Surviving Ivy

by Rayne Rachels

  “Ivy?”

  She looked up at Ben.

  “You’re thinking too hard.” He hid his pain behind a grin.

  “You are not funny.” She wanted to punch his shoulder. She bit her bottom lip instead.

  “Are you okay?” asked Ben.

  “I’m fine.” She gave him a small smile. “I think I can do something to make the wounds heal much faster.” She paused for a couple of seconds. “If you’re willing to try it.”

  “Do you mean by using some of your magic?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

  Ivy rolled her eyes. “I can still feel it humming inside me. It’s actually kind of strange. I’ve never had this feeling before, but I need to own it because it’s the part of me that I’ve been missing and didn’t even know it.”

  Ben pulled her close and brushed her lips with his, sending a wave of pure desire surging through her.

  Ivy wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She didn’t want to let go. She wanted the kiss and the feelings it caused to go on forever.

  Ben deepened the kiss, wanting more. His gums started itching. He felt his fangs trying to descend. His bear pushed forward, wanting to mark its mate. Ben ended the kiss and studied her face as he brushed her hair out of her eyes.

  Ivy’s lips tingled. Her whole body tingled with desire and need. She blinked and looked at Ben.

  “If you keep looking at me like that, wounds or not, you and I will make love right here on the floor, and I will mark you as mine.” Ben’s voice was thick with desire.

  Ivy felt her heart pound against her ribs. “I want you and I will be proud to be your mate and wear your mark. But—”

  “But what?” Worry that she was going to reject him flickered through his mind. He shifted his position and groaned as a sharp pain shot through him.

  “That’s what. Your wounds are still bleeding. Let me try to heal them. Please. Let me heal you. I don’t want to see you like this. Ivy’s bottom lip trembled. “I just found you and I don’t want to lose you.”

  Ben pushed through the pain he had caused himself. He looked at Ivy. “You won’t lose me.” Relief flooded through him. Ivy wasn’t rejecting him. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. “What do you need to do to make them heal.”

  Ivy let out the breath she was holding. “I know a spell, and with the earth magic I can cast it. The spell will accelerate your body’s ability to heal.

  The pain was fading, but the thought of causing it to come back by moving was not something he wanted to deal with. Plus, being injured made it more difficult to protect his mate. “What do you need me to do?”

  “I need you to hold still and…”

  “And be quiet so you can concentrate.” He winked at her.

  A weak smile flickered across her lips. “Something like that.”

  Ben took her hands into his. “Do it.”

  “Okay,” she nodded her head. Ivy realized his trust in her was bigger than the fact they were mates. “I need to put my hands over the wounds without touching you.”

  He let go of her hands.

  Ivy instantly felt the loss of his warmth. She pushed aside her thoughts and feelings and moved her hands until they were close to Ben’s skin and just above his wounds without touching them. She closed her eyes and reached for some of the earth energy she had accidentally latched on to when she attacked the demon. Using her hands to focus the energy where she wanted it, Ivy whispered the healing spell her grandmother had made her learn years ago.

  Ben’s eyes widened as a strange warmth spread across his chest and side. His skin started itching. His bear made a chuffing noise. It turned a couple of times and then laid down and put its head on its paws.

  Ivy opened her eyes and blinked several times. Her shoulders sagged. The color drained out of her face as the magic she had pulled from the earth seeped out of her and flowed back to its home.

  Ben reached for Ivy before she fell over. “Are you okay?” He pulled her into his lap before he realized the pain was completely gone.

  Our mate did it. She healed us. His bear looked at him, and then closed its eyes again.

  “I’m okay. Tired, but okay.” Ivy leaned against her mate’s chest and soaked up his warmth and delicious woodsy scent. “Today was the first time I’ve ever used earth magic before. I’m not even sure how I was able to call it to me. Not even my grandmother said anything about it, and she made me learn a lot of spells over the years.” She frowned.

  “What’s the frown for?” Ben kissed the top of her head.

