“No problem. Did your new mattress arrive?” Timothy asked watching as Caden nodded his head gathering up the papers neatly and putting them in a folder before replacing it the filing cabinet. He grabbed a set of keys from the desk for the new lock he had installed after Jenna’s invasion into his room.
“Ready to submit,” Caden teased although it didn’t quite reach his eyes as they walked out of the office locking the door behind them.
“Not in my lifetime,” Timothy snorted getting a rueful chuckle from Caden as they headed outside shifting into their wolves as they entered the practice grounds.
For the next hour, they practiced in their wolf forms before heading to the gym that Caden’s mom had built sometime back so the pack members had some place to exercise their human half besides fighting.
Caden normally stayed longer than Timothy, which he did this time too as Timothy left to send Jessa off to school.
An hour after Timothy left, Caden wiped himself down with a towel as Jenna came into the gym.
“Caden,” she pouted at him, and he merely nodded his head as he stood up attending to head out of the room.
Jenna rushed over to him wrapping her arms around his middle and nestling her head against his sweating chest, and Caden felt her shudder before she cried, “Caden, why haven’t you come to bed? I have been waiting to keep you company.”
Caden was about to push her off of him when another pack member came in with the phone. “Briac is on the phone, Alpha,” he was told and he had the satisfaction of feeling Jenna stiffen next to him.
“Thank you,” he told the member as he took the phone. “Hello, Briac.”
A frown started across his face as he listened to what Briac had to tell him and Jenna moved away her mind on Briac calling that she wasn’t actually listening to the conversation or the narrow eyes that Caden threw her.
“Okay, thank you for the information,” Caden told him. “Yes, we are looking but no sign yet.”
Jenna turned at those words with a slight frown and she watched as Caden’s eyes widened slightly at the next thing Briac said before he smiled although he didn’t say anything. After a quick ‘goodbye’, he hit the end button a thoughtful look on his face as he started out of the gym.
“Caden,” Jenna said in surprise, and Caden turned to her with dark eyes.
“I have some work to do, Jenna,” he told her shortly facing back around to continue out.
Jenna clenched her fists tightly causing her nails to dig into her skin before a smile started across her face and she hurried out of the gym going upstairs.
As she closed her bedroom door behind her, she began to undress knowing that Caden was still a man, a man who was going without, and with the right temptation, he wouldn’t be able to ignore her anymore.
Downstairs, Caden looked away from the window he had been staring out of when Timothy came into the office with smirk on his face.
Caden’s face actually relaxed a little at the look recognizing it as satisfaction, which told Caden that his things had arrived.
Timothy and Caden moved quickly as they got the new mattress in the house to the attic without anyone being the wisest.
“So tell me, Caden,” Timothy started as they carried the old one down to place in the storage room on the first floor. “The reason you bought a new mattress wasn’t because of a certain young woman?”
Caden didn’t even hesitated as he said, “I don’t want Jenna to have any ammunition against Abella if Abella ever comes here.”
Timothy laughed as Jessa walked into the house as it was considered a half day at school her eyes shadowed and she asked, “What is funny?”
Timothy waved her after them as they returned to the attic, and Jessa raised her eyebrows as Caden took the plastic off the new mattress before placing it on the box spring.
“Jenna has been sleeping in his bed for the past two weeks,” Timothy revealed, and Jessa scowled.
“That damn bitch,” she muttered. She smiled though as she remarked, “I guess the new mattress is for Abella when she stays over.”
Caden didn’t comment as he began to make the bed, but both Timothy and Jessa began to laugh at his silence when someone knocked on the door.
They all three froze for a second until Caden said, “Come up” leaving the unmade bed as he walked over to the stairs.
Jed and Cicely came up with blank faces and Caden run a hand through his hair as a hard look came to his face.
“Nothing,” he stated getting confirmation from their grim looks.
Cicely walked over to the one window in the room as Jed closed his eyes roughly dragging a hand down his face. “Neither Cicely or I can get a sense in what direction she has gone, which tells me that the man was damn smart and knows enough to hide her presence.”
“How is that possible?” Jessa asked getting strange looks from all of them. She grimaced sheepishly as she muttered, “I forgot.”
Caden slumped onto the chair in front of his desk before he asked, “So what else can we do to find her? I have made calls giving Abella’s description but no one has seen her.”
“He is smart,” Jed said again tightly his eyes puckered as he walked over to the unfinished bed staring down at it thoughtfully.
“Caden ordered a new one because…” Jessa began only to stop as Cicely continued from the window.
“He had an unwanted visitor.”
Caden glanced over at her before he merely shook his head turning back to the others and asked, “So what is our next step?”
“Nothing,” Cicely said from the window.
Caden was immediately on his feet at her words and he growled, “What do you mean ‘nothing’? If we don’t do something, Abella will die.”
