by Lola Kidd
The Witch and the Wolf: The Complete Collection
Lola Kidd
Copyright 2015 by Lola Kidd
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. No part of this work may be copied or reproduced without the express consent of the author.
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Table of Contents
Part One
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Part Two
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Part Three
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
A Very Witchy Wedding
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
A Note from Lola
Other Books by Lola Kidd
Part One
One
“We’re still doing this?” Aurora Silver asked, picking the hundred dollar bill up off the table before grabbing all the empty plates.
“We sure are. And we’re gonna keep doing it until you agree to go out with me,” the dark-haired young man at the table answered.
“I hope you’re a rich man,” she said before walking away. She took the plates into the kitchen so they could be cleaned. Rory checked to make sure she didn’t have any new tables before going to find her mom downstairs. Magda Silver had owned the Silver Café since before Rory was born. Her father had passed the business down to her when he had retired. Magda hoped to one day do the same.
“Those werewolves still here?” Magda asked.
“Yeah. They’re the only customers left and I just bussed most of their table. They’re still nursing cups of coffee and pie, but they’ll be gone soon,” Rory told her mother.
“Good,” Magda said, scowling. “I’d refuse to serve them if I could. Those boys should know not to be coming to a witch establishment.”
Rory sighed as her mother went on about the nerve of the young bikers coming to her café. It was true. Usually, werewolves and vampires avoided anything to do with witches on principle alone. It wasn’t a rule or anything, though. Rory knew for a fact that her mother had vampire friends she called on when she needed information or hard to come by ingredients for a potion. Magda was just being difficult. The boys hadn’t ever caused any trouble when they came to eat. Well, aside from the dark-haired one repeatedly asking Rory out, not that Magda knew anything about that.
It had started two weeks ago. The two friends had been coming to the café for almost six months. Sometimes they brought other wolves with them, but they always were polite and kept to themselves. Rory had noticed them right away, not because they were wolves, though. The dark-haired one was pretty hard to miss. All the ladies in the café liked when he came in. He was tall and muscular and his arms were covered in tattoos. He had the bluest eyes and the biggest dimples when he smiled. With his square jaw and broad shoulders, he looked like he should be on a New York City runway, not in a diner in Cleary, Missouri.
Rory didn’t want to like him, but she just couldn’t help it. He was so polite and handsome. He always thanked her when she took the order for the table and always left her a great tip. Even if he was a werewolf, that didn’t mean she couldn’t admire his beauty from afar. She was only doing what nature intended, she reasoned. Why would a man so attractive be alive if not for women to gawk at? Clearly his beauty was meant to draw women in and make them want to breed with him. It was like Aurora’s large rack and ample bottom, a show of fertility for the opposite sex. At least, that’s what Rory told herself when she fantasized about riding off with the biker on his motorcycle for the nearest motel.
One day when Rory bussed their table after they had left, she noticed he had left a hundred dollar bill on the table. She had rushed outside before he had left.
“Excuse me, sir!” she called, running outside. “You forgot your change!”
He turned his blue eyes on her. “I don’t think I did. I believe you mean your tip.”
“You left me a hundred dollars,” Rory said, dumbfounded. “I know I’m good waitress, but I’m not that good.”
“I think you deserve some compensation for having to put up with us. I get to stare at you while I eat,” he said, straddling his bike. “I think that’s reason enough to give you a great tip. I wouldn’t want my favorite waitress leaving for greener pastures.”
He revved the motor and sped off with his friend before Rory could even answer. She managed to wait until she was back in the diner before she started grinning.
The next night he had left her another hundred and the night after that too. By the fifth night, Rory was starting to get annoyed. It was starting to feel dirty. Did he think she was a prostitute or something? Lots of men hit on her while she was waiting tables, but none of them were leaving her hundred dollar tips.
“You need to stop leaving me these tips. It’s too much,” she told them before taking their plates on the sixth night. As always, the pair were the only customers left in the restaurant.
“Fine,” he said, looking at her. “I’ll stop leaving you obscene tips if you go out with me.”
Rory’s mouth dropped open. “I don’t even know you!”
“I’ve been coming here for more than six months now. I know your name is Aurora Silver and you’re the daughter of the owner. My name is Cross Hemlock and I’m a nice guy who rides a motorcycle.” He smiled at her. “See, now you know me. So what time should I pick you up Friday?”
“Just because you tell me you’re a nice guy doesn’t mean you’re a nice guy,” Rory said. “In fact, whenever a guy says he’s a nice guy, he’s usually the exact opposite.”
“Hey, that’s not fair! Oswald, back me up!” he told his blond-haired friend.
“Leave me out of this,” Ozzy said, putting his hands up. “I only come here for the food. I’m getting banned over your lovesick ass.”
