Spirits and Spells (Warlocks MacGregor Book 5)

by Michelle M. Pillow

  Niall examined the tips of his fingers as if contemplating her words. He nodded slowly. He lifted his hand, turning off the lights. Seconds later, the fire blazed in the fireplace.

  Pushing his fist against the floor, he stood. His eyes met hers, full of determination. He moved with a predatory grace around the picnic to come before her. He was a man of few words but in this instance, he didn’t need them.

  His hand lifted to cup her cheek. Niall pulled her face toward his, claiming her mouth. His tongue slipped between her lips, delving deep as he lay claim. There was no mistaking when he kissed her that he wanted to. And he wanted more.

  The animal inside him glinted in his eyes. Everything about him was primitive and raw. He kissed with aggression, letting her feel how much he wanted her. His hands moved over her as if trying to devour her with his fingers. He tugged at her clothes and, when they did not come off, he pulled his mouth away. He gestured his hand and made them magically melt from her body onto the floor.

  Niall pulled his shirt over his head. His eyes roamed her naked body freely. He walked her back toward the bed, not touching her as he unfastened his kilt. Scars lined his strong body, a testament to his dangerous life. He pushed his kilt down, letting it land at his feet.

  Charlotte’s legs hit the mattress and she crawled onto the bed. He reached behind her knees and pulled her back toward the edge of the bed. He stood over her, letting her legs dangle next to his hips. She felt the beast within him and wanted to tame it. He took his time looking at her. He ran his hands up her stomach only to stop when he reached her breasts. His fingers teased the hard peaks. She wiggled beneath him, inching her hips to the edge of the bed.

  Being with Niall was unlike anything she had ever experienced. He was forceful and gentle at the same time.

  He held her by her legs and delved forward. When his body joined with hers, it created a perfect rhythm. She watched his muscles move with each thrust. The pleasure built until it was too much. They came in unison. Charlotte gasped, crying out softly. He stiffened, leaning his head back as his lips parted in a silent howl.

  Afterward, he moved to lie next to her on the bed. He stroked the hair from her face. His gaze moved as if he memorized every nuance of her.

  Charlotte suppressed a yawn. She skated her fingers over his chest, moving from scar to scar. “I want to help tomorrow, with Helena. For whatever reason, she reached out to me. I think I can help.”

  “No.”

  “Just no?” Charlotte dropped her hand and leaned back to give him her sternest expression.

  “Helena is not what ya think. She’s not some woman ya can reason with. She’s from a different time.” Niall placed his hand on hers, keeping it against his chest as he rolled onto his back.

  “What happened? Why is she so mad?”

  “It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past. We have to think about tomorrow. There is much to be done. We should sleep.” He closed his eyes and lifted a finger. The curtains pulled shut, hiding them from the outside world—not that anyone could see them on the second floor of the mansion.

  Well, scratch that. No one who wasn’t a flying supernatural trying to peek inside windows.

  His breathing became even. She couldn’t tell if he really slept or if he faked it. Charlotte held her eyes open for as long as she could, watching to see if he peeked at her. He did not. And as her lids became heavy, she let the gentle lull of sleep overtake her.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Oh, what the fuck is happening now?” Charlotte muttered to herself.

  The countryside wasn’t something she recalled from her past. Besides the fact it didn’t look gloomy and some invisible record didn’t pop and scratch to distort sound, she was pretty sure she had never been to a place that had a castle in the background.

  A woman screamed and Charlotte jumped in fright. She searched the surrounding meadow. The grasses parted as if some invisible force ran past her.

  “Char, don’t follow the ghost,” she tried to command herself. She closed her eyes. “Don’t do it. Just stay here until you’re back in Niall’s bed.”

  “Helena, wait,” Euann said. His accent was a little thicker, but she recognized his voice.

  “Stay away from me, Euann MacGregor! I saw what your brother is. He is in league with the devil! If you don’t help me, you are in league yourself and the MacGregor witches must be stopped,” a British-accented woman answered. Was that Helena? She hardly sounded like the ghost Charlotte had met by the statue.

