Your mother knows how you feel and remember, she is here with us. She watches over you as best as she can. She knows you loved her and your father, Esmara said.
Esmara was one of the Ladies, my ancestors on my mother’s side—all strong witch women who came back to guard and guide those of us who were alive. Esmara had been my great-aunt, and she was my personal guardian. My aunt Teran was watched over by Prue, one of Esmara’s sisters. I suddenly wondered if my mother had talked to the Ladies while she was alive. It only made sense.
Esmara, who among you watched over my mother?
I did. And so I watch over you, as well.
Tell my mother I miss her. Do you know if my father is still around?
No, love. He’s moved on through the Veil.
My mood shifted and I felt unaccountably sad. If he really was gone, I’d never talk to him again. Once someone moved through the Veil, they were usually gone for good. Feeling a little morose, I turned back to the trunks and Ari.
“All right, let’s get started on these.” I randomly picked one and we set to sorting through the items. Most of the contents consisted of old china and knickknacks that were family mementos. But I also knew that I’d never use most of it, and I hated just packing things away.
“All of this can go,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m not keeping stuff I will never use, and that I don’t have an attachment to just because they’re family history.” I paused, picking up a gorgeous perfume bottle. “This, however, I’ll keep. I have a feeling I’m going to be starting a perfume bottle collection!”
“You think there’s a djinn inside?” Ari asked, grinning.
“I hope not. One was enough.” I popped the top and sniffed. “Ooo, whoever wore this, liked spicy perfume.” I set it aside. “I wonder how Rameer is doing. I hope he comes back to visit like he said he would.” I had freed a djinn trapped in a perfume bottle that I had bought at a thrift store, and after we located his original bottle, he had gone home to his own realm.
“I hope he’s okay. I liked him.” Ari held up a pair of tarnished silver candlesticks. “What about these?”
“Give away,” I said, shaking my head. “I mostly use battery-operated candles due to Xi and Klaus. And when I use actual candles with candle holders, I prefer crystal.” My kittens were barely four months old and far too curious. Candles that produced actual flame I reserved for ritual use, and I scrupulously made sure they were extinguished when I was done.
We had worked our way through eight of the ten trunks when I paused, frowning. I looked around. Something felt off, though I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. I listened, hard, but heard nothing. A glance around the room gave me no clue, but it felt like a shadow had fallen across the afternoon.
“What time is it?”
Ari glanced at her phone. “It’s almost four. We’ve been at it nearly four hours.”
“Let’s take a break. I’m tired,” I said, setting down the crystal bowl I had just found. It was beautiful. “This is pretty,” I said, holding it up. A delicate rose pattern wound around the side. “But I have one that’s almost identical.”
Ari’s eyes widened. “That’s gorgeous. Meagan would love it.”
I handed it to her. “Then give it to her with my regards.”
“Are you sure?” She took the crystal bowl, examining it. “This looks old.”
“I’m sure. It’s lovely, but I doubt if I’d use it.”
We headed down the steps, Ari carrying the bowl. At the bottom, there were three big bags of things to give away, not counting everything I was planning to ask Killian to carry down from the attic. I did one last sweep, making sure the kittens hadn’t gotten themselves up there when we weren’t looking, and closed up the trap door for the time being.
“We’ll finish later, just leave the stepstool here,” I said, wiping my brow. Even as clean as the attic had been, I felt grungy and dusty.
We stopped in my bathroom to wash our hands and faces, and then headed downstairs for more coffee and a snack. As I pulled shots for the lattes, my mood began to lighten, and I found myself breathing easier. Whatever cloud had sent me into a spiral had vanished, and once again, I relaxed and was able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon, talking to Ari about her wedding plans.
That evening, Killian and I returned to the attic. He had been working at the clinic all day—he was a veterinarian—and after Ari left, I had made dinner. While he was also my next-door neighbor, we spent at least three to four nights together each week.
