Order of the Akasha: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Complete Series)

by E. M. Moore

  He nodded at the guard to open the gate, and soon, we were following him up the walkway. Like usual, I was impressed by the Reid’s house from the exterior and the interior. It also made me yearn for our place by the ocean, and my room that overlooked the waves.

  Owen dropped his voice as he led us inside. “Dean hasn’t been feeling well.”

  “That’s why we’re here,” I said, taking his cue and whispering as well.

  His eyebrows rose as if he were surprised that we’d already known Dean’s condition. “He’s in the back room with his father. I’ll take you there.”

  I looked back at the guys and smiled. At least we were a lot more welcomed this time around.

  We walked in to a pale Dean sitting on the couch while his father sat at a desk in the corner. Dean looked our way and smiled. His lips were cracked. “How are you feeling?” I asked. His look didn’t remind me exactly of Liam, but he definitely wasn’t looking too hot either.

  “Sick,” he said.

  Mr. Reid stood. “Do you know what’s going on? I was going to call you.”

  “Ren called Randy,” Gabe said.

  The old man nodded, then looked up expectantly, as if we held all the answers to everything.

  “The first thing you should know is that we no longer work for the Order,” Travis said. “I figured we’d put that right up front.”

  Mr. Reid sneered. “I don’t care about that. I never was too fond of the Order, anyway.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes. The only reason why he wasn’t fond of them was because the Reid’s were borderline naughty witches.

  Travis nodded once. “I just wanted it known.”

  “Well?” Mr. Reid asked, staring at his son and then back to us.

  I shrugged. “Liam is sick too. The only correlation we can think of is that—”

  “Liam and I both had the familiar on us,” Dean said, his voice shaky.

  “Exactly,” I said, frowning down at him. He really didn’t look good at all. He looked as if he could pass out at any moment.

  “So, it’s that bad witch again?” Mr. Reid said.

  Travis bristled, but I grabbed his hand and held it. It was one thing to tell his coven that he wasn’t sure Jax was all that bad, it was a whole other thing to tell someone else that he believed that way. Especially since the Reid’s were affected by Jax too. Which was evidenced by the sick Dean on the couch.

  “Do you have anything in your archives about how to get rid of a demon?”

  “Get rid of a demon?” Mr. Reid said, surprise and humor lacing his voice.

  Gabe moved forward. “Not just the demon’s familiar, but the demon itself.”

  Mr. Reid looked lost. “I have no idea all of what’s down in those books. I’m just a collector,” he said sternly.

  Travis, Gabe, and I exchanged a look. Yeah, right.

  “I don’t think there’s anything like that down there,” Dean said. “But you’re welcome to look.”

  His father glared at him, but then Dean went into a choking fit and his sour face immediately lifted. “Absolutely. Do whatever you have to do to figure this out?”

  “There’s one more thing,” I said, as Mr. Reid went to Dean and started to rub his shoulders like I’d done with Liam. “Jax is all of our problems now, as you can see,” I said, motioning toward Dean. “We plan on going to the Spring Equinox Celebration and telling every witch we know that they need to be securing their personal wards and keeping one another safe. They need to be on the lookout for anything negative because it just might be him.”

  “But,” Dean said, his voice raspy. “Doesn’t he just want you?”

  “We think he does,” Travis said, “But that hasn’t stopped him from using others to get to us.”

  I squeezed his hand, knowing how difficult it was for him to talk about his friend like that. He still held so much guilt.

  Dean nodded. “We’ll tell everyone we know.”

  Mr. Reid nodded to Owen. “Take them down to the room. It’s open.”

  Owen took us back out of their ritual room and into the kitchen where the stairs to the basement were. We stepped down it and I got the sick feeling I usually did about this room. There was just something not right about it. Owen opened the door wide for us and Travis and Gabe walked in. I stopped next to him. “You’ll tell everyone you know, too, right?”

  He nodded. “Of course.”

