“Is Mom back with you?” she asked, worried for her family. “Has anyone checked on Mémé?”
“Darlin’, calm down. Your momma is with your grandmother and sister as we speak. I’ve got your cousins lookin’ for Blackbeard. Ms. Cherry, Flanks, and Hank all know what’s goin’ on so that means the entire town is now aware. Everyone is on the lookout for him.”
“Ms. Cherry told me there was a loud ruckus a few nights back, not far from here. She thinks she heard Mr. Flanks and Blackbeard shouting, followed by a big boom,” said Missi, unsure why she felt the need to tell her father.
“Odd, she didn’t mention it to me when I asked her if she knew anythin’. She did say she was at your shop this morning though stockin’ up on supplies.”
Missi nodded. “She was. She bought everything she needed to banish Rockey from the theater again.”
Her father sighed. “Or to banish any spirit from anywhere?”
Missi hadn’t thought of it that way. “I guess. Yes. But what would she have to gain by banishing Blackbeard?”
“What did any of her relatives have to gain by castin’ out nearly a hundred residents from Hedgewitch Cove? Petey was one of them. Flanks’s people helped with that ordeal. Your grandmother still holds a grudge with him over that,” said her father. “Did Ms. Cherry say anything else about Flanks and Blackbeard?”
“No, but I did see Flanks outside of the shaved iced stand this morning on my way to the restaurant. He was acting different. I don’t know. I’m sure it was nothing. He’s not what you’re making him out to be. He’s pretty harmless.”
“Mississippi, when you look at your grandmother and mother, do you see dangerous women?” he asked.
“Of course not.”
“Yet, they’re two of the most powerful women in the state. The damage they could do if they ever set their mind to it would be somethin’ all right,” he stated. “What I’m sayin’ is, don’t go judgin’ a book by its cover. Just because somethin’ looks sweet and innocent doesn’t mean it can’t be dangerous.”
“Momma would not be happy to hear you say that about her or Mémé.”
Her father chuckled. “Darlin’, she’s the one who told me that very thing. It’s somethin’ her mother had impressed upon her all her life. I have a feelin’ it dates back to what happened between your grandmother and Petey. I don’t think your grandmother has ever forgiven herself for cursing Petey the way she did. I’m told before it happened that he was a different man. That he had his act together.”
Missi cringed. “I’m just like her. I cursed Curt.”
“Yes, but thankfully, your witch side is diluted somewhat by the hunter side,” he said softly. “That means your curse probably won’t cause the same havoc the one on Petey has.”
She exhaled slowly. “I wish I could take it back. Curt didn’t deserve my angry words. Mémé warned me. She told me to always mind what I say when angry.”
“Darlin’, all will be well. Right now, I need you to sit tight with that cursed mate of yours,” her father said, his voice even. “But tell him he’s not allowed to touch you. Ever.”
Missi glanced nervously at Curt and then focused on the sage rack. “I’m sure he’s not my you-know-what. Can we discuss this later?”
Her father snorted. “Darlin’, he’s a cat-shifter. He’s heard this entire conversation even if you’re up in your apartment and he’s down in the shop. His hearin’ is that good. And as much as I’m not ready for any of my girls to get married, especially not my baby, your mother called the minute she left your place informin’ me Curt is most certainly your mate. But I stand by my no touchin’ you rule. He can just admire you from afar until you’re like eighty or something. You’re immortal. So is he. It will be fine.”
Gulping, Missi turned slightly to find Curt sitting on the stool, holding the spell book, grinning up at her. He winked.
Without thought, she grabbed a ritual candle and threw it at him.
He deflected it with the spell book and laughed.
She groaned. “Daddy, I cannot stay locked in here with him. I might kill him myself. The curses won’t have to bother.”
“That a girl,” said her father. “Want me to send your cousins over? When they heard you’ve a mate and that he’s in town, the first thing they wanted to do was rough him up. Louis wanted to interview him to see if he was suitable for you. You know Louis.”
