by Jade Alters
But I haven’t forgotten our purpose in all this. Men are out to hurt Victoria, and they already have.
In the morning, the four of us make a plan for the day while Victoria is getting ready for work. Brendan happens to have the day off, so we decide he’ll take her to work and stick around the store on the lookout for Hardhum or anyone else who might bother her. Meanwhile, the rest of us continue to investigate. Ideally, we would arrest Hardhum, but we don’t have anything arrest-worthy yet. We can’t even definitively prove that he followed Victoria. And we certainly can’t prove he slashed her tires. That crime scene was totally clean. We didn’t find a single print or anything. I’m hoping Darren can find something by looking into the social media hacks and the phone calls though. He hasn’t so far, but keep hope alive, I suppose.
Victoria seems amenable to the plan, and we swing into action with the rest of us going off to work. We drive down to the station and talk about our options for catching the stalkers. Darren thinks we’ll have more luck with the phone numbers, so we focus on that for most of the day.
We do catch a break when Becca faxes us pictures from their surveillance cameras at Baker Books. They’re photos of the men besides Hardhum who were bothering Victoria and she’s able to find a few credit card receipts with names. Two of the men have priors, which is potentially helpful. We strongly suspect they’re connected to the social media hacks, but we can’t prove it.
It’s a long and tedious day that eventually involves combing through IP addresses until I feel like my eyes are going to fall out of my head. Darren even tells me to take some preventative Ibuprofen so I don’t give myself a migraine.
The day is full of too much coffee and not enough food. But when it’s over, we’ve discovered that Victoria actually has seven active stalkers. On the bright side, we have pictures of all of them. On the not so bright side, we don’t have enough to arrest any of them on. We add the pictures to the file on the case to show Victoria later.
By the time we agree to head home, it’s eight at night. We’ve worked hours of overtime. I’m so tired, I’m aching. I’m also super pissed off at these goddamn stalkers. It’s taking every bit of self-control not to round up the guys and haul off to show these assholes what it’s like. We already have a few addresses. But for now, at least, I hold back. I fantasize about shifting and showing them how vicious a fox can be. Our fangs can do a hell of a lot of damage on a fucker who likes to hurt women and make them afraid.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” Mitch says.
We’re all sitting in the dining room, waiting for Brendan to serve the dinner. At least work for Victoria wasn’t so bad according to Brendan. He managed to scare off a couple of guys who turn out to be two of our seven stalkers. And Victoria’s still getting harassing phone calls. But all in all, her day was calm, relatively speaking.
Somehow, Victoria also sold Brendan a huge stack of books that he “absolutely must read.” This doesn’t surprise me at all, though Brendan keeps blushing whenever it comes up.
“Bad news,” Victoria says darkly, before taking a long drink of wine.
“Bad news,” Mitch mutters, exchanging a look with me. “Well, we can’t drum up a real reason to arrest any of the seven stalkers-”
“Seven!” Victoria says, her eyes as big as saucers. “I have seven stalkers?”
“From what we could tell,” Mitch says softly. “Yes.”
Victoria sits back in her chair, resting on the high back. She looks sort of like a queen as she sits there at our big dining room table, sipping her wine. That is, she’s a queen wearing a t-shirt with The Very Hungry Caterpillar on it. Her dark brown hair is pulled in a high ponytail and a rainbow bracelet wrapped around her wrist completes the look. She still looks like a queen to me.
She rubs her eyes and sighs heavily. When she sets her glass down on the table, Brendan hurries over to refill it.
“So what’s the good news?” She says, narrowing her eyes.
“The good news…” Mitch says, smiling tightly. “I guess, the good news is we know who they are.”
“Great.”
“We have pictures!” Darren says brightly. He smiles hopefully at Victoria, and I see the corners of her mouth turn up.
Darren’s cheerfulness can sometimes be infections and maybe that’s all it is, but I can’t help but wonder if something’s happened between them. Not that I’m jealous per se. The very reason I love the idea of the shared fated mate is because none of us feel such jealousy. But if something did happen between them, it could mean that she’s starting to fall for us.
Or maybe she just likes Darren.
I shake my head and gulp down some wine. I shouldn’t even be thinking about such things right now. I’m supposed to be focusing on her case.
“See if you recognize any of these men,” Mitch says. He opens the binder with all the case data we’ve gathered to the section with the stalkers’ pictures and slides it across the table. “Think hard. We’re pretty sure a couple of them have bothered you at work. And Hardhum is in there. Do you know any of them? Could you have gone on a date with one of them? Perhaps that set this whole thing off to begin with? Anything you can tell us would be very useful.”
Victoria takes a deep breath and starts pouring over the pictures. I see her really concentrating and it’s pissing me off again how much she’s had to worry and be afraid. I get up from the table and follow Brendan into the kitchen, shaking out my hands. I see the guys watching me go and Mitch’s voice pipes up in my head.
You okay, man?
Just pissed off about this whole thing. She doesn’t deserve this.
I’m with you.
In the kitchen, Brendan has a beef stroganoff going, but now I see him grab a bottle of wine and take a long swallow of it before handing it over to me.
