Fourth Rite: A Reverse Harem Tale (Lovin' the Coven Book 4)

by Jacquelyn Faye

  "Not if he's using that."

  "Nah. It's not very good for beating eggs." I stepped in front of him, cutting off her view. No need to scar the poor girl.

  She shook her head and smiled up at me. "What is he making?"

  "Crepes."

  "Yes, please!"

  "See? She appreciates my cooking."

  "She hasn't tried it yet."

  "Fine. You ladies sit and I shall be your chef for the morning."

  "Coffee, Candace?"

  Instead of answering, she grabbed my mug and a clean one and started making us both a cup. I should have known she wouldn't let me do it. I grabbed my mug out of the machine and drained it before setting it back down.

  "Can't waste the magic bean juice."

  "Is that what you two were doing in the kitchen?"

  I blinked at her. In surprise. She made a sexual innuendo charged joke. "Uh…"

  Her smile faded and she looked at me guiltily. "Lady, I–"

  "Don't! That was funny and awesome and totally unexpected!"

  I held up my hand for a high-five.

  She just stared at it.

  "So close and yet, so far." I grabbed her wrist and slapped her hand against mine. I realized something. "What are you doing up so early?"

  "I was having difficulty sleeping."

  "Josie snoring?" I grabbed my now full mug from the machine.

  "No. I am nervous about our journey."

  "I know. I am, too. But, when the lady demands…"

  "I know."

  "I wish I could go with you guys."

  I looked at Jimmy dumping measured cups of flour into my blender. I guess it really did serve another purpose other than supplying Josie with Margaritas. When I bought it, she listed all the things that we could do with it, but to date…that had been its sole role.

  "Maybe next time."

  "I just wanted to see your reaction around all the hot guy elves."

  "Yeah. Due to recent events in my life, the odds of me ever bedding an elf have gone from slim to none." Half-elves, maybe.

  "What about marrying the dark elf king?'

  I was sorry I'd told him about it. "Shut up."

  He laughed and hit frappe on the blender. The mixture spun and I fought the urge to plug my ears. I understood their purpose was to liquify anything put inside of them, but I just wished they could do it with a more pleasant sound.

  Maybe I should start selling magical blenders. I bet people with hangovers would appreciate that for making breakfast smoothies. Nice and quiet.

  "When are we leaving?" Candace asked as soon as the blending stopped.

  "Well, we'll ask his heinous when he wakes up. I'll text Shea to be ready."

  "Want me to?"

  "You have Shea's number?"

  "Yes. We have been talking."

  Growl. "You have?"

  "Yes."

  "About?"

  Her lips curved in an ironic smile. "Lady… You are jealous?"

  "Whaaat? No."

  "That means 'yes' in Ancient Dorothean," Jimmy said from the kitchen, ignoring the blender full of batter in his hand and watching our exchange. "She totally is!"

  "Nuh uh."

  "Fear not, Lady. We were discussing our fae heritage. My heart belongs to the woman in the other room."

  "I know. I wasn't jealous."

  "She was."

  "Shut up, Chef."

  He chuckled as he set the blender down by the stove and searched for a pan.

  "Cabinet next to the stove."

  "Thanks."

  Candace got up and padded softly into her bedroom, returning with her pink cellphone in her hand. She finished typing as she sat back down at the table, flashing me another smile. "I told him."

  "Thanks, Candace. And sorry for the jelly monster."

  She got back up and walked around the table, hugging me tightly. "I do not like men," she whispered in my ear.

  "I know," I whispered back and giggled. "You were staring pretty intently at Jimmy's man-whisk, though."

  She blushed. "It's been a long time since I have seen one. Unpleasant memories were flooding back, and I was trying to face them."

  Open mouth insert foot up to calf. I'm a fucking idiot. Yes, I am.

  "Candace…"

  She interrupted me with a hand over my mouth. "Not your fault."

  I nodded and she pulled her hand from my mouth. "Sorry, still."

  She sat back down and picked up her mug, pausing when her phone vibrated. She held it out for me to read.

  Be there shortly.

  "Well, it' s a little early, but at least we'll all be here."