“Love, how are you?” he asked, entering the kitchen. We had passed the key-milestone, and had exchanged keys to each other’s homes.
“Tired. We made a lot of headway, but I need your help carrying things down from the attic that were too heavy or bulky for Ari and me.” I glanced at the oven and set the timer for forty-five minutes. “Lasagna will be ready within the hour, and I made a salad.”
“Today’s the new moon, don’t you have a ritual to perform?”
I shook my head. “I’ll meditate later, but I want to get the attic taken care of tonight, if possible.”
Killian kissed me on the nose, then motioned for me to follow him. “Let’s get busy then.”
Killian O’Connell was a bit taller than I was—I was five-nine—and he had curly, shoulder-length light brown hair and emerald green eyes. A small scar on his cheek gave him a slightly roguish look. He told me he had gotten it from treating a wounded lynx for a wildlife conservatory during his early days as a vet. He was muscled but not bulky, and I felt safe around him.
“You really did go through things,” he said, staring at the pile of items I was getting rid of that had been either too large or too delicate to put in the garbage bags.
“Yeah. While you start carrying them down, I think I’ll tackle the last two trunks tonight.” I glanced around and opened the nearest. To my surprise—and relief—it was empty.
That left a small trunk in the corner, one that had been hidden behind the rest of them. Something about it called to me, and I felt that same wave of uncertainty I had felt earlier. Frowning, I picked up the surprisingly heavy chest and hoisted it over to the crafting table. The chest was about the size of a small footlocker—about two feet long, and fifteen inches both deep and high. It was shaped like an old-fashioned treasure chest, and there was a padlock on it.
“I wonder where the key is for this,” I said. I glanced at Killian. “Can you pick the lock?”
“What makes you think I can pick locks at all?” he asked, laughing. “I’m a veterinarian, not a thief.”
“You never know what talents someone has unless you ask,” I said, grinning. “If you can’t pick it, can you bust it?”
He examined the padlock. “Do you have any bolt cutters?”
I thought through what I had seen in the garage. “If I do, they were my father’s, and they would be in his work area. Let me go look.”
Leaving him with the chest, I dashed down the stairs, then into the kitchen, to the door leading into the garage. Once in the garage, I poked around the tool bench. My father had been extremely organized and I found the bolt cutters right away. They were hanging on the peg board in back of the bench. I grabbed them, along with a crowbar—it seemed like a good idea—and headed back up to the attic.
Killian took the cutters and snapped the padlock as though it were butter. Shifters were incredibly strong, and with the right tool, they could break through a number of things humans couldn’t. Or even those of us with witchblood. He set the cutters aside and motioned to me.
“Your chest. You do the honors.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Silly man,” I said, but I slowly lifted the lid. Most of the chests hadn’t been locked, and that this one had been alerted my attention. I felt pulled toward the chest, as though there was something magical inside, or something important that I needed to see.
The first thing I noticed was that there were initials carved on the inside of the lid: C.O.
“ ‘C.O.’? Who’s that?” I tried to remember my family history, but nothing stood out. Of course, this might have belonged to someone who wasn’t part of the family, but it would be odd that the trunk would be among my parents’ belongings.
Inside the trunk, the contents were wrapped in green velvet. The material lined the chest and had been folded over whatever was inside. I cautiously opened the top flaps, only to find myself staring at a dagger in a sheath, a leatherbound book, and a ring. The silver ring had a bear’s head on it, and it was exquisitely detailed. The eyes of the bear were inset emeralds, and as I reached for it, a humming made me stop.
“What is it?” Killian asked, craning his neck to see.
“I don’t know—there’s strong magic in this chest,” I said. I picked up the ring out and automatically slid it on my right index finger. It fit perfectly, and I instantly felt a glow of protection and fierceness surround me. Next, I lifted the dagger and slid it out of the leather sheath. The hilt of the dagger was made of bog oak. The hilt fit my hand perfectly, and I raised the blade, which was at least thirteen inches long and made of polished bronze. The dagger sang to me, and I felt something shift as I held it.
