She could hear the three-hundred-and-fifty-three-year old Witch singing a twangy love song as she whipped up the most delicious desserts without even glancing at a recipe. One memory rose to the forefront, the day Kallie had learned to use the big mixer.
“Alright, Kalliebug, make sure you’re following your recipe and measuring exactly.”
“But you don’t, Grams,” a younger, pigtail-wearing Kalliope replied.
“That’s cause grannys don’t have to use recipes, it’s all up here.” Grams tapped her temple with the tip of her index finger. “And as for measuring, my hand works better than any old cup.” She’d wrapped her wrinkled hand around Kallie’s lifting the child’s hand to her lips and kissing the back. “And one day, when you’re all grown up, your hand will be big enough to measure with, as well. Then you’ll make all kinds of goodies for your mate and kids.”
“I’m not sure I want a mate, Grams, or kids either. Meredith’s mom was talking with one of the other moms at the park and said having Baby Joey nearly killed her.” Kallie looked up at her grandmother and shook her head. “I think I’ll just stick with cats and dogs, maybe a bird or two.”
Laughing out loud, her crystal blue eyes sparkling with love, Grams chuckled, “That woman just didn’t have the right midwife. Must’ve been one of those new age Witches who thinks everything has to be natural, that the pain is good.” Wrapping her arm around Kallie’s shoulders, she pulled the young girl close and kissed the top of her head. “Never you fear, I’ve made sure every little spell I know is all in the chest. You just have to look.”
Biting her bottom lip, wondering if she should ask Grams about what had been bothering her since she saw Suzie Swanson kissing Tommy Baker, Kallie took a deep breath and talking so fast she could only pray Grams understood what she was saying, asked, “Is there really one man out there for me? Will he really appear when I’m ready? Will I have to kiss him? Will we open our mouths when we kiss? Will he put his hands on my butt? Do I have to let him put his hands on my butt? Will…”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Grams snickered. “Rewind all that and let me see if I can answer at least some of those questions for you.” Taking a seat on one of the stools, she pulled Kallie close and as she ran her fingers through her granddaughter’s long dark curls tackled Kallie’s questions one at a time.
“First of all, yes, ma’am, the Goddess has made one special person, just for you. When you are both ready, then and only then you will find one another. For me, it was a few months after my hundred-and-twenty-seventh birthday and my Coven was out preparing for the All Hallow’s Eve Celebration. Your grandpa had gotten separated from his Coven and wondered into Planter’s Field. It was love at first sight, and that’s the way it will be for you, too.”
“Okay, if you say so, but what about…” Kallie stopped, not wanting to repeat her questions about kissing. Letting out the breath she’d been holding when Gram’s picked up where she’d left off.
“As for kissing, young lady, you don’t let that man do anything you’re not comfortable with. If you don’t want his hands on your heinie then zap ‘em off. Let him know right upfront who’s boss.”
Giggling at the way Grams furrowed her brow and with a snap of her fingers made sparkles fall from the sky, Kallie nodded, “You got it. Ya’ know I like zapping boys.”
“Yes, you do and you’re darned good at it,” Grams winked. “Does that answer all your questions?”
“For now,” Kallie grinned. “I’ll let ya’ know if there’s more.”
“I’m sure you will,” Grams snickered. “Now, let’s get to these cupcakes. Who knows, maybe it’ll be your baking that brings your mate a runnin’.”
“I’m sure you’re right, Grams,” Kallie sighed as she poured her third batch of batter into the cupcake tins. “Cause if I get much older, I’m gonna have to start baking cat treats and doggie bones and honing my knittin’ skills.”
Chapter Four
Restless, unable t o sleep, to eat…to do anything but pace the floor, Murdock silently stalked out of the cottage behind his nephew’s house and headed towards the cliffs. Unsure of what he and his Dragon needed, but wanting the calm of the sea and the feel of the salt air on his face, the Guardsman took off running, his peace of mind returning with every step closer to the water he got.
