Wicked Good Witches- Complete Series Bundle

by Ruby Raine

  "Well, is anyone else confused as hell?" said Melinda. "I'm trying to piece all of this together but...."

  That got an agreeing and exhausted chuckle out of them all.

  "We must return," Daegal told them. "Mathew, you will stay as your job is not yet finished. But we must return home and—regroup. We have many plans and changes to make."

  They said their goodbyes. Raeana promised to visit with them soon and tell them more about both of their lost sons. And after, everyone took a solemn moment to reflect and regroup themselves. And just as the allies from Sorcier began to think it was time to return home as well, they caught William approaching the magical portal that led to the Howard Mansion.

  His head cocked, his eyes narrowing in emerald question.

  And that's when they all saw it. Eight slimy legs gripping the circumference of the portal, a moment later, the entire spider bursting right out at them. Shouts were drowned out by spells which pulverized the thing on contact.

  What madness was going down at the Howard Mansion?

  The vampires led the charge and cleared the path of spiders trying to take over the portal. The rest charged through and set back into fighting. They apparently hadn't gotten the message that the war had been canceled, or this was something completely different happening.

  They didn't even have time to be shocked over the two werewolves fighting nearby. One they recognized as Charlie—those who'd seen him in werewolf form before. And the second had to be Lizzy. They were ripping and tearing and biting and stabbing.

  Melinda's gaze landed on an injured Finn and her heart sank. The other gargoyles were protecting him though, fighting back the spiders and hags.

  Mack had her gun out, shooting hags or spiders, whichever she could hit.

  But it did not take long for the hags to recognize that powerful help had arrived. At first, they refused to relent and ordered the spiders to keep attacking. The entire mansion was overrun with spiders breaking through windows and doing terrible damage inside the house. Breaking. Smashing. Of anything and everything they touched.

  But the Howards and their allies fought with every bit of strength they could muster, one by one, taking out the enemy and pushing them back, forcing their retreat.

  Melinda fought her way over to Finn and the gentle beast whined when she put her head against his.

  "Oh, Finn. What happened?" He was losing a lot of blood and she did her best to close the wounds using magic, as the fight continued around her. "Hang on, okay. You're going to be all right."

  The push back was painfully slow. Forcing the spiders out of the mansion and into the yard took a bunch of them daringly spreading out throughout the mansion, driving the eight-legged monsters out of the place. And once in the yard, the struggle continued as they fought the spiders and the hags, who refused to surrender or relent. And yet one by one they were forced to return from where they came—the fountain. Such a lovely thing the Howards would never look at the same again.

  Charlie informed Michael what they were after, and he was glad he'd shoved the boxes of Anthony Jordan notes into his own closet. He'd still been mulling through them. But after a quick glance, they had not been found. Although, there were dead spider guts all over his bed. He might never sleep in that thing again. And it was yet to be determined, in all the wreckage inside the mansion, whether the spiders had stolen anything else while inside.

  And that's when it happened. And the battle came to an end.

  The hags gave up and surrendered to defeat, slinking and slithering back into the fountain taking the last of the spiders with them, leaving the yard looking like a graveyard of bloody body parts.

  CHAPTER 13

  CHARLIE ORDERED LIZZY to shift back to her human self, and he did the same. Someone, he didn't even see who, tossed them some blankets which he wrapped around his kick-ass, but exhausted, mate.

  "You okay?" he asked her. Her thoughts and emotions were all over the place.

  Lizzy nodded but said nothing. She needed a minute to clear her mind.

  "Shit. Finn!"

  She and Charlie raced over to where a crowd was gathered, and a few people were using magic to try to stave the blood loss from the beast. Melinda wiped the tears from her eyes and Charlie came down beside her.

  He gently pulled her arms away and extended his own, with no idea if his magical gift would kick in or not, or whether it would even work on an animal. But when a soft glow of light pushed out of his hands and Melinda let out a relieved gasp, Charlie knew it was working and he'd be able to heal Finn to see another night.

