Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Witch’s Potion
Laura Greenwood
Contents
Witch’s Potion
Copyright
A Note on Language
Blurb
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
About Laura Greenwood
Witch’s Potion
Thornheart Coven #1
Laura Greenwood
© 2017 Laura Greenwood
All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise – without prior written permission of the published, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address; [email protected].
Cover Design by: Arizona Tape – ArizonaTypeDesigns
Visit Laura Greenwood’s website at:
www.authorlauragreenwood.co.uk
www.facebook.com/authorlauragreenwood/
Witch’s Potion is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
A Note on Language
Please note that the author of this book is from the UK, and as such, spellings and some turns of phrase will appear in British English.
To the Flock Readers, because you’re flocking awesome...can I say that? Well too late. (And pipe down Flock Authors, I’ll get to you later in the series!) Love you all! <3
Blurb
What if you used a love potion, then met the love of your life?
Mia has been lusting after her next door neighbour, Skyler, for months, and has finally decided to do something about it. But when Felix, the best man at her sister's wedding, shows up, she realises it might not be Skyler she wants after all. With a love potion in the mix, and her sister’s insistence on marrying the wrong man, doesn’t Mia have enough to worry about?
Witch’s Potion is book 1 of the Thornheart Coven series and has a standalone couple.
Chapter One
The invitation stared at Amelia from where it was pinned to the fridge with a novelty magnet. She hated it already, and it’d only arrived a few weeks ago. A bit late for a wedding invite, but then that was just what her older sister, Rebecca, was like. She was getting married and Mia’s gut was telling her it was a bad idea. It wasn’t even that Mia thought Robert was a bad person, though he had his moments, it was more that she didn’t think he was right for Bex.
But that wasn’t even the worst bit. The worst bit was that she didn’t have a date. And the wedding was tomorrow. She’d have to endure the entire thing while being asked when it was going to be her turn, and being told that she’d have to find a man of her own. And that didn’t sound fun. So she’d come up with a solution. Not a very good one necessarily, but a solution all the same.
Pulling her Grandma’s old potion book from the shelf, she flicked to the page she’d earmarked years ago, but promised herself she’d never use. There, in her Grandma’s elegant script, were the instructions for making a love potion. One so strong, that a single drop would have the other person head over heels in an instant. She’d had all of the ingredients ready for weeks, ever since she’d first considered using it. She even had an item that the man in question loved. Well, kind of. She had petals from one of his flowers, and as a proud gardener, her neighbour Skyler definitely loved his plants. Or at least she hoped so.
Mia chewed on her lower lip, unsure about whether or not to go ahead with her plan, but the moment an errant thought about how her cousins would react when she turned up alone again, she made up her mind. They wouldn’t be purposefully cruel, but with Luke recently mating with a tiger shifter, there was next to no chance that she’d get away unscathed.
With a glance at her cauldron, she scooped up the book and the ingredients that she needed, before making her way over to the low table she kept next to her open fireplace. Maybe it was stereotypical for her to have a cauldron in her kitchen, but she wasn’t all that good at actual magic. Potions were definitely her specialty, and for that reason, she’d required her house had an open fireplace. It wasn’t just potions she was good at either, it was anything that involved mixing things up. She worked at a chemist, making medicines from plants. She wasn’t the only paranormal to work there either, though she hadn’t let on that she knew one of the other scientists was more than just a human, it wasn’t her place to.
She concentrated on her hands, picturing the flames in the grate. She may not be good at magic, but she could at least do the basics like this. They sprung to life, licking the bottom of her cauldron as they heated the water that she’d left in it overnight. She turned her attention away, reading through the instructions again to make sure she knew what she was actually doing, and then picked up the first ingredient. She worked through the instructions one by one, double checking to make sure she was doing it right. She probably didn’t need to do that, she was a natural after all, but it reassured her knowing that she was following her Grandma’s instructions to the letter. This wasn’t something she wanted to get wrong, not when she was going to give it to someone she was pretty sure was human. There was a chance of it going really badly, Faye had once managed to turn her best friend into a toad when they were younger. Luckily Reese was a shifter, so knew about them anyway, and he’d understood in the end, but it still didn’t go down all that well.
After completing the final step, and scattering the flower petals into the potion, it turned a light glittering blue, which presented a problem that Mia hadn’t really considered, how on earth was she going to get Skyler to drink it when it didn’t look at all drinkable. Sighing, she waved her hand in the direction of her kettle, hoping that her magic would behave and just turn it on. The tell tale sound of boiling water relaxed her slightly, and she went back to her plan.