“I like her,” Brendan says softly. He stirs the stroganoff at little and then just stands there looking sort of sad. “I like having her around. I think she could be good for us, and I think we’re good for her.”
I don’t know what to say to that. I think we’re all getting attached to Victoria very quickly. I sigh and lean up against Brendan, wordlessly giving him my affection.
I can hear Victoria talking from the dining room, and though I can’t tell what she’s saying, she sounds animated, even tearful. Soon enough I don’t have to wonder when Mitch speaks in my head again.
You better get in here, he says. Victoria did some spell and she’s blaming herself for all of this.
My only telepathic response to that is: Whaaaaaat.
“I grabbed the wrong herb!” Victoria says as I walk in. And she’s crying. The sight makes my heart squeeze in my chest. “I was trying to repel unwanted men, and I know I did something that only made it so much worse…” Darren is rubbing her back and handing her a napkin, as tears slide down her lovely face. “And I know that’s the only reason why-”
“Why what?” I say, coming to sit beside her. I squeeze her hand and she rolls her eyes, seemingly at herself, as she squeezes my hand back.
“Nevermind,” she says softly, sniffing and wiping her eyes. “I just know this whole stalker thing is really my fault. And I don’t know how to fix it.”
“We don’t know that at all,” Brendan says firmly, across the table. “This Hardhum was bothering you before you cast the spell, wasn’t he?”
“Well, yes, he was,” Victoria admits. “But the others… I just… Excuse me for a minute, sorry. I just want to go clean up a little before dinner.”
She stands abruptly from the table and all but runs upstairs. I feel awful as I watch her sprint away from us looking so miserable. I have a feeling that she’s embarrassed by her confession. But the truth is, people mess up spells all the time. The four of us do spells on occasion and I know exactly how easy it is to screw up one little thing that turns the spell into something you never wanted at all.
Magic is a very tricky thing.
“Ian,” Mitch says,
slapping me on the back. “Would you go talk to her? Try to make her feel better?”
“I don’t know that I’ll be very helpful,” I say darkly.
“Sure, you will. You always know what to say.”
That takes me aback a little but I heave a sigh and climb the stairs. I find Victoria in her bedroom. The door is open, and I take that as a good sign. I rap on the door and peek inside. Victoria is sitting on her bed, petting her cat, seemingly taking comfort from him. When he sees me though, he runs off. Gus hasn’t quite gotten used to us yet.
“If you want me to go…” I say softly.
“It’s okay,” Victoria murmurs. “I’m just so… I should have told you guys about the spell earlier, and it’s overwhelming with all of you there, I guess. So…”
“Nobody blames you,” I tell her. I stride over to her and take her hand in mine. “Besides, unless you’re an incredibly powerful dark witch, you can’t make anyone do anything against their will. The worst you could do is attack people doing shitty things. But they’re still choosing to do them. Are you an incredibly powerful dark witch?”
“No,” she says, chuckling. “Definitely not.”
“Okay then,” I say, and she manages a smile.
“I’m a little worried that…” Victoria opens and closes her mouth. She seems afraid to say what she wants to say, so I squeeze her hand encouragingly. “I’m just a little worried that the four of you might be taking an interest in me, but that it’s only because of the spell.”
“Does our… interest strike you as anything like the so-called interest coming from your stalkers?” I say, raising an eyebrow. The thought is almost offensive to me. But worse than that, I’d hate her to think that we’re only acting the way we are because of a stupid spell.
“Well, no, but-”
“Victoria.”
She looks up at me and I notice now that her eyes are green but sometimes they look blue.
“We really like you,” I say firmly. “Maybe a little too much. It’s not because of a spell.”
“I like you too.” She swallows and a pretty pink blush blooms across the apples of her cheeks. “I like all of you. Maybe a little too much too.” Her gaze drops to my mouth and I feel like my heart is galloping in my chest. I find myself leaning forward a little, enchanted by Victoria and the scent of her; coconut shampoo, some faint hint of floral perfume, and an attractive kind of humaneness that when mixed with the waves of magic she gives off makes me dizzy with want. “I- I kissed Darren,” she whispers.
It’s not a surprise to me and even now, I search deep within myself, looking for the slightest hint of jealousy and I find… I am only happy for Darren.
“That’s okay,” I tell her. “It pleases me. We all like you, but we’re not competing. We don’t get jealous of each other like that. You can- you can like all of us. If you wanted to, that is.”
“Oh?”
I find myself mesmerized by the slight twitch of her pink mouth, and I don’t know who begins it, but suddenly we’re kissing. I haven’t kissed anyone in a while. Or rather, I haven’t kissed anyone that seemed memorable. I forgot how good it could be, but Victoria is certainly reminding me now as she hums into my mouth, her palms sliding up my arms that I can’t help flexing just a little bit for her benefit. Her mouth is so soft and warm yet more than that, there is an electricity. I feel a kind of buzz all through my body that makes me want more. I feel so desirous of her as her tongue touches mine and she presses up against me, that I have to stop or risk perhaps going too far. I can already feel my cock getting hard in my jeans, and I doubt that’s what Victoria had in mind.
