by Ivy Asher
I turn to him perplexed. "Why wouldn't it be?"
"Elder Cleary knows what you are, and now, so does Enoch and his coven, and Knox and Ryker’s family, but as far as we know, that's it. If all of us get runes and start manifesting magic we’ve never had before, how long will it take before the secrets out and you have an even bigger target on your back?"
I sift through his words for a minute looking for an out, or a way to keep the future he's describing from happening.
“Right now it’s just Ryker and Knox that have the runes. The three of us can just go the recluse route, which wouldn’t be too hard since the house has everything we could want. We can make sure that you, Bastien, and Valen don’t acquire any new runes or power. You guys can fulfill your paladin dream, while I train Knox and Ryker. And when you graduate, we’ll be a half-paladin, half-vigilante, kickass crime-fighting coven.” I tell him with hopeful eyes and a reassuring nod. “We can totally make that work.”
He chuckles and reaches out a hand to caress my cheek.
“I’m learning that maybe this isn't the place I've spent my life believing it was. I hoped that somehow when what you are and what you can do comes out, that the community would simply embrace you and treat you like you're one of them. But even if most of them did, the small number that didn’t or that wanted to use you, like Adriel does, like maybe the elders do, they’d always be a threat to us. We would always be looking over our shoulders.”
Sabin's admission sucks to hear. It's made all the more worse by the truth that sits heavy in every syllable. He's told me not to take on guilt that doesn't belong to me, but what do I do with the guilt that does?
“Sabin, how do I not feel guilty about that? I don’t want your life to become this unrecognizable thing that has you always on the run, always looking over your shoulder. Don’t you think you’ll eventually resent me for that? I don’t want to steal away everything you’ve always wanted. I’m not enough to fill the holes that would leave in who you are.”
I know out of all of them, this relationship and the way I up the ante with the Sentinel aspect of it, is probably the hardest for Sabin to come to terms with. The loss of control that seems so important to him and the speed at which I’m pushing things forward is an issue for him. I’m confident that Sabin is here by his own choice, and that he cares for me, but I still worry that I’m pushing him too far and too fast out of his comfort zone.
“Vinna, your presence in my life is not creating holes. It’s just opening up possibilities I never saw before. Maybe the goal of paladin shifts to badass, vigilante peacekeepers. Maybe there needs to be more balance out there when it comes to who makes the decisions about what’s right and what’s wrong. I don’t know, and I don’t think we’ll know what the best move for all of us is until we’re faced with it.”
“But what about your families? What about your home here?” I press.
Sabin shrugs.
“I don’t know. I have no idea how to fit all the pieces together yet. We all talked about it this morning, but none of us think we’ve reached that tipping point where we know one way or the other, which way things are going to go down.”
I throw my hands up in exasperation. “You guys did have a super-secret meeting without me, I fucking knew it!”
Sabin laughs.
“We just didn’t want you to feel guilty or put too much on yourself. All that shit just happened with the guys and the runes, and we didn’t want to push you over the edge by bringing up a bunch of hypotheticals that none of us are sure could even happen. You’re dealing with enough; we don’t want to keep adding to the stress.”
I run my eyes over Sabin’s profile as he drives and confesses why they kept me out of the loop. My initial reaction is to get mad, but when he talks about what happened with the Knox and Ryker this morning, I realize that I was doing the same thing to them. Making decisions that I thought were in their best interest, cutting them out of the stress, putting the weight of it on my back, so they wouldn’t get bogged down.
“I get why you all made that decision, but I don’t want you guys to do that again. I’m also going to make sure that I’m not doing the same thing to any of you.”
I reach over and grab his hand, and he relinquishes it willingly to me. I set it in my lap and trace the lines of his palm as I work through how to explain to him what I need.
“What we’re all dealing with is a lot. It sucks. It isn’t easy, and there’s a strong likelihood that not much in our lives ever will be. But I realized that we need to look at things like my Awakening. Alone, I felt like I was dying, I couldn’t take the pain, but when we shared it, it was manageable for all of us.”