  Lizzy fell to her knees next to Charlie and kissed his shoulder where the blanket had fallen.

  "Thank you."

  He leaned in to nudge her side, and let their minds connect.

  "There's no need for thanks because this isn't your fault. Plans got messed up. But we survived it. We're going to be okay," he promised.

  Lizzy nodded, and Charlie sensed she needed some processing time.

  "That and a shower," she joked tiredly.

  Not long later, Finn was up on his feet and good as new. Melinda was relieved, but with this relief came the inevitable crash. The reality of the night weighing her down. The emotion of everything bubbling upward in a rash of tears she wished would stop.

  But cool arms enclosed around her and pulled her in until the shaking stopped and the burst of emotion had passed. William thought about entering her mind, to make sure she was really okay. But held back, realizing it was just an emotional upheaval to release all the stress and anxiety and relief.

  "Shit. I don't know what happened." Melinda wiped her eyes and pulled back just a little. "Are you okay? Is anyone hurt? Did we lose anyone?" all the questions she'd been dying to ask came flying out of her.

  "Minor injuries," William told her. "We didn't lose anyone." As for if they were all okay? That might yet to be seen.

  "What a night," Annie called out, approaching with Jean by her side.

  "Indeed," Jean agreed. Her beautiful clothes were ruined and stained, but her intoxicating energy still shone through, regardless. "I believe Sorcier's task is done here, and we should return home and let you all recover. But first...." She aimed herself at Melinda.

  "We haven't officially met, I am Jean, and old friend of William's."

  Melinda took her hand in warm greeting, with a weak smile. "It’s nice to meet you. Annie talks about you and Sorcier a lot. But it's nice to put a face to the name." And Jean was exactly like Melinda pictured.

  Jean tossed William a knowing simper that she didn't know the meaning of though. But had a feeling Jean was just excited to meet the woman William loved. And that's when it dawned on her that William was still next to her, holding her hand. Right out in the open. In front of everyone. It had felt so natural she hadn't even realized or questioned.

  "I hope Annie has told you that there's an open invitation extended, Melinda. You're welcome to visit our colony anytime you'd like."

  "That's very kind of you. If life ever calms down a little, you never know."

  Jean gave William a gentle squeeze of his arm.

  "Until we meet again."

  "Thank you for coming," William told her. "Thank you all for coming," he stated louder, as the people from Sorcier rounded themselves up close to Jean and Aunt May.

  "I go where the powers that be tell me to go my old friend." Aunt May tossed the vampire a mischievous wink.

  "Regardless, we are grateful to you all." It was Melinda who spoke this time. Tonight could have gone so much differently. It was a nice thought to know good people still existed. "If you ever need the favor returned," Melinda told Jean and Aunt May. "Please ask."

  "We've had a peaceful colony," Jean replied. "But if that ever changes and we need some Howard help, we'll be sure to let you know."

  Aunt May opened up the magical portal in the front yard of the mansion, which was in quite a bit of disrepair.

  Jean hugged Annie, her gaze landing on William in the d
istance.

  "You take care of him. I sense a change, but I cannot yet tell if it's good or bad."

  "You know me," chuckled Annie. "Never give up."

  Once the people from Sorcier had left, things got quiet, fast. Charlie and Michael had done a quick investigation inside the house and other than being a disaster area, they didn't see anything obvious missing. William did his own sweep after, but came to the same conclusion.

  "I'll call Josh," said Mack with a huff. "Although, looking at all the broken windows you're probably going to need more than the cleaners. But he'll know who to call to get this fixed up fast as possible."

  "Thank, Mack." Michael gave her a kind pat on the arm. "It is more of a mess than we can handle. Even more than super fast vampires can fix up."

  William chuckled at that.

  "We can do quite a lot before Josh arrives." He nodded at Annie and Courtney who shrugged, and vampire sped throughout the house and by the time Josh's truck beeped as it backed in, they'd piled up carcasses and glass debris, at least making it safer to step into the house and yard.

