by R. A. Boyd
Willow nodded and pushed her hair behind her ear. “Yes. They’ve been busy with Rogue clan activity. The Rogues took over two covens in two different states. Our coven was working to free the witches. I’ll have to call Sariel and let her know that it’s Samiyah leading the Rogues. What the hell would he want with two covens of witches?”
“Are they Coven of the Fallen members?” Teague asked, scratching his hand over his facial stubble. He looked weird. He’d lost a bet with Jax and had to cut off his mustache and beard, and now it was growing back. He looked like a teenaged boy entering puberty.
“No. Human covens. Not angels,” Willow said, answering Teague. She took a shaky breath and growled a wretched human sound. She shook her head and slammed her open palm on the table. “Ow. This is getting out of hand. Banishing a fallen angel who happens to be a formidable witch who also happens to be inhabiting the body of a fallen angel shifter who has enough rage to fuel a city? This is insane. Zeke and I will need at least two other witches to create and cast the spell.”
Cass cleared her throat and pulled her head up from the table where she’d been laying. “How long will that take?”
“I don’t know,” Willow said, her voice tired and edgy. She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “There is no spell. And we don’t have any way to see if it’ll work until we confront your brother— I mean, Samiyah. If it works, then great. If it doesn’t, he’ll know what we’re doing.”
Paige raised her hand. “I’ll help. And Simon said one of his ghost soul holder’s family members who wields gypsy magic is coming. Does gypsy magic count?”
“It should. Gypsy magic is old and powerful.” Willow mimicked Cass and put her head down on the table. “This really does suck. I don’t—”
A doorbell ringing sounded in the community hall. The protection spell they used to alert them of unknown intruders was still working.
“This should be fun,” Simon said, shaking his head and resisting the urge to run his claws along the oak table in front of him.
As he went to stand he heard Charlie whisper, “Dad?”
He turned to look at her, thinking she was talking at her phone, but when she got up and bolted out of the building he could see what caught her attention.
Ronin was standing outside with a man Simon had never seen before kneeling in front of him, and his mate was getting too close to both men.
His beast was scratching at his skin to get out and attack the man wearing his brother’s body. The beds of his nails ached as his claws broke through, and his body tingled with anticipation. No. He needed to keep his cool until his mate was safe.
“What are you doing?” Charlie screamed at Ronin.
Simon and the rest of his family carefully filed out of the hall, everyone silently understanding that Charlie was the only human among them. She was most vulnerable.
Ronin’s voice was heavy as he spoke. It wasn’t Ronin’s voice. Not really. Samiyah was there behind the words, talking to her.
“I’m doing you a kindness,” he said. A flat smile broke across his face as he looked between Charlie and her father. “I heard you the other night, telling your story of what your father tried to do to you. Of how he blames you for the death of your mother and brother. He came here to find you. And so I found him.”
He motioned toward Charlie’s father. His shoulders were wide and his waist was wider. Angry brown eyes moved between Charlie and Ronin. Skin only a few shades darker than Charlie’s shined with sweat as the light of the moon beat down on him. The shape and color of his eyes were just like Charlie’s.
Simon picked up his hand and extended it toward Charlie. She was too far away from him. Even as fast as he was, if he ran for her Ronin might hurt her.
“Baby,” Simon said as he split his attention between his mate and his brother. “Come back over here.”
Charlie’s father stared at her, fear and hatred emanated from him. Even though his life was in the balance, he still blamed her. He tried to speak, but only angry muffled sounds came from his closed mouth.
“What did you do to him?” she asked, inching closer to her father.
Damn-it, Charlie. That’s close enough. Why was she moving to him?
Ronin’s face teetered between a sneer and sorrowed glimpse as she moved closer. The war raging within him evident on his face and in his posture. “You should have heard the horrible things he said about you. I don’t know why it bothered me. Bothered us. He has no honor. He would kill you in your sleep.” He looked up at the rest of them, and hatred took him over. “Your brother hates all of you. Blames you. Knows you should be put down.”
Apparently not. Simon had the feeling that Ronin was the reason Charlie’s father was here. He had threatened a mate of the Ghost shifter clan and here he was, offering them a sacrifice like a house cat leaving a dead mouse at their owner’s bedroom door. His brother may not have been in control, but he was fighting like hell to gain his freedom.
Simon’s heart rammed against his sternum as he watched his mate move closer to death. A low snarl rumbled in his chest as Ronin stepped toward her, dragging her father along.
“That’s enough,” Simon roared. “I swear to the Creator, Ronin, if you hurt her I will gut you, and I don’t give a shit who’s in control of your body.”
Ronin’s eyes cleared for a moment. His body jerked as if he would vomit, but it all vanished just as suddenly as it had come. He took notice of them as they stood quietly, watching. Jax started to talk, but Ronin interrupted him. “One more word, Alpha, and I’ll kill the woman.” His words were pure venom as he spoke to Jax. “Your mate was able to hold me, but I will not let that happen again. If any of you attempts to issue an Alpha order to me I will kill the closest person. It doesn’t matter if we’re in public or here at your home, I will kill.” He lowered his gaze to Charlie. “You’re welcome.”