Cicely turned around and looked at him steadily. “Caden, I know that you are frustrated and upset right now, but I am telling you that at the moment there is nothing we can do. We don’t know where they took her and even with all the contacts we have, we can’t find her.” A disgusted look came over her face at her next words. “I can’t even see her, which tells me that the witch hunter we are up against knows his work very well.”
Jessa noticed the look that came to her brother’s face and said hurriedly, “Is possible that Abella may be able to get contact with us?”
Cicely didn’t say anything although there was a thoughtful look in her eyes as Jed said, “We are going to get some rest before we have a talk, Caden.”
He gave Caden a steady stare that Caden couldn’t ignore so he nodded his head already thinking of some way to find Abella.
“Remember what you promised, Caden?” Cicely called as they left the room, and Caden frowned. She stopped before she started down the stairs and looked at them before glancing around the room. “I think,” She said thoughtfully, “you might want to see about using another room for a while.”
“What promise? What did she mean about changing rooms?” He muttered aloud as she headed down the stairs getting the same confused looks from Timothy and Jessa at her words.
It was unfortunate that they couldn’t hear the conversation between Jed and Cicely at that moment as they headed to their rooms.
“So it will be today?” Jed asked as they stopped in front of her door.
She shook her head before remarking, “More like tonight, but I’m not so sure on when she will be here.”
Jed nodded his head before he turned to go to his own room and Cicely put out a hand to stop him.
He turned back to her with a frown. “She will need us because along with her physical injuries she will have a lot of questions.”
His frown deepened at her words, but he nodded his head again patting her hand before he continued on to his room. Once there, the frown became much fiercer as he muttered, “He better hope like hell that I don’t get to him first.”
Abella opened her eyes after the door closed behind Wester and his underlings her body aching from the third lashing of the day. Her back was raw and she knew that if
she didn’t get it treated soon infection would set in fast if it hadn’t already.
She had done the basic healing spell that Uncle Jed taught her, but it wasn’t having as much effect because of how often the lashings occurred. A frown came to her face as she thought about that because although he hadn’t stopped hitting her, the lashings seem to be more frequent than usual.
She shook her head to clear it as she looked around room flexing her hands flinching when her muscles protested the movement.
If she was correct, and she couldn’t be certain of anything at the moment, she had been here almost two weeks. The beatings were a daily occurrence so she had fresh bruises and healing bruises all over her body although she hadn’t submitted yet which was pissing Wester off more each day. One reason she believed that he was increasing the lashings although why, she wasn’t sure about that. She was surprised that she didn’t have any broken bones as of yet, but it was possible that the healing spell was working in one regard.
She knew one thing though if she wanted to escape she should do so soon because the look in his eyes when he left told her that he was rethinking his whole ‘not letting anyone touch her until he broke her’ idea. She had seen the way the others looked at her before they left and she had a bad feeling that they were deciding who got the first shot at her.
She shuddered at that thought because she wouldn’t be able to fight them off much longer. She was getting weaker every day, which she had to admit to even herself she was amazed that she was holding out this long. She wasn’t going to submit or surrender to her father’s ‘cousin’ as he called himself sometimes.
She straightened her body clenching her teeth as her whole body protested her action, but she continued until her back was straight even though it felt as if someone had put a hot poker to it.
She thought a second about her ‘uncle’ before her eyes flashed with disgust at what she discovered about him. Her uncle had merely been a pawn for her father’s family because of that weak witch blood he carried and she wondered if her father had known about it. She shook her head causing her hair to rub across her back and she arched at the unpleasant sensation as she closed her eyes against the pain. She focused her mind on something else although for a second she let it rest on Caden to relax her before she turned it to her puzzlement of why she hadn’t been able to sense his witch presence before until a voice suddenly said, your powers are growing.
Before she could think about those words, the door opened and she couldn’t stop the frown that crossed her face on how fast they had returned.
She was glad not to see any whips this time although there was only Wester and one other man, but she didn’t like the look in either of their eyes.
He noticed the frown and he began to smile until he noticed her posture, and the steady look she gave him. A dark look came to his face as he strode across the room backhanding her the minute he came into striking distance before he clenched his fist sending it with all his strength to her midsection.
Abella knew immediately that this time she wasn’t lucky as she felt one her ribs break at the impact and she gasped at the pain.
Wester laughed at the look of pain that crossed her face and yet Abella still didn’t cry out as her jaw clenched tightly sending him a glare through pain glazed eyes.
The fury returned to his face as he realized she wasn’t going to respond the way he wanted and he yanked her head back using her hair to stare down at her with hard eyes. Before Abella could comprehend his next action, he slammed his mouth against her own forcing her lips against her clenched teeth.
Abella reacted quickly as she unlocked her jaw and without hesitation she bit hard on the tongue he forced inside her mouth.
Wester cried out as he jerked back and his face clouded with a fury that created a fear inside Abella as he raised his fist again when suddenly he was thrown back hitting the floor hard.
He came to his feet in a rush scanning the room with narrowed eyes noticing that Abella looked as stunned as he felt. He started back toward her only to be knocked back a few more feet.
