’d just experienced. What in the hell?

  Sanura shrugged. “Were-cats can heal themselves. Maybe I got some of that ability when our auras merged.” She’d never actually heard or read of that happening. But it was a reasonable explanation. It sure as hell beat the one flitting around in her paranoid brain, the one that said her fire spirit had taken control of her, cast a rejuvenation spell, and healed Sanura. That damn sure shouldn’t be possible. Yet …

  They walked in silence until they reached the back door, Assefa leaning heavily on Sanura, a sign his body needed time to recover from the magical assault. Once there, Sanura paused before going inside. Looking back in the direction of the three bodies, shame and regret filled her, her fire spirit now controlled and locked away.

  “I’ve never killed anyone, Assefa.” Sanura fought the urge to cry at what she’d done.

  “I know, sweetheart.” He pulled her inside the house and locked the door.

  Forty minutes later, after having showered, Sanura stood in front of a full-length mirror. She had appraised her body for the slightest nick. There had been none. Not even the cut to her tongue. There was nothing to remind Sanura of what had happened this night. Nothing but my memories and nightmares. Always the damn nightmares.

  They settled back into bed, Assefa too weak for Sanura’s liking. But he was a proud man. She wouldn’t insult him by bringing undue attention to his temporary state. “It’s never easy.” He wrapped her in his arms, holding her when she should’ve been holding him. “Killing is never easy, Sanura. I wish you didn’t have to experience it.”

  She wished the same.

  “Something has happened to me, my magic,” Sanura confessed. “I didn’t mean to kill those sirens, it just happened. I was so afraid they would hurt you and so damn angry. I’ve never been that angry before and I…I—”

  “Shhh, don’t say it. If you didn’t kill them, they would’ve killed us. I know it’s not your way, but sometimes our choices are already made for us, and we simply act.”

  His words rang true, but she wished it wasn’t so. In the span of less than twenty-four hours, she’d vanquished a Raven Mocker to a damnable Hell dimension and killed three sirens. All Sanura’s actions were in self-defense or in defense of another. But did that truly make such violence acceptable? What was she becoming, and how could she stop it? Could any of this madness be halted? Sanura didn’t know.

  Sanura raised her head from Assefa’s shoulder. “I think it’s time for part two of the handfasting ritual.” It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. She probably should’ve thought it over first. But she’d heard what Cynthia had said to Assefa. And her sister was wrong. She had no intention of hurting him, of burning his heart. She was just…well, that didn’t matter.

  The way he stared at her, with shock and disbelief, said he hadn’t expected her suggestion, that perhaps he had the same concerns about their relationship as Cynthia. Sanura would have to have a word with her and Mike about sticking their noses where they didn’t belong.

  His smile was tentative at first. Yet it broadened the longer she held his gaze, not backing away from her words. “Sounds perfect, my lifesaving witch.” He grinned with anticipation. “Do I get to see you in that itsy-bitsy bathing suit again?”

  She smiled at Assefa, feeling better about her decision and ignoring the anxiety that always accompanied her thoughts of bonding with a man who had the power to know her as well as she knew herself, a man she couldn’t hide her true nature from, a man who would eventually force her to face her silent demons or risk losing him forever.

  “What about the sirens? We can’t just leave their bodies out there like that.”

  “Zareb will take care of them. I called him when you were in the bathroom. He’s en route from Richmond International Airport. ETA—forty-five minutes. I also had Mrs. Livingston check on Siddig and the other were-cat house staff. They’re groggy from the sirens’ song, but otherwise unharmed. I’ll personally check on them in the morning. They’re my responsibility, as much as they think I’m theirs.”

  Sanura understood. Her father had felt a similar sense of responsibility for those who’d worked for him—from the groundskeepers and maintenance workers to the managers and leasing agents of his apartment buildings. She would go with Assefa tomorrow, meet the were-cats whose welfare he cared so much about.

  “Come on and get under the covers, sweetheart. The air is on and that nightgown, sexy as it is, cannot be warm. That’s right, let me warm you. No need to use your fire magic when you have a were-cat’s natural warmth to heat you.”

  She did, snuggling close and inhaling deeply of her familiar. “Who’s Zareb?”

  “I told you about him. Remember? He’s my best friend and partner. He lives in the guest house by the pool. I left him in Alaska to deal with the siren there. Now, he’ll have to deal with the three here. Disposal is one of his many talents. Though, from the nauseous look on your face, I probably shouldn’t have added that last detail. It’s all right. Zareb will take care of everything. No worries.”

  Sanura nodded, remembering Zareb with only the slightest of recognition. She normally had a better memory, but she’d had a very long day. And if pressed right now, she probably couldn’t recall her bra or panty size.

