“So… We just have to sit here and wait until we’re allowed out?” My skin warmed as Kingsley fell asleep against my neck. He could always comfort me.
“Justina is probably going to fire me. I’m surprised she hasn’t done it already.” Gerard’s sigh was pathetic as his head dropped back against the sofa.
Closing my eyes, I allowed the warmth of Kingsley’s energy to soothe my erratic heartbeat. If Justina had any sense, she would sack Gerard. However, I had a feeling she wouldn’t. He was her best trained agent, someone who had brought in the evillest of witches.
“You need to get a grip. Just because Jeremy looked at me like that, doesn’t…” My sentence trailed off as Gerard’s hands gripped his thighs tight. “Okay, you need to explain.”
Turning to face him, I forced him to look at me. He heaved a sigh before staring up at the framed spell on my ceiling. Justina had asked me to take it into the agency to be studied against the one she had found with Luis Camos. The deceased man had somehow managed to get hold of a page from my mother’s grimoire.
“My sister…” He took a deep breath, keeping his gaze averted from mine. “…was attacked.”
He had a sister? How did I not know that? My insides started to shake as I realised that Gerard hadn’t just killed his friend by accident. He had obviously seen a lot of trauma in his life.
“I was forced to watch, held down by a bunch of warlocks. They took advantage of her, right in front of my face.”
Tears came to his eyes, which made a lump come to my throat. I swallowed, trying hard to prevent my own tears from forming. He really had suffered. Staying silent, I waited for him to continue.
“The reason I killed my friend was because of my rage. I was using magic whenever I got angry, trying to control the uselessness I had felt while my sister was…”
Reaching forward, I slowly put my hand over his, gently pulling it away from where he pinched his thigh so hard, his knuckles were going white. He gripped my hand, finally looking at me. His eyes swam with unshed tears as he searched my gaze.
“Why don’t you judge me?” His sudden change of subject made me frown.
Taking a deep audible breath, I stroked his thumb with mine. The small gesture sent a tingling sensation over my hand.
“Because… I know what it’s like to experience trauma.”
Thrusting away, he got to his feet. “It wasn’t trauma, it was weakness.”
Ah, okay Tough-guy Mac-frustrating, I’d play the game. Instead of reacting to his anger, I climbed up onto the sofa and relaxed in the corner. Kingsley was still resting on my neck, but he was awake, the energy too palpable in the room for him to sleep.
“What happened to your sister after?” My words were quiet.
Standing by the door of the kitchen, Gerard slowly turned to look at me. His breathing had calmed, his hands no longer fisted.
“She’s fine. It took her a long time to come to terms with what happened, but she stuck a middle finger up to the bastards when she got a degree in science and travelled all over the world solving science problems.”
The corner of my lip quirked, I couldn’t help it. “Your sister…a witch…turned to science?”
Gerard’s shoulders relaxed as the tension seeped out of him. “I suppose it’s pretty ironic when you think about it.”
Good, we had broken the anger cycle. I understood perfectly well why Gerard felt the way he did, although, Jeremy hadn’t ever physically carried out his threats to me. So, why had he killed him so coldheartedly? It wasn’t a question I dared ask.
Slouching onto the sofa, my partner put his head in his hands. The realisation of what had happened was taking a while to sink in to the pair of us.
“You probably want to be assigned another partner,” Gerard started. “I… I’ve never acted that way on the job.”
The idea of working with anyone other than Gerard made my stomach flip. For some reason, he was my grounding force. He understood my predicament. He knew me better than anyone had ever known me, and yet, we still hardly knew each other at all.
I was about to open my mouth to tell him my thoughts when Kingsley squeaked. That meant only one thing.
“Someone’s outside,” I whispered.
Taking my hand, Gerard muttered “Invisique.”
His magic settled over me, causing me to shudder. The caress of the energy was sweet, recognisable. And… I shouldn’t have been basking in the sexiness of my partner’s magic when there could be a threat outside.