Stopping just short of diving off the rocks, he instead sat down on the edge of the cliff, stared into the murky depths and prayed for a sign that his brother still lived. Opening his preternatural senses wide, he watched as the slow lapping of the waves began to take shape. Shifting and swaying, moving to and fro, the water had a mind of its own, molding itself like clay until Murdock was once again looking into the sparkling green eyes of the woman whose image seemed to be the only thing that could soothe his impatient conscience.
Grumbling from within his mind, Raibert sighed, “She is the One, Murdock. Ye knoow tis true.”
“Ah knoow nothing,” he snapped. “And Ah have no time fur such things. What would we do wit’ a mate? Carry her on yur back into the deepest, darkest waters of the sea? Pray she can handle living as we do? Hope for a Mermaid, or even a Siren?”
“Aye, ye fool. You knoow this twill only git worse the more ye resist,” came the Dragon King’s reply. “Ye cannae mess with Fate. How many times must you bang yer head agin that wall?”
“Until Ah bend it to my will.”
“Aye, this is goonna be fun to watch,” Raibert chuckled.
“Shut up,” Murdock growled, throwing up the mental blocks that separated his thoughts from the Dragon’s. “I refuse to be mucked about.”
The Universe and Fate, hell, even Destiny had always found it fun to screw with the Deóireach boys. As far back as Murdock could remember if something was going to go wrong, it happened to one of them.
He knew Raibert was right. The woman had to be the One made for them, their one and only mate, but what if she wasn’t? What if he suffered as Atticus had? Losing someone was never easy, but when she was the light of one’s soul and the love of one’s life, it was absolutely devastating. Because of their connection, Murdock had shared in his older brother’s pain, as well as his rage and fury when his mate had been slaughtered by enemies of the Dragons.
“I won’t do it. Fate can kiss my lily-white ass,” he declared to the stunning image smiling at him. “But…Heavens be damned if she isn’t a beauty.” His nails dug into the rocky ledge as if he hadn’t just proclaimed he didn’t want a mate. There was no denying how very much he longed to touch her long, dark curls, imaging how soft and lush they would feel running through his fingers.
Unable to hold back the smile that curved his lips, a mirror of hers, he had no doubts the woman who refused to leave his thoughts was as sassy as the day was long and feisty beyond compare. He could just feel that she had a mind of her own, would rather ask for forgiveness than permission and would test him in every way possible for every day of their very long, happy lives together.
“Why now?” He complained to the sky.
Climbing to his feet, diving off the nearly fourteen-hundred-foot cliff and letting Raibert in the form of his Sea Dragon come forth in one fluid motion, Murdock’s tension melted away the deeper into the salt water he swam. Showing his teeth in what he knew was a frightening grin, both man and Dragon King chuckled as every life form which called the ocean their home scurried out of the way, making a wide path for the top of the underwater food chain.
Swimming for miles, using the pretense of looking for Atticus but knowing he was truly trying to escape the frustratingly intense emotions seeing the gorgeous woman stirred within him, Murdock wiped his mind. Hours later, waking as if from a dream, he drifted to the surface, using the first rays of the sun dancing upon the water as his guide. With his massive snout bursting through the water, he surfed the waves towards the shore, transforming back to his human form when his underbelly scratched the sand.
Walking through the shallows, water soaking the bottom of the legs of
his jeans, it wasn’t until he’d walked across the sand and turned in the opposite direction from the Lair of the Blue Dragons that Murdock realized he was following the succulent scent of chocolate, cherries and warm vanilla. Digging his bare feet into the soft grass on the other side of the crag, his muscles tensed and his body shook as the ancient and powerful Guardsman fought against every instinct within him not to seek out his mate.
“Bloody hell, Raibert, can ye not help?”
“Ah refuse ta have any part in yer insanity, Boy,” the Dragon King scoffed. “Ah’m just makin’ ready for when I get ta say ‘Ah told ye so’.”
“Why am Ah not surprised?” Murdock growled, summoning every ounce of his strength, doing an about-face and slowly trudging towards the home of the Dragons. “Anything else Ah kin do for ye, Yur Grace?”
“Nay, Ah’ve got the best seat in the house,” Raibert continued to chuckle, the rumbling baritone grating on Murdock’s nerves like nails on a chalkboard. “And the title of this show shall be ‘How the Mighty Have Fallen’.” The Dragon King’s chuckles turned into guffaws. “The lass already has ye by the short hairs.”