  The shadow on the wall behind Candace darkened and a hand appeared, followed by a cloaked Shea.

  "Just in time for breakfast."

  He blinked and looked around, orienting himself. "Greetings, Lady."

  "Hey, Shea." That was more fun to say than it sounded. "Hungry?"

  "No. But you have my thanks."

  "Do you even eat?" Jimmy flipped a crepe and rolled it on the long thin spatula before transferring it to a plate.

  "The shadows provide me with all the sustenance I require."

  That stopped Jimmy. He stood there in front of the counter and stared at Shea. "No freaking way…"

  "I jest. I ate a plate of fruit and cheese when I woke."

  Jimmy narrowed his eyes, and Shea and Candace both started laughing, Shea's just a little deeper but still cute. Jimmy finally got over it and deposited a plate of crepes in front of me. Candace got up and got the jug of Nutella and a knife for me.

  "You're going to drown my flavorful and delicate crepes with what looks like baby sh–"

  "Don't finish that sentence."

  "–owers are fun. Want to have one when you finish eating, baby?"

  "Nice attempt at a save."

  "I thought so. How many crepes, Candace?"

  "One is enough. Thank you, Jimmy."

  I took a bite without hazelnut spread and groaned. "Give her two."

  She opened her mouth to protest but I held up my hand. "You'll thank me later."

  She sighed and stuck her finger in the Nutella before popping it in her mouth. "Mmm."

  "Hey. Get a spoon, we know where that finger's been," Jimmy said and wiggled his eyebrows.

  Candace's face turned sixty-shades of red.

  "I do not understand," Shea said confusedly.

  "Well, you see, Shea… When a girl loves another girl, quite often–"

  "Don't finish that sentence, either." I paused from spreading Nutella to glare at Jimmy over my shoulder.

  "Oh," Shea said with a blush, not quite the same shades as Candace's.

  I was going to drown in cuteness.

  I tore into my perfected meal. "Oh, my goddess."

  Jimmy grinned. "Good?"

  "Fanfuckingtastic. Holy shit. You're hired."

  "Jason works for you. If I did, too, how much work do you think would actually get done?"

  "Who cares?"

  "I like that answer."

  "It was the only answer."

  By the time he brought Candace's crepes, I was finished and wanting more. I handed him my plate and he cocked an eyebrow at me. "And you wanted toast," he said with a throaty chuckle.

  "No. I was going to suffer through toast, thank you for teaching me the errors of my ways."

  "You're welcome." He leaned in and gave me a kiss. "Wow. You taste better than the crepes."

  "Sweet talker."

  "Sweet lips."

  "Sweet ass."

  "Sweeter ass."

  Kill me or send me back to Gehenna. Dar whined.

  Behind Jimmy, Dar was sitting on the couch and staring at us over the arm. "You're just jealous, Darling. Hungry?"

  Yes.

  "Instead of me, could you whip up a batch for Dar? No Nutella, though. Chocolate is bad for doggies."

  Jimmy smiled and headed back to the kitchen. Dar jumped off the arm of the couch and followed him.

&n
bsp; Smiling, I turned back to the table and saw the curious look Shea was giving me. It reminded me of Dar staring at crepes. "What?"

  He shook his head and hid behind his cowl a little more. I hadn't noticed, but he'd been lifting his head, exposing more of his face than usual, since he entered my breakfast nook. "Sorry."

  "What for?"

  "Staring."

  "Is not a crime. Stare away. I kind of like it."

  Even hiding his face, I could see the smile that plastered itself on his lips. "Thank you."

  "If I give you some sunglasses, will you take that cloak off?"

  "The light goes around the edges."

  Candace stood up and pulled the curtains over the window, lowering the sunny levels of the room. She even ran over to the sliding glass door and closed the blinds.

  "Thank you."

  It was dark enough for him to be a little more comfortable. He pulled the hood back and stood, letting the cloak fall behind him and deftly catching it with his hands. He folded it in half and placed it over the back of the chair.

  He was dressed for Faerie in a rough spun tunic style shirt and leather pants. Leather freaking pants. He looked…incredible. Incredibly edible. I wanted a nibble. I let out a sigh that was audible. "You look nice."