  Josh gave a foul whistle upon seeing the mess. He'd never seen anything like it, but he set right in and got to cleaning up.

  Charlie located his mate having a sit in the far back of the yard, alone, just staring up into the night sky and the full moon. He plunked down next to her and nuzzled and snorted against her chin which got her laughing.

  "How are you?"

  "Better now. How is everyone? I didn't even get the chance to thank those other people. I don't even know who they were." Charlie explained they'd come from Sorcier and that Emily had gone to ask them to help.

  "That's kind of amazing," Lizzy sighed, befuddled. "And the Power Source?"

  "Is fine according to what I've been told, but I've also been told we need to have a sit down right away, to discuss some things. Are you up for that?"

  Lizzy nodded. "I can deal. I just needed a few minutes to decompress."

  "Helluva first shift, huh?"

  "Yeah. Something like that."

  "You fucking rocked it, Lizzy. I'm so proud of you. It was impossible circumstances, and yet you handled it."

  She placed her hand on his chest. "We handled it together."

  "Like we always will from now on."

  And just like that they went from fighting to survive, being caught up in the first shift, decompressing, and right back to mating and babies and feeling frisky. The mood only dampened when they realized they were still wearing only blankets and their skin was covered in dead spider and hag parts, and Charlie grimaced when his hand went to stroke Lizzy's hair and instead, hooked onto a clump of dead something stuck in the strands.

  "How about shower first? Meeting after?" Lizzy suggested, wrinkling her nose. "And um, separate showers. Because if we get in one together...."

  "We'll never make it to any family meeting," he agreed with a growl.

  "But when the meeting is over...."

  "Boat."

  One word solved that. And that had them scrambling to their feet to get cleaned up and get the meeting over with so they could get on with the sexy stuff and the being alone lost at sea.

  Over the next couple of hours, showers were had. Meals were eaten. Coffee was brewed. Messes were cleaned up. Breaths were caught. Some questions had gotten answers, but new ones replaced those. Josh was busy working on how to replace all the broken windows.

  Mathew had left at one point to speak with his Elders, but returned not long after. They wanted him to stay on, indefinitely, to watch over Rae, as she'd advised everyone to call her.

  Emily had left to see her aunt, but returned. And Michael saw that as a sign of good things to come. He got the sense Emily was dying to speak with him, alone, and he wanted that too, desperately. But every time they got close they got interrupted. But he didn't sense she was in a hurry, or trying to get away. That had to be a good thing, right.

  So finally, as the middle of the night passed into the wee hours of morning and neared dawn, Michael did the one thing he'd been dying to since Emily had stepped out of the darkness with the people from Sorcier. He grabbed her and they vanished into the basement kitchen, which hadn't been damaged in the battle. Which meant their potion making supplies were still intact—a small win.

  But once he'd shut the door to give them a chance to talk, words escaped him. Where did he start? Hell, he didn't want to mess this up.

  "Hi." She laughed nervously, like that was supposed to break the tension.

  But he smiled and said, "Hi," back.

  "Are you okay?"

  "Yes. You?"

  "Fine. Great actually. Better than I've been in what feels like forever." She smiled at that and it was like Michael's heart remembered to beat for the first time in weeks. But he didn't dare get his hopes up. Just because she was here, a semblance of the Emily he loved, adored, and missed something fierce, didn't mean she was staying.

  "I um—I—well—" he pushed out an annoyed breath. "Sorry. I have no idea what to say other than, I miss you. I miss you a lot. And I hope you're getting everything you need, from your aunt, your mom."

  "My ghost mom. Yeah, that is still so—surreal. Michael, I—" she shook herself and pinned her gaze on the man she loved. "Do you remember when I became a mermaid and escaped into the water to go find Charlie?" He gave her an amused smile. "Right, well, the thing I remember the most is the look on your face when you finally found me again."