Slamming the mental blocks in his mind shut again, Murdock grumbled to the trees, “Why does that blasted Dragon always have to be right?”
Chapter Five
“Kalliope, wake u p .” Meredith’s hand rubbed her shoulder as her voice echoed in the deep recesses of Kallie’s exhausted mind.
“Kallie, come on, get your ass up.” Daphne was louder and infinitely more insistent than Merrie.
What the hell is wrong with these goofballs? Can’t a girl catch a break? I was up…
“Dammit, Kalliope! If you don’t get up right this minute, I’m gonna zap your ass with my Water Power Spell,” Daphne growled, the static electricity of magic filling the air.
Springing up and promptly falling off…well, she had no clue what she fell off of, only knew that her pleasantly round ass landed with a resounding thud on a cold, hard floor. Shaking her head and blinking her eyes, the fog in Kalliope’s brain cleared just about the same time as her vision, causing her to shriek, “Where the hell? What the…?”
Sliding her hand under Kallie’s right arm as Meredith did the same on the left side, Daphne chuckled, “You fell asleep icing your fifty-millionth cupcake, you doofus!”
“Son of a…” Kalliope gasped as the girls jerked her to her feet and Meredith conjured a full-length mirror in front of her. “OH. MY. GODDESS. I look like a hooker who just jumped out of the cake at Satan’s bachelor party.”
Barking with laughter, Daphne teased, “I was thinkin’ more like the cake that got left out in the rain in MacArthur Park, but hooker at a stag party works, too. You just need to show a little more skin and wipe the mascara out from under your eyes.”
“I. Hate. You.” Kallie grumbled under her breath as she pulled clumps of dried icing from her hair, wiped dried flour mixed with eggs off her cheeks and picked heart-shaped sprinkles out of her bra. “Y’all damn sure coulda woke me up.”
“We did!” Meredith protested. “Just as soon as we saw you.” She looked to the side as her cheeks turned a brilliant shade of red. “And when the phone woke us up.”
Ignoring Meredith’s obvious embarrassment, Kallie grumped, “Yeah, sure. I just bet you did.” Raising her arm and swiping at the tiny pieces of rock candy and still more fluffy cream cheese frosting painting her skin on the underside of her arm just missing her armpit, the irritated Witch scowled, “How many pictures did you take? Where are they gonna turn up? Have you already sent them to the entire Coven?” Glaring at her friends’ reflections, their guilt so obvious Kalliope could only imagine how many people had seen her snoring and drooling covered in cake fixin’s and mixin’s, she rolled her eyes and sighed, “Just no posting on social media until after today’s show. One look at those pics and there’s no way anyone will believe I know diddly squat about baking, much less all the lovey-dovey crap I profess to be proficient in.”
“Speaking of your show,” Meredith’s eyes slid to the side, a sure sign Kallie wasn’t going to like whatever the quieter of her two roommates was about to say, the red-headed Witch rushed on, “It’s seven-forty-five and Jess has already called twice asking where you are. His last message sounded more like a squawking mockingbird than the fabulous producer we all know and love.”
“And you’re just now waking me up?” Kallie shrieked, spinning on her toes at the same time that she recited, “Goddess, I’m late. It’s a quarter til eight. There’s sprinkles in my bra and candy in my armpit. Please help me clean up and while you’re at it, turn the Dingbat Sisters into gup--pies .”
“Hey!” Daphne and Meredith squealed in unison as Kalliope’s magic filled the air and in the span of a heartbeat she was cleaned up, dressed up and ready to kick ass.
“Magic like that has consequences, Kallie,” Meredith added. “Priestess Calysta is always saying, ‘Every stroke of your wand, every frivolous spell from your lips, has an equal and opposite reaction.’ Be careful, Kals. You never know when the Universe will take Her due.”
Ignoring her friend’s warning, even though the little hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end, Kalliope stuck her tongue out as she turned on the heel of her sparkling pink Valentine heels, and sassed over her shoulder, “Ta-Ta.”
