Meghan shrugged. “I guess you could say that. Life was proceeding as normal. Until the day that I and my two best friends—we call each other sister—were each us, individually, summoned to the Concilium. That’s the appointed body by which our homeland is ruled. It’s a council of six women and six men and is headed by one we call First Mother—and she is guided by the Sylph, who has been among us since the beginning.”
“Wait! You’re...you’re from there? And your council sent you here?” Ryan looked horrified by the idea.
“They explained the first part of the prophecy and that the time had come for it to begin. And they offered us the opportunity to leave our world and come here—to yours.” She didn’t quite know how to interpret their facial expressions. “Danger is facing this planet. We are on this planet, too, living in I guess what you could call a magical dimension.” When they still looked unhappy, she reached out and touched them, one of her hands on one each of theirs. The current that arced between them was undeniable and potent. It shocked her, the wave of longing and heat that rushed through her body. “I chose this because nothing is done—not even prophecy fulfillment—without free will.”
“And your sisters?” Jeremy asked.
“Yes, they chose to come here as well.” She smiled then. “Cheri, Max, and Anthony are mated.” It wouldn’t be fair to paint a picture only of sunshine and light. “Something happened when they were getting to know each other. There was a force that tried to stop them from getting together. No one expected that.”
Jeremy frowned. “What kind of force?”
“Two brothers—twins. As far as we know, they were descended from the Scorned. They called themselves Warlocks.”
“You’re speaking in the past tense.” Jeremy cocked his head to the side.
“We’re still not sure what happened. But they tried to use a child as a hostage. And then...they were turned into sea snakes and eaten by a shark.”
“What of your friend? You said she mated?”
“Yes. Max and Anthony are descended from the Chosen, too. They’re all very happy together.”
“And you expect us to just fall in line with this prophecy of yours? Give you a tumble between us and get you pregnant?” Ryan’s cold words cut her heart. She couldn’t explain it any other way. They were already connected. His emotions already affected her.
“What I expect? I wasn’t the one who searched you out. You came here to me because you wanted something from me.” She shook her head. “All I’ve done is to answer your questions. There is nothing stopping you from getting up and walking out. In fact, that sounds like a fine idea from where I’m sitting.”
“What about your precious prophecy?” Jeremy’s voice was just as cold as Ryan’s had been.
“Apparently there’s a bottom line below which I will not sink.” She got to her feet. I will not cry. “You were brought here by your own insatiable curiosity and, yes, by destiny. Destiny is real, gentlemen. It brings you to places in your life and then steps back and waits for you to choose your path. And depending upon your choice, you go left, or you go right. You become a doctor or a policeman. You save a man’s life on a hot June day, or you watch him die. Destiny is a very real force, but the result of where destiny leads you is always the result of your choice.”
Meghan didn’t want to throw them out of her house. That would be an action taken that might sway their decision for or against her. Even if that didn’t involve magic at this point, she couldn’t chance that it was something she wasn’t forbidden to do. Of course, she didn’t dare use her magic, not just because it was forbidden but also because she was so hurt and so angry she couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t hurt them. So she left them there, sitting at her kitchen table, and stomped outside.
With the setting of the sun, the air had cooled, and a slight breeze had sprung up. It brushed across her face, chillier where her tears tracked down her cheeks.
She made it as far as the gazebo but didn’t go inside it. Just this once, she wished that she could go back in time and begin this day all over again.
Of course, she knew couldn’t. As powerful as her magic was, there were limits. She couldn’t change her own past—or anyone else’s. She couldn’t bring a person who had died back to life.
She wasn’t supposed to take a life, either, except under extraordinary circumstances, but she could. Her magic was that strong.
“Meghan? Sweetheart, we’re both sorry.”
Meghan turned around. She hadn’t heard the men follow her, but they had. It was Ryan who’d spoken and who continued.
“You’re right. We’ve been looking for answers since we were fourteen. We knew something was...different about us. This is just all...”
“More than you expected?” A flash of insight streaked across her mind. “Or maybe it’s less than you hoped for?”
“I don’t know.” Jeremy stood with his hands in his pockets. He rocked back on his heels. “I honestly don’t know if it’s more or less. All this time looking, and now we have some sense of the answers we’ve sought. You were right. We only have more questions now. We...I don’t know what this all means.”
“What it all means is that you’ve magic inside of you, and now that we’re together, in the same place and at the same time, it’s only going to grow stronger.”
“Grow stronger than nothing?” Ryan’s laugh sounded self-mocking. “Because nothing we’ve ever tried has gotten it to work for us again.”
Meghan felt her lips twitch. “You probably commanded it, ordered the magic to happen. I bet you even waved your arms around and even said...oh, what is that ‘magic phrase’ I’ve heard magicians use here?” She couldn’t remember it for the life of her.
“Abracadabra?” Ryan offered. His lip was twitching, too.
A children’s television program she’d watched with Cheri a couple of years ago sprang to mind. “No, I was thinking more of something along the lines of ‘a la peanut butter sandwiches.’”