  “I have my grandmother’s grimoire. I have no idea why she left it to me, especially since I couldn’t cast spells correctly. But my parents and older brother were really angry. My father even tried to force me to give it to him. He said Robert was going to be the next leader of the coven, so he should be the heir to the family grimoire, not a misfit who wasn’t even worthy enough to carry the Braxton name.”

  Ben growled.

  Ivy looked at him. His eyes were a mixture of silver and green. She put her hand on his cheek. “There is nothing to be upset about. They may be my biological parents, but I don’t consider them to be my true family. That title went to my grandmother and now, you are my family.”

  “And you are mine.” Ben pulled her close and nuzzled her neck.

  “Do you remember when Hank healed me?” asked Ivy.

  “It’s not something I will forget anytime soon. I nearly lost you.” Ben hugged her tighter to him. “What about it?”

  “Hank must have a witch somewhere in his family tree because the magic he used is almost identical to what witch healers use when they cast their healing spells. I could taste it when I woke up.”

  Ben frowned. “How is it possible since shifters and witches have never mated with each other? You and I are the first.”

  Ivy shook her head. “We’re not the first. Shifters and witches used to mate with each other all the time.”

  “Are you sure about that?” He stared at his mate.

  “My grandmother used to tell me stories about a time when shifters and witches mated with each other. She never told me why they quit mating with each other, or what caused the hatred and fear between the two groups, but something really bad must have happened to force the two groups to turn away.” Ivy snuggled closer to Ben letting his warmth and peppermint scent surround her.

  She sighed.

  She couldn’t get enough of either.

  “I haven’t heard any kind of stories like that, and Mother Bear has never said anything either. It’s been a long time since she last spoke to me.” Ben shrugged his shoulders. “But neither of those things makes it not true. We’ve had problems with demons in the past trying to keep mates apart.”

  Ivy looked at him and raised her eyebrows. “Do you think it’s possible that demons were involved with the split between shifters and witches. They would be stronger together, but apart witches and shifters would become easier targets for the demons.”

  “It makes sense.” Ben nodded. “How does Hank fit into this?”

  “It may have been just a coincidence, but earlier today, Hank told me that he knew what I was. He also asked me why my powers were bound.” She didn’t tell him about Hank warning her of what he would do if she harmed anyone, especially Ben. She didn’t want to be the one who caused a wedge in their friendship, and if she told Ben, that’s exactly what would happen. She would just have to prove to Hank that she wasn’t there to harm any shifter.

  “Were your powers bound?” asked Ben.

  “I honestly don’t know.” Ivy shrugged her shoulders. Reluctantly, she climbed off Ben’s lap. Their discussion seemed to be turning to the very things she was afraid would tear them apart. “I grew up thinking I was an oddball because I didn’t have any real powers. Before today, every spell I tried somehow went wrong.” She smiled though it felt forced. “Some of the mess ups were comical. Grandma would laugh, fix the problem, and then make me recite the spell until it was stuck in my head. I used to que
stion her about why she made me memorize spells when it was obvious I wasn’t going to be much of a witch. She would tell me that one day, I would thank her. I honestly thought she was either crazy or hoping I would miraculously gain some powers.”

  “Could she have been the one who bound your powers?” asked Ben. He stood up. He stretched his arms over his head, testing his newly healed body.

  Ivy frowned. “It’s possible, but why would she bind my powers?” The frown slowly slid off her face as she watched his muscles flex as he stretched. Definitely losing brain cells. Next, I’ll find myself with my mouth hanging open and a puddle of drool on the floor. She bit her bottom lip to keep her mouth closed.

  “Maybe something happened when you were a child that caused her to bind your powers. How did your grandmother end up raising you?” He grinned at her and flexed his biceps.

