“Shit! That means Audra won’t have the chance to speak on Nixon and Nyssa’s behalf.”
“I’m not too worried. The decision will be easier for the witches,” I reassured Carrick.
“How so?”
“For a few reasons. First, there are only four factions to appease; one for each kind of elemental magic. There are more types of shifters than there are witches. Second, I’ve already laid a foundation of trust with the covens who had been on the fence about improving our relationship with the shifter community.” I paused in my explanation to give us enough time to exit the elevator, walk to the limo, and climb inside. “There are only a few die-hard factions remaining who’ll find it difficult to drum up support amongst the other covens. And lastly, they’ll be influenced by the decision made by the shifter council.”
“Why would that matter to them? Your council is independent of ours.”
“Not as much as you’d think,” I murmured, looking to Damien for approval to share information that had been kept quiet at his request. When he nodded, I continued, “They wouldn’t want to appear intolerant. Not when the shifters have demonstrated inclusivity towards witches three times already. First when Seth asked Selene to join them, then when he asked me to step into her role while she was unavailable, and finally when they dismissed that ridiculous petition.”
“I guess I can see how that would factor into their decision. When you list it out that like, it could appear lop-sided...giving the shifters and edge of witches.”
“It isn’t as lop-sided as you think,” I drawled. “There’s also the fact that they wouldn’t want to offend the shifter to whom they recently offered a seat on the council.”
“The Council of Four is going to include a shifter? How is that possible?”
“They haven’t announced it yet, but going forward they’ll be known as the Council of Five. There will be one seat for each kind of magic. Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Dragon.”
“Dragon magic,” Carrick echoed. “You told my son that he’d soon understand how dragon magic was different from witch magic, but that was more than a year ago.”
“Soon is a relative term. To me, a year is barely any time at all.”
Damien’s reply was cryptic enough to be guaranteed to piss Carrick off, and I needed to prevent that from happening because we had more important things to worry about. “Do you know if the Council of Four’s meeting has adjourned yet?”
“Yes, it didn’t take them long since they didn’t have a jackass who insisted on wasting everyone’s time like we did,” Damien answered.
I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and called the Water magic representative. “There’s no need for concern,” she assured me in lieu of a greeting. “That petition wasn’t worth the paper upon which it was printed, and it was quickly discharged.”
“That’s such a relief,” I sighed.
I didn’t bother explaining what she’d told me because Carrick’s glare and Damien’s grin let me know that they’d overheard every word. It was going to take a little while to grow accustomed to little things like super-sonic hearing. But later. I had a new, important matter to deal with first.
Chapter Thirteen
Carrick
“I know the timing is bad, but this isn’t a summons I can refuse,” Audra explained. “Not without an excellent reason.”
“Our quick departure from home after the birth of our grandchildren due to a threat to them wouldn’t be considered an excellent reason?”
She ran her hand up and down my back as she shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. I was there for the birth, and the threat to the babies has been handled at least for the time being. As far as the council is concerned, there’s no reason I can’t be present when they make the announcement that they’re adding a Dragon magic placement and Damien has been appointed to represent the dragons on the newly named Council of Five.”
“Having Audra there will help the transition go more smoothly,” Damien added. “She has a solid reputation with the other covens, and they’ve already demonstrated that they’re willing to listen to her counsel on issues pertaining to witch-shifter relations.”
“Fine,” I huffed. “We’ll make a pit stop so you can attend this meeting and then we’ll head home to Bear Creek.”
Audra laced her fingers through mine and squeezed. “I’m not sure how long my business with the council will take.”
“No!” I barked out, shaking my head. “Don’t even suggest that you make this trip on your own, without me.”
“I have to because it makes the most sense. We might have gotten the petitions thrown out, but we still have no idea who submitted them. Our only real clue is that they have a connection of some kind to Bear Creek since they knew exactly when the babies were born. We can’t assume they won’t try something else once they find out the petitions didn’t accomplish anything, not when it’s Nixon and Nyssa at risk.”
“We put excellent measures in place to keep them safe,” I argued.
“But you still would never have left them if it hadn’t been necessary,” she pointed out. “Because you know as well as anyone else that one extra set of eyes could make all the difference, especially when they belong to the alpha.”
“Fuck,” I groaned, torn between my desire to return home to watch over the newest members of my clan and my need to keep Audra safe.
“You can count on me to protect her,” Damien offered. “By going, she’ll be making my transition with the witch council easier and for that I’ll owe her a debt of gratitude.”
I knew how seriously he took those debts, but it didn’t erase all of my worry. It didn’t matter that the dragon shifter was undoubtedly the better candidate to keep her safe in a crowd full of witches since he had magic and I didn’t. I loved her. And she loved me. Only this clusterfuck of a situation hadn’t let us enjoy the first time we voiced our feelings for each other. And now this damned witch meeting was only going to put it off longer.
“And I’m pretty impressive in my own right,” Audra added. “Not only have I been taking care of myself ever since I was a teenager, I’ve also led and trained a coven full of witches. Plus—”
She leaned forward and pressed her lips against mine before moving back less than an inch to whisper, “I’m the witch you called in when you had trouble with dark practitioners. Remember?”