  Charlotte saw the grass part but there were no people walking through it. The sound of hooves beat on the ground. She turned to see a black horse charging at her. The creature ran right through her.

  Helena screamed again. Her figure came into view, running away from the horse. She wore a gown that looked like it belonged in the eighteenth century. The heavy skirts weighed her steps, even as she lifted them to run.

  Charlotte turned her attention to the horse rider. His hair was much longer but she would recognize that kilt anywhere. Niall chased Helena.

  Charlotte found herself running after them. Euann appeared in the grasses next to her, a younger version than the man she knew. He did not acknowledge that he saw her running around in a memory that was not hers to explore.

  As they ran, the landscape changed. Euann disappeared, turning into a tree. They were near some ruins, the stone walls giving shelter as Niall knelt on the ground next to Helena.

  “Och, I am sorry, lassie,” Niall whispered. “I wish ya would not have seen what ya did, but your grannie was an evil woman. She summoned the beast that devoured her. I did not make it in time to save her.”

  Helena didn’t answer. The wind blew, stirring Niall’s clothes, but Helena kept perfectly still.

  “It won’t hurt, I promise. Ya can go on as ya have.” Niall lifted his hands over Helena. “I have to protect the family. There are those who would see the witch trials brought back in a blink of an eye. We have already lost far too many.”

  Charlotte walked around the campsite. Niall’s eyes lightened in color as he whispered an incantation. Tiny sparks moved from Helena’s face toward his hands. The sparks grew, showing the faintest hint of a figure screaming before bursting and falling to the ground like spent ash. This must have been how they erased memories.

  “Please forgive me,” Niall whispered to himself as he plucked Helena’s memories.

  “Niall, stop!” Iain ran from the darkness.

  “Da said we have to,” Niall said. “It is my mess and I have to clean it up. She threatens to expose the entire family.”

  “Ma said stop. Her bloodline is too strong. When her grannie died the powers would have passed on. It’s too dangerous,” Iain insisted. “We don’t know what will happen if we take the memory of a witch. She’s not like other humans now.”

  Niall stopped and dropped his hands. “It’s too late. I already took them.”

  Iain looked worried. “Did ya get them all?”

  “I don’t know, I think?” Niall looked helpless.

  “We have to go. The family leaves England tonight. They sent me to bring ya back.” Iain pulled at Niall’s arm.

  “What should we do about her?” Niall hesitated.

  “Leave her. By the time she thaws, we’ll be gone.” Iain threw up his arms. “I’ve put a spell on this place. No one will find her before she wakes up. She’ll be fine.”

  Niall nodded. Iain ran back the way he came.

  Niall took a deep breath. “Choose a better path than your grannie.” He ran after his brother.

  Charlotte opened her eyes, finding herself next to Niall’s naked body. Firelight still danced over him. He made a strange noise in his sleep as if haunted by the past.

  She tapped his chest. “Niall, wake up.”

  Instantly, he stiffened and moved as if to look around. “What is it? Does Helena come?”

  “I think I was in your head again,” she said. “I saw these ruins and you were taking memories out of He
lena. I could see you didn’t want to. Then Iain came and…”

  “Ya saw that?” Niall sat up and placed his hands on his head. “I can’t explain why this is happening. Ya shouldn’t be in my head.”

  “Why not? You were in mine.” Charlotte ran her hand over his naked back, trying to give him comfort. “I don’t know why you’re so upset. I saw what happened. She was going to turn you in to the authorities and hurt your family. I don’t know a ton about the witch trials, but I’ve seen enough documentaries to know I would do anything to protect my loved ones from such a fate.”

  “I made a mistake that night,” Niall said. “I wish I could go back and change it, but…”

  His words sparked a memory and she tried to hold on to it.

  I would take it all back if I could. I would rewind time if it would fix the future. I would let ya see the truth if that meant ya would look…

  The rest of the words were lost.

