by R. E. Butler
“I’ll get your cat,” Rezik said. “I can fly there and back.”
“Where are we exactly?” Hadlee asked.
“Cygnet Island,” Rezik said. “Where was your cat in the medical center and what did he look like?”
She explained where Osiris had been and his coloring. “But he might have escaped to come look for me. We’re very connected as master and familiar.”
“I’ll do my best,” Rezik said.
“Wait, I have his collar GPS on an app on my phone, you can find him more easily that way.” She reached for her phone in her back pocket, but it wasn’t there.
“Here,” Phoenix said, handing her phone to her. She unlocked it and then opened the cat finder app. “It looks like he’s still at the vet’s office. Take my phone, the code is 2233.”
“I’ll return as quickly as I can,” Rezik said. He raced from the cell.
“He’s special to you,” Westlan said.
“Who, Rezik?”
“No, Anders.” He gestured with his chin toward the male at her side. “You haven’t stopped touching him since you woke up.”
She looked at him more fully. “He’s my mate. I’m pissed as hell at being drugged and kidnapped, but I’m not sorry to be here with him right now. I’ll just get back at you another time.”
Phoenix put his hand up. “We can talk about getting us back later when Anders is healed. For now, go get the items on her list . And hurry.”
Westlan ran from the room, leaving her and Phoenix with Anders. “I’m not going to apologize for bringing you here.”
She glanced at him. He looked defiant but also tired and anxious.
“I didn’t ask you to. I’ll do my best to help him. It would be helpful if you’d let me call my friends. They could come here and help me heal him.”
“We’re hours from land.”
“Then how can Westlan get Osiris?”
“He’ll fly. He’ll fly in his bird form there, and then just keep his wings for the flight back so he can carry your cat. He won’t be able to fly as fast with only his wings, but a hell of a lot faster than if he was going by boat. He’s one of our fastest fliers and I trust him with my life.”
“Can I call my friends? They’ll be worried.”
“When Anders is healed.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to call for help. I want to heal him. It would just be nice if you let me call my friends so they don’t panic when they can’t find me.”
“When he’s better,” Phoenix insisted.
She looked down at Anders and then leaned over and put her ear over his heart. The connection—skin to skin—made erotic thoughts spring to mind, but she pushed them aside and focused on his breathing and heartbeat. He wasn’t any better, but he wasn’t any worse, so the little bit of healing power she’d pushed into him had at least stopped the spread of the spell.
When Westlan appeared a few minutes later with the ingredients, she said, “I’ll get started without Osiris because I think time is of the essence. Then after I heal him, you’ll let me call my friends?”
“Yes,” Phoenix said.
“Good.” She cracked her knuckles, rolled her neck, and focused her attention on the items for the spell. Even if Osiris wasn’t with her, she could still do this spell.
It had to work. There wasn’t any other option.
Chapter Five
Anders woke slowly, panic filling him for a brief moment. The panic quickly ebbed and he relaxed into the cushiony softness of the mattress under him. He smelled wildflowers and felt fully at peace.
Opening his eyes, he stared at the rock ceiling and realized he was in one of the cells in the basement of the mansion.
And a female was lying on top of him, her upper body over his, her hands under her cheek as she rested on his chest.
She was gorgeous. Golden hair, pink cheeks, a cute button nose.
And damn did she smell good.
His falcon called in his head and he laid his hand on her neck, his thumb finding her steady pulse. He knew the moment he touched her that she was his mate. The one female on the planet meant for him.
“Meow.”
He turned his head slowly and found himself staring into the yellow eyes of a solid black cat. The cat yawned, its whiskers twitching with the motion.
“Hello,” he said. Then felt like an idiot for talking to a cat.
“Anders! You’re awake!” Phoenix rushed into the cell, dropping to his knees on the hard floor. “Thank the great falcon.”
“What happened?” Anders asked. “The last thing I remember is being on the hunt and then...nothing.”
Phoenix told Anders what he’d witnessed. Considering that he fell from a great height in his human form, he was glad he didn’t remember any of it.
“And the female?” he asked, looking at her sleeping deeply and comfortably on him.
“We...” Phoenix cleared his throat. “Her name is Hadlee, her cat familiar is Osiris. The cat scratched the hell out of Rezik when he brought him here. It was really quite funny. But I abducted her. I found an animal clinic and she was inside. I drugged her and brought her here to save you. Westlan couldn’t figure out what was wrong with you, we just knew that you were dying.”
“You abducted her? Drugged her?” Anders was getting pissed. “Did you hurt her?”
“What? No! Of course not.”
“Then why is she passed out on me?”
“She’s a witch. She used her magic to heal you. She said someone had cast a spell to kill you and she was able to reverse it, but it knocked her out. She’s been asleep for a few hours. The last thing she said before she passed out was that you were safe and I had to keep watch over you until she woke up.”
Anders brushed the hair from her face. “Protective of me already, beauty?”
“Protective and bossy,” Phoenix said. “She’ll be an excellent queen.”