“Yeah,” I sighed, knowing damn well when I was fighting a losing battle. “But everything was different back then.”
“And now I’ve got even more to live for than I did a year ago. There’s Nixon, Nyssa,”—she gave me another quick kiss—“and you.”
“Damn straight you’ve got me,” I growled. “And as soon as you get home, we’re going to set our family down and tell them about us.”
“After you talk to me about that mating business.”
I agreed, chuckling at the exaggerated wink Damien sent me way. I figured the dragon shifter knew as well as I did what would happen if we had that conversation first. We’d be mates before we told our family about us.
That’s what I held onto when I said goodbye to her at the private airstrip. She boarded Damien’s plane, and I flew home alone. I slept the entire way again, but it wasn’t nearly as restful without Audra at my side. When I landed in Bear Creek, I was in a heck of a mood. I decided to head over to Camden and Selene’s house since that’s where the babies were.
“Carrick! You’re back!” Selene jumped out of the recliner and raced towards me. She had Nyssa cradled in her right arm, all swaddled up in a pink blanket. But that didn’t stop her from giving me a hug. “Here, you take this one since her brother is bound to wake up any second and Camden ran out to get more diapers. I swear, it’s like Nixon has a radar and knows whenever his daddy or any of his uncles are in the house. I’m sure it won’t be any different when it comes to his grandfather.”
As though he’d been waiting for his mom to finish, Nixon let out a wail as soon as she was done. She hurried over to
the bassinet and lifted him into her arms. He was also swaddled like his sister, but in a blue blanket.
“My mom called about thirty minutes ago to let me know she landed okay. She also said that she’d try to move things along as quickly as she could so she’d be home again sooner rather than later.”
Home. I loved how Audra had already started calling Bear Creek that. But I didn’t enjoy the fact that I couldn’t share how much I was looking forward to her return without causing all sorts of questions I wasn’t supposed to answer until she was here too. “That’s good. Hopefully everything will go as smoothly with the witches as it did with the shifters today.”
“I really hope so because there’s something I could use my mom’s help with, and I don’t want to put it off too long.”
I tugged on her free hand and led her over to the recliner so she could sit down while we talked. “Is it something I can help with instead?”
“Well,” she drawled. “I’m going to need your help too, but in a totally different way.”
I sat on the corner of the couch closest to her and lifted Nyssa up to rest her against my shoulder as she drifted back to sleep. “Why don’t you tell me about it? Then we’ll see what we can do to take care of it before your mom comes home.”
“We can’t do it before then. It just can’t be done without her assistance with the spell. But I also shouldn’t do it without your agreement so maybe we can get that part of it over with now. Then you’ll have enough time to wrap your head around it all before it happens.”
“Spell? Agreement? Wrap my head around what?”
Selene reached out and patted my hand with her free one. It was a gesture that very much reminded me of her mom. It was comforting, but it in no way prepared me for what she was about to suggest.
“I’ve been tinkering with a spell, and I think I might have finally figured out how to make it work. But even with my increased powers, this love spell is too complicated for me to work on my own.”
“A love spell?” I’d assumed those were something made up for movies and television and completely fictional. “Why would you need me to agree to something crazy like that?”
“Because I think I’ve figured out a way to give you a second chance at a fated mate.”
A little more than a year ago, if someone had told me there was a way for them to get me a new fated mate, I would have been skeptical. Even though I had no knowledge of magic and no trust for witches back then, I still would have leapt at the chance. But that was before I’d met my sweet little witch. Before I’d fallen in love with a woman for the first time in my long life. Before Audra wiped away all the bitterness I’d felt for years and replaced it with joy.
So even though I was no longer skeptical about magic and my distrust of witches had been replaced by love, my answer was easy. “No. I don’t want you to do a spell like that for me.”
Because I had no need for a fated mate, not when I had something better—the mate I’d chosen for myself. I had Audra, and I wouldn’t trade her for anything or anyone else.
“I know it’ll take quite a bit of power, but I wouldn’t have said anything to you if I didn’t think I could pull it off,” she swore.
“I know, honey.” I patted her hand before getting up to pace the floor with Nyssa, who’d begun to fuss. “But it’s not necessary. I have everything I need to be happy right here in Bear Creek. I don’t want you to do any more tinkering with love spells. Not for me.”
Chapter Fourteen
Audra
It took me longer to wrap everything up with the witch council than I had expected. They’d made the announcement the day after Damien and I had arrived in town, but then they’d invited each coven to meet with the four witches who served on the council plus Damien. Most of the covens had taken them up on the offer, and it took five long days for all those meetings to take place. So it was almost an entire week later when the plane touched down in Bear Creek.
I’d texted Carrick before we took off, and he’d replied back to let me know that he and Alasdair had taken a road trip to check in on a few of their clubs since I was still out of town. He’d wanted to get as much business stuff out of the way so he could give me his undivided attention when I was back.