  "Thank you, Lady."

  "It wouldn't kill you to call me Dot."

  "It may, for such a beautiful name cast from my unworthy lips might be the actual death of me."

  Oh, fuck me. He's fighting dirty.

  "Say it."

  "You wish me to perish?"

  "I wish to hear my name from your lips."

  He leaned toward me, but not close enough. I cursed the small table between us. "Yes, Dot." He made my name a breath of need. I shivered involuntarily.

  "I think she liked it." Candace was happily forking small pieces of crepe into her mouth and watching the exchange like a tennis match on television. She smiled and licked a stray bit of Nutella from her fork.

  "Oh, I did."

  Shea leaned back, a small worried look on his face as he cast nervous looks at Jimmy, happily cooking and giving Dar a play by play of his cooking methods.

  "Don't worry about that one. He's happy as long as he gets to watch. Or I tell him about it later."

  "If it were a chance to merely stand by you, I would brave an audience of a thousand."

  "Did you google 'how-to pick-up chicks' before you came over? Cuz I'm going to be honest, it's working."

  He smiled and blushed again.

  The fork fell from Candace's hand and a glazed look filled her eyes just before they started to glow with a golden light.

  Shit.

  At least she didn't start floating in my kitchen. "Greetings, Daughter."

  Putting my hands together, I bowed respectfully. "My Lady."

  "Be at ease." She reached down and cut a piece of crepe off and popped it into Candace's mouth. "Wonderful! Gently seasoned with the love that one has in his heart for you." She pointed at an incredulous Jimmy, holding the pan and spatula in each hand, not knowing what to do.

  Shea backed his seat up, stood and bowed, not daring to meet her eyes.

  "We're leaving for Faerie, today," I told her. In case she didn't know. I knew she probably knew, being a god and all, I just wanted to make sure she knew.

  The goddess nodded. "I know of your plans. You did not think of an integral point before leaving."

  "I did? I mean, I didn't?" I felt like an idiot.

  "Nay. You are bound to all of those who will travel with you, save this one." She reached over and stroked Shea's cheek.

  Surprisingly enough, the jelly monster didn't rear its ugly head. Hard to get jealous of a goddess, though. Especially when she can smite thee and all that.

  "You wish me to bind myself to him?"

  "Nay. You should bind him to the coven before you go."

  Oh. That's much less fun.

  "But, it's daylight…" I didn't think the ritual would work with the sun up. That is the Lord's territory.

  "And the moon is still in the sky."

  "Oh." I nodded appreciatively. Even the sun and the moon shared the sky at times. "It will be done, Lady."

  "Dot?"

  The light had faded from Candace's eyes and she was staring at us, bewildered. "Welcome back, Candace."

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  "You sure about this, Dot?" Chief glared at me over the makeshift altar I'd pieced together in my back yard. He, Jason, and Dwight were the only other members of the Coven I'd been able to round up on such short notice.

  "About what?"

  "First, performing the ritual without the entire coven."

  "No choice. You tell the Lady no."

  "Good point."

  "Second point?"

  "You. Blood. Bindings. You trying to make another familiar out of a witch?"

  "Pshah!"

  "I'm serious."

  "Can't be done."

  "You said that about vampires and demons, too."

  "I'm serious. Witches are the binders, not the bindees. Is that a word? We'll just go with bound."

  "Okay. I've said my piece. Now when something goes horribly wrong, you can't blame me."

  "Probably will, anyway."

  "I don't doubt it. But at least I can throw an I told you so out there. Everybody heard my objections, right?" He looked around my back yard. Every head was shaking. "Traitors!" At least he chuckled in the face of mutiny.

  "Shea? You ready?"

  "What did he mean?" He was staring at me, worriedly.

  "Don't worry. He thinks I'm going to turn you into my familiar."

  "Oh. That might not be so bad…"

  Chief blinked and stared at him, openmouthed. "You quite sure about that, Shea?"

  "Positively certain." He looked back up at me. "Would I be allowed to curl up in your lap?"

  That image sent happy little thoughts to all the wrong places. Well, technically they were the right places, just at the wrong time.