  “Come here.” She pulled him into her arms, forcing him to lie down. “Tell me.”

  “Helena saw me,” he said.

  “Saw you what?”

  “Her grandmother was a powerful woman. She summoned a demon to do her bidding. I was so young, only about a hundred years old, and I had never fought anything so powerful. The demon turned on the old witch the first moment it could, as demons do, and I was too late to save her. Helena had this horrible crush on Euann. He flirted with her but it never went anywhere. She used to sneak out of her grandmother’s house, and on this particular night, coming home, she saw me with the demon, then saw her grandmother was dead, so she thought I sent the beast.”

  Charlotte stroked his hair from his brow. “Go on.”

  “Helena could not be reasoned with. Euann tried.” Niall closed his eyes. “My da decided since she saw me, I would be the best one to find the memories and erase them. However, my ma and Aunt Cait traced Helena’s bloodline, realized the power she inherited, and sent Iain to stop me. It was too late. I’d left a gap in Helena’s memory, and her powers filled it with lies and insanity. I’d missed one memory of that night and her powers created this fantastical tale of what had gone on. She came after us, started doing these really odd, bad things. She walked backward for a day and told everyone witches made her with a curse. She painted nonsense symbols on the side of a barn with chicken blood. Then she began accusing others of witchcraft—innocent people she didn’t like the look of. The old timers believed her.”

  Charlotte nodded, keeping quiet as he spoke. The even drawl of his accent was soft.

  “Helena started writing these spells, old spells no one had thought of for a long time. Her power just kept filling in blanks, and since it had spent centuries being tainted with dark magick, that is where it took her. Because she knew I had been there the night her grandmother died, she focused on my family. We tried to stop her. We managed to take more of the memories, but by then the damage had been done. She’d written things down, and as she read her letters to herself, her powers became even more distorted, until finally anger changed the young girl she had been. We wanted to help her, but couldn’t. She was too powerful, and too unstable.”

  “So you trapped her in stone?” Charlotte asked.

  “Aye. First, we stripped her of her magick. With her being the last of her bloodline, the inherited powers dissipated into the world. What was left of her, we put into a hollow in the statue. We had hoped time would show us a way to help her.”

  “And so your family has been protecting her statue ever since?”

  “Every move we make, she comes with us.”

  “And now she’s out and seeking revenge.” Charlotte shivered.

  “I won’t let her hurt ya, Charlotte.” Niall pulled her against his chest. “I promise. I will not fail ya.”

  Charlotte believed him. Still, tears threatened her eyes and she turned in his arms to place her back against his chest to hide them. It became very clear now. His protectiveness was his way of atoning for what happened to Helena. He cared for her, but he did not love her. Not as she loved him.

  The pain was almost unbearable, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave his embrace. If just for tonight, she would pretend this moment meant as much to him as it did to her.

  “You did all you could for her, and for me,” Charlotte whispered. “None of this is your fault. You couldn’t have known what would happen to Helena when you tried to save your family. I know you tried to save her, just as you saved me. You have nothing to be sorry for. You need to forgive yourself. You also will not face her alone. If you could have defeated her on your own, you would have. She needs me. I’m not sure why but she does. Tomorrow, I will go with you.”

  He didn’t answer, and she had no idea if he heard her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Charlotte felt a soft caress against her cheek and smiled. Sleeping next to Niall made her feel safe. She felt rested as if her mind finally went into that deep place of normal dreams.

  She stretched her arm, reaching for him. Instead of a naked hip, her hand glided over soft material.

  Charlotte frowned, if Niall wasn’t in bed with her, who was touching her face?

  Another feathery caress brushed her as light as a butterfly. Charlotte gasped, her body flailing as she swatted at her face.

  It took a few moments to recognize Margareta MacGregor sitting on the edge of the bed. What was Niall’s mother doing in the bedroom? Where was Niall?

  Margareta held a scrap of red silk in her hand. Charlotte blinked, wondering if this was another memory. Swatches of material had fallen around her when she sat up. She touched her face and hair, pulling a few more pieces of silk from her locks.

