“With you? Always.”
She sighed and shook her head. “We should get back to the bookstore. It’s time to pretend that the world isn’t ending.”
I gripped her hand and pulled her closer. When I crushed my mouth to hers, she didn’t resist. Instead, she leaned into me as if this were the most casual thing in the world.
“Laurel. We’re going to beat this. All of this. You see what happens when we work together. We find answers.”
“I wish that were the case. But it’s hard to have faith when everything hurts.”
I scowled and tugged her inside, forcing her to sit behind the desk.
“You get some work done, do something. I will work the front.”
“Really? You don’t have to be with your wing or something?”
“I should.” Guilt slid into me, but I needed a moment to breathe, to think.
Because my people had tried to hurt her. They had hurt her. She still had bruises on her neck from Aiden. My second was very lucky that Laurel held me back from doing something about it.
The door opened, the little bell tinkling above it as Aspen and my sister walked through. The leather-clad mermaid and equally leather-clad fae king nodded at me, and I narrowed my eyes.
The two had been spending a lot of time together, but I had been holding back my curiosity and big-brother tendencies. It wasn’t the fae king with all of his mysterious power that I worried about. No, it was my sister.
Mermaids could be vicious, especially when you weren’t looking or ready for it.
“We just wanted to check on you.” Nelle moved forward and let go of Aspen’s hand to come and kiss me on the cheek. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her close. She sank into my hold, my baby sister clinging to me. “I thought you were dead,” she whispered.
“Honestly, I thought I was, too.”
She let out a little noise, one that echoed Laurel’s.
I looked over Nelle’s head to see my mate coming forward, ignoring my order to sit down. Not that she ever listened to me when it came to orders.
“You’re both resting and healing then?” Aspen asked as he studied us.
I narrowed my eyes at him, and he just smirked, not one of a man who wanted to die today, but one who thought he knew what I was thinking. I didn’t blame him. It seemed he was seeing my younger sister, and I wanted to know why nobody was talking about it, even though it seemed everybody wanted to talk about it.
“Stop glaring at Aspen.”
I looked down at Nelle. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t be glaring at the man who dared to touch my baby sister?” I teased.
She shoved me, and a smile played on my lips as Laurel barked out a laugh. “Oh, good. Let’s worry about you, Nelle, so he can stop puttering around me.”
“I do not putter.”
“I would say it’s more of a hover,” Aspen added deadpan.
I scowled at the other man. “Either you’re on my side in this, or you’re the one touching my baby sister. Make your choice.”
“Really, Jaxton? That’s the line you’re going for? The broody big brother who has a weird fascination with who his sister dates?”
“I’d say ‘a-ha you’re dating him,’ but that point seems moot at this juncture.”
“Of course, we’re together,” she said as she rolled her eyes.
Aspen let out a long sigh. “I didn’t feel the need to ask for your permission, wing leader. But I can if that will help ease the tension between our peoples.”
My lips felt the urge to smile, and Laurel laughed outright as she wrapped her arms around my waist and leaned into me. This felt...right. As if we should have been doing this long ago.
“You do not have to worry about me, Aspen.”
“No, we only have to worry about the elders,” Nelle grumbled.
“I will deal with them shortly,” I said after a moment, my hawk gliding in aerials within me.
“You shouldn’t have to. People should respect you and agree with you. They’re not going to blame William on you, are they?” Nelle asked, her eyes wide.
I shook my head. “No, they won’t blame me. Still, I need to get there soon and deal with the ramifications. But I spent nearly two hours with them earlier today, trying to find some semblance of peace. But we’re not like the bears. We don’t come together in a ball and cuddle. We’re loners. It’s what we do.”
Hawk shifters were different than any other shifter types. Maybe other birds of prey were the same, but we didn’t know. We didn’t keep in contact with them because we were different.