Aurora smiled a little at the lovesick part. “Look, Cross, is it? I’m sure you’re a nice guy and all, but you know very well why I can’t go on a date with you.”
“I know you don’t buy into that whole ‘no mixing’ thing. There hasn’t been a war between wolves and witches in decades. In fact, I’m not even sure my pack has ever had a beef with your clan before. That’s all in the past. You need to live in the present, darlin’.”
It was hard when he turned those baby blues on her, but Rory resisted. “Thanks for the advice, but I’m still going to have to pass. I appreciate the compliment, but please stop leaving me this money.”
“I’ll stop leaving the money when you go on a date with me,” he vowed before leaving for the night. Rory had made $1200 in tips since he had started his dating campaign and it didn’t look like he’d be stopping any time soon.
She had to give him credit. It was a very creative way to start a conversation. There was no way she couldn’t notice the money. She wondered how long it would go on.
At some point, it would begin to get ridiculous. Rory was starting to like the hot wolf. He was brash and wouldn’t take no for an answer. It didn’t seem like that big a deal if they went on one silly date. But she knew what would happen if her mother or the Cleary Coven found out she had gone on a date with a werewolf. Rory shuddered at the thought.
If her mother was bad, the other six members of her coven were worse. Rory wasn’t even a member of the coven, but she was definitely a potential member and all the women had known her since birth. They were more like aunts than family friends. Two were old enough to remember the last time werewolves and witches had fought. The last time, it had been because the wolf pack was running drugs into town. The witches didn’t appreciate it and told the pack that if they didn’t stop, there would be consequences.
The pack had beaten up one of the witches’ husbands pretty badly. At that point, the Cleary Coven didn’t give any warning, but cast a spell that killed the alpha and omega of the pack. The rest of the pack had scattered once their leaders were dead, but the witches had lived in fear the next few years. They were sure that a new pack would show up and would punish them for what they had done. It wasn’t a light thing for a witch to use magic to take a life, but there had been no choice.
That lesson had been passed down to each new member so they understood the full responsibility of being part of the coven. When the Moon Brothers Motorcycle Club had set up shop just outside of town, the coven had been weary. In the twenty years since the bikers had rolled into town, there hadn’t been one incident. Still, the head witch, Elena, and the coven historian, Jamie, were weary of the bikers.
If there were wolves in town, the two women said, trouble was soon to follow. Magda’s distrust didn’t end at wolves. She was mistrustful of any creature of a supernatural leaning. She thought they were all out to get them. Even follow witches if the price was right. There was no way she would ever approve of Rory dating a wolf. Even one as hot as Cross.
“Mom, why did you call me down here?” Rory asked, stopping her mom’s anti-werewolf tirade.
“Oh, I need you to close up the shop yourself tonight. I wouldn’t ask, but Elena called an emergency meeting.”
“Uh-oh. Any idea what it’s about?”
“No clue,” Magda said, shaking her head. “She sounded pretty freaked out on the phone. As soon as you’re done here, I want you to come to her house too. I have a feeling.”
Rory nodded. “I’ll be fine. I’ve been closing the store alone since I was seventeen, Mom.”
“I know you think since you’re 22 that you’re all grown up now,” Magda said, coming around the desk. “But to me you’re always going to be my baby girl.”
Rory made a face as her mom kissed her on the forehead. “Mom! You’re embarrassing me!”
“How can you be embarrassed?! There’s nobody here to see.”
“I can see, Mom. I can see and I am embarrassed for me. Stop being all sentimental and get out of here.”
Magda picked up her purse and keys. “I’ll make sure everyone is out before I go. All you need to do…”
“Is vacuum and take out the trash before locking up. I know, Mom,” Rory said, rolling her eyes. She had been doing this for years. Magda counted down the cash register and locked away all the money before leaving. All Rory had to do was spend ten minutes vacuuming and she was done. She didn’t even know why her mom let her close if that was all it took.
Rory turned on her iPod and pulled out the vacuum after locking her mom out. She sang along to it as she pushed the old machine around the room. She finished quickly and set the trash next to the door. Rory checked the whole room to make sure there were no customers hiding in the bathroom or something and then turned out all the lights. She whistled as she tossed the trash into the giant dumpster out back.
She put on her helmet and got on her moped. It wasn’t the most glamorous vehicle, but it was more than enough in the warm climate. Even in the rain, her moped did its job. Cleary wasn’t so big that she couldn’t easily get from one side of town to the other in less than forty minutes. And that was in traffic. Magda despised the “little scooter” and harped on Rory weekly to just take a car.
Magda had been trying to buy Rory a car since her sixteenth birthday. Even when all of her friends told her she was insane, Rory adamantly refused the gift. She wanted something she could buy with her own money. An avid, frugal shopper, she realized just how much would go into repairing and upkeep on a car. It was way more than she wanted to be spending at that stage in her life. She had instead opted for the nicest moped she could buy and had never regretted the decision.