I told him I’d head over to visit with Selene and the babies, and he agreed to meet me there. When Carrick had mentioned that he was going to cancel their last appointment so they could get back sooner, I’d convinced him to keep it so he didn’t have to take another trip anytime soon. It meant waiting another six or seven hours until I saw him again, but it would be well worth it since their final destination was the furthest away from home.
I knew Carrick had been irritated by how long it’d taken me to come back, but he hadn’t let that interfere with any of our conversations each night. We spent hours on the phone with each other, sharing stories from our childhood. Talking about the challenges we’d faced as single parents. We tossed a little phone sex in there a time or two towards the end, too. But I refused to reminisce about that while Damien was in the car next to me. I’d come to know the dragon shifter fairly well over the past week, and I was almost convinced he had the ability to read people’s minds because he always seemed to know everyone’s secrets.
“Thanks for the ride,” I told him when he pulled up in front of Camden and Selene’s house.
“There’s no need to thank me. I owe you a hell of a lot more than a ride from the airport after all the time you gave up on my behalf.”
“I didn’t do it for you,” I reminded him for about the thousandth time.
“Doesn’t matter. I still benefited from it, which means I owe you.”
“Considering how much you’ve done for our family, I’m not sure the scale you’re using to measure that is accurate. But I’m not going to argue with a dragon shifter if he insists on owing me a debt of gratitude.” Not after Carrick had filled me in on all the ways something like that could come in handy.
“If you think of how you’d like me to pay you back, I’ll be in Bear Creek for another day or two.”
I got out of the car and turned to quirk a brow at him. “Does Carrick know you’re planning on staying in his town?”
“No, but I’ll be sure to inform the alpha,” Damien chuckled as I shut the door and he reversed out of the driveway.
“Mom! You’re back!” Selene called. She was standing in the doorway of her home, one baby bundled to her chest in a cloth carrier and the other nestled in the crook of her arm. It was hard to believe that my baby girl was all grown up with children of her own now.
“I am!” I rushed forward and gave her and Nixon each a kiss on the cheek before I stole Nyssa from her. “And I swear these two look like they’ve already grown while I was gone.”
“Nixon definitely has. He’s put on an entire pound since we brought him home from the hospital.”
“A whole pound!” I gave him another kiss before we walked into the house. “He’s going to grow up to be big like his dad.” And his super sexy grandfather.
“And Nyssa’s a tiny thing.”
“Just like you when you were a baby.” I snuggled Nyssa close to my body. “How’re they sleeping?”
“Their late morning naps seem to be the best.” Selene walked into the kitchen to check the clock on the stove. “And it’s time to put them down or else I’ll miss the perfect window for it since they’re both fed with dry diapers.”
I helped her get the babies settled in, and we spent about half an hour catching up on all things Nixon and Nyssa. “How long are they usually down for their late morning naps?”
“We’ll probably have another hour.”
“Great! I can get lunch started and catch you up on any laundry you haven’t been able to finish while you take a little rest too.”
I went to stand, but Selene stopped me by placing her hand on my arm. “Actually, there’s a spell I wanted to talk to you about.”
“What kind of spell?”
“One that�
�ll give Carrick the chance to have a new fated mate.” I barely heard her explanation of how she’d tinkered with a love spell for the past nine months, driven by her desire to see her father-in-law happily mated.
“We should do it,” I found myself saying. “Right now.”
“But shouldn’t we wait until we’ve talked to Carrick again. He was adamant that the spell wasn’t necessary.”
I was sure he had been, but I also couldn’t let Selene wait until after she tried to get him to agree again. By then, it would be too late and Carrick would put a stop to the whole thing by telling everyone we were in love and he wanted to take me as his mate. It was one thing to say yes when there wasn’t any hope of him having a fated mate of his own. But it was entirely different knowing that there was a possibility for him to have another chance, as slim as it might be since the kind of magic Selene wanted to do had never been done before. I refused to stand in the way of that for him. I loved him enough that I was willing to risk my happiness to ensure he had everything he’d ever dreamed of.
And deep down inside, under the fear of what I might lose because of this decision, there was a kernel of hope. Maybe the tingling in my wrist was a sign from the Goddess. Maybe Carrick and I truly were fated to be together, but our love had to be tested first. It had never worked that way for another witch and their consort before, but Selene and Camden had proven that what was previously thought to be impossible could happen. Selene got her consort mark before they actually met. Maybe mine was just slow in coming where hers had been early.
It might have been a ridiculous rationalization, but I held onto it in the hours it took for us to set everything up for the spell. By the time the babies went back down for their afternoon naps, we were ready.
“Are you sure about this?”
“I am, my darling girl.” Carrick’s happiness was worth any risk, and the hours Selene had spent working on this had resulted in a spell that I thought had a decent chance of working. And I was almost positive that I’d figured out a way to make sure that I was the one who’d suffer from magical recoil once the spell was done. My daughter had two babies to look after, so I’d made tiny tweaks to ensure I was the one to bear that burden.
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