by Sasha Parker
Kira’s Reckoning by Sasha Parker
Kira’s Reckoning
The Blessed Five Series
Book Three
by Sasha Parker
© Copyright December 2013 JK Publishing, Inc.
ISBN# 9781311471697
All cover art and logo © Copyright December 2013 by JK Publishing, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Edited by Caroline Kirby
Artwork by Jess Buffett
Published by JK Publishing, Inc.
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Dedication
I want to say thank you to all my friends and family who have supported me and been patient with me while writing this series.
Thank you especially to my fans for your wonderful comments and expressions of love, it's because of you that I am able to do what I do.
Finally, a special thank you to my editor, Caroline. I know this book was trying on you, helping me get through characters and storylines. I couldn’t have done this without you. You are wonderful and I am truly blessed to have you.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Epilogue
Books by Sasha Parker
Excerpt from Awakened by a Dream
Excerpt from Hades
Excerpt from Broken Battlefield, Mended Hearts
Prologue
Brendan and Ronan LeStrange were enraged as they fought the two men in the woods. They were Guardians from the Wiccan Council who had been sent to help protect the Blessed Five. The Wiccan Council was made up of four magical beings. One representative from the main branches of magic: witches, fairies, elves, and warlocks. They kept order in all things.
The LeStrange brothers had been honored to get the assignment and when they had arrived a wedding was in full swing. It seemed the eldest of the Five was getting married to their good friends, Reilly and Lachlan Parsons.
Brendan and Ronan had been updated by the Council before they had arrived in the glen. It seemed the Kirkpatrick sisters had come into their powers. The Council had been watching them for years. Then the attacks had begun against the sisters and it had become necessary to send protection to them. The Guardians were teams of elite warriors from the Council. They were sent out to keep those safe who were in danger from either another magical being or human.
It was true Brendan and Ronan admitted to being a little eager to arrive in the glen. They had heard the Guardians chosen to go had all fallen for a sister. Both men had been ready to settle down for some time, they were one of the sets of Guardians who had served the Council the longest. They tired of traveling around the world. In the beginning it had been an adventure, something they had craved.
The two brothers had grown up in a small town near Inverness in the highlands of Scotland. They were twins and had grown up in a magical family. When they had been called upon by the Council as young men, they had been more than ready to do their duty. They never thought when they showed up at the castle in the glen to help protect the Blessed Five that they would actually find their match. They had been surprised when they were introduced to Kira that the medallions around their necks began to heat. This was a clear sign they had found their match.
They also never thought they would watch someone kidnap their match right in front of their eyes. One minute she was dancing with the flowers, literally by using her magick, and the next two men had grabbed her. The two other men there were fighting to keep the Guardians at bay to allow their cohorts to escape.
Brendan and Ronan had called their swords and engaged the two men left. As they fought, they each tried to keep an eye on Kira so they could follow. Then the ones left began to throw fireballs and Brendan and Ronan knew they had to end it. They surged forward and were able to step to the side, making the two men they fought turn as well. This enabled them to fight one on one and now they were close enough the men had to use swords, fireballs were too dangerous to use at close range.
It was a quick battle, Brendan and Ronan dispatched of the two left behind while searching the woods for Kira. Sometime during the fight, they had lost sight of her and could no longer hear them. They looked at each other, distress, and anger written on their faces. Each knew they had to return to the castle to find help in searching the woods as well as to inform the sisters.
As they hurried
back to the castle, Ronan growled, "We will find her."
Brendan nodded in agreement. "And they will pay. Dearly."
Chapter One
Kira bounced on the man's shoulder as she hung on him in a fireman's carry. Her head was killing her. One of the men had knocked her on the head with something when he went to grab her. When she came to, she was hanging over the barbarian's shoulder as they tromped through the woods. She bit back a moan of pain as her head throbbed, she felt like she was going to be sick. She just wanted to stop moving so she could lay down for a while, after swallowing some aspirin, she thought glumly.
They stopped suddenly and Kira's eyes popped open. Her hair was hanging down into her face and she couldn't see anything. Looking at everything upside down didn't help either, she thought. She took stock of her body as she hung there, noting that her hands were tied behind her back and her arms were sore, minus the bump on her head. She couldn't feel any other injuries so she decided to listen and get more information on who they were or maybe where they were in the woods.
She tried to take slow, deep breaths but she could see stars as the man began to move again. They continued at a hurried pace through the woods. Kira knew the two Guardians would alert her family and she felt an overwhelming sadness this would ruin her sister's wedding. Why couldn't she have stayed at the reception? she thought as she bounced along. She knew why, those damned Guardians. She knew who they were by the arrogance they displayed. She had seen that side of them when they arrived.
The two had come in silently, standing in the back at the reception. She had noticed them right away. They were tall, over six feet and scrumptious to look at. Both had jet black hair cut short but one of them, Brendan, she thought, had blue eyes where the other had green. Reilly had introduced them to her and when she had shook their hands, she felt a zing go up her arm. She had been surprised and didn't like the look that had passed between the two men or the looks they were giving her.
Her mark had also heated against her skin. Kira and her sisters had received their marks when they had received their powers. They all had the same one, over their hearts. It was five rings all interconnected to represent the five elements: air, fire, earth, water, and spirit. It also represented the five sisters, or the Blessed Five.
Then they had cornered her in the kitchen when she had gone in to get some water. She remembered only too well their deep voices and the feelings they evoked. She had been caught checking them out.
"Like what you see?" Brendan said amused.
She blushed and said, "It's alright." She shrugged as if their bodies weren't making her hot and bothered but the look in their eyes said they knew.
"Well?" Ronan asked her.
"Well what?" she said perturbed.
"You didn't answer my question," he said.
"And that was?" she said.