“Who owned this?” I whispered.
“Maybe it’s in the book?” Killian asked.
The black hand-tooled leather felt smooth under my fingers as I lifted the book out of the chest. I opened the book to the first page and there, in a curving script, I read “Colleen O’Leary Fletcher.” I flipped through the pages briefly but I already knew what this was.
“This belonged to my great-grandmother Colleen—who helped found Moonshadow Bay,” I said. “This is her dagger, her ring, and her book of shadows.” And right then, I knew that I had found a treasure beyond riches.
Chapter Two
Killian carried everything downstairs. While he arranged the things I was donating in the garage, I sat at the kitchen table with my great-grandma Colleen’s diary, dagger, and ring. Finding them had taken me aback. I wasn’t quite sure what to think. Why had my mother kept them locked away instead of using them or displaying them? And it seemed odd that these things had been packed away up in the attic, since Colleen had been one of the founders of Moonshadow Bay, and the items might be better off displayed at the local museum.
But the moment I thought about it, I blew off the idea. That seemed terribly disrespectful, given they were ritual gear.
“Are you going to read it?” Killian asked, returning from the garage. The timer interrupted him and I set the dagger and the book where they wouldn’t chance getting splattered. I retrieved the lasagna from the oven, popping the cheesy French bread under the broiler for a few minutes before taking it out. Killian set the table and opened a bottle of red wine I had on the counter, filling two goblets.
“I want to…but I feel oddly shy.” I shook my head. “I can’t tell you why, but it feels like the moment I open that book, I’m going to be dragged into something I won’t be able to stop.” I dished out a hearty serving of lasagna. “So, how did the clinic go today?”
Killian was a veterinarian who loved his work. The fact that he cared about animals so much endeared him to me even more. And even though he was a wolf shifter, he had a predilection for cats. He adored my pair, and they took advantage of that every time he was over.
“It was hard,” he said, shrugging. “We had to put down a dog today. The poor thing leapt the fence and ran out in the road just as a truck came long. The driver tried to stop, but couldn’t, and the dog…well…sometimes there’s no fixing the damage.”
I winced. “That’s so hard. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, so was I. The owner tried—the fence was sturdy, but the dog was a good jumper and I guess he saw something he wanted to chase. These are the days that make it difficult. But I help when I can, that evens things out.” He leaned back, taking a long sip of his wine. “So, remember a couple months ago when I told you my sister wanted to come visit once she was up and around?”
I froze, my fork in midair. “Yeah…?” Killian had also told me she wanted to meet me and spend some time getting to know me.
“She’ll be here on Monday. I thought we could take her to dinner Monday night.”
Even though I wanted to meet her, part of me was afraid to. Shifter Packs and Prides tended to frown on intra-marriage—marriage between different species, so to speak—and some of them were even against intra-dating. But I couldn’t tell Killian that. I didn’t want him to think I was expecting a proposal, or that I didn’t want to meet his family because I was a snob.
“Sure. What kind of food does she like?”
“Tally’s got fairly simple tastes. She’ll be happiest with a burger and fries.” He grinned. “Made in the USA, so to speak.”
“Then we can go to Lucky’s. They make the best burgers in town.” I forced a smile.
“You’re upset,” Killian said. “I can smell the shift.”
Damn it. Shifters, especially wolf shifters, could smell the differences in body chemistry when their mates were upset, amorous, or afraid. Over the past couple months I had started to feel as though I was a living mood ring.
“No, not upset…” I paused.
“Then what? You can tell me,” he said, frowning.
“I just… I know how some shifter families don’t take to intra-species dating. I’m witchblood, you’re a shifter.”
