by Jen Stevens
“You don't understand the politics of it all. Our fathers were supposed to–”
“Oh, please. We all know how greedy and self-serving your fathers are. But you're the Quarters of Watchtower, not them. Stop hiding behind daddy and start acting like the powerful men we know you can be.” Blaire shifted to cross her arms over her chest, her chin stubbornly jutted out.
Since my father called me home from the woods, none of us had left our homes. We were stuck relying on them to relay information from coven and town meetings. According to them, the general consensus was that no one was happy with us. Of course, our fathers were there to swoop in and save the day, constantly assuring the town that they had us under control. They conveniently left out that they were just as powerless as we were and the darkness was affecting them, too.
We didn't care, though. Now that we finally had our hands on the Quarter Book of Shadows, all of our energy was being poured into finding any piece of information that might be useful in finding their Counters and helping them retain their gifts. We couldn't do anything for the coven if we weren't even capable of protecting ourselves, and whoever was feeding the dark magic appeared to be targeting our powers specifically.
The problem was that the entire book was written in code and every piece of information regarding the spirit element had a redaction spell cast on it.
“Blaire, that was kind of harsh,” Storie softly interjected. I had forgotten she was still standing there.
“Am I wrong, though? This is only a taste of what's to come if the four of you keep your heads stuck up your asses.” Storie's eyes widened at her friend's crassness, but I wasn't surprised. She was a Granger, after all. “This has to end at some point. Are you going to step in and do your job, or are you going to prove Rayner right and show us how much we really don't need you?”
“It's more complicated than that. Without our Counters, we're essentially useless,” I said through gritted teeth.
She was infuriating and overly audacious, just like her grandmother. I didn't think I owed an explanation to anyone in Watchtower after the way they've treated us, let alone one of its lowliest members.
“You've found your Counter; that's enough for now. We don't have time for your excuses anymore. Gather the others and get them out to this cabin.”
She held up the faded map again, pointing to the circle she had drawn just between property lines.
I exhaled through my nose and looked to Storie for backup, but she shrugged her shoulders and stepped closer to Blaire, showing that she was taking her side in the argument. “You haven't heard what they've been saying about you. I think this is the safest option until we figure out how to get through this.”
“Look, I hate that we're being forced together just as much as you do,” Blaire started. She cut her eyes toward Storie, reminding me she was the only reason we were standing in the same room right now. “But even the most diehard Quarter supporters are switching sides. They feel like they have no other choice. This is bigger than both of us.”
Blaire tapped her foot impatiently as I digested her words. I kept my eyes trained on the violet-eyed woman who looked terrified to be stuck between the two of us. I would never trust a Granger, but I trusted Storie with my life. If she was willing to back up what Blaire was saying, then it must be true. Things have gotten too dangerous for us, and the time has come for us to fight.
“I can try to talk to them, but there's no guarantee they'll come.”
I didn't want to reveal that there was a chance they couldn't come. That a hike through dense, uncleared woods might kill them faster than the Movement or Watchtower ever could.
---
Three hours later, the six of us hiked in a single line through Lux's property until we saw the outline of an old log cabin set beside the creek. It shouldn't have taken as long as it did to get there, though I was sure that if it were just the four of us, we'd take twice the amount of time. Rhyse, Lux, and Enzo stubbornly pushed through their extreme fatigue to avoid allowing a Granger to see them fall.
Pride was apparently a strong motivator. The thought crossed my mind that maybe I should let Blaire go off on them the way she had with me. That might get them fueled enough to actually fight this thing.
“This place is a dump,” Rhyse said as soon as we pried open the rotted wood door.
Blaire glared at him and Storie held the same bewildered expression she's had since we met up with the three of them.
“It should be an easy cleanup for the most powerful witches in Beacon Grove,” Blaire retorted sarcastically.
The three exchanged glances, a wordless conversation passing between them. They could try to hide it as hard as they liked but anyone who knew them could see how feeble they had become in the past few weeks.
“Why is she here?” Enzo asked me, earning a growl from the feisty redhead.
“Why are any of us here? This rotted heap of wood is way less protected than our homes. If there really is some sort of uprising, I wouldn't want to be caught here.” Rhyse purposely turned his body away from Blaire, making it easier to ignore her dramatic facial expressions.
Lux was slowly walking around the space, his eyes assessing the aged home skeptically. Blaire was in the middle of berating Rhyse once again over not being strong enough to lift his own protection spells when Lux finally turned and gave us his attention again.
“She's right, Rhyse. Let's not try to stand here and pretend our gifts are what they once were. The Grangers and Storie clearly know more than we want them to.” He pinned Storie down with his intimidating stare, silently accusing her of knowing too much. Of sharing too much.
She shriveled away a bit and my chest vibrated with a deep, soft growl. I surprised everyone by taking a step between them and grabbing her hand in mine. “I don't think this is the time to point fingers. Especially when she's been nothing but helpful.”
