by Cherie Marks
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by Cherie Marks
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is coincidental.
This book contains content that may not be suitable for young readers 17 and under.
The Author of this Book has been granted permission by Robyn Peterman to use the copyrighted characters and/or worlds created by Robyn Peterman in this book. All copyright protection to the original characters and/or worlds of the Magic and Mayhem series is retained by Robyn Peterman.
Table of Contents
Copyright Page
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
About Cherie Marks
Book List | Also by Cherie Marks
And writing as C. C. Marks
Acknowledgements
Thank you, Teresa! You’ve saved my rear more times than I can keep track. You are an amazing editor.
Robyn Peterman, your story world rocks! And so do you!
Dedication
Dedicated to the front-line workers of COVID-19. Your dedication to the people who need you is beyond admirable. I appreciate you, and I promise I will continue doing my part to keep you safe, even as you keep others safe.
Foreword
Blast Off with us into the Magic and Mayhem Universe!
I’m Robyn Peterman, the creator of the Magic and Mayhem Series and I’d like to invite you to my Magic and Mayhem Universe.
What is the Magic and Mayhem Universe, you may ask?
Well, let me explain...
It’s basically authorized fan fiction written by some amazing authors that I stalked and blackmailed! KIDDING! I was lucky and blessed to have some brilliant authors say yes! They have written brand new stories using my world and some of my characters. And let me tell you...the results are hilarious!
So here it is! Blast off with us into the hilarious Magic and Mayhem Universe. Side splitting books by fantabulous authors! Check out each and every one. You will laugh your way to a magical HEA!
For all the stories, go to https://magicandmayhemuniverse.com/. Grab your copy today!
And if you would like to read the book that started all the madness, Switching Hour is FREE!
https://robynpeterman.com/switching-hour/
Chapter 1
Gemma Jones, mind absorbed in her work, barely checked an automatic response to attack at the light nudge to her shoulder. Her gut reaction was to slice with her knife first, ask questions after. Yet, over time, she’d learned to temper such a violent response. Don’t kill the humans. She had to remind herself that Kylie was her friend, and she was only human. And, as strange as it was to her, humans in this realm liked to touch each other constantly. It had taken almost the entire first year to adjust to that particular peculiarity of this world, and five years later, she still had to remind herself that witches didn’t last long when they killed the humans.
“Don’t look now. Hot guy. Nine o’clock.”
Regardless the dimension in which a person had been born, the reality of the phrase don’t look now was that it only ensured that she would indeed look. And, she’d do it immediately.
Her gaze shifted to her left, catching sight of a tall, dark figure, partially hidden by a low shelf of books. His face was in profile and shadowed slightly. From what she could see, he was tall and had a strong jaw and a straight nose. Nothing about him was immediately concerning, but she had to admit, she was intrigued.
“I told you not to look.” Kylie’s hushed embarrassment made the corners of Gemma’s lips tip up ever so slightly. The people of this realm were entertaining in the way their emotions played out in every reaction, but she wasn’t wrong about the attractiveness of the guy.
He turned toward them, his eyes lifting once before dropping to peruse the contents of the flat top surface of the half-shelf that blocked him from the waist down. He was watching them, though he didn’t want them to know he was. Gemma’s radar for danger was at attention.
“He looks way too hot to be in an antique shop. What do you suppose he’s doing here?”
Gemma paused briefly before saying, “I don’t recall a hotness inspection as we entered. Did I miss that?”
Kylie gave a loud tinkling giggle as Gemma had known she would. Sure enough, the mystery man’s gaze lifted again as he shifted for a clearer view. He was watching them...definitely. It might be a good idea to find out exactly who he was and what he wanted.
With her mission in mind, Gemma held the man’s gaze with her own. His eyes were a brilliant, deep blue, and Gemma couldn’t seem to look away. A sizzling energy, like lightning, fired between them, and a warmth flowed through her body. The intense attraction was instant, and she got a sense of déjà vu. He seemed familiar somehow, though she was sure she’d remember that particular shade of blue eyes. They were like glimmering, deep pools of Caribbean waters, and she felt mesmerized as she stared at him.
“You know what I mean. The usual clientele that wander into a shop like this are either older collectors or hipster couples trying to impress other hipster couples.” She openly stared now as she explained, “He’s different. And by different, I mean full-on panty-melting.”
Gemma indulged in a very human reaction as she turned her focus back toward her task of looking through a shelf of aging, discolored books. She rolled her eyes. Her gaze centered on the necessary work of carefully searching for the rare book she’d been looking for on her many visits to antique shops and the craziest places she’d ever seen—flea markets. She sighed as she finished the final row of the shelf without spotting the one she’d hoped to come across. Nevertheless, she carefully pulled another book she needed to remove before someone got hurt. She’d sensed it was a cursed book, and it didn’t need to be easily accessible to anyone, especially not some unsuspecting human.
