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Magical Sass for Three (Vella Cove Shifters Book #1)
Auriella Skye
Cover Design: Emma Alisyn
Cover Photo: The Reed Files
Editing: Addicted to Reviews
Table of Contents
Summary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
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About Auriella
Summary
What do you get when you mix a voluptuous witch with two alpha wolves who crave her? One delicious potion of magical sass.
Curvy witch Hanna McCoy is on the run. She's pissed off the leader of the Miami Coven, and she has nowhere left to turn. Nowhere except for her hometown of Vella Cove, Florida. With a sick sister who needs her help, she has no choice but to go back home.
When she attempts to perform a protection spell to get magical trackers off her trail, she accidentally stumbles into the Keller Claw Pack scenting ceremony. The last thing Hanna expects is an encounter with wolf pack alphas, Derek and Kyro Keller. She grew up lusting after the powerful duo, only to be forced out of town by a mother who feared her powers. Now that she's back, the brothers are all grown up and more tempting than she remembers.
Derek and Kyro are destined to become leaders of the Keller Claw Pack after their father. That alone adds to the pressure on them to choose a mate. When they pick up the irresistible scent of Hanna, they have no doubt the witch belongs to them. They want to show her that two alphas are better than one if they can only prevent their disgruntled pack from stirring up trouble.
A sexy encounter with Derek and Kyro leads to them claiming Hanna as their mate, but with her tumultuous past and uncertain future, can these two sexy alphas convince the sassy witch she belongs with them forever and keep her safe long enough to do that?
Chapter 1
Hanna cursed the darkness as she stumbled her way along the beach. The moon wasn’t full, which made the quarter moonlight work against her and create even more shadows. It was her fault. She easily forgot simple pleasures could save her life. Sure, she could bring forth a magical ball of light with a simple incantation, but that was basically sending a “come catch me and kill me” beacon to the people after her. The witch trackers after her weren’t on their way for a friendly talk.
Stupid mistakes were what got crazy witches killed. She may have been a crazy witch, but she wasn’t stupid. She had too much time learning the tricks of the trade and fending for herself. If she didn’t think quickly on her magical feet, she would have been dead a long time ago. No thanks to her mother. She wasn’t going to think about that woman. Her head needed to be clear before she could perform the spell she needed to cast.
“I will not step on a crab,” she said out loud. “I will not step on a damn crab.” Those little suckers were everywhere this time of year, and the last thing she wanted was to be pinched at night. That alone would probably send every local to her location. When it came to pain, she could openly admit she was a wimp.
You’d think with magical and other supernatural creatures in the world, someone would have come up with a pain-free potion, invention, or something, she thought to herself. What good is having magical powers without getting rid of life’s annoyances every now and then?
At least the cave she planned on doing her spell in wasn’t that far out. It had been her one hideaway when she grew up in the small coastal town of Vella Cove, Florida. She’d sneak books out of the library and read them until it got dark and she had to go home. Home to a place where she wasn’t wanted.
Her mother had been wary of her as soon as she caught six-year-old Hanna making her teddy bear collection float around her bedroom. Although her mother was a descendant of witches, she wasn’t a practitioner. In fact, she feared all things magical and called it unnatural. After she noticed Hanna’s powers were increasing with age, she’d become cold.
There were numerous times Hanna would ask about her father, hoping he’d be able to help her understand her magic, but that only aggravated her mother until she took to giving her the silent treatment.
Hanna became good at hiding her magic from her mother. She made sure not to practice anything at home and found solace in her cave on the beach. She dubbed it her cave, even though was accessible to anyone who discovered it. Although dark and ominous by nature, there was a comfort inside the walls of the cave that she couldn’t find back at home, even if she tried.
It was when Hanna was nineteen that all levels of Hades broke loose. She’d been dreaming, the most beautiful dream she ever had her life, she felt her body fill with power. She dreamt that she was running through the woods on her bare feet, searching for someone. It was a sense of need that she couldn’t describe, but she knew that she had to find them. Everything depended on that. The moon wasn’t dark then. It was a full bulbous light that guided her way. She was close. Her entire body felt the presence of someone else and it lit her on fire from the inside.
That’s when a high-pitched scream startled her awake. It had come from her. She woke up to her comforter covered in flames. She choked on the smoke as her mother stood still in Hanna’s doorway and did nothing but stare.
Hanna had to stomp the flames out on her own. She stared down at the singed comforter. What if she hadn’t woken up?
“That’s it,” her mother had said. “I want you out of here in the morning.”
“What?” Hanna was still processing the fact that she almost became a crispy witch and her mother hadn’t made any attempt to save her.