Lux's brow quirked up in surprise. This was the first time we'd ever been in a disagreement of any sort. Rhyse and Enzo were usually the one's picking fights with everyone. But he couldn't treat my Counter that way and get away with it.
None of them could.
“What aren't you telling us, Wildes?” Enzo stepped closer to Lux and Rhyse followed suit, drawing an invisible line between us.
“Oh, for goddess’ sake. They don't even know?” Blaire yelled incredulously, her hands waving in the air. “You four need to get it together. Seriously, you're an absolute mess.”
She waved her hand between us, ignoring our shocked expressions. “She's his Counter. Not sure how you missed that one since you've supposedly been trained to spot her from miles away,” she explained unceremoniously.
Three pairs of eyes swung to Storie as they realized what she said. When my arm lifted across her chest protectively, their stances widened, ready to fight.
I did the same.
Blaire scoffed from the side in jest, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling. “You three don't have a snowflake's chance in Hell against him as long and she's here and your Counters are off in the wild somewhere, hiding from you.”
“Does she have an off button?” Enzo growled.
“Someone needs to explain what's happening,” Rhyse called out, his glare locked on me.
Lux was the first to relax.
“This is why you've retained your gift,” he mused. “Hunting our counters… It was another lie from our fathers. And you've known all this time.”
“No, I haven't. I suspected something was off about her and you three blew it off. I knew I couldn't tell you until I figured out how to explain that everything we know is a lie.”
“How does it work, then?”
I hesitated for a beat, giving my heart a moment to stop racing and step out of fight mode. When I dropped my arm from across her chest, Rhyse and Enzo followed the lead and relaxed.
“I'm still not entirely clear. But it's like she fuels me. There's this massive amount of power that moves between us every time we're near each oth
er. I couldn't risk losing her if you guys chose not to listen.”
When I took a moment to breathe, I noticed the hurt lacing their expressions for the first time. My lack of trust in their ability to listen to me without making a snap judgement crushed them. I knew because that's exactly how I'd feel if the roles were reversed. All this time, I had convinced myself I was only hiding her from them to protect her life, but I think it went beyond that. I didn't want to share her because I was too selfish to consider the possibility that if they knew about their Counters sooner, they wouldn't have lost so much of their magic.
“You could have told us. We don’t do secrets, remember?” Lux’s glum tone only deepened the knife of guilt twisting in my gut.
“I didn’t do it to hurt you,” I insisted earnestly.
“This is sweet, but we need to move on. The sun is setting, and this place isn’t going to fix itself up,” Blaire interrupted.
I’m not sure what her angle was on helping us out to this cabin and making it a livable place to stay. Grangers have never concerned themselves with anyone else’s problems unless there was something in it for them. I was sure there would be a catch somewhere along the line involving her and Tabitha, but we didn’t have much of a choice but to go along with it. Our fathers have proven to be consorting with the enemy and our coven was now actively working against us.
It took more effort than we’d like to admit, but we were able to use the small amount of magic we had left to clear away the garbage and hazardous materials, fix up the areas that needed immediate attention, and lift a half-hearted invisibility spell to hide the cabin from anyone who might stumble out here. Most of the heavy lifting came from mine and Storie’s shared gifts and Blaire’s deep knowledge of spellwork.
We didn't finish until well into the following morning. Storie and Blaire chose to sleep at the cabin with us instead of risking the pitch-black woods so deep into the night. Storie fell asleep curled into my chest, and even though the others might not trust me after lying to them, it felt good to share her with them. To hold her out in the open and have the weight of our secretive relationship lifted from my shoulders.
We all awoke with the sun the next morning. The small break in trees overhead allowed light to shine directly onto us through the fogged-up windows. My eyes cracked open to find those beautiful lilacs gazing back at me. A satisfied smile spread across her lips and just as she leaned into me for a kiss, Blaire declared it was time for them to go before Tabitha slaughtered them.
Storie agreed to return with the list of groceries we came up with and then they were gone, trekking back through the woods to a town that no longer accepted us.
Chapter 32
Remy
Samhain is traditionally a time of year for the coven to come together and take advantage of the veil between worlds thinning by honoring those who have passed. It’s the midpoint between the fall and winter solstices and marks the time where night grows longer than day. Candles are lit, photos are set out, and prayers are made to loved ones who have crossed over.
The Watchers of the west have always drawn some of their magic from the spirit world, so Samhain is the most powerful time of year for the Wildes family. With the veil thinned, even those who haven’t mastered the spirit world are able to access and draw from it. In past generations, our ancestors would connect coven members with their loved ones and relay messages as a thank you for their support of us throughout the year. That tradition ended with my grandfather, as he was never truly welcomed into the underworld.
I was explaining this to Storie in the cabin the day before Samhain was set to begin. Lux was on the floor, attempting to read through the Book of Shadows in the dim candlelight, letting out occasional grunts of frustration as he ripped entire pages of notes out of his notebook and crumpled them up before adding them to the growing discard pile. Rhyse and Enzo were lounging on the couches, occasionally offering their input on our puzzling history.
