Magic Destiny: Dark Paranormal Romance (Irish Rogue Series Book 1)

by Kate Gellar

  “I fucking knew it,” said Brendan pointing. “I knew that girl was weird.”

  “Hold your bleedin’ horses, posh boy, we don’t even know what she is,” said Murphy, the opposing voice in the group. Sam knew Murphy didn’t believe in any of this. He’d turned up at the castle after his father died not understanding why he was even there. The trinity, a group of immortals who bestowed them with powers, agreed they needed a fourth guardian to cover all the cardinal directions—North, South, East, and West. That was after Sam had almost died. The addition of Murphy to their guardianship helped to restore balance.

  “I agree,” said Sam. “Let’s not rush into this. We need to be sure.”

  “How do you propose we do that?” said Brendan.

  “I don’t know yet.”

  Brendan made a noise. “I’m with Liam on this. She’s got a wild energy. While I was setting up for the presentation this morning, the energy in the room intensified. I looked up to see her staring at me. It was like she had locked me in her gaze. I couldn’t escape. The room felt like it was swallowing us whole. I sensed her power. I think she sensed mine.”

  Sam hopped off the table and paced. “Dark witches can do that too. It still doesn’t prove what she is, or what the others are. If there was a way to determine witch or queen before they arrived at the castle, I’d be all for it. But we require them to be present, for the castle to detect them and to react, and for the magic within us to react to theirs.”

  Liam nodded. “The symbols on their bedroom doors, depending on how hot they get, should indicate their level of power.”

  Sam had told Abby the symbols were decorative, but they actually prevented a dark witch’s negative energy from roaming the castle at night, while protecting the positive energy of a queen. The boys had larger symbols on their bedroom doors to keep the witches out and any residual souls from prior seal escapes from feeding on them while they slept. During the day the witches’ spells, along with the power of four active guardians, covered the castle and the grounds. Until Sam determined what each person was or wasn’t, nobody could leave the castle grounds. That meant no trips to meet local historians.

  “Look, I may be newer to this than the rest of you,” said Murphy, “but I said I was in this and I meant it. I might not like havin’ my love life decided for me, but my bloodline ties me to this place and to you three. Before we go tearing in there, let’s figure out what they are first.”

  Sam turned to find Brendan sitting in the spot he’d vacated, on the edge of his great grandfather’s desk. The desk was old enough to be in a museum. But this was a working castle and they had no money. Sam put all the furniture to use.

  “Sam’s too cautious—too much boarding school if you ask me—and Murphy’s too grumpy,” said Brendan. “He puts the ladies off with a toss of his hair.” Murphy grunted to which Brendan nodded. “Exactly like that, pal. Liam is the romantic who’ll latch on to any girl that shows him a little attention.”

  “Hey!”

  “Tell me I’m wrong.” Liam shook his head. “Didn’t think so.” Brendan continued. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m the flirt. I’m the least likely to fall in love and least likely to send them packing.”

  Sam had to agree with that.

  “I can turn it on and off when I like,” said Brendan. “I’ll get close to the girls, not too close, but enough to feel them out magically and report back. Maybe we can weed out the witches early to avoid a repeat of what happened to Sam.”

  Sam liked that idea, but not that Brendan was putting himself in harm’s way. The others looked to Sam as a leader. His family once owned the castle and had inherited the seal from prior generations.

  “If I agree to this, we need rules,” said Sam. “If the girls get too touchy, you back off. You don’t encourage them. Start with conversation. Sense the power they’re giving out, and sense the castle’s reaction to them. Sue from the coven left us a ring infused with a magic detection spell yesterday. While you’re wearing it, the spell should show a faint aura around anyone possessing magic. It won’t detect between white and dark witches, but it should weed out the mortals. Leave Abby ‘til last. I’d rather we eliminate the other potentials before we decide whether to keep her or let her go.”

  “She’ll have to make that decision for herself,” said Liam. “We can’t decide to keep her.”

  “And she will,” said Sam. “But before she gets to make that choice, we must be certain she’s the one we’re looking for.”

  15

  Brendan

  Brendan couldn’t believe his luck. The boys had given him permission to do what he did best: make women fall in love with him. Truth was he wanted to understand what the hell had happened between him and Abby before the presentation. But he’d promised Sam to keep away from her.

  Sam was the only one out of the four to have come close to being in love. He’d met a twenty-five-year-old woman when he was nineteen. His father was still alive and the role of guardian hadn’t been handed to him yet. He’d worshiped Amy, but both his parents had died three years later while they were still seeing each other. The guardianship required Sam to forego love and dedicate his young life to protecting the seal. Sam had ended it with Amy, knowing she, a mortal, could never be a part of his future.

  Brendan had no time for love, not with so many ladies to choose from. Liam was the most receptive to it, Murph the least. That’s why a little flirtation would appear more natural coming from Brendan. Any witches among the girls wouldn’t be suspicious of him. He had no expectations having never been in love. Not even close. He’d never once felt it for a girl.