That was the whole point. We didn’t cling to our wing when things got hard. We were insular, and my job was to find ways to connect us without forcing the bonds that would hinder our ability to soar and fly.
That was why the elders pushed so hard. Why, while I was the strongest, the leader, I still had to answer for certain things.
Sometimes, I thought it would be easier to be a bear. To be like Rome. And then I remembered the pain he had gone through with Alden. I figured maybe there wasn’t an easy way to be a shifter or even to be a part of Ravenwood.
“Did me staying away help?” Laurel asked, and I cursed.
“Honestly, I was going to ask the same thing,” Nelle said with a shrug. This time, Aspen cursed. He held her close like I did with Laurel, and the fae king and I gave each other a look.
Oh, there would be retribution. I just wasn’t sure how we would go about it.
Aspen froze and tilted his head to the side, right as the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
“Revenants,” Laurel called out as she pulled out her sword. “I’m getting tired of this Renee and her ability to raise the dead.”
“You’re not alone,” Nelle said as she pulled out a dagger.
“I don’t think so,” Aspen said as he pushed her behind him. “You know you’re not prepared yet.”
“You’ve been training me.”
“I thought I had been training you to fight,” I muttered as my talons grew out of my fingertips.
My sister narrowed her gaze. “You both have been. And I’m going to fight. For my family, and for this town.”
“You won’t be alone,” Rowen said from the doorway as she and Sage walked in. Ash and Rome were nowhere to be seen, but that was probably a good thing. They needed to be downtown while we were inside the small bookstore, dealing with whatever was coming.
Then, there was no more time to speak.
The first revenant smashed through the window, and Laurel let out a growl before she attacked. I was at her side, sliding my talons into the nearest revenant as she sliced off its head.
We did more of the same, working in tandem as if we’d been doing it all our lives.
Maybe we had, in a sense. I felt the bond within us, both of us moving as one in some respects. I didn’t know if this was what it would be like once the mating bond finally took hold, but I wanted it.
I wanted what we couldn’t have.
“We need the spell,” Rowen called as she looked across the back alley. “More are coming. The forest is filled with them.”
“Do you have enough energy for a spell?” I asked, worried.
Laurel looked at me and nodded. “If you hold my hand, I’ll be okay because of the way we’re connected.”
Something sparked in the back of my mind. An answer. But it faded away as fast as it came.
“Quickly, do the banishment,” Aspen said calmly as he moved forward. “I’ll keep them off you as the four of you stay in your circle with the spell.”
“And I’ll be by your side,” Nelle said as she tossed a dagger straight into a revenant’s head. It slid between its eyes, the revenant falling. She ran forward, dug the dagger out, and continued tossing it.
She was a far better fighter than she had been even last month, and I had to credit Aspen with that since my head had been up my ass, dealing with Laurel.
“Come now, join hands.”
We stood
in a line, me at the end holding Laurel’s hand. I would take whatever fire and pain she needed to get rid of, anything to save my mate.
“Earth, air, water, fire, bring us that which we desire. Stop this evil, purge this blight, banish this death to darkest night. Lord and Lady, ancestors, too, lend us your strength for what we must do. Take this darkness so we may be free. This is our will, so mote it be!”
Fire erupted down my arms. Even though I couldn’t see it, I felt it. Laurel screamed and nearly fell to her knees before I caught her, bringing her close.
I grabbed her sword from her hand as she fell and slashed out at the closest revenant.
It opened its mouth as if to scream, but there was no sound.
And then the revenants were gone, the jarring sound of bodies hitting trees as they flew through them echoing within my brain.
I fell, the sword clattering at my side as Laurel climbed into my lap.
“That was stronger than before,” Sage said as she staggered into Aspen. Aspen held Nelle’s hands as he kept Sage up, and I looked at Rowen.
She looked stronger than she ever had, as if she were somehow able to breathe now, to not push so much of her soul and energy into the town.
She looked like a goddess.
Like a Ravenwood.
