“We need to go back to the house where he kept Penny. I doubt very much he’s still there, but it’s worth going over,” Theo offered.
“Can I just finish the song I was writing?” Lee asked, going to walk away from the group.
“No, you can’t.” Alex grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.
Antony studied Lee’s tattoos. He had multi-coloured sleeves on both arms and they stood out on his bulging biceps. There was a question in Antony’s eyes. How could such a big, hard looking man, be such a creative softy?
“Come on, mate, the album is almost done,” Lee whined.
“Our father is more important than your album, Lee.” Alex scowled.
“I’m happy to go and check out that house,” Guy said.
We all turned to study Guy, the most suave and least warrior-like of them all. He was often in a suit and reading the newspaper.
“Really…?” Alex glanced at Lee.
The two smiled and I felt sorry for Guy. Not that he needed my pity, his power to control the wind made him a formidable enemy.
“Yes, I want to be involved,” he said, tapping his fingers on the work surface.
I almost laughed when the others blinked in surprise.
“I’ll go with him,” Theo said, glancing back at me. “I’m sure we’ll find something.”
The others noticed I was there, barely looking in my direction as they carried on with the conversation. Theo’s shaved head and square jaw gave him an edge the others didn’t have. He was meant to be a fitness trainer. However, he had dropped out of university when he started to smoke marijuana. Not exactly the perfect role model for getting healthy.
“Okay, head over there now, but be careful.” Alex gestured for them to leave.
Guy threw a smart coat over his suit and Theo put a cap on his head, both heading out of the kitchen.
“Do you have to wear that? You look like a pre-teen,” I heard Guy say as the front door closed behind them.
Marvelling at how well Alex ran the operation, I zoned out and stopped following the plan as I watched Antony. I was a brilliant listener usually, especially when it came to one on one, but I was easily distracted when I wasn’t directly spoken to.
“What do you think, Penny?” Lee addressed me.
“Huh?” Shaking my head, I blinked, my neck flushing.
“She didn’t hear you.” Alex clapped him on the back. “See, I told you that you were boring.”
Lee pushed Alex playfully, laughing when he stumbled back a few steps.
“I’m sorry.” I apologised as I moved to stand beside Antony.
He reached out and took my hand. “I told Alex what you said about Nick and your mother.”
“We could try and lure Nick by using you as bait.” Alex fisted his hands and rested them on the centre island. “If you go out and about in London, he might try to grab you again. Especially if he sees you with Antony.”
I nodded before he finished speaking. I would do anything to help rescue Father. If that meant being bait, well… I would more than happily do it. My body shivered at the thought of Nick kidnapping me again. Antony squeezed my fingers at just the right time, calming me with his presence.
“There’ll be two of us guarding you at all times. Just try not to go out in public on your own. That includes you, Antony. Nick has been known to kill our mates in the past.”
My mouth dropped open at the same time as the corner of Antony’s lip lifted. “Yes.” Clearing his throat, Antony glanced at me. “I’ve had a good long talk with your father about everything. I’m pretty clued up on the curse now.”
“Do you think Bev and Derek will be all right?” I asked, choosing to ignore Alex’s morbid information. “Daniel, the warlock who tried to seduce me, knows where Father lives and he’s probably told Nick.”
Antony’s eyes widened. “I had forgotten about Daniel.”
Stepping away from the group, he pulled out his phone and dialled a number.
“That might be the ideal place to lure him to,” Alex said.
“No answer. Derek always answers his phone. There’s something wrong, we need to go back.”
“Wait.” Lee held up a hand. “We need to finalise everything.”
Blinking, I watched them as they spoke. They arranged it between them, setting up a plan that I couldn’t really follow. All I could think about was Bev and Derek. They had to be safe. Surely, we were being paranoid? If Nick had managed to get to them, it was probably too late. He would do anything to throw us off track.
“Right,” Alex said. “I think we all know what we’re doing. Penny, you go with Antony. Take Lee and Theo, just in case.”
Grabbing my bag, I decided not to say goodbye to the girls. I didn’t want them to get involved. It was my fault Father had been kidnapped, I didn’t want to risk them being caught too.
“Penny, remember to keep your head,” Alex said as I was about to leave.
I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“Antony might have to fight and you’re going to have to let him.”
He knew me well. The idea of Antony being in danger had crossed my mind and I didn’t like it. A shudder moved through me as I glanced at the most important man in the world. Alex was right, I had to let him do his job. It was part of his mission to become a witch and join the last witch coven.
“I’ll be fine.”
“We can do this,” Antony whispered, waving to Alex as the door shut behind us.
Chapter Twenty One
“How does this sound?” Lee said, reading from his phone. “Trapped heart of sorrow beats, with tenderness and misery streaks…”
“I love it.”
Lee grinned and it was like the sun shone on my face. Antony squeezed my hand as I looked at him. The words resonated with us more than Lee knew. We’d had to face a lot of our inner demons so we could realise what we needed to do. At least now, the hard part was over. Well, kind of.
I had always been amazed at the lyrics that came from my brother. His personality was upbeat and rarely serious, yet, his songs spoke of a deeper nature that no one ever saw.