Pulling me to a stand when the door burst open, Gerard guided us behind the sofa and onto the bed. A man walked in, his arms extended ahead. A gun was clasped in his hands, but the darkness that pulsed through him alerted me to his warlock status.
“Look for the dagger,” he told a young male teen as he followed him inside. “She just pissed off the witches, so she won’t be back for a while. Hopefully, she hasn’t got the dagger with her.”
I frowned at Gerard when he raised his eyebrows. Why would they want my dagger? It was just a weapon.
Kingsley was silent as he pushed himself as far into my neck as possible. I was glad he was with us instead of in his cage.
The teen grunted as he started searching through my things. I wanted to launch off the bed and strangle the intruders, but something made me hold back. There was something intriguing about what they were doing.
“Why do we even need to do this anyway?” The sulky teen had pockmarked cheeks and a gangly frame.
The man who accompanied him stopped riffling through my drawers and turned to him. “Why didn’t you listen at the meeting? We were told that the dagger is a conduit for warlock magic. It can hold it without the earth sucking it away. You need to start listening.”
The teen didn’t care that he was being berated. Instead, he was holding up a pair of my granny pants. Oh no, seriously?
Gerard’s body started to shake with repressed anger, but he managed to put a hand on my thigh went I clenched my fingers into fists. We both had to keep our cool. The information about the dagger was extremely important. How had Justina required such a thing? And, had she known its power when she had given it to me?
“If you’re going to take part in our mission, you need to pay attention. Otherwise, I’ll disown you. Maybe the witches will target you first.” The older man scowled in the boy’s direction, his searching paused as he took on a fatherly role.
My dagger was in my boot, which was on my foot, which was obviously on the bed with me. Thank goodness. My skin tingled at the effort it took not to attack the men rooting through my belongings. Gerard would have seen my underwear. And, that was not on. Actually, there were a few sexy pieces under the comfy pants, why didn’t the boy hold those up?
“Yeah, yeah, Dad, keep on. You need me to be a breeding machine, so stop threatening.”
Breeding machine? What the hell did the warlocks have planned? And, did Maxwell know anything about it?
Maxwell. Shit, I still hadn’t passed over the leadership. I was technically full heir, but I didn’t want the responsibility of looking after the likes of the two men uselessly searching my apartment. The quicker I did it, the quicker I could concentrate on regaining my witch magic.
“It’s not here,” the young man said, spinning to leave.
The older man came over to the bed. Reaching for my bedside drawer, he laughed when he opened it. My cheeks flared red, my eyes stretching as a giggle left his mouth. His son was about to come over when he thrust the drawer shut. I’d had to keep completely still the whole time, praying to Mother Earth that Gerard hadn’t looked over me and into the drawer. A girl had to please herself sometimes, it was quite natural… and mortifying.
“Something’s off,” the man said, standing right beside us.
Holding my breath, I tried not to move a muscle. If either of us made a noise or made the bed rustle, he would know that we were there.
“She must have the dagger with her. This was a stupid mission, why would she le
ave it behind? Let’s go to that meeting.”
The teen stomped out of the room, creating the perfect distraction. His father stood for a second longer before following him out. They had left the place exactly as they’d found it, which made it even more creepy.
Letting my breath out as the door closed, I hauled myself from the bed, my whole body shaking. Putting Kingsley back in his cage, I went over to the door and locked it behind them. They hadn’t managed to break the lock when they barged in, but access to my home was too easy.
“I need to move,” I muttered, leaning my head against the door.
“Where’s your dagger?”
Coming over, Gerard held out his hand. Seriously? Some vile warlocks had just touched my belongings, their hands all over my undies and he wanted the dagger? Ugh.
Swiping it out of my boot, I held it towards him, blade first. He raised his eyebrows, his serious face letting me know that he wouldn’t bite.
“We need to follow them.” Tucking my blade away, I ripped open the door and ran.