She smiled. “Did he explain where he was?”
“Said he was a parish over when his car broke down for no good reason. You know, hearin’ him tell me about his mornin’ and listenin’ to your sister tell me about her ordeal tryin’ to get home travelin’, added in with you nearly being run down by your mate, I’m startin’ to worry all my kids are cursed.”
Missi tensed. “Daddy, York.”
“Is fine. I’m sure. I’m gonna reach out to Georgia and Arizona and check in on them. Somethin’ is off,” he said. “I love you, darlin’. Don’t kill your mate. No sense dirtyin’ your hands with that when a curse might do it for you.”
She grunted and hung up before looking at Curt again.
“Want me to pretend I didn’t hear your father confirm who we are to each other?” asked Curt, setting the spell book on the counter.
Missi leveled a hard look on him.
His eyes widened. “You have an eyebrow that arches up when you’re mad at me. I’m starting to like the look.”
She gave it to him more.
He cleared his throat and wiggled on the stool.
The next Missi knew, Curt was flat on his back on the floor behind the counter. She rushed to him and bent. “Are you okay?”
“My suaveness just took a nose dive, but I’m fine,” he said, lying there, looking up at her.
“You’re suave? Really?” she teased. “I hadn’t noticed.”
He reached up and touched her cheek. “So I like to think.”
She nodded. “I can see that. You seem to think very highly of yourself. Sig wasn’t wrong about you.”
He brushed her hair back from her face and she found herself bending over him more. “Well, I am a stud. What can I say?”
She giggled.
“So, about the no-touching-you rule,” he said, his voice deep. “Think we might be able to make an exception since I’m marked for death and all? Like a final meal?”
“Who do you think cursed you?” she asked.
“You mean, besides you?” He grinned in a sexy manner.
She remained in place. “Yes. Besides me. I heard Petey mention an ex-girlfriend cursing you. Is that what happened?”
“Honestly, I have no clue. It’s a total mystery to me. It’s been a while since I dated anyone. Well, not that you can call what I do dating,” he said before seeming to think better of it.
“And what is it you do, if it’s not dating?” she inquired, already knowing the answer. It didn’t exactly sit well with her, but she wasn’t sure. The man couldn’t possibly be her mate. What he did and didn’t do should not have mattered to her in the least.
But it did.
One moment they were staring into each other’s eyes and the next they were kissing. Curt ran his hands into her hair and took the kiss to another level. Something near them crackled and for a moment the area seemed to fill with static electricity. It took her a moment to realize it was magic. But it wasn’t her magic.
He jerked her to him harder and kissed his way to her ear, purring softly as he did. She thought about having her way with him, but now wasn’t the time. Besides, he couldn’t stay in Hedgewitch Cove. His life was in Everlasting.
His lips found hers once more and the kiss made her toes curl.
Missi tensed and touched his chest, breaking the kiss. “We need to get you un-cursed and back to Everlasting before someone drops a house on you.”
He didn’t budge. He grinned. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. I’m not a Lollipop Guild member.”
“What on earth are you talking about?” she
asked.
He shrugged. “I’m not sure. Unlike Hugh, I’ve not been forced to sit through The Wizard of Oz movie.”
She beamed. “Oh, I love that movie.”
He groaned.
She stayed bent over him, her long hair hanging down like a curtain around their faces. “Did you really come down here with the intention to exploit some weird loophole about my backlot?”
He tensed and then sighed. “Yes.”
She wanted to be mad at him but found it harder than it should be. “What did you want to do with it?”
He bit his lower lip. “I’d rather not say. Besides, I’m not going to do it now. Obviously.”
Her brow arched up once more.
He grimaced under the weight of her stare. “Fine. I was thinking of making a fast food restaurant there or something else. I wasn’t sure, but I did want to develop it.”
She gasped and stood quickly, storming away from him. “Fast food!”
Curt was up and off the floor in record time, rushing behind her as she stormed towards the back of the shop. “Mississippi, wait. Hear me out. I said I’m not doing it now.”
