Thrice United

by Lauren Dane

  “No time for that. The Charvezes are coming over. Afterward. I promise. I’ll let you have your wicked way with me.”

  “You bet you will,” he promised and she laughed.

  They fed and were dressed and drinking coffee when Jax led the Charvezes in. Isolde pulled Holly into a hug and kissed both cheeks and sat down after extracting kisses from Nate and Rhett. She didn’t give anyone the chance not to receive her hugs and kisses, she simply gave her affection without hesitation.

  Lee introduced Em and they also gave their cousin kisses on the cheek. Aidan stood back, a bit sheepish, and Alex gave a small wave.

  Con snorted and pushed them aside and pulled Holly into a hug. “We didn’t get a chance to meet last night. I’m Con MacNessa, Em’s husband. I’m pleased to meet you.”

  His smile was infectious and flirtatious and Em just rolled her eyes at Holly, who couldn’t help but smile back.

  As they all sat down and Holly started to pour out, Lee cleared her throat.

  “First thing, I’d like to apologize for Aidan. He’s normally not like that. I guess it was some vampire bullshit, which is no excuse at all of course. Anyway, he’ll be on his best behavior from now on and I want Rhett and Nate to feel welcome at any family event. They are as much family as Aidan is. We just want you to know how much we want you in our lives, how much we want to know all of you.” Lee looked to Aidan. “He’d like to apologize too…”

  Holly held her hand up to silence them all. “Let me be totally clear here. You need to understand that these men mean everything to me. They’re part of me. If they are not welcome, I am not welcome. If they are ever made to feel the way they were last night again, I will walk out of here without looking back. It was unconscionable to force me down here and then to treat my partners like they were underlings.” She leveled her gaze on Aidan. “And to do it for sport, to play with me to amuse yourself at their expense—at my expense—it was petty and certainly not something I’d consider courteous. If that’s your idea of family, I don’t want any part of it.”

  The room got silent for a moment. Holly felt Rhett and Nate’s surprise along the link and then each put a hand on hers.

  Aidan stood forward. “You are absolutely correct. It was petty of me and I apologize most sincerely. I am old enough to show better manners and I didn’t. I made you all feel unwelcome and that was unfair. I would hate for us to continue on the wrong foot. Would you please, all of you, give me another chance?”

  Lee knew what it cost him to make the apology but also heard the steel of Holly’s voice. They’d all hurt her.

  “My mother always said, ‘show me your apology, don’t tell me’. If you act like you’re family, I’ll know you mean it,” Holly said, closing the subject.

  “Okay, so let’s talk about the threat to you, shall we?” Alex smoothly interjected.

  “Actually, before we talk about any of that, I want to hear about my mother and how a fifteen-year-old girl with nothing but the clothes on her back was turned onto the street by people who refer to themselves as a close family.”

  Em looked at her cousin and felt the pain radiating from her. It was different than her anger at Aidan, this was soul deep.

  Isolde nodded. “Of course, chere. Your maman was so young, so vibrant and full of love. She truly was cherished by all who knew her. But her father, he was very strict and so when she got pregnant he wasn’t able to accept it.

  “Your grand-mére was out of the house when it all blew up and when she returned home he’d already kicked your mother out of the house. Elise searched for hours, we all did. We searched the bus stations and the airport. Everywhere we could think of. We kept it up nonstop for weeks until Elise pretty much collapsed with exhaustion. Even then, she hired private investigators and they scoured the country.

  “Your mother was just a girl, a penniless girl at that. We didn’t understand how she was able to just drop off the face of the earth the way she did. I still don’t understand it. We’re a family of witches and we couldn’t find one girl!” Isolde broke off, emotion in her voice, and Holly held back a sob but only barely. Rhett squeezed her hand and she leaned into him, taking comfort.

  “Your grand-mére…it broke a part of her that never truly got fixed. She left your grand-père and we haven’t heard from him since. We’ve missed your mother so much. Missed you so much.”