If anyone was going to violate me, I would make sure they paid. Plus, I was still their leader. Surely, I had a right to know what meeting was going down. And, after that, I would get my revenge on the pipsqueak and his father.
Chapter Four
“That’s Maxwell’s shop.”
My obvious statement made Gerard frown at me. “Do you think I was born yesterday?”
Tempted to thump his arm, I resisted. He might be handsome, but boy did he wind me up sometimes. Yes, I was stating the obvious. But, he had just lost his mind and killed a witch, so excuse me for thinking that he might need reminding.
The two men went into the shop, their gazes checking over their shoulder before the door closed behind them. Isaac, the former leader of the warlock coven, had been proud of his heritage. He had turned the negative traits of warlock magic as positive as possible. He had made warlocks swear to only use their magic for good. Fat lot of good that did him.
“Let’s go.”
Gerard grabbed my arm before I could waltz over the road. I frowned up at him as he stared down at me. His hair was ruffled where he’d been tugging on it ever since he’d killed Jeremy.
“Justina told us to stay at yours while she sorts out my mess.”
Crap. Why did Gerard have to be so proper? I hadn’t even thought about upsetting Justina. The lead was too strong. We had to find out what the warlocks were up to. It could affect the whole investigation.
“I don’t want to upset her, but it’s a strong lead.”
Digging out his phone, Gerard offered it to me. “Okay, let’s tell her where we are.”
Swallowing, I gingerly took the phone after he’d dialled our boss. We would probably both get fired. Especially as we’d gone against orders, after Gerard had broken a cardinal rule.
“What is it?” Justina’s curt tone made me cringe.
I was tempted to not tell her where we were, instead ready to pretend that I was inquiring about their progress with my ex coven witch leader.
“We were at my apartment-”
“Were…?” Justina’s tone was cautionary. “That means you’re no longer there.”
Oh, boy, if this didn’t incite disciplinary action, I didn’t know what would.
“That’s right. A pair of warlocks broke in. We hid ourselves, but they were talking about my dagger, and-”
“Your dagger?”
Great, Kurt was listening to me on speaker phone. That made it ten times worse. Justina was the good cop, which made Kurt the pain the in the arse, kick me up the arse, cop.
“Yes, I’ll tell you all the information later, but they mentioned that they had a meeting to get to, so…”
I let the sentence hang. They were probably going to-
“Then, why are you talking to me?” Justina’s tone was calm. Not what I had expected. “Get into the meeting, or spy, or whatever the hell you had planned to do when you obviously followed them.”
“Okay, we’ll meet you back at the agency when we’re done.”
They hung up without even a word of warning. They didn’t want to see if we were okay, as long as we got on with our job.
“She was surprisingly cool about us going against her word. I’m confused.”
Gerard snatched the phone out of my hand, ignoring me as he went over the road. I followed, my sexy boots dragging as I tried to deduce Justina’s real feelings. She was going to fire me. She probably thought that there was no harm in me checking out the warlock meeting because she would kick me out as soon as I returned anyway.
“I don’t know where you’re going,” I said when Gerard headed for the front door. “But, I’m going around back.”
Not stopping to see if he’d heard me, I ducked down a little alley that led to my destination. My stomach surged, causing me to heave as I came to the little concrete area behind the shop. This had been where I had shot Isaac senior a few months ago.
“Smart move,” Gerard said from behind me as I paused.
My feet refused to budge from the spot where Isaac had fallen to the ground, a bullet in his head. The bullet I had shot into his skull.
“Are you okay?” My partner finally noticed that I was on the edge of a breakdown, or at least a tear or two.
“This is where…” I couldn’t shake the guilt that wrapped around me. “Isaac.”
Closing his eyes briefly, Gerard waited a split second before he reached for me. Instead of giving me the comfort I was expecting, he placed his hands on my shoulders and shook me.
“Snap out of it. We’re here to work.”