"Are you going to run all night?" Ronan repeated his earlier question.
She blushed again and said, "I don't know what you're talking about. If you will excuse me, I need to get back."
She went to move between them to leave when Ronan's hand shot out to run his finger down her cheek. She looked up into his eyes.
"We'll let you go for now, but not for long." His deep voice sent tingles all the way down to her clit and made her panties damp. She didn't say anything but kept going back into the reception, but she swore she heard them both chuckle as she did.
When Kira had caught the bouquet, she hadn't missed the heated looks the two new Guardians gave her when she did. That was what had caused her to go out the back door to escape their scrutiny. She had been more than a little tipsy and had thought the fresh air would do her good. Kira had walked through the woods to a favorite place of the sisters, the meadow where they practiced their magick. There, she had used hers to dance with the flowers.
The four men had snuck up on her, but that had only been because she had been focused on the two Guardians on the opposite end of the field. As she had danced, she had seen Brendan and Ronan approach then stop to watch her. She had enough alcohol on board to want to tease them a little. She had been doing just that when the four other men had gotten the jump on her. She knew they wouldn't have been able to catch hold of her if she hadn't been distracted.
The Blessed Five consisted of her and her four sisters: Adrianna (Ari), Erin, Sheela, and Calli. There had been a set of Blessed Five in their family for generations. The five sisters controlled the five elements: fire, water, earth, air, and spirit. They were witches, real honest to goddess witches. They had all been told about this gift by their grandmother at their youngest sister's twenty-first birthday.
At the time their grandmother, whom they called Mamo and the youngest of her generation of the Blessed Five, released memories of them practicing to become witches. Of course they had all thought she had lost her mind, but she had proven to them that they were indeed witches. On the night of Calli's birthday, they had received their gift of power from the Mother Earth and Sun God. It was a very magical moment for all the women and it had bonded them even closer together if that was possible.
The sisters had always been close. They had lost their parents when they were all very young. The girls had been taken in by their grandmother, then moved into the family castle in Weatherby Glen, which was located in the center of Ireland in Offaly County. Living with Mamo had been an experience. Concepta Belenus O'Laughlin—Mamo to the girls—was a force to be reckoned with when it came to her family. Even though she could be fierce when she wanted to be, she was what some called a free spirit and she was known and loved by everyone in the glen.
Mamo had been their rock through the loss of their parents and then had raised them the way their parents had wanted them to be. All the girls had gone to college and gotten degrees in varying fields. Although all but one of the girls had moved away to pursue their careers, they were very close and routinely came back to the glen to visit. Even though they had the tragedy of losing their parents, Mamo had helped them stay a close-knit family. Kira would always be grateful for that.
The man stopped moving and Kira tried to lift just her head to see where they were, but as she did, the stars began to multiply and the blackness that had been on the edge took over. Kira passed out, praying she would get to see her family again.
Chapter Two
Brendan and Ronan entered the castle by way of the kitchen and saw that the immediate family was there. The sisters were all sitting around the table with the other Guardians hovering around. Concepta, the grandmother, and Julie, a close friend of Ari's, was bustling around passing out drinks and trying to console the women. When the two newest Guardians entered through the back door, they all turned to them.
"What happened?" Lachlan growled.
Brendan ran a hand through his hair. "We followed Kira to the meadow, four men jumped out and grabbed her."
"We fought two of them, but the other two got away with her," Ronan supplied.
Reilly slammed his fist down on the counter. "This has got to stop! We have to get in front of whoever is behind this."
Ari stood, still dressed in her wedding gown, and went to lay a hand on Reilly's shoulder. "We will," she said and looked at her sisters. "It's time to do a little magick. We need to find Kira. Now."
All of the sisters nodded in agreement and their grandmother said, "You could try scrying for her. I will go get the crystal." She hurried off toward her greenhouse where she practiced her witchcraft.
The sisters all got up, saying they were going to go change into more comfortable clothes. Reilly and Lachlan took Ari's hands to head to their room upstairs to change, while Brendan and Ronan looked at each other.
'We have to find her,' Ronan sent the thought to Brendan. The two brothers, being twins, had always had the power to speak telepathically.
Brendan placed a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. 'We will. The sisters will help.'
Ronan went to the fridge and pulled out two beers, handing one to Brendan. It w
as something to keep them occupied until the sisters returned. Concepta, who liked to be called Coni, came back in and smiled softly at the two brothers.
"We will find her. We must have faith," Coni told them. "She is a strong witch, she can protect herself."
Both men inclined their heads in agreement. Kira was gifted with the power of earth. They knew that from the reports Reilly and Lachlan had been sending in to the Council. The sisters had been working hard to master their powers and the Council was impressed with how far they had come in such a short time. There was the threat, however, and everyone was on edge. The Council had been trying to find who was threatening the sisters’ lives but had not been able to find out anything. With all their magick, in this, they were powerless. It was believed that whoever it was, was very powerful and putting up a veil to block themself.
Erin walked back into the kitchen with Aedan and Myles right behind her. Brendan smiled as he watched his two fellow Guardians hover over Erin. It amused him to see how whipped his friends had become. He looked over at Ronan and saw he was just as amused. Brendan felt sympathy for Erin as he saw her eyes were shimmering with worry and tears. He knew all the sisters were in this state and he vowed again to find Kira as quickly as possible.
Calli poked her head into the kitchen and said, "We set everything up in the dining room. Come on."
Everyone followed her into the formal dining room where Brendan saw the rest of the sisters and Guardians waiting. There was a large map on the table and the chairs had all been scooted back out of the way. Coni was standing at the head of the table, she had a long chain in her hand with a crystal on the end. The sisters gathered around her and they all placed their hands together, hovering over Coni's hand that was holding the crystal.