She slipped it into her canvas backpack with the lead lined pocket and sealed the compartment with a low, whispered spell before removing her magically reinforced gloves and placing them into her second, ever-present bag slung over her body. As smoothly as she could, Gemma pulled her curved fighting knife, preparing to get some answers to the mystery of who the man was and why he was there. With his thick, auburn hair and physical symmetry, it was too bad she’d possibly have to mar his handsomeness to get the answers she had to have.
Yet, as she turned to confront the mystery man, she was surprised to see that he was standing right behind her. She was surprised but disciplined enough not to let it show as she faced this curious man. Even more interesting and slightly irritating, was that, up close, he was even more handsome than she’d realized.
“Rare books can be addictive.” The deep, rich timbre of his voice sent warm tendrils down her spine. The temptati
on to lean in and listen closer was difficult to resist. Instead, she surreptitiously sheathed her knife, and focused on his large, muscular figure.
And, he had some height. Gemma was tall. At least six foot. Yet, she was staring up into a face that had at least five inches on her.
“Are you a collector? You don’t look like the usual collector.” Kylie giggled again.
Gemma watched his reaction to the question and the flirty comment with interest.
He didn’t shift his gaze from Gemma’s as he said, “I do like beautiful things.”
With a clearing of her throat, Gemma dropped her focus to his chest. She could feel her cheeks heating, and though she thought she knew why, she didn’t quite understand how to behave. Her first instinct was to find a reason to be anywhere else but here. She wanted to get out of this situation as quickly as possible.
Yet, part of her wanted to explore the possibilities, and another part of her knew that there was danger in making connections. She’d taken a chance on her friendship with Kylie, and though she didn’t have any regrets about that, she also knew that if anyone ever found Gemma here, they would use Kylie to get to her. Relationships were dangerous, and Gemma had learned to avoid them whenever possible.
And, right now, she was struggling to push down the part of her that she usually suppressed. Flirtation was not natural for her. She had done what she always did, experience the mysteries of life through the authors who wrote about them, including human behaviors like flirting. With books, she could learn what she needed to know without having to experience it.
As a result, romance books had become her new, favorite thing about living in this dimension. She loved the experience that each brought, and right now, she decided she could use what she’d learn through reading to imitate human behavior in this novel situation.
An image of two characters from a recent romance book standing close to each other came to mind. She followed the image moving through her mind. Her next step was to slowly lift her gaze up to meet his once again, this time with a lop-sided smile, whatever that was.
Yet, just as she was beginning to lift her chin upward, she caught his nervous pull at his collar. His fingers shifted the fabric as if he were trying to hide something.
All pretense forgotten, she reached for his shirt collar with every intention of seeing what he was trying to hide. She had an idea already, but she wanted to see for herself.
Unfortunately, she never got a finger on fabric. His hand grasped her wrist firmly, stopping her from going any farther, but not before she got a glimpse of what she’d expected to find. He had the mark of a hunter. The circular brand with the raised sword was unmistakable.
She didn’t pause to ask who he was. She already knew, and it was exactly what she’d feared.
With a twist, she pulled free and rolled over the low bookshelf, pulling her dagger once more. She heard Kylie scream, drawing Gemma’s attention to her retreating figure. At least Kylie was out of the way and safe.
Gemma spun to search for the hunter but only heard the bell over the door as the front door opened and closed. She watched as his broad-shouldered body turned right and disappear. He was quick to be so large.
“Where’d he go?” Kylie’s question came from behind Gemma.
Gemma was already at the door as Kylie’s voice carried through the store. She stepped outside, but as she looked up and down the street in both directions, there wasn’t a single sign of the hunter. He’d vanished, and Gemma cursed at the unfortunate turn of events. She knew he wasn’t gone for good.
She didn’t want to think about who the man had been because, deep down, she knew what it meant, but she didn’t want to think about that right now.
Her past had caught up to her, and she wasn’t ready for that just yet.
“Well, that was strange. Who do you suppose he was?”
Though Gemma knew the mystery man was a hunter, she didn’t share her suspicion with Kylie. Her friend wouldn’t understand. Gemma had never shared the truth of her origin with Kylie, and she had no plans to. It would only confuse the human.
“I don’t know, but I think it’s time to go now.”
She knew she hadn’t seen the last of the hunter who had stood here a few minutes earlier. He would find her again, and next time, she wouldn’t see him coming until it was too late.
“Kylie, it’s time for me to move on.”
