Lotus (Spell Library Book 13)

by Nikki Jacks

  He shook his head. “Nope. We were all supposed to meet her tonight.”

  “Lotus, can you hear me? Are you awake yet?”

  Lance held out a hand to me and walked over to the door. He unlocked it and cracked it. “Can I help you?”

  “I’m Phoenix, Evan’s sister. I’m here to see Lotus. Evan said this is her shop.”

  As Phoenix was talking, her voice changed in pitch, like she was moving. Was she trying to see around Lance and the door?

  I sent a quick text to Evan to let him know that Phoenix was at the shop and then said to Lance, “It’s okay, Lance, let her in.”

  Lance stepped back, and Phoenix bounded into the room. Her hair was the same fire-engine red, such a contrast to Evan’s silvery locks. Her eyes, though, spoke of her relation to Evan. They were the same clear green as Evan’s. I’d been too shocked the morning I’d seen her in the kitchen to realize it.

  I cocked my head to the side slightly as I greeted the wayward fae, “Hi, Phoenix, what are you doing here? I thought you were hanging around Evan’s house while you guys worked out arrangements?”

  “That’s boring! I needed to do something before I went crazy. Evan mentioned your ice cream shop was opening today, so I decided to come and help you.”

  “What do you mean, come and help?”

  “You know, take orders, scoop ice cream, that kind of help. I don’t do dishes or any kind of clean up, though. You’ll have to do that. Or make the big guy over here do it. His arms look like he could handle it.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Phoenix had invited herself to become an employee, something I wasn’t prepared for. How was I going to handle this?

  “I’m not asking you to pay me, Lotus; I’ve got plenty of gold—I mean, money—of my own. I just need to keep busy. I don’t do well when I get bored.”

  I didn’t think letting Phoenix loose on Silver Springs by herself was the best idea. “Tell you what, I’ll show you how to work the register and show you our serving sizes. You can scoop ice cream and I’ll handle any special orders and sodas.”

  Her fist pumped the air. “All right! Let’s go, boss lady! Oh, wait, can I have one of those shirts? I want to match you guys.”

  I looked at Phoenix’s black jeans and robin’s egg blue shirt. While the color didn’t match any ice cream flavors we had at the moment, Phoenix was cute and her personality would be a hit with any customers we had today.

  “Sorry, Phoenix, your brother, Drake, and Lance had these specially made for me. We don’t have any others.”

  “Well, shoot, I’ll have to take care of that. It was a nice gift from your mates, though.”

  With Phoenix’s words, Lance, who’d been pulling a tray of brownies from the oven, froze

  “Oh no, not mates. I’m dating your brother, Drake, and Lance. We’re exploring our feelings and seeing where things take us. Witches don’t have mates.”

  Phoenix laughed at my statement. “Girl, think what you want about witches and mates, but my brother is your mate. He told me about hearing the bonding chimes. I’m guessing the other two are your mates too. It’s the only thing that makes sense in this crazy town.”

  At that, Phoenix walked into the front of the shop, humming the theme to Gilligan’s Island.

  I looked at Lance, who was still frozen. “Is that true, Lance? Do you guys think I’m your mate?”

  “Lotus, babe, I can explain…”

  “No explanations. It’s a yes or no question; it gets a yes or no answer. Do you, Drake, and Evan think I am your mate?”

  “No. We don’t think you are our mate. We know it.”

  I felt like I’d been slapped. “What do you mean, you know? How long have you known?”

  “Since the day we met. But, this isn’t the time. The four of us need to have this conversation together. Let’s have our awesome opening day, and then tonight, we’ll talk. We owe you that.”

  “Oh, you owe me so much more than that, Mr. Anders. We’ll be talking this evening.”

  Feeling crushed, I called on all the etiquette training my mother had put me through and went up front to show Phoenix the ropes and to get ready for my opening day.

  Lance

  We were so screwed! With just a few words, Evan’s sister had blown up all our plans. I dropped the pan of brownies onto the counter to cool and texted the guys.