  He slipped on the coven’s ring, a silver band with an inset Celtic design. The ring felt heavy on his finger as he strode through the house. It detected magical energy here and his body had reacted physically to Abby, but between the coven’s spells and the possible presence of dark or white witches, it was impossible to tell who had potential and who aggravated what the seal protected.

  Ten women: three from the US, one from France, two from Sweden and four from the UK. They had been split into groups. Three of the girls had been assigned to work with Liam in the garden. Three to Murphy in the Livery. Brendan had been assigned the last four and was on household duties. When Liam came to get him, he had left them to dust, polish, and vacuum the entire ground floor.

  He’d start with his group.

  Two English girls, one from Sweden, and a French woman were in his group. He entered the living room where they busied themselves with various tasks. They stopped working and smiled at him, except for the black-haired French woman who glared at him. Brendan ignored her rudeness and flashed a smile back at the girls whose names he hadn’t bothered to remember. If they weren’t who the guardians needed, there was no point in learning them. Sam rarely allowed the mortals to stay past the first week. The white witches stayed longer. The presence of white witches seemed to keep the restless souls under control.

  Sam always felt bad for wasting the mortals’ time. The cost to cover everyone’s airfare ate into the limited budget. But there was no other way to do this than to bring the women to the castle under the pretence of a fake history program.

  “Sorry I ran out. An emergency meeting. How’s everyone getting on?”

  “Good, Brendan. We’re almost done here.” The pretty English brunette gave him a coy look that made his dick twitch.

  He smiled at her. What the hell was her name again? Fuck. The ring felt hot against his skin.

  The ring could just be reacting to the nearby seal room. He saw no aura around the woman.

  “Is there anything else you want me to do?” She batted her eyelids.

  “Nothing for now, sweetheart. Keep doing what you’re doing.”

  The brunette licked her lips.

  Jesus. Maybe this flirtation thing wasn’t such a hot idea. The ring cooled down, unlike his body that heated up.

  The second English woman tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. S
he was shier than the first girl. Brendan sat down and tried to refocus. He looked at the third and fourth women in the room: a dark-haired haired beauty from Sweden who was quieter than the other more vocal pair, and the French woman with the almost black hair who frightened him. He wouldn’t learn much by flirting with the shy girls, but the ring should give him some indication as to what they were. The French woman ignored him—he was fine with that—and continued to dust the mantelpiece before moving to an old desk near the window.

  He chatted to the easiest of the four— the shy Swedish girl.

  He approached her, rattling off a bunch of names in his head. What the fuck was her name?

  “You need help, Noomi?” said the bold English brunette to the Swedish girl. Brendan detected a hint of snark in her voice.

  “Nah, I’m okay. Almost done here.”

  Noomi. And the French girl was...Sylvie. He’d seen her talking to Abby. Two out of four names was enough for now.

  “Hey, do you need any help?” Brendan slid in beside the bookcase she was polishing.

  “No, I think I got it, thanks.” Noomi looked up at him shyly through her lashes.

  “What part of Sweden are you from, Noomi?” The dark-haired beauty turned to look at him, almost accusingly so. The ring didn’t react.

  “I’m from Malmo in Sweden.”

  “Your English is excellent.”

  “We learn it as a second language.”

  Her answers were clipped, bordering on disinterested. Brendan touched the ring on his right hand. It was cool and he still didn’t see a faint aura around Noomi.

  “And your family? What’s your connection to Ireland?”

  She turned sharply duster in hand, and glared at him. “What do you mean?”

  He flinched, but kept his smile in place and the flirtatious pretence going. “Well, the program is for those interested in Irish history. You’re here because you have an interest. What’s your connection?”

  Noomi seemed to relax a fraction. Brendan wondered if he had hit a nerve. Or if she was just a private person. “Oh, I suppose I’ve always had a fascination with Ireland and the...folklore.”

  Brendan thought for a second she was about to say magic. “And you like living in a castle?”

  Noomi nodded and continued to clean the books that gathered dust daily.

  “I just have one question,” she said.

  “Fire away.”

  She stopped wiping and turned to Brendan. In a whisper she said, “What the hell do you need so many magical runes for? There’s practically one on every door.”

  The question almost stopped Brendan heart. He looked around, relieved to see the others had moved on to another room. He turned back to her. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, this place has a protection spell placed on it.”

  Brendan faked a laugh. “That’s crap. Why would you say that?”

  Noomi glanced at the ring on his hand. “Really? You think I can’t sense what’s going on here?”

  The truth clicked into place and Brendan stepped back, for his protection. Fucking useless ring. “What the hell are you?”

  “You know what I am,” said Noomi. “But you’ll be pleased to know I’m the kind that doesn’t need your power. I’m a white witch and on your side. You’re a guardian, right? You’re protecting something, close to this room.”

  Brendan nodded, careful not to look at the hidden panel on the other side of the mantelpiece that housed the seal. But still, he needed proof.

  “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

  “What do you feel from me?” Noomi leaned in close.

  Brendan didn’t move. “Nothing, if I’m being honest.”

  “That’s because our power to each other is about as appealing as a cold shower on a freezing day.”

  He wouldn’t quite have put it like that, but Noomi gave off a sisterly vibe similar to the local witches who helped them protect this castle.