  Fat tears began to run down Holly’s face and Rhett pulled her to him and spoke quietly in her ear. “It’s okay, honey. We’re here. Always.”

  “But she isn’t. My mother could have healed herself but she didn’t. When she was diagnosed with the cancer it was too far gone. They couldn’t do anything for her. But she could have stopped it, she could have saved her own life but she chose to die and leave me instead of using her magic. Magic she hated so much. What did you all do to her that she hated herself that way?” Anguish laced Holly’s voice as the thought that her mother hated her magic more than she loved her daughter surfaced yet again.

  “I don’t know!” Isolde wrung her hands together. “Honestly, chere. We loved her. We still love her. We always held hope that she’d come back or at least get into some kind of contact, let us know she was all right. Let us know what happened to her child. But nothing.”

  “Who is my father? Why didn’t he help her?”

  “We never found out. Whoever he was, she kept him secret. She wouldn’t tell us and he never came for her after she ran away.” Isolde was crying now and moved to the couch where Holly was, pushing Nate over so that she could sit next to her.

  “Holly, you’re one of us. We’ve loved you for twenty-four years without ever having seen your face. We loved your mother. We so very much want you to be part of us, to get to know you. Don’t you want to know us?”

  Holly looked into those eyes, shiny with tears, and sighed. “I do, but I don’t know if I can trust you. You don’t know what it was like for us. For most of my life we had next to nothing. We moved around a lot. She never dated, never wore pretty dresses or makeup. She just worked and made me go to school, pushed me to learn.”

  “Did she help you with your gift?” Lee asked.

  “No! She hated it and I was forbidden to speak of it. She wanted me to pretend it didn’t exist. The only time she ever used hers was when I was extremely sick or injured. Never, ever for herself. She worked as a nurse’s aide from time to time but she was always careful not to use it.”

  Em knelt before her cousin and took her hands in her own. “I can feel your pain, Holly. The loneliness and fear, the ache of not belonging, of not having connections with anyone but your mother. You fear that we’ll betray you like you wonder if we did her. A few years ago I had so many doubts about myself too. But you’re strong. A survivor. I can feel that. You’re a Charvez, Holly. And you have a gift for seeing like my grand-mére. Let her teach you how to use your talent, your gift. Let us know you, be your family.” Em looked up at Rhett and Nate. “They love you, they want what’s best for you. We love you and want that too. Won’t you give us a chance?”

  “Let us tell you about yourself. About the family you come from,” Isolde added.

  Holly took a deep breath and looked into Em’s pretty green eyes and nodded. “Okay. Let’s take it slow, but okay. I can only take so much time from work and I’m going to convert, which sounds like vampirism is a religion or something.” She laughed nervously. “I have a lot to figure out, including who wants to kill me and why.”

  “Believe me, we want to know that too. Not just because you’re one of our own, not just because all Charvez women could be in danger. But because if they’re wizards, we need to stop them and as the next in line to run my family, I’m partly responsible for that,” Alex said vehemently.

  Over tea Holly told them everything she remembered about the break-in and Rhett and Nate added their impressions as well.

  “The comment about a Charvez nearly destroying his ‘entire’. His entire what?” Aidan asked as he paced.

 
; “Clearly this wizard has some sort of enmity toward the Charvez witches. And we know of one family who has reason to hold a grudge.” Lee looked at Alex and then back to Holly. “Three and a half years ago the dark wizards in Alex’s familial clan were destroyed by us—the Charvez witches.”

  “My grandfather was executed. Most of them were either killed in the battle that day or were executed later. Of those who still live, I can’t think of anyone powerful enough to set a trap spell so complex that it would have transported two bodies. That’s a very high level spell.”

  Holly picked up a piece of paper and a pen and traced a series of symbols and words and Alex took it from her when she’d finished.

  “Where did you get this?” he exclaimed.

  “I dreamed them.”

  “You dreamed them?” Lee and Isolde burst out, leaning forward.

  Holly nodded. “Is that wrong?”