  Lance: 911! Phoenix is here and she let slip to Lotus that we’re her mates!

  Drake: Shit! How did she take it?

  Lance: Not good. She called me Mr. Anders! I convinced her to get through the opening and that we’d all talk tonight. Guys, we have a lot of explaining to do.

  Evan: I’m going to strangle my sister. There is nothing we can do now. We’ll be honest tonight and explain to Lotus that nothing has changed, we still want to be with her.

  Lance: That’s not what I’m worried about, guys. You didn’t see the hurt in her eyes when she realized we’d been lying to her from the day we met her.

  Drake: Keep cool, bro. We’ll fix this tonight.

  Lance: I hope so, man.

  34

  Lotus

  I managed to keep my cool through the opening. Phoenix was oblivious to the bomb she’d dropped and just how thoroughly she’d shattered the rose-colored glasses I’d been wearing. My head was consumed with thoughts of the guys and just how deeply their deception had run. I knew I’d felt an intense attraction to each of them when I’d met them, but I never would have put it down to something like a mate bond. Witches didn’t have mates!

  More than being hurt that the guys had kept something like this from me, I was angry. They knew how much I hated them making decisions for me. This was a decision that should have been discussed by the four of us the day they helped with my furniture.

  But what about your little secret? You haven’t told them about Marlon and your parents. You can’t be mad at them for keeping secrets when you’ve been doing the same thing. That voice that sounded like Maryn was right, but I wasn’t going to feel bad about it. The guys had hidden the truth of our relationships from me, knowing I didn’t understand what was happening.

  Oh my god! I’d slept with Drake and Evan! That night with Evan, I’d felt like my body was on fire and my mouth was saying words that I wouldn’t have normally said. Was this the mate bond? And the day I met Drake—I didn’t know what had come over me to have sex with him moments after meeting. That was something I would never do in my right mind!

  Quack a duck, what was I going to do? I avoided Lance, only speaking with him to let him know when we needed more baked goods. Thankfully, no one wanted any of the adult offerings. My mind was too chaotic to perform the spell needed to get the taste of someone’s jizz right.

  I couldn’t believe how well the shop had done today. We’d had steady business all day. Like Lance had said, we were new so people wanted to check us out. Sapphire had been true to her word and come in. Her order of the “Taste of New Orleans” with Blood Orange ice cream was interesting, but she seemed to enjoy it. Igor came in for her candied flies and declared they tasted best with the Chocolate Chunk.

  After I’d ushered the last customer out, Phoenix stepped out from behind the counter and stretched, “Well, that was some work. I’m going to head back to Evan’s. Maybe I’ll come back tomorrow, Lotus. See ya!”

  I mumbled something like a goodbye and locked up behind her. I knew there was a lot to do to close up for the night, but I’d heard the guys’ voices in the back and I couldn’t wait to talk to them any longer.

  I walked through the door and all conversation stopped as the guys looked at me. Lance’s face was full of dread. Drake looked ready to fight, and Evan had a mask on that revealed nothing.

  “Gentlemen. I believe you owe me some explanations. There have been some deceptions that have been brought to light. I will listen to you as you explain to me the how and why of the last few weeks.”

  Lance started. He explained to me that when he stepped into Jewe
ls Café, he’d felt the bond; and when he saw me, there was no doubting I was his mate. When he heard me talking about the shop, he’d thanked the fates for a mate that he could work with.

  From there, Drake stepped forward and explained that he’d felt the bond when he saw me going toe to toe with Jane. He’d enjoyed seeing the fire in my eyes and the snap in my tone. He knew that I would be a good match to him. When we got to his office and he’d smelled my arousal, he couldn’t deny his leopard. He’d wanted to seal our bond then, but held back since I hadn’t said anything about being his mate.

