by Leia Stone
Magic Touch
Supernatural Bounty Hunter: Book Three
Copyright 2019 Leia Stone and Lucía Ashta.
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction.
Cover design by Mirela Barbu.
Edited by Lee Burton.
For more information about this book, visit LeiaStone.com or LuciaAshta.com.
About Magic Touch
When the three siren sisters disappear into the underworld, Evie Black thinks she might finally get a break from the chaos that had become her life.
Not a chance.
Someone from her past shows up out of nowhere, and now the Akuma demons are on Evie's trail.
As if that weren't enough for a pregnant supernatural hybrid to handle, a mysterious fog seeps through a crack in the gate to the underworld and wreaks havoc on the town.
Evie has had enough. She's going to close that gate once and for all. She won't rest until every single demon is back where they belong. Luckily, she has her trusted crew to help her every step of the way.
To Cass, the best bestie ever.
Your booty shorts rock.
We only wish you were real!
Contents
1. This shit’s official
2. Daddy say what?
3. From one kitsune to another
4. Shit’s about to go down
5. Fucking family
6. Foggy apocalypse
7. Too many witches in the kitchen
8. Horrors of the underworld
9. Kill it with fire
10. Bite me
11. This bitch has nine lives
12. I will fucking cut you
13. Oh hell
14. Fuck you, Agent Fuckface
15. Friend or foe?
16. Die, demon scum!
17. No one fucks with my bestie and lives
18. Siren soup
19. Akuma douchebags
20. Peace out, motherfuckers
Epilogue
What’s next?
Acknowledgments from Leia
Acknowledgments from Lucía
1 This shit’s official
Molly strutted up and down the length of Brock’s wraparound porch gesturing to her brand-spanking-new shiny Bounty Hunter Apprentice badge clipped on her hip. “Take a real good look, guys. This shit’s official!” she boomed, her wide smile taking up most of her face. We all whistled and cheered her on. Tianna, Reo, and Haru heckled her, but you could see the delight on their faces. They were damn proud.
Cass and I shared a grin.
‘Took me two times to pass my apprentice test,’ my bestie said. ‘I’m proud of our girl.’
I chuckled. Cass wasn’t the best with written tests, and the proctor had been a fae who’d distracted him, directing his thoughts straight to hanky-panky.
‘I’m proud of her too.’
Molly getting officially badged was a bright spot in an otherwise dark week. After Calista and her bitch siren sister disappeared into the underworld, I’d barely slept. Any day now they could march through with their army and try to enslave humanity. Brock posted a handful of wolves at the gate to the underworld at all times, with instructions to kill whatever came out of it and call us. Still, this was my destiny or whatever, which made it difficult to pass off the responsibility.
Haru and Reo said I’d need all nine tails in order to close the gate, and even then they didn’t know exactly how I’d manage it since I was a hybrid. Only a kitsune could permanently seal the gate, and I was only half kitsune, half witch. Nothing about the situation was ideal. In fact, everything about the clusterfuck we currently found ourselves in was as far from ideal as it got. Humanity’s survival hung in the balance, and we were figuring it out on the fly.
My dad was MIA, and I’d only shifted one time in the week since Calista and her sister disappeared into the gate—three more times to go. My new power: enhanced hearing. I could hear heartbeats, which was cool, but it also made it hard to sleep. Brock’s and the baby’s heartbeats pounded in my head all night long, when I needed my rest more than ever. Shifter pregnancies were accelerated. Gestation lasted a total of six months instead of nine, which meant this baby was going to be popping out of me in ten weeks or so—ready or not. Brock was trying to teach me to not focus on the sound of their beating hearts, but I was struggling. In truth, I was struggling to adjust to many aspects of my new crazy-as-fuck life, but fate hadn’t bothered to ask my opinion on the matter.
Brock sidled up to where I leaned against the porch railing to whisper in my ear. “Sabine is here.”
Today we were going to find out the sex of the baby. Brock was trying to act neutral, but I knew he was dead set on a boy, so the universe would probably give us a girl to spite him. I couldn’t think of a single thing that had gone to plan since Brock and I first met.
I gave Cass a nervous smile and pushed off from the railing. “I’ll be back in a bit,” I told Molly. “Remember, if you screw anything up, that badge gets taken.”
She saluted me. “Yes, ma’am. Have a good ultrasound, ma’am.”
Little shit. I grabbed a loose grape from the nearby picnic table and chucked it at her face. Laughing, she dodged it easily, which only caused my grin to grow wider. Molly had become like a little sister to me. I’d moved in with Brock just last night, after Molly signed a lease on Gran’s cabin. I was renting it to her for ten dollars a month. That’s about all she could afford. Hopefully, having a place of her own would keep her from blood-whoring with Croft. I liked the vamp attorney well enough, and I loved that he was the new head of the local seethe of vampires. But I didn’t want him to keep draining my dear friend of blood. She was always pale and shaky for a good while after his visits, and I’d had enough of that. Besides, her little ménage with Reo and Haru seemed to be going well. The brothers stayed at the cabin with her. Every night. All together.