  “That red is,” Margareta eyed Charlotte’s hair, “interesting. It’s very hard to match.”

  Charlotte touched the silk pieces on her lap, realizing she wore a man’s T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. Niall must have magickally dressed her. That was one trick she wouldn’t mind having—dressing with a point of a finger, lighting fires, locking doors, cleaning. Why was Niall’s mother placing color swatches on her? She handed the material strips back to the woman. “What is going on? Where’s Niall?”

  “Ya will make a lovely…” Margareta paused. “Are ya attached to that color? It is a difficult shade.”

  “Not really. I bought a box of it from the grocery store. I’m sure I can buy another and it will match just fine.” Charlotte didn’t mind the red and figured it would fade out eventually.

  “I meant for dresses,” Margareta said. She took the silk and turned to lift a giant binder from the bed. It was overstuffed with pages, color swatches hanging over the sides. She stuffed the swatches into folder pocket. “I wanted to speak to ya before my daughters had a chance to put any ideas into your head.”

  “Daughters? Niall has more sisters? I thought it was only Malina.”

  “Lydia and Jane.” Margareta flipped a few pages, stopping when she found a sketch of a horse-drawn carriage with doves. She held it up as if to gauge Charlotte’s reaction. “And now ya will be joining us.”

  “And now I will…?” Charlotte repeated, stunned.

  Margareta smiled, nodding her head toward the page. Horses, doves, was this a wedding planner?

  “Oh, you’re old-fashioned,” Charlotte said, realizing what was happening. If Niall was several hundred years old, then Margareta would be…well, from a very different time. “No, no, I think you have the wrong idea. Niall and I aren’t…we’re just…” Charlotte tried to think of a delicate way to explain what they were. “Friends.”

  “Of course, friendship is important in marriage.” Margareta reached forward and patted her leg. “Ya are very smart to realize that. True love will only get ya through so many centuries.”

  “Centuries?” Charlotte’s heart started to pound. “I have to ask you something.”

  “Anything,” Margareta grinned, “daughter.”

  “Am I crazy? Did I lose time again?”

  “Excuse me?” Margareta
frowned in confusion.

  Maybe it wasn’t the next day like she thought. Maybe Niall didn’t dress her in the T-shirt. “Did you all dig around in my brain and take more memories? Did something go wrong with Helena? Did something happen to me?”

  The door opened and Lydia pushed her way inside. She wore the same jeans and T-shirt she had on the day before. “Ah-ha! Ma, we knew we’d find you in here.”

  “Seriously, Ma, what are you doing? Leave poor Charlotte alone.” Malina followed Lydia into the bedroom. Her designer clothes were pristine, giving the impression she was about to step out of the mansion and onto a New York fashion runway. Large earrings, a chunky necklace, and heels completed the look.

  “Hey, Charlotte, good to see you again. Sorry for the intrusion.” Jane was slower to enter. Her curly brown hair was pulled to the top of her head to create a messy bun. She was dressed athletic and outdoorsy in yoga pants, a T-shirt, and running shoes, it suited the fact she owned the local nursery.

  “Hey, Jane, it’s fine,” Charlotte answered. She looked at Lydia, trying to silently ask her best friend what was going on.

  “Good, we’re all here,” Margareta said. “There is so much planning to do. The estate needs to be repaired. Malina, can ya see to Charlotte’s hair?”

  “I like her hair,” Malina said.

  “It won’t match,” Margareta insisted.

  Malina shrugged and walked over toward the bed. She sat next to Charlotte.

  “Ma, I thought we talked about this.” Lydia sat down by Charlotte’s feet. “Ya can’t go around assuming people are going to get married.”

  Jane, who had always kept to herself, was slower to join them. She stood by the end of the bed.

  “Niall is my baby boy. I think I’d know when my son has found a woman.” Margareta went back to looking at her binder. “I could tell by the way he looked at her at yesterday’s meeting.”