Both men laughed. Then they sobered.
“Isn’t that what you do?” Jeremy asked. “Wave your hands as you say incantations of ancient spells in a language indecipherable to mere mortals? Oh, I know you set the table and conjured the pie, but maybe you just have to say the words of the incantations only in your mind?”
“Not that I’ve ever noticed.” Meghan grinned. Despite their anger, and her own, she couldn’t fight her attraction to these two men, and she sure as hell couldn’t stay mad. More, that power within her was inexorably drawn to the power within them. Yes, their minds were still and always would be in control. They could all walk away from each other, and that would be that.
She had no idea what the outcome would eventually be if that happened. She didn’t even know what the outcome would be if they didn’t.
Men are so much more complicated than I’ve ever imagined.
“So...what are we supposed to do, then?”
There was something about the way they looked so helpless that short-circuited her reason—or maybe it was her temper that had finally been completely derailed. She thought of Cheri, who’d had to teach her men how to use their magic and really how easy a thing that was to do. She would take these two to Colorado right then and there, but she and Diana had given Cheri and her guys the use of the cabin for the next couple of weeks. When her husbands had a couple days off from their surgical schedule, they’d go there to unwind—and to practice their magic. The land their cabin was on was protected. No one could go there without being invited by one of the three of them or, rather, one of the five of them now.
So Meghan couldn’t take them there. She would have to do what she needed to do right here on her own property at the edge of town.
* * * *
“Outside is best, so let’s go out behind the workshop. I’ve got a few acres of land back there before the trees start.”
Ryan looked at Jeremy. His brother felt as much out to sea as he did. But they had come here to get answers, Meghan had bee
n right about that. So they followed her. Ryan was not in the least surprised when a flashlight appeared in her hand. He had the distinct impression that she was using the light for their benefit.
He could kick himself and Jeremy for the way they’d both reacted to the answers Meghan had given them in the house.
Talk about knee jerk—and clichéd. We don’t like the answers we finally get so we shoot the messenger? Not smooth, Jones. Not smooth at all.
He couldn’t deny the attraction he felt for Meghan. He knew his brother was also drawn to the woman, and that idea felt right. Ryan couldn’t really understand it. They’d shared a lot of things in their life, but never a woman. Never thought they would, and yet the image of sweet Meghan naked and writhing between them...he had to steel his resolve to keep his cock from getting hard.
But was that attraction real, or was it only because of the magic? Maybe she was casting a spell on them. That was reason enough to keep his hands, and his cock, to himself. At least until they knew her better.
Meghan came to a stop and signaled for them to do likewise. She looked at the field, tilted her head, and then nodded. Ryan felt something skitter over him. If he didn’t know better, he’d say it had been a bit of static electricity.
“You just did something, didn’t you? I felt...something.” Jeremy’s question made Ryan realize they were experiencing everything the same.
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you can feel when I use my magic. Yes, I asked all the critters to give us some space. I don’t want any of them to get hurt. All right, let’s sit right here.”
Ryan would have been content to sit on the ground, but a circular bench materialized. He and Jeremy waited for Meghan to sit, and then they joined her. She opened her hand, and a light appeared. A softly glowing orb, it floated just a short distance away and up about six feet off the ground. The orb cast enough light that Ryan could see her face.
“Your power is a part of you. It isn’t otherworldly, nor is it alien. It’s as much a part of you as your foot, or your hand, or your...nose. You were born with it. The difference is that it’s more ethereal than those physical parts of you, but if you relax, and if you turn your focus inward, you’ll feel it there inside you, and then you’ll see it.”
“Relax as in meditate?” Jeremy asked.
“That would help, actually. Meditation is an art form that brings the mind, the body, and the spirit into harmony. It generates peace and calm so that you can see through the clear water of your inner self and discern what lies there.”
He and Jeremy had actually taken up meditation not all that long ago. Mostly, they hadn’t felt much patience for the practice. Likely because we slotted it into our schedule as if it was a fifteen-minute exercise program.
So even though it had never really done much for him in the past, Ryan decided that, this time, he’d give it a really good shot.
He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and focused on relaxing. He did feel the stress begin to ebb. The sound of crickets in the distance became a rhythm as natural as his heartbeat. As Ryan’s breathing slowed, as he quieted his thoughts, he let that cricket sound fill him.
Ryan looked within, and a tiny light twinkled back at him. He thought of it as a firefly. And, as he watched, the one firefly became ten, and the ten became ...more.
“May I see?”
Meghan’s voice came to him as if from far away. He felt her there, so close. Jeremy was there, too, of course, but then, Jeremy was always there.
“Can you?”
“I can but only ever will with your permission. I promise.”
“Sure. Come on...in?”
“If you allow it, and Jeremy agrees, we can all see each other.”
“I’m good with that.” Jeremy’s voice gained strength as he spoke.
Ryan heard Meghan’s laughter, but it was different than the sound of it...but he couldn’t put it into words. The thought echoed that she would never break a promise and that she wouldn’t...no, she couldn’t…lie to them.