I pull away and Victoria chases my kiss. I feel weak as I let her kiss me again, my arm circling her waist. I want so badly to push her back on the bed and climb on top of her, it’s almost a physical pain inside of me.
“Wait,” I finally say, a little too loudly, breaking away.
“I’m sorry!” Victoria says.
“No, no.” I rub her arm absently. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Don’t be sorry. I just… trust me, that was wonderful I just… I’ll get carried away. I…” I roll my eyes, embarrassed now by what seems like the obvious hard-on bulging beneath my jeans as I sit there on the bed. Victoria’s gaze drops to my crotch and she smiles a little.
“Oh,” she says softly. “I understand."
She pecks me on the cheek and I finally stand up, a bit mortified by my predicament, the woman actually giggles and seeing her in a better mood makes my cock swell even more.
This isn’t going to be easy at all.
Victoria
The night after I kiss Ian, I have the dirtiest dreams I’ve ever had in my life. I dream that I’m sandwiched in bed between Darren and Ian. It’s sort of vague in the way that dreams are, but I know that Brendan and Mitch are in the bed too and all of us are naked. I also know that Ian is pressed against me from behind while Darren kisses me. It all feels so real that when I wake up in the morning, I can still almost feel the sensation of his two thick fingers circling my clit.
I feel delicious in the morning but also… a bit frustrated.
Today, most of us have the day off. Only Brendan doesn’t but he calls out for the day because the guys want to look at this case from the magical end of things now that they know about my spell. They can’t exactly do magic stuff at the police station, and I suppose it helps that I’ve brought a lot of my magic stuff with me in case we do need to cast something.
Because there’s no rush, and because my door is closed, I take a little time with myself in bed. I close my eyes and think of my dream. I think of Darren and Ian’s bodies writhing against mine and Ian pulling me against him as he plunges inside me. I remember the feeling of Darren’s hand sliding down my body before his fingers find their place between my lips. My hand finds its way into my panties and I finger my clit, biting down hard on my lip. Then, I imagine riding Mitch while kissing Brendan as Ian brushes his lips down my neck…
I find myself crying out, losing control just a little bit, and my cheeks are red with embarrassment when I hear a thump in the hall.
What if they heard me?
I’m sure they’d be too chivalrous to say something, and minutes later, when I make my way to the bathroom and pass Mitch in the hall looking red in the face and avoiding my eyes, I’m sure he heard me. Though now instead of embarrassed, I feel just a little bit pleased with myself.
Brendan makes French toast for breakfast, and it’s the best French toast I’ve ever eaten. I’m tempted to ask for a second helping but instead, I just sip my coffee and we talk about books. My ears perk up when I hear Ian and Mitch talking about sniffing around outside.
They just want to know if old Creeper Hardhum has been around. They haven’t seen him, but if he followed me home there’s a slight chance he’s followed me here. The thought is frightening, even if I know I’m safe with them. Being with the Love boys, I don’t really fear for my safety at all.
Later, it’s just Darren, Brendan, and I chatting away at the table while Ian and Mitch poke around outside, sniffing around for clues. I find myself still a little on edge about it, and I can tell Darren and Mitch are trying to distract me.
“Did you know Brendan learned French cooking from Julia Child?” Darren says, grinning at Brendan as he tips backward in his chair.
That makes me laugh. I’m almost certain that’s not true, although considering that all of them are over a century old… who knows?
“It wasn’t Julia Child,” Brendan says, rolling his eyes. I get the sense that this is not the first time Darren has said this. “It was Julian Chevalier. He was a famous chef a long time ago, and I studied under his tutelage-”
“Tutelage,” Darren says, cackling. “It’s like you’re begging me to mock you, man.”
“I didn’t think you needed a reason.”
“I really don’t,” Darren says easily.
“You guys are so cute,” I say laughing. They look almost bashful at that. I thin
k again of us naked together… Mmmm.
They go on like that; bickering and teasing each other in a way that I only find charming. You can tell they have a real affection for one another even if they know how to push each other’s buttons. But when Ian and Mitch return from outside, I can tell the news isn’t great. They’re both sweating and a little breathless. Mitch guzzles a bottle of water as Ian sits down at the table, still panting from running around outside.
“He’s been here,” Ian says flatly. “We smelled him.”
Shit.
“Not only that,” Mitch says behind him. “There’s definitely magic on him. He must be a wizard or something. Didn’t smell like a shifter. Did you sense that, Victoria?”
“No,” I say. Maybe I’m just a shitty witch after all. First, I flub that spell and now I can’t sense magic on this guy? I should be able to. “I tried to sense it, but-”
“Don’t feel bad,” Mitch says firmly. “We’re more sensitive than you are. Actually, we’re more sensitive to it than really powerful magic users when they’re human. He might be trying to mask it too. But there’s definitely magic on him.”
“Can you cast circles of protection?” Ian says, narrowing his eyes at me.
“Yes,” I say, squinting at him. “I actually did one in my room upstairs.”
As I’m saying this, it occurs to me that the circle of protection in my room would definitely be strong enough to prevent Ian from acting if his intentions were powered by the original spell I screwed up. And yet… we did kiss. Hmm. But that’s a thought for later.
