“Well,” Ivy croaked, “I was not holding my breath for an apology. I appreciate it. Can I just say that for now?” Ezekiel tried to hide his disappointment. He nodded. Ezra did too. She cleared her throat and shook the stone awkwardly. “Let’s finish the rest of the apartment.”
They followed behind her silently. She cleared the bathroom and both bedrooms quickly. When they made their way back to the kitchen she let go of the stone. It went dark.
“No booby traps,” she shrugged.
Ezra swore. “Okay, now it’s my turn.” Ezra started to pull his shirt off over his head.
“Woah, woah, woah. What are you doing?” Ivy whisper-shouted.
He and Ezra shared a confused look. Ezra let go of his shirt. “I was going to shift and search the apartment. See if there was something we couldn’t pick up as humans.”
“And you’re just going to strip down right here?” She asked, astonished.
Ezekiel chuckled, “Shifters, Ivy, we do this in the middle of town square sometimes.”
She shot him a mean glare, “But not in front of me! You guys always just showed up as wolves or went into the bathroom to change.”
“Mom always told us not to tease our dates,” Ezra joked. “But now that we’re not together…” He let the threat hang.
“What? Are you scared you’ll go mad with lust, Ivy?” Ezekiel teased.
Ivy’s cheeks flushed red. Ezekiel inhaled, subtly, and scented shock and just a hint of interest.
Ezra wagged his eyebrows at her. “Come on, you know you’ve always wanted to know what we look like under our leather jackets.”
Ivy snorted, “You guys are impossible.” She folded her arms and tapped her toe, impatiently. “Alright, well let’s get on with it then. If you’re so eager to show off.”
Ezra gave her a wolfy grin and started to undress, calling her bluff.
Sure enough, when Ezra went to unbutton his jeans, she squealed and covered her eyes. Both brothers laughed. Ezra didn’t draw it out any longer. He stripped out of the rest of his clothes and shifted.
“You can open your eyes, scaredy cat,” Ezekiel nudged her gently.
Ivy dropped her hand and rolled her eyes. “Whatever, let’s get on with it.”
Ezra shook his fur out. Even as wolves, they looked similar. They both had a thick coat of black fur. Ezra was starting to get a few gray hairs along his back. Ezekiel liked to tease him about it, mostly because he knew his fur would start turning grey soon too.
As a wolf, Ezra stood at Ezekiel’s hip. He carried a lot of muscle along his chest. When he raised his hackles, he looked like a beast. Ezekiel knew he looked just as intimidating but something about Ezra’s size made him terrifying to meet in a dark forest.
Ivy had never been scared of either of them. Even now, she walked forward and scratched Ezra behind his ear. He leaned into her, nearly knocking her off her feet.
Ivy just laughed, “Okay, you big oaf, let’s get on with it.”
Ezra huffed but stuck his nose into the carpet. Slowly, he scented the apartment. Ivy and Ezekiel followed silently. When they got into the bathroom, Ivy opened the cabinets for Ezra to search. Ezra made a thorough sweep of every room. In the kitchen, he rooted around the pantry but nothing else.
When they got back into the living room Ivy closed her eyes and waited for Ezra to shift. Once his clothes were back on, she opened them again.
“Well?” She asked.
“Dead end,” Ezra growled.
“Dead end,” Ezekiel agreed. They would have to go to Grace’s cabin and see if they could find anything there. Lawrence had hidden a spell there. He might have left something. He wasn’t going to hold his breath. He turned to Ivy. “Thanks for helping out. Let’s get you to work.”
She nodded and went to the front door.
“I’ll call Derek.” Ezra pulled his phone out. They were going to need someone to watch Ivy while they search the cabin. “I’ll meet you there once I’ve cleared our scents.”
Ezekiel lifted his hand and followed Ivy out.
Chapter Six
Miller’s was empty, which was good. Every time the door opened Ivy scanned the bar expecting trouble.
The Tate twins had passed off guard duty to another wolf, but Ivy knew that the reprieve wouldn’t last much longer. She kept expecting them to pop up. They always did.