She pivoted in the pet section and looked him up and down. “You and I are very different. I’m granola and Shirley and you’re, you’re…fast food and fast talking! I fell for good looks and money before. I ended up hurt. I’d tell you to take your money and go but your money is currently in the form of cursed coins and lightning is likely to hit you on the way out of the door. I really hope it hits you where the goddess split you.”
Curt caught her hips and boldly drew her against his powerful frame. “Hold on. Is Who-Knows-Who the good-looking loaded guy? Point me in his direction. He and I are going to discuss a few things, like the fact you’re mine!”
Laughter bubbled up and through Missi’s anger.
“What?” asked Curt, looking dumbfounded.
“We refer to him as You-Know-Who. Not Who-Knows-Who.” She laughed more. “And you don’t need to hunt him down. He’s not here. He went back to his big city life. I didn’t want to leave Hedgewitch Cove and I guess I wasn’t a big enough draw to make him stay.”
Curt stared down at her. “He wasn’t your mate. I am.”
“And that means what exactly? That I’m supposed to give up my friends, family, and shop and move to Maine?” she demanded.
He stayed calm. “Let’s get a few things clear. I have not, nor will I ever expect you to leave your family. My friends are my family. Yes, they’re very important to me and yes, I have a number of businesses in Maine, but Louisiana has something Maine doesn’t.”
Missi stared at him puzzled.
He grinned. “It has you. Plus, I heard there is this amazing property in town that because of a loophole in zoning might be up for grabs. How can I start my fast food empire anywhere else but here?”
“Funny.” She grunted and pushed lightly on him. As she did, a gold coin fell out of thin air between them, landing on the floor. Missi was the first one to get to it. Against Curt’s protests, she touched it, lifting it and standing to look at it. This one was slightly different from the others. It had the lion on one side but on the other it had a mark she knew very well.
It was the mark of the Caillat witches.
She gasped.
Curt put his hand over hers. “Missi?”
She stared up into his green eyes and the next thing she knew, she was going for his mouth again, worried for him yet wanting to be closer to him.
Curt didn’t protest in the least.
He did growl into her mouth and ease her towards the floor of the shop. She glanced to the side as he kissed her neck and laughed softly as she found herself face-to-face with the cat toy section.
Why not?
Chapter Eleven
Curt followed his mate around her small, yet cozy apartment above the magic shop. She’d spent the last forty-five minutes mumbling under her breath at him. He could only hope she wasn’t cursing him—again. Even if she was, he didn’t care. She was his forever and always.
It was slightly surreal, knowing he was now someone’s husband. That he’d done what he’d sworn he never would—mate. He’d thought he’d wanted to be a bachelor for life. And he’d foolishly thought he knew what type of woman he wanted.
He’d been so very wrong.
It was a darn good thing Mother Nature had kicked in with Missi, because Curt would have found a way to muck it up if left to his own devices.
He watched her as she continued muttering softly, looking annoyed with him. She wasn’t exactly thrilled he’d given into his baser instincts and claimed her. He was happy he did, and he wouldn’t take it back.
He snorted.
If Hugh could see him now. He’d never believe Curt did it—that he claimed someone. But Curt got it now. Got why both Hugh and Jake had been so reluctant to leave their wives back in Everlasting. Curt had been mated a fraction of the time they had, and he didn’t like Missi walking ten feet from him. Being over a thousand miles away from her would kill him.
She shot him a hard look.
He failed to hide his laughter. “I said I was sorry.”
“You say that a lot,” she snapped. “You said it about nearly running me over, killing Shirley, and then this!”
He caught her hand in his and drew her to him. He inhaled her scent, liking the fact that she now smelled like him. His inner lion was smug with satisfaction, knowing the woman was now and would forever be his. “It just happened.”
That wasn’t exactly true. Had he actually tried to stop it, he might have been successful, but he hadn’t tried. He’d wanted her, and he’d gotten her.
