Witch Unexpected: The Thirteenth Sign Book 1

by Cassidy, Debbie

  In trying to keep the men she loved, she’d lost them.

  Leif slowly stood and faced me. “Do it quickly, Cora.” His tone was thick with pain. “With my father’s death, the binding is broken; take the anchorship before the seal fractures.”

  I wanted to hug him, but there was no way to make this right, only to ensure that Arne and Brie’s deaths wouldn’t be in vain.

  I pressed my palm to the statue.

  * * *

  I’d felt power before, tasted it, wielded it, but the power of the cosmos was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. It opened up to me, rushing over me, bathing me in safety and assurance. It seeped into my pores and into my veins. Then came the dark threads, clustered and alive, they slammed into my chest, burrowing into me, but it was a welcome invasion, like coming home to the smell of your favorite meal.

  The threads lashed out from inside me, searching, wanting.

  “Touch her now.” Anna’s voice commanded.

  I felt two hands on me and the brush of a shaggy head. Leif, Tor, and Rune. They were here with me. The threads wound around them, then orange power slid up the threads and into me.

  I recognized this power.

  Miasma.

  They were giving me miasma, but then I was giving it back in a circuit of power. We were bound as one. A unit. A battery.

  Chanting filled my head—the elders speaking words that were alien but made perfect sense, although I’d never be able to articulate what they were saying. An image bloomed in my mind—an oval, crimson shape made of thick wax with a silver symbol pressed into it.

  The seal, or a mental manifestation of it.

  Yours now. The voice was a whisper in my mind. Make the right choices and find the right path. For each path is different, and any truth can become a lie.

  I was shoved out of the stars and back into my body properly. Tor’s arms were around me, his chest to my back, his hand splayed across my abdomen. Power thrummed between us like the hum of sex and the buzz of desire.

  “Cora…” His breath was hot in my ear. Leif took a step toward me, pinning me in, his bare skin tantalizing me to reach out and touch him.

  His eyes were pools of desire and need, raking over me. My body throbbed and ached. Was this it? Was this the mating bond?

  Oh god.

  Leif’s chest heaved, and he stepped back and shook his head. “Fuck.”

  “Now!” Anna cried.

  My head whipped round to find the elder witches in a line, facing off against the rapidly emerging revenants. The Elites continued to chant, slowing down the emergence, but it was only a matter of—

  Heat bloomed at my solar plexus, and the elder witches lit up in halos of silver. Their hoods fell back, and their hair floated out from their heads, picked up by an otherworldly breeze. A low vibration shook my body, and a shockwave blasted out from the witches, turning the revenants to dust.

  The world was blissfully silent.

  Then the silence was filled with Charlotte’s heartbroken sobs.

  It was over for her.

  In more ways than one.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  I was exhausted. My body felt like it’d been hit by a freight train, but according to Anna, that was normal. They’d siphoned power through me, using me as a conduit. Apparently, that was a thing they could do if needed, if shit got bad, but it fucked me up so hard I could barely walk.

  Luckily for me, I had three big, bad wolves to carry me home. Not that it took three to carry my limp ass.

  Tor managed just fine, cradling me to his chest as we strode through the woods. Part of me wondered why Jasper hadn’t made an appearance tonight. He never failed to show when I was in danger.

  It was worrying, but my brain was too foggy with sleep to worry, and the new connection with the alphas was a warm, distracting buzz in my veins. One that would intensify once I’d recharged a little.

  “Anna says she’ll be fine after a good night’s rest.” Leif sounded subdued.

  “You should go to the pack house,” Tor said. “Tell them the news. Do what you need to. Sten and Toke will take care of the other packs, and Charlotte…” His voice cracked. “She’s the witches’ problem.”

  “I can’t leave Cora.”

  “You can; you just don’t want to. I get it. I feel it too, but Vita Pack needs to be informed of Arne’s death. You’re officially the pack alpha now.”

  Go, Leif. This voice was new, soft-spoken, and melodious. We’ll watch over her until you return.

  Rune? Was that his voice in my head? I wanted to open my eyes, to say something, but the words wouldn’t come.

  I can’t believe Charlotte did this, Rune said. If the gargoyles had been here…

  “But they weren’t. Charlotte knew they wouldn’t be. It’s the only day in the year they leave the mansion, and she knew that. She played us. She used Pen as her contact, and she fucking played us. I can’t—” A low growl rumbled against my chest.