“I think we’re finally becoming a coven.”
As I looked down at Laurel, noticing how she curled into herself, I had to wonder at the cost. She had nearly killed herself to save me, therefore creating the temporary bond between us.
Would a mating bond fix that? Or would it end us both before we even had a chance to begin?
Chapter
Thirteen
Laurel
“I’m glad that we’re doing this. We haven’t had a lot of time with just each other these days. To just breathe.”
I looked up at Sage as she spoke and smiled softly. “You’re right.”
“We’ve been focusing on defense, and matings, and curses, and the town, but not really on us. Maybe it’s time we do our best to do that. And I’m just as guilty of not doing it, if not more so than the rest of you.”
I shook my head at Rowen. “We’re all equally guilty of ignoring part of our coven responsibilities. Or perhaps it’s that we’re trying to do it all. And if you want to talk about who has more responsibility in that, it could be me. Considering I have been hiding from exactly what we could be doing for how long now?”
“If you’re done slapping at yourself for what you just told Rowen not to do, maybe we can continue our girl time?” Sage asked sweetly as she fluttered her eyelashes at me. I snorted and shook my head.
“All I’m saying is that it’s nice to be here.”
Rowen’s home had been in her family for generations. It sat on the land of the original settlers and had been built soon after the original founding members’ children decided to expand. Time had changed some of the structure, but the bones of the glorious home were still the same. I didn’t live in the Christophers’ original home. In fact, no one did as it had burned down in a cursed accident in my grandparents’ time.
The Christophers carried the curse on their soul, and I knew until Ash and I each found a way to rid ourselves of our particular curses, any children that may be born down our line would also carry the curse. Not that I thought children were coming soon. Ash would never procreate, not with what lay heavy on his heart and in his body, and I couldn’t. I wouldn’t be around long enough for that. And I didn’t think my body would survive a pregnancy anyway. What would the flame and fire power do to a fetus?
I shivered, and Rowen glanced at me, concern on her face. “What’s wrong?”
“Thinking of something I’d rather not talk about.”
“We’re here for a girls’ night. We should talk about everything. What’s wrong?” Sage asked.
“Honestly? I was thinking about what would happen if I got pregnant. With the curse.”
Rowen’s mouth went into a thin line, and I knew it wasn’t anger or censure but the fact that she couldn’t help. She had been trying for our entire lives, and we hadn’t been able to fix it. Rowen was the most powerful witch I knew. She had strength, beauty, grace, and sheer talent.
And yet, she couldn’t fix this.
It wasn’t just me or the town she was trying to free. Ash was the other side of my cursed coin, and she couldn’t save him either.
I knew that it had to break her far more than anything that could happen to me, not that I would tell her that. Not that I would tell anybody that.
“I’m sorry,” Sage whispered. “Not that me saying that actually helps.”
I shrugged and played with the stem of my wine glass. We sat in Rowen’s living room on the ornate yet comfortable chaise lounges and couches, and I wanted to take another sip of my drink but knew it would taste of ash and nothingness. Not because of the magic of the curse, but because I wasn’t sure I wanted to taste anything just then.
“I know that we will fix this. The town will not end, you will not have your curse, and you and Jaxton will have little baby hawk shifter-witches, and we will have happiness.”
I looked at Sage and heard the desperation and determination in her voice. “That would be wonderful if it were true. But is it?”
“Do you think your children would have hawk shifter or witch DNA?” Sage asked, a small smile on her face.
We were going to pretend, and I was okay with that for now because I needed to pretend, too.
“Knowing Jaxton and his dominance, they’d probably all be little hawk shifters.” I would honestly love that, but I couldn’t let myself dream.
“Would the wing approve of that?” Rowen asked, tapping her fingers on the desk.
“All hypothetical, of course?”
“Of course,” Rowen answered, knowing that this conversation was a little too much for me, but I knew where Rowen wanted it to go.