  “I told him all about you. He said he couldn’t wait to meet the woman who tamed me in less than two weeks.” His hand began a scalp massage, and she closed her eyes. “He also said that no witch’s bond was strong enough to shield her familiar from a siren’s musical lure.”

  “Really?” Her eyes popped open. “Then I guess he’s the perfect man for the cleanup job.”

  Mild laughter followed, the kind that was more tension-relieving than spirit-lifting, for there was nothing amusing about w
hat she’d done.

  Assefa hugged her closer to him. His reassuring heartbeat pumped strongly under the cheek pressed against his chest. Sanura shut her eyes again. Slinging one arm over Assefa’s middle, she held him with fierce, burning possession. She willed his masculine strength into her, praying his soothing murmurings of, “I’ve got you. It’ll be all right,” would stave off the nightmares, and the creature that lurked behind her eyelids, looking frighteningly like her fire spirit—a burnished Phoenix with firestorm wings and a golden tail.

  A half hour later, Assefa slept but Sanura was still awake, listening to him breathe. Gods, she almost lost him tonight. Almost lost myself. Her hand went to his chest--over his heart. Strong, but not invincible. “I love you. And I’ll never let anyone hurt you again. Not even if I have to become my worst nightmare.”

  EPILOGUE

  “They are almost ready, Sekhmet,” Yemaya said, waving a hand to clear the sleeping image of Assefa and Sanura over the horizon on which the goddesses perched. Their forms, if seen from below, looked like heavy gray-and-white soapstones in the form of Zimbabwe Birds, standing proud and tall, guarding the walls and monoliths of the ancient city of Great Zimbabwe.

  “I know. Our fire witch did well. But she needs to fortify herself if she is to beat Mami Wata’s water witch. She is too sentimental and that will lead to her demise,” Sekhmet said with the impatient roar of a lioness. “As it was, I had to give her a little push with that Raven Mocker. Show your fire witch exactly where to send the demon. She is too soft. Except when it comes to her mate, then she is the fire witch of legend we need her to be.”

  “Leave Sanura to me, you worry about your Mngwa.”

  “My Mngwa is all that I knew he would be, fierce and loyal and capable of so much more. But we have no more time to prepare them. Your daughters are ready, and we cannot deny them any longer.”

  “You are right. The time has come. We have shown Sanura and Assefa the path, and they have conquered many of their fears.”

  “But not all of them.”

  “No, Sekhmet, not all.”

  “And what of their faith?”

  “Their faith is stronger than they know.”

  “But not yet strong enough.”

  “No, but they are yet babes, my friend.”

  “Yes.”

  “Their bond will face a great many challenges, Yemaya. The beasts will come and test them.”

  “I know. Now let us begin.”

  They held hands and in unison said, “Goddess Oya, we release the binds that shackle you to the ocean’s floor. Goddess Mami Wata, we release the binds that shackle you to the ocean’s floor. Go forth and find your champions. Go forth and remind the world that Gods take many forms and features. Play your game, and when it is done, return to this place of slumber, place of serenity until you are called forth once more in another five hundred years.”

  The oceans of the world erupted, geysers spouting thousands of feet into the air, covering landmasses with its salt and silt. Bringing life and destroying crops, homes, and people, the goddesses were now free and in search of their witches.

  THE END

  ABOUT N.D. JONES

  Dr. N. D. Jones is a USA Today bestselling author who lives in Maryland with her husband and two children. A desire to see more novels with positive, sexy, and three-dimensional African American characters as soul mates, friends, and lovers, inspired the author to take on the challenge of penning such romantic reads.

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  OTHER BOOKS BY N.D. JONES

  Winged Warriors Novella Series (Paranormal Romance)

  Fire, Fury, Faith (Book 1)

  Heat, Hunt, Hope (Book 2)

  Death and Destiny Trilogy (Paranormal Romance)

  Of Fear and Faith (Book 1)

  Of Beasts and Bonds (Book 2)

  Of Deception and Divinity (Book 3)

  Forever Yours Series (Fantasy Romance)

  Bound Souls (Book 1)

  Fated Paths (Book 2)

  Dragon Shifter Romance (Standalone Novels)

  Stones of Dracontias: The Bloodstone Dragon

  Dragon Lore and Love: Isis and Osiris

  The Styles of Love Trilogy (Contemporary Romance)

  The Perks of Higher Ed (Book 1)

  The Wish of Xmas Present (Book 2)

  The Gift of Second Chances (Book 3)

  Rhythm and Blue Skies: Malcolm and Sky’s Complete Story

  The Styles of Love Trilogy: The Complete Series

  Sins of the Sister (Dark Fantasy Short Story)

  Fairy Tale Fatale Series (Paranormal and Urban Fantasy)

  Crimson Hunter: A Red Riding Hood Reimagining

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