“First things first,” Anders said. “We need to figure out who in the hell would cast a spell on me to kill me, and then I’ll deal with wooing my mate and making her our queen.”
Well, if he had his way, he’d get to know Hadlee first and thank her for saving his life. But for now, if someone was trying to kill him and they hadn’t succeeded, then his life was still in danger.
And potentially Hadlee’s too.
He wasn’t about to let anything happen to her. “Get me some clothes and let’s get to work.”
* * *
Note to self: Using too much power to counteract a dangerous killing spell is one way to wind up with a serious power hangover.
Hadlee pressed her hand to her forehead with a groan. She felt like she’d been plugged into an outlet and drained of every ounce of energy she had.
She’d never come up against a curse like the one that plagued Anders. She was fairly sure she wouldn’t have felt so drained if she’d had her friends with her. Witches’ power pooled together was always better than a single witch doing things on her own. Even with her beloved familiar next to her. The power had drained from her as she’d fought to clear out the curse and reverse the effects that had been rotting Anders from the inside. Once she was in the midst of the cleanse, she’d seen how close to death he actually was. It had been heartbreaking.
While she was still pissed that she’d been abducted instead of just asked to help like a normal human being, she was more upset that someone had tried to take Anders out of the way with something so painful and awful.
If she hadn’t been kidnapped, she likely would never have met him. Not only was Cygnet Island far from Sable Cove, but he would’ve died last night.
Forcing her eyes open, she breathed out a sigh of relief that the headache was easing away on its own. She was fairly sure she didn’t have any power available to her to complete even the simplest of healing spells, but her natural healing abilities as a witch would do the trick and restore her power and get rid of the aches.
Who knew that saving someone’s life would make her feel like she went a
few rounds with a prizefighter?
She sat up with a start, realizing that she was no longer in the cell she’d originally woken up in, but was on a huge four-poster bed in a large room.
Osiris meowed at her, and she looked over to where he was sunning himself on a terrace. French doors were wide open, letting in the fall sunshine and fresh air tinged with salt.
“So where’s Hotty McSexyPants?” she asked.
“Who?” a male voice said.
Turning in surprise, she winced at a headache that bloomed for a brief moment. There he was. In all his sexy glory.
Damn, no male had any right to look as good as Anders did.
Tall, broad-shouldered, muscular with a trim waist. Dark hair and a brooding pair of dark eyes, sexy stubble.
Holy moly, she was using the word sexy far too much.
Her cheeks heated and she cleared her throat. “So I did a good job of healing you.”
“You did,” he said, striding into the room. He was wearing black slacks and shoes, and a mint-colored button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He looked mouthwateringly good.
She was still wearing her grubby clothes which she’d picked because she’d been cleaning before she was kidnapped.
He extended his hand to her as he sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m Anders, king of the falcons of Cygnet Island. Thank you for saving my life.”
A jolt of electricity shot up her arm as their hands met. There was no doubt that she was in the presence of her mate. She wondered if he realized the truth.
“You’re welcome. Although, we need to talk about your people’s idea of asking for help.” She gave him a wry smile.
“I’m sorry about that too.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Their hearts were in the right place, if not their chivalrous attitudes.”
“Well, to be fair, if they’d asked, I probably would’ve said no and run away screaming. But it would’ve been nice to be asked first.”
“I promise the next time they abduct someone on my behalf that they’ll ask first.” He smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Her stomach flipped at how sexy he was.
His eyes darkened slightly as his nostrils flared.
Oh hell, could he smell that she was thinking sexy thoughts?
Clearing her throat, she banished the wayward thoughts from her head and said, “I think Phoenix said I could call my friends after I healed you. I’m pretty sure they’re worried sick.”
“Of course.” He pulled her phone from his back pocket and handed it to her. “Are you hungry? I fed Osiris some fish. Phoenix went fishing and the cook made it up special for him.”
She looked past him to her cat lying on his back, kneading the air with his paws, looking fully satisfied. “You did?”
“Well, I know that without him, you might not have been able to heal me, so I thought he deserved a good meal.”
“That’s very sweet. And I could eat. After I call my friends.” He started to get up as she turned on her phone, and she grabbed his arm. “Not fish.”
He smiled. “Got it.”
He left her alone in the room, and she looked down at her phone as it began to vibrate with all the notifications.
Holy hells bells, her friends had been calling her nonstop since last night. She swiped up to get Delaney’s number and called her first.
“Oh my gosh!” Delaney shouted, loud enough that Hadlee had to pull the phone away to preserve her eardrum. “Where are you? Are you okay? What the hades happened, woman?”
“I’m... well, first I’m fine, okay? I just woke up. Is Kinsley there?”
“Yeah, hold on, lemme put you on speaker.” There was a crackle and then Kinsley said, “Holy crap! Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick! And did you know someone stole one of the patrol boats? We did a finding spell to try to find you, but it only took us to the marina at the lighthouse.”
She gave her besties a quick workup of what she knew. There were a lot of holes in her knowledge, though, and she just hoped that Anders knew who tried to kill him so he’d be safe from now on.
There was silence on the other end of the phone. “Are you guys there?”