  With a thought and a word, I ignited the circle around us, a shield flaring over my property and hiding us from the prying eyes and ears of my neighbors. The neighbors who had yet to introduce themselves. Not that I blamed them. I full on realized I was the creepy crazy neighbor to be avoided. For now. But come Halloween… I'd have all the kids lined up for my planned haunted house. That and the king sized candy bars I gave out every year. I guess I couldn’t complain about the neighbors too much. I hadn't introduced myself yet, either. I'd have to bake them some fruitcakes for Christmas. That would earn me some brownie points. I'd make them brownies, but I didn't need to score anymore fruitcake points with them. I'd already blown up the neighborhood once.

  Jimmy ignited the fire in the hastily erected firepit in the middle of my frost encrusted lawn. The air around us began to warm and another spell took the last bite of chill from the air. It was the best we could do without a bonfire.

  I took off my cloak and set it next to the altar. Everyone else shuffled out of pants and shirts. One of Jason's first jobs had been to order cloaks for the entire coven as a gift from me for Yule. They still hadn't showed up and I was starting to panic.

  "Greetings, Coven of the First Moon."

  "Greetings, Lady."

  "We are gathered today to bring new blood into our fold. What say thee?"

  "Aye," they all said in unison, voicing no objections.

  "Shea Donovan, step forth."

  He stepped from the circle and stood before me. I smiled at him and grabbed the scian from the altar. He held out his hand and I gently grasped his wrist. The plan was to bind him to me as I was bound to the coven. This was an abbreviated rite, hence Chief's worry. I knew in my heart nothing was going to happen. I hoped. Okay, maybe I was a little worried, but I wasn't going to tell the pompous boy scout that. But it was better to find out now, than when I had to bind other individual members of the coven. It was hard to get all of us together on short notice. People had lives. Even witches.

  "It
is time. Do you, Shea, wish to be forever more, bound to the Coven of the First Moon? Do you accept me as your high priestess, severing all binding ties laid down before?"

  "I do."

  I gently sliced across his palm, letting his dark blood flow freely into the copper bowl between us.

  "I, as your high priestess, gladly welcome you. May we always be your home."

  I sliced my own hand and tilted my hand over the bowl. Nothing fell in. Turning my hand back over, I saw the wound had already closed.

  Well, this is awkward.

  I tried it again, the shallow cut healing almost as fast as the blade passing through it.

  Shit.

  I braced myself, driving the blade through the palm of my hand, and nearly crying out as the pain traveled up my arm.

  Son of a bitch.

  Everyone around us surged forward, thinking I had lost my mind. Maybe I had, but the freaking blood was finally flowing. I just had to hold the tip of the dagger over the bowl. My blood dribbled into his. When enough had fallen, I pulled the knife from my hand and stared at the wound, angrily, until it closed.

  I wiggled my fingers to make sure everything still worked. Shea was staring at me in awe. Ignoring the feeling in my chest, I swirled the tip of the dagger in the bowl of blood.

  "As our blood mingles may the ties that bind be freely embraced."

  I picked up the bowl and brought it to Shea's lips. His eyes had been mostly closed as he squinted painfully in the sunlight. I wished we could have waited until sundown, but thought it best not to put off what you were commanded to do. As soon as the blood touched his lips, his eyes opened all the way and he gave a little gasp.

  Here goes nothing.

  "As you have taken us into you, so shall we drink from you." I grimaced as the rapidly cooling magical mojito hit my tongue, the already coppery taste magnified by the copper vessel.

  His name wasn't Shea Donovan. That was the name he gave himself as he stepped off the boat from Ireland over a hundred and fifty years ago. His true name was Shelandriel Veth. He wasn't just fae blooded, he was half elf. Half dark elf to be exact, and it was from his father that he inherited his shadow walking ability. He came from a family of assassins. His mother was a witch. When she saw he had been born with the runes covering his body, she feared for him and ran before the father could take note. They weren't originally from Ireland, they were from France. She'd gone to Ireland to hide. Unfortunately, that is where his father found them. His mother sacrificed herself to give Shea the time he needed to escape and flee to the New World. In one last great explosion, she made sure the father would never be able to chase his child again.