The room was a mirage to the history of the space, a room where both of his parents had died.
No, he told himself he’d always use the words, even in his head.
Murdered. They had been murdered.
Each time he thought it, his heart cracked a little more. The anniversary was coming up tomorrow. Six years since it happened, and he wasn’t sure there would be any fragments of his heart left to salvage soon enough.
It didn’t matter. Not when the one thing he’d wanted to do was honor his parents by finding the one responsible for their deaths.
That was his duty as the oldest brother, even if he was only older than Ryan by ten minutes. Those ten minutes meant it was on him to find the one who ruined their family.
For that, he’d take a missing heart.
Royce felt like a failure. He’d gone through the family grimoire hundreds of times over the years, building his magical strength and hoping he’d be strong enough to find the bastards.
He’d asked their uncle to help, but the man said that his brother, Royce and Ryan’s father, wouldn’t want his sons wasting their lives away on something that may never be solved. Uncle Hugo was probably too consumed with being the Master of Fire to care about the past.
Their uncle’s advice sounded like something their dad would say. Like his overused “Don’t waste so much time studying magic that the magic right in front of you slips away” speech. His mom hated the saying even though she loved their father more than anything.
Royce had taken on his mother’s love for books and academics, while Ryan was more of a free spirit like their father. Both lived in the moment.
Their parents had been so different, but they had loved each other. That was obvious even during their arguments.
He wanted that deep down, a woman who understood him and accepted him for who he was. Ryan longed for a witch even more, one who could match them in all things and balance them out.
They’d both wanted the same thing once. Royce even thought he’d met the girl who was made just for them. They both did.
It didn’t matter how many years passed. He’d always remember the quiet girl with the hidden fire in her, one he was drawn to like a kid infatuated by flames. Literally.
Carmen Brixton. His Silent Flame, he’d nicknamed her. He never shared that part with Ryan. That was all his own.
Even now, Royce pictured those almond-colored eyes peering up at him. That curly hair framing her cheeks. Skin the color of warm caramel, the kind you knew would just melt in your mouth like butter and linger long after it was devoured. Curves that even his teenaged self could appreciate. He would have loved getting to know her more. To have been able to see where that went. But that was in the past too. He’d been so consumed with finding his parents’ killer that he didn’t even try to seek her out since they got back to town.
But it didn’t matter. What good was a future unless you settled the problems from your past?
Royce understood his brother’s craving. He always had, but it came second to wanting his parents avenged.
He couldn’t help it. The thoughts consumed him to the point where he’d wake up in the middle of the night shaking, covered in a cold sweat, hearing his mom scream for him and unable to reach her or his father in time.
Royce closed his eyes to block the frequent nightmare out. It was bad enough it ruined his sleep. He couldn’t afford it spilling over into his days, not when he needed to be more alert than ever.
He’d go to Firewick for his brother, if for nothing else. It was all he could offer at the moment.
A triad was supposed to make them stronger, allow their magic to merge into something sacred and unbreakable.
Where a Warlock Pair could be broken, a Triad Bond was forever.
But how was he supposed to enter into something so binding when he didn’t even trust his own strength? He couldn’t even solve his parents’ murder, for goddess’ sake.
It wasn’t fair to his brother either. They’d known they would only ever form a Warlock Pair together. They balanced each other well, and there wasn’t a warlock Royce trusted more than Ryan.
That was why he’d made the promise to go to Firewick. If he couldn’t join into a triad completely, maybe his brother could and then move on without him.
Such an idea punched him in the gut, but he wouldn’t stand in the way of his brother finding happiness. Someone in their family had to, or the good memories they had of their parents wouldn’t pass on into something new for the Durants’ future.
“You can’t keep doing this to yourself, Royce.”
His brother’s voice broke through the grim images filling his head.
“I can’t avoid it,” Royce said. “I don’t think I’m strong enough to do that.”
Ryan’s laugh echoed in the room. “Fuck that. You’re the strongest warlock I know, which is why we’re finding our witch and ending that shitty misery of yours. It’s starting to rub off on me, and I like not being miserable.”
Royce turned to face Ryan. “Doesn’t it bother you? All this time, and we’re still no closer to finding the assholes.”
Ryan’s smile disappeared. “You know it bothers me. Hell, with your emotions bouncing around everywhere, you should be happy I’m not suicidal, but I deal with it.” Ryan walked closer to Royce. “Bad shit happens and life gets fucked up, but mom and dad wouldn’t want us to act like it’s fucked up. So I choose to live right now for them. It’s all I can do.”
Royce took in his brother’s words, and knew he was right. Even if he couldn’t live in the present fully, their parents wouldn’t want him throwing his life away. They’d be even more disappointed if they saw him dragging Ryan down the tainted rabbit hole with him.
“Are you ready to go to Firewick or not?” Ryan asked.
The least Royce could do was forget the mess of his life for a night to help Ryan. He felt the longing and eagerness his brother had pouring out in waves.
“I’m ready,” Royce said. The only true family he had left needed him, and he’d be damned if he was going to let this one down.