  I slipped past him and walked into the room. Like before, it all seemed so overwhelming. There were so many books and Liam was really the only one of us who had the patience for this stuff. But because we didn’t know what to do and wanted to do something, we sat down and pulled books off the shelf, leafing through them. I read passage after passage, scanning for the word demon until my eyes were tired and dry.

  Owen turned when footsteps sounded on the stairs. Ren, in all his slimy glory, ducked into the room. “Hello there.”

  We all just looked at him and then looked back to what we were doing.

  “Rude,” Ren muttered. I still ignored him, but then he said Randy’s name. “Randy called me. He said Liam would like to see the book that Dean ripped the page out of for the familiar spell you did. Since I happened to be here when he did it, I figured I’d come down and look myself.”

  I looked back at him, surprise registering on my face.

  “Don’t look that way, I’ve always been a team player.”

  I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Whatever got him through the days, I’d let him believe.

  “Well, good,” Travis said, closing his book and putting it down on a nearby table. “We’ll let you get to it then.”

  It wasn’t that I disliked Ren, he was almost on the same par with the Reid’s. They weren’t bad people, but they weren’t good people either. They had some form of conscience, but it wasn’t as strong as ours.

  Ren twisted to make what was sure a sarcastic remark, but he did a double-take. He moved over to the stack of books that Gabe had looked at and picked up one. “This is it.”

  “I already thumbed through that one,” Gabe said.

  Ren shrugged. “I’m telling you I recognize it from that day where Dean ripped a page out of it. This is the one Liam wants.”

  It made sense to me that whatever help we were going to find would be in the same book that had helped us before. I held my hand out for the book. Ren hesitated-briefly. But then he smiled and placed it in my hands.

  “Are you going to the Equinox celebration?” I asked.

  “I use whatever excuse to party,” he said, his brows furrowing. “That doesn’t seem like your scene though.”

  “We’re getting the word out about Jax,” Gabe said, moving up behind me. “We all need to be cautious, and we’re spreading the word there.”

  He nodded. “I’ll see you there then, I suppose.”

  Gabe and Travis turned and were already making their way out of the room. “Thank you,” I said to Ren, motioning to the book. We could have been down there for several more hours and never found anything useful.

  I followed the guys out, but Owen stopped me by the door. “I’m glad to see that you’re okay.”

  I smiled at him. “Same to you.”

  Ren rolled his eyes. “You know she already has four boyfriends. It would be impossible to add another one.”

  “Thanks, Owen,” I said, trying to talk over Ren. “That was nice of you.”

  Travis and Gabe each had shit-eating grins on their faces when I walked into the main room. I gave them a look, and they began climbing up the stairs. What was I going to do with these guys?

  Travis’s phone started to ring, and he fished it out of his pocket as he climbed. “Yeah? What’s up?”

  He stopped dead in his tracks. “What?”

  Alarm spread through me. Whatever news Travis was just given didn’t sound good.

  “Son of a bitch!” He pushed past Gabe and ran through the house.

  Gabe and I looked at one another for a moment before we started
running after him.

  We ran past a startled Miss Reid who again looked wistfully at Gabe, but I didn’t have time to focus on that. Travis threw open the main doors ahead of us and we sprinted after him down the sidewalk. The guard stood in front of the gate when he saw us all running toward it. Owen had to shout from behind us that everything was okay and to let us through.

  The day guard opened the gate in just enough time for Travis to sprint through it. I had a feeling that if he hadn’t, that guard would’ve been sprawled out on his ass while Travis figured out how to open the gate himself.

  He ran right to the driver’s side of the Jeep and started it, his hands curling around the steering wheel as he waited for us to jump inside.

  “Christ, Mate,” Gabe said as he got in the back.

  I pulled open the door and hopped inside. “What’s wrong?”

  I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, drowning almost everything out. I really had to focus on Travis while he spoke in order to understand what he said. Even when he did, he had to say it twice because I hadn’t understood.