“Who do you think will find their soulmate next?” I asked when Lee sat back and tucked his phone away.
“Alex,” Theo mumbled as he chewed on a chocolate bar. A peanut flew out of his mouth and landed on the floor. “Sorry,” he muttered.
The train sped through stations on the way back to Surrey. My gaze caught on the green scenery as it whizzed past.
Raising my eyebrows when Theo shoved the rest of the bar into his mouth, I shook my head. “Why do you think it’s Alex?”
He shrugged as he swallowed. “Because he’s already met his.”
Lee nodded his agreement. Why hadn’t I known about this?
“He has no idea, though.” Theo clicked open a can of fizzy drink and downed it.
“How can he not know?” Antony said.
It had only been a few hours since the newfound human witch had admitted that he was my soul-match. Had he forgotten about the last few months?
“Did you know when you met Penny?” Theo wiggled his eyebrows in question.
Antony looked away from him. “Deep down, somewhere, I did, but I fought against it,” he said, stroking my palm with his thumb.
The train slowed, coming to a stop. “This is it,” I said, anxious to get off the train.
There had still been no word from Derek or Bev, which was freaking me out. The warlocks had Father. If they got the others too, there was a real chance they could use Derek as bait to trap Antony.
The grimoire had noted that once a couple had united, the warlocks could no longer break the bond. Without Father or Mother, we had no idea if Antony and I were successful. We had to be cautious, in case that binding hadn’t happened yet. Who knew what it was supposed to feel like?
“What do you think Alex is doing?” Theo walked beside us as we alighted the train and commandeered a taxi, asking the driver to take us to Father’s hou
se. “Just because he’s the witch, doesn’t mean he’s going to fall into it that easily.”
“Yeah, Alex is probably fighting it, too,” Antony said, giving me a secret smile. “I hope Derek is okay. I still can’t get hold of him.”
A shiver ran over my body and the others saw it.
“That means something’s not right,” Theo said.
Lee nodded. “Yeah. Penny has this freaky intuition that she never listens to. In fact, if I want to know something, I should ask Penny and see how her body reacts.”
“I don’t know if I like the sound of that,” Antony mumbled.
Waving a dismissive hand, I shushed them as the taxi pulled into the street. The driver stopped before we got to the house, eyeing us with a frown as we each climbed out.
My skin started to tingle, my stomach knotting in twists. Derek and Bev were in danger, I simply knew it.
“We need to be careful,” I whispered to the others.
“Why are we whispering?” Lee ducked down to my height.
I pushed him as Antony put an arm around me. “You’re really shaking, love, what’s wrong?”
My whole body heated at the endearment. The blast of warmth echoed through my muscles, relaxing them. He had never called me a pet name before.
“So cute…” Lee sang.
Theo rolled his eyes and turned away from us. “Come on, we’ve got to get on with it.”
“Just tried Derek again,” Antony said, looking down the street towards Father’s home. “Still no answer.”
We grew serious, each looking at one another. We hadn’t had to face the warlocks much yet. However, it seemed that they were truly making themselves our enemies now.
“Do we sneak in? Or shall we pretend that we have no idea that something’s wrong?” I asked.
“You two go to the front door. You’re probably expected. We’ll go round the back and try to see what we can,” Theo said, studying the house.
The rest of us agreed and separated. Quivers rocked my insides as Antony and I walked down the street, hand in hand.
“Try not to look so scared,” Antony said. “We’ve got this.”
I glared up at him, slightly peeved that he’d read my face so well. The smile on his face made my defences melt as he reached up and smoothed the lines on my forehead with his finger.
“Am I that obvious?” I asked, deliberately trying to appear normal as we neared the gate.
“I can tell exactly what you’re thinking.”
“Really…? Can you tell what I’m thinking now?”
He glanced down at me, his back muscles going rigid. Okay, so it wasn’t the ideal time to be playful, but I had to do something to calm my nerves. However, Antony was too busy worrying about what was going on inside the house. And rightly so. If I didn’t get out of my head, I wouldn’t be ready to fight if needed.
“You’re thinking that when this is done, I’m going to take you to bed and ravish you.”
The gasp that left my mouth echoed around us. What was he talking about? I was innocent. I hadn’t imagined us entwined- no, not at all. This was not the time to be thinking about these things. What was the man doing to me?
Pulling me into his arms, Antony chuckled forcefully.
“What are you doing?” I squeaked, before his lips came down and briefly crushed mine.
“I’m tricking them into believing that we have no idea they’re in there. I’m also taking advantage of your weird mood. It’s not often you tease me.”
My stomach flipped as I tugged his head down to kiss me again. My phone beeped with a text, forcing me to let him go. It was probably Lee or Theo.
“You’ll soon discover that will change now that we’re together,” I said, flicking out my tongue and licking his lips.
“So you’re a bit of a tease under all that seriousness, are you?” he whispered against my ear as he held me to his chest.
“Well-”
Another text beeped on my phone. We untangled from one another, righting our clothes and looking towards the house. It was quiet, the pretty facade highlighted by the sun. Antony pulled my phone from my pocket, checking the messages.
