Dark Vortex: Mated by Magic

by Stella Marie Alden

  “When I woke up, finger-gun-man was there…he…he tried–” She squeezed her eyes shut and her lower lip trembled. “I panicked.”

  “It’s over now.” He rubbed at the goosebumps on her arms. Her skin was ice cold.

  An old-fashioned fire whistle began honking every few seconds in the distance. Damn it. He had a lot to do before the firefighters and police showed up.

  Zoe moaned from her seat on the curb and held her stomach.

  An out of breath Josh sprinted to their spot on the pavement. “Thank God you got out in time. Either of you hurt?”

  Jack shook his head. “Any injuries among our men?”

  “Not sure. We’re still counting heads. What the fuck happened in there?”

  Jack raised his eyebrows and flashed his gaze towards his mate. Josh got his meaning and flinched.

  “She could’ve killed us all.”

  Jack mentally agreed. Zoe was very powerful and very unskilled. A bad combination. He grimaced as a vision of fried body parts flashed across his brain.

  “I’m sorry.” Zoe shivered and let out a small whimper. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

  “We’ll fix it.” Jack pulled her against his chest and gave Josh a hard look when he started to say something. They needed to get the situation under control. The last thing he wanted was for this to be leaked to the global court. He wouldn’t see Zoe stand trial for something she had no control over.

  Jack’s men were scattered around the building, trying to help the injured, but most of those that could, were running away, disappearing into the side streets.

  “I need to take care of a few things.” Jack squeezed Zoe’s hand, then stood as his brother Jase approached. A few of Kyle’s gang wandered about in a daze, but they weren’t the one man he was interested in. “Any sign of Stan?”

  “Dead.” Jase glanced at Zoe, his brows drawn tightly down. “He was downstairs.”

  Zoe shuddered and buried her face in her arms. He ached to comfort her, but his clan needed their leader.

  “Anyone hurt from our men?”

  Jase shook his head. “Nothing serious. Just some injuries from flying debris.”

  Jack turned his head to the sound of sirens in the distance.

  The young girl that had been with Kyle sat on the curb, her arms wrapped tightly around her chest. Other than the bruises he’d seen earlier, she seemed unharmed. “Have you spoken with the girl?”

  “Doesn’t speak much English.” Jase frowned and dragged his fingers through his disheveled hair. “Not sure what to do with her.”

  “Take her to mom and dad. She’ll be safe with them until we figure out where she came from.”

  Jase gave a hard nod. “You need to go. Who knows what she’ll say.”

  “We’re going to need to cover this one up. Luckily it looks like something exploded. It shouldn’t be too hard to reinforce the notion of some kind of meth lab. Kyle was into some bad shit. The local cops will see what they want to see. Just push their will a little in that direction.”

  “Got it.” Josh nodded. “I think it would be best to say Stan was a casualty of the explosion. It would kill Aunt Jane and Uncle Bill to know what hand he played in this. They’ve lost two sons tonight.”

  “Agreed.” Jack squatted next to his mate and placed his hand on her arm. “Zoe, we have to go now.”

  Her head snapped up, eyes wide. “What did you do to me?”

  “We can talk about this when we get you somewhere safe.” Jack took her elbows and lifted her to her feet.

  “No.” She pounded her fists on his chest, and began to shout, “I killed people. You did that to me.”

  Josh and Jase raised their eyebrows and walked away.

  “Zoe, relax.” He gripped her wrists so she couldn’t hit him. “Everything is going to okay. We just need to get out of here before the emergency crews arrive.”

  The last of the flaming bar collapsed with a sickening crack, and a few more bottles of alcohol exploded.

  “Nothing is okay.” She pulled her arms free, then placed her forehead on his chest, sobbing. “What kind of power is that? I’m a…a fucking killing machine.”

  Jack let her rant and pulled a few strands of sticky hair out of her mouth. He’d tried to warn her, but even he was surprised at the extent of her power.

  “Everyone is different when it comes to this kind of thing. The augmentation of power of our kind is very rare. It’s only because you were so frightened that your energy came out like that.”