She turned sharply onto the dirt path on her way home. Elena didn’t live close to the café and Rory didn’t feel like taking the long way around. There was a walking path that ended a few blocks from Elena’s house and cut fifteen minutes off her drive. One of the perks of having a moped. Rory wouldn’t take the path during the day, but she knew there wouldn’t be anyone walking at night.
When she got three-quarters of the way through the woods, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she felt queasy. She was being followed and whoever it was didn’t have good intentions. Rory suspected whoever was following her had something to do with Elena’s urgent meeting.
She was close to the edge of the path. She stepped on the gas and gave it all she had. The end of the path was in her sight when she heard someone running on the path behind her. She turned to look over her shoulder and saw four wolves hot on her heels.
“Fuck,” she cursed, leaning over the handlebars. There was no time to pull out her phone so she said a spell to write on a surface near her mom. “I’m in the woods! Wolves! Help!”
She couldn’t write much more, but she knew her mom would understand. As the fastest wolf snapped at her back tire, she hoped she could hold them off until the coven arrived.
Two
Rory turned her handlebars and put the moped into a sideways slide. She cast a protection spell as she jumped off the moped. There was no way she was going to make it out of the woods before the wolves got to her. Better to get off her wheels before she was knocked off. At least this way she could stand and fight them.
“Is this what you do to all the girls who won’t date you?” she called at the pack. She knew it had to be the Moon Brothers. “You really must not be used to getting rejected. Fine. I’ll go out with you. Just leave me alone!”
Rory was scared and trying to buy time. Yes, she was a witch and knew a few spells and potion recipes, but she wasn’t a full member of the coven yet for a reason. She wasn’t skilled at wielding her powers yet and the results were unpredictable. Most of the spells she had memorized were protection spells and one that changed appearance. While knowing how to cover up a pimple or a bad dye job came in handy most days, they weren’t going to do much for her now. As the wolves closed in on her, she tried to remember any spell for causing harm to an animal.
“Well, if this was all it took to get you to go out with me, I would have gotten here sooner.”
Rory turned to see Cross and Oswald coming up behind her. Oswald’s muscles were already bulging as he prepared for the turn. The wolves in front of her bared their teeth at the new visitors.
“What the fuck?” Rory asked, turning back to the snapping wolves.
“We saw these guys while we were headed home and decided to follow them,” Cross said, his eyes turning golden yellow. “I’m really glad we did.”
He didn’t say more and instead joined his friend in the change. Rory had never seen a turn before and wanted to turn to watch, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the wolves in front of her. She widened her protection spell to Oswald and Cross as they turned. If they really weren’t with the wolves in front of her, she wanted to give them any help she could.
As soon as they were fully in wolf form, the two charged at the attacking wolves. Rory was torn. Her first instinct was to run. She had no business sticking around for a werewolf fight. There wasn�
�t much she could add. On the other hand, she did have her spell to offer and that would only hold if she was close to Oswald and Cross. She wasn’t powerful or skilled enough to keep the spell cast from a safe distance. Plus, whoever the four wolves were, they were there for Aurora, not Cross and Oswald. The two Moon Brothers were fighting to protect her.
The fight got bloody very quickly. Rory was transfixed as the four wolves easily took down Oswald. One wolf kept its mouth around Oswald’s throat as the two that were helping it turned on Cross. She was horrified at how quickly the fight had gone. If the coven didn’t get there soon, the two helpful wolves would be dead. The lead wolf grabbed one of Cross’s legs and shook its head hard. Cross tried to shake him off, but another of the wolves crashed into his side.
Rory could see what was going to happen clearly. The wolf holding Oswald was going to rip out his throat and leave him to die slowly while watching his best friend be torn apart by the four wolves. Rory would scream and run before the four finished Cross off. She would run into the coven just outside the woods. She would beg them to go back and help the Moon Brothers, but the women would insist it was a wolf matter and only her safety mattered to them. Cross and Oswald would die because they were trying to help her.
She saw this so clearly it could only be a premonition. Rory’s chest tightened and tears filled her eyes. She barely knew the wolves, but she couldn’t just watch them die. She could only think of the words for one spell. She closed her eyes, cast it, and prayed to the Goddess to let it work.
“Protect my friends and fell my foes. Goddess protect those who fight in my honor and vanquish those who would do me harm.” Rory spoke the words with confidence and without pause. It was a simple spell, but a very powerful one. Rory felt the energy surge through her body and spread out around her. When she opened her eyes, Cross and Oswald were back in human form, bloodied, but very much alive.
“What the hell did you do?” Cross asked her between breaths.
“I could only remember one spell,” she stammered, surveying the damage. “I’m not even a full witch! I don’t belong to the coven or anything!”