  She continued. “And that ring? I can feel the magic it’s infused with search for me. But the protection spell has dampened its effectiveness.”

  “Okay, my witch detector doesn’t work. Or maybe it does. You could be pretending to be a white witch.”

  Noomi leaned back. “Dark witches can’t pretend for long. Your power is like an aphrodisiac to them. And to mortals who long for a physical connection.”

  His gut was all he had to go on. And it told him Noomi was telling the truth. “How soon after you arrived did you figure out this place?”

  “About one second after I passed through the gates. I felt the barrier surrounding the place. Sam is a closed book, as is Murphy. You and Liam are like walking Wikipedia pages.”

  Maybe this could work to his advantage. “Do you know who else is a witch? Can you tell by looking at them?” Noomi could make his job easy. The coven spells were clearly losing their effectiveness. A magic detection spell should have worked on Noomi if she was a witch. It was almost like an opposing force in the castle cancelled certain spells out.

  Noomi glanced at the exit, then back at Brendan. “It’s a feeling I get, being here, and to be honest whatever you’re hiding, whatever energy it’s putting out prevents me from getting a read on the others. The power here is strong. But it’s all mixed up together. I can’t determine who, or where, or what.”

  Brendan had an idea. “The boys suggested I flirt with each of you to gauge your attraction to me. But I have a better one.”

  “Better than that humdinger?” Noomi folded her arms and with it the shy girl act melted away.

  “Yeah. I think we should have a little dinner party. Then after, we play a little game called, ‘Find the Witch’.” He would also use it to determine if Noomi was telling the truth about her being a harmless white witch.

  Noomi shrugged. “I guess we could try it. I’d like to know as much as you. I might be a white witch, but the dark witches can inflict as much harm on me as you. I’m a little down on their list of meals with fresh guardian meat on the premises. Would your boys be on for that?”

  Brendan grinned. “I’ll bet my legendary flirting skills on it they will be.”

  16

  Abby

  The thought of facing Liam so soon mortified Abby. She sat on the window sill in her room staring out at the view to the front of the property. The trees blocked most of it and the gated front entrance. She pressed her hands to her inflamed skin. Kissing hadn’t been the only thing on her mind. Other thoughts involved a lot more touching and getting naked.

  Abby shook her head. Kissing a stranger was what Wendy would do. But she couldn’t get Liam out of her mind. Ever since their kiss, it was like he was all she could see.

  A thought caused her breath to hitch. What if Liam had told the other guys? Wasn’t that what guys did, share juicy news about their conquests with each other? Liam’s shy guy persona could be an act. Underneath he was probably a flirt like Brendan.

  Her gaze switched from the view to the closed door in her room and the symbol she couldn’t see attached to the other side. What Sylvie had said about the symbols didn’t make sense to her. Yet, her curiosity walked her over to the door. She opened it and examined the decorative item on the other side: a circular design with three swirling circular patterns inside an outer circle. She touched the symbol, but snatched her hand back, shocked by the heat it gave out.

  Abby shut the door and backed away to her bed. She dropped onto it and stared at the door, then at her phone that emitted a green light notification telling her it had finished charging. She disconnected it and scrolled through her contact list. She stopped on one name: Paul Brennan.

  Abby dialed her house phone. It rang eight times before she gave up and hung up. It was Monday morning back home. Maybe Paul was already on his way to his new job. Abby tried his cell phone instead.

  “Hello?” Paul sounded like he was on the train.

  “Hey, it’s Abby.”

  “Hey, Abby! How’s Ireland treating you? What’s th
e castle like?”

  She paused, not sure what to say about both. After a moment, Paul prompted her. “Abby? What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. I... I had to talk to someone.”

  “What are the others in the program like?” She detected a slight edge to Paul’s voice.

  She got straight to the part Paul wanted to know.

  “Four hot men running the program and ten girls vying for their attention, if you must know. But one girl could be a friend.”

  “That’s good... Four hot men, you say?”

  Abby nodded, even though Paul couldn’t see her. “It’s only day one and already I’m in trouble.”

  Paul almost barked, “How?”

  “Ah, an incident and a power struggle.” She didn’t want to tell the man who was like her brother what had happened with Liam. This wasn’t high school. She was twenty-one for Christ sake. “A misunderstanding.”

  “About what?” Paul’s tone became more urgent. She pictured him straightening in his seat, the way he did when he was interested. “Did something happen?”

  “No...yes. I don’t know.” Abby sighed. “This place is weird. I feel weird here.”

  “Weird how?”

  “Um.” Abby had no idea how to explain it. “The castle has this strange vibe to it. I feel lightheaded, dizzy. The four guys running this program are nice but...” She didn’t want to tell her cousin that she’d kissed one and fantasized about ripping off another’s clothes. Or that she’d felt a dormant energy wake up inside her the second Sam drove through the gates. “Oh, forget it. I’m being silly. You on your way to work?”

  “Yeah, I am. I’m nervous, but excited. Listen Abby.” Paul spoke low into the phone. “You’re where you need to be after... your mother’s death. Please stay. It’s jet lag, that’s all. Give it the week and make the decision then if you want to come home.”