“You lit your bed on fire, Hanna! What if you hadn’t woken up? Mariana and I could be dead.” Her mother always used Mariana’s full name, although most people called her Riana.
Why would she ever do anything to hurt her mother or little sister? Despite her mother’s hostility, she’d never harm her family.
“What about me? I almost died, and now you think I did this on purpose?”
“If you didn’t, that’s even worse. I won’t have magic in this house. First thing in the morning, I want you gone.”
“Fine. You want me out, I’m out.”
Hanna didn’t need to wait until morning. She took two large book bags from her closet and stuffed them. She wasn’t going to let her mother be the one who kicked her out. Hanna was happy to go, even though she only had a few hundred to her name from tutoring. She didn’t need the daily bitterness from anyone. Before she left, she made sure she told Riana goodbye.
“Where you going?” a sleepy Riana had asked her.
“A cool witch adventure,” Hanna had said.
“That’s not a thing.”
“It totally is a thing. Besides, if mom keeps calling me one, I might as well embrace it.”
R
iana yawned. “You’re lucky you got powers.”
“I don’t feel so lucky.”
Riana was already falling asleep again when she said. “You better call. Lots of times.”
“Go to sleep, Mari Bug,” Hanna said. She kissed her sister’s forehead before she left and made a mental promise to call whenever she could.
She didn’t have to worry about how her mother treated Riana. Her little sis was the favorite. Always had been, but Hanna could never get bitter over that.
She brought herself back to the present. What was with her and reminiscing tonight? She blamed it on the shock of being back in her hometown. That had to be it. She wasn’t the type to get all nostalgic.
At least thinking about Riana kept her focused on the task at hand. Her baby sister was the only person she could talk to. Riana never developed a knack for magic. Maybe that was why their mother adored her the most while shunning Hanna.
Hanna didn’t have anything against Riana. Everyone loved her sister, even the most coldhearted neighbors stopped to give a greeting when her sister passed by. There was something about Riana that people just couldn’t resist and absolutely adored. It was insanely bizarre that Hanna always teased that one skill would have been Riana’s magic power if she any: getting people to fall in love with her.
Hanna loved her sister more than anything. She was the main reason Hanna came back to the damn town, which led her to almost-blind walk on the dark beach. Riana needed her, and she wasn’t going to let her down. Not tonight. Not ever.
But if she had any hope of staying in town without anyone finding her, she had to see to her concealment spell first. The town was too crowded for her to do something that powerful unnoticed. It would only make her stand out to every supernatural being within a two-mile radius. Out there, away from anyone, was her best bet.
Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness some, but she still felt like each step brought her closer to falling on her ass. Parts of the beach seemed familiar, like an old memory reappearing with each rock segment.
If she had a better grip on remembering spells, she could have just done one to transport herself there, but she had to have a clear visual of her direction, and she wasn’t sure if the place had changed over the years. The last thing she needed was to appear in the middle of a death trap. Walking was longer but safer. It also helped her conserve her magic for later, which she definitely needed to do to heal her sister.
She nearly screamed for joy when she saw the dark and ominous structure of Nose Rock. It wasn’t really called that. She’d named it such after thinking it looked like a nose coming out of the sand. It even had two deep indents that looked like nostrils. Creepy Nose Rock. That’s what she should have called it. For some reason, it had more appeal when she was a kid.
That meant her place was right around the corner—
She paused when she spotted a large flicker of firelight up ahead. Who would have a bonfire way out here and away from the public beach zones?
A loud howl pierced through the night and made Hanna dive to the ground. More than one howl responded back.
Shit. Wolves. She knew the sound well. Vella Cove was full of them. The town had a reputation for welcoming all supernatural beings as long as they entered without bad intent on others. Even the town mayor, Braylon Keller, was the local Alpha.
What invaded her mind more than anything was her memory of Braylon’s sons, Derek and Kyro Keller. Years could pass, but those two would be forever ingrained in her memory.
Any female with a pulse had a thing for Derek and Kyro. Sadly, she was no exception. They were like reality television bachelors intensified with Alpha goodness, power, and charm. Hard not to notice sexy shifters like that, especially in Vella Cove.
Both were two different sides of a hot coin, Derek with his midnight-colored hair and stern look, and Kyro sporting his sun-kissed locks and dimples. If men could be pretty and masculine at the same time, they pulled it off. It was damn criminal.
The Keller Duo, as they had been nicknamed, was less than a year apart in age and practically ran Vella Cove High School on looks and power alone. Then they graduated and both moved on to the local college, and even there they were treated like resident royalty. They were every girl’s fantasy. Including hers.
It was her first run-in with them that fully did her in.