“That’s Theo asking what the bloody hell we’re doing snogging in the middle of a rescue mission.”
“He has no idea, does he? We’ve got to make it look convincing.”
Sharing a small smile, we opened the gate and made our way to the front door, pretending to laugh at nothing as we knocked.
“Play along with me, okay?” he whispered as the door opened a crack.
Bev greeted us with a smile on her face. It was false. Her whole body shook, her free hand clasped by her side.
“Bev, we’re home!” Antony said, slightly over friendly and a little obvious, in my opinion.
Nodding, Bev blinked several times as the door started to inch open.
“How are you?” I asked, following Antony as Bev let go of the door and stepped back to allow us past.
When Antony was next to the door, he thrust his whole weight against it. The door crushed the person behind it against the wall. There was a grunt and Bev shrieked as we both ran into the hallway.
There was another man at the top of the stairs, holding a gun aimed straight at Antony. “Stay where you are!” he shouted.
We froze, not daring to move. My muscles started to shake, my stomach rolling over and over. We had been right, the warlocks had found where my Father lived.
Clearing her throat, Bev frowned at me, her gaze flicking to the open door.
“Bev, come here,” the man ordered, obviously seeing her check out the quickest escape route.
“Do as he says,” I whispered to her.
The warlock in the black outfit looked like he wouldn’t be afraid to shoot her if she tried to run.
“What’s going on?” Antony called.
“Close the door, Bev,” the man shouted abruptly.
She did as she was told, tears streaking down her face. The man behind it was sprawled on the floor, his eyes closed. Antony had managed to knock him out.
Antony glanced at me, licking his lips. “I’ve brought Penny in exchange for her father,” he said, looking up to the warlock, who slowly trot towards the top of the stairs. “I spoke to Nick and he told me to bring her here.”
Biting my lip, I kept my expression clear. Our fooling around outside hadn’t matched Antony’s explanation for being there. If they had seen us, they would know he was lying. I really hoped he knew what he was doing.
“I told Nick that I didn’t want to be with her,” Antony said when the other man grunted.
“Really…? Why wouldn’t you want to be with her? She’s gorgeous in a strange sort of way. Although, witches are hard work.” The man was young, his dark eyes showing no sign of aging.
I wondered at Nick’s intelligence. Did he trust these men or were they the only option he had? I didn’t know that much about the warlocks. Maybe there weren’t many of them left either.
“What do you mean, in a strange sort of way?” I said.
Antony glared at me. Oops, I wasn’t meant to say anything. It was hard to ignore such a comment from a stranger, especially a warlock. Still, Antony was right, I shouldn’t actually care what the warlock thought of me.
“I’ve watched you. You dress in random clothes and you’re a little weird. Still, I’d give you a go.”
An involuntary laugh bubbled up my chest, drawing the man’s attention. It was cut off when a gunshot echoed around us. Grunting, the warlock clutched his chest and fell to the balcony floor.
Ducking as Bev screamed, I put my hands over my head, looking at Antony to check he was okay. His gun was clutched in his shaking hand, aimed towards where the man had been standing.
“Antony…?” My heart stopped. Well, not literally, but almost.
“No man, let alone a warlock, ever speaks like that about my woman.” Antony grunted, pulled out his phone and tapped a message. I assumed that he had texted the boys outside.
My insides quivered as I stared. Blood had spurted from the man’s chest, spraying over the wall nearby. How could Antony shoot someone so coldheartedly?
My throat was so dry, I found it hard to swallow. “Are there any more of them?” I whispered to Bev.
She was crouched on the stairs, hugging her knees to her chest. She came and wrapped her arms around me. “Yes, there’s another one guarding Derek. They’ve been here since you left this morning. He was told not to leave his post, regardless of what he heard.”
Patting her back, I watched Antony as he crept up the stairs, his gun aimed in front of him. Once he reached the top, he bent over the man, checking for a pulse. Looking down at me, he shook his head.
Bile rose in my throat. Antony had killed someone because they’d called me weird. What would the police think? Would he go to prison?
“We need to get you out of here,” I said as Bev pulled away from me.
Lee and Theo came in the front door, making us both jump. Antony gestured for them to follow him upstairs. They passed us, indicating that we should stay put. My blood ran cold at the thought of them being in danger. Bev’s eyes widened when she saw the tall lads disappear from the balcony, making their way to Derek’s bedroom.
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
I patted her back, trying to reassure her. “It’s okay, Bev-” I started.
The blunted sound of an impact vibrated next to me and Bev slouched to the ground. Opening my mouth to scream, I tried to turn to see who had stuck her.
“Don’t move, don’t say a word.” The hiss of a voice filtered into my ears, forcing me to stop.
I didn’t recognise the voice. It was muffled, as if someone had a scarf or something around their mouth.
The breath on my cheek made me shudder. My heart thundered, my body frozen in place. Maybe if I concentrated enough, I could use my magic to create ice again. Not that ice was a great weapon against the warlocks, not really.
Chasing Magic: The Last Witch Coven Book 1 Page 20