  Evan was stoic as he told me about spending his life in the Fae Lands hoping to find a mate. His parents loved each other deeply, and he wanted the same thing. He eventually left the Fae Lands because he didn’t want to be a warrior any longer. He came to Silver Springs and helped get the bank running. He was lonely, but comfortable in his life. He’d stopped looking for a mate a long time ago, and then a young woman stepped into his office with an idea for an ice cream shop.

  She got tongue tied and as her arousal increased, she would drift off in the middle of their conversation. When he’d opened his office door to her, the mating chimes had begun ringing. He couldn’t believe that he’d finally found his mate. She was so young compared to him, but she was full of vitality. He knew she would help him break out of the shell he’d created for himself and live life again.

  “Then—” Evan swallowed hard “—I noticed that Drake and Lance seemed to struggle with you keeping us at arm’s length. I knew you’d been intimate with Drake before coming to my office, and I began to suspect that maybe they were mates. I called Drake and the three of us met. We discussed the fact that we were all your mates. It was hard to admit and even harder to think about sharing you, but how could one of us consign the others to a lifetime of misery if one of us claimed you? Knowing you were a witch and young, I assumed you didn’t know much about mate bonds, and that polyamory would be a new concept to you.”

  Picking up the thread, Drake spoke up. “We didn’t want to scare you off. It’s why we came up with the idea of all of us dating you. We could get to know one another, but we could also gradually introduce the idea of mating bonds and multiple mates. We all knew that you were it for us and that we couldn’t live without you.”

  “We didn’t do this to hurt you, Lotus. We love you! I need you, babe!” Lance’s voice was pleading as he spoke. “We want to spend our lives loving you. Remember what I said this morning about getting you coffee? I meant every word. And I don’t just mean coffee. I mean all parts of our lives. I want to give you the world if you ask for it.”

  I was rooted where I stood as their words washed over me. I couldn’t believe they had managed to keep something so crucial from me for so long. Evan mentioned my youth so many times and it made me wonder if they saw me as a silly girl who couldn’t handle adult things. I wanted to believe what they said about loving me, but I couldn’t think straight.

  “I… I… I need to go. I have to think and I can’t do it with you standing there looking at me.”

  35

  Lotus

  I sprinted past Evan and out the back door. My car was parked at the corner, so I jumped in and peeled out. I could not believe they wouldn’t tell me we were mates! I was traipsing my way through our relationships thinking I was going to choose one of them to spend the rest of my life with! But nooooo, the three men who claimed to love and cherish me above all else had been keeping the biggest secret ever from me.

  I was driving through town with no real idea of where I was headed. I knew I needed to cool off so I could think, but I just wanted to be mad for a while. The lights outside Vee caught my eye. Lance and I had talked about the four of us going to have a night out dancing and having fun together, but it hadn’t happened. Thinking a couple drinks to brood over would do me good, I found a place to park.

  As the bouncers let me through the ropes outside, I could feel the pounding of the bass. I was never big on the club scene, but every now and then a girl needed to cut loose. I threaded my way through the crowd and found a stool at the bar.

  I was looking around when a voice brought my attention back to my mission. “Hey, girl, you look like you need a drink. What can I get you?”

  “Hi! This is my first time here, but can I have something that I can sip on while I do some thinking? I have to drive home so I don’t want to get drunk, but after the last little bit, I need a stiff drink.”

  “I’m Rose, one of the owners here. I have something perfect for you. Just sit right there and think all you need to, doll. And if you need some heads bashed, I’m sure my mates can help with that,” she told me with a wink.

  “Mates? You have mates? Wait, sorry, that came out wrong. I just found out that the three guys I’ve been dating are all my mates, something they’ve been keeping from me for a while.”

  She laughed, a knowing smile on her lips. “Don’t worry about it, it’s still strange hearing myself say it. But, yes, I have three of the hottest vampires alive mated to me. We actually own this club together, and they are just absolutely perfect. How is it you didn’t know that you had mates? You didn’t feel anything at all?”