She’d gone for a swim in the ocean, not far from where she was now. It was her last goodbye to the place and her special spot before she left Vella Cove for good. She’d taken one dip under the ocean and resurfaced to two strange wolves sniffing her bags ashore. Given that it was a beach, she was positive they were shifters. That didn’t mean they had any right to go through her things.
She made a beeline swim for the shore, not stopping until she emerged from the water.
“Hey!” she screamed. “Does that stuff look like it belongs to you?”
Both wolves turned to look at her and before she knew it, they both shifted to full-grown men. Not just any men. Kyro and Derek. And they were bare-ass naked. It almost took magical concentration to keep from looking down at all the male yumminess they had to offer. Yep. No problem.
Fuck that. She looked. More like stared. She understood why so women chased after them. Big was minuscule to what they had to work with.
She had to remember to stop staring and close her mouth.
“See something you like?” Kyro asked.
Her face heated up, but she wasn’t about to come off blushing and stupid like most women who fawned over them.
She crossed her arms. “Who says you have something I want, Wolfie?”
Kyro grinned. “Wolfie, huh? Beauty with bite. I like that. At least we know where that intoxicating scent came from.” His eyes glowed with a golden hue around the irises. “You smell even better up close.”
The way he looked at her made her belly tighten. There was a need deep inside of her that she’d never felt before, and she had a strange feeling that these two could satiate it.
Along with that need was a hint of fear. No man ever looked at her that way, and she wasn’t sure whether to get closer to him or turn and run for her life.
He was almost on her, so close that she could feel the heat from his skin without even touching him.
“What’s your name?” Kyro asked.
“Hanna,” she said, barely recognizing her voice that sounded huskier all of a sudden.
“I wonder what you taste like, Hanna,” Kyro said, his voice laced with what she imagined all naughty, sexy things were made of.
“Delicious,” Derek said. Derek’s eyes matched his brother’s as they stared at her. He may have been one with few words, but that one word said everything. “You’re not a wolf, so what are you?”
When she glanced between them both, she realized she was in her bathing suit, a bathing suit that hugged her curves and made every jiggly bit noticeable. She shrunk back, afraid to be standing near two men who were sculpted perfection.
“Kyro, we need to go,” Derek said.
“But we just got here,” Kyro argued but didn’t take his eyes off her.
“Now!” Derek’s tone changed to irritation, which made Hanna jump. His voice softened after seeing her. “I’m sorry. It’s just that you’re...I’m sorry, Hanna.”
The two looked at each other and shared some secret communication, and then Kyro’s eyes widened.
“He’s right,” Kyro said. “We have to go, but we’ll catch you again, gorgeous. Count on it.”
They shifted before she could ask what was wrong. She watched them run down the beach until they blended in with the sand and the morning sun, leaving her alone once more.
That encounter with Derek and Kyro lasted over the years, even though she was away from Vella Cove, and each guy she ever tried to date never stood a chance. Who could meet the high standards of one shifter let alone two?
It was weird remembering it so vividly, but she blamed it on her being back in the area again. It was her last memory th
ere and the most powerful one of all.
Her attention went back to the howling sounds picking up in the distant firelight that echoed in the air. Most of the shifters ran through wooded areas on land that surrounded the town. What were shifters doing celebrating way out there on such an isolated part of the beach? That’s what piqued her curiosity.
She stayed in the shadows as she made her way closer to the light’s source. Large rocks were everywhere along the beach, so she had cover.
She used the largest one she could find to hide behind. Leave it to her to choose a hiding place that couldn’t conceal all her extra bits and give her nosy ass away. Whatever the wolves were doing, they probably didn’t want an audience.
Hanna slowly peered over the boulder to see the display. Calling it a display was a mild term for what she saw. It was like a party congregated on the beach. She would have passed it off as a human party if it weren’t for the wolves scattered around the people.
Everyone seemed friendly with each other. A little too friendly. What made it odd was the way they were all sniffing each other. Her light-bulb moment finally flicked on.
Jumping magic panties. She’d stumbled upon a Scenting Ceremony. She heard about the ritual packs used to find their mates, but she’d never seen one up close. It was like some supernatural Holy Grail kind of thing that she couldn’t believe unless she saw it for herself.
Then the Kellers emerged, and she went into some form of shock. If it weren’t for the rock she held a death grip on, she was sure she would have fallen over and given herself away.
Braylon Keller led the way followed by Derek and Kyro. Her memory had nothing on the two men who flanked their father. Boys. They had to have been boys before, because the men who looked like Kyro and Derek had turned into raw sex on two legs. Tall, rugged mounds of hotness times two. Firelight flickered on their skin and made them seem ethereal.
Sassy Ever After: Magical Sass for Three (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Vella Cove Shifters Book 1) Page 1