  He recalled that frightening moment all too well. "I was so afraid I'd lost you. Forever. That I'd never get to see your smile again. I'd never hear your voice. I'd never be able to look you in the eyes and tell you how much I loved—love you."

  "That happened to me tonight. When I found out what was going on, my first thought was, oh my God! What if I don't see Michael again? What if I wasted all this time and now I'm too late? I realized that even though I'm still learning about who I am, and dealing with what happened to me and my dad, my heart knows it was not your fault, Michael. But I think I needed to understand the fear of losing my heart to understand all of that. Because you are my heart, Michael."

  Michael still didn't dare believe what he was hearing. He just stared at Emily with watery eyes that needed a moment to focus, and when they did she was standing right in front of him.

  "I'm so sorry, Michael. I shouldn't have run like I did. I miss you too."

  There weren't enough words to say what he meant, and his empathy was in overdrive by the feelings behind her own. He could only wrap his arms around her in an embrace that promised he would never, ever, in this lifetime, ever let go.

  It didn't matter if it was together on the Isle, or off the Isle, in heaven or in hell, as long as they were together, Michael Howard was home.

  "I love you, so much, Emily." He forced himself to pull back and sniffled, but held her cheeks between his hands gently. "But you have nothing to apologize for. You did what you needed to, and what I couldn't do for you. I get that now. I really do."

  And then they were kissing and crying and hugging and kissing some more.

  "Thank you," Michael found himself saying. "Thank you for giving us another chance. For giving me another chance."

  "Oh, Michael, things just got messed up. But tonight, I realized with such heart pounding certainty, that this is where I'm meant to be. With you. I'm at my best when we're together."

  "Yes," it was the only word he could get out between the wet kisses.

  "I have so much to tell you," she mumbled in between lip attacks.

  "Everything. I want to hear it all."

  They only left the privacy of the basement kitchen when Michael's phone beeped telling him it was family meeting time. But all he really wanted was to climb in bed with the love of his life and hold her close while they slept away the exhaustion and these last weeks of hell. And then to wake up and make love to her over and over and over to make up for lost time.

  To Michael's eternal gratefulness, everyone accepted Emily's prese
nce as if she'd been expected all along and didn't question the happiness pouring out of Michael in waves of almost seeable relief.

  But seeing this one thing set right, did a lot for all their moods. It made the unknown future more bearable. Odd, how such simple things like this could boost any foul mood. But after hours of clean up, they found themselves in the upstairs kitchen, staring at Rae.

  Charlie and Lizzy had explained all that happened here at the mansion with the hags and spiders, and Michael, Emily, and Melinda had caught up Charlie and Lizzy on what happened at the Source, with Mathew, Lucas, and Riley filling in some blanks, and Annie and Courtney and William filling in others.

  Once Mack had a good enough picture of what happened, she'd returned to her office to take care of any damage control needed. But how in the hell did you explain away thousands of giant ass spiders infesting an estate? Hopefully, there were no sightings—but when did they ever get that kind of luck?

  Mathew grabbed Lucas a cup of coffee. He accepted it with a weak smile that didn't answer any of the questions burning the Guardian's tongue. Lucas had kept himself purposely preoccupied by helping with the cleanup in order to avoid talking.

  Mathew was sure Lucas was going to have lots of questions, and that he was going to have a lot of explaining to do. And—well—his biggest worry of course was that Lucas would never forgive him for keeping such a giant secret. And it was a lot to take in, he imagined. Learning you were from such a special bloodline.

  Lizzy squirmed her way onto Charlie's lap, sidesaddle, as he took a seat on one of the barstools. His arm squeezed her waist and he sent her a silent warning not to wiggle too much. So, of course, she totally listened—not.

  Annie and Courtney were sipping from warmed up blood that William had prepared for them. And he lingered in the background, as he always did, with one eye always on the lookout for trouble, and the other, always seeking out Melinda. Only now, when he did this, he often found her returning the look and keeping it, rather than tearing her gaze away in shame that she'd been caught.