She was feeling raw after their apologies this afternoon. That morning she had hated them. Now, she hated them a little less and that pissed her off. And made her sad. Which pissed her off all over again. Long story short? She was not ready to see them.
Thankfully, Anne had been okay with her showing up late for work. She had been doubly cool with it when Ivy had told her about the Black Bird Coven wanting to shop at her store. Before she could say much, Anne got a glint in her eye. She started asking questions about the ladies. What were they wearing? Did they have any jewelry on? Anne had her shopping app opened before Ivy could answer.
When Ivy tried to tell her about the rest of the meeting, Anne had put a finger on her lips. “This feels like something you share over drinks. I’ll text the girls,” she said.
And that’s how Ivy found herself in Miller’s after a rather strange day.
The entire gang managed to make it. Betsy, Anne, and Grace were laughing their asses off, retelling a story about their senior prom. Holly was laughing like she had been right there with them.
Ivy might have laughed at the story if she had been paying attention. She was busy waiting for the Tates to show up and ruin everything. It made it hard to focus.
Ivy grabbed her drink. It was nearly full. She had taken one sip when Anne had set it down and hadn’t touched it since. She shook herself mentally, determined to have some fun tonight.
“Holly,” Grace gasped, trying to catch her breath, “what happened to your hands?”
Ivy was kind of in love with Grace Copeland. She was gorgeous; all blonde hair and contagious smile. She was kind. She was a hell of a good time. Ivy wanted to be Grace when she grew up.
Grace’s new mate, Jack was sitting at a table on the other side of the room with Ivy’s new guard. Anne had called him Derek. They had been sent there by Anne. She told the guys to grab a beer and ignore us. “Because we’ll be ignoring you for the next two hours.”
Like they could do that. There were only five other people in Miller’s and two of them were the owners. The guys tried though.
Holly glanced down at her knuckles and cringed. “I got angry and took some advice I shouldn’t have.”
Betsy rolled her eyes. “Tell it like it is. You beat the ever-loving shit out of my two idiot brothers.”
“On the advice of your third idiot brother,” Holly defended.
“What did they do today?” Betsy asked. She was practically smiling.
Holly shrugged, “The usual. Patrick made a joke I didn’t think was appropriate and when I told him to knock it off, Henry made a similar comment.”
Betsy huffed. “Pat said something about your boobs and when you punched him, Henry decided to double down and say something about your butt,” she translated. “Twenty bucks says they’re at Mom’s house getting pampered right now because they came home with black eyes.” She pulled up her mom’s number and shook her phone at the table. “Any takers?”
“That’s a loser’s bet. Of course, they’re at your mom’s house.” Anne pointed to Holly. “Next time just call Mrs. Robbins. She’ll slap the brat out of them.” She put both hands in the air and waited for everyone to quiet down. “As wonderful as it is to listen to Holly talk about kicking the Robbins brothers’ asses, that is not why we are here.” She turned to Ivy. “Ivy visited the Coven today.”
The table exploded with, “Oh”, “Exciting”, and “Tell us everything.”
“It wasn’t that interesting,” Ivy confessed. “No one got turned into a newt.”
“Come on,” Graced whined. “I have nothing going on in my life. I need this gossip.”
Holly, Anne, and
Grace all turned towards Jack. Holly snickered. Anne shook her head. Grace yelled, “You know what I’m talking about. Don’t get mad.”
Ivy shot Betsy a look.
“Wolf hearing,” she explained. “Jack took offense to Grace filing him under ‘Nothing’ in her life and made a comment.” Betsy pointed to her ears, “I’m guessing. I don’t have wolfy hearing.”
Grace reached across the table and smacked Betsy. “Stop it. You’ll get me in trouble.”
“Anyways,” Anne drawled, “Ivy go on with your story.”
“Yeah, what are the witches like?” Holly asked. Suddenly, the color drained from her face. She leaned in and whispered, “Is that offensive? Calling them witches?”
She looked so worried that Ivy couldn’t help laughing. “No, we’re witches. It’s okay to call us witches. Just don’t say it like Janice Daniels. She makes it sound offensive.”
“Probably because she’s an offensive person,” Grace said quietly.