Sabin’s hand closes around mine, and he brings it to his lips and presses a soft kiss to the back of my hand. I smile at the gesture that exposes the romantic hiding in the body of a bad boy.
“You’re right; I’m sorry we left you out, and I’ll make sure it never happens again,” he tells me, and my heart swells.
“Well that was easy, I thought I’d have to put more fight into getting my way,” I admit.
Sabin laughs and navigates the Bronco onto the main street of Solace.
“I’ll make it harder next time,” he teases, and I bite down on the that’s what she said joke.
The struggle must be obvious because Sabin laughs even harder. “I walked right into that one, didn’t I?” he asks, and I crack up.
I close the Bronco door behind me and walk through the side parking lot to the front of Gamull’s Spell Shop. The front is all pristine glass, and it’s the corner shop attached to a strip of other shops located on the main road in the center of town. Sabin leads me into his family’s spell shop, and the scent of clove with the faint undertone of something woodsy fills my senses. It’s not overwhelming or headache-inducing but welcoming and soothing. I look around the well-organized space and the shelves of different things available for sale. Sabin was right; it does resemble a bath and body shop.
“Bean!” a girl squeals, and tackles Sabin in a way that would make an offensive lineman proud. Sabin stumbles backward as he catches her and absorbs the momentum of the hit.
“What are you doing here? Don’t you have school today?” Sabin asks the green-eyed ball of energy currently attempting to separate his torso from the rest of his body via the tightest hug I’ve ever seen.
“I got sent home,” she pouts, and it’s like I can see all the previous excitement drain out of her.
“For what?” Sabin demands, and the little girl and I both cringe at his tone.
“The Alson sisters mess with me all the time! They talk crap and shove me around. Today I threw water on one of them to get them to back off, and I’m the one to gets into trouble!”
“Cyndol, we talked about this, if they start something, you tell an instructor.” Cyndol rolls her green eyes at Sabin and focuses on me like she just now noticed me next to him.
“You look tough; if some girls were picking on you what would you do?” she asks me.
“I’d go for the nose.”
“Vinna!” Sabin scolds me.
“What Bean, I would.” I look back down to Cyndol, who I’ve deduced is either Sabin’s little sister or related to him somehow.
She looks to be maybe eleven, but I’m shit when it comes to judging ages. Her green eyes are more emerald versus Sabin’s forest-green color, but the rest of their features and coloring are too similar for them not to be closely related somehow.
“If they physically touch you first, they’re fair game,” I tell her.
Cyndol gives me a wide smile, and Sabin rubs his hands over his face in exasperation.
“Tell an instructor first Cyn; they’ll keep them away from you.”
Ignoring Sabin, Cyndol steps closer to me. “Will you show me how to punch?”
I open my mouth to answer, but Sabin’s resounding “no” cuts me off.
A man calls Sabin’s name, and he looks over to the caster that’s making his way tow
ards us. As soon as Sabin turns his head, I shake my head yes at Cyndol, and she lights back up with excitement. Like a born pickpocket, she slides an unlocked phone into my hand. I quickly type in my number and name while Sabin greets the other man with a hug. I slide the phone back to Cyndol, and she tucks it away as Sabin turns to introduce me to one of his dads. He narrows his eyes at me, his gaze filled with suspicion. I just blink innocently at him.
“Vinna, this is my dad Luke; Dad this is Vinna, my mate. And this is my little sister Cyndol, whom you’ve already corrupted in the three seconds you’ve known her.” He glares playfully at his little sister, and I chuckle at his teasing tone.
Luke’s eyes widen a bit in shock, but he does a commendable job covering it up as he shakes my hand.
“Anyone else here?” Sabin asks his dad, as he looks around.
“No, they’re out doing deliveries, they won’t be back for a couple more hours probably. It’s just me and…”
Luke looks to Cyndol, who’s trying to look inconspicuous just behind Sabin.