  “My sister is here. At the apartment. Right now.”

  I gasped, and I quickly buckled in as Travis took off. This was the last place he wanted his sister right now.

  9

  Randy

  Liam still didn’t feel well, but at least he was upright and on the couch. Both of us just stared at Jennie. It had been a long time since we’d seen her. She’d been so pissed at Travis that I wasn’t sure I’d ever see her again. When she’d showed up at the door, I wasn’t even sure I recognized her. It was almost like looking at a memory.

  She was always with Jax back in the day. Not when we went on Order missions but when it was just the five of us hanging out, she was there. Travis was never too happy about it, but Jax didn’t give a fuck. Jax never really gave a fuck about anything but magic and the Order and Jennie. We were a whole different dynamic when Jax was in the coven versus Norah being our fifth. She brought a sense of togetherness that we were missing when it was just the five of us before. We were all friends, some of us tentatively. We tolerated one another more often than not. It was like one of those relationships you might have with a black sheep of the family. You would do anything for them, even when you didn’t fucking want to or feel like it.

  It was forced.

  With Norah, it was as easy as living.

  “I can’t believe you guys don’t have anything to eat in here.”

  Liam had more patience for people, but since he was barely in commission, it was my turn to play host until the rest of the gang returned. “What are you talking about? We got groceries earlier.”

  Jennie made a face as she rummaged through the cabinets again. I glared at the back of her head. From the corner of my eye, I saw Liam move, so I stared over at him. He gave me a quick shake of his head. He was telling me to knock it off, but I couldn’t help it.

  Jennie sighed as she grabbed a bag of chips off the counter and then plopped down on the sofa opposite Liam and me. “So, where was my brother off to?”

  “He’s with Norah and Gabe trying to figure out our next step.”

  “Norah’s your new fifth?” Jennie asked her gaze darkening.

  I swore if she said anything about her, I’d— Well, there wasn’t really anything I could do. I supposed I could make her dump the chips all over herself.

  Liam cleared his throat. “Yes, she’s the fifth. I think you’ll like her. How are your parents?”

  Jennie shrugged. “They’re fine.”

  “How do you like Virginia? Has there been any more problems?”

  Jennie looked down at her lap. “No. We’ve been fine.”

  “Not to be a dick,” I started after there was a long gap in conversation. “But why are you here?”

  I figured I knew why, but I needed someone to say it. Who the hell told Jennie Jax was back? It had to have been Travis, but what the fuck was he thinking? Having his sister here would only complicate things.

  “To visit my brother,” she said, her cold eyes lifting to me.

  “Now we both know that’s a crock of shit. You hate Travis.”

  “I don’t hate Travis,” she said, exasperated.

  I chuckled. I’d been there in the aftermath of when Travis accidentally stripped her powers. She fucking hated him.

  “You try suddenly being non-magical and see what you do,” Jennie said.

  “I don’t think Randy meant it like that,” Liam said.

  I said, “Yes, I did,” at the same time Jennie said, “He did.” She sighed. “You’re just always sticking up for him.”

  I smirked. It was true. Liam was always trying to make me seem more manageable to everyone else. It was a good thing Norah understood me.

  Finally, the front door opened. Travis ran through it, then stopped to a walk when he saw the back of his sister’s head. She paused, too, before cramming the handful of chips she had in her hand into her mouth. She crunched away, not looking back even though she had to have known Travis just came in. To me, she almost looked a bit frightened.

  Travis came around the side of the sofa and then reached for her hand, hauling her up into a hug. He held onto her tight. “What are you doing here, Jennie?”

  Jennie’s eyes widened. “We’re a hugger now?”

  Norah and Gabe stood back on the other side of them, taking it all in like Liam and I were. He let her go, and she stumbled back a few steps.

  “Well?” he said.

  “You know why I’m here,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “I told you to stay in Adams.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Like I’m going to listen to you. Jax means as much to me as he does to you.”

  “There’s nothing you can do here.”