His words had been quiet, in case anyone from inside could hear. And, just like that, I wanted to hit him. Which was good, it broke me out of my sadness. When all this was over, Psycho Mac-killer would get a beating. Well, if I still had the strength to give him what he deserved.
“Okay, let’s go,” I said, taking my dagger out of my boot.
The risk of losing my witch magic was too high for me to even think about using any of my powers. Physical attack it would be. If there was a threat, of course. Otherwise, diplomacy all the way. Justina was adamant, so I would listen to her advice. For once.
Tiptoeing up to the back door, I gently pushed down the handle, smiling when it opened silently. On the one hand, easy entrance could be a bad thing, but on the other, I was going to take advantage of their sloppiness.
Gerard followed, his gun in hand. His arms were bare, the warm weather making our leather far too hot and sticky. Something about the way he yielded his gun may have made it hotter in the hallway.
“Okay, please, can I have silence?” a voice called.
The hallway was small. A door in front of me led to the front of the shop, which was where the noise came from. An open entryway to my right led to a small kitchen. A toilet was on my left. There wasn’t much room to go anywhere, so I decided to be brave. Or, stupid. Whatever.
Sneaking to the door to the shop, I peeked through the glass. Isaac used to have a curtain of beads over it to make it look pretty. In that moment, I wished it was still there. Looking through was risky.
Gerard nudged me in the back, letting me know that he was there. I wasn’t going to move, I was too busy counting who was in the room.
They sat in a circle, ten of them. The boy and his father were side by side, watching someone behind the counter. It must have been the speaker. I couldn’t quite see him. A bunch of others were all looking too, including the freaky pale twins who were Maxwell’s powerful sidekicks.
My breath hitched in when whoever was in charge stepped forward. He was a tall dark-skinned man. In fact, he was the one that Maxwell had sent after me the first night I’d ever met Gerard. He was a bastard.
“I’ve brought you here today so we can confirm that we’re going ahead with our plan.” The man spoke, his voice loud enough for us to hear. “Maxwell has no idea what we’re doing, and as I’ve warned before, if anyone dares to betray us, we’ll take you out.”
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The others nodded, their eyes staring at him. A couple of the women were unfamiliar, their energy different to the others. I couldn’t quite put my finger on the reason something felt off. To the outside world, it looked like the warlocks were having a meeting, but…
“Once the witches have mated with the warlocks, we’ll keep them safe from their coven. That way, if they become pregnant, the other witches won’t be able to tell.”
My heart stopped beating. Well, that’s what it felt like. Shock vibrated through my body as they nodded along, agreeing with the insane person. They were going to do what now?
Taking a step closer to the circle, the warlock, with his long leather jacket, opened his arms. “The witches are against us. They want to annihilate us, so we’ve found a way to make sure our existence can never be wiped out.”
Did they seriously…? I mean, were they seriously…?
One of the twins put his hand up to talk. The main man pointed, allowing him the floor.
“Maxwell would never agree to what we’re doing. He’s a strong person, one that can always be trusted to look after the coven. However, if he insists on allowing Devon Jinx to take her time in handing him the leadership, we have to take matters into our own hands. All our ancestors are twins, so if we procreate with a witch, we should be able to have more twins. Which would effectively grow our little family a lot quicker.”
Bile rose in my throat at the idea of having sex with one of the creepy pale twins. How could the witches do this? Surely, the warlocks and their threat of non-existence wasn’t important to them. Although, a thought flashed through my mind as they started to agree.
I was part warlock. Would that mean that I would die if the witches were able to carry out their plan? Those inside the shop believed that having half-breeds would save the race, but how did they know that the spell wouldn’t kill me off too?
Gerard’s breath fanned my neck, making me shudder. My parents had been reckless, stupidly in love. Their choice to have a kid had severely affected both their lives and mine. Making a whole tribe of me… well, that would be a stupid idea.
Magically Bonded: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Hunted Witch Agency Book 2) Page 3