“My parents and my sister aren’t going to dislike you just because you’re a witch and not a shifter. Trust me, please. I wouldn’t ambush you like that—not if I thought Tally was going to be rude or anything of the sort.” He sounded grumpy and looked grumpier. “Give me more credit than that. I’m not going to set you up for a fall.”
I blushed. “I’m sorry, I never thought that. But you told me to tell you why I’m worried. Don’t bite my head off when I do.”
“I just… I thought you’d trust me more than that.” Now he sounded hurt and that irritated me.
I let out a long sigh. “Don’t twist my words. My worries have nothing to do with you. I’m concerned about how your relatives will feel about me. I have no fears that you’re planning to ambush me or set me up for a fall. The fact is that I’ve got a history of bad interactions with in-laws, remember? Ellison’s family hated the fact that I was witchblood, so I’m already skittish about this whole meet-the-family thing. I’d feel the same way if you were human or a puma shifter or whatever else is hanging out there in the woods.”
Killian shrugged, but I could tell he was still grumbly, and I felt my appetite vanish. We seldom argued, but now and then we had run across a definite difference of opinion. I had no desire for a volatile relationship, and he was usually pretty easygoing, but we were both stubborn and neither one of us was dewy fresh and new to the world of relationships.
“Fine,” he said, toying with his lasagna. “You don’t have to meet her.”
“Hold on there. I never said I didn’t want to meet your sister and you know it.” I leaned back, crossing my arms. “All I said was that I was nervous. Don’t you dare put words in my mouth.”
“All right, all right. But you act—”
I leaned forward, almost accidentally sticking my boob in my lasagna. “Stop right there. I am acting like what I am: A woman nervous about meeting her boyfriend’s family because she’s worried they won’t like her. Did it ever occur to you that the reason I’m nervous is because our relationship matters to me? Because you matter to me? Because I don’t want to disappoint them when I meet them?” I glared at him.
Killian froze, then slowly deflated from the puffy stance he had adopted. “I didn’t think of it like that.”
“Well, I’d appreciate it if you would start looking at it from my perspective.” I sighed and picked up my fork. “I just don’t want to feel like a failure or like I’ve let you down.”
“Love, I’m sorry,” he said, wincing as he reached across the table for my hand. “I would never look at you like a failure. Even if my family didn’t l
ike you, I wouldn’t blame you—unless you came out and called them names, or acted like an ass, and I know you too well to think you’d do that.”
“Oh, for…eat your dinner,” I said, gently disengaging my hand. “I’m too tired to argue over a misunderstanding.” A thought occurred to me and I checked my phone. “Well, sure enough, we entered Mercury retrograde a couple days ago. Misunderstandings, miscommunications, don’t sign contracts unless you read them carefully, watch appliances because they go on the fritz…all sorts of good stuff like that.”
Killian nodded, shoveling a forkful of lasagna in his mouth. He was a Taurus, born on May 8, and stubborn as the bull that was his sign, but he also had a good head on his shoulders and he was reasonable when someone pointed out his flawed thinking.
“Ah, that explains it,” he said. “My sister always has problems with misunderstandings and electronics during Mercury retrograde.” He paused for a moment, then added, “I really am sorry, January. I didn’t intentionally misunderstand what you said.”
“I suppose I could have been a little clearer, too. I really am looking forward to meeting Tally. I just hope she likes me.” I perked up again, feeling like we had just solved another minor roadblock on the path to what I hoped would be true love.
“She will,” Killian said, perking up. “My sister and I have always tended to like each other’s friends. Okay, so what are we doing tonight?”
“I’m taking a long bubble bath and then…” I paused. I loved having sex with Killian, but tonight I felt too tired, yet wired at the same time. I kept glancing over at Great-Grandma’s book of shadows. “I kind of just want to read her diary, if you don’t mind. It’s been a long day.”
Killian sighed, but it sounded like a sigh of relief. “Not a problem. I’m actually beat, too. Do you mind if I spend the night at my house? I want to do some laundry and I’ve got a bunch of email to answer and—”
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