  “Apparently, witches don’t feel mating bonds the way other supe species do? The guys have known since they met me but didn’t say anything. When I started getting things ready to open up the ice cream shop, they told me they were all attracted to me and wanted to date, but that was it.”

  “Oh boy, they were just asking for trouble! This is why men shouldn’t be in charge of anything, they just fuck it up.” She looked over to two men in the corner, who I could only assume were hers. She gave them a smile that showed just how obsessed with them she was. Looking back at me and pushing forward a drink, she smiled to herself and shook her head as if catching herself swooning over the men. “Here you go, let me know how this tastes.”

  “Thank you. Oh, my gracious! Where are my manners? My name’s Lotus. It’s nice to meet you, Rose. This drink tastes really good. I’ll probably have another one before I head back to my place.”

  “It’s nice to meet you. Just let me know when you’re ready, Lotus. And for what it’s worth, I’m sure that your mates really meant well. They just didn’t go about things the best way, but it sounds like they were trying to ease you into the idea of having not just one mate but three. They fucked it up good, but really think about if you can live without them before you make any decisions. Have your drink and think, then go lay into your mates. And if they give the right answers when you get home, let them make it up to you with some glorious make-up sex.”

  36

  Lotus

  True to her word, Rose left me on my stool while I sipped at her tasty drink and thought. I thought about my life in New Orleans and how unhappy I’d been. Getting out and moving to Silver Springs was the happiest moment of my life. I was getting away from my parents and their plans for me. I was getting away from Marlon. And I was finally living life for me.

  I owned my own business, working with a food I loved. I’d met three men and had fallen in love with all three of them. I’d spent a good deal of time thinking I was going to have to choose one of them, and the thought caused an ache in my heart each time it crossed my mind. I’d grown comfortable in our relationship and was in no hurry to make any changes.

  I’d thought that the guys felt the same. Little did I know they were essentially grooming me. That was what hurt the most. They couldn’t see that their actions were not very different from my parents’. The guys didn’t want to pressure or scare me off, so they thought to ease me into the situation. My parents needed me compliant, so they’d started small.

  I sat on my barstool, and there was no way for me to see how the guys’ actions were any different or better than my parents’. My heart was breaking. It had split into three equal parts, each emblazoned with their names. I couldn’t believe I’d thought I’d made it, that I’d finally broken free. I’d escaped New Orleans only to land in the la
ps of three men who thought lying to me and keeping secrets was better than having a conversation with me.

  I caught Rose’s eye and signaled for another drink. She winked and began mixing things together. I watched her and thought back to my arrival to Silver Springs. I’d been wide-eyed and determined to make a life for myself. I needed a plan that was going to get me away from Marlon and my parents. Silver Springs seemed like the perfect place. Finding out about Flying Horse headquarters and meeting Sapphire felt like the gods were smiling on me, giving me their approval for the plans I’d begun to form.

  Rose slid my second drink in front of me and took my empty away.

  I sipped on the cocktail and asked myself if I would have believed any of the guys if they’d told me I was their mate and they wanted to claim me. Apparently, this drink made me maudlin and brutally honest because the answer was, “NO!” There was no way on this earth, or any other planet, I would have been willing to believe one of the guys.

  I obviously wasn’t above scratching an itch—hello glorious desk sex—but I would have run fast and far from a man who started spouting off about claiming me. With that realization, I could understand the guys’ hesitation and decision to ease into things.

  I was ignoring my inner voice. It always sounded like Maryn, but with the drinks in me, it was even worse. I wasn’t getting away from the truths I was wrestling with.

  Yes, they kept the truth from you. But you knew there was something special there. When you think about meeting Evan, Drake, and Lance, you were instantly drawn to them. There is no way your proper Southern belle ass was sleeping with a guy five minutes after you met him. There had to be something at play.

  Yeah, you may not have recognized the mate bond because your parents suppressed your magical training, but you know enough to recognize when magic is in play. You felt something with each of them. You were drawn to them and they felt like home. What other explanation could there be?