by Cara Wylde
“Oh yes! Right there… oh my God, don’t stop!”
Skye arched her back painfully, and screamed when her orgasm hit her. The second one was always more intense than the first one, but she hadn’t expected a third when she felt Aiden pour himself inside her. His hot seed coated her walls, and the head of his cock twitched when he released stream after stream.
Aiden fell on top of her, too tired to pull out. He didn’t want to.
Skye wrapped her arms and legs around him and squeezed him against her full, heavy breasts. She felt like she never wanted to let go, and that scared her a bit. All right, it scared her a lot. What was it about this stranger that made her all weak in the knees and mewing like a smitten kitty? Aiden Ashwood… She had just met the guy. Now that she had fucked him and ended her self-imposed four-month abstinence, she should have pushed him away and looked for her clothes. Instead, she felt the powerful need to… cuddle. With a stranger. With a tattooed bad boy who should have been off-limits. He still was, right? She felt too lazy to get up, anyway, so maybe this whole conundrum could wait until morning.
Aiden sighed contently and kissed her neck. The position they were in would soon become uncomfortable, but it felt right. Everything felt terrifyingly right.
***
Aiden cursed under his breath and knocked on the next door. It was a little past noon, he hadn’t had breakfast, and this investigation was leading him nowhere, which made him not want to have lunch either. This was proving to be one of those days. One of those bad, very bad days at the end of which he’d probably end up with a bottle of whiskey in some cheap, run-down bar, wondering if he wasn’t, in fact, one of the worst agents the Arcane Affairs Agency had.
And why was it that bad?
“Well, let’s see,” Aiden murmured while waiting for the human to finish his shower and answer the door. His keen senses told him exactly who was living in the house, how old he was, and what he was doing that it was taking him so long. The old man hadn’t even heard the doorbell. No matter, Aiden had all the time in the world.
“First, I get dumped,” he whispered to himself. “Then, no one in this godforsaken town has any idea what’s happening, or what I’m talking about. I ask them about the animal attacks, and they tell me about some Harriet McBride who killed her husband.” He rubbed his temples and sighed. Something wasn’t right.
The old man finally finished his shower, and Aiden rang the bell again. This time, he knew he had heard it. He leafed through his notes just to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.
“Nope.” He shook his head. “Just random humans abandoning their pets, getting divorced, and killing each other. Well, I’m sorry, but that’s out of my jurisdiction. I only deal with the paranormal, and there’s nothing paranormal about people hating each other’s guts.”
The old man opened the door, and Aiden tried to smile pleasantly.
“Hello, I’m sorry to bother you.” He flashed the fake FBI ID he used when dealing with humans. If he ever had to identify himself to a shifter, witch, vampire, or fae, he took out the other badge, the real one, which said Aiden Ashwood, Arcane Affairs Agency Agent.
“Not at all. How may I help you?”
Aiden went through his usual questions. Yes, the old man had heard about the animal attacks, as had most of the townspeople, but didn’t find anything suspicious about them.
“There are all sorts of wild animals in these woods,” he said, motioning to the Great Smoky Mountains, which surrounded Misty Falls. “Things like these happen sometimes.”
“There were three incidents in a short period of time,” insisted Aiden. “The past two weeks… Doesn’t it seem strange to you?”
The old man thought for a moment, then shook his head and shrugged.
“Bears, wolves… who knows what’s got into them?”
Aiden sighed, but did his best to hide his exasperation. When he asked if there was anyone new in town, anyone who caused any trouble or simply seemed out of place, the old man shook his head again, then chuckled.
“My dear boy, the only ones who cause any trouble in this small town of ours are the Watson girls.” He pointed to the house across the road. “Don’t get me wrong, they’re young, smart, adorable, and all… Everyone loves them to bits, but they can make so much noise when their parents are away on their business trips… I don’t even know what they’re doing. They throw parties, I guess. All I know is that fireworks, loud, psychedelic music, and weird noises come from their backyard. Sometimes they keep us, neighbors, up all night.”
Aiden’s heart sank when he heard the name. Watson. Could it be that one of the Watson girls the old man was talking about was Skye? His Skye… the Skye who had refused to take a shower with him in the morning so she could sneak out of the hotel room and disappear forever… He didn’t know if what he was feeling was anger, or excitement that he might find her again.
“Fireworks, you say…”
“Yes!” Then, he seemed a bit unsure, and added: “Actually, I don’t know if they’re fireworks. Fireworks should be louder and brighter, right?” He was talking more to himself than to Aiden. “Sparks of light, maybe? And in so many different colors… I swear I’ve seen colors I can’t even describe coming out of their backyard, or shining in their windows.”
Aiden turned back to the old man.
“Colors you can’t describe…”
The man smiled and shrugged. He was aware that it sounded silly.
“What do I know?”