Chapter Two
Adrenaline washed over Carmen as she stood just at the edge of the Firewick Festival. She’d waited for this all her life, but the excitement was mingled with fear.
“Thanks, Claire,” she muttered to herself. Her sister had made her paranoid, which seriously sucked.
She’d dreamed of this moment. Craved it for years. Hell, her sisters got sick of her talking about it so much, her verbalizing the dream of having two warlocks to love her forever.
Carmen even had the dress picked out. The dress was deep red with a black strap around the neck and black flowers scattered over it. She thought it was a perfect representation of her and her element. It stayed in that fancy dry-cleaning bag in the middle of her closet.
The dress made her look hot, if she had anything to say about it. Sure, she had some extra curves and layers added over the years. She wasn’t sorry for it, either, and it made the dress shape her in the best way possible.
Forget a wedding dress, because she had her Firewick dress, the perfect outfit to find her prefect warlocks.
It was an amazing fantasy she’d had for years, but reality was making her get cold feet. After all, she wasn’t exactly invited. What if her hopes sizzled up, like the first time she tried to use her fire element to burn wood and only got out a few smoke clouds?
Now that she was there, she was completely speechless, a rarity for her.
The bonfires along the beach roared to life as witches and warlocks mingled. She even spotted a few testing their magic against each other. It was one way they were supposed to test for compatibility. If the magic of a witch didn’t merge with the warlock pair, they weren’t destined to live together in triad bliss.
Carmen was beginning to wonder about that test. She’d heard rumors about it. If you found your warlocks, your power would merge with theirs to make something new and powerful—something like an imprint of e
ach other’s magic. Charice hadn’t mentioned any test when she talked about her warlocks. Then again, Charice hadn’t been exactly welcoming of testing her compatibility when she had been transported to Firewick involuntarily.
Not being invited was really starting to hit Carmen. What if her sisters were punished because she defied the Elemental Board, aka El-Board? Was that even possible? The last thing she wanted was for her sisters to suffer from her random decision to take her Firewick experience in her own hands.
No, she wasn’t going to think negatively. She had to remind herself of the spell she and Claire did. No one would see her but her warlocks. She hoped that meant members of El-Board too. She wasn’t sure how long she had before the spell wore off, but she hoped she found who she was looking for before it did.
Carmen let out a breath she had been holding. That took some pressure off, but what if she wasn’t attracted to the warlocks who saw her? What if her spell completely fucked up the entire magical mating process? What if her warlocks weren’t even there at all? Witches and warlocks had to be invited to the gathering by El-Board. If she was coming uninvited, who was going to make sure her triad match was there too?
She was thinking too hard about the possibilities, and way too many questions were flooding through her. What was she thinking, crashing a ritual she wasn’t invited to? That was what she did. She had made irrational decisions based on emotion like always.
Carmen was a big girl. She could admit that jealousy made her do it. For years, all she wanted was to be linked to her two warlocks. Charice and Claire had never even considered taking two warlock lovers, but they were the ones to get invitations before Carmen.
She was happy for her sisters. Really. But that didn’t change the fact that she wanted a match more than both of them combined.
Their mother had found her Perfect Triad with the restart of the festival. It was an ancient tradition that was picked back up for power reasons. Then, Firewick only happened every few years.
With more and more paranormal creatures, like shifters, moving to Kala West, it was decided by El-Board to make it a semi-annual event to encourage more triads in the area. It was a preparation attempt and call for power in case they had to fight the other creatures or even go to war with another magical group of beings. The stronger the magical community got, the stronger the town became.
It was like that already for bigger witch communities like Miami and Atlanta. Kala West was a small city in comparison, more like a big town if you looked at it.
Carmen couldn’t care less about power. No, she wanted what her mother had, the love of two amazing men who would do anything for her and their family. Two men who could make her heart melt and body tingle. Men who could show her what it meant to be passionately in love. She’d wanted that for as long as she could remember, and she knew that an invitation to the festival would help bring her closer to that life.
Reality hit her. She couldn’t do this and end up disappointed. No, she needed to trust the system. If she didn’t, El-board could find out and keep her from ever coming back. That truth scared her more than anything.
Her whole idea was crazy. The courage and brave face she’d had back at her sister’s magic shop was slowly seeping away. She could wait, couldn’t she? Yeah. She would hate every damn second of it, sure, but six months weren’t that bad. However, if they made her wait a whole year after watching both of her sisters get invited, then she was going to singe eyebrows and burn some asses.
She turned around, ready to get out of there and prepared to trust the goddess with her fate.
Then she heard it. A laugh she’d heard so many times before. Not only heard but used to long for often. A sound that was more addictive than any drug.
No, she thought. It couldn’t be them. They’d both been gone for years, whisked away from her presence but still lingering in her mind.
Memories of high school flooded back into her. The two boys she craved and ached for each day. Royce and Ryan Durant.