Ivy laughed harder. “I learned today that their fourth member moved away. Which means they’re technically not a Coven. They’re just three witches living together.” Ivy ran her finger across the rim of her drink.
“Why’s that?” Anne asked before Ivy can continue.
“Covens form so they can pool their magical resources and practice magic you can’t do on your own. In the past, most witches needed at least four members to perform larger rituals. The old definition stuck around.” Ivy swatted at the air brushing the information aside. “It’s all a bunch of magic mumbo jumbo. The important bit is that there are three of them and they’re old as hell.”
“How old?” Holly shrieked.
“Maggie, she’s their Matriarch, is at least two hundred.” Ivy started giggling picturing prim and proper Maggie. “She kept yelling at Patricia, another witch at the house, that she was old enough to talk to whoever she wanted.” Ivy’s hands shot out. “Oh my gosh, you have to hear about what we walked in on.”
Ivy recounted Maggie’s vision and the subsequent fall out from said vision. The table started to filled up as she went on. Jack and Derek moved to the girl’s table. Greg Miller, the owner of the bar, popped over just in time to hear about the bet. A few older guys at the bar turned around to listen. Ivy imitated Stella yelling, “Some of us still get asked out on dates.” The bar erupted in laughter.
Sitting back, watching the nearly empty bar share a laugh, Ivy felt good. Really good. Today had been one of the best days she’d had since moving to Black Bird. It had started awful but visiting the Coven had brightened her spirits and going out with friends made it awesome.
As everything quieted down, Anne pointed to Derek, “I’m surprised to see you here. The twins have been stuck on my girl like glue. Then, they get assigned to be stuck on her like glue and suddenly they disappear.”
“Anne,” Ivy groaned. She covered her face with her hands hoping to hide her embarrassment.
“They’re checking out the cabin for clues. It’s the last place we know that Lawrence lived,” Jack explained.
Grace shot up, “Wait, my cabin? Who gave them a key to my cabin?”
Jack looked at Grace deadpan. “Grace, the door frame is rotten. No one needs a key to get into your cabin. That’s why you had squatters.”
“If only I knew a contractor who could fix that,” Grace’s smile was all sass.
Jack shook his head and took a swig of his beer, “I’d need to be able to leave the house to fix it. Haven’t been able to leave the house yet,” he shrugged.
“Ew,” Ivy cried covering her ears. Greg came over with another round for everyone else, “Oh thank goodness. Greg,” Ivy beamed, grateful for the distraction. “I love your bar. I figured this would be the hotspot in town. Where is everyone?”
The happy, carefree atmosphere leached from the table. Suddenly, everyone was checking their phones. Or more accurately, they were looking anywhere but at Ivy. The pit of her stomach dropped. “Is it because of me?” Ivy already knew the answer but she needed someone to say it.
“Greg only lets the cool kids in on Wednesdays,” Betsy gave Ivy a cocky smile.
“They’re scared,” Jack said matter-of-factly.
“Great. Half of the town wants me gone and the other half is scared of me. I told you I was bad for business, Anne.” Ivy stood up so fast her chair hit the floor. “I hate this town.”
“Ivy,” Grace grabbed her hand, “you forgot us. We like you. A lot.”
“Besides,” Anne jumped in, “haven’t you heard? The town hates us too. You’re a member of the most exclusive club around.”
“You’re among friends,” Grace smiled.
“Well minus, Jack and Derek. For some reason people like them.” Holly shook her head like she was confused by that.
Jack growled at her. It’s was a playful sound. He and Holly were close enough to joke like that to each other. That realization filled Ivy with such a deep longing that she froze.
She wanted that. Ivy wanted to live somewhere she could have friends who joked with her like Jack and Holly. She hadn’t had friends like that in Monroe Springs. She was always too worried that they would find out that she was a witch.
“Ivy?”
Grace’s voice broke through Ivy’s thoughts. Grace’s mouth was turned down. Her brows were furrowed. She looked concerned.
Ivy gave a small, probably terrible, smile. “It’s all good, Grace. I’m alright.”
Grace shot Jack a worried look. “Ivy, your lips are turning blue.”
As soon as Grace said something, Ivy noticed that she was cold. So cold that she was shivering.