“So, with this veil being lifted, spirits are able to exist closer to us,” Storie deduced, tracing her finger on the wood grain of the old table. I nodded my response.
“Then, why don’t you try to talk to your Quarter ancestors and see if they’ll help you?”
Lux lifted his head from the book for the first time in hours, gaping at her.
“We’ve never considered that,” I admitted, throwing Lux a look of disbelief.
How had we never thought of that before?
“Well, I know if I had the ability to speak to my family and have my questions answered, I’d jump at the opportunity.” She dropped her gaze down to her hands and sagged her shoulders dejectedly.
“Let’s try it, then. We can call your parents forward, and then try to reach one of our great grandparents. I’m sure Lux can come up with a few trustworthy, pure souls to call forward. They can’t all be corrupt assholes.”
Storie perked up immediately. I wasn’t positive if I could contact spirits the same way my family had all those years ago without any practice, but the warm, wholesome smile that spread across her face was enough motivation for me to figure it out.
“Are you sure we should be wasting time talking to mommy and daddy when there’s a real and dangerous threat to the town and coven that needs to be stopped?” Rhyse asked spitefully.
He still wasn’t over the fact that I hid Storie from them and he’d been rude toward her each time she came to the cabin to give us updates and deliver food.
“Don’t be a dick, Rhyse,” Lux scolded without lifting his nose from the floor.
“He’s probably right. We can always talk to them another time,” Storie conceded, her mood dropping once again.
“No. The only reason you’re here is to find answers about what happened to them. I think you’ve done enough for us to earn a simple conversation with the people who sacrificed their lives for you. We should have time to do both.”
I shot Rhyse a warning glare, letting him know he needed to back off her, but he never bothered looking back at me to witness it.
“It’ll take me some time to get a list together of people I think we can actually trust. Turns out, the Quarters have never been the most upstanding individuals,” Lux said on a sigh.
My hand covered Storie’s on the table and squeezed so she would lift her eyes to mine. When she finally did, I stood and cocked my head toward the door, letting her know I wanted to go outside. The sun was setting overhead, though the canopy of trees never really gave it’s rays the opportunity to reach us. It was just light enough to see her in front of me, but dark enough where if anyone tried to watch us out the window, they’d barely make out our silhouettes.
“Where are we going?” she asked in a giggle when I tugged her down the stone walkway and toward the creek.
“I haven’t had a moment alone with you for days and it’s feeling crowded in there with Rhyse’s ego.”
We neared the edge of the water, and I slid my shoes and socks off, reaching for the button on my pants next.
“Remy, they’re right there,” Storie hissed. Her eyes grew wide when my pants hit the ground and my boxers followed close behind.
“They can’t see us,” I assured, tugging my shirt over my head in one movement. “I want to go for a swim.”
I stepped down into the creek with a splash. The water was cold at first, stealing my breath away as I sunk deeper into its depths, but my body adjusted to the temperature quickly. The stream was narrow, but the bottom went down further than I had expected it to. The water reached just below my armpits at the deepest point.
The feeling of literally being inside my element was indescribable. The creek's constant stream of water flowing against my skin gave me a sense of wholeness I'd never been able to replicate until Storie came along. It was like I'd been plugged into an electrical outlet and was being charged.
Storie gazed at me from the bank in astonishment for a few moments before she swung her head around and looked toward the cabin. Once she was sure no one was watc
hing us, she began stripping her clothes away, revealing the perfect, milky skin I’d grown to love the glow of.
She made quicker work of getting undressed than I had and once she was completely naked, she stood on the edge of the creek for a moment, rethinking her decision. I could see the conflict warring in her irises, and I wanted to pull her in just to prove that I was worth taking the dive for.
Instead, I took the opportunity to look at her body. To take in all of its beauty while she was too distracted to care. Of course, I’d seen it before. She never pushed me away or avoided being vulnerable with me in our most intimate moments. But I could always see the struggle in her eyes—the discomfort it provided her.
Finally, she landed on immersing herself all at once to get the slice of pain from the cold waters over with. In the blink of an eye, she went from this unattainable piece of art standing above me in the open forest air to a warm, soft beacon of hope against my skin. She struggled to stand on the creek bed, so I grabbed her hips and tugged her against me, allowing her to wrap her legs around my torso. I loved the sigh that fell from her lips as our bodies melded together. I became drunk on the sound of her moans when I leaned down and kissed her plump, waiting lips.
In this position, her center was perfectly aligned with my growing cock. She took advantage of our weightlessness, slipping it back and forth between her legs against her clit. Our kiss became sloppy and desperate, teeth clanging against each other, nibbling at the swollen skin of our lips. My fingers dug deep into her hips as she moved against me in rhythmic circles. When her breathing became erratic and her eyes started to roll to the back of her head, I reached one of my hands around her from behind and explored her slits, massaging her from a completely different angle in the exact rhythm I knew would send her over the edge. Seconds later, with a soft, guttural moan, she came undone against me. I felt the heat of her juices as they moved between us in the water before being taken away with the stream.