  “I could’ve killed you.” She gave his chest another hard whack.

  “Enough.” He gripped both her wrists in one of his hands. “Half of your newfound power came from me. I felt it coming. You can’t hurt me.”

  The lie sounded better than the truth. He tried to soothe her with his free hand by rubbing her shoulders. She shivered, and giant tears made streams of dirt along her cheeks before dripping onto his shirt.

  “Time to get you home.” Jack scooped her into his arms.

  He placed her in the leather passenger seat of the dark sedan and shut the door. Immediately, she tucked her legs under her chin and curled up in a ball.

  He took one last look at the burning building and shuddered.

  What a fucking nightmare.

  The sirens were getting louder. They pulled out of the parking lot, just as the rescue vehicles zoomed past them with alarms blaring.

  Chapter 16

  Jack breathed a discernible sigh of relief when they pulled up to the cottage and saw Olivia waiting for them. No doubt his brother had called her to let her know what happened.

  Zoe hadn’t said a word since he’d placed her in the car. She just stared out the window, with silent tears running down her face. He could sense the emotions warring inside her. Guilt, anger, and grief swam behind her eyes. Jack had never felt so completely helpless in his entire life.

  He placed his hand on hers and she flinched.

  Olivia rushed from the porch towards them, her eyes wide. “Josh called me. Are you all right?”

  Zoe got out of the car, zombie-like, and fell into her cousin’s arms. Her shoulders heaved as giant sobs shook her.

  “Let’s get you inside,” Liv said. With her arm over Zoe’s shoulder, she led her into the house.

  He leaned against the car and exhaled. His own cousins were dead. Assholes or not, they were his family. Stan had been like a brother to him. Why he would turn against him was beyond Jack’s reasoning.

  What a cluster-fuck. He wiped his hand across his face. When he glanced at his fingers, they were covered in dust, tears and blood.

  Breathing in deeply, he pushed off the car. Olivia met him at the door.

  “Where is she?” His voice broke with pent-up emotion.

  Olivia nodded at the bathroom door. “What the hell happened out there?”

  He gave her a quick rundown of the night’s events. “…she blew the place to bits. Fried Kyle, Stan, and a couple members of Kyle’s gang. We got out just before the police arrived. Stan and Josh are covering.”

  Olivia’s face twisted with grief. “Kyle was into some bad shit, but this is over-the-top, even for him. He wasn’t that smart. Neither was Stan.”

  “No,” Jack agreed. His fingers clenched and unclenched. He desperately needed to hit something right now.

  “If it wasn’t Kyle, then who’s behind it?”

  “I don’t know his name but I’m going to find out.” Jack suspected the man who had been stalking Zoe was involved in more ways than they had originally thought. He glanced at the bathroom door and grimaced. “We need to make sure she calms down and says nothing to anyone–witch or human.”

  Olivia nodded. “I’ll go make some tea. She’ll need something to help her sleep.”

  He knocked on the bathroom door.

  “Go away,” Zoe sobbed.

  “Unlock the bathroom door and let me in.” Jack kept his voice low, yet firm.

  “Please, Jack, just go away. I want to
be alone.” Zoe started crying hysterically again. “It’s because of you I’m a walking napalm bomb.” Her breath hissed and she cried out, “Oh my God, I’ve got pieces of fried human flesh in my hair.”

  Jack couldn’t take anymore. He cursed under his breath and kicked the bathroom door in. It felt damn good to break something.

  Shocked, Zoe looked up at him, her head next to the toilet bowl.

  He knelt down and wrapped his arms around her the best he could. “I’m so sorry. It’s my fault.”

  “You’re damn right it’s your fault.” Zoe pushed him away, stood and moved towards the shower.

  Jack barely had time to react when the first bottle of shampoo flew across the room, hitting him square in the chest.