She gave him a droll look. “You just happened to bite me during, um, that?”
He snorted at her reluctance to actually label what they’d shared together. They were consenting adults, but apparently, they weren’t allowed to use the words for it all. “Um, that? Is that how we’re going to refer to—”
She stepped on his toe. “Don’t say it. We aren’t going to talk about it out loud.”
He chuckled at her antics. “Fine but we are still going to do more of um, that, right?”
She blushed, and he stole a kiss. It was too hard to resist.
Being with her (more than once) in the pet toy section of the magic shop had been the best experience of his life. And he’d meant what he’d said. He hadn’t intended to claim her. It just sort of happened during the height of passion. He couldn’t take it back and he didn’t want to. She was his wife now. There was no turning back.
And currently, his wife was giving him the evil eyebrow again.
He swallowed hard. “I’m guessing neither of us started our day thinking we’d be mated by the end of it.”
She calmed slightly. “No. We didn’t. Are you upset about it?”
“Upset that I have the hottest wife in the world?” he asked, dipping his head and kissing her neck.
She giggled and pushed on his chest. “Curt, no more of that. We have to be serious here. We barely know each other, and we’re now considered husband and wife after what happened down in the shop.”
“I’m pretty sure Petey married us on the street corner before we even got to the shop,” he said with a small smile, hoping to lighten the mood. He knew she was worried about her brother. “So, we’ve been married longer than we thought.”
She took a deep breath. “I always imagined my wedding day would be out in a grove with all my family around, celebrating. Never thought it would be next to a hippie van on a street, surrounded by cursed coins, or in the familiar toy section of my shop.”
“Hon,” he said softly. “We can say vows the normal way with our friends and family around us as soon as we know all of your family and friends are safe, sound, and accounted for. Besides, I heard your father mention some cousins who want to have a few words with me about being your mate. Wait until they figure out I claimed you.”
Her eyes widened. “Curt, not funny. They’re my dad’s deputy sh
eriffs and each of them are a mix of hunter and shifter.”
“I’m no slouch,” he said, wanting to kiss her again. “Don’t let my flashiness fool you.”
She snorted.
He stole another kiss.
“Our first concern is getting you un-cursed. And then it will be introducing you to my male family members. Sorry up front.” She kissed his lips chastely and he nearly begged for more but resisted. “You’re not very worried about being marked for death?”
He shrugged. “I was born in Everlasting. Weird is what that place does. Though Hedgewitch Cove has it beat by a longshot. We don’t have a headless guy or a guy who held his gas in and then burst. We did have people-eating evil witches. That was different.”
She chuckled. “Hold on. Are you serious? People-eating witches?”
“They pretty much wore their victim’s skin after eating them. Babcock, party of five. They also turned into blue goo when run over by a tow truck and hit with rainbow magic.”
Her eyes widened. “See, now you’re going to have to take me to Everlasting, so I can see the People-Eating-Witch-Place.”
He grinned and cupped her face. He’d show her the world if she let him. “Hon, say the word and I’ll take you wherever you want to go. If here is where you want to be, here is where we’ll stay. But can we maybe consider getting a bigger place?”
He wasn’t a small guy and her apartment felt very tiny to him.
Her lips twitched, and she nodded. “Yes. I hear there is a great-sized lot behind this place that could maybe have a house built on it. Only if some big shot doesn’t exploit a commercial property loophole and so long as he doesn’t hurt my garden.”
Curt went eerily still, afraid to move and ruin the moment. “For real? You’re agreeing to letting me build you a big house? Does this mean you’re done being mad at me for claiming you?”
She nodded. “I’m still mad about Shirley, but I have a lifetime to complain about that.”
He swept her up in his arms and shouted with joy before walking her in the direction of the bedroom. He grinned.
“What are you doing?” she asked as she laughed and kicked her feet playfully.
Don’t Stop Bewitching_A Happily Everlasting Series World Novel Page 12
