by Sarra Cannon
“Always more than happy to help you out, Anna. You know that,” Loran said. “When you first approached me with the idea of serving my coffee on your food truck, I wasn't so sure it would be good for business, but you were right. Profit’s tripled since you got started a few months ago.”
“People can’t get enough,” I said with a laugh. “And you’re helping me out, too, so it’s mutual.”
Loran chatted with us as he made me a large vanilla latte and a straight black coffee for Slade.
“It’s on the house,” he said when Slade moved to pay. “It’s nice to see the two of you together. I wouldn’t have thought of it before, but now, seeing you both here side-by-side, it’s a good match.”
I blushed again as Slade took my hand and we said goodnight.
“I like Loran,” Slade said. “He’s definitely got some kind of powers, but I can’t place it. What is he?”
I shrugged. “It’s a great mystery, honestly,” I said. “He’s a very private guy, and so far, no one has been able to determine what his particular powers are. He’s a magician with coffee blends, though.”
“That he is,” Slade said, laughing and clinking his paper cup against mine.
“So, you serve his coffee at PRESTO! What about the cinnamon rolls and everything else? Do you buy those from someone, too? Or make them yourself?”
Excitement fluttered through me. I loved talking about my new business, but most of my family was reluctant to discuss it because of Gran’s feelings about it. To have someone genuinely interested in what I was doing was fun.
“Technically, Ida from the bakery here in town bakes all the pastries, but she uses a lot of my own fresh ingredients. The cinnamon and spices are all carefully ground by me, with a little bit of my own magic thrown in to make them special. The fruit pastries are all made with fresh fruits from the farm, again sprinkled with some magic to help make anyone who eats them feel better,” I said. “But Ida’s been so helpful. She lets me watch her process as she bakes the pastries and all the specialty breads I use in my sandwiches. I’m hoping to someday learn to do it all myself, but right now, I just don’t have the time.”
“That’s incredible,” Slade said. “You’re so talented. Have you ever thought about opening up your own restaurant? Seems like this town could use a few more options.”
I sipped my coffee, considering the idea of opening up my own place here in Willow Harbor. Whenever I’d thought of it before, I always imagined moving away and starting over in a bigger city, but in this moment, with everything so perfect, I could see new possibilities.
Maybe I hadn’t ever truly wanted to leave this town. Maybe all I needed was to find the one person that would make this place feel like forever.
Someone all my own.
“That’s a good idea,” I said. “I never really considered starting my own restaurant here in town, but suddenly, it seems like anything is possible.”
Slade’s eyes met mine, and for a brief moment, I saw his smile slip into something else.
Regret?
We kept walking, but as time went on, he seemed to grow more distant, as if something inside him had suddenly shifted.
Had I said or done something wrong?
After a long period of quiet, I finally spoke up.
“What changed?” I asked as we stepped onto the faded wood of the main Boardwalk.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
A few other couples passed by us, and the illusion that we were alone out here was shattered, leaving something unsettling in its place.
“We were having the perfect evening up until about ten minutes ago. You seemed to disappear on me. Like you’re thinking about something unpleasant,” I said. “Is something bothering you?”
He sighed and ran a hand through his black hair. “You really see me, don’t you?” he asked, stopping to lean against the railing and look out at the water as it crashed along the shore.
“Of course I see you. That’s a silly thing to say.”
“No, I mean, you pay attention,” he said. “You really listen to what I say, and you seem to sense how I’m feeling at any given time. I’ve never had that before.”
I studied him, confused. “I don’t understand what you mean. Why wouldn’t I pay attention to you?”
He laughed, but there was no joy in the expression.
“It’s hard to explain,” he said. “Just that most of the people I’ve known in my life haven’t really seen the real me, I guess. They see me as a tool or a possession, but never as a person with their own feelings and dreams. No one has ever really listened to me before like I mattered. Not in any real way.”
“That sounds very lonely.”
I leaned against the railing alongside him, the sudden sadness in his tone pulling me toward him. I wanted to wrap my arms around him, but he seemed to need some distance.
“You have no idea how lonely,” he said softly. “But you? You’re different. And it’s not just with me. I see it in the way you interact with everyone who comes up to the food truck. With everyone who stopped by the table tonight to say hello. You care about people and you accept them for who they are.”
I shrugged. “Isn’t that how everyone is?”
He shook his head and met my eyes with a look so raw and unguarded that it nearly took my breath away.
“I’ve never met anyone like you before, and I’ve travelled all over this country,” he said. He turned toward me. “You don’t have any idea how special you really are, do you?”
Warmth spread up my neck and across my cheeks. There was nothing all that special about me, but it felt good to know he saw something in me that maybe I didn’t see in myself.
But if I was so special, why did he still look so sad?
“You know what I wish?” He moved closer and put a hand on my cheek, causing goosebumps to break out across my arms.