“I think the wing will have problems with anyone who isn’t a pure hawk. They already have problems with Nelle and with how much time Jaxton spends with me. I’m not a fan of those elders, but there are good people in the wing, those who agree that mating outside of the wing is a good thing.”
“Just like with the bears. If they didn’t want to mingle with other magical creatures and humans, then why live in a magical town full of them?”
“Exactly,” Rowen added. “As leaders of the witches here, even those with a small percentage of magical blood, we all know that blending the populations isn’t an issue. It’s the elders or those who want to try to scramble for any semblance of power who feel that way. And we all know what happened to Alden when he tried.”
Sage’s eyes narrowed. “We do. And just like with the bears, the hawks will realize what they’re doing. Jaxton’s a good person. As are a lot of his people. Nelle might think she’s not fully welcomed, but they love her. She’s so good with the baby hawks and hatchlings or whatever they’re called,” Sage added with a grimace. “I used to be so good at learning new things. Now, I feel like I’m playing catch-up with all these magical terms. There’s only so much I can read in a book to understand exactly what I’m missing from not being in the magical world for over two decades.”
“First, as a bookstore owner, you can find everything in a book.”
“That might be true.” Rowen smiled.
“Second, the babies are called hatchlings. And sometimes, even the teenagers, the fledglings, are called hatchlings when they act like babies. Nelle is included in many of the customs and routines with the wing, but not everything. She is, however, treasured within the mermaid community.”
“Because her father is the king?” Rowen asked.
I shook my head. “They love her for her. However, her brother is the wing leader, and her mother is the former wing leader’s mate. You would think it would be the same case with the hawks, but the mermaids understand.”
“They also have connections all over the world, rather than set in stone in their little aerie.” Sage shr
ugged at my look. “I’m not saying it’s perfect, or that they’re perfect since I don’t really know many of the mermaids beyond Nelle, but perhaps being connected to so much of the world helps.”
“Perhaps.” I sighed. “Either way, I’m not going to have children with Jaxton.”
“You don’t think you’re truly mates?” Sage asked, her eyes filled with curiosity and hope.
I bit my lip and looked down at my hands. “No, we are,” I whispered. “But if we create a bond beyond the small healing one that’s already fading between us, I could burn him right alongside me when the curse finally takes me.”
“We’re not going to let that happen,” Sage promised. “And when we break the curse, will you mate with him?”
Tears pricked the backs of my eyes, and I swallowed hard. “If I am able to break this curse and have a future in this town and in the world, I would mate with him in an instant. He’s mine. He has always been, even if I didn’t let myself think that.”
Even saying the words settled a new weight on my shoulders. A purpose, or perhaps a promise.
I didn’t know. And I was afraid to focus too much on it because if I did, I would realize what I was missing once everything ended.
“Let’s talk of things not so serious, like this duo who keeps attacking our town,” Rowen said as she drained the last of her wine glass.
I snorted, did the same to my glass, and then got up to get the bottle of champagne out of the ice bucket on the table. I poured some for each of us and then plopped a cheese cube into my mouth. “I love Havarti,” I mumbled around the cheese.
“I know. I made sure I had extra for you.”
“Add smoked gouda and brie, and I think I’m dying in soft cheese heaven.”
Rowen smiled though I still saw strain in her gaze. “I added a few harder kinds for all of us since those were good, too.”
“Those are great with the smoked meats you have,” Sage said as she danced in her chair, piling her little plate with food.
I smiled and did the same. I was constantly starving since my body burned more energy than the others. I ate like a shifter with how much food I had to consume to keep up with the curse and my fire power. I wasn’t sure what would happen if we broke the curse. Maybe I could eat less. But as of now, I ate like a bear, and I still could barely keep up with it. If the flames stopped burning everything inside me, I might be able to eat a single hamburger in a sitting instead of four.
Dusk Unveiled (Ravenwood Coven Book 2) Page 11