“Missy, you’re supposed to be stocking shelves as punishment, now get to it.”
She pouts, and her shoulders hunch as she side hugs Sabin and walks toward a doorway I’m assuming leads to a back room. Sabin and his dad are talking about what happened with her at school, and I raise my hand in the universal sign for call me. Cyndol nods enthusiastically and disappears through the push door. I tuck a lock of hair behind my ear trying to mask my movement when I notice Sabin look over at me.
Nothing to see here Captain. I shrug innocently.
“So what brings you here, since I’m assuming you’re not here to make introductions.” Luke teases.
Sabin’s ear tips redden again, and I find it completely adorable until I remember why we’re here.
“We need a birth control potion,” he mumbles, and Luke’s eyes fill with humor.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that, what did you need?”
I laugh, already deciding that Luke and I are kindred spirits, and Sabin gets even redder. Before I can join in on the teasing, I spot the bottle of honeysuckle shampoo and conditioner that my shower was stocked with.
“This came from here?” I ask, reaching for the bottle and taking a deep inhale of the incredible scent.
“Yes, that’s from our premium line. Spelled Honeysuckle with a hint of Jasmine; it’s great for sharpening your intuition, stimulates creativity, attracts and increases love, and is useful in increasing sexuality.”
I look over to Sabin. “Captain, you gave me sex shampoo?”
He rolls his eyes at me. “Of all the things he said it does, of course, that’s the one you focus on.”
Luke, being my kindred spirit and new dad bestie, pounces on the opportunity to harass his child. “He totally gave you sex shampoo.”
“He did!” I agree.
“So, about that potion,” Sabin interjects, stopping us before we can really get started harassing him.
Luke chuckles. “Come with me.”
33
Luke runs Sabin’s card and pulls out a handled box that holds all the spells and potions we’re buying. I’m like a kid in a magical candy store; there are so many cool things in here. I’m stocked up on birth control for the next year, and I only have to take a potion that tastes like sweetened tea once a month. I loaded up on sex shampoo and conditioner, bought a potion called Copal for Knox when Luke told me it helps with spelling, and some hair dye spells because that’s a prank I’m going to love pulling.
“Alright, Vinna, you are all set,” Luke tells me. “Let’s set up a dinner or something with the family soon; they’re going to be so jealous that I’m the first to meet your amazing mate!” Luke tells Sabin as he wraps him up in a goodbye hug and kisses his cheek. Luke opens his arms to me, and I step into them.
“Heads up that Knox’s dads are going to make you sumo when I tell them you’re my new favorite.”
Luke cracks up and gives me a beaming smile. “I’ll take ‘em all down, don’t you worry, your favoritism is well placed! Oh, and I slipped in a delicious spelled apricot, juniper, and dragon’s blood massage oil in there; it’s a very potent aphrodisiac, that promotes virility, passion, and love.”
“Ooh!” I coo at Luke, and we both chuckle when Sabin’s ears turn red.
“First Cyndol picks her over me, and now you two are cohorts, perfect...just, perfect!”
“Aww, Captain, we love you too!” I tease, and then instantly freeze when I realize I just let the L word escape.
I try to cover up my oh shit reaction, by shouting a goodbye to Cyndol who’s still stocking shelves in the back. I don’t risk looking at Sabin to see just what he thinks of my slip up. I was joking, but will he think I’m serious? Fuck. Out of all the guys that could have slipped out to, it has to be the one who wants to take things slow.
Nice, Vinna.
Cyndol shouts back a goodbye, and Luke walks us to the door. We make our way through the parking lot towards the Bronco. Sabin takes a quick inhale, the kind people do when they’re about to say something, something that you may or may not want to hear and it sends my adrenaline pounding.
“Vinna!” Someone shouts my name. I turn to track who, and see an older female caster with three males speed walking towards me.
“Are you Vinna Aylin?” She shouts at me again.