  Isolde shook her head and patted Holly’s hands. “No, chere, there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s just that dreaming of this type is usually only something the witch dreamer of the line does. But Em, she dreamed of her Con for years.” She looked at Alex. “What are they? What do they mean?”

  “They’re wizard spells. High level wizard spells. A few of the symbols are above my skill level, probably even above my father’s skill level.”

  “How would Holly have seen them then?” Nate asked, drawing lazy circles on Holly’s shoulder with a fingertip.

  Alex sighed. “Well, the way such a spell works is that it would be said over something owned by the men, probably something the wizard gave to them before they went out to Seattle. A pen, a business card in a wallet, sometimes on the skin if the men trusted the wizard that much. It would have been written in the air around them, like a cloak. But humans wouldn’t see it, hell, witches, even seers, shouldn’t be able to see it. I’m not even sure most but the highest level wizards could see it.”

  “So how did I?”

  “That’s the big question, now isn’t it?” Alex mused. “I don’t know. It’s a question of whether you saw it somehow and it niggled at your subconscious and came out as a dream or whether you dreamed it from whole cloth. You didn’t grow up being schooled in magic and we don’t know the full extent of your gift. Perhaps you saw something or heard something when they were tossing your apartment.”

  “Well, if only a few wizards are capable of such magic, can’t you narrow it down?” Holly asked.

  “I’ll work on it. Em is actually the one who would be best at this.” Alex looked at his sister-in-law affectionately.

  “Well, I don’t want to tax her,” Holly said, worry in her voice, and Em laughed.

  “Oh you’re so sweet! Don’t worry, it’s more a matter of hitting some books than anything else. Con watches me like a hawk, he’d never let me endanger our daughter, even if I were silly enough to do such a thing. Which I’m not. I am, however, really pretty good at research.”

  “Really pretty good,” Lee snorted. “Holly, my sister is pretty much the magical historian and research guru. If there’s an answer to be found, she’ll find it.”

  An ache sliced through Holly’s heart when she watched the interplay between the sisters. It was truly wonderful to see but again, the feeling of loss, of envy, hit her hard.

  Em looked at her closely. “We may not have been able to be part of your life when you were growing up, but you’re here now. We’re here now,” she said quietly. “There are more of us. Your other cousin, Simone, is off with her husband right now but she’ll return soon enough. You’ll love her and goodness knows she’ll love you right back. We do have a history together, but there’s a Holly-sized spot right here if you’ll just give us a chance.”

  Rhett tightened his arm around Holly. “Honey, why don’t you rest for a while?” he murmured in her ear.

  “No. I’m fine. Really. I want to hear about my mother. I want to find out who my father was. I want to know about the Charvez witches and I want to learn about my magic.”

  Isolde smiled. “You’re a seer like I am. Oh your grand-mére would have been so proud! I can feel the power around you. I’d love to help you focus and train. It isn’t something you can do overnight. But we’ll do what we can with the time we have.

  “As for the Charvez witches, well, in 1773 your foremother Annalisa saved a goddess from a demon. In gratitude that goddess, Freya, gifted the Charvez women with magical powers and bound us all to protect the innocent in New Orleans by a magical Compact. Each of the girl children is born with a different magical gift. Your cousin Lee is a witch dreamer. I believe you’ve seen some of what she can do in your own dreams. Em and your other cousin Simone are empaths. Your mother was a healer and you and I are seers. We’ve lived here and protected the people in the area from dark magical forces ever since.”

  Holly blinked in amazement at the story. “Wow. That’s some family history.”

  Isolde laughed and nodded. “It is, and we’re proud that you’re a part of it. As for learning about your maman, I’d like to tell you more over your grand-mére’s photo albums and scrapbooks. I have boxes of things that are yours now—boxes of letters she wrote to you and your mother but never got to mail. She’d want you to have them. Speaking of that, your grand-mére had a fairly large estate. It would have gone to your mother but now it’s yours. It’s waiting in an account. Alex is an excellent money manager, he can talk to you about it all.”

  Holly’s face colored. “I would love to see the pictures and learn more but I can’t take something from a woman I never knew. I didn’t come here for that.”