It was quarter to seven and Skyler would be out in his garden for the next half an hour or so, and with the air rapidly cooling, despite it being summer, it would be the perfect time to offer him a coffee. All she needed was a drop of the potion anyway, and it was supposed to be sweet, so slipping it in would just replace the sugar he normally had. Mia smiled to herself. The plan was foolproof, and something even she could be proud of.
She poured the water into two mugs, adding coffee to his and tea to hers, before leaving them to brew. Now all she had to
do was work out how to get the potion into the coffee without creating too much of a mess. Inspiration struck, and she pulled a shot glass out of her cupboard, almost skipping over to the cauldron in her excitement. She dipped the glass into the blue liquid, filling it to the top, and carefully walked back over the the drinks. With as steady a hand as she could manage, she tipped a few drops into the coffee, and watched as it swirled through as it mixed in.
Trying not to burn herself, she picked it up and pushed through the door that led outside, and to the fence between her and Skyler’s properties.
“Hi Mia,” he said as he spotted her. He stood up straight and wiped the sweat from his brow, making Mia salivate, he looked particularly yummy like this.
“Hi, I was making a brew, and thought you might like one. Dark and sweet, just how you like it.” Just like she was. She didn’t add that, even though she wanted to.
“Thank you,” he said. Their fingers brushed as he took the mug from her, and she made sparks ignite on her fingertips. She’d heard that that was what happened when witches met their one true love. Or mate, or whatever the hell it was called for them. For some odd reason no one ever seemed to actually know what it was called. But she wanted it to happen, and maybe if she sparked it off, then something would take. Unfortunately, all she got from Skyler was a bland smile...though that would all change once he’d drunk his coffee.
Chapter Two
Felix woke early, as he should on the day of his best friend’s wedding. It wasn’t every day that the notorious player he’d gone to school with got married. Truth be told, he felt kind of sorry for Robert’s fiancée. Rebecca seemed like a genuinely good person, and she was shackling herself to someone with questionable morals. Felix didn’t even know why the two of them were still friends really, except that he wanted to at least try and keep Robert on the straight and narrow, even if it was a lost cause.
A knock sounded on the door of Robert’s flat, where he and the other groomsmen had stayed the night before. As was customary, Rebecca, or Bex as she’d insisted he called her, had stayed at a hotel so that the two wouldn’t see each other today. Felix actually kind of hoped that she’d get cold feet and not go through with the whole thing. He felt oddly protective of the woman, almost to the extent that he felt protective over his younger sister, Autumn, who he’d always kept far far away from his friends. He didn’t trust them around her.
He moved over to his overnight bag and withdrew a bracelet made of willow bark, slipping it around his wrist. He was already risking it by spending almost two days away from his tether, he didn’t want to take the risk of not having anything of it on him. Though he realised that it could draw some interesting questions later on.
The knocking intensified, the person on the other side clearly impatient to get in. “Alright, I’m coming,” he said, just loud enough that he knew the other person could hear him. The incessant knocking stopped, and he made his way over to the door before it could start again. Robert and the other groomsmen had gotten drunk the night before, and the last thing he wanted to deal with was their grumpiness if they woke up to pounding headaches.
Oblivious to the fact he was only wearing pajama bottoms, he swung the front door open to be taken off guard by the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She was only wearing a pair of leggings and a baggy pale yellow jumper with her dark hair tied back in a ponytail, but there was something about her that just called to him. Her dark brown eyes met his, and they held each other’s gazes as something passed between them. Neither of them spoke a word, and they didn’t need to.
“Hi,” the woman said softly ,as if not wanting to disturb the peace that had extended between them. “I’m Amelia, Mia I mean. Bex’s sister.” Her rambling was adorable. Yet another thing that took him off guard about this woman. She was nothing like the type he normally went for. Maybe he’d have to change that.
“Erm, hi, I’m Felix, Robert’s best man,” he introduced himself, pushing his hand around the nape of his neck in a fit of nervous tension. He really needed to pull it together, if a pretty woman was all it took to get him tongue tied, then he was really going to have problems at the wedding later. According to Robert, most of Bex’s friends were ‘bangable’. Though with Robert, it was sometimes hard to tell what his standards were.
“Can I come in? I need to grab some stuff for Bex,” the woman, Amelia, no Mia, asked.
“Sure.” He stepped away from the door and Mia’s eyes roved down his bare chest, taking in every inch of the muscle he’d worked hard for.