Before I can so much as part my lips to respond. Pebble is in front of me in a defensive position. I have no fucking clue where he just came from, and I turn to Sabin to ask him if he saw where, and I spot the rest of Pebble’s coven closing in around us. It’s like they just appeared out of nowhere. I actually completely forgot that they were still even assigned to guard me. I’m not sure where the threat is right now, it could be the female still barreling towards me, or honestly, it could be these paladin too.
Sabin pivots so that his back is against mine, and I immediately feel a warm reassurance run through me. I call on my magic, and I feel him do the same. I experience an intense rushing sensation as I pull Defensive magic from my source, and it comes to me like a freight train. Holy shit, my magic has some serious kick to it now. Thank fuck Sabin is behind me, his large frame keeping me from going anywhere; otherwise, I’d probably be on my ass right now.
The woman coming straight at me sees the appearance of the paladin and seems to be just as shocked as I am at their sudden appearance, but I see a set determination on her face as she continues forward.
“Stop ma’am, don’t come any closer,” Pebble warns, and the three casters surrounding her pull her to a stop.
She does not look happy about that, and she snaps at one of them something that I can’t hear. The male looks torn between pissing off, what I assume is his mate, or her getting lit up by the paladin surrounding me because she looks like she wants to barrel right through them. I look her over, trying to see if I can place her face or the faces of her three mates, but she doesn’t look familiar. Who knows what I could have done to piss her off.
“Are you Vinna Aylin?” she asks again, winded, and she shoots another glare at her other mate when he puts a hand on her shoulder.
“Yes, can I help you with something?”
One of the paladin in Pebbles coven, a shorter bald man, moves a step closer to me. I don’t like it, so instead of focusing on the woman as she attempts to catch her breath to answer my question, I turn to him.
“Too close Phil Collins, way too fucking close,” I warn him.
“We’re here to protect you, not hurt you.” he counters.
“You were assigned by the elders, and I don’t trust them, so sorry, not sorry, that means I don’t trust you either. Back up, or you and Pebble can trade bedtime stories about how good my knife skills are.”
Pebble snorts. “Back off, Brody; trust me, you don’t want to find out.”
I smile at pebble.
“Aww, Pebble.. you can be taught. How you doing, buddy? Long time no see. Are you still in a time-out?”
I feel
Sabin chuckle behind me, and Pebble sighs.
“Can we deal with this first, before the gossip session starts and you try to braid my hair and paint my nails.”
I roll my eyes at him. “Fine, but when this is all done, I get to do your fingers and toes.”
I return my focus to the female who was the catalyst for this whole reunion, and when my eyes land on her, she starts talking like she’s just been waiting for me to call on her.
“My name is Olivia Steward; you saved our son, Parker Steward.”
An image of me crouched over Parker as I desperately try to heal his lamia inflicted neck wound, flashes through my mind.
“I just saw you come out of the store and wanted to thank you. I didn’t mean to cause all this,” she gestures to the paladin.
I move to step around Pebble, but he anticipates the move and blocks my path.
“Pebble, relax, take it down to Defcon...whatever is the non-threatening number. I know her son.”
“Yeah. but you don’t know her.”
“I thought you guys are here to protect me from lamia; why would I need protection from casters? What am I missing here?” I ask, confused.
What is it about the situation that set off their alarm bells so much, that they would come out of stalker mode and show themselves. I look around at the paladin around me taking in their positioning. Pebble is in front of me, his back to me facing what I assume is the threat. The rest of his coven is giving me their profiles, which means they’re watching me and this group of casters that just approached me.
I sigh and step closer to Pebble. Sabin follows my move so that our backs stay in contact. I drop my voice so only Sabin and Pebble can hear me.
“Pebble, are you in on the Vinna can’t be trusted part of your mission too, or is it just your coven?”
Pebble turns his head slightly towards me but keeps his body squared off with Mrs. Steward and her mates. “What are you talking about?”
“Look at your coven. If they were guarding me, they’d be giving me their backs right now. Do you see any backs?”