And then it was as if he stood in the middle of a vast, open space, barren except for the three of them and the pale green mist that surrounded them, so that they were together, as if they were standing in a bower of the imagination.
In front of him, at his feet, was a chest, a plain wooden chest, and the fireflies were dancing around it.
He looked over, and it somehow seemed right that he could see Jeremy standing there, a chest at his feet, too. Meghan was there, of course, with a chest as well, and he realized the chests contained their powers. They each looked slightly different, and fireflies of different colors for each of them danced merrily to the sound of the crickets.
“All you have to do is lift the lid. It won’t ever hurt you. It’s a part of you.”
“I’m not afraid, exactly,” Jeremy said. “It’s just...after years of wondering, I don’t know if I’m really ready for what’s inside.”
“That’s all right, Jeremy. What’s inside knows you. And it’s been waiting a very long time for you to find it and set it free.”
“Where are we, exactly?” Jeremy asked
“This is called mind space.” Meghan’s thoughts stroked down Ryan’s arm and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. He sensed her doing the same with Jeremy. “It’s a safe place where only our kind can be. No one else can ever join us here without our permission. Go ahead and open your chests.”
“I need to see it.” Ryan’s mouth didn’t move, but his words emerged.
He squatted down and took a moment, just looking at it. And then, slowly, he reached out and lifted the lid.
Colors swirled, and the fireflies danced, and joy filled the air. He saw beauty and wonder and strength all displayed as different shades of blue. He looked over and saw his best friend—his brother in spirit and in name—gazing with amazement as different shades of green swirled around him.
Meghan had opened her box too, and varying hues of all sorts of different colors, reminding him of an opal, spun and danced and flew.
And then, deep within, he heard a greeting in a voice both strange and familiar.
Hello, Ryan. I’ve been waiting a long time for you to meet me.
Chapter 5
The men had left her shortly after they’d been in mind-space together and finally seen the magic that lived within them. They’d asked if she would help them to learn how to use it, and she really couldn’t deny them.
Meghan didn’t know if they would ever come to accept her as their mate. It was easier for her, in a way, easier, but complicated. The truth was the men weren’t the only ones who felt discomfited by the circumstances.
I know they’re my mates, but I don’t know if I can fully trust them, either. Even having watched a couple of episodes of their show, she didn’t know if they might be attracted to her because of her magic—or even in spite of it.
Hells bells, I thought it would be more straightforward than this. Meghan smiled. That sounded like the old Meghan, the one she’d been before coming to this world.
Only the truly blissfully naive could ever think love would be easy.
That was the most truthful thought she’d heard in a long time, and trust it to sound like her father, Darius.
Meghan had grown up knowing that magic and destiny were real and that some very lucky people had mates. Her parents had come together seemingly by chance, but in truth, they’d been meant to be. Her fathers had recognized her mother right away, but Mom had taken a little longer to come around.
So the concept that she had mates was easy for her to accept. She could only imagine how difficult it would be for Ryan and Jeremy to find that balance between needing to feel in control of their lives and ceding that some things truly are in the hands of fate.
Meghan hadn’t thought she’d sleep very well that night, but she did. She’d awakened early and, having gotten their cell phone numbers the night before, sent a text and invited them to breakfast.
I’ll have to ask them about just sen
ding them a mental message. She’d already explained that, while she could “read their minds,” that was something done only in emergencies when it came to unpowered people and, between Gifted, never without permission.
Everyone had a right to his or her own private thoughts.
Ryan had immediately texted back that they’d be there in an hour, and that they were both partial to pancakes.
She’d spent so long getting ready that she’d needed to use her magic to make breakfast. They’d eaten, of course, and then, they’d traded coffee for questions, asking her how to use the power they now knew they had.
So she’d told them and didn’t know what to think when they just stared at her.
“I thought there were rules, potions that you had to make and spells that you had to learn. You’re saying there’s not?” Ryan looked at her as if she couldn’t possibly be telling him the truth.
“Well, there are rules of a sort, a code of conduct that we abide by, but they don’t number even in the dozens. You’re asking, I think, if there are rules needed to use the power that is yours, that is a natural part of you? The answer to that is no.”
“Think it, and it’s so,” Jeremy said. “It’s that simple?”
“Well, on the surface, it’s simple. You can think to levitate or to call something to you. For example, that cup on the counter.” She opened her hand, and it came to her. “You can also think something into existence.”
Jeremy grinned. “Really? So I can, say, just think a Porsche into existence?”
Megan tilted her head to the side. “You will eventually be able to do that, yes. But...you have to be careful that you aren’t simply making it appear before you from a factory or warehouse or dealership—or someone’s driveway—because that would be theft.”
“Huh. You’re right. Well, that’s disappointing. But...” Ryan looked as if he wanted to ask even more questions. That was fine, but she knew a way for them to get their own answers.
The Gifted 2: Passions Aflame (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 5