Kylie rushed around and grabbed Gemma’s free hand. Gemma quickly sheathed her knife and focused on her human best friend.
“Oh, Gemma! You can’t run and hide from every problem.” She squeezed Gemma’s hand tightly in hers. “And, we’ve talked about the knife. I don’t care what they do in that little country you’re from, we don’t regularly pull knives on people here.”
Kylie looked around nervously, but there wasn’t anyone in the store other than the two of them. For the first time, Gemma wondered where the store clerk had gone. Something strange was going on here, but they couldn’t wait around to find out.
Feeling the weight of the book in her bag and the bounty on her head, Gemma squeezed Kylie’s hand in return and pulled her out the front door.
Chapter 2
It had been the princess. Of that Maverick Waraxe was sure.
She had been right in front of him, but for some reason, he had hesitated.
Normally, when he found the criminal he was hunting, he acted quickly. The target never even had a chance to run. They most certainly never pulled a weapon and nearly get the drop on him.
But there had been something unexpected about her, and it had given him pause. He had heard the tales of her beauty, had seen her pictures, and neither had done her justice, but her electric green eyes and long, wavy light-brown hair hadn’t been what had stopped him. No, his halt in mid-action had been her scent. The vanilla, woodsy smell that surrounded her had been attractive, but more so, it had been surprising.
A murderer had a distinctive smell, a sour odor. It tainted any other natural smells. As a hunter, he had scented the tainted smell more often than he cared to think about. Yet, as he’d breathed in the air around her, he had only scented innocence. It had halted all intentions of taking her captive.
And confused the hell out of him.
Mav stepped into the short-term rental house he’d obtained as he’d searched for Princess Gemma. He didn’t flip on the light as he quickly looked around the studio-type room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He dropped his knapsack by the door and crossed toward the window. It looked out on the small town, but more importantly, it was across from Gemma’s apartment. No lights shone through the windows. She wasn’t home, and he had to wonder if she would return at all.
Why hadn’t he grabbed her first and asked questions later?
Though he was kicking himself now, he’d done the only thing he could in that moment. He’d backed off, determined to get more information before acting. The only problem was that he wasn’t sure who would have the answers he needed. Where could he get more information? Could he ever truly learn what had happened?
There were too many unknowns surrounding King Zolunder’s death. The one thing that was unquestionable was that Gemma had attempted to kill him once before. It had been the reason she’d run. Yet, she hadn’t succeeded, and when he was found murdered, everyone had assumed she’d returned to accomplish that which she’d failed at five years earlier.
But, unless she had a spell that could cover guilt, something was not quite right with the situation.
“You are back so soon. I thought you were sure you had found her.”
Mav turned slowly and rolled his eyes at the black-furred cat, stretching sleepily as it rose from its comfortable spot on the bed. His familiar, Gaston, had warned him that things weren’t always what they seemed. The little shit.
“I found her.”
“And?”
“And, it didn’t feel right.”
Gaston bounded off the bed and jumped up onto the nearby dining table
close to the window. “So...I was right?”
Mav snarled. He hated when Gaston became such a son of a bitch. “Shut up, you furry bastard. I don’t know yet, but maybe.” He turned back around to stare out the window, not wanting to miss her return...if she did.
“Now what?”
He wished he knew. As irritating as his know-it-all familiar was, Mav trusted him to assess the situation objectively and help him decide what they should do next.
“She didn’t smell of murder.”
They stared pensively through the glass for a few minutes before Gaston suggested, “That’s an interesting development. Sounds like you have to get her side of the story.”
“That’s what I was afraid you were going to say.”
“The other option is to take her in and hope the truth comes out before they execute her.”
Why did that feel so wrong to Mav? Why did he care what happened to her?
“It would be easier just to turn her over to the authorities and let them handle the situation.”
Gaston began licking his paw, engrossed in his grooming for a few moments. Mav knew it was less about how he looked and more a way to tune out while he thought through the possibilities. It was annoying, but Mav let him go about his business.
He just wished he’d never been put in this position. So badly, he wanted to curse King Zolunder, but he couldn’t think badly of the one man who had believed in him, even if he had asked for the impossible.
Raised an orphan, put into the hunter program at the young age of eight, Maverick had very few prospects to rise in political ranks. Yet, after the first attempt on his life, the King had specifically asked for Mav as his personal guard.
Over the past few years, he’d come to care for King Zolunder in a way that he’d never cared for any other. To him, the King had been what a father should be. They had grown close to each other since they spent all their waking moments together, and Maverick had even slept in a small chamber down the hall from the King’s rooms, well, down from his fugitive daughter’s room. The King had slept there ever since Mav had known him. It was clear he had loved his daughter. Too bad she hadn’t loved him in return.