“What?” I whispered, my heart racing at his touch.
“I wish that things could be different,” he said. “I wish I could just walk away from my past and move here to Willow Harbor. Make a life in a place where people are allowed to just be who they are. I wish I could stay here with you, Anna.”
My lips parted at this sudden moment of pure emotion from Slade. It was the most honest, real thing he’d ever said. There was none of his earlier guarded nature or mystery. It was as if he’d just shown me a piece of his heart he’d never shown anyone before, and I wondered what kind of life he must have lived to be so afraid of being himself.
“Then stay,” I said.
Boldly, I placed my hand at his hip, looping my fingers through the belt of his jeans and pulling him closer.
“I wish I could,” he whispered, leaning his head against mine and closing his eyes.
This close to him, I could feel the pounding of his heart.
“Why can’t you?”
He opened his eyes and shook his head as his hand caressed my cheek.
“If I stayed here, I would never want to leave your side.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” I asked, smiling up at him shyly.
“You have no idea,” he said, and the serious expression in his bluish-grey eyes wiped the smile from my face.
He was keeping secrets from me, wasn't he?
And yet, I wanted to pull him closer.
“What are you not telling me?” I asked, terrified to risk ruining whatever had been happening between us.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said softly, his eyes searching mine. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, Anna. I don’t want to do anything to hurt you. I can’t.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “What could you ever do to hurt me?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he stared out at the dark sea, a storm raging in his eyes as he seemed to fight some secret war within himself.
Finally, he looked back at me, a certain peace calming him for a moment.
“Slade? What’s wrong? I don’t understand what’s ha
ppening,” I said.
“No matter what else happens, I want you to know that the past few days have meant more to me than you could ever know,” he said. His hand moved to the back of my neck and he pulled me in, like gravity.
I fell against him as his lips descended on mine. He kissed me softly at first, as if still trying to convince himself it was the right thing to do, but as I clung to him more tightly and opened myself to him, he gave in and kissed me with all of his heart.
Inside, my emotions rose and fell, tumbling against some unknown fate just as the dark ocean beside us tumbled against the shore. I wanted him like I’d never wanted anyone else, but even as the depth of our kiss increased, I could feel him pulling away from me.
This kiss was not about finally giving in.
It was about him deciding to say goodbye.
He pulled away sharply as he stepped backwards. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I never should have let things get this far. I have to go.”
He started walking back toward Main Street, but I ran after him, needing more of an explanation than that. He owed me more after that kiss.
He was walking fast with long strides, but I caught the edge of his shirt and tried to pull him back to me.
Only, the moment he turned, his shirt lifted slightly to reveal something just above his hip that broke my heart and stopped me cold.
He pulled the shirt from my grasp, his eyes locked on mine as I brought a hand to cover my mouth. I suddenly couldn’t breathe, as if all the air had been sucked out of my lungs.
I shook my head, not wanting to believe what I had just seen.
“Who are you?” I asked in a whisper, barely able to find my breath. “Who are you and why are you here?”
I took two steps back, slowly putting distance between us. I wanted him to give me some explanation that made sense. To lift his shirt and show me that I’d been wrong. That it had been a trick of the light.
But from the look in his eyes, I knew it was true.
Slade had been keeping very important secrets from me this whole time, because there, on his hip, was a tattoo of a sword enclosed in a circle, light radiating from the blade.
Slade had a mark exactly like mine.
Sixteen
Slade
Anna’s expression turned from surprise to fear as she backed away from me.
She had seen the mark of the Disciples of Light, and now she knew I had lied to her. If it had been anyone else standing there in front of me, I would have lied again, insisting that I had no idea what she was talking about.
I would have spun some elaborate story about not even knowing the meaning of the mark. I would have pretended to be surprised when she revealed she also had a matching mark on her skin.
But with Anna, I was done with lies.
Which meant I had a choice to make. I could cast a spell that would put her to sleep, throw her into my car, and wake her up when we got to the compound in seven hours, or I could tell her the truth, give her a chance to hide, and leave this town behind me, risking my family’s life in the process.
It was an impossible choice, because even though Anna had been a stranger to me just a few short days ago, I could no longer deny the fact that I was falling in love with her.
And how could any man choose between his family and the woman he loved?
“Anna, please,” I said, holding up my hand. “Just hear me out. I know I should have told you from the beginning, but I couldn’t.”
“Oh my God,” she whispered. Her eyes filled with tears for the first time since we’d met. “You came here for me, didn’t you? All of this was a lie. A setup from the start. Please, tell me that’s not true, Slade. Tell me that mark on your skin is just some terrible coincidence.”
I wanted the truth to be different. To be a better kind of man. Someone who deserved her.
But a woman like Anna was better off without me in her life.
I never should have come to this town.