You go, girl.
Brock laced his fingers through mine and led me back to our shared bedroom. The first thing I’d done was bring over all of Gran’s witchy shit. I’d placed it sporadically around Brock’s place, partially because I needed the stuff and enjoyed the constant reminders of the one woman who’d loved me when no one else had, and partially to test how much Brock loved me. So far, even though werewolves in general had an aversion to witches and their gear, he hadn’t said a word or raised an eyebrow. The man was total perfection.
“I was thinking teal for the nursery, with a mountainscape hand-painted by a local artist. If it’s a boy, of course,” he told me as we walked into the room.
“Sounds good. And if it’s a girl, no mermaids.”
Brock chuckled, giving me a sexy grin. “Agreed. Not even a hint of one. We can tell the artist to leave out water entirely.”
“You guys ready to find out the sex of the baby?” Sabine asked as she fiddled with some settings on her portable ultrasound machine.
Brock cringed. “The words sex and baby shouldn’t be used in the same sentence.”
Sabine rolled her eyes. “Fine. Gender.”
I waved them both off. “We’re beyond ready. Brock is already talking about hiring local artists to paint the nursery.”
Sabine grinned and pulled out the wand as I kicked off my boots, lay down on the bed, and inched down the waistband of my maternity pants. Yep, I’d graduated to the elastic band stuff. Cass teased me mercilessly about the new additions to my wardrobe, but coming from an imp who shopped in the toddler section of stores … I wasn’t very offended.
My belly was pretty prominent considering I was past the halfway point of the pregnancy. I couldn’t deny it anymore.
I. Was. Knocked. Up.
Sabine squirted cold gel on my belly and brought th
e wand down over my bellybutton. I was so grateful to have graduated from the internal dildo ultrasound. That wasn’t fun for anyone.
Brock sat on the bed on my other side and leaned forward, watching the blobs on the screen like a hawk and clutching my hand like it was a life raft and we were lost at sea.
I used our pack bond to speak: ‘Chill out a little. I can’t feel my fingers.’
He immediately let up on my hand and grinned. ‘I’m just so excited.’
Brock’s excitement for our baby was one of my favorite things about him. The world was falling to shit, psychotic mermaids were probably about to lead a demon hoard onto earth to slaughter us all, but Brock was ready to paint the nursery.
“Hmm.” Sabine pushed the ultrasound wand into my stomach a little more firmly than usual.
“What’s wrong?” Brock’s every muscle bunched as he scrambled to stand, ready to fight whatever was ailing our baby.
Sabine looked at her alpha. “Nothing. I just can’t see the sex, er, gender. Little baby has its umbilical cord between its legs, and those legs are crossed.”
Brock let out the breath he’d been holding, and I burst into a fit of giggles. When he looked over at me, eyebrows raised in question, I grabbed his arm. “Maybe we shouldn’t know. Let it be a surprise.” I was a total control freak and normally hated surprises, but this sounded kind of fun.
Brock ignored me and faced Sabine, staring at the screen. “That’s a penis. It’s a boy!” He pointed excitedly to a dangling blob.
Sabine chuckled. “Seriously, that’s the umbilical cord. You’re going to have to wait until next week.”
His whole face fell.
“Or we could let it be a surprise…” I offered again.
He looked back at me with amber eyes. “No. If I’m having a daughter, I need to mentally prepare.”
My jaw dropped. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
Sabine cleared her throat. “That’s my cue to leave. Baby looks healthy. We’ll do this again next week. You can shift one more time. Baby seems to be handling it okay.”
Sabine was tracking the shifts that were sprouting new tails and granting me more powers and how it was all affecting the baby. We were so far into uncharted territory that we weren’t even on the map.
I just nodded, anxious for her to leave Brock and me alone. He had some major mansplaining to do.
The second Sabine was out of ear shot, Brock grumbled, “You’re taking this the wrong way.”
I wiped the gel from my stomach in choppy movements, yanked down my shirt, and crossed my arms to glare at him. “Explain yourself. I will not have a child with a sexist alpha whatever you are.”
Brock grinned. “Sexist alpha whatever…”
“Explain.” I kicked my legs over the edge of the bed and started tugging on my boots.
Brock reached out and stilled me, cupping my face. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
The breath whooshed out of me, and I couldn’t help but stare up into those honey eyes of his.
“And if our daughter has even half of your beauty and a quarter of your feisty independence, I’ll need to put bars on all the windows and have a tracking device implanted in her neck because the boys will be lining up for miles and my heart can’t take it.”
I grinned. “It’s still sexist, but since that’s pretty fucking sweet, I guess you’re off the hook.”
“Hmm, that’s good, because I have better plans for that pout of yours.” He edged between my legs, parting them.
“Oh, do you?”
“Definitely.” He tilted my face up and lowered his lips toward mine. Right away, his tongue urged my lips apart; heat rushed across my body as our tongues met. I stood and he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against him. Weaving my hands around his neck, I claimed his mouth. He kissed me like it was the first time and the last time, all at once. And even though we’d already made love that morning, I couldn’t help the moan that escaped me and the way every part of my body urged me along, wanting more, more, more of this gorgeous man.