“I hope your heel breaks and your cupcakes don’t rise,” Daphne threatened as Kallie followed her floating cupcakes out of the house, down the front porch steps and into her car.
“I’m never gonna make it in time.” She worried her bottom lip with her teeth as she sped down the road. “But, if I do another spell for my own gain, I’m sure to get a swift kick in the ass from Fate or the Universe, or saints preserve me, the Goddess herself.”
Thinking so hard she missed her turn, Kallie grumped to herself as she took the long way around over back roads and pot-holed alleyways. Finally arriving at the station, Kallliope was frazzled, freaked out and fussing with herself so loud that people on the sidewalk outside the stage door looked at her like she was a lunatic. After zapping her cupcakes into their place in her TV kitchen, she tried to duck into her dressing room where she knew Clarice, her makeup artist and dresser was waiting without running into her producer.
A discombobulated Kallie threw her bags and packages on the couch and had just plopped her butt into her chair when Jesse flew through the door, his look saying there was about to be a full-on meltdown in T-minus three…two…one…
“Where in all of Liberace’s sequins have you been?” He shrieked, flapping his arms like a chicken trying to take off. “Are you trying to give me gray hair? An aneurism, maybe? Kalliope Jane, you know how awful I look in gray. It washes me out. Makes me look like one of the walking dead. Why, oh why, would you do this to me?”
Tilting her head to the side as Clarice prepared her face for stage makeup, Kallie sassed, hiding her own apprehension, “Oh my Goddess, Jesse, take a chill pill. So, I’m a little late. I’ve got this. I perfected the recipe. It’s going to be phenomenal.”
“A little late? A little late ?” His shriek became a wail. “You think you’re just a little late?” Pulling Kalliope from her chair, despite the fact that Clarice was applying foundation faster than Charo can shake her bootie and scream, “Cuchi, cuchi, cuchi,” Jess held Kallie by the upper arms, gave her a strong shake and howled, “This is a LIVE show. What the hell were you thinking?”
Glaring at her bestie/producer, trying hard to control her impatience and the fact that she felt like a strawberry in a blender with the way his hands were swinging her about, Kallie summoned every last drop of her patience, and whispered, “If you’ll put me down and let Clarice get to it, I’ll be out there before you can fix your eyeliner, Freakin’ Out Fanny.”
With his eyes locked on hers, Kallie could see the precise moment that her over-emotional, prone to outbursts, always three decibels too loud, friend realized that he was part of the problem and not the solution had to bite the inside of her
cheek to keep from laughing. Holding perfectly still as Jesse let go of her arms, took two steps back, turned on his heel and left, Kalliope sat back down, grinned at Clarice and snickered, “Took the air right outta his egg whites, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, but you know it won’t last for long,” Clarice chuckled as she got back to applying Kallie’s makeup. “Jesse is nothing if not persistent, especially when he’s having a spazz attack.”
Laughing out loud while trying to hold still, Kallie agreed, “Don’t you know it, Girl.”
Ten minutes later, Clarice spun Kalliope around in the chair and announced, “Ta-Da, you are fabulous and ready to kick some cupcake booty.”
“I don’t know how you do it,” Kallie beamed. “But, I’m damn glad you can. I swear your pixie magic makes me look radiant even after sleeping on a stool with my head in cake batter.”
Kissing her on the cheek, Clarice bubbled with pride, “You’re just too cute. I hardly do anything.”
Hugging her friend tight, Kallie chuckled, “Flattery will get you everywhere, Clarrie, my love.” Turning them both towards the mirror, Kalliope looked at the pixie in the reflective glass and added, “But never doubt how awesome you are. You are a genuine rock star.”
“Awww, thanks, Kals,” Clarice blushed as she took a step back and patted Kalliope’s shoulder. “Now, get out there before Jesse has that aneurysm for real.”
Laughing along as she rushed towards the stage and put her Valentine’s red apron that said, ‘I Love You to the Moon and Back’ on, Kallie took a few deep breaths. Waving and chirping hello to everyone she passed, her spirits were infinitely better as she took her place in her kitchen and began whipping up a bowl of batter for her show.
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