  She moved her shoulders back and stood straighter. “You don’t know that. Maybe he’ll come out of hiding if he knows I’m here.”

  “Maybe you’ll just get yourself hurt,” I said.

  Both Travis and Jennie glared at me at the same time. I didn’t care. I thought this was a horrible idea. She shouldn’t be anywhere near here.

  “Mate,” Gabe started. “Why don’t you share with the group what’s going on…”

  Travis fell back into the recliner and Jennie did almost the same thing, taking up the middle of the sofa. Gabe put his arm around Norah while Travis said, “I called Jennie to tell her I saw Jax.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because I fucking deserve to know,” Jennie said.

  Norah’s eyes widened, and a flash of anger swept over her.

  Travis shook his head. “I thought she deserved to know. What I didn’t think would happen is that she would believe it was a good idea to come to Salem to what? See him?”

  Jennie ground her teeth together. “I—”

  “He’s not the same Jax,” Liam said, his voice soft and weathered.

  “We don’t know that,” Travis said.

  I stood. “Are you fucking kidding me? We don’t know he’s not the same Jax? How about all the shit he’s done? Did you bother telling Jennie about that? About the witches he drained and killed, about the different paranormal creatures he’s sent after us including a familiar. The fact that he tried to kill Norah.”

  Jennie finally looked up. She blinked when she saw Norah standing there with Gabe. She zeroed right in on his hand around her shoulders. “Wait. I thought you were with my brother.”

  “She’s with all of us,” Gabe said.

  Jennie’s face puckered. “How—?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Travis said. “That’s not the point of this, and that’s obviously not what I meant, Randy. The demon is making him do all this. We don’t know if he’s the same person underneath it all.”

  “I knew about the demon,” Jennie said, interjecting her thoughts.

  “Good, so you know your ex-boyfriend has gone off the fucking rails, and you still decided to come back? That’s smart.”

  “Oh,
shut up, Lacone,” Jennie sneered.

  “Whatever. Your death wish.” And I meant it. He’d been trying to take us out. What did Jennie think he was going to do? See her face and then suddenly remember he didn’t want to kill everybody? Seeing her made me think the opposite. She’s fucking annoying.

  Norah widened her eyes at Liam. Still pale, he leaned over to me and whispered, “Calm down.” He leaned in a little closer. “That was from Norah, but I agree with you.”

  He moved back to leaning his head on the back cushion. I really hoped he’d be feeling better soon. I hated to see him like this. Norah must’ve had the same instinct because she came over and ran her hands through his hair. “Do you feel any better?”

  He nodded. “I’m not queasy anymore.”

  “That’s something,” she said, her voice soft.

  “I just feel wiped.”

  She nodded. “Dean’s the same.” Her lips were a thin line as she looked at him. “Now seeing both of you, this has to be familiar related. Have you ever heard of anything like that?”

  Liam shook his head back and forth. “This is all such new territory for us.”

  “We did get you the book though,” she said. She held her hands back and Gabe came over and placed an antique book in her palm. “Ren said this is the one you wanted.”

  Liam sat up and took the book from her. She moved back on her heels and made some room for him. His face pinkened a bit, a renewed look that suited him better than pale corpse. “I’m going to take this into my room and see what I can find.”

  Norah stood and helped him up. We were all silent as he walked like a zombie toward the hall and then disappeared around the corner. I patted the sofa cushion next to me and Norah sat, scooting next to me to give Gabe some room on the other side.

  “Is he going to be okay?” Jennie asked. “He looks like shit.”

  Norah tensed, but Gabe grabbed her thigh. I would’ve just let her at Jennie, but that was me.

  “I just don’t think this is the safest place for you right now, Jennie,” Travis said. “We don’t know how he’ll react when he realizes you’re here.”

  Jennie shrugged. “I have to find out, Travis. I couldn’t just stay in Adams with all this going on. You know I—” She cleared her throat. “You know I love him. If there’s a chance.”