  Great Merlin’s beard! The man was good looking! Ivy sighed and shook her head to clear it. “In my parents’ eyes, I wasn’t a good child. I wasn’t thin. I was too opinionated. I was too stubborn. I wasn’t magical enough for them so they chose to ignore my existence. When I turned eighteen, they suddenly started trying to marry me off to someone they picked because it would make a good political match for my brother who they were grooming to take over the coven. They were not happy when I refused to be the pawn in their power game.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Luckily, I didn’t have to deal with them too often. For the most part, they completely ignored my existence.”

  “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

  Ivy nodded. She walked over to one of the windows and lifted one of the slats on the blind so she could see outside. The sun was almost gone, leaving the sky with a splattering orange and pink. “My brother never acted like a brother. In fact, he hated me, and it became perfectly clear how much he hated me. When I was about seven, my brother tried to strangle me. My grandmother took me home from the hospital, and I’ve lived with her until she died. My parents never attempted to make contact unless there was something they wanted, and with me being too stubborn to obey them, the times they did make an appearance were very few and with a lot of time in-between.”

  Ben’s bear snarled. It wanted to hunt down and destroy Ivy’s brother and maul her parents.

  Ivy raised an eyebrow as she turned around to look at Ben. She was surprised to hear the snarl coming from Ben’s mouth. “Was that who and what I think?”

  “Let’s just say, neither of us are happy about what your brother tried to do.” Ben totally agreed with his bear. “I think we are dealing with a lot of coincidences. You had your powers bound from what have been an early age. Your brother tries to kill you. Your parents abandon you. There’s the accident in the garage. You and I are mates. I have a connection with Mother Bear. You happen to rent the apartment next door and get a job at the garage where I work. The demon attacks us in the back yard.”

  Ivy wrinkled her nose as she shook her head. “That’s not all of the coincidences, if that’s what you want to call them.”

  “Are there more that you haven’t told me about?”

  “Witches have premonitions in the form of dreams about their mates. A few weeks ago, I started having dreams about you, but they were more nightmares than anything else.” A tremble went through her body as memories of the nightmares threatened to engulf her. “Every night, I watched you in your bear form challenge a demon. And every night I watched you die. I knew I had to find you…to protect you from the demon, even if you didn’t want me for a mate.”

  “I’m not dead.” He walked over to her and gently turned her face up so she had to look at him. “I survived the demon attack, and I most definitely want you for a mate.”

  “I know, but I don’t think this is over.”

  “Why do you say that?” Ben gently wiped away the few tears that slipped out of his mate’s eyes.

  “I think the demon is going to keep coming back unless we managed to completely destroyed it.”

  “My family has fought demons before, and won. We will do it again,” said Ben.

  “Do you remember what the demon smelled like?” asked Ivy.

  Ben thought for a minute. “It smelled like rotting flesh.”

  “Rotting flesh and the acidic smell of black magic. The only thing I know of that can smell like black magic is a witch who has gone bad.” Ivy saw the confused look on Ben’s face. “The world is made up of opposites. Day and night. East and west. Male and female. Good and bad. Most witches are good…you know…do no harm, but there are bad witches. They have no problem harming others in order to get what they want.”

  “You think it’s your brother,” said Ben.

  Ivy slowly nodded her head. “I don’t have any proof, but I think so. Someone left a box of torn up pictures at the front door when I first moved in. A little later I caught a whiff of black magic in my apartment.” She stepped away from Ben and wrapped her arms around herself. “And then there was the phone call telling me to go home before someone got hurt. It was my fault the accident happened.”

  “The accident was not your fault. It was just an accident. Now, the box of torn pictures and the fact someone was in your apartment, that’s a different story. You should have told me sooner.”

  “There wasn’t anything to tell. I threw away the pictures, and I don’t have any proof that someone was in my apartment. I just know that the scent of black magic was still lingering there when I got home. It wasn’t a lot.” She closed her eyes. “What if I brought the problem with me when I decided to move here?”

  “If you hadn’t moved here, I wouldn’t have my mate.” Ben walked over to Ivy. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest.