  “How could you do this to me?” Next, she threw a huge bottle of conditioner at him, then soap, and then conjured a vortex as if to hit him. She shook it out of her hand as if it burned her skin. Her eyes widened and her voice rose. “I could’ve just blown up the house…and Olivia. You’ve made me into some kind of freaking monster. I just blew people into bits and they’re in my hair.”

  Olivia hovered by the bathroom door. “Let me handle this for a while, okay?”

  Jack nodded and went back to his pacing, while Olivia helped Zoe with her shower. She spoke softly and said all the soothing words that he’d never be able to say and it pissed him off. He should be the one comforting her.

  When Olivia exited the bathroom, Jack raised his eyebrows in question. She frowned and shook her head.

  “She’s coming home with me.” Olivia stepped in front of the door when he moved towards it.

  “I’m not leaving her alone.” Jack’s heart fell, and panic seared his brain. He wasn’t letting her go. She was his mate.

  “Did you ever once think about the consequences of joining with her? What it might do to her?” Olivia crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips. “You’re all set now. You got what you wanted. Power. Your clan. But at what cost?”

  Olivia stopped talking when Zoe came out of the bathroom. Her eyes were puffy and swollen, her nose pink. She looked so vulnerable and lost that his chest physically constricted. He’d done this to her.

  She glanced at him briefly, then started down the hall. He tried to reach out, but she pushed past him.

  “Don’t try to stop me.”

  “Zoe, we need to talk.” He followed her when she walked upstairs to her bedroom. She started to shove her clothes into a duffle bag and he grabbed her arm to stop her. “I won’t let you leave.”

  “You got what you needed.” Tears glittered in her eyes and her shoulders slumped in defeat. “Now let me go.”

  “You belong with me.” Jack dropped his hands to his side and clenched his fists to keep from going postal.

  She spun on him, anger blazing in her eyes. “I killed people tonight.”

  Jack grimaced and took a step towards her, but she flinched away the moment he tried to touch her.

  “I need some space. I gave you everything you wanted. We had some fucking incredible sex, you got to augment your powers, and your clan is safe. I wouldn’t take any of that back. Really, I wouldn’t.”

  “We’re mated. That’s for life, Zoe. I know you can feel that.”

  “Yeah, I feel it.” She closed her eyes and breathed out hard. “But I can’t live like this.”

  He sat down on the edge of the bed and dragged his hands over his face. “My life isn’t always like this. Most of the time it’s fairly normal.”

  “I don’t belong in your world.” She shook her head and glanced down at her hands. Her eyes squeezed shut and a tear slid down her cheek.

  She started towards the door, and he caught her arm.

  “There still might be someone out there threatening you. I won’t lose you. I just found you.” He pulled her against him.

  “If you really want to make this work, then give me some space to adjust.” She sighed and placed her forehead against his chest.

  “How much space?”

  “I don’t know. Let me go back to New York, go to work.”

  He clenched his teeth, fear paralyzing him. Getting angry wasn’t going to help.

  “We’re mated,” he said again. “There’s no walking away.”

  “But that’s all it is. Nothing more.” Zoe lifted her head and stared into his eyes.

  She left the giant question mark hanging between them. Jack knew what she was looking for, but he wouldn’t lie, at least not about that.

  “It’s enough,” he said finally.

  Zoe sighed. “Not for me.”

  Chapter 17

  “No, absolutely not!” Jack’s voice boomed into her dream.

  She moaned and blinked her heavy lids, not wanting to wake up to reality. The morning sun cast a yellow haze in the small room, and the smell of fresh coffee wafted through the door. She’d let Jack convince her to stay the night, but today she would head back to New York.

  For her own sanity, she had to.

  Jack and Olivia continued to argue just outside her bedroom door.

  “Be reasonable, you need to tell her, Jack.” Olivia’s voice sounded tired and strained.

  “She’ll find out soon enough. I just need some time.”

  “You’re so pigheaded, I swear…”

  Heavy footsteps bounded down the stairs until Zoe could no longer hear their conversation.

  The front door opened and banged closed. Zoe raced to raise the bedroom window while the two continued their argument. Olivia had one hand on her hip and was pointing and shaking her index finger at Jack.