In a motion too quick for any of them to do anything against, Ronin grabbed Charlie’s father by the head and twisted it around. A low sickly crunch resounded around the open area, and Charlie’s gasp tapered out into a scream as the realization hit. Her father was dead before he even hit the ground.
While Ronin’s focus was still on Charlie, Simon broke into a run for her. If he could just grab her and pull her away from Ronin, the others might be able to get between them. With every ounce of resolve in his body, he fought like hell not to shift. He needed his human body to take hold of her without hurting her.
As Simon made contact with her arm, Ronin swiped his hand sideways and sent Simon flying backward. His lungs squeezed in his chest as some great force picked him up and knocked him back. Straightening himself in midair to make another run for her, Simon looked on and yelled out in dread as Ronin’s hand went for Charlie’s throat. Simon could hear his people moving behind him, running to protect his mate.
Too busy looking down at her father’s dead body to notice the commotion going on around her, she let out a weak cry, pulling her father into her lap. Like the Reaper coming for her and making his presence known, Charlie was dying right before Simon’s eyes.
A bright flash of light splintered open between the flesh of Charlie’s neck and the bend of Ronin’s fingers, blasting him and everyone around them backward. Ronin jerked away, screaming in agony as the scent of charred flesh filled the space. His hand was burned black as if he’d been hit by a fast-moving electrical current.
Miri’s protection spell.
In the blink of an eye, Ronin was gone, and the only things left as a testament to his presence were a trail of smoke that followed him into the woods and the body of Charlie’s father.
She bellowed into the night as she rocked back and forth, babbling over and over, “Daddy. I’m so sorry, Daddy.” Pure heartache and misery encompassed her as she held him. Her family was gone. Truly gone.
Simon glanced behind him, looking at his people one by one. Varying gazes of disbelief and sorrow stared back at him. Jax mumbled something close to an apology, but all Simon could he
ar was the sound of his mate breaking in front of them, not giving a shit who saw her.
As Simon walked over to Charlie, she let go of her father and crawled away from his body. He bent down and pulled her to him, picking her up as she latched her hands around his neck. Her body shook as she clung to him, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to save her from this. She curled her body around his as he walked them toward their house.
Mixed emotions poured from his mate. All he wanted to do was make things better for her. She’d been quiet since he brought her inside. Her cries had stopped before he even stepped through the door with her. And now, she sat in the middle of his bed with her legs pulled up to her chest and her arms resting around her knees. She rocked side to side as if trying to will the pain away from her heart.
He wanted to hate his brother with everything in him, but he forced himself to remember that the thing he’d seen tonight wasn’t his brother. Not really. Part of him believed the pieces of Ronin still awake were what made him kill Charlie’s father. He was trying to do her a favor. I’m doing you a kindness, he’d said, and Simon could hear the truth in his words.
Charlie sighed, and when she looked up at him her eyes will red and her nose was swollen. “I’m confused,” she said, her voice raw from screaming. She wiped her nose with a small tissue. “I can’t decide if I’m sad that he’s gone or happy because he’s gone. Isn’t that horrible? What kind of person am I? Shouldn’t I be saddened? Or should I be relieved that I don’t have to run?”
He didn’t have the right words for her. There was no way he could possibly know what thoughts were rushing through her head.
“Even though he hated me right up until he died, I just kept hoping he would look at me and realize that it wasn’t my fault. That it wasn’t my fault my mom was a drunk who cared more about getting her next drop of alcohol than she did about my brother and me. Hell, she didn’t even love my dad more than that. But he didn’t care, Simon,” she cried. “How horrible of a man could he have really been?”
Simon rubbed her arms silently, listening to her talk. Her words made his heart ache for everything she’d gone through. How would she heal from this?
She shook her head, dead gaze focused on him. “They’re all gone. All of them. I don’t have anyone from my blood left to be with me in this life.”
His gaze dropped to the ground as she looked to him for answers. His chest heaved under the weight of her pain, and it felt as if it were his too. “I… I’m here.”
She sniffled and used the sleeve of her sweater to wipe away the tears. “Is it bad that I’m okay he’s gone? I mean, I feel worse for being okay with him being gone. What the hell? I’m a bad person. Only bad people can do that.”
“No.” Simon gathered her to him. “No one blames you for being relieved that your own father is dead and that means you don’t have to worry about him killing you. Charlie, he tried to murder you. He’s been chasing after you to kill you. How much did you cry when you first started running?”
Shrugging one shoulder, she shook her head and started to speak. She hiccupped a few times and then took a few deep breaths to calm herself. “A lot. I think I cried every time I was awake for a few weeks.”
“Charlie, you mourned the loss of your father when you lost your brother and mother. You may not have known it but the part of him that was your father died that day. Yeah, you wanted him to forgive you. You wanted him to talk to you, but I think deep inside you knew he’d been dead for a long time.” Running his nose through her soft sweet smelling hair, he inhaled and took her in. “Don’t you dare be ashamed for being relieved your own father is no longer around to hunt you, Charlie, because that’s what he was doing. He was hunting you.”