  “Of course you didn’t! None of us thinks otherwise. But the fact remains that you’re hers. You’re ours. And she left you something, left it to your mother and now it’s yours. It gives you a few more choices.” Isolde looked at Alex, who nodded.

  “Shall we go to dinner? Maman is making a huge feast at the big house and the rest of the family has gathered,” Em said, feeling Holly’s discomfort and wanting to give her a break.

  Holly looked to Rhett and Nate, who nodded at her.

  “Okay then, let’s go.” Holly stood and felt bolstered by the men at either side of her.

  “I trust that you’ve both fed?” Aidan said and Holly was relieved that his tone was much calmer and more mellow than it had been the previous evening.

  “Yes, thank you for sending the donors,” Rhett answered.

  “It was my pleasure to help. Lee and Alex are donor enough for me so I don’t need them anymore but I still have quite a few contacts around town.”

  * * * * *

  The ride over to the Garden District had Holly slightly nauseated from nervousness. “What if they don’t like me? What if they’re jerks? God what if they think I only showed up for the money?”

  Nate pulled her into his body and breathed her in. “One, how could they not like you? You’re wonderful and loveable. Two, they want to know you and have made that very clear from the beginning. And three, no one thinks you’re here for the money. You aren’t that way and if you were Em would have known it right away.”

  “You think?”

  “Of course I do. Sweetness, they see you for what you are, a beautiful, wonderful, strong and compassionate woman who is part of them. You’re so brave to do this, I’m proud of you.”

  She squeezed Nate’s hand and he kissed her temple. He and Rhett exchanged a look with Jax in the rearview mirror. They all wanted this to work out for her. She deserved to have a family who loved her as much as they all did.

  She held Rhett’s hand in hers as well and he kissed her knuckles and they both heard her heart beat faster at that touch.

  “Careful,” he murmured.

  “How can you know?” she asked with a bit of annoyance.

  Nate leaned in and spoke in her ear. “We can hear your heart pound when his lips touched you. When you blush so prettily the blood comes to the surface of your skin and warms. You smell delicious. Intoxicating.”

  Rhett’s t
ongue slid between her fingers, bringing a gasp of delight from her lips. Nate watched and got harder. Rhett was just pleased that it was his touch that did it to her.

  “Rhett, we’re nearly there,” Nate warned as he saw the other cars pulling onto a residential street. “Don’t start what you can’t finish.”

  Rhett’s eyes moved up and caught Nate’s. “Oh but I could finish it right now. I could slide my fingers up Holly’s thigh and beneath her panties and her wet pussy would be only too happy to have me there.”

  Both Holly and Nate made a soft sound at the image that brought.

  “We’re here. Do you want me to drive around the block a few more times?” Jax said quietly and Holly let out a strangled laugh. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Jax was around. She was thankful for the darkness in the car to help cover her blush.

  “No. Just park. Thank you, Jax,” Holly said and turned her palm so that she was cupping Rhett’s jaw. “Behave yourself and you just might get lucky later,” she whispered in his ear.

  Rhett grinned and turned to kiss her palm and each man had to adjust himself before they got out of the car.

  Holly stood and stared at the front of the house. It was something special. The lights on inside shone out through the big windows and it looked welcoming. Greenery hanging heavy with flowers edged the large front porch and trailed up the columns that braced the façade.

  The others were waiting for her at the front door and as she walked to catch up with them she saw them all there on the porch. Her family. She stopped dead in her tracks and put her hand to her throat with a gasp.

  Nate leaned in and Rhett looked around for threats. “What is it? Sweetness?”

  Holly looked at the faces there and saw a bit of her mother in every one. Some had the same ebony hair, another had the big, somber blue eyes. Lee’s own smile was a mirror of her mother’s. Her history was there, a genetic map of her blood and her family. Something she’d yearned for her entire existence was right in front of her and it felt so wonderful and overwhelming and sad and awful all at once, she didn’t quite know what to do with all of it.