  “I don’t want people to get hurt or die because of me. I don’t know what I was even thinking. I can’t even protect you from getting hurt.” She snuggled closer to him.

  “It’s not your job to protect me. I’m supposed to protect you.” He turned her around and kissed her.

  Ivy sighed and rested her head on his chest. “We are never going to agree about who is supposed to protect who.”

  Ben chuckled. “Probably not.”

  She looked up without moving her head. “What if we just agree that we are going to try to protect each other from whatever happens to come our way?”

  Ben hugged her. “That sounds good to me, and we are going to start by going to your apartment and grabbing what you need for tonight, and anything else you don’t want to stay there. Tomorrow after work, we will move the rest of your stuff here. You are mine. I want you here in my home and in my bed.”

  Ivy felt a wave of desire ripple through her. There was not another place she wanted to be. Ben was hers. Wherever he was, that’s where she wanted to be. She was so tired of being near him but not close to him. “If you feel like it, then let’s go grab what I’ll need.”

  *****

  “Is there anything else you want to grab tonight?” Ben watched Ivy throw stuff into a small overnight bag.

  Ivy stopped and looked around her bedroom. Her laptop was in the bag sitting next to the small suitcase she had thrown a lot of her clothes into, including everything she needed for work the next day. “I think I’ve got everything except for a couple of items I need to grab out of the bathroom.” She went back into the bathroom.

  “What about your grimoire?” asked Ben.

  Ivy stuck her head out of the bathroom. “Are you serious?”

  “I think you should bring it over tonight. I have a good place where we can put it so that it will be safe. Besides, it’s part of who you are, and I have a feeling you’re going to be using it more than you think, especially now that your powers are breaking free from their binds.”

  “Are you sure my being a witch doesn’t bother you?” Ivy nibbled on her bottom lip.

  “Most definitely sure.” Ben winked at her.

  Ivy’s face turned pink. “Let me grab a couple more things, and then I’ll be done in here until tomorrow.” Her head disap
peared back into the bathroom. Two seconds later, the sound of something crashing into the bathtub. “Horse feathers!”

  Ben’s eyes widened. “Are you okay?” he asked as he started walking toward the bathroom.

  “I’m fine. I just dropped a full bottle of shampoo into the bathtub,” she yelled. “Got it!” Before Ben could say anything else, Ivy walked back into the bedroom, carrying several bottles. She put the stuff into the overnight bag and zipped it closed. She looked at Ben. “I just need to get the grimoire out of the back of the closet.”

  She went to the closet and pulled on the door. It refused to budge. She frowned, and pulled a little harder on the handle.

  “Can I help you with something?” asked Ben.

  “No, I think I’ve got this.” She grabbed the door handle with both hands, turned it, and gave the door a hard yank. The door flew open and Ivy landed, with a loud oomph, on her rear. “Ow! That’s going to leave a lovely mark.”

  Ben was instantly kneeling at her side. “Are you hurt anywhere?” He started to pick her up, but stopped himself.

  She shook her head. “Just my pride, and maybe my rear.” She looked at the door. “It’s never stuck like that before. It’s been difficult at times, but…” Ivy sighed. “Once a klutz, always a klutz.”

  “It’s an old house. Some of the doors can be difficult opening and closing.” Ben helped her to her feet. “Maybe I should wrap you in bubble wrap.”

  “Ha. Ha. Ha. I don’t think so.” Ivy rolled her eyes. She took a step and winced. “Maybe some sort of additional padding for my rear would be a good idea.”

  “Some sort of bubble wrap for you rear. I’ll get on it as soon as we get you back to my place.” He hugged Ivy. “I’ll get the grimoire for you.”

  “I have a better idea.” Ivy held out her hands and closed her eyes. She concentrated on the grimoire and tapped into the earth energy swirling around her. The grimoire flew out of the closet and landed in her outstretched hands. “Great Merlin’s beard! It worked!” Ivy blinked several times before she turned and looked at Ben.