Simon would never admit it out loud, but he was glad Ronin was the one who did the job. Before he got his soul back, he’d already made a plan to stalk and slaughter her father for ever making her feel unsafe. He would have carried that secret until the day he died, and it would have eaten away at him. There should be no secrets between him and his mate, but his soulless body hadn’t figured out if he would have told her or not.
Now, he didn’t have to.
Charlie seemed to think over what he said and nodded, her eyes slowly scanning the room as if looking for answers. “I know. I just thought one day he would call and tell me how sorry he was for hurting me. For hating me. He didn’t. And I knew he never would.”
There was a heartbeat of silence between them, but it was full of so many unspoken words. They loved each other. He would protect her at all costs. Her father would have died soon whether Ronin killed him or not.
She cleared her throat and looked up at him. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to be okay, and so are you and your family. Now you know what’s happening with your brother. Now you can plan.”
Holding her in his arms, he laid down on the bed and brought her with him. She pushed pillows out of the way, not caring when they fell to the floor. He pulled her head to his chest and wrapped her up tight in his arms.
She swallowed and took in a slow, shuddering breath. “Will you bury my father? I don’t want to see him.” Her voice was nasally from all the crying.
Simon nodded his head and kissed her hair. “It’s already done.”
He’d heard his brother talking about getting rid of his body. It was already taken care of. She would never have to see him again.
His fingers combed through her hair, down to her face, and over her shoulders. Touching her brought him comfort, and he hoped that maybe she would be comforted by him.
Closing his eyes, he started humming a song that Miri’s mother taught him years ago. It spoke of rain falling off the wings of a butterfly, and how it would weigh the small creature down. But once the rain stopped, the butterfly would wave its wings, just like it had when it emerged from its cocoon. He hummed it over and over until the soft sounds of Charlie’s inhales and exhales had evened out, letting him know she was asleep.
He would help her heal. He would be there for her, and he knew his entire family would be there for her too. They were her family now, whether she wanted them or not. Simon puffed out a quiet laugh just thinking of how his sisters were going to jump in to take her from him to help her heal.
Over his dead body. It just might come to that. Knowing how forceful his sisters were at heaping their help on people made him smile. During this time, Charlie would either love the hell out of them or ask him to take her far away. It would be okay. It might take a while, but just like Charlie said, it would be okay.
Chapter 14
Charlie opened her eyes to the sight of Simon’s chest rising and falling as he slept. She’d fallen asleep in his arms. The sound of falling rain from the cracked window called to her. If she hadn’t been held in Simon’s embrace, she would be freezing her butt off. He was warm as an electric blanket.
The sun didn’t shine this morning. Wasn’t it always that way when people died? Cloudy with rain and sorrow. But she had always loved when it rained. She loved sitting out and watching the rain cleanse the ground around her. The thought of not allowing her father to take away from her most favorite weather shot into her mind, and she had to fight off a wave of nausea and sadness from his death.
He was gone. Really and truly gone. He would never call and tell her how sorry he was for blaming her, or tell her how much he wanted to see her so he could make it better.
Simon was right. She knew deep in her heart that even if he lived to be one-hundred years old, he would never have forgiven her anyway. That was his way. Everything was always someone’s fault, and someone always had to pay for what made him sad.
She would mourn him. She would do this because his life was over, but he’d stopped being her father a long time ago. The night he settled that pillow over her face to force the life out of her was when her father really died. That man she’d been running from was a shell. She wouldn’t mourn a shell.
“Can I get you anything?” Simon muttered, h
is voice thick with sleep.
She shook her head and settled closer into the bend of his neck. “I want you to make love to me.”
Simon’s body tensed as he stopped breathing, and Charlie wanted to laugh at his sudden discomfort. “Charlie, I don’t think—”
“I don’t want to make love to make me forget,” she interrupted, running her barefoot up and down his leg. “I know I used to do that, but it’s different with you. I want you to make love to me because I want you to make love to me. Not to make me ignore what happened.”
She reached her hand beneath the waistband of his boxers and a genuine smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “Morning wood?”
“Partly. But mostly it’s just you being this close to me. Charlie,” he said, running his large hands up and down her back. “I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
He would never do that, and she would never let him.
Charlie sat up and pulled her shirt over her head, took off her bra, and pulled off her pants and panties. “I just want you.”
Simon’s ravenous eyes consumed every inch of her. His grey eyes sparked to life and lighted to the bright amber of his beast. He reached down, cupping one of her breasts as she scratched her nails down his stomach and grabbed his cock. It was already hard and heavy, but with each pump of her hand he seemed to grow longer. His eyes rolled back and he let out a low groan of satisfaction as she squeezed the head of his dick while rubbing her thumb along the tip.
With his heated gaze only for her, he lowered his head and took her lips with his. Sipping, slow kisses teased against her lips until he dove his tongue into her mouth. Breaking the kiss for only a moment, Simon used one arm to rip his shirt over his head. His lips came crashing back to hers as he rolled himself on to her body.