  The next thing I knew, I was being lowered onto a soft mattress. My boots were tugged off. Fingers grazed my waistband, calloused and gentle, then pulled away.

  Best to leave her clothed, Rune said.

  “Right,” Tor said. “Boundaries.”

  It won’t be easy, Rune said.

  “I know, but when has easy ever been fun?”

  You’re looking forward to the challenge, aren’t you?

  Tor was silent for a long beat. “I’m interested to see which one of us breaks first.”

  Me? Break? Like fuck.

  “Come on, let’s let her get some rest.”

  Maybe one of us should stay? Rune sounded unsure.

  “She’s safe now,” Tor said. “With Charlotte in custody, The Order has no way to get to her on Grimswood grounds.”

  Consciousness slipped away and dreams tugged me under, but in the next instant my eyes were wide open, staring into darkness. Then the darkness moved.

  A shadow in my room. A man.

  I wanted to move, to cry out, but my body was immobile.

  Cerulean eyes bored into me, then widened in shock. Where was his face? Why couldn’t I see his face? Oh god, there was a man in my room, and I couldn’t fucking move.

  The bed beside me dipped and I screamed internally.

  Biting fingers gripped my chin and turned my face away. “Don’t look.” The voice was a dry rasp. “Not yet.”

  A soft snick had my heart racing, then pain ripped through my neck. The thing latched on and began to suck.

  Panic gripped my mind and a scream bubbled up inside me because I knew what this was.

  Vampire.

  I was being fed on by a vampire.

  And there was nothing I could do about it.

  Fuck.

  To be continued…

  Continue Cora’s journey in Witch Undecided Book 2 in The Thirteenth Sign Series.

  Grab it HERE

  Other books by Debbie Cassidy

  Other books by Debbie Cassidy

  The Gatekeeper Chronicles

  Marked by Sin

  Hunted by Sin

  Claimed by Sin

  The Witch Blood Chronicles

  (Spin-off to the Gatekeeper Chronicles)

  Binding Magick

  Defying Magick

  Embracing Magick

  Unleashing Magick

  The Fearless Destiny Series

  Beyond Everlight

  Into Evernight

  Under Twilight

  The Chronicles of Midnight

  Protector of Midnight

  Champion of Midnight

  Secrets of Midnight

  Shades of Midnight

  Savior of Midnight

  Chronicles of Arcana

  City of Demons

  City of the Lost

  City of Everdark

  City of War

  For the Blood

  For the Blood

  For the Power

  For the Reign

  For the Hunt (novella)
<
br />   Heart of Darkness

  Captive of Darkness

  Bane of Winter

  Fate’s Destiny

  Deadworld

  Deadworld

  Dead City

  Dead Sea

  Dead End

  The Nightwatch Academy

  Shadow Caster

  Shadow Weaver

  Shadow Warrior

  Shadow Master

  The Nightwatch Series

  Ghost of a Chance

  Give up the Ghost

  Ghost at the Feast

  Lay the Ghost

  Deadside Reapers Series

  Reaper Unexpected

  Reaper Uninvited

  Reaper Untamed

  Reaper Unveiled

  Reaper Undone

  Reaper Unhinged

  Reaper Unleashed

  The Thirteenth Sign

  Witch Unexpected

  Witch Undecided

  The Iron Fae Series

  Taste My Wrath

  Feel My Power

  Dragon Guard Series

  Dragon Trial

  Dragon Rising

  Dragon Ashes

  Survivor’s Heart (Planet Athion World)

  Novellas

  Rogue

  Rebel

  Survivor

  Standalone Novellas

  Blood Blade

  About the Author

  Debbie Cassidy lives in England, Bedfordshire, with her three kids and very supportive husband. Coffee and chocolate biscuits are her writing fuels of choice, and she is still working on getting that perfect tower of solitude built in her back garden. Obsessed with building new worlds and reading about them, she spends her spare time daydreaming and conversing with the characters in her head – in a totally non-psychotic way of course. She writes High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Space Fantasy, and Reverse Harem. Connect with Debbie via her website at debbiecassidyauthor.com or twitter @authordcassidy. Or sign up to her Newsletter to stay in the know.