Aiden wrote something down in his notebook and thanked him for his cooperation. Finally, he had something to work with, granted he didn’t like the perspectives it opened. The little information he got from the old man led to one conclusion alone: witches. Usually, humans who came in contact with a witch and her spells ended up confused and didn’t know how to describe what they witnessed.
He crossed the street and rang the bell. He truly didn’t like where this was going. While he waited, he made a quick phone call to check if anyone named Watson from Misty Falls, Tennessee was registered as a witch. Sometimes it happened that paranormals weren’t registered for various reasons. One of them was that the paranormal in question had no idea who she or he truly was. Some genes could skip one or more generations, and that could make things complicated, especially for the Agency. As he had feared, no one under the name Watson appeared in the records. Great! As if it weren’t enough that where there were witches, there was always trouble. There would be even more trouble if one of the Watson girls was Skye, and if Skye was…
Aiden couldn’t finish his thought. The door opened, and he was face to face with the woman who had stolen his heart the night before and ran away with it in the morning.
“Hi again,” he greeted her.
“You!”
The look on her face was adorable. Then and there, Aiden decided he couldn’t stay mad at her. Yes, she was the first woman ever who had dumped him so mercilessly, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Maybe she had her reasons.
“How did you find me?” she asked, then she covered her mouth with both hands. “Oh my God! You followed me! What sort of freak are you? Can’t you take a hint?”
That hurt more than Aiden’s wounded pride. He cleared his throat and took out the fake FBI badge.
“Miss Watson, I’m here to investigate the recent animal attacks.”
She took the badge and studied it carefully, even though she had no idea what to look for. Mainly, she just stared at his handsome face.
“What animal attacks?”
“There were three in the past two weeks…”
“Oh, they’re normal around here. I don’t see why the FBI would ever get involved in something so trivial.”
Aiden looked over her shoulder.
“May I step inside for a minute?”
Skye gave him back his badge and crossed her arms over her generous chest. She had caught him staring at her rather deep cleavage. After all, he was exactly that type of guy.
“If you have any questions, I think you can ask them here.”
Aiden sighed, but didn’t insist. Apparently, Skye knew her rights. He went through the usual questions for the hundredth time that day, but what he really wanted to ask her was completely different from what he had asked the other people he had interviewed. He even ended up asking her about the abandoned pets and Harriet McBride, in a desperate attempt to reach the subject he was actually interested in. If this young woman was a witch, or if someone else in the household was, then how much did she know about the paranormal world? He had to tread carefully. She could very well be unaware of the existence of other paranormal creatures, or even other witches. Eventually, there was no other way but to simply take a deep breath and ask in the most casual tone he could muster.
“Tell me, Miss Watson, do you believe in the existence of paranormal creatures?”
Skye cocked an eyebrow. “Are you messing with me, Mr. Ashwood? I must say, that’s not very professional of you.”
It was weird to address each other with Miss and Mr., but Skye was determined to make him understand she wanted him to keep his distance, and Aiden wasn’t about to show her just how much she already meant to him. It would’ve been odd, anyway, after a no-strings-attached one-night stand. His wolf had some pride left.
“I’m being very serious, Miss Watson.”
She studied him for a long moment.
“What do you mean by paranormal creatures?”
“You know, the ones you’ve read about in fairy tales and the like,” Aiden said casually. “Werewolves, vampires, witches…”
Skye’s heart jumped when she heard the word “witches”. She moved her weight from one foot to the other, bit the inside of her cheek, but the right answer still didn’t come to her.
“Do you?” she asked.
Aiden understood that if he wanted her to admit to anything, if there was anything to admit to, he had to be the first one to open up. He noticed how she didn’t react to the words “werewolves” and “vampires”, but how her jaw clenched almost imperceptibly to “witches”.
“I do, in fact. Very often, the FBI works with gifted people. Especially witches…” He searched her face for a reaction. “They help us solve the more complicated cases. When we reach a dead end, we turn to the psychics, empaths, and witches we know, and they always find a new lead.”
“I see…”
Aiden had to push a bit further to get results.
“I have reasons to believe a witch, if not more, is involved in the strange things happening in your town. So, if you know anything, if you have any information you think might be helpful, I would truly appreciate it.”
Skye thought long and hard for a few minutes. At some point, she was surprised Aiden was still there, on her doorstep, waiting for her to say something. She sighed. Unfortunately, Nina had been right. What they had done two weeks before had, indeed, triggered some sort of chain of events in Misty Falls. It was probably really bad, too, seeing how the FBI was investigating, and the agent assigned to the case had already come to the conclusion that witches might be involved. She couldn’t believe she had had sex with an FBI agent! What were the odds? He didn’t look like one, that was for sure.
“Skye?”
The sound of her name coming from his sinful lips snapped her out of her trance. She wanted to correct him and insist she was Miss Watson to him, but there were more pressing matters to take care of. She couldn’t possibly tell him that her foster sister, Nina, was the witch he was looking for. That would mean putting the person she cared about the most in danger. Who knew what Aiden Ashwood wanted with her, after all? Then again, she couldn’t lie and send him on his way as if nothing had happened. If these animal attacks he was talking about did have something to do with Nina and her special skills, then Skye had to know. What to do? What to do?