  What was it he didn’t want her to know?

  Zoe cursed and ran down the stairs and out the door. The sharp stones split the skin on her bare feet and the brisk wind cut through her light t-shirt.

  “I hate it when you guys do this. What are you two hiding from me, now?”

  “Go upstairs and put some clothes on, Zoe. I’ll be up in a minute.” Jack didn’t give her the satisfaction of meeting her angry gaze.

  “No way, Fialko.” She glanced down and realized she had run out of the house wearing only an oversized t-shirt. Damn it. She crossed her arms over her breasts. “I’m sick and tired of being kept in the dark. Tell me now.”

  “Fine. Can we talk in private?” He scowled at Olivia who nodded and stormed down out past the dunes.

  Her flowing clothes and long red hair whipped around her in the early morning sunlight, creating the illusion of one very angry goddess. The waves from the ocean drummed and crashed with her every step.

  She followed him back to the porch.

  “Let’s go inside.” Jack’s mouth was in a grim line and his jaw clenched. His tension matched the relentless crashing of the stormy ocean and the screeching of the gulls.

  “No. Tell me now.” She sat down on the swing and shivered.

  “You’re not even dressed.” Jack placed his jacket over her bare legs.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Now, Jack.”

  “I was going to tell you.” He pulled off his sunglasses, revealing dark circles. “There just hasn’t been a chance.”

  “You have your chance now.” Zoe drank in his beautiful eyes, then looked down. Damn, her body responded to him, despite everything.

  There was a long silence.

  Jack exhaled slowly and knelt in front of her. He tucked his finger under her chin, and drew her eyes to meet his serious gaze. “Look at me, Zoe.”

  She did, and what she saw nearly gutted her. There was real fear in his eyes. How bad could it be?

  “Just tell me,” she whispered.

  “When we mated, you got one other thing besides my power.”

  “What are talking about?” She licked her suddenly dry lips and eyed him nervously.

  “You’re pregnant, Zoe.”

  A hysterical laugh escaped her lips, but her smile fell when she realized he was being serious.

  “It’s not possible. We just had sex last night and I’m on the pill.
”

  “Doesn’t matter, angel. It’s a mating thing.” He gripped her hands.

  She pulled away. “You knew this would happen and you didn’t warn me?”

  “I thought you understood. That you had read through all the rules. You recited that one back to me so well. I just assumed–”

  “You assumed wrong.” There was anger in her voice, but she felt numb from the inside out. Pregnant. Her. She wouldn’t believe it if everything in her world weren’t already so screwed up.

  “Are you all right?” His voice quavered.

  After everything they had gone through, this was the first time he’d sounded frightened, and that scared her more than anything.

  “I don’t know. I wouldn’t have wanted your family falling into the hands of that drug-crazed creep. And I certainly didn’t want you to die in a duel with finger-gun-man.” She shook her head. “But a baby? I can barely take care of myself.”

  “You won’t do anything…” His expression tightened and his face paled. “You’re not alone in this. If you don’t want it, my family will help raise the child.”

  “What kind of person do you think I am?” She gave him a horrified look and pulled her hands from his grip. She stood and began pacing the porch.

  “I have everything you need. I’ll take care of you both. Stay with me. Marry me.”

  She froze. Marry him?

  “I barely even know you.” She placed her palms on the railing and looked out at the beach. For a brief moment she let herself imagine a life with him, with their child. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. It was foolishness and it would never work. They were too different, and he would never be able to give her what she really needed.

  Her shoulders hunched and she breathed in through her nose. She needed to get out of this godforsaken town, and away from him, if she was ever going to have a clear thought again.

  “Zoe, please–”

  “I’m not going to move in with you, let alone marry you.” She stared out at the ocean and spoke with as much stoicism as she could muster. “We had a couple of very intense days followed by mind-blowing incredible sex, but we’re talking about real life here, not a magic-solstice-witchy moment in a Victorian beach house.”