Witchling. Stella’s words were coming back to haunt her. She really had to control her magic better.
Ivy had frozen in place when she had noticed Jack and Holly. Her magic had taken it literally and started to freeze her in place. Instead of panicking, Ivy sighed. “It’s fine. I’m going to call it a night. Thanks for inviting me.”
Derek’s chair scraped as he stood to follow her out.
Ivy didn’t bother talking to him as they walked towards her apartment. She didn’t feel up for chit chat. She waved at him when she got to her door. He raised his hand then settled in to guard her apartment.
Walking past the kitchen, Ivy headed straight to the bathroom. She stumbled trying to take off her shoes. Hopping on one foot, she turned on the shower and turned it to the hottest setting.
Steam filled the room. She felt her skin pebble as the room warmed. Ivy started to hum.
Being around the Coven today had been nice. There was just something comforting about being around magic users again. It felt familiar.
Maybe it was time to head back east. She couldn’t go back to her hometown, but maybe she could find a small Coven like the one in Black Bird. A group of people who used their magic to recreate beautiful roses. That seemed stress free.
Ivy tried to force herself to relax by singing. She could hear her favorite song coming through the bathroom door. She had put it on repeat while she was doing the dishes that morning. It always made her feel happy.
Her breath caught. She hadn’t turned her music on. She had walked right past the stereo system in the kitchen.
Ivy’s hand shot to her amulet. She couldn’t remember if she had set the ward when she walked in.
She slowly pressed her hand against the doorframe, gently pushing it flush against the latch. Ivy swore. She couldn’t hear anything over the music. There was no way she was leaving the bathroom to check.
Now would be a great time for a spell but her brain kept registering static. Ivy hadn’t practiced magic consistently in years. She had forgotten a whole fucking lot of spells over the years.
All she could remember was the press of bodies as people tried to drag her out of her home. Hands grabbed her painfully, ignoring her screams. She never saw faces. All she could remember was the weight suffocating her.
Unable to stop the noises coming out of her mouth, Ivy just stopped breathing. She c
ouldn’t stay in the bathroom. She didn’t want to get trapped.
Ivy put her hand on the doorknob. She tensed, ready to sprint out of the bathroom.
“Please don’t open that.”
Ivy screamed, whipping around. She didn’t think. She panicked.
A light bulb blew over the mirror. The sink exploded, sending ceramic everywhere. Water started shooting from the broken frame.
The figure jumped away from the sink trying to avoid the fountain of water. Too bad the bathroom was tiny. They ran right into Ivy.
Ivy’s body hit the door. She registered it was a man. His heavy frame body pressed her against the door knob. She redlined, desperate to be free. She started attacking. She could feel her hits landing but the person didn’t move.
“Stop,” he yelled. “Stop it, goddamnit.”
Ivy growled and balled her fists. She pulled her arm back to throw a real punch. The intruder grabbed both of her wrists. Ivy bucked like a wildcat but his grip ground her bones together.
“Stop it,” came through gritted teeth.
Heaving, Ivy looked at her attacker. She gasped.
Lawrence McDowell, Black Bird’s most wanted criminal, was staring down at her with murder in his eyes.
“Shit.” She gasped as all the fight went out of her.
Lawrence swore when Ivy’s body went limp. “Would you stop it,” he bit out. “I’m not here to hurt you, damnit.”
“Like I’d fucking believe you after what you did to Grace.” Ivy slammed her foot on his arch. Without shoes on, it was a useless move.
Lawrence glanced down at their feet in shock. “You are a hellcat. Will you behave for one fucking second?”
Ivy inhaled ready to scream her bloody head off. She just hoped Derek heard her. And that he was really fast.
Lawrence let go of her left hand and made a gesture. Ivy screamed but no noise came out. She took a breath and tried again. Nothing happened. The bastard had put a spell on her.
Lawrence hauled Ivy up by her wrists and set her down on the toilet. “Anchora.”
Magic washed over Ivy, leaving her body feeling heavy. The instant Lawrence let go of her she tried to jump up. She didn’t budge. She tried rocking side to side. Nothing below her neck moved. She was stuck.
Resented Page 8