“Stop it, Mia. Remember Skyler,” she muttered under her breath, tearing her eyes away from Felix’s chest. He smiled to himself. He didn’t think that he was meant to have heard that. But who was Skyler? He didn’t like the sound of the other man already and he hadn’t even met him yet. After thinking on it, he decided he didn’t like the idea of any man near the pretty brunette. He cleared his throat, trying to use the action to clear his thoughts.
“What do you need?”
“Oh just some personal items she forgot.” Mia waved a dismissive hand which he took to mean that Bex needed underwear, or some other kind of feminine grooming product. He wouldn’t pretend to know much about it. She made her way to the door to Robert and Bex’s room, and it wasn’t until her hand was on the door that Felix realised that she couldn’t go in there.
“No,” he almost shouted. She turned back to him, a frown marring her face.
“What?”
“You can’t go in there, I don’t know what state Robert’s in.” He hoped that was enough to put her off going in. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure if Robert was even alone in there. He probably was, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’d been with a woman that wasn’t his fiancée. Robert really was an idiot. Felix had no idea how he could sleep around on someone like Bex. She was beautiful, talented and successful, all the things a man could want in his life. It was all he really wanted. Well, right now all he really wanted was the woman in front of him, but normally it was.
Her mouth made a perfect little ‘o’ as she realised what he was saying, and her hand dropped away from the door handle.
“Would you like me to get it for you?” She nodded.
“Pink and blue bag, should be by the side of the dresser, but she’s not sure. She wanted to come herself, but...”
“It’s bad luck. And you don’t want to push it.”
“Especially when she’s a...” He looked at her curiously, but all she did was shake her head, which just made him wonder what she’d been going to say even more. He looked her up and down again, partly to take her in again, and partly to try and ascertain if she was something more than human. He came up blank. Though he wasn’t sure how he’d be able to tell unless she had some obvious characteristic. He’d heard that some of the fae had odd tattoos, but he couldn’t see anything on her pale unblemished skin. What he wouldn’t give to trail his hands over it...he shook his head, trying to rid himself of the inappropriate thoughts.
“Are you going in?” Mia asked, and it was only then that he noticed she’d stepped away from the door completely, leaving the way open for him. He sighed, and closed the gap, brushing past her as he did. The air almost felt like it was heating around him, and he frowned. Maybe she was some kind of elemental? He’d thought they were solely a legend that humans had made up to explain away weird things witches had done, but maybe not.
Slowly, he opened the door, not quite knowing what he was going to find on the other side. Luckily, Robert was alone. Though he was sprawled out naked on the bed, which wasn’t a pretty sight. Something inside him felt extremely satisfied that he hadn’t let Mia come in. She shouldn’t have to see that. He looked around, and quickly located the bag that she’d mentioned. He grabbed it, not wanting to stay in the room with a naked Robert any longer. It wasn’t anything that he hadn’t seen before, but that wasn’t the point. Some things shouldn’t be shared.
He exited the room to find Mia pacing back and forth, and blatantly i
gnoring the other passed out groomsmen that littered the room. They all looked extremely worse for wear, and he was relieved he wasn’t in the same state himself. It wasn’t a good look for someone’s wedding day. Not in the slightest. And not when there were going to be pretty bridesmaids in attendance. Maybe he’d even get to walk down the aisle with Mia. Now there was a weird thought. And it wasn’t just of how she’d look in a bridesmaid dress either. Instead, it was how she’d look wearing a white dress and veil of her own. He was suddenly very glad that no paranormal he knew of could read minds. He still didn’t know if she even was one, but it didn’t hurt to be safe.
“Here,” he said, passing her the bag. Their fingers brushed and he could have sworn that he saw a few errant sparks where their skin touched. He shook his head. No way was that possible. He was a dryad, that just wasn’t how their kind worked. Unless...he pushed the thought away.
Chapter Three
Mia looked at herself in the full length mirror in her sister’s bridal suite, and had to admit that she looked good. Gone were the leggings and oversized jumper she’d been wearing earlier, replaced with a gorgeous jewelled gown that fell to the floor in a waterfall of glittering fabric. At first, she’d been hesitant to wear it, but after the insistence of her sisters, she felt better about it. That wasn’t to say that she didn’t feel a little over exposed still, she did, the mostly see-through fabric couldn’t hide enough skin for her, but she knew it was what Bex wanted. Faye looked equally as stunning in her own version of the dress, her blonde hair such a contrast to her elder two sisters.
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