Chapter Three
The Durant Twins were seniors when Carmen was a freshman, and the brothers dominated Kala West High. Royce was the smart captain of the debate team, while Ryan ruled the swim team. Together, they were sex, intelligence, and muscle wrapped up in a girl-killing package.
Girls threw themselves at the Durants, and Carmen lusted after them silently from afar with her head in her books.
Some people confused them for each other, but not Carmen.
Anyone paying close attention could see their differences, and Carmen always paid attention. She may have enjoyed admiring them from a distance, but she always knew which one was Ryan and which one was Royce.
Royce’s jaw was just slightly sharper, and his strawberry-blond hair was always slicked back so you could see his hazel-gray eyes. Ryan’s nose was a little rounder and his darker brown-blond hair was always messy, like he never dried it completely after each swim. His steel-gray eyes made many girls swoon after him. Both even walked a little different when side by side.
But it wasn’t just attraction that drew Carmen to them. For her, it was like some hidden force in her came alive only when she saw them or heard their voices travel down the hallways.
Knowing she’d get a glimpse of them each day made the conundrum of high school bearable. Without them, she wondered how she’d get through it.
When she was in school, Carmen was shy. Even she couldn’t believe how much she’d changed since high school. Comparing her teenaged self to her adult self was like comparing ice to sand.
She didn’t have the backing force of her sisters with Claire in her freshman year of college and Charice going to business school. Even though her sisters still lived at home, Carmen was on her own in Kala West High. She kept to herself and got through each period the best she could.
The Durant brothers became her escapism. She would try to go to Ryan’s swim meets and Royce’s debate competitions, just like any other student bringing team spirit. Deep down, she’d imagine being their girlfriend, sitting in the stands rooting for her guy to win. It was a fantasy, one she knew was hopeless.
It wasn’t until near the end of the school year, when she got Royce as her math tutor, that she really started to fall hard.
She hated math. Absolutely despised the subject. Until her math teacher, Mr. Bateman, paired her up with Royce.
Every afternoon for a month, he would sit next to her and show her tricks to remember formulas and equations. She could barely concentrate when he was so close to her, leaning over papers and books as they studied.
Sometimes he would look at her in silence as she worked a problem. She could feel his eyes taking her in. The way he stared made her stomach flutter and her breath catch in her chest.
She could have sworn he wanted to kiss her at times too. She wasn’t experienced and knew nothing about boys, but his eyes seemed to be battling some hidden desire behind them. Carmen would have traded all her powers over just to know what he was thinking.
Whenever his fingers brushed hers, she thought she would lose it. Her fire element always roared to life inside her when he did. That’s how she discovered he was a fire warlock.
Instead of pulling away from her, his skin would warm up to her, matching the power of her element. With that revelation, Carmen felt her crush for Royce becoming something stronger, and it scared her.
What if he felt something for her? She always thought about that question and always brushed it out of her head. Why would either of the Durant brothers want her?
When he learned she was a fire witch, she thought he hardened a little towards her. He avoided touching her most times and wouldn’t even look her in the eye at their sessions.
She tried to think of anything she could have done to offend him. Surely, it couldn’t have been her element. She had no control over what the goddess gifted her with.
It wasn’t until Ryan crashed one of their sessions that everything went wrong.
Royce was acting distant, and Rya
n barged into the study room without knocking.
“Guess what, Bro?” Ryan said, that addictive laughter filling his voice.
His energy was infectious and made Carmen smile, despite the sour mood Royce seemed to be in lately. That’s when Ryan looked at her.
His eyes caught hers, and she thought the world stopped around them.
A large grin filled his face. “Who’s the cutie?” Ryan asked as he moved closer to her.
She thought she felt her element stir up again, and that was when she wondered if Ryan was a fire warlock like Royce. It felt weird not knowing after wanting them for so long. Either way, there was no denying she was attracted to both brothers.
Without even thinking, she stood up, feeling an invisible pull to that inviting smile.
She didn’t even hear Royce get up from his seat, but he was in front of her in an instant.
Royce blocked Ryan before he could get any closer to Carmen. His voice hardened. “No one. Don’t worry about her.”
Carmen repeated the words in her head. No one. Royce thought she wasn’t important. How could he be so cold and insensitive? She may not have been as popular as they were, but she had feelings too.
She quickly grabbed her stuff and pushed her way past the twins, ignoring the jolting sensation of being so close to them.
“Carmen,” Royce called out. “Carmen, wait!”
But she didn’t stop or even turn back. She didn’t have the strength to look at him. Carmen just ran far from both of them until she found and empty stall in the girl’s bathroom to cry. She’d been so wrong, so silly, for even thinking Royce could be interested in her.
The next morning, she asked Mr. Bateman to switch her with another tutor.
“I don’t understand,” Mr. Bateman said to her. “You two were getting along so well. Your grades have even been improving, Carmen.”
“I know, but I think I’d work better with someone else.” He probably thought she was insane.
The Alpha Warlocks' Own: An Alpha Warlocks of Kala West Story #3 (A BWWM and BBW Paranormal Ménage Romance) Page 2