A look of fear crossed his features as he thought he heard ‘Don’t touch my daughter’ although he knew that it wasn’t possible as he shifted a blank look on his face. With narrowed eyes at Abella, he slowly backed up as did the man who came into the room with him nervously looking around.
“We have already decided who will have you first,” he told her with a smirk that didn’t quite hide the fear in his eyes.
Abella allowed her grey eyes to smolder as she told him with venom, “If any of your men touch me, I will kill them.”
He only laughed as he walked out his man closing the door behind him with a slam.
Abella took a deep breath wishing she could wipe her mouth from that disgusting kiss and she spit on the floor trying to erase it tears sliding down her face as she closed her eyes. She didn’t make a sound and her chest was hurting painfully so she made herself take slower shallow breaths hoping to ease the pain some.
You need to buy some time, her companion’s voice told her.
Abella heard and understood what the voice was telling her, but she was so tired that she didn’t know if she could create a strong enough spell to buy her some time.
“I will try,” she murmured before taking another deep breath. Unfortunately, her broken rib protested that action as pain sliced through her causing her to cough, which created more pain to shoot through her body.
Even through the pain, she knew that she had to do something so she squeezed her eyes tight against the pain pounding through her and she allowed her mind to wonder before it remembered a spell that she had memorized from her mother’s spell book. As the spell came to her, Abella spoke it aloud “Blue flame of justice protect me. Let those who wish to harm me suffer from your wraith.”
With her eyes closed, Abella didn’t see the blue flame that engulfed the door or how it started a trail that went back to her as it encircled her.
She drifted off afterwards and the room went foggy as a man and woman stepped out of the fog.
“How much longer?” The man asked angrily. “I don’t think I can take any more of this.”
He glanced over at the woman by his side to see a look of fear on her face. “I really didn’t think she would fight this for so long.”
“Fight what?” He asked looking at his daughter with haunting sadness in his eyes.
The woman turned to look at him briefly before she stated, “She accepted her destiny as a witch a long time ago, but she is hesitant about the other half of who she is.”
David’s face went harsh with agony as he said tonelessly, “That she has the blood of a hunter.”
The woman nodded her head as her hand went out to stroke her daughter’s cheek although she couldn’t touch her. “She needs to accept the other of half of her to have complete control over her gift. The hunter blood within her will add strength to her witch powers.”
David shook his head as he murmured, “She was never officially trained as a hunter so I can’t see how…”
The woman turned to him with a smile. “You were destined to be a witch hunter just as I was destined to be a witch. Our daughter has both of those destines in her, which you saw for yourself years ago.”
David’s face twisted at the remembrance but he didn’t respond as she continued, “In order for Abella to fully control her powers, and what is to come, she needs to understand and accept both of those abilities within her.”
David sighed heavily as he nodded his head slowly before asking, “How can we help her?”
The woman went to answer when suddenly there was a yell of pain from the other side of the locked door.
“What in the hell…” they heard Wester yell and David’s eyes narrowed in anger.
“The spell she created will hold them for now, but it won’t last long as she is weak,” the woman told him. She put out a hand letting it hover over his arm as they both knew he wouldn’t be able to feel the touch
.
“He touches my daughter again, I will find a way to kill him,” he murmured darkly.
The woman chuckled as she turned her eyes to their daughter before she murmured, “Something tells me that you won’t have to worry about that.”
She turned back to him and nodded her head before they disappeared.
The blue flame on the door brightened and the yelling could still be heard on the other side although Abella didn’t hear anything as her unconsciousness began to take over.
Abella looked around in bewilderment wondering where she was because it didn’t look like the room she was being held in. She looked down at her unchained hands before she glanced back up turning around in a circle.
“Don’t tell me that I am dreaming?” She asked quietly as she looked around the room only to freeze as a man and woman floated over to her.
Her eyes widened as they came closer and she whispered, “Mom, Dad.”
“Hi sweetie,” her mom said softly as her dad gave her a smile.
Abella shook her head trying to understand what was going on and her mom said urgently, “Don’t try to understand it, honey, we are here only to guide and help you.”
“I don’t understand,” Abella told them running a hand through her hair noticing that her wrists were fine. “I am dreaming.”
“Something more complex, but it is only for this one time,” her mother told her. She frowned as Abella looked up at them her grey eyes still wide. “They will be coming in soon, sweetie so you need to use your gift. There is someone who is waiting for you, someone that you want to see.”
A puckered frown came to Abella’s face as she stuttered, “But mom, how can I…?”
“Remember what you were told,” her mother told her urgently, and Abella looked at her questioningly until she remembered something that Aunt Cicely said at one time.
“If I focus hard enough, I can actually take myself anywhere, to anyone,” she said slowly. “Or bring anyone to me.”
Her mother nodded her head before she added, “But it takes a lot of strength both physically and mentally, and you need to understand that, Abella.”
The Witch Prophecy Page 25