Her eyes searched mine, and she must have seen the truth in them, because she cried out and ran. Her footsteps echoed against the buildings as she ran down the Boardwalk and disappeared around the corner toward Main Street.
I wanted to run after her, but what good would that do now?
Telling her the truth about her father would only hurt her more. The best thing I could do would be to pack up my things, leave this town, and figure out a way to convince Elisha I’d been wrong about the girl I found. That it hadn’t been his daughter at all.
I had told my father I’d found someone, but what I’d said earlier about the cell phone connection had been the truth. Any time I’d tried to tell him the name of this town, the connection had grown weak or the text had failed to send.
As long as I never told Elisha exactly where I’d been, he might never be able to find Anna. I could leave now, and she would be safe.
Besides, if what Anna said was true, I would cross the city limits and forget most of what had happened here.
And I wanted to forget.
Life had been easier when I had no idea what it was like to truly connect to another person the way Anna and I had connected.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the glimmering shell Anna had given me to remember my first trip to the ocean. I stepped to the edge of the railing and threw the shell as far as I could, watching as it splashed into the waves below.
When I was sure it was gone, I headed back toward the Willow Harbor Inn, ready to pack my bags and leave this place forever.
But instead of going home, Anna had come here.
She sat on the steps, her head in her hands as she wept. Her tears ripped my heart open, exposing a side of myself I’d never seen before. Seeing her like that made me want to protect her above all else. To make her smile again, even if it took the rest of my life.
I sat down beside her with no idea what to say. I’d expected her to run away and never look back. To be glad she would never have to see my face again.
I hadn’t expected her to wait for me.
“Is your name really even Slade?” she asked, finally glancing up at me, though she made no move to come closer.
“Yes, but a lot of what I told you was a lie,” I said. “I’m so sorry, Anna. I meant it when I said I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Then why are you here? Who sent you?”
I took a deep breath. I wasn't used to telling the truth in situations like this, and it made everything so unpredictable.
So real.
“I’ve been searching for you for a very long time,” I said. “How much do you know about the mark we both wear?”
She shook her head. “Almost nothing,” she said. “Gran told me it was something I was given as a small child and that it was the mark of a group my mother had joined after she left Willow Harbor. That’s all I know.”
I lowered my head into my hands. Her grandmother had obviously tried to shelter her from the truth about her mother and the Disciples of Light. I didn’t want to be the one to have to tell her the truth about how her mother died or what type of life she’d lived in those last years, but I couldn’t turn my back on her. Not now.
“The mark we both were given as children is the sigil of a group called the Disciples of Light,” I said. “The group is filled with witches and warlocks from all over the country who either didn’t have strong family ties or who had left their families for one reason or another. From what I understand, your mother joined the Disciples of Light shortly after she left Willow Harbor to make a life of her own.”
Anna didn’t say a word. She just listened with her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
“I don’t know the story of how she met Elisha, but I imagine they met at some kind of gathering for witches or people with magical abilities,” I said. “And I imagine he charmed her with stories of his Disciples and how peaceful and loving everyone was. How she would be honored and revered. How he would teach her to truly use her magic in ways she had never dreamed.”
/> Anna sucked in a breath as fresh tears fell across her cheeks.
“Gran doesn’t talk about it much, but I do know that was one of the reasons Mom left Willow Harbor in the first place,” Anna said. “She wanted to learn more about different types of magic. She was tired of doing nothing but growing plants and nurturing our land, and she wanted to try her hand at more powerful things. Gran said it wasn't the natural way of things for witches in our family. They had some kind of argument, and Mom left in the middle of the night. For a long time, Gran didn’t even know where she’d gone until Mom called her asking for help.”
“I wish I could tell you her life with the Disciples was everything she’d dreamed of. That she’d been happy there,” I said. “But those promises are illusions. Tricks to get powerful women to serve the leader of the group.”
“This man you called Elisha?” she asked.
I nodded. “He’s extremely powerful,” I said. “He’s over one hundred years old, but you’d never know it by looking at him. He feeds off the energy of the women he’s lured there to serve him.”
Anna took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.
“He’s my father, isn’t he?” she asked.
Seventeen
Anna
Surprised, Slade glanced over at me.
“Yes,” he said. “How did you know?”
“That’s the only reason he would send someone to look for me after all these years,” I said. “He needs me for something.”
I knew it even without Slade saying a word. The man who fathered me cared nothing about his daughter as a person.
Just as Slade had confessed earlier, he’d always been seen as a tool or a possession.
The only reason a man who ruled his people in that way would come looking for his daughter was if he needed her for something.
“There’s something going on with him, but I honestly don’t know why he’s been so anxious to find you,” Slade said. “It’s possible he needs you for something big, but it’s also possible he simply believes you are his. He sees all of his witches as possessions, luring them in with false promises, and then binding them to him as soon as he gets them into the compound.”