Brock groaned and cupped my ass, pressing my pelvis against his, convincing me that there was no such thing as too much sex. I’d never get enough of this man.
“Boy or girl, I’ll be thrilled, I promise,” he whispered against my lips, sending shivers vibrating down the length of my body.
I was two seconds away from tossing him onto the bed when someone banged on the door to the bedroom. I hadn’t even realized Sabine had pulled it shut, but it was no secret in the house of wolves with acute hearing that Brock and I ended up between the sheets more often than not. She must have closed it to afford us privacy.
“Go away!” Brock ordered, trailing his fingertips across my collarbone like an erotic whisper.
“Evie! Get out here!” Cass yelled, and I froze in Brock’s arms, whipping my face toward the closed door.
‘What is it?’ I broadcasted through the link Cass and I shared as I crossed the room and jerked the door open, looking down.
My two-foot-tall bounty hunting partner looked pale as a ghost. As a hot pink demon imp, this was hard to accomplish.
He swallowed visibly. “Your dad’s here.”
2 Daddy say what?
‘Do you want me to tell him you’re resting? Give you a little time to prepare?’
Brock’s compassionate offer snapped me out of my daze, and I blinked at him a few times as I came back to myself. Leaning my shoulder against the archway of our bedroom, I took a deep breath. Just down this hall was a large seating area where my father, the one whom I’d believed dead for most of my life, was waiting. Cass had already gone ahead of us, leaving Brock and me alone.
Brock brought a hand to the small of my back, his flesh warm against mine. ‘I’m sure he’d understand...’
A heavy sigh escaped me. I was a supernatural bounty hunter, for fuck’s sake. I’d faced down more nasty creatures than I could count. I could do this. Of course I can. So what if I had no real memories of him or my mother before the car accident that supposedly killed them both? He was still my father … everything would be fine … it might just take a little time to get used to having a parent around.
When Gran passed, I’d felt orphaned, without family. Sure, I had Cass before Brock came along with Molly and the rest of my crazy crew. But my dad was … my dad.
My heart thumped uncomfortably in my chest, so loudly I could hear it, protesting my discomfort. What would he be like? Would we have things to talk about? Would he feel like a stranger? Other than the small conversation we’d had on the phone when I’d done that spell to trick the killing curse into thinking Nathan was me, we’d never spoken.
‘Eve?’ Brock tried again, massaging his hand against my back, and I shook my head, my long, dark hair scattering.
‘Thanks, but I’m okay. He’s my dad.’ I stumbled over the word that I wasn’t used to using. Dad. I’d dreamed of having parents for so long … this didn’t seem possible. Why was I so freaked out when it’s all I’d wanted for as long as I could remember?
Before I could mind-fuck myself more, I straightened my shoulders, flung my hair back, and tugged my crop-top down, though it was no use since my growing belly pushed the fabric right back up under my breasts. With total confidence, I marched through the archway—and froze mid-step when I first caught sight of him.
He looked so much like me—or rather I looked so much like him. He shared my straight, shiny black hair, oval face, and bright bow-like lips. The only striking difference were the violet eyes I’d gotten from my mother, though even the almond shape of them were like his.
I resumed my approach as he pinned his gaze on me, gesturing to a woman who stood behind him to roll his wheelchair so he’d meet me halfway.
“Hello, kitten,” he said, and my heart seized for a moment.
“Hey, Father. Dad…” I struggled with what to call him.
The face that resembled mine creased into a gentle, warm s
mile, and I all but ran toward him. He opened his arms, and I leaned over to embrace him, doing my best not to focus on the fact that he was in a wheelchair. The fucking Akuma, or whoever had tried to kill him, had left him paralyzed and my mother dead. I was going to kill the next Akuma I saw.
He patted me awkwardly on the back. “I’ve longed to see you for so many years.”
Pulling back, I stood in front of him. “Why are you here now? I mean, I’m so glad you’re here, but … why now? I thought it was dangerous for you to come here?” I scanned the spacious room. It was empty beyond Cass, my father, and the woman behind him, who looked like a caretaker.
He grimaced and rubbed at his chest, seemingly unconsciously. “The Akuma found me. I fear they’ll find you next.”
Feeling awkward towering over him, I took a seat on the nearest couch, thankful for Brock’s support when he sank into the leather cushions beside me.
“Actually,” I said, “they did find me. At a selkie cove I went to in order to heal my blade.”
Understanding sparked in his eyes before turning to anger, and then melting into a fearful expression. “Then we have less time to complete your training than I thought.”
Great. That sounded ominous.
Brock took my hand and leaned forward. “Hello, sir. I’m Brock. Welcome to our home.”
My father’s loving gaze traveled between us, across our linked hands, before he nodded once, his smile suddenly tight. “Thank you for having me.” Then his gaze went to my belly. “Have you just had a large meal Evie, or am I going to become a grandfather?”