Aiden closed his notebook and put it back into his back pocket, signaling that he was pretty much done there.
“I understand,” he said. “You don’t believe in paranormal creatures.” He made to leave.
“Wait.”
Skye took a step towards him, her hand reaching out. She stopped herself in time, before she grabbed his arm.
“I… I do believe in witches.”
Aiden’s eyes grew wide. “You do?”
“Yes, I… I am one.”
CHAPTER TWO
Nina jumped off the chair and started pacing the room.
“What were you thinking?” she almost yelled. “Why would you do something like this?”
“Shh… You don’t want Mom to hear you.”
The redhead crossed her arms and gave Skye the deadliest glare she could muster.
“You should have told him the truth,” she said in a lower voice.
“I don’t trust him.”
“He’s an FBI agent, Skye!”
“He’s the dude I shagged last night!”
Nina huffed and rolled her eyes. She knew everything about what had happened the night before between her sister and Aiden Ashwood. Skye had come home early in the morning, taken a quick shower, then told her everything in great detail, as both of them always did when a guy was involved. Only after that had Skye gone to sleep for a few hours.
“As usual, you choose the worst men.”
“I couldn’t resist!”
“You did make a promise, you know.”
“A one-night stand never hurt anyone.”
“Well, it hurts us now. Big time.”
“How was I supposed to know he’s an FBI agent?”
“Err… have you thought to ask what he did for a living? Get to know him a bit before losing your clothes?”
It was Skye’s turn to roll her eyes. “You don’t care about these things if it’s a one-night stand. Learn the rules, will you?”
Nina didn’t continue the argument. It was useless. Also, absolutely irrelevant. She paced their bedroom for a couple more minutes, then ran her hands through her long, red hair, and sat down next to Skye.
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
Skye started rubbing her back soothingly.
“I know. There’s still a chance it has nothing to do with us.”
“With me, not with us. You didn’t do anything.”
“I’m the witch’s assistant, and pretty proud of my job, okay?”
Nina sighed. “I dragged you into this whole mess.”
“It’s not a mess, you’ll see. Aiden is investigating the animal attacks, and we both know those are something else. So far, we know that what we did might have affected the people around us.”
“But not the wild animals…?”
“It wouldn’t make sense. You should know better than me.”
“You’re right…”
But Nina was not convinced. She was a young, inexperienced witch. What did she know? She discovered her powers around the time when she turned 12, and since then she had been testing them, experimenting with various small spells, and studying all the witchcraft books she could find at the local library. It wasn’t easy. She was a natural, she knew that. The magic ran through her veins. She could feel it coursing through her body like a soft, pleasant buzz. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t ignore it. It was there, and she constantly felt the powerful need to use it. She might have inherited the gift from her parents, or maybe only from her mother. That, she couldn’t know. Her real parents had abandoned her right after she was born, and she was lucky enough to be immediately adopted by the Watsons, who already had a daughter. The age difference between Nina and Skye was of only a couple of months. When Nina understood she was a witch, Skye was a bit jealous of her and her powers. Then, she saw how much fun they could have together, and Skye turned into her number one supporter. They cared about each other too much, anyway, so they couldn’t let something like this ruin their unique friendship.
“I’m so stupid,” continued Nina. “I should have thought about it, taken more time to study the ritual. Of course these thi
ngs are dangerous!”
“You took all the precautions you could,” Skye reassured her. “I was there. You did everything right, just like the book said.”
“Clearly, that’s not true. I missed something.”
They were silent for a few minutes. Skye was trying to come up with the right thing to say to calm her sister down. When one of her spells went wrong, Nina could be depressed for days, even weeks. This was too important to her, too close to who she really was. She couldn’t be relaxed about it, and all the talk about how failures were just part of the process didn’t work in her case. Every time she opened her Spell Book, too much was at stake.
“If only I had someone to learn from…” Nina whispered.
Skye heard the hurt in her voice, but that wasn’t all. There was also anger. And bitter disappointment.
“If only my parents had stuck around for a bit, you know? Or, or… left me at the orphanage with a letter explaining who I was and what I had to do to make things right, to use my gift for good.” She turned to her sister and fixed her with teary eyes. “I have this thing inside me, Skye, and I need to use it. I know I can make a difference, I know I can help people. I just have to learn how. But how do I learn when there’s no one here to guide me? What’s happening now in Misty Falls… It’s all my fault. I… I can be dangerous.” Unable to hold back anymore, she burst out in tears. “I don’t want to be dangerous!”
Skye took her in her arms and held her tightly.
“Shh… you’re not dangerous. You’re a good witch, Nina. My good witch. You’d never hurt anyone.”
“I wouldn’t,” Nina whispered in Skye’s already wet blouse. “But now you’re in danger because of me. Because you want to protect me.”