“Yeah, sorry,” Kinsley said. “That’s incredible. You’re telling us that you found your forever guy because his people thought you were a vet?”
“Pretty much.”
“That’s not super romantic,” Delaney said.
Hadlee snorted. “Sorry I couldn’t dance around Anders for six months and wait for him to ask me out, like someone I know.”
“Hey!” Delaney said. “Don’t lob facts about my life at me like bombs.”
With a giggle, Hadlee said, “Sorry. No wait, I’m totally not.”
“Burn!” Kinsley said, cackling with glee.
Delaney grunted. “I was just saying that there’s so much that could’ve gone wrong with the whole scenario. You and Anders are very lucky.”
“True. But it’s a heck of a meet-cute story,” Hadlee said.
“Good point,” Kinsley said. “Lack of romance aside, are you sure you’re okay?”
“Positive.”
“And where are you exactly? I’ve never heard of Cygnet Island.”
“I’m not sure.” Hadlee climbed from the bed and walked to the open French doors, stepping over Osiris and leaning against the balcony. She sucked in a breath at how beautiful it was. A deep green grassy yard stretched out before her, dotted with flower beds and gardens, small flowering trees, and statues of falcons. The yard ended at a low wrought iron fence, and beyond she could see a stretch of sandy beach and then blue water glistening in the sunlight.
“You’re wondering how far you are from home?” Anders asked behind her.
She jumped and nearly dropped her phone off the balcony. “Crap, you scared me,” she said, turning to face him.
“Sorry.” He gave her one of his devastating smiles.
She hummed. “Yeah, so where are we?”
“We’re about two hours away from Sable Cove by boat.”
“Could you fly me there?”
She was genuinely curious about his wings. She’d never met a bird shifter before. In Sable Cove there was a merman, a selkie, and a set of timber wolf siblings, but that was about it for shifters.
“No. I would if I could, but I could only carry a person a short distance.”
She relayed her location—about two hours by boat away from Sable Cove—to her besties.
“Cassian is pissed about the boat,” Delaney said, “but we’ll tell him what happened, and so long as it gets back to him in one piece, I’m sure he’ll get over it.”
“Okay. I don’t know how long it will be until I can get back to town. We’ve got some things to deal with first.”
“Like how you’re going to be queen?” Kinsley asked.
Hadlee glanced at Anders and his brow was quirked, his dark eyes dancing. “Something like that.”
“Next weekend,” he said softly. “If they can spare you for the week.”
“We’ll be back on Saturday,” she said. “I’ll keep you posted on what’s happening.”
“Please do,” Delaney said. “Be safe and be careful.”
“Will do.”
The trio said goodbye and Delaney ended the call.
“I hope they’re not angry about you being brought here the way you were,” he said.
“They’re just glad everything worked out in the end.”
He offered her his arm and said, “Let’s go to the kitchen for breakfast. I was going to bring back a tray for us, but my mom insisted on meeting you, so we’re having a meal with her.”
“Wait, there’s just one thing.”
He turned to face her, taking both her hands in his. “Yes?”
“Are you...do you...” She cleared her throat, her cheeks heating. She was so not the sort of blunt girl who just said what was on her mind. Except with her besties, and then all bets were off.
He released one of her hands and
cupped her face. His eyes slowly turned from dark brown to a whisky gold. “When I woke this morning, I knew two things: that my life was spared and you’re my mate. Falcons call it finding their home.”
“Aw,” Hadlee said. “That’s so sweet.”
“Well, it’s true. You’re my mate, and that means wherever you are is home for me. Do witches have a special name for mates?”
“No. Now I kind of wish we did.”
He leaned in, his lips almost touching hers. “Hadlee?”
“Yes?”
“Can I kiss you?”
“One thousand percent yes.”
Chapter Six
Anders could’ve kissed Hadlee all day and been perfectly content. But then her stomach growled, and they broke from the perfect first kiss, each of them smiling and laughing.
“I guess my stomach decided to ruin the moment,” she said.
“No worries. We’ll have more moments.”
“Sure, and you can also actually ask me to be your mate and not just declare it like a caveman.”
He loved her spunk. She was feisty and not afraid to say what was on her mind.
“If I was a caveman, I’d throw you on the bed and see how many times I could make you scream my name.”
Her mouth fell open.
He grinned. Making her speechless was his new favorite thing.
Taking her hand, he said, “Let’s go get breakfast. I promise to be very gentlemanly and proper and ask you to be mine the right way. I’m king, after all.”
She gave his hand a squeeze, then called for her cat. He rolled to his paws and stretched, his tail swishing back and forth.
“I’ve never met anyone who was royalty.”
“I’ve never met a witch. Cygnet Island is all falcon. It was founded by my great-grandfather.”
“That’s pretty cool. So you’ve lived here your whole life?”
“Yep.” He led the way from the master suite to the hall. “We go to the mainland for quarterly hunts.”
She stopped walking and he turned to face her.
“We need to talk about what happened to you.” Her eyes grew steely with determination